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Rewatching Star Trek For the 50th Anniversary

A Peice of the Action
Heck, I actually wouldn't mind if the new series went back to the planet and saw how they were doing. Maybe they became members of the federation, or they reverted to the mob mentality. Would have been a nice follow up.

If I recall correctly, one of the comic books (was it in Peter David's run?) did return there. Can't remember how it came out, though.
 
@RAMA et el

What was it with Star Trek and greek mythology. Seemed like there was quite a few episodes that were based off of Greek (or Roman) mythology.
Honestly, this is what got Trek on the air..re-use of stock props, etc. It kept the budget down. At some point it becomes hard to suspend disbelief though.

Also it's an American show. We identify more with the Greeks than other cultures they might have used.
 
That Which Survives

I remember liking this episode at one time, but maybe I just remembered this episode wrongly. This was pretty boring, and this Spock Character was very different from the Spock we know throughout the series. It was like they had to have Spock be witty like Data in the movies and it just didn't work. As for the planet, another issue of a trek episode being repetitive.
 
That Which Survives

I remember liking this episode at one time, but maybe I just remembered this episode wrongly. This was pretty boring, and this Spock Character was very different from the Spock we know throughout the series. It was like they had to have Spock be witty like Data in the movies and it just didn't work. As for the planet, another issue of a trek episode being repetitive.

I've mentioned this before. I don't think it's a great episode, but i find that I've re-watched it fairly often. So on those terms a definitely like it.

What's best? Well the plaintive cries of the computer hologram of Losira for one. Kind of a sad story. Despite being over 10.000+ years old they're easily identifiable as explorers and settlers like the federation.

The planet is one of the largest intelligence made objects in visual fiction in size, over 2000 miles in diameter.
 
The Lights of Zatar

One of the things I like about the third season was its abundance of color. Here that color was used for the alien, and it was a creepy alien at that. It was hypnotizing but it was strange and kind of cool for 1960s effects. Still this episode is considerably average but not the worst of the season. Romance wasn't a bad character but I don't believe Scotty would act like that, especially considering his ordeal in Wolf in the Fold and how dedicated he was to the Enterprise. Not a bad episode and it's a step up from some of the episodes this season.
 
Requiem for Methuselah

I've always been a fan of this episode. Flint was an interesting character, taking on the personas of various historic figures of the past and I wish they had actually played on that better. I also liked what they were going for with the love angle with Rayna, but this was the episode where I think Scotty would have been a better character than Kirk in terms of falling in love. I know Kirk is the Captain and the center of the show, but it seemed like it was against his character to fall in love so quickly and then fight Flint over her. I did like the end though, how the agony of love and a broken heart affects someone and Kirk's grief was reasonable, as well as Spock trying to help his friend.

I wouldn't call this one of the best episodes of the season, but I would say it's maybe a step above Lights of Zetar.
 
The Way To Eden

This episode was "out there" but I don't think it was the worst of the season. The worst were those boring episodes like That Which Survives or Wink of an Eye, or Mark of Gideon, and then And the Children Shall Lead was beyond worst. Way to Eden was an episode I thought had some good ideas like the counter culture movement and the Idea of Eden bed real or Myth or just whatever you make it out to be. Also this episode was memorable because of the music, which I really liked. In fact for better or worse I would say this episode was one of the highlights, in terms of being really memorable.
 
The Cloud Minders

I was thinking about this season and how it doesn't feel repetitive like season 2 felt. Season 2 always talked about non-interference and then we get this episode where Kirk feels the need to intervene in the way of basic human rights. I think this episode tackled the idea of human and worker rights (even though I could see some civil rights in there too) and it did a good job with the theme. I do wish Plasus didn't come across as such an egotist though but that's government for you.

Overall one of the better season 3 shows. Also liked the look of the cloud city.
 
The Savage Curtain

Eh, this episode felt like a (rock) pile of nothing. In fact I can see where Galaxy Quest got various things to Parody because this episode was ripe for it. Also, to bring in Lincoln only to kill him with a spear feels wrong. Nothing was learned and nothing was gained in this one, but at least it wasn't dull.
 
Spectre Of The Gun

This is such a great classic episode. Kirk, Spock, Chekov, and McCoy having to take part in the duel at the OK Corral and have to figure out and believe that it wasn't real. It was a good mystery episode taking that moment in history and giving us the Clanton point of view. Also, this might be Chekov's best episode of the series. Yes he dies, kind of, but he gets the girl, unlike Spock and Kirk.

Also, one thing I really like about the third season is the aliens actually look alien. The Melcosians looked really interesting and we will see the Tholians later, and the pig creatures they are. Also, the color in this season is great. Yeah they look cheap, but sometimes cheap is more effective than CGI.
I liked this episode. At first I was rolling my eyes because it was yet another episode where our heroes find themselves on a planet where they are immersed in a specific period of Earth history. This formula has become very tiresome for me. But the turning point was the conversation after Chekov was killed, and the group started turning on Spock for being heartless, but he says, "they forget that I am half human," indicating that he is mourning in his own way as well. A very powerful scene. Flash forward to the OK Corral and Spock mind-melding with the others to make certain they believe the bullets will not hurt them. It's mentioned that "there will always be some doubt," and I think that Spock's earlier confession leads us to believe that his incantations to the others about the bullets being shadows, projections, unable to penetrate their bodies, is as much for him as it I the others. Great Spock exploration episode!
 
The Gailaio Seven

This is one of the best episodes of the first season. You really can see the dichotomy of Logic versus human emotion, even though it seems like they were trying to paint Spock has kind of a bad guy. Spock was half human, yet he seemed to really ignore his human side here. Still, it was interesting watching Spock's reactions to the situation and the rest of the landing party's reaction to Spock. Also nice to see the Shuttle Bay for the first time.

Ugh. We only got to see one alien during the whole episode and it looked like an Ewok teddy bear on steroids. Not to mention the rubber spears and paper mache rock that pins Spock in place. Oh, the horror.
 
All Our Yesterdays

I think if this had been a first season episode it would have been considered a classic. This was a really strong Spock story, and there was a great reason why he was acting the way he was acting. I felt bad for Zarabeth at the end, her dying alone on that planet. This episode also featured two of the most memorable characters in the third season, the aforementioned Zarabeth and Mr. AtoZ. When I do my top 5 of this season, this episode is right in there. Beautiful episode.
 
The Savage Curtain

Eh, this episode felt like a (rock) pile of nothing. In fact I can see where Galaxy Quest got various things to Parody because this episode was ripe for it. Also, to bring in Lincoln only to kill him with a spear feels wrong. Nothing was learned and nothing was gained in this one, but at least it wasn't dull.

This episode makes an important distinction..there isn't just black and white and good and evil, Sometimes two sides use the same methods for different goals. It might not be satisfying, but it is true.

RAMA
 
Turnabout Intruder

And so, in just about 2 months, I've come to the end of this rewatch with Turnabout Intruder. This episode was cheesy, and a little sexist. I know I'm supposed to watch this series considering the context of the time it was in, but couldn't they have at least had Janice Lester be somewhat reasonable in the job? She wanted to be Captain, yet she was incompetent, tempermental, and I think this episode was just a way to have Shatner ham it up one more time. I'm watching a lot of shows now where woman are written really really well and I go back to this episode and I just can't even imagine. However, there was a cheese element I did like. Spock, as his logical self was great in this episode. The idea of Mutiny was great in this episode, and the woman who played Kirk was also really good in her calm endearing way. It's not the worst episode of the series, but I guess for a show that prided itself on being progressive, this was one of the most disappointing.

As for the season, I said when I started Season 3 that I would defend it. Is it the best season of the series? No, it's probably the worst. Still, after seeing the repetitiveness of Season 2, I would say the distance between Season 2 and Season 3 isn't that far away. There were some interesting ideas in season 3, and there were interesting sci fi elements that could have worked better had the budget maybe called for it. I'm thinking of episodes like Wink of An Eye, or The Lights of Zetar, or even Whom Gods Destroy. I'd say if i were to sum up this season, it would be dull for the most part. Still, there are quite a few memorable (For better or worse) episodes here and I still say Season 3 is a worthy season of Star Trek.

Top 5 episodes of Season 3

The Enterprise Incident
All Our Yesterdays
The Tholian Web
Day of the Dove
Spectre of the Gun

I'm glad I did this rewatch. When I started, my thoughts were really it's the 50th anniversary of this series, and there were some episodes I've only seen once. I started by watching Cloud Minders and Lights of Zetar and Conscience of the King because those were episodes I wanted to rediscover and I thought, might as well watch the series. Is it my favorite series? No. I'm still a 90s guy through and through. However, I have so much respect for what this series brought to pop culture, society, science, and all the lives it had an impact on. I wouldn't be a Trek fan today if it weren't for Star Trek, and for that I am grateful. It's had a lasting impact on my life, and continues to do so to this day. I'm looking forward to my first convention in Vegas in August, and I'm probably going to go rewatch another series now. Who knows, maybe to end the year I will come back and watch some of these episodes again.
 
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Over the years, a lot of people have assumed that Vulcan is some kind of matriarchy. But for all we know, T'Pau simply won an election, and when her term is up, her successor might be a man.

Living in a matriarchal culture does not mean a male cannot be a leader of a region of the planet, in RL humanity is mainly a patriarchal based culture, which still allows for female political leaders and female monarchs in some regions.
 
I'd say if i were to sum up this season, it would be dull for the most part.

For the 2nd season, Shatner made it known that he wanted more stunts/fights/action. Then the 3rd season budget slash came and, as Bob Justman stated, ST became a radio show with more talk than action. Pass the No-Doze.
 
For the 2nd season, Shatner made it known that he wanted more stunts/fights/action. Then the 3rd season budget slash came and, as Bob Justman stated, ST became a radio show with more talk than action. Pass the No-Doze.
It makes you wonder what the third season would have been like had there been a bigger budget. I mean take an episode like The Tholian Web. If that episode had a budget like a movie or even Season 1's budget, I think it would have looked even cooler. One of my favorite scenes in Enterprise's "In a Mirror Darkly" was seeing the Tholian Web smother the Enterprise. We got to see that thing form, in HD, with a great budget. Now the effect in the Third season episode was ok for what it was, but what we got in IaMD made me appreciate it a whole lot more.
 
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It makes you wonder what the third season would have been like had their been a budget. I mean take an episode like The Tholian Web. If that episode had a budget like a movie or even Season 1's budget, I think it would have looked even cooler. One of my favorite scenes in Enterprise's "In a Mirror Darkly" was seeing the Tholian Web smother the Enterprise. We got to see that thing form, in HD, with a great budget. Now the effect in the Third season episode was ok for what it was, but what we got in IaMD made me appreciate it a whole lot more.

Agreed. I remember James Doohan was aghast when her heard that the budget for ST:TNG was approximately $1 million per episode. His reaction was something to the effect of "Imagine what TOS could have accomplished with that kind of budget!"
 
Taste of Armageddon

I've always liked this episode, mainly for it's anti-war message, which still applicable today, probably even moreso. War is never clean, and all kinds of war just sucks. I loved Kirk in this episode, trying to make that point to Anon 7, and him showing how "Barbaric" he can be. I do kind of wish Fox wasn't such an imacile, but I guess he was portraying what a real politician would be like (I have low regard for politicians).

This Side of Paradise

The end of this episode reminded me a lot of the end of Taste of Armageddon, when Kirk was talking about that inner struggle to achieve and we don't deserve paradise. It's that sense of achievement and work and challenge that keeps us going in our lives, and that's a powerful message, and one of Trek's best. Also, Spock is such a heartless romantic. ;) On a serious note, it was great to see Nimoy get to have emotions and see that relationship with Layla, even if it was under the spore influence. Loved the scene with Kirk just insulting Spock and his race. Not a good idea to get a Vulcan (Or is it Vulcanian) mad.
I was watching This Side of Paradise and I wondered something. When Spock takes Kirk and Sulu and another crewman over to the blossoms and they get shot with them, why didn't Kirk get influenced? Why did it only happen later when Kirk is alone on the ship with a blossom on the bridge?
 
I was watching This Side of Paradise and I wondered something. When Spock takes Kirk and Sulu and another crewman over to the blossoms and they get shot with them, why didn't Kirk get influenced? Why did it only happen later when Kirk is alone on the ship with a blossom on the bridge?
I don't remember Kirk being physically in contact with the Blossoms, was he?
 
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