I'm curious what you all think is the most thrilling episode of TOS. Like, what has the most exciting plot?
I was thinking about this last night while rewatching Journey to Babel. That episode starts out rather low key, but once you get to the fight scene between Kirk and Thelev, the whole thing just takes off. You've got a saboteur on board, the captain stabbed, a dignitary murdered, Sarek in critical condition, and an unidentified ship firing on the Enterprise. No matter how many times I watch this episode, I still tense up (in a fun way) during the last couple scenes. It's when the Orion ship is making passes across the Enterprise and firing on it, and the Enterprise keeps trying to shoot it, but the ship is too fast. And they cut back and forth between the bridge and the operation in sick bay. There's so much joyful chaos. Uhura reports that the dignitaries are wondering what's going on and Kirk has this amazing line delivery through his pain from the stab wound: "Tell'em to take a good guess but clear that board lieutenant!" Then Thelev is brought to the bridge and has a great interaction with Kirk. We've seen the "turn everything off and play dead" trick before in Balance of Terror, but it's still great to watch it play out. I think Shatner's performance in this episode is fantastic.
Despite TOS's reputation for being "slow" or having "60s pacing," I think episodes like Journey to Babel defy those stereotypes. It's a fun, exciting, absolutely thrilling hour of television. So, what episodes of TOS do you find the most exciting? What episodes still push you to the edge of your seat?
I was thinking about this last night while rewatching Journey to Babel. That episode starts out rather low key, but once you get to the fight scene between Kirk and Thelev, the whole thing just takes off. You've got a saboteur on board, the captain stabbed, a dignitary murdered, Sarek in critical condition, and an unidentified ship firing on the Enterprise. No matter how many times I watch this episode, I still tense up (in a fun way) during the last couple scenes. It's when the Orion ship is making passes across the Enterprise and firing on it, and the Enterprise keeps trying to shoot it, but the ship is too fast. And they cut back and forth between the bridge and the operation in sick bay. There's so much joyful chaos. Uhura reports that the dignitaries are wondering what's going on and Kirk has this amazing line delivery through his pain from the stab wound: "Tell'em to take a good guess but clear that board lieutenant!" Then Thelev is brought to the bridge and has a great interaction with Kirk. We've seen the "turn everything off and play dead" trick before in Balance of Terror, but it's still great to watch it play out. I think Shatner's performance in this episode is fantastic.
Despite TOS's reputation for being "slow" or having "60s pacing," I think episodes like Journey to Babel defy those stereotypes. It's a fun, exciting, absolutely thrilling hour of television. So, what episodes of TOS do you find the most exciting? What episodes still push you to the edge of your seat?
