TOS//TAS viewing order...

[Warped9]

Not wanting to take another thread too far off topic I've decided to bring this subject here.

In that other thread I mentioned the TOS review by two guys on Youtube who call themselves the Target Audience has prompted me to consider a new rewatch of the series myself, something I haven't done for quite a few years.

I remarked that this time I'm considering doing the rewatch in order of Stardate as opposed to the more conventional broadcast order or the usually more preferred production order.

Setting the episodes in order of Stardate creates some interesting wrinkles as episodes from different seasons find themselves set in another season. This happens to clear up some seeming in-universe inconsistencies yet also creates others. The most obvious inconsistency is the appearance of the actors and their characters. There is a definite evolution of the characters' appearances as the series progressed over three years and this becomes more obvious if you watch some of the episodes out of sequence in terms of production. If you stir in the TAS episodes you get other discrepencies such as the appearance of characters like Arex and M'ress appearing much earlier. In terms of the TAS' depiction of hardware and technology much of it can be waved away, but something like the life-support belts makes you question if they had those then why do they later use environmental suits rather than life-support belts. Interesting note: I believe the life-support belts were actually conceived during the production of TOS, but they felt it would be too costly in terms of visual fx to depict them.

Some 2nd season episodes mix in with 1st season and some 3rd season mix in with 2nd season. But no 3rd season episodes mix in with 1st season. A few TAS episodes slot in with 1st and 2nd season episodes, but the bulk are mixed in with the 3rd season episodes with a good number after the 3rd season.


SERIES STARDATE ORDER
(Season 1 in bold type, Season 2 in italicized type. Season 3 in regular type, TAS in underlined type)

1312.4 - “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
1329.8 - “Mudd’s Women”
1512.2 - “The Corbomite Maneuver”
1513.1 - “The Man Trap”
1533.6 - “Charlie X”
1672.1 - “The Enemy Within”
1704.2 - “The Naked Time”
1709.1 - “Balance Of Terror”
2124.5 - “The Squire Of Gothos”
2534.0 - “Patterns Of Force”
2712.4 - “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
2713.5 - “Miri”
2715.1 - “Dagger Of The Mind”
2817.6 - “The Conscience Of The King”
2821.5 - “The Galileo Seven”
2947.3 - “Courtmartial”
3012.4 - “The Menagerie”
3018.2 - “Catspaw”
3025.3 - “Shoreleave”
3045.6 - “Arena”
3087.6 - “The Alternative Factor”
3113.2 - “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”
3134.0 - “The City On The Edge Of Forever”
3141.9 - “Space Seed”
3156.2 - “The Return Of The Archons”
3183.3 - “The Practical Joker”
3192.1 - “A Taste Of Armageddon”
3196.1 - “The Devil In The Dark”
3198.4 - “Errand Of Mercy”
3211.7 - “The Gamesters Of Triskelion”
3219.8 - “Metamorphosis”
3287.2 - “Operation--Annihilate”
3372.7 - “Amok Time”
3417.3 - “This Side Of Paradise”
3468.1 - “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
3478.2 - “The Deadly Years”
3497.2 - “Friday’s Child”
3541.9 - “The Changeling”
3614.9 - “Wolf In The Fold”
3619.2 - “Obsession”
3715.9 - “The Apple”
3842.3 - “Journey To Babel”
4040.7 - “Bread And Circuses”
4187.3 - “Slaver Weapon”
4202.9 - “The Doomsday Machine”
Unknown - “Mirror, Mirror”
4211.4 - “A Private Little War”
4307.1 - “The Immunity Syndrome”
4372.5 - “Elaan Of Troyius”
4385.3 - “Spectre Of The Gun”
4513.3 - “I, Mudd”
4523.3 - “The Trouble With Tribbles”
4598.0 - “A Piece Of The Action”
4657.5 - “By Any Other Name”
4729.4 - “The Ultimate Computer”
4768.3 - “Return To Tomorrow”
Unknown - “The Omega Glory”
Unknown - “Assignment: Earth”
4842.6 - “The Paradise Syndrome”
4978.5 - “Mudd’s Passion”
5027.3 - “And The Children Shall Lead”
5031.3 - “The Enterprise Incident”
5121.5 - “The Empath”
5143.3 - “The Survivor”
5267.2 - “Time Trap”
5275.6 - “Albatross”
5371.3 - “One Of Our Planets Is Missing”
5373.4 - “Yesteryear”
5392.4 - “More Tribbles, More Troubles”
5423.4 - “The Mark Of Gideon”
5431.4 - “Spock’s Brain”
5476.3 - “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
5483.7 - “The Lorelei Signal”
5499.9 - “The Ambergris Element”
5501.2 - “Eye Of The Beholder”
5521.3 - “Beyond The Farthest Star”
5554.4 - “The Infinite Vulcan”
5577.3 - “The Terratin Incident”
5591.2 - “Once Upon A Planet”
5630.7 - “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”
5683.1 - “Jihad”
5693.2 - “The Tholian Web”
Unknown - “Day Of The Dove”
5710.5 - “Wink Of An Eye”
5718.3 - “Whom Gods Destroy”
5725.3 - “The Lights Of Zetar”
5730.2 - “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”
5784.2 - “Plato’s Stepchildren”
Unknown - “That Which Survives”
5818.4 - “The Cloud Minders”
5832.3 - “The Way To Eden”
5843.7 - “Requiem For Methuselah”
5906.4 - “The Savage Curtain”
5298.5 - “Turnabout Intruder”
5943.7 - “All Our Yesterdays”
6063.4 - “How Sharper Than A Serpents Tooth”
6334.1 - “The Pirates Of Orion”
6770.3 - “The Counter-Clock Incident”
7254.4 - “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu”
7403.6 - “BEM”


Another viewing option is to keep the seasons separate, but arrange the episodes in Stardate order within each respective season. This approach tends to eliminate much of the visual inconsistences in terms of the charcters' appearances.

SEASON 1
1312.4 - “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
1329.8 - “Mudd’s Women”
1512.2 - “The Corbomite Maneuver”
1513.1 - “The Man Trap”
1533.6 - “Charlie X”
1672.1 - “The Enemy Within”
1704.2 - “The Naked Time”
1709.1 - “Balance Of Terror”
2124.5 - “The Squire Of Gothos”
2712.4 - “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
2713.5 - “Miri”
2715.1 - “Dagger Of The Mind”
2817.6 - “The Conscience Of The King”
2821.5 - “The Galileo Seven”
2947.3 - “Courtmartial”
3012.4 - “The Menagerie”
3025.3 - “Shoreleave”
3045.6 - “Arena”
3087.6 - “The Alternative Factor”
3113.2 - “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”
3134.0 - “The City On The Edge Of Forever”
3141.9 - “Space Seed”
3156.2 - “The Return Of The Archons”
3192.1 - “A Taste Of Armageddon”
3196.1 - “The Devil In The Dark”
3198.4 - “Errand Of Mercy”
3287.2 - “Operation--Annihilate”
3417.3 - “This Side Of Paradise”

SEAS0N 2
2534.0 - “Patterns Of Force”
3018.2 - “Catspaw”
3211.7 - “The Gamesters Of Triskelion”
3219.8 - “Metamorphosis”
3372.7 - “Amok Time”
3468.1 - “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
3478.2 - “The Deadly Years”
3497.2 - “Friday’s Child”
3541.9 - “The Changeling”
3614.9 - “Wolf In The Fold”
3619.2 - “Obsession”
3715.9 - “The Apple”
3842.3 - “Journey To Babel”
4040.7 - “Bread And Circuses”
4202.9 - “The Doomsday Machine”
Unknown - “Mirror, Mirror”
4211.4 - “A Private Little War”
4307.1 - “The Immunity Syndrome”
4513.3 - “I, Mudd”
4523.3 - “The Trouble With Tribbles”
4598.0 - “A Piece Of The Action”
4657.5 - “By Any Other Name”
4729.4 - “The Ultimate Computer”
4768.3 - “Return To Tomorrow”
Unknown - “The Omega Glory”
Unknown - “Assignment: Earth”

SEASON 3
4372.5 - “Elaan Of Troyius”
4385.3 - “Spectre Of The Gun”
4842.6 - “The Paradise Syndrome”
5027.3 - “And The Children Shall Lead”
5031.3 - “The Enterprise Incident”
5121.5 - “The Empath”
5423.4 - “The Mark Of Gideon”
5431.4 - “Spock’s Brain”
5476.3 - “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
5630.7 - “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”
5693.2 - “The Tholian Web”
Unknown - “Day Of The Dove”
5710.5 - “Wink Of An Eye”
5718.3 - “Whom Gods Destroy”
5725.3 - “The Lights Of Zetar”
5730.2 - “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”
5784.2 - “Plato’s Stepchildren”
Unknown - “That Which Survives”
5818.4 - “The Cloud Minders”
5832.3 - “The Way To Eden”
5843.7 - “Requiem For Methuselah”
5906.4 - “The Savage Curtain”
5298.5 - “Turnabout Intruder”
5943.7 - “All Our Yesterdays”

TAS
3183.3 - “The Practical Joker”
4187.3 - “Slaver Weapon”
4978.5 - “Mudd’s Passion”
5143.3 - “The Survivor”
5267.2 - “Time Trap”
5275.6 - “Albatross”
5371.3 - “One Of Our Planets Is Missing”
5373.4 - “Yesteryear”
5392.4 - “More Tribbles, More Troubles”
5483.7 - “The Lorelei Signal”
5499.9 - “The Ambergris Element”
5501.2 - “Eye Of The Beholder”
5521.3 - “Beyond The Farthest Star”
5554.4 - “The Infinite Vulcan”
5577.3 - “The Terratin Incident”
5591.2 - “Once Upon A Planet”
5683.1 - “Jihad”
6063.4 - “How Sharper Than A Serpents Tooth”
6334.1 - “The Pirates Of Orion”
6770.3 - “The Counter-Clock Incident”
7254.4 - “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu”
7403.6 - “BEM”


Now I just have to make up my mind which way I want to do it.

 

[1001001]

I prefer alphabetical order.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

At first, I watched them whenever they happened to be on. With irregular time slots, it was often quite random.

When I finally saw "The Squire of Gothos," I'd seen them all; first was "The Cloud Minders."

 

[Elder Knight]

You'd have thought that the head writer (or someone with authority) would have kept a notebook and doled out the stardates logically as the scripts were produced. Anyone know how this was handled?

 

[Warped9]

You'd have thought that the head writer (or someone with authority) would have kept a notebook and doled out the stardates logically as the scripts were produced. Anyone know how this was handled?

I suspect the mindset was different then, not imagining that rabid fans would be laser focused on this kind of stuff for decades to come. Later with TNG they became more mindful of that kind of detail, and even then mistakes still happened.

 

[blssdwlf]

I grew up watching TOS randomly (whatever was playing on TV) but nowadays I prefer to watch them in production order.

 

[Shawnster]

I grew up watching TOS randomly (whatever was playing on TV)

Me too. Sometimes multiple times a day. There was a stretch of Sundays where I could watch 3 in 4 hours.

 

[Albertese]

So, I applaud this effort! And I do prefer raw stardate order myself. There are interesting synergies this way, my favorite being that "This Side of Paradise" is right on the heels of "Amok Time" which has interesting implications for Spock.

--Alex

 

[drt]

I grew up watching TOS randomly (whatever was playing on TV) but nowadays I prefer to watch them in production order.

When I was a kid, the local station always played them in production order, presumably that was how their syndication package had them staged.

I always preferred it, since the early season one weirdness figures itself out along the way without backtracking. I find that annoying with the airdate order (although that's not an issue in the second and third season)

 

[Saul]

Watching in stardate order sounds like an interesting idea if it wasn't for discrepancies. Production order has always made the most sense. But if I were to watch in stardate order I would keep TAS and TOS separate..

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Can anyone report on how well stardate order correlates with production order?

 

[drt]

About 78 percent.

My guess is there was initially a semi-attempt to keep them in order, but the pre- and post-production realities wrecked that so early it quickly entered the realm of “close enough”.

 

[Warped9]

If you arrange the episodes by Stardate, but only in their respective seasons, you can get a sense of where one seasons bleeds into another. The only truly odd wrinkle that really jumps out for me is that you get two courtroom dramas back-to-back: “Court Martial” and “The Menagerie.”

It would have been nice if someone had noted the last Stardate of Season 1 and made certain the Stardates of Season 2 started sequentially higher, and same with Season 2 into Season 3.

SEASON 1
1312.4 - “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
1329.8 - “Mudd’s Women”
1512.2 - “The Corbomite Maneuver”
1513.1 - “The Man Trap”
1533.6 - “Charlie X”
1672.1 - “The Enemy Within”
1704.2 - “The Naked Time”
1709.1 - “Balance Of Terror”
2124.5 - “The Squire Of Gothos”
2712.4 - “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
2713.5 - “Miri”
2715.1 - “Dagger Of The Mind”
2817.6 - “The Conscience Of The King”
2821.5 - “The Galileo Seven”
2947.3 - “Courtmartial”
3012.4 - “The Menagerie”
3025.3 - “Shoreleave”
3045.6 - “Arena”
3087.6 - “The Alternative Factor”
3113.2 - “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”
3134.0 - “The City On The Edge Of Forever”
3141.9 - “Space Seed”
3156.2 - “The Return Of The Archons”
3192.1 - “A Taste Of Armageddon”
3196.1 - “The Devil In The Dark”
3198.4 - “Errand Of Mercy”
3287.2 - “Operation--Annihilate”
3417.3 - “This Side Of Paradise”

SEAS0N 2
2534.0 - “Patterns Of Force”
3018.2 - “Catspaw”
3211.7 - “The Gamesters Of Triskelion”
3219.8 - “Metamorphosis”
3372.7 - “Amok Time”
3468.1 - “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
3478.2 - “The Deadly Years”
3497.2 - “Friday’s Child”
3541.9 - “The Changeling”
3614.9 - “Wolf In The Fold”
3619.2 - “Obsession”
3715.9 - “The Apple”
3842.3 - “Journey To Babel”
4040.7 - “Bread And Circuses”
4202.9 - “The Doomsday Machine”
Unknown - “Mirror, Mirror”
4211.4 - “A Private Little War”
4307.1 - “The Immunity Syndrome”
4513.3 - “I, Mudd”
4523.3 - “The Trouble With Tribbles”
4598.0 - “A Piece Of The Action”
4657.5 - “By Any Other Name”
4729.4 - “The Ultimate Computer”
4768.3 - “Return To Tomorrow”
Unknown - “The Omega Glory”
Unknown - “Assignment: Earth”

SEASON 3
4372.5 - “Elaan Of Troyius”
4385.3 - “Spectre Of The Gun”
4842.6 - “The Paradise Syndrome”
5027.3 - “And The Children Shall Lead”
5031.3 - “The Enterprise Incident”
5121.5 - “The Empath”
5423.4 - “The Mark Of Gideon”
5431.4 - “Spock’s Brain”
5476.3 - “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
5630.7 - “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”
5693.2 - “The Tholian Web”
Unknown - “Day Of The Dove”
5710.5 - “Wink Of An Eye”
5718.3 - “Whom Gods Destroy”
5725.3 - “The Lights Of Zetar”
5730.2 - “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”
5784.2 - “Plato’s Stepchildren”
Unknown - “That Which Survives”
5818.4 - “The Cloud Minders”
5832.3 - “The Way To Eden”
5843.7 - “Requiem For Methuselah”
5906.4 - “The Savage Curtain”
5298.5 - “Turnabout Intruder”
5943.7 - “All Our Yesterdays”

TAS
3183.3 - “The Practical Joker”
4187.3 - “Slaver Weapon”
4978.5 - “Mudd’s Passion”
5143.3 - “The Survivor”
5267.2 - “Time Trap”
5275.6 - “Albatross”
5371.3 - “One Of Our Planets Is Missing”
5373.4 - “Yesteryear”
5392.4 - “More Tribbles, More Troubles”
5483.7 - “The Lorelei Signal”
5499.9 - “The Ambergris Element”
5501.2 - “Eye Of The Beholder”
5521.3 - “Beyond The Farthest Star”
5554.4 - “The Infinite Vulcan”
5577.3 - “The Terratin Incident”
5591.2 - “Once Upon A Planet”
5683.1 - “Jihad”
6063.4 - “How Sharper Than A Serpents Tooth”
6334.1 - “The Pirates Of Orion”
6770.3 - “The Counter-Clock Incident”
7254.4 - “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu”
7403.6 - “BEM”

TAS is the real outlier if you put the entire series into Stardate order because it introduces things that conflict with TOS. For example “The Practical Joker” depicts Romulans using Klingon style ships long before the Klingon design was introduced and we saw Romulans using them. Now if “The Practical Joker” was re-animated or filmed live-action you could fix that inconsistency by depicting the Romulans using their original Bird of Prey warships.

I waver back-and-forth regarding TAS because there are some episodes that really grate on my nerves—“The Practical Joker” is one of them.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

If you arrange the episodes by Stardate, but only in their respective seasons, you can get a sense of where one seasons bleeds into another. The only truly odd wrinkle that really jumps out for me is that you get two courtroom dramas back-to-back: “Court Martial” and “The Menagerie.”

It would have been nice if someone had noted the last Stardate of Season 1 and made certain the Stardates of Season 2 started sequentially higher, and same with Season 2 into Season 3.

SEASON 1
1312.4 - “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
1329.8 - “Mudd’s Women”
1512.2 - “The Corbomite Maneuver”
1513.1 - “The Man Trap”
1533.6 - “Charlie X”
1672.1 - “The Enemy Within”
1704.2 - “The Naked Time”
1709.1 - “Balance Of Terror”
2124.5 - “The Squire Of Gothos”
2712.4 - “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
2713.5 - “Miri”
2715.1 - “Dagger Of The Mind”
2817.6 - “The Conscience Of The King”
2821.5 - “The Galileo Seven”
2947.3 - “Courtmartial”
3012.4 - “The Menagerie”
3025.3 - “Shoreleave”
3045.6 - “Arena”
3087.6 - “The Alternative Factor”
3113.2 - “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”
3134.0 - “The City On The Edge Of Forever”
3141.9 - “Space Seed”
3156.2 - “The Return Of The Archons”
3192.1 - “A Taste Of Armageddon”
3196.1 - “The Devil In The Dark”
3198.4 - “Errand Of Mercy”
3287.2 - “Operation--Annihilate”
3417.3 - “This Side Of Paradise”

SEAS0N 2
2534.0 - “Patterns Of Force”
3018.2 - “Catspaw”
3211.7 - “The Gamesters Of Triskelion”
3219.8 - “Metamorphosis”
3372.7 - “Amok Time”
3468.1 - “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
3478.2 - “The Deadly Years”
3497.2 - “Friday’s Child”
3541.9 - “The Changeling”
3614.9 - “Wolf In The Fold”
3619.2 - “Obsession”
3715.9 - “The Apple”
3842.3 - “Journey To Babel”
4040.7 - “Bread And Circuses”
4202.9 - “The Doomsday Machine”
Unknown - “Mirror, Mirror”
4211.4 - “A Private Little War”
4307.1 - “The Immunity Syndrome”
4513.3 - “I, Mudd”
4523.3 - “The Trouble With Tribbles”
4598.0 - “A Piece Of The Action”
4657.5 - “By Any Other Name”
4729.4 - “The Ultimate Computer”
4768.3 - “Return To Tomorrow”
Unknown - “The Omega Glory”
Unknown - “Assignment: Earth”

SEASON 3
4372.5 - “Elaan Of Troyius”
4385.3 - “Spectre Of The Gun”
4842.6 - “The Paradise Syndrome”
5027.3 - “And The Children Shall Lead”
5031.3 - “The Enterprise Incident”
5121.5 - “The Empath”
5423.4 - “The Mark Of Gideon”
5431.4 - “Spock’s Brain”
5476.3 - “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
5630.7 - “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”
5693.2 - “The Tholian Web”
Unknown - “Day Of The Dove”
5710.5 - “Wink Of An Eye”
5718.3 - “Whom Gods Destroy”
5725.3 - “The Lights Of Zetar”
5730.2 - “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”
5784.2 - “Plato’s Stepchildren”
Unknown - “That Which Survives”
5818.4 - “The Cloud Minders”
5832.3 - “The Way To Eden”
5843.7 - “Requiem For Methuselah”
5906.4 - “The Savage Curtain”
5298.5 - “Turnabout Intruder”
5943.7 - “All Our Yesterdays”

TAS
3183.3 - “The Practical Joker”
4187.3 - “Slaver Weapon”
4978.5 - “Mudd’s Passion”
5143.3 - “The Survivor”
5267.2 - “Time Trap”
5275.6 - “Albatross”
5371.3 - “One Of Our Planets Is Missing”
5373.4 - “Yesteryear”
5392.4 - “More Tribbles, More Troubles”
5483.7 - “The Lorelei Signal”
5499.9 - “The Ambergris Element”
5501.2 - “Eye Of The Beholder”
5521.3 - “Beyond The Farthest Star”
5554.4 - “The Infinite Vulcan”
5577.3 - “The Terratin Incident”
5591.2 - “Once Upon A Planet”
5683.1 - “Jihad”
6063.4 - “How Sharper Than A Serpents Tooth”
6334.1 - “The Pirates Of Orion”
6770.3 - “The Counter-Clock Incident”
7254.4 - “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu”
7403.6 - “BEM”

TAS is the real outlier if you put the entire series into Stardate order because it introduces things that conflict with TOS. For example “The Practical Joker” depicts Romulans using Klingon style ships long before the Klingon design was introduced and we saw Romulans using them. Now if “The Practical Joker” was re-animated or filmed live-action you could fix that inconsistency by depicting the Romulans using their original Bird of Prey warships.

I waver back-and-forth regarding TAS because there are some episodes that really grate on my nerves—“The Practical Joker” is one of them.

My in-universe explanation to paper over The Trouble with Stardates: we aren't hearing the entire number, and it isn't a date.

I think Kirk and Picard are casually mentioning the last four or five digits of the stardate, the way you'd say "it's the 17th," rather than read out the entire date of 2023-05-17. The computer is going to automatically time-stamp the log recording anyway, with detailed and exact information. The person dictating is just saying what time it is, for his own momentary convenience.

Also: even those last digits that get spoken might not be a day-and-time. It might be the "ending in" digits of a lengthy page number in the ship's computer navigation log. If so, then the "stardate" in your spoken log points to a machine log that specifies where in space the ship was at that time. It's a "stardate" because it records where you where "among the stars" at that date and time.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I found this interesting

4768.3 - “Return To Tomorrow"*
Unknown - “The Omega Glory”
Unknown - “Assignment: Earth”**

*They accidentally get thrown back in time
**They're doing it on purpose.

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

I remarked that this time I'm considering doing the rewatch in order of Stardate as opposed to the more conventional broadcast order or the usually more preferred production order.

I did a rewatch in stardate order and was impressed at how the episodes seemed to lead into each other, even though it is hard to believe this is on purpose.

I used a slightly different stardate order that averaged the range of stardates in each episode.

-"Operation--Annihilate," "Amok Time," and "This Side Of Paradise" all occur in a row, connecting the episodes that challenge Spock with hard circumstances.

-Chekov is confirmed to be on the ship before Space Seed.

-The Enterprise is seek dilithium in "Mudd's Passion," after extensive wear on the engines in "The Paradise Syndrome"

-I do not believe the computer speaks in any episodes between "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and "The Practical Joker," implying the two concerns with computer's personality could be connected and repaired at the same time in the energy field.

-"A Piece of the Action," "The Slaver Weapon," and the "Doomsday Machine" can be seen a three-part collection of episodes about seeking ultimate weapons.

If you stir in the TAS episodes you get other discrepencies such as the appearance of characters like Arex and M'ress appearing much earlier. In terms of the TAS' depiction of hardware and technology much of it can be waved away, but something like the life-support belts makes you question if they had those then why do they later use environmental suits rather than life-support belts. Interesting note: I believe the life-support belts were actually conceived during the production of TOS, but they felt it would be too costly in terms of visual fx to depict them.

I do not have a problem with Mres and others being on the ship earlier, as apparently Chekov was on the ship before he appeared on screen.

There are some difference in sets, like the color of Spock's viewer, but I found those bearable to ignore.

It is not a stretch that "Life Support Belts" are used in "Spock's Brain," but without the effect.

You'd have thought that the head writer (or someone with authority) would have kept a notebook and doled out the stardates logically as the scripts were produced. Anyone know how this was handled?

I have hoped for more info on this for a long time. The short answer is that there does not seem to be clear information on this. It seems like someone must have been keeping good enough track to make sure that the first digits lined up with a season.

Hopefully, a story about how a specific stardate was picked for a specific episode, or better yet, how and why a stardate was rejected for a given episode, will surface one day.

 

[Warped9]

I found this interesting

*They accidentally get thrown back in time
**They're doing it on purpose.

"Return To Tomorrow" and "The Omega Glory" are not time travel episodes. "Assignment: Earth" is a time travel episode.

 

[Nerys Myk]

"Return To Tomorrow" and "The Omega Glory" are not time travel episodes. "Assignment: Earth" is a time travel episode.

I made the classic blunder. Confusing Tomorrow is Yesterday with Return to Tomorrow!!!!!
Should have gone for the trifecta and mentioned All Our Yesterdays

 

[Warped9]

If we put all the episodes in stardate order here are interesting wrinkles.

Here is the first oddity. The dates are sequential, but they're rather close together. This seems odd considering the visual evidence (uniforms and the ship exterior and interior) suggests a greater time span. Or perhaps the ship's stardate log was reset sometime after the events of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Mudd's Women" happens quite some time later after the ship has been launched on its new 5-year voyage, enough time to explain the change in ship's appearance such as a refit. And perhaps Kirk took over from Pike before the final voyage under Pike's command was complete.
1312.4 - “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
1329.8 - “Mudd’s Women”

The wrinkle here is that we see Chekov very early on and he is already at the Navigator's position. The other characters also look somewhat different, a bit older, than they do in the earliest episodes.
2124.5 - “The Squire Of Gothos”
2534.0 - “Patterns Of Force”
2712.4 - “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

Two courtroom events back-to-back might have Starfleet wondering what the hell is going on aboard the Enterprise. And Chekov makes another early appearance. If I recall correctly "Catspaw" is Chekov's first or one of his earliest filmed appearance of the series
2947.3 - “Courtmartial”
3012.4 - “The Menagerie”
3018.2 - “Catspaw”
3025.3 - “Shoreleave”

The appearance of Arex and Mress isn't that big a deal. And you can ignore the apparent difference in ship interiors. But the appearance of the Romulans already using Klingon ships is jarring.
3156.2 - “The Return Of The Archons”
3183.3 - “The Practical Joker”
3192.1 - “A Taste Of Armageddon”

Mixing episodes from the end of Season 1 with episodes from early Season 2 isn't a problem, but having "This Side Of Paradise" following "Amok Time" means Spock was having a rough couple of weeks.
3198.4 - “Errand Of Mercy”
3211.7 - “The Gamesters Of Triskelion”
3219.8 - “Metamorphosis”
3287.2 - “Operation--Annihilate”
3372.7 - “Amok Time”
3417.3 - “This Side Of Paradise”
3468.1 - “Who Mourns For Adonais?”

It actually would have been fascinating to have had a live-action episode featuring only Spock, Uhura and Sulu. And you could just as easily have used a familiar Class F shuttlecraft for the story. Not much of a conflict here.
4040.7 - “Bread And Circuses”
4187.3 - “Slaver Weapon”
4202.9 - “The Doomsday Machine”

We start t see Season 3 episodes mixing with Season 2 episodes. Not any significant discrepencies, other than the characters looking a bit older in the Season 3 episodes, but the three comedic Season 2 episodes suggest a few weeks of general absurdity for the Enterprise crew. If those three episodes had actually aired back-to-back viewers could have been excused tor thinking Star Trek was falling into the same Batman-esque camp style The Man From U.N.C.L.E. had taken on.
4307.1 - “The Immunity Syndrome”
4372.5 - “Elaan Of Troyius”
4385.3 - “Spectre Of The Gun”
4513.3 - “I, Mudd”
4523.3 - “The Trouble With Tribbles”
4598.0 - “A Piece Of The Action”

A bulk of TAS episodes mix into the middle of Season 3 without much problem. However, the early appearance of "Mudd's Passion" seems to happen not that long after the events of "I, Mudd" which might strike one as odd given the story in "I, Mudd" seems to suggest a much longer period of time between events.
4842.6 - “The Paradise Syndrome”
4978.5 - “Mudd’s Passion”
5027.3 - “And The Children Shall Lead”
5031.3 - “The Enterprise Incident”
5121.5 - “The Empath”
5143.3 - “The Survivor”
5267.2 - “Time Trap”
5275.6 - “Albatross”
5371.3 - “One Of Our Planets Is Missing”
5373.4 - “Yesteryear”
5392.4 - “More Tribbles, More Troubles”
5423.4 - “The Mark Of Gideon”
5431.4 - “Spock’s Brain”
5476.3 - “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
5483.7 - “The Lorelei Signal”
5499.9 - “The Ambergris Element”
5501.2 - “Eye Of The Beholder”
5521.3 - “Beyond The Farthest Star”
5554.4 - “The Infinite Vulcan”
5577.3 - “The Terratin Incident”
5591.2 - “Once Upon A Planet”
5630.7 - “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”
5683.1 - “Jihad”
5693.2 - “The Tholian Web”

After a good run of the last Season 3 episodes we get the final batch of TAS episodes to close it off.
5943.7 - “All Our Yesterdays”
6063.4 - “How Sharper Than A Serpents Tooth”
6334.1 - “The Pirates Of Orion”
6770.3 - “The Counter-Clock Incident”
7254.4 - “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu”
7403.6 - “BEM”


Finally, this is neither here nor there, but I did mention there were certain TAS episodes that grate on my nerves. If I had my druthers I would cast these aside and never think about them again.

“The Practical Joker” (I hate this episode. I just do)
“Mudd’s Passion” (A pointless followup thats something of a rewrite of "Mudd's Women")
“More Tribbles, More Troubles” (Another stupid pointless followup)
“The Terratin Incident” (Star Trek meets The Incredible Shrinking Man. So Saturday morning Cartoon thinking)
“Once Upon A Planet” (And yet another pointless followup)
“How Sharper Than A Serpents Tooth” (A thinly veiled retelling of the superior "Who Mourns For Adonais?")
"Eye Of The Beholder" (A thin reimagining of "The Cage")
“The Counter-Clock Incident” (Pure Saturday morning cartoon think)

 

[Henoch]

You should rethink the stardate of:
Patterns Of Force
Stardate: 2534.0
Original Airdate: 16 Feb, 1968

That Stardate is never given in the episode, and I have no idea where chakoteya arrived at that date. It should be listed as "unknown". Based on production order, I put it around stardate 4700.