Season 1 as ranked by the TOS forum

[johnnybear]

Arena along with Errand of Mercy are top of the pops for me! Plus why is The Man Trap so deeply unliked? I thought it was eerie indeed, shouldn't have been the first episode to be screened though but still an early entrant!
JB

 

[J.T.B.]

Pretty interesting, thanks for doing it, Botany Bay! Some of my favorites are also fairly low, but it's not too surprising.

Just goofing around while waiting for rolls to rise:

Slight upward trends through the season, but not much. Still, based on my own preferences, I would have guessed a slightly downward trend by production order.

 

[Botany Bay]

Wow. Nice work there J.T.B.

I agree with the forum here - most of Season 1 was top shelf.
Will be interesting to see the shape of the distributions for the next two seasons.

Great graph. Look at that trend go up. The arrival of Gene Coon?

Another really interesting chart. Two of the big drops are for Court Martial and The Alternative Factor -- both episodes were to be held back till the very end of the season, and only aired when they did because there was nothing else to put to air.

I thought Court Martial was considered a good episode?

It seems the production team weren't all that thrilled with it. IMO not terrible, but could have used another run through the typewriter -- particularly the last twenty minutes seemed a bit rushed. I'd put it in my bottom five for the season.

 

[Michael]

The only thing that I will never understand is the popularity of “Balance of Terror”. I'm certainly not surprised to see it on top of that list (I'm well aware of its status amoung fans), but I don't think I ever got why it's so well liked. Granted, it's a fairly good episode – most of the first season Star Trek episodes are – but on place two?! There are a number of episodes – like “The Devil in the Dark”, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”,“Space Seed” or “This Side of Paradise” – that I'd rank higher. Again, not to say it's a bad episode, but why is it SO popular?

 

[J.T.B.]

The only thing that I will never understand is the popularity of “Balance of Terror”. [...] Again, not to say it's a bad episode, but why is it SO popular?

I would say, why wouldn't one expect it to be among the highest rated? It has a lot to offer: Action, suspense, a strong adversary character, a battle of wits, intra-crew tension, a love story, a heroic act, a tragic death, strong character scenes, an original new spaceship, a look at an alien culture... Pretty strong episode, even if one doesn't personally find it to be the absolute best.

 

[Marsden]

The only thing that I will never understand is the popularity of “Balance of Terror”. [...] Again, not to say it's a bad episode, but why is it SO popular?

I would say, why wouldn't one expect it to be among the highest rated? It has a lot to offer: Action, suspense, a strong adversary character, a battle of wits, intra-crew tension, a love story, a heroic act, a tragic death, strong character scenes, an original new spaceship, a look at an alien culture... Pretty strong episode, even if one doesn't personally find it to be the absolute best.

Great answer!

I'd add, just echoing some of what you said, the battle was a long difficult one with much manuevering and strategy. I hate when space battles are so over-simplified down to drive right up to each other and shoot. Yes, that happens, especially with fleet engagements, but with Balance of Terror it shows there's a lot more to being a captain than just sitting in the chair.

 

[J.T.B.]

Another really interesting chart. Two of the big drops are for Court Martial and The Alternative Factor -- both episodes were to be held back till the very end of the season, and only aired when they did because there was nothing else to put to air.

That's a good point, and it is interesting, isn't it?

Also, one of the biggest drops by production order -- the biggest, outside "The Alternative Factor" -- is for "Mudd's Women." Not that it's great, but to me it doesn't seem that out of line with the early "frontiersy" episodes, and it did spawn a recurring character. I think it's probably down to not aging well, IIRC some of the comments here. It's dated by an old-school Western feel and plot (though IMO it puts enough of a sci fi twist on a mail-order brides story to make it interesting; I think I gave it a 6) and outdated treatment of gender roles, but I suspect it wouldn't stand out as badly in the context of what else was on TV in 1967.

 

[benjaminh]

My rankings for the first season are in some places similar

"The City on the Edge of Forever"
"Balance of Terror"
"The Menagerie, Parts I and II"
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
"The Corbomite Maneuver"
"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
"The Devil in the Dark"
"Arena"
"Space Seed"
"Dagger of the Mind"
"A Taste of Armageddon"
"The Galileo Seven"
"The Conscience of the King"
"Shore Leave"
"The Squire of Gothos"
"Operation: Annihilate!"
"Court Martial"
"The Enemy Within"
"This Side of Paradise"
"The Naked Time"
"The Man Trap"
"Miri"
"Charlie X"
"Errand of Mercy"
"Tomorrow Is Yesterday"
"The Return of the Archons"
"Mudd's Women"
"The Alternative Factor"

 

[benjaminh]

Or, as letter grades....

Man Trap: B-
Charlie X: C+
Where No Man Has Gone Before: B+
The Naked Time: B
The Enemy Within: B
Mudd's Women: D
What Are Little Girls Made Of: B+
Miri: B-
Dagger of the Mind: B+
Corbomite Maneuver: A-
The Menagerie I & II: A
Conscience of the King: B+
Balance of Terror: A
Shore Leave: B
Galileo Seven: B
The Squire of Gothos: B
Arena: B+
Tomorrow is Yesterday: C+
Court Martial: B
Return of the Archons: B-
Space Seed: A-
A Taste of Armageddon: B+
This Side of Paradise: B-
The Devil in the Dark: B+
Errand of Mercy: C-
The Alternative Factor: D-
City on the Edge of Forever: A+
Operation: Annihilate!: B

 

[Pauln6]

Still, Miri boasts my favorite Yeoman Rand episode. I really loved Grace Lee Whitney's performance in this episode. And that counts for a lot because she only got a couple of episodes where she got a lot to do.

I think overall the list is what we'd expect although tastes vary slightly. My favourite Rand episode is the Man Trap. Although she's in Miri more, I just find her to be too passive and a bit of a spare wheel. She literally just sits there and waits to be rescued. Her dialogue needed to be spiked up so she said and did something useful. Having her patrol with the security teams would have been better.

At least in Man Trap she was allowed to demonstrate her more cheeky, more natural approach to the junior officers as opposed to her buttoned-up relationship with Kirk and Spock.

 

[1001001]

Please don't bump dead threads. If it's over a year since the last reply, that's a pretty good guideline.

Thanks.