Season 3: Almost New Trek (for me..)

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I got into Star Trek as a teenager watching TOS reruns in the 70's.. since then I have watched all other Trek incarnations and bought most of it on DVD. My TOS collection however has been limited to videos until quite recently. I've happily rewatched these videos but missing from my collection is most of Season 3. So..when I got my hands on TOS-R I was looking fwd to Season 3 very much! But being a a linear being I had to start watching TOS-R from the beginning so I've only just got there, LOL.

And I cannot remember quite a few of them!! Or at the least, I can't remember how the episodes turn out. This is almost like being handed NEW Trek, and a nice chunk of it too!

So here's my mini reviews from the ones I've watched so far (the order seems to vary from the order they were aired in).

The Paradise Syndrome

This was one of my favorites as a teenager and I was interested to see how it fared several decades later. I assumed cheesiness would win out.. but I was wrong. What a sad episode I actually cried when Miramanee died. And she was having Kirk's child, what a tragedy. Still the same impact.. in fact more impact now that I'm an adult and the sadness of such losses is more real.

The Enterprise Incident

Continuously distracted by 1/3 of the Romulan Commander's uniform being pink. Never hearing her name really adds to the mystery of this race. Kirk as a Romulan is HOT. Dramatic episode in which the truth of what is happening is revealed slowly.

And the Children Shall Lead

I'd imagine this episode has a terrible reputation but I enjoyed it. Quite tragic at the end as the children realize what they have been party to. The oldest child Tommy was fascinatingly ugly.

Spock's Brain

Oh yes right up there with Threshold.. but.. it really wasn't particularly bad to me. Classic science fiction, interesting idea about the theft of the brain. I wonder what happened to that civilization after the Enterprise left? Did the men on the surface move below? Did the women make them have showers? "Brain, brain, what is brain?"

Is There in Truth No Beauty?

Just watched this tonight. WOW. An amazing episode that could have been longer. They only hinted at what the "ugliness" could be.. perhaps the ugliness within us. I had forgotten Dr. Miranda Jones was blind so that was a big surprise (here I thought she was just overly Vulcanized from living there.) This is one episode where I wanted to know more about all the characters and what happened. About a third of the way through it my 13 year old sat up and said, "That's Dr. Pulaski!!" I'm so proud.

I thought the portrayal of the Medusan's personality when in Spock's body was very well done, you could see the appeal of this being. Too bad we didn't get to hear from Spock what he learned about Medusans.

 

[Chrisisall]

Is There in Truth No Beauty?

Just watched this tonight. WOW. An amazing episode that could have been longer.

What a coincidence, I just watched that last night on my new remastered set- first time I'd seen it in decades- and you're right, what a great episode! The edititing was particularly well done, very avant garde in places.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

There are some real gems in season 3. I LOVE "Is there in truth no beauty". And i remember being so fascinated by that one as a child. Fascinated and scared! Spock's Brain is wonderful, cheesy 60s fun. And i have to agree with you, that poor kid who played Tommy was not an adorable child. Poor thing!

 

[startrekrcks]

I am getting season 2 and 3 for christmas what episodes do you suggest I watch

 

[Christopher]

The kid who played Tommy Starnes, Craig Hundley, also played Peter Kirk in "Operation: Annihilate!" As an adult, he became a musician and changed his name to Craig Huxley. He invented the "Blaster Beam" instrument that created some of the deep electronic sounds representing V'Ger in the soundtrack to ST:TMP, and he composed the electronic soundtrack that accompanied the Genesis simulation in The Wrath of Khan.

The production order for the third season was:

Spectre Of The Gun
Elaan of Troyius
The Paradise Syndrome
The Enterprise Incident
And The Children Shall Lead
Spock's Brain
Is There In Truth No Beauty?
The Empath
The Tholian Web
For The World Is Hollow, And I Have Touched The Sky
Day of the Dove
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
That Which Survives
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Whom Gods Destroy
The Mark Of Gideon
The Lights of Zetar
The Cloud Minders
The Way to Eden
Requiem for Methuselah
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

So you're apparently watching them in production order, albeit you missed the first couple. But I could've sworn the TOS-R DVDs were in airdate order.

 

[scottydog]

It's great when I hear people finding the good in season 3 instead of trashing it. There are lots of golden moments here. I'm looking forward to reading more of your reviews of other episodes!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

CHRISTOPHER: That is really interesting about Craig Huxley. Any idea why he made the name change?

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

Gotta recommend The Empath and The Tholian Web, two of my favorite episodes during Season 3.

 

[Hambone]

The kid who played Tommy Starnes, Craig Hundley, also played Peter Kirk in "Operation: Annihilate!" As an adult, he became a musician and changed his name to Craig Huxley. He invented the "Blaster Beam" instrument that created some of the deep electronic sounds representing V'Ger in the soundtrack to ST:TMP, and he composed the electronic soundtrack that accompanied the Genesis simulation in The Wrath of Khan.

From Wikipedia:

Some more unexpected attention came in the early nineties when several women attending a music concert in New York's Central Park claimed to have been sexually stimulated by the sound created by a Blaster Beam being used in the performance. This prompted Australian radio station 2SER-FM to conduct an experiment in which they played a continuous loop of a Blaster Beam performance and asked their female listeners to report any stimulation they experienced. On this occasion none of the show's listeners reported any arousal whatsoever.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Is There in Truth No Beauty?

Just watched this tonight. WOW. An amazing episode that could have been longer.

What a coincidence, I just watched that last night on my new remastered set- first time I'd seen it in decades- and you're right, what a great episode! The edititing was particularly well done, very avant garde in places.

I found the scene where they were at dinner very odd...Miranda says someone is thinking about murder and no one stops to talk about it? I thought that was so strange...there were a few other scenes that were just slightly "off"....like when Kirk and McCoy are outside Miranda's room and she screams. The just stand there like it was perfectly normal. And why did she scream anyway?

 

[GhostFaceSaint]

I liked season three and it made me only want to have watched a season four and season five. It's funny how seriously they took the episode "Spock's Brain" remember McCoy's line:

...His Brain is gone!

even though it was very cheesy they didn't treat it with much humor at all. Then there is a scene in "Is There In Truth No Beauty" that was one of my first exposures to any Trek when Spock forgets to wear those red glasses while looking at an alien in a protective box that if you viewed without some sort of protection on your eyes would cause madness, well you know what happened to Spock and it just freaked me out as a kid, I was genuinely scared as a kid. Season three had its good moments and not as good moments just like the rest of TOS did.

 

[Chrisisall]

I found the scene where they were at dinner very odd...Miranda says someone is thinking about murder and no one stops to talk about it? I thought that was so strange...

People *think* about murder every once in a while, it generally never translates into serious action. Imagine if she went into Kirk's mind! I mean, he was coming onto here at points in the ep...

there were a few other scenes that were just slightly "off"....like when Kirk and McCoy are outside Miranda's room and she screams. The just stand there like it was perfectly normal. And why did she scream anyway?

Theory? A moment of severe outrage & anger at Collos while vulnerable during the link.
Real reason? The scream was added in after filming to artificially heighten the drama.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ Yes, how true about Kirk coming on to her...he bordered on creepy (and this coming from a shatner/kirk lover). Now I'm going to have to watch this one again tonight if possible...

 

[ToddPence]

"And The Children Shall Lead" is also famous for boasting three future "Brady Bunch" guest stars.

 

[Christopher]

"And The Children Shall Lead" is also famous for boasting three future "Brady Bunch" guest stars.

Not to mention two future Space Academy leads, Pamelyn Ferdin and Brian Tochi. Ferdin is also famous as the voice of Lucy in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Tochi went on to appear as a helmsman in TNG and was the voice of Leonardo in the three live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.

 

[JustKate]

There are some great episodes in season 3, despite its bad rep.

The Paradise Syndrome isn't one of them, though - at least not for me. It is among my least favorites in all of Trek, certainly in all of TOS. The scenery is lovely, though, and so is Miramanee. Except for that stupid wig.

 

[Chrisisall]

^ Yes, how true about Kirk coming on to her...he bordered on creepy

Hey! You never know 'till you try!!

Spacewolfisall

 

[I am not Spock]

Season three of TOS is fine. I never had a problem with it. I've nearly finished rewatching it on the remastered DVD sets. There have been quite a few eps I've loved a lot (The Empath, Enterprise Incident, Whom Gods Destroy, Elaan of Troyius, For The World Is Hollow...). Even Spocks Brain and Way to Eden made me laugh. They weren't that bad. And The Children Shall Lead and Platos Stepchildren were both pretty dire, though.

The Paradise Syndrome is a very good ep, in my opinion. I found it moving.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I think Plato's Stepchildren is underrated. The Dwarf Alexander is one of the most memorable guest stars in the series. His character was touching. The speech kirk gave about size, shape, and color not mattering in the federation was classic Roddenberry ideals.

I argue the only reason people dislike this episode is because of some of the silly stuff the characters are forced to do by the bad guys. That is only a small portion of the story and As it's supposed to be humiliating and degrading I think it's effective.

 

[Orcus]

I think Plato's Stepchildren is underrated. The Dwarf Alexander is one of the most memorable guest stars in the series. His character was touching. The speech kirk gave about size, shape, and color not mattering in the federation was classic Roddenberry ideals.

I argue the only reason people dislike this episode is because of some of the silly stuff the characters are forced to do by the bad guys. That is only a small portion of the story and As it's supposed to be humiliating and degrading I think it's effective.

Hear, hear. (thunderous applause) There are a small few of us here who support your opinion and rate this ep highly.

Let's all unite and return the episode to it's proper place and worship it's greatness...