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The Good In Every STAR TREK Episode...

"WINK OF AN EYE" - This episode more dragged on for me than it was a bad one. But I thought it was a pretty unique concept, particularly at the time it was produced.
 
"WINK OF AN EYE" - This episode more dragged on for me than it was a bad one. But I thought it was a pretty unique concept, particularly at the time it was produced.

I liked how Mr. Spock figured out the buzzing was the sped up voices.
 
"WINK OF AN EYE" - This episode more dragged on for me than it was a bad one. But I thought it was a pretty unique concept, particularly at the time it was produced.

A very fun concept and pretty original, with clever directorial choices such as the Dutch angles.

Also my third-favorite TOS ep. Fantastic dialogue. Kathie Browne is outstanding. Jason Evers is very good too. Kirk is great. I know a lot of people can't get past it because the Scalosians' hyperacceleration causes physics problems and the time doesn't sync up, but for me that's overthinking it. It's a thoroughly enjoyable episode with what is, for my money, the best and most realistically depicted invasion of the Enterprise - among quite a wide variety of entrants - in TOS.
 
At least there's a logical reason for why they aren't detected.

It's far more than that. The invasion is not instantaneous; no one magically ignores/overcomes the shields without explanation (By Any Other Name, Gamesters), nor presses a button to render the crew harmless (By Any Other Name, Spock's Brain, Way to Eden), nor uses totally unexplained and completely undefeatable technology to halt or interfere with the workings of everything on the ship (Gamesters, Savage Curtain, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Catspaw, Requiem, several others), nor does someone on the ship commit an atrocious command error or series thereof to enable the ship's capture (Space Seed, And the Children Shall Lead). Ironically, despite the Scalosians' accelerated pace, they proceed logically, deliberately, and in a manner capable of rational understanding by the audience once Deela reveals herself to Kirk. Even better, Kirk realizes the threat within a reasonable time and reacts in a militarily appropriate fashion, ordering the crew to be armed and equipped with communicators and instantly seeking out the source of the problem in environmental engineering once Spock identifies it. Best of all, all of the dialogue establishing the threat and how to deal with it crackles.

I quite like a lot of the episodes I mentioned above, and not all of them completely handwave the alien takeover or immobilization of the Enterprise, but Wink of an Eye actually spells it out in a way that makes sense.
 
The idea for Wink of an Eye was used first in one of the early, black and white episodes of The Wild Wild West. They had a silly reason for it, maybe the melting of diamonds?... that gave them this power.
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The motivation of the aliens doesn't make much sense, but many people in this life do things for reasons just as ridiculous. Why expand their community of fragile people with people taken against their will? Why not just hitch a ride to somewhere on the Enterprise?
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A problem with many later stories is that the aliens were just like humans, and were vaguely alike, and sort of generic and neutral.
 
A very fun concept and pretty original, with clever directorial choices such as the Dutch angles.

Also my third-favorite TOS ep. Fantastic dialogue. Kathie Browne is outstanding. Jason Evers is very good too. Kirk is great. I know a lot of people can't get past it because the Scalosians' hyperacceleration causes physics problems and the time doesn't sync up, but for me that's overthinking it. It's a thoroughly enjoyable episode with what is, for my money, the best and most realistically depicted invasion of the Enterprise - among quite a wide variety of entrants - in TOS.
I just couldn't get over how Scotty never moved in the transporter room or how quickly the crewman betrayed them but I found there were many good things about the episode to compensate for it.
This was a great Kirk episode as it showed how dynamic and driven he was to save the Enterprise at any cost.
 
I just couldn't get over how Scotty never moved in the transporter room or how quickly the crewman betrayed them but I found there were many good things about the episode to compensate for it.
This was a great Kirk episode as it showed how dynamic and driven he was to save the Enterprise at any cost.

It was an excellent Kirk episode, no doubt. And BTW Scotty does take a step or so farther into the transporter room! As for Compton, well, he became docile and fell in love with the unnamed female Scalosian - although not docile enough to stop him from lashing out when the Scalosians attack Kirk, which was a nice touch.
 
All STAR TREK series have had their share of clunkers. And everyone has a different list of what they consider bad episodes. There are, of course, some that are universally reviled. But even those can have something positive about them.

So here is a challenge...

Every episode each of you consider a bad one, I want you to find something positive about it.

I want to do this for every series, and I already started one for TNG, DS9, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE. I will not make one for DISCOVERY, as it has not been on the air long enough for it to be a fair challenge. I'll probably wait until the end of their 3rd season, if it gets one (which I do hope it does), to do that.

I will begin.

"THE WAY TO EDEN" - This is a very difficult one to find good in, because it just did not work for me at all.

But I can say one thing... it gave some much needed story for Chekov. It was nice to see him with some backstory that didn't involve everything being a Russian invention. And she was quite easy on the eyes, too. So for a purely superficial reason, I will add that to my positive list.
Dr. Sevrin had a great scene with Spock with great dialogue
 
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