I love the self-destruct scenes in TOS even more so than in TSFS.More like cheap, badly written, fake drama and suspense. Did anyone think for a second that Kirk was actually going to destroy his own ship?
Or PEBKAC -- Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
I thought they were dramatic and tension filled and had great suspense.
Kirk couldn't let nutters have control over a ship like the Enterprise which could devastate worlds. Imagine Khan in charge of the Enterprise.
We all know Kirk wasn't going to destroy his own ship just as we know Kirk/Spock/McCoy/Chekov or Scotty was never going to be killed in an episode but I still got worried when they were shot down, captured, trapped.I mean why have them lost or trapped or shot in any episode as we all knew the leads were never going to die