Rewatching Star Trek For the 50th Anniversary

[Spock's Brain]

I realized last week I have not rewatched the entire series completely since when I got the DVDs. I watched an episode here or there, and last week I watched some episodes I haven't seen in years like Conscience of the King and Lights of Zatar. I decided because this is the 50th anniversary I was going to give Star Trek a proper rewatch and that's what I've been doing this week. I am going in air date order so the last episode I watched was Miri. I'm excited to do this because there are many aspects of Star Trek I really like, namely the friendship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy and I don't think Season 3 is that bad. I've also found myself excited to talk about this series so I'm going to use this thread to make observations on episodes that I see, and maybe talk about episodes that never get discussed, like Miri.

So far the best episodes I've seen are The Enemy Within, Where No Man Has Gone Before, and Naked Time. Also, I guess it's obvious because of how much TV has progressed over the years, but the sexism of this series is really showing now more than I noticed before. It's not a bash against the series, but more showing it as a product of it's time. It's also one of the reasons I didn't like Mudd's Woman. I get what they were going for, but it was so overt that it was a bit of a turn off.

Still, I'm glad I decided to do this. There was a lot to like and love about the series that started it all, 50 years ago.

I recently began watching TOS on roughly the same schedule as you, only for me it is the first time through. For me, the sexism is shocking. I guess mainly because I've always heard how advanced TOS was as far as casting blacks, women, and other minorities (even an imbecilic Russian!) in important roles for the first time on television. What I see is unforgivable sexism, where all the women who aren't regulars are either tarts or villains, or both. Some of it is just so out of line that it's distracting.

 

[tomalak301]

I recently began watching TOS on roughly the same schedule as you, only for me it is the first time through. For me, the sexism is shocking. I guess mainly because I've always heard how advanced TOS was as far as casting blacks, women, and other minorities (even an imbecilic Russian!) in important roles for the first time on television. What I see is unforgivable sexism, where all the women who aren't regulars are either tarts or villains, or both. Some of it is just so out of line that it's distracting.

I always say that Walter Koenig's best work was as Bester in Babylon 5 and that's more true now than ever before. I do not like him in the series. I'm glad they improved him in the movies though, so that's a plus.

 

[tomalak301]

Spocks Brain

"Brain, Brain, What is Brain"

And that quote was part of an episode that kicked off Season 3. This has been labeled as the worst episode of the series, and this season has been trashed quite a lot. However, I've always thought of this episode as a guilty pleasure, and I still do. For one, after going through a week of seeing various Earth Like planets and the whole Prime Directive thing, this episode felt like Trek in that we got to go to an alien planet, with alien looking sets (Albeit incomplete) and an advanced teacher I found rather interesting. I also thought the best scene in the episode, and it doesn't make it bad because of it, was the bridge meeting trying to find the right planet. That was so rare for this series to give Uhura and Chekov more than just a line and it was nice to see here.

Is this a good episode? No not really. I mean you can play a drinking game with the number of times they say Spocks Brain. Still, there is something guilty pleasurable to it, and I would say it's so bad that it's actually decent.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I guess mainly because I've always heard how advanced TOS was as far as casting blacks, women, and other minorities (even an imbecilic Russian!) in important roles for the first time on television.

And that's a myth, FWIW.

 

[BillJ]

I recently began watching TOS on roughly the same schedule as you, only for me it is the first time through. For me, the sexism is shocking. I guess mainly because I've always heard how advanced TOS was as far as casting blacks, women, and other minorities (even an imbecilic Russian!) in important roles for the first time on television. What I see is unforgivable sexism, where all the women who aren't regulars are either tarts or villains, or both. Some of it is just so out of line that it's distracting.

Like The Old Mixer said, it was a myth. A myth advanced by Roddenberry and fandom.

Star Trek was made during a time of rampant sexism. I think it would've been impossible for it to have escaped it. Though they did give us some women in positions of authority, Areel Shaw from "Court Martial" and the Romulan Commander from "The Enterprise Incident".

 

[Spock's Brain]

Spocks Brain

"Brain, Brain, What is Brain"

And that quote was part of an episode that kicked off Season 3. This has been labeled as the worst episode of the series, and this season has been trashed quite a lot. However, I've always thought of this episode as a guilty pleasure, and I still do. For one, after going through a week of seeing various Earth Like planets and the whole Prime Directive thing, this episode felt like Trek in that we got to go to an alien planet, with alien looking sets (Albeit incomplete) and an advanced teacher I found rather interesting. I also thought the best scene in the episode, and it doesn't make it bad because of it, was the bridge meeting trying to find the right planet. That was so rare for this series to give Uhura and Chekov more than just a line and it was nice to see here.

Is this a good episode? No not really. I mean you can play a drinking game with the number of times they say Spocks Brain. Still, there is something guilty pleasurable to it, and I would say it's so bad that it's actually decent.

I thought it was funny that Bones hooking Spock's brain back up was completely out of question for his skill level, yet he had no problem whipping up a remote control real quick to interface with his body. They even used Spock's body in a fight scene via remote! That seems trickier than hooking back up the original to me.

 

[The Old Mixer]

To offer some specific examples...

Blacks: See I Spy.
Women: Too numerous to mention...there were women headlining their own TV shows in the '50s (e.g., Lucy, Donna Reed)...but for '60s advances in that area, see The Avengers (for the action-adventure side) and That Girl (for the stepping stone to Mary Tyler Moore side).
Not-really-Russians: See The Man from UNCLE.

 

[Nyotarules]

Star Trek was a 1960's view of the future, so it was a product of its time, however having nonwhite officers, Dr M'Benga, Lt Masters, Lt Sulu and Lt Uhura on non segregated equal level as the other white crewman/officers must have turned heads back then in a country where USA Jim Crow ruled in the South.
P.S I enjoyed watching Mad Men and thinking the 9 to 5 offices of USA and GB have thankfully come a looong way from those 'good ole days'.

 

[Seven of Five]

Spocks Brain

"Brain, Brain, What is Brain"

And that quote was part of an episode that kicked off Season 3. This has been labeled as the worst episode of the series, and this season has been trashed quite a lot. However, I've always thought of this episode as a guilty pleasure, and I still do

Whoever thought that opening the third season with Spock's Brain was a good idea, must have had their brain removed too. I suppose it does set the audience up for a year of disappointment quite nicely?

It's a laughable episode, but I agree that it's not the worst. It sits alongside other episodes like And The Children Shall Lead, The Lights of Zetar, That Which Survives, and my personal non-favourite, The Way to Eden. I found that one in particular offensive to my ears.

At least this episode you can laugh at.

 

[Pauln6]

What I see is unforgivable sexism, where all the women who aren't regulars are either tarts or villains, or both. Some of it is just so out of line that it's distracting.

When I first watched Star Trek in the seventies my friends and I used to laugh so hard at how rubbish the women were on Trek but we were also growing up with Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Blakes 7, where the heroines were at least given a bit more agency. To its credit, Trek did at least have more women than Star Wars, even if Leia kicked more ass than all of them put together.

Where I will give TOS credit is for helping to make me colour blind (to race, not the uniforms). Uhura wasn't 'the black character' to me, she was 'the woman'.

One of the reasons I wish Miranda Jones could have returned was because she had all those guys fawning over and she face-palmed the lot of them.

 

[tomalak301]

Whoever thought that opening the third season with Spock's Brain was a good idea, must have had their brain removed too. I suppose it does set the audience up for a year of disappointment quite nicely?

Like I said, I actually like season 3 more than most but it was an inconsistent season. Still I wonder if Spocks Brain was in the middle of the season and not the premiere, would it have gotten this infamous?

 

[tomalak301]

The Enterprise Incident

In the same season that gave us Spocks Brain, next episode aired is probably a top 10 episode, maybe even top 5. I love this episode a lot. Everything about this episode, from the ruse Spock and Kirk put on the romulans, to the Romulan Commander and her relationship with Spock, was perfect. Loved Shatner hamming it up as someone going insane, and Spock was as logical as ever.

This episode reminded me of one of my favorite two episode arcs from TNG: The Enemy and The Defector. It talked about he enterprise as a trophy, Kirk's actions and how the crew is just there following orders and then the thrilling standoff all throughout this show. This is one of the big reasons why I defend season 3. When it has episodes like this, and there are a few others, those are enough to redeem the season.

 

[tomalak301]

The Paradise Syndrome

I really liked the look and the music of this episode. In fact, I think one of the thugs Star Trek did really well was its exterior shooting and I guess they filmed this on location so that made it even more beautiful. Also loved the music and how it was used to tell the story of Kirok and Mirammonie. There were some issues, like the Kirk/Mirramoni stuff was a bit soapy, and you had the cliche bad guy saying false god. In fact, this episode reminded me a lot of Farscape's Jeramiah Chrichton, which unfortunately was my least favorite episode of that series. I'm not saying TPS is bad, but merely average.

 

[tomalak301]

And the Children Shall Lead

I've seen episodes that are bad, and I've seen episodes I would defend, like Spocks Brain. I can't defend this episode. It sucks.

 

[Trekfan12]

And the Children Shall Lead

I've seen episodes that are bad, and I've seen episodes I would defend, like Spocks Brain. I can't defend this episode. It sucks.

expecially when Kirk thinks he is losing command (I do like how he leans on Spock in the turbo lift though) yeah this is one of the thumbs down eps

 

[tomalak301]

expecially when Kirk thinks he is losing command (I do like how he leans on Spock in the turbo lift though) yeah this is one of the thumbs down eps

That scene was wierd. Was Kirk affected by the kids or not? I mean everyone saw Gorgan, yet was it a hallucination? So much about this episode was a mess, and a boring annoying mess at that.

 

[JimZipCode]

When this episode is brought up, the first thing people think of is Helen Noel, and yeah she is attractive, but what excited me was she was a badass. She held her own, was really smart, and saved Kirk's life.

Yeah, she does great work in that episode. It's interesting, because for the first half of her screentime she is completely worthless. She utterly misunderstands what is going on, spends all her effort trying playful banter with Kirk, like she's working some combination of Sex And The Single Girl and a 60s-style screwball comedy with Doris Day or Tracy/Hepburn. It's not until that moment in the room with the neutralizer, that she seems to realize Kirk is deadly serious. Then she responds soberly with "I know my profession," and from that moment on she is exactly the badass you describe.

But not until then! Before that moment, she is useless and frivolous. After that moment, she is by far the most effective female guest star in the history of the show – the most helpful asset to Kirk of all of them.

 

[tomalak301]

Is there In Truth No Beauty

This episode is actually somewhat decent. nice to see Mulder back as Jones and the best scenes were with Spock as Kollos. I could have done without the crew being judge mental of Kollos (who is to say that Kollos is ugly, when he might think humanity is ugly) and why did they need visors to look at the box. Still overall, this episode was pretty good and loved the introduction to the IDIC pin.

 

[tomalak301]

Spectre Of The Gun

This is such a great classic episode. Kirk, Spock, Chekov, and McCoy having to take part in the duel at the OK Corral and have to figure out and believe that it wasn't real. It was a good mystery episode taking that moment in history and giving us the Clanton point of view. Also, this might be Chekov's best episode of the series. Yes he dies, kind of, but he gets the girl, unlike Spock and Kirk.

Also, one thing I really like about the third season is the aliens actually look alien. The Melcosians looked really interesting and we will see the Tholians later, and the pig creatures they are. Also, the color in this season is great. Yeah they look cheap, but sometimes cheap is more effective than CGI.

 

[tomalak301]

Day of the Dove

Season 3 had a good night tonight because both Spectre of The Guy and this one are episodes I really like. We get to meet the third of the Blood Oath triumvirate in Kang, and there was a solid anti-war anti-violence message here. I do think the laughing at the end was a little lame (And fake) but other than that, a nice solid Klingon episode, at least solid in terms of Season 3 standards.