Each season feels like a separate show

[Commishsleer]

In his autobiography Doohan said he did his own hair. Spent 5 minutes in the makeup chair while Nimoy was stuck there for hours.
I thought Doohan's hair was awful when he slicked it back and Takei had some weird hair in Season 3 "That Which Survives"
I'd say 90% of Chapel's hair was unflattering but I suppose it gradually got worse in Season 3. I'd say 20% of Uhura's wigs were unflattering but that wasn't season dependent.
I didn't notice anyone getting fatter until the movies. I though Shatner's weight went up and down a bit but I'd never have called him fat.

 

[gottacook]

The format and cast remained the same and the lack of all out comedies (like “A Piece of the Action”) was a breath of fresh air to me.

I think the comedies in season 2 were themselves intended as a "breath of fresh air" after the sheer murderousness of the episodes earlier in the season. Here's the production order:
"Catspaw"
"Metamorphosis"
"Friday's Child"
"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
"Amok Time"
"The Doomsday Machine"
"Wolf in the Fold"
"The Changeling"
"The Apple"
"Mirror, Mirror"
"The Deadly Years"
All of these feature deaths, if you include Commissioner Hedford in "Metamorphosis," Apollo spreading himself on the wind in "Adonais," and the fake death in "Amok Time". (Not to mention the last several episodes of the previous season.) In light of these, the next episodes - "I, Mudd" and "The Trouble with Tribbles" - must have seemed a relief.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I certainly don’t disagree and I’m sure I’m not nearly in the majority, but most of those episodes you list had humorous moments to alleviate the tension (only "The Doomsday Machine" was pretty much totally straight). The rest had character moments and bits where people could smile or chuckle. And that’s what I prefer. I don’t like all out comedy in my straightforward adventure shows. Star Trek worked best – for me – with a serious story punctuated by humor at the right times. So, “A Piece of the Action,” “I, Mudd,” and “Tribbles” almost never get return visits from me. The Voyage Home is my least favorite of the classic films. In other shows, I don’t enjoy most of Lost in Space’s color episodes, not because the plots are cheesy but because of the over reliance on laughs. Meanwhile, other the Irwin Allen shows, which didn’t have any less ridiculous plots, were barren of humor. I love those.

Humor is fine but when Star Trek “tries” to be funny or deviates an entire episode to The Planet Sitcom, I’m not that interested.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

The comedy was certainly 'out of character' for the regulars, and in some places 'forced'.

I think Tribbles is probably the better of the three, primarily because of the klingons, and the tension between our crew and theirs, in a shore-leave setting. The 'love to hate' and mutual military respect kinda follows through with Koloth from Kor and then later continues with Kang.

As someone above said, the 'planet sitcom' two episodes really had no driving plot going through them as much. At least we had Sherman's planet etc in Tribbles, and most of Shatner's (arguably) silly moments and gestures were limited to K7, and not in the character's regular professional environment.

 

[Qonundrum]

Season 1, especially the earliest episodes, look very early ‘60s with their very tidy looking hair, particularly Kirk. But around mid season onward things start to look a bit more casual. Season 3 reflects a bit of the look of the late ‘60s to early ‘70s.

Season 1 looked more 50s IMHO with that boot polish hair gel glopped in. Okay, the same can be said for some officers in "The Way to Eden", but otherwise...

Season 3 looks distinctly different from Season 2. Not bad just different. The actors look a touch older and some even seem to have gained a bit of weight all around, which some people do as they age. The overall tone of S3 is much more like S1 than S2 which rather ties it all together and thus more like what Roddenberry sought to establish all through. S2 had episodes—the broad comedies and a back door pilot—that deviated from the general tone established in S1 and returned to in S3.

Freiberger did seem to try to adhere to "Gene's vision" and more serious tone, which was great- the humor of season 2, right down to Chekov's comedy being more a backhanded compliment (thank you "TV Sins" for pointing that out), was so hit or miss... which is impressive given the struggles in the making of the show but by season 3 it was already given the Friday night slot...

The changing appearance of the characters lends itself to a believable passage of time from early in the 5-year mission to near the end even over only three seasons. If you accept TAS as actually part of TOS then we essentially have pretty much all of the 5-year voyage. If you think TAS is its own separate thing then the three seasons of TOS could be seen as nearly the whole 5-year voyage with the aired episodes as the mission’s highlights, particularly if you want to accept a believable passage of time between major events seen in the episodes. Add a bit of more wiggle room and the 5-year mission might actually have been about five and a half years in duration.

If nobody got a haircut between season 3 TOS and season 1 TAS, they could have used their own hair as jump ropes...

But jokiness aside, that's a good point in bringing up both points re: TOS/TAS for direct continuity or otherwise.

Shatner definitely has longer hair at the back in season three, especially the latter part. The front piece is obviously added, but the back is his own. Just look at how it is beginning to curl at the back in Mark of Gideon, especially when talking/kissing to Odana on the bridge. (My hair did the same during the pandemic until I managed to get to a barber )

Forget barbers. 1968 hairdos need to make a comeback.

 

[Ssosmcin]

The comedy was certainly 'out of character' for the regulars, and in some places 'forced'.

I think Tribbles is probably the better of the three, primarily because of the klingons, and the tension between our crew and theirs, in a shore-leave setting. The 'love to hate' and mutual military respect kinda follows through with Koloth from Kor and then later continues with Kang.

As someone above said, the 'planet sitcom' two episodes really had no driving plot going through them as much. At least we had Sherman's planet etc in Tribbles, and most of Shatner's (arguably) silly moments and gestures were limited to K7, and not in the character's regular professional environment.

Tribbles is my favorite of the comedies as well mainly because everyone stays in character. While some of it is a little over the top, it works for the most part.

I, Mudd and APOTA use the characters being OUT of character for their humor which doesn’t work for me.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Forget barbers. 1968 hairdos need to make a comeback.

I fully concur! I love me side parting and pointy side burns!

 

[BillJ]

Honestly, I liked the comedy episodes. We got three out of 79 episodes.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Honestly, I liked the comedy episodes. We got three out of 79 episodes.

Most people do. And I'm glad it was just three and not a few dozen, like on Lost in Space. Fewer episodes to leave off my rotation.

 

[WildManWizard]

Shatner’s actual hair seemed to be evident in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” There was a good deal of combing over going on and in HD it’s pretty obvious. I find this interesting because it kind of pulls the air out of Doohan’s “random tufts of hair” he claimed he had. If he does have a hairpiece in the pilot, it’s just a little one.

The 3rd season visual change can be chalked up to Al Francis taking over partway through the season after Jerry Finnerman left. Maybe there was a different film stock as well, I’m not up on that stuff. It does seem crisper and brighter. Shatner struggled with his weight and unless he was really strict, the pounds would just add up. I’m the same way. I lean out quickly but gain weight just as fast. With his workload, there’s no wonder he had trouble. The new uniforms helped everyone look slimmer, and Shatner seemingly had compression garb beneath his uniform to help a little, but his face is noticeably slimmer a few weeks after “Spectre of the Gun.” And he did have his shirt off in the final episode, so while the producers may have been hard on him, most guys would have been happy with his physique. I know I would have at that age.

As for lighthearted music, I think “Spock’s Brain” is one of the few to have the humorous tag music, a nice little baroque piece that is really a lot of fun. Since the third year had very little overt humor, the music reflected that – to which I am grateful. I revisit the TOS music box set often, but rarely do I listen to “The Trouble With Tribbles” and really never “I, Mudd.” Trek leaned a little too hard on “funny music” in the Coon era – and the fan films were ridiculous with it.

However, all of this in mind, this wasn’t a show which was “a different series” every year. It was an evolving series. The format and cast remained the same and the lack of all out comedies (like “A Piece of the Action”) was a breath of fresh air to me.

I think doohan was full of soup!

I read a poster on here lived on shatners street back in 73 and would see him washing his car sans toupee and he described him as having hair but badly recessed at the corners.

Edit: found the source of my info https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-neverending-toupic-uh-topic.156982/page-2#post-5600482

 

[WildManWizard]

I fully concur! I love me side parting and pointy side burns!

I feel like the poster spocks barber should be in this thread!

 

[johnnybear]

Yes where is that old rusty nail in the tooth good guy these days?
JB

 

[mb22]

In his autobiography Doohan said he did his own hair. Spent 5 minutes in the makeup chair while Nimoy was stuck there for hours...

I thought Doohan's hair was awful when he slicked it back

Doohan in The World of Star Trek:

“You know when I changed my hair, the fans noticed it immediately. I just wasn’t happy with it, but I didn’t like it combed back either. I thought it looked like hell. But, when I went to put it back the old way, Gene didn’t like it. He decided I’d have to have a new hairdo, so he sent me to Sebring’s. After that it was better, I was able to make it match more easily. It hasn’t changed much since then, now [1973] it’s just a little longer.”​

 

[johnnybear]

Yes, Scotty's hair was okay in seasons one and two but his greased back job for three did not suit him, that is until he got his flat grey look half way but the episodes were screened in such a haphazard order that it looked like he was going to a stylist on a weekly basis!!!
JB

 

[Spock's Barber]

S1 - birth
S2 - maturity (immaturity in some episodes)
S3 - death

 

[Spock's Barber]

Yes where is that old rusty nail in the tooth good guy these days?
JB

I’ve been attending Starfleet barber school trying to master those Vulcan, Andorian and Tellerite hairdos.

 

[johnnybear]

JB

 

[Phoenix219]

Nah, Lost in Space's three seasons felt like different shows. Space:1999's two years felt like different shows. SeaQuest, War of the Worlds, Buck Rogers and the like similarly felt different each season. Every series evolves over time, but those other programs actually changed formats and sometimes cast. Star Trek retained their basic format and cast throughout. However, if you'd like to give examples and explain why you feel this way to help the conversation along, feel free.

Millenium is another show that changed every year.

 

[Lord Garth]

Like everyone else, I don't think it feels like three separate series. The characters are the same, the ship is the same, the format is the same. It's the same show. The stories varied, the tone shifted, showrunners came and went, but it was still the same show.

 

[Ssosmcin]

If it matters at all, the OP is apparently gone....