TOS Problem Solving

[The_Gorn]

Greetings fellow Trekkies,
I'm trying to categorize the ways that they solved the problem in each episode of TOS. For example, in The Changeling and The Ultimate Computer, they convinced the AI to self-destruct. In The Squire of Gothos and Catspaw, a higher being intervened on their behalf. The categories I have so far are the aforementioned, science/medical solution, just ride it out, fight it out/destroy something, brains over brawn and give an inspirational speech.

Any other categories? What episodes would you say fall into each of my proposed categories?

P.S. I'm putting together a presentation on the statistics of Star Trek including charts on how they solved problems, who had a love story, how many red shirts die, etc.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

How about self-sacrifice?

 

[The_Gorn]

How about self-sacrifice?

Like in Where No Man Has Gone Before or Return to Tomorrow? Or Patterns of Force?

 

[The Friendly Jewish Ghost]

. . . I'm trying to categorize the ways that they solved the problem in each episode of TOS. For example, in The Changeling and The Ultimate Computer, they convinced the AI to self-destruct.

Don't forget "Return of the Archons" and "I, Mudd." A total of four episodes in which Kirk talked a computer to death.

I would also add the category of deus ex machina. "Charlie X," "Shore Leave" and "The Squire of Gothos" fall into that category. In fact, the endings of "Charlie X" and "The Squire of Gothos" are virtually identical, except that "Charlie X" is more of a downer.

 

[Lord Garth]

One time, many years ago, I was having a particularly bad day with a computer that was really acting up. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 15 in terms how difficult the computer was being.

So, what did I do? I watched every episode where Kirk outsmarted the computer back-to-back-to-back. "Return of the Archons", "The Apple", "The Changeling", "I, Mudd", and "The Ultimate Computer" were all on my Watch List. Extremely cathartic. I hated my computer that day. Luckily, I managed to get it fixed.

 

[Uncle Sock]

The "Kirk bluff" would be a category on its own for me, as seen in The Corbomite Maneuver.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

@The_Gorn Or "Amok Time" and "The Enterprise Incident", where Kirk briefly "dies". If you're counting TWOK, Spock really dies.