Which episode would you have aired first?

[Botany Bay]

I've noticed a few of us think that "The Man Trap" might not have been the best episode for Star Trek to premiere with.

Assuming everything up to and including "The Man Trap" was in the can and ready to air, which one would you have put to air if you were head of programming at NBC?

 

[Green Shirt]

I would have gone with WNMHGB because its a solid story, and there wouldn't be the uniform style discrepancy with the other eps. IIRC Solow and Justman claimed the ep wasn't chosen because it was too expository. But isn't that what a first episode of a series is supposed to be?

 

[Phillip Culley]

Of the five listed, I would go with The Corbomite Maneuver.

While an excellent episode, WNMHGB suffers from the various stylistic changes between the first two stories - Spock in yellow, no McCoy and so on, which makes a bigger jump between the first two episodes (of course, this causes a problem wherever WNMHGB is slotted)

Mudd's Women has never been a favourite of mine, and I don't think a comedy episode would have been the right way to launch the series.

The Enemy Within works better a few episodes in, since you'll have got time to know Kirk, rather than begin a series with an episode where the brand new unknown Captain is split in two.

The Man Trap is probably one of the better episodes to begin the series, but it suffers from being a bit less than stellar.

Which leaves us with The Corbomite Maneuver - which is an exciting little story that introduces us to the crew and shows off the 'seeking new life and civilisations' of the series.

As an aside, it's interesting to see the broadcast order that the BBC used in the UK when the series was launched in July 1969 - having practically every episode available meant they could launch with WNMHGB, and then follow with The Naked Time and then jump straight to City on the Edge of Forever!

 

[JiNX-01]

None of the above: I would have used "Balance of Terror."

 

[Ovation]

WNMHGB is the logical choice as first episode. The uniform discrepancies and other stylistic differences (equipment, briefing room, personnel) could easily be "explained" by a quick blurb with the opening of the second episode (something like: Captain's log, stardate: ????.2. 18 months after our experience at Delta Vega, which left the Enterprise in need of a significant re-fit, we are now patrolling/exploring the ????? sector....and so on). Such a voice over would be meaningful to those who saw the first episode and for those who did not, it would simply indicate something significant had happened to the Enterprise and her crew, adding to the impression--already deliberately striven for--that the Enterprise and crew are "in progress". Just my 2 cents.

 

[Botany Bay]

None of the above: I would have used "Balance of Terror."

The perfect choice, but I excluded it because it wouldn't have been ready by September 8th, 1966.

From what was available, I'd have taken Corbomite.

Seeing Where No Man one week then a radically different cast in episode two would have been pretty confusing for the audience, although I like your ideas on how to fix it up, Ovation.

 

[Cakes488]

WNMHGB is the logical choice as first episode. The uniform discrepancies and other stylistic differences (equipment, briefing room, personnel) could easily be "explained" by a quick blurb with the opening of the second episode (something like: Captain's log, stardate: ????.2. 18 months after our experience at Delta Vega, which left the Enterprise in need of a significant re-fit, we are now patrolling/exploring the ????? sector....and so on). Such a voice over would be meaningful to those who saw the first episode and for those who did not, it would simply indicate something significant had happened to the Enterprise and her crew, adding to the impression--already deliberately striven for--that the Enterprise and crew are "in progress". Just my 2 cents.

Yeah....this...

 

[Grant]

I think going with Corbomite would have been best.

I think they should have done a really quick 'framing' of WNMHGB ala' the Cage and have hadKirk telling McCoy or somebody else not in the episode about his friend Mitchell being recently lost 'just before the last refit of Enterprise.'

Airing it 3rd with no explanation was lame.

 

[SantaEddie74]

"WNMHGB."

The logical choice because of the costume and set changes between the summer of 1965 and spring/summer of 1966.

 

[ToddPence]

I'm trying to think of another series besides Star Trek that DIDN'T air the pilot (first episode filmed) as its first aired episode.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

None of the above.

I would have went with "The Naked Time."

I just read about this the other day in Herb Solow's Inside Star Trek.
"Where No Man" was too different from the rest of the series. "Corbomite Maneuver" wasn't ready for the premiere because of all the special effects in it. "Mudd's Women" was too frothy and they didn't want opening reviews about the "space hookers." The network wanted planet shows which eliminated "Enemy Within." So that left just 2 shows--"Man Trap" and "Naked Time." Like "Enemy Within," "Naked Time" spent most of the time aboard the ship so they went with "Man Trap" where they had their planet and their monster, too.

 

[ChristopherPike]

"Where No Man..." works for me.

Intriguing enough to make me tune in next week and see where they're going with this.

 

[Phillip Culley]

I'm trying to think of another series besides Star Trek that DIDN'T air the pilot (first episode filmed) as its first aired episode.

Two immediately come to mind:

Law & Order - 'Everybody's Favourite Bagman' was the first episode filmed, however the 6th to be broadcast.

The Simpsons - 'Some Enchanted Evening' was the first episode "filmed", however was the 13th broadcast, coming at the end of the season.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I got no problem with "The Man Trap." I think it's a very fine episode, Nimoy's protestations notwithsatnding. But I guess I'd have gone with WNMHGB, a personal favorite.

 

[Noname On A Naughty List]

The Corbomite Maneuver - it was the first regular episode filmed; so it should have been the first aired (all the visual effects is what held up the post production of it).

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

"The Corbomite Maneuver," as a kind of "day in the life" episode, is a good introduction to the roles of the cast, the mission they are on, and the dangers that they will occasionally face. Moreover, of all the early episodes, TCM has always made me feel the most as if I was there on board Enterprise. I suppose it's because it has a lot of those tiny, lived-in future details: Kirk gets a physical, coffee cups and tapes litter the briefing table, the crew is exhausted, and there is a great deal of background ship's chatter.

 

[Myasishchev]

"And he's starting a countdown!" is one of my top ten or so favorite lines in all Star Trek.

Corbomite Maneuver is probably the second or third best TOS episode of all.

However, I see the logic in doing Where No Man Has Gone Before first. I like the Menagerie-like flashback idea for it, though.

All the rest of the eps in the can were kinda meh for me. Enemy Within is silly and the part with Rand is extremely offensive to modern sensibilities, The Man Trap is kinda dull as well as silly (it eats salt? it can turn into the hottest woman you've ever seen and it has to kill to get salt?), and Mudd's Women is alright but as others have pointed out not the strongest opener.

All things considered, I suppose WNMHGB. For what it's worth, I thought for a long time that it was first (and for about twenty years before that, I thought The Cage had actually been aired). -_-

 

[stoneagepunk]

Of the five listed, I would go with The Corbomite Maneuver.
The Corbomite Maneuver - is an exciting little story that introduces us to the crew and shows off the 'seeking new life and civilisations' of the series.

I totally agree!

 

[Captain Robert April]

I'm still convinced that the original idea was that WNMHGB was never intended to be aired (plenty of shows never air their pilots, mainly because of major changes in cast, set design, tone, etc.; "I Love Lucy", "All In the Family" and what eventually became "The Dick Van Dyke Show" come to mind). The only reason it was aired was the same reason "The Man Trap" aired first and "The Cage" got turned into a two-part clip show, they were severely poverty stricken with regard to ready-to-air episodes.

In any case, I voted for "The Corbomite Maneuver". It's essentially Star Trek's third pilot.

 

[Hambone]

"The Corbomite Maneuver" makes sense as as first episode, but I've always held that WNMHGB would have been a good choice as well. Most of the characters are there, and there would be less confusion on the part of the casual viewer when, next week, some of the uniforms are different. The changes are subtile enough that most viewers wouldn't remember what color Spock's uniform was last week, etc.

On the other hand, the producers could have whipped up some ratings by holding back on airing WNMHGB until late in the first season...then presenting it as a "Special, never-before-seen event! With limited commercial interruptions! Brought to you by the makers of the all-new Pontiac GTO!"

"The Man Trap"...just never quite did it for me, and I'll bet lots of first time viewers felt the same way back in 1966.