Skipable TOS episodes?
- Thread starter WinterSoldier
- Start date
I only skip episodes I've completely memorized first, so I'm probably no help here.
I think if I guess, a low estimate I I've watched them all 100 times each.
Watching 2 a night for 5 nights a week for a year is 520 viewings, and that's not counting 3 on Saturday nights and that was for years. Plus I had absolutely no control over what episode came on, it was whatever they broadcast and I never turned it off when it was a less desirable one.
Then I bought the Columbia House VHS and watched them again, then I bought the dvds and watched them again.
So...... I don't know what else I can say.
I think if I guess, a low estimate I I've watched them all 100 times each.
Watching 2 a night for 5 nights a week for a year is 520 viewings, and that's not counting 3 on Saturday nights and that was for years. Plus I had absolutely no control over what episode came on, it was whatever they broadcast and I never turned it off when it was a less desirable one.
Then I bought the Columbia House VHS and watched them again, then I bought the dvds and watched them again.
So...... I don't know what else I can say.
Not only must you not skip any you must watch them over and over until their seared into your brain. To the point were actual real life memories are displaced for accurate memories of the episodes. It's goodbye favorite childhood pet or first kiss and hello, Spock's Brain and The Children Shall Lead. Later comes the mandatory trivia like Kirk's shoe size and how many shuttles Starbase 11 has but don't worry about that right now. Jason
Agreed, if you're watching the series then you're watching the series! Although some channels used to miss out the odd episode here and there and the BBC omitted four episodes in each of their repeat runs so maybe it really is best left up to the viewer! 
JB
JB
I've seen them all so many times over the years since first airing on the BBC in 1969 (approximately)
When I got the digitally enhanced version a few years back I did a complete rewatch, with the intention of my rewatch being a final viewing, and I've stuck to that ever since.
In short, I guess you can say I'm skipping 79 episodes.
When I got the digitally enhanced version a few years back I did a complete rewatch, with the intention of my rewatch being a final viewing, and I've stuck to that ever since.
In short, I guess you can say I'm skipping 79 episodes.
Agreed, if you're watching the series then you're watching the series! Although some channels used to miss out the odd episode here and there and the BBC omitted four episodes in each of their repeat runs so maybe it really is best left up to the viewer!
JB
BBC thought we were too delicate to enjoy "Platos Stepchildren", "Whom Gods Destroy" and the "Empath" for god knows what reasons in the UK.
I even think "Miri" went through a "banned" period, again for god knows what.
Eventually, after years of this, they reinstated all the episodes.
Which is ironic me old Delt as they don't play the show anymore! 
JB
JB
Which is ironic me old Delt as they don't play the show anymore!
JB
Horror Channel for Star Trek now Johnny
BBC have long since stopped showing it
That's what I meant, Delt! Plus Horror have Trek on a continuous loop don't they, unlike their other sci-fi offerings of The Invaders, Lost in Space and Land of The Giants! 
JB
JB
When I was much younger, I used to hate it when "Metamorphosis" was on and would often skip the episode. The themes were a bit too romantic for my young mind. Having recently rewatched it on MeTV, I have to say that it plays much better as an adult than as a 10 year old. That makes sense given that I can more easily relate to the story and find the idea that an alien creature and a human could be in love with each other. It's a very smart episode though a bit talky at times. The moment when the Companion, in the body of Eleanor Donahue, looks at Cochrane through her scarf is inspired and perhaps the most lyrical moment of the original run of Star Trek.
"Must see" episodes IMHO:
Where No Man Has Gone Before, This Side Of Paradise, Tomorrow Is Yesterday, Balance Of Terror, Squire of Gothos, Space Seed; Galileo 7, Arena, Errand of Mercy, A Taste Of Armageddon, Devil In The Dark, Amok Time, Who Mourns For Adonis, I Mudd, The Trouble With Tribbles, Obsession, The Doomsday Machine, The Immunity Syndrome, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Day Of The Dove, The Enterprise Incident, The Tholian Web, All Our Yesterdays.
Where No Man Has Gone Before, This Side Of Paradise, Tomorrow Is Yesterday, Balance Of Terror, Squire of Gothos, Space Seed; Galileo 7, Arena, Errand of Mercy, A Taste Of Armageddon, Devil In The Dark, Amok Time, Who Mourns For Adonis, I Mudd, The Trouble With Tribbles, Obsession, The Doomsday Machine, The Immunity Syndrome, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Day Of The Dove, The Enterprise Incident, The Tholian Web, All Our Yesterdays.
If I'm on a rewatch then I just couldn't miss out any episodes! Even those stinkers upon which I've been quite vocal about on here!
JB
JB
Wasn't "Miri" the reason the other three got banned after its initial transmission here in the UK ? After the violence by the kids, the BBC reviwed the rest of the series, resulting in the four being banned for years.
Most of this list that @yotsuya lists is a good choice if you want to see what some could call classic Star Trek. But even "Spocks Brain" has a few highlights!
Since "Patterns of Force" and "The Way to Eden" both guest starred Skip Homeier, some persons might claim those episodes were "Skip able".
LOL!!
Skip actually does a decent job of acting, though I'd wager he's sleepacting through "Eden" for most scenes. A shame, I'd love to see him do over the top ham... But it's hard being nigh on 40 years old and playing a young 20-something hippie cult leader.
The season 3 music is refreshingly different. Especially after iconic cues overused in season 2. And how they allowed new scores given the budget cuts. And some of those scores are eerily effective and hold up well.
I personally like "Dagger" but "Archons" never did anything for me. "Devil" was hit or miss.
Season 1 is still finding itself and there are moments of ensemble-goodness instead of "THE BIG THREE", but season 3 does have the show down pat with the trio and that does help immensely.
It's high concept and one has to accept it at face value, but even season 3's stinkers still have a scene or sentence of dialogue that elevates it just enough. Except for "Spock's Brain", that one is held up solely by the actors playing it with devout sincerity.
And "All Our Yesterdays" - which isn't assassination but it's odd that only Spock regresses from not being adjusted by the Atavacron. So much of the story is great, but why McCoy wasn't regressing (just going back in time on an alien planet wouldn't change them on their own as such) and are Sarpeidons so much closer to human than Vulcan that maybe McCoy or other Sarpeidons would devolve over a longer span of time compared to Vulcvans? Ugh, I hate headcanon, it gives me a headache...
"Zetar" is an oversimplified oddball, but had some good ideas. "Gideon" has to go out of its way to make the bridge crew look like nitwits with the coordinate transposition, as well as any number of issues (I'll happily list below) but at least had a premise that wasn't talked about, which is pretty bold. "Survives" is Spock foreshadowing Sheldon Cooper and it is a bit off, considering the Spock we'd seen for 3 seasons. "Cloud Minders" needs some fan canon applied (such as Spock loosening up after discussing with half his bridge crew about his
Gideon's problems:
1. script makes bridge crew look like dorks in order to get this deception to work
2. On a planet that is demonstrated as being so loaded with people they can't even move, they build an entire replica of the ship, down to working lights and sounds but no worp worp warp drive, just to trap a captain when they could have faked the coordinates to put him into a big black box where the Monkees were, among other things, toking up?
3. Kirk's a carrier - just spill some blood and he can infect an entire planet to kill 'em all. Given that Odona (love interest of the week) got sick not by blood but by (implied, offscreen) french kissing and/or bonking him, methinks fluids other than blood could do the trick
4. One faction of one religion is scapegoated in this allegorical story and very tactlessly too, as if that's the only possible cause
5a. the coordinates used are a mixture of nine digits, of which only two adjacent numerals are transposed. Going back to point 1, none of them should have been oblivious. Why not jumble all 9 of them and let Spock figure it out and cypher to the audience the exposition... which reminds:
5b. Who's the target audience? Trek was said to be a mature, adult-centric sci-fi show compared to Lost in Space with its enormous vegetable problem. The numeric transposition seems aimed at pre-teenagers. The idea is passable, the execution with a mild tweak could have been better.
On the plus side:
1. The actor playing the henchman being transported to Enterprise as demonstration gets to be in TNG's classic episode "11001001" where he's given a bit more to do, nor are there any stupid in-jokes or winks or nods to the fact
2. Trek was about social issues and the fear of overpopulation did exist back then as well
3. The scene when the Gideons are revealed through a window still holds up for the scare factor, even if the episode ultimately is a big messy flop
4. the Gideon costumes look cool
5. Stanley Adams was Cyrano Jones in "The Trouble with Tribbles" and got an opportunity to show some scripting chops. He's definitely a bold ideas guy but a co-writer might have served him well. Of course, after having to portray a gigantic talking carrot, maybe he went nuts...
Yes, I just defended "The Mark of Gideon". Where's that "Geek 2 Geek" dating site?
Gene Dynarski was also one of the miners in "Mudd's Women."
*d'oh*! Thanks for the info!
Was he the one who told Eve that she was more than just the physical beauty brought about by the addictive drug? It's been a while. That episode has dated poorly in some aspects... but considering it's 1966 origins and censor limitations/mores, the anti-drug message and valuing people for not being all glam was somewhat a positive.
No, it's more like she told him that. But of the three miners, he was the main guy. It's an episode I like a lot.
''Be--CAUSE....we don'tLIKE you!!!! Now bip-bip-bip-BIP!!!!''
Disregard that. We do. It's be.....CAUSE............you mentioned your dislike for PLATO many times in previous TOS posts. Others dislike it, but they too are not disciples of Plato.
I'm not sure you're sure!
JB
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