What episode would you want to end season three?

[tim0122]

I finished TOS last night. While I seem to be one of the few who liked Turnabout Intruder (despite being annoyed by the bodyswap aspect) and thought it had some series finale like elements (by luck, since it wasn't planned as a finale), most seem to dislike it. My question to you all: If another season three episode could be the finale, which would you choose?

 

[Qonundrum]

Either

"The Savage Curtain" because ending on what is a surprisingly bigger lame whimper despite it all is really cool

or

"The Tholian Web" as it ends the show on a high note, leaving audiences wanting even more...

 

[Spock's Barber]

I like the basic premise of The Savage Curtain : good versus evil. However, I chuckled the first time Lincoln appeared on the bridge view screen.

That aside, one of Kirk’s last lines in the episode is “We came in peace.” It is sincere and profound and I think it sums up GR’s vision of the series.

I’d go with The Savage Curtain, only for the above reason.

 

[Qonundrum]

I like the basic premise of The Savage Curtain : good versus evil. However, I chuckled the first time Lincoln appeared on the bridge view screen.

That aside, one of Kirk’s last lines in the episode is “We came in peace.” It is sincere and profound and I think it sums up GR’s vision of the series.

I’d go with The Savage Curtain, only for the above reason.

It had a few good lines, but the execution of the episode overall was incredibly flat. There is a great episode in there, but a 5-zillion pound rock is sitting on the potential.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

In the original run, the last episode to air was "All Our Yesterdays."

"Turnabout Intruder" would have run two weeks afterwards, but it was preempted by breaking news coverage of the death of former President Eisenhower [link]. It would not air until over two months later.

The final VFX shots of "All Our Yesterdays" work fine as a send off, at least under the original VFX.

 

[tim0122]

In the original run, the last episode to air was "All Our Yesterdays."

"Turnabout Intruder" would have run two weeks afterwards, but it was preempted by breaking news coverage of the death of former President Eisenhower [link]. It would not air until over two months later.

The final VFX shots of "All Our Yesterdays" work fine as a send off, at least under the original VFX.

I don't get what you mean here. You say Turnabout Intruder wasn't the last season three episode aired, but further down you say it aired after All Our Yesterdays. Do you mean All Our Yesterdays was the last finished but aired before Turnabout Intruder?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I don't get what you mean here. You say Turnabout Intruder wasn't the last season three episode aired, but further down you say it aired after All Our Yesterdays. Do you mean All Our Yesterdays was the last finished but aired before Turnabout Intruder?

When it first aired, it was months after the original run of the series. "Turnabout Intruder" missed its airdate in the original run of the series. It was preempted by a special program, as stated. How is that not clear?

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

"The Tholian Web" as it ends the show on a high note, leaving audiences wanting even more...

Yeah, out of all the episodes we got in the third season, I think Tholian Web would be the best to end on. It has a decent story with some flashy visual effects that show off the ship, it features all the characters, visits all the sets, and it ends with everyone joking around on the bridge on their way to another adventure. All Our Yesterdays is a good episode, but you get three characters on a planet for the whole story, so you don't get to see the ship and crew one last time.

 

[Tallguy]

Possible: All Our Yesterdays. Solid episode but no supporting cast and nothing on the ship. But missed being the finale by a hair. I think it's a fantastic looking episode despite being made for $1.95.

Unlikely but cool: Savage Curtain. This would mean the almost ending of the show (Assignment: Earth) and the actual end would both feature Lincoln. It also seemed an idea near and dear to The Great Bird.

No chance but awesome: Day of the Dove. Probably my favorite third season episode and what better symbolism than ending the show with Kirk laughing with a Klingon?

 

[Henoch]

No chance but awesome: Day of the Dove. Probably my favorite third season episode and what better symbolism than ending the show with Kirk laughing with a Klingon?

I also think Day of the Dove could make a good final episode.

The Stardate for Day of the Dove is not given, but if we use Kang's dialog literally: "For three years, the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been at peace. A treaty we have honored to the letter.", then if the treaty is the Organian Peace Treaty which would be signed after Stardate 3201.7 (from Errand of Mercy), and assume one star year is 1000 stardates and Kang's 3 years is 3 Federation star years or 3000 stardates, then DOTD could occur around Stardate 6200+ which is after both episodes All Our Yesterdays (Stardate 5943.7) and The Turnabout Intruder (Stardate 5928.5).

For Day of the Dove #66 to remain before both of those episodes and keeping it closer to its production order before Plato's Stepchildren # 67 (Stardate 5784.2), then Kang's "three years" is actually closer to ~2560 stardates or 2 years 7 months (okay, he rounded up to 3 years) or ~Stardate 5760. This puts it near the middle of the ~50 stardate window between Let That Be Your Last Battlefield and Plato's Stepchildren. YMMV especially if you like Stardates.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Perhaps one might end the series with LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD, but finish everybody off in Act Three when Kirk says ''computer'' one second too late.......then have total blackness without sound for 19 minutes before rolling the credits.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Interesting question!

I honestly don't think that any of the third season episodes would make a worthy finale for TOS, but of the slim pickings we've got, I suppose "The Tholian Web" would be the best.

In a perfect world, I'd travel back in time with a copy of Mike W. Barr's script for "The Final Voyage" from DC's Star Trek Annual #2 and have them film an adaptation of that. That's been my headcanon of how Kirk's 5YM ended ever since I read it in the 1980s. It'd be a pretty expensive episode, though, since they'd need to bring back Sean Kinney as the crippled Captain Pike, Susan Oliver as Vina, the various actresses as the Talosians, William Campbell as Captain Koloth, and either get Joan Collins back to play Edith Keeler for one scene or use archival footage of her. It'd be a lot in terms of makeup, sets, and guest actors.

 

[Tallguy]

Perhaps one might end the series with LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD, but finish everybody off in Act Three when Kirk says ''computer'' one second too late.......then have total blackness without sound for 19 minutes before rolling the credits.

What's the 1969 equivalent of "Don't Stop Believing"?

 

[I am not Herbert]

What's the 1969 equivalent of "Don't Stop Believing"?

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[cgervasi]

My question to you all: If another season three episode could be the finale, which would you choose?

What about For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky? McCoy could have stayed on the generational asteroid ship to administer the treatment they discovered there, to review all the other medical knowledge stored in their archives, and to support the leader in transitioning to a free society without the Oracle.

If this were a modern show, it could lead to a 12-episode spinoff. They could deal with Yonadans who blame Natira for things the Oracle did to their loved ones, Yonadans who want a different leader who promises the order the Oracle previously provided, encounters with space travelers who would like to use the vast knowledge in the archives for their own gain, issues with McCoy having to support Natira without people looking to the more knowledgeable and cosmopolitan McCoy as the leader, issues of Yonadan autonomy from the UFP, shadowy groups of Yonadans who knew they were on a spaceship all along but stayed in hiding out of fear of the Oracle, and people with spiritual issues with people processing that everything they believed in was a lie.

With good writing I could imagine that being a show. Even without that show, we could be happy for McCoy and know that they'll be reunited with Yonada when reaches its destination planet.

 

[DonIago]

Oddly enough, without even remembering all of the S3 episodes, "The Tholian Web" was the one that immediately came to mind, though I think fthe reason I had half-formed in my head was that it's about Kirk expressing (thereotically posthumously) his belief that Spock and McCoy can and will learn to work together even if he's no longer present to moderate them.

 

[Tosk]

When I rewatch I simply switch All Our Yesterdays and Turnabout Intruder. Yesterdays may not be a finale, but it's a better ep to end on and it's close enough that I don't feel like I'm 'cheating' too much to swap them.

 

[feek61]

I like "Turnabout . . . "

"If only, if only" seems like a great, prophetic ending line for the series.

 

[DonIago]

How about ending with "Requiem for Methuselah" then?

"Forget."

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

How about ending with "Requiem for Methuselah" then?

"Forget."

(whiny Seinfeld voice)
''But I don't WANNA forget Rayna!!!!''