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Broadcast vs production, does episode order matter?

Which episode order do you prefer?

  • Production Order

  • Broadcast Order (DVD & Blu-ray)

  • It's episodic, so I don't care.


Results are only viewable after voting.
Well sure and by the early 70's, hair was longer and looser anyway. Just saying the hair he felt "looked like hell" was his standard look for quite some time.
I'm just glad he got the sexy hairstyle in time for his romantic overtures in "The Lights of Zetar." It gave him more cred with a hot young chick. And I think it helped with the chemistry, because she liked his look.

I once wore a big, flat-rimmed, baseball-type hat that made me look "way out of date," and when a young woman's eyes lighted upon me, she looked away suddenly, as if I were a dangerous contagion. Women really are that superficial, making snap judgements about men they haven't met, whereas men take a broadminded, forgiving view of women's styles.
 
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I once wore a big, flat-rimmed, baseball-type hat that made me look "way out of date," and when a young woman's eyes lighted upon me, she looked away suddenly, as if I were a dangerous contagion. Women really are that superficial, making snap judgements about men they haven't met, whereas men take a broadminded, forgiving view of women's styles.

Screenshot_20241107_195005_X.jpg
 
So upon further inspection, turns out that at least five episodes aside from The Cage also have no Stardate. I will therefore take it upon myself to put together my personal order of the series. I'll keep you guys posted.
 
Warped9 did the 'heaving lifting a decade ago
Star Trek episodes in Stardate order:

Stardate 1254.4 “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu” (A)
Stardate 1312.4 “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (1)
Stardate 1329.8 “Mudd’s Women” (1)
Stardate 1512.2 “The Corbomite Maneuver” (1)
Stardate 1513.1 “The Man Trap” (1)
Stardate 1533.6 “Charlie X” (1)
Stardate 1672.1 “The Enemy Within” (1)
Stardate 1704.2 “The Naked Time” (1)
Stardate 1709.1 “Balance Of Terror” (1)
Stardate 2124.5 “The Squire Of Gothos” (1)
Stardate 2534.0 “Patterns Of Force” (2)
Stardate 2712.4 “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” (1)
Stardate 2713.5 “Miri” (1)
Stardate 2715.1 “Dagger Of The Mind” (1)
Stardate 2817.6 “The Conscience Of The King” (1)
Stardate 2821.5 “The Galileo Seven” (1)
Stardate 2947.3 “Courtmartial” (1)
Stardate 3012.4 “The Menagerie” (1)
Stardate 3018.2 “Catspaw” (2)
Stardate 3025.3 “Shore Leave” (1)
Stardate 3045.6 “Arena” (1)
Stardate 3087.6 “The Alternative Factor” (1)
Stardate 3113.2 “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” (1)
Stardate 3134.0 “The City On The Edge Of Forever” (1)
Stardate 3141.9 “Space Seed” (1)
Stardate 3156.2 “The Return Of The Archons” (1)
Stardate 3183.3 “The Practical Joker” (A)
Stardate 3192.1 “A Taste Of Armageddon” (1)
Stardate 3196.1 “The Devil In The Dark” (1)
Stardate 3198.4 “Errand Of Mercy” (1)
Stardate 3211.7 “The Gamesters Of Triskelion” (2)
Stardate 3219.8 “Metamorphosis” (2)
Stardate 3287.2 “Operation—Annihilate” (1)
Stardate 3372.7 “Amok Time” (2)
Stardate 3417.3 “This Side Of Paradise” (1)
Stardate 3468.1 “Who Mourns For Adonis?” (2)
Stardate 3478.2 “The Deadly Years” (2)
Stardate 3497.2 “Friday’s Child” (2)
Stardate 3541.9 “The Changeling” (2)
Stardate 3614.9 “Wolf In The Fold” (2)
Stardate 3619.2 “Obsession” (2)
Stardate 3715.9 “The Apple” (2)
Stardate 3842.3 “Journey To Babel” (2)
Stardate 4040.7 “Bread And Circuses” (2)
Stardate 4187.3 “The Slaver Weapon” (A)
Stardate 4202.9 “The Doomsday Machine” (2)
Not Specified “Mirror, Mirror” (2)
Stardate 4211.4 “A Private Little War” (2)
Stardate 4307.1 “The Immunity Syndrome” (2)
Stardate 4372.5 “Elaan Of Troyius” (3)
Stardate 4385.3 “Spectre Of The Gun” (3)
Stardate 4513.3 “I, Mudd” (2)
Stardate 4523.3 “The Trouble With Tribbles” (2)
Stardate 4598.0 “A Piece Of The Action” (2)
Stardate 4657.5 “By Any Other Name” (2)
Stardate 4729.4 “The Ultimate Computer” (2)
Stardate 4768.3 “Return To Tomorrow” (2)
Not Specified “The Omega Glory” (2)
Not Specified “Assignment: Earth” (2)
Stardate 4842.6 “The Paradise Syndrome” (3)
Stardate 4978.5 “Mudd’s Passion” (A)
Stardate 5027.3 “And The Children Shall Lead” (3)
Stardate 5031.3 “The Enterprise Incident” (3)
Stardate 5121.5 “The Empath” (3)
Stardate 5143.3 “The Survivor” (A)
Stardate 5267.2 “Time Trap” (A)
Stardate 5275.6 “Albatross” (A)
Stardate 5371.3 “One Of Our Planets Is Missing” (A)
Stardate 5373.4 “Yesteryear” (A)
Stardate 5392.4 “More Tribbles, More Troubles” (A)
Stardate 5423.4 “The Mark Of Gideon” (3)
Stardate 5431.4 “Spock’s Brain” (3)
Stardate 5476.3 “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky” (3)
Stardate 5483.7 “The Lorelei Signal” (A)
Stardate 5499.9 “The Ambergris Element” (A)
Stardate 5501.2 “Eye Of The Beholder” (A)
Stardate 5521.3 “Beyond The Farthest Star” (A)
Stardate 5554.4 “The Infinite Vulcan” (A)
Stardate 5577.3 “The Terratin Incident” (A)
Stardate 5591.2 “Once Upon A Planet” (A)
Stardate 5630.7 “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” (3)
Stardate 5683.1 “Jihad” (A)
Stardate 5693.2 “The Tholian Web” (3)
Not Specified “Day Of The Dove” (3)
Stardate 5710.5 “Wink Of An Eye” (3)
Stardate 5718.3 “Whom Gods Destroy” (3)
Stardate 5725.3 “The Lights Of Zetar” (3)
Stardate 5730.2 “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” (3)
Stardate 5784.2 “Plato’s Stepchildren” (3)
Not Specified “That Which Survives” (3)
Stardate 5818.4 “The Cloud Minders” (3)
Stardate 5832.3 “The Way To Eden” (3)
Stardate 5843.7 “Requiem For Methuselah” (3)
Stardate 5906.4 “The Savage Curtain” (3)
Stardate 5298.5 “Turnabout Intruder” (3)
Stardate 5943.7 “All Our Yesterdays” (3)
Stardate 6063.4 “How Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth” (A)
Stardate 6334.1 “The Pirates Of Orion” (A)
Stardate 6770.3 “The Counter-Clock Incident” (A)
Stardate 7403.6 “BEM” (A)
 
When I first got Trek DVDs - TOS Remastered - I watched the episodes in stardate order, per season. Nowadays, I'll just go by streaming order.
 
Has anyone ever attempted to watch the show in Stardate order? That surely must be an interesting way to watch.
I have that intention at some point. What I haven’t decided is whether to watch then in stardate order season by season or the entire series in stardate order.

When you put the episodes in stardate order you get some mixing up of the episodes. Some second season episodes are mixed in with first season and some third season are mixed in with second. You also get animated episodes sprinkled throughout the series, the most problematical being “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu” set before “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (so the Enterprise went from the centre of the galaxy directly to the edge in the beginning—thats quite a long haul). You also get “Catspaw” before “Space Seed” which clearly shows Chekov aboard the Enterprise before they encounter Khan.

I later made another list which put the episodes in stardate order, but only within their respective seasons. That clears some oddities. But you still have the oddity of having “Courtmartial” and “The Menagerie” back-to-back. If the Enterprise command staff was having legal issues twice within such a short period Starfleet might decide to reassign the ship’s entire command staff.

While TOS isn’t known for character evolution because of its episodic formula we still do see evolution of characters and relationships as the series progressed. Kirk, Spock and McCoy become less formal with each other as the show progresses. The first season, particularly early on, all the characters are more business like so to speak. That softens a bit, but doesn’t really go away throughout the first season. Second season gives us a somewhat lighter and looser tone overall including between the characters. Of course, we also see the characters visibly age over the seasons, which makes sense particularly if you accept the assumption that TOS and TAS (if you include it) depicts that vast bulk of the 5-year mission.
 
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When I started watching TOS, it was broadcast in a random order anyway, and it worked well for me. I don't think the order matters much (except for "WNMHGB", which makes sense as a pilot, "Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd", and of course you should watch "The Menagerie, Part 1" before "Part 2"... are there other episodes I forgot?).

I didn't even notice Chekov only joined in season 2, before the show was broadcast in correct (US airing) order for the first time here in 1994/95.
 
For the sake of curiosity, this is the TOS order German tv chose for the first airing:

"Season 1" 1972:
1. Tomorrow is Yesterday
2. The Immunity Syndrome
3. Court Martial
4. The Tholian Web
5. The Doomsday Machine
6. The Changeling
7. A Piece of the Action
8. The Ultimate Computer
9. The Enemy Within
10. Obsession
11. The Lights of Zetar
12. The Enterprise Incident
13. That Which Survives
14. I, Mudd
15. Assignment Earth
16. Is There in Truth No Beauty?
17. Journey to Babel
18. The Trouble With Tribbles
19. The Corbomite Maneuver
20. The Galileo Seven
21. Space Seed
22. For the World is Hollow ...
23. Who Mourns for Adonais
24. By Any Other Name
25. The Paradise Syndrome
26. The Savage Curtain

"Season 2" 1973/74:
27. Where No Man Has Gone Before
28. Elaan of Troyius
29. Wink of an Eye
30. Metamorphosis
31. Catspaw
32. Errand of Mercy
33. Return to Tomorrow
34. Amok Time
35. Bread and Circuses
36. Charlie X
37. Anf the Children Shall Lead
38. Requiem for a Methuselah
39. Squire of Gothos

"Season 3" 1987/88:
40. Mudd's Women
41. The Man Trap
42. The Naked Time
43. ...

(All other, previously unaired episodes were then broadcast in production order, except for "Patterns of Force", which was first released in Germany in 1996 on VHS.)
 
Women really are that superficial, making snap judgements about men they haven't met, whereas men take a broadminded, forgiving view of women's styles.

Sweeping generalizations, especially ones like this, are offensive and have no place here.

Don't do this again.
 
Another vote for production order... but this probably comes down to if your primary reference point for TOS is original NBC broadcast / the ST Concordance guide / streaming versus syndication order / ST Compendium / ST Chronology & Encyclopedia.
 
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Another vote for production order... but this probably comes down to if your primary reference point for TOS is original NBC broadcast / the ST Concordance guide / streaming versus syndication order / ST Compendium / ST Chronology & Encyclopedia.
My experience with the show is "broadcast order," and only because that's what's been used for the DVD & Blu-ray sets.
 
I must admit as far as TOS goes I thought they all had Stardates? Well I mean, except for The Cage, but that one obviously goes first. I gotta look up the whole TOS list of episodes and get back to you.
Columbia House Home Video released the series in stardate order back in the 80's into the 90's. There were 5 that didn't have stardates so they were grouped at the end.

Stardate 4202.9 “The Doomsday Machine” - this is never stated on screen, the only captain's log was from Decker's recording, which was 4202.1. The "official" stardate from this episode was, I imagine, in the script, unless it's a post-series assumption that became accepted. The video releases put it on the packaging for the episode.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" also never gives a stardate. Kirk kicks it off after the opening credits with "supplemental entry" and then "no star date."
 
My experience with the show is "broadcast order," and only because that's what's been used for the DVD & Blu-ray sets.
Yeah CBS didn't exactly make watching TOS in production order easy on BD with their bloated disc start up disclaimers.

At least TOS is relatively easy... it's not exactly like THE PRISONER from the UK where there are like 5+ different recommended orders (I still have a spreadsheet in My Documents with whatever "TUV" order is).
 
The original BBC broadcast order is pretty wild, although does have the benefit of actually starting with WNMHGB and front-loads a bunch of strong episodes.

Towards the end they start repeating episodes along with new unaired episodes, and infamously didn't show Plato's Stepchildren, The Empath, and Whom Gods Destroy until the nineties.

The show was regularly repeated throughout the seventies and eighties, but Miri was deemed unsuitable after the 1970 TX and had to wait until 1992 to have a second BBC broadcast.

1969-07-12: Where No Man Has Gone Before
1969-07-19: The Naked Time
1969-07-26: The City On The Edge Of Forever
1969-08-02: A Taste Of Armageddon
1969-08-09: Mudd's Women
1969-08-16: Tomorrow Is Yesterday
1969-08-23: The Menagerie Part 1
1969-08-30: The Menagerie Part 2
1969-09-06: The Devil In The Dark
1969-09-13: Charlie X
1969-09-20: Shore Leave
1969-09-27: Space Seed
1969-10-04: The Man Trap
1969-10-11: Dagger Of The Mind
1969-10-18: The Corbomite Manoeuvre
1969-10-25: Balance Of Terror
1969-11-01: The Squire Of Gothos
1969-11-08: What Are Little Girls Made Of?
1969-11-15: Arena
1969-11-22: The Return Of The Archons
1969-11-29: This Side Of Paradise
1969-12-06: The Doomsday Machine
1969-12-13: Errand Of Mercy
1969-12-20: The Conscience Of The King
1969-12-27: The Galileo Seven

1970-04-06: 19.10: Court Martial
1970-04-13: 19.10: The Enemy Within
1970-04-20: 19.10: Catspaw
1970-04-27: 19.10: Who Mourns for Adonais?
1970-05-04: 19.10: The Apple
1970-05-11: 19.10: Metamorphosis
1970-05-18: 19.10: Wolf In The Fold
1970-05-25: 18.15: The Changeling
1970-06-01: 19.10: The Trouble with Tribbles
1970-06-08: 19.10: Bread And Circuses
1970-06-22: 19.10: Journey To Babel
1970-06-29: 19.10: The Deadly Years
1970-07-06: 19.10: A Private Little War
1970-07-13: 19.10: Obsession
1970-07-20: 19.10: By Any Other Name
1970-07-27: 19.10: I, Mudd
1970-08-03: 19.10: Patterns Of Force
1970-08-10: 19.10: The Immunity Syndrome
1970-08-17: 19.10: Return To Tomorrow
1970-08-24: 19.10: The Omega Glory
1970-09-07: 19.10: A Piece of the Action
1970-10-07: 19.20: The Ultimate Computer
1970-10-14: 19.20: Friday's Child
1970-11-04: 19.20: Assignment: Earth
1970-11-11: 19.20: Mirror, Mirror
1970-11-18: 19.20: The Gamesters of Triskelion
1970-11-25: 19.20: Amok Time
1970-12-02: 19.20: Miri
1970-12-09: 19.20: Operation -- Annihilate!
1970-12-16: 19.20: The Empath [not shown, replaced by The Paradise Syndrome]
1970-12-30: 19.20: Requiem for Methuselah

1971-01-06 19.20 All Our Yesterdays
1971-01-13 19.20 Day of the Dove
1971-01-20 19.20 The Way To Eden
1971-01-27 19.20 Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
1971-02-03 19.20 Wink of an Eye
1971-02-10 19.20 The Cloud Minders
1971-02-17 19.20 Where No Man Has Gone Before (2)
1971-02-24 19.20 A Taste Of Armageddon (2)
1971-03-03 19.20 Mudd's Women (2)
1971-03-10 19.20 Tomorrow Is Yesterday (2)
1971-03-17 19.10 The Devil In The Dark (2)
1971-03-24 19.10 Shore Leave (2)
1971-03-31 19.10 Space Seed (2)
1971-04-07 19.10 The Corbomite Maneuver (2)
1971-04-14 19.10 The Squire Of Gothos (2)
1971-09-15 19.25 Spectre of the Gun
1971-09-22 19.25 Elaan of Troyius
1971-09-29 19.25 The Enterprise Incident
1971-10-06 19.25 And the Children Shall Lead
1971-10-13 19.25 Spock's Brain
1971-10-20 19.25 Is There in Truth No Beauty?
1971-10-27 19.25 For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
1971-11-03 19.25 That Which Survives
1971-11-10 19.25 The Mark of Gideon
1971-11-17 19.25 The Lights of Zetar
1971-11-24 19.25 The Savage Curtain
1971-12-01 19.25 The Tholian Web
1971-12-08 19.25 The Alternative Factor
1971-12-15 19.25 Turnabout Intruder
1971-12-22 19.25 What Are Little Girls Made Of? (2)
1971-12-29 19.25 This Side Of Paradise (2)

 
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