Why Are So Many People So Down About Season 3?
- Thread starter Bubbles McGee
- Start date
Season three had some good episodes but probably more misses than the other two seasons combined. But I still find it very entertaining.
Agreed.
TOS-S3 isn't terrible, it's just overall sub par compared to the other two seasons. There are more dud episodes, and for the worst duds, S3 gave us most of them. But, S3 also gave us some of the best episodes of the whole series. It's a mixed bag... but whatever the case, I'm thankful we got what we did as it could have been less!
I agree with this completely.
I don't recall...which season featured the ghastly Way to Eden? Holy Mother, that is one of the few eps of TOS I find too cringe-worthy to watch, which is saying something, since I'll watch most anything with a ST label on it.
Your mileage may vary, but 3rd season being generaly bad has become something of a generally accepted "fact." But if you really look at it it's a lot better overall than what is just accepted as "fact." Yes, it has more disappointments than the previous seasons, but not hugely so. At least half the season is good and another quarter of it is okay. That's three-quarters of a season as watchable, which isn't a bad average at all.
And I'll put TOS' 3rd season against any of TNG's for sheer entertainment. TOS could get "ouch," but it never managed to be boring.
When I last revisited both series.
And I'll put TOS' 3rd season against any of TNG's for sheer entertainment. TOS could get "ouch," but it never managed to be boring.
When I last revisited both series.
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Granted, each person's review opinions are subjective, but I just don't get how you can put "All Our Yesterdays" in the fair category, or "Whom Gods Destroy" in the bad category. It's just weird to find agreement for a good number of episodes and then find glaring departures like these. 
Yeah, kind of case in point for those advocating the existence of a higher amount of stupid in season 3.
Thanks, by the way.
This thread may be the first time I've ever seen Trek fans rate "Spectre of the Gun" above the bottom five episodes of the entire series.
To me, it's always been a poor retread of "Arena" - the Enterprise comes into contact with a xenophobic or reclusive race, which then forces our hero(es) to fight for survival in a wholly contrived environment.
And the idea that the 19th-century West is the most appropriate setting for the challenge is like forcing a present-day person to fight for his life in an Elizabethan village. Why would that be the time and place that the Melkotians would pull from Kirk's mind? It was a contrivance, to make use of existing props and set pieces. "Arena" did it in a more interesting way.
I agree that there are some underrated S3 episodes - I always loved "All Our Yesterdays", and am pleased to see that others do as well - and "The Enterprise Incident" and "The Tholian Web" rank up there with the best of the first two seasons. "Day of the Dove" showed the pragmatic side of Klingons that other episodes (I'm looking at you, "Friday's Child") ignored - Kang was a fully realized character, not just a straw antagonist of the week. The guest acting was pretty much equivalent to the first two seasons, as well (notwithstanding Melvin Belli), though there were times when the regular cast appeared to be sleepwalking a bit.
The problem, for me, is that the writing in S3 wasn't nearly as polished as in the first two seasons. It was almost as though Freiberger would look at the first or second draft of the scripts and say "that's good enough." I can overlook substandard special effects. I can't overlook sloppy writing.
To me, it's always been a poor retread of "Arena" - the Enterprise comes into contact with a xenophobic or reclusive race, which then forces our hero(es) to fight for survival in a wholly contrived environment.
And the idea that the 19th-century West is the most appropriate setting for the challenge is like forcing a present-day person to fight for his life in an Elizabethan village. Why would that be the time and place that the Melkotians would pull from Kirk's mind? It was a contrivance, to make use of existing props and set pieces. "Arena" did it in a more interesting way.
I agree that there are some underrated S3 episodes - I always loved "All Our Yesterdays", and am pleased to see that others do as well - and "The Enterprise Incident" and "The Tholian Web" rank up there with the best of the first two seasons. "Day of the Dove" showed the pragmatic side of Klingons that other episodes (I'm looking at you, "Friday's Child") ignored - Kang was a fully realized character, not just a straw antagonist of the week. The guest acting was pretty much equivalent to the first two seasons, as well (notwithstanding Melvin Belli), though there were times when the regular cast appeared to be sleepwalking a bit.
The problem, for me, is that the writing in S3 wasn't nearly as polished as in the first two seasons. It was almost as though Freiberger would look at the first or second draft of the scripts and say "that's good enough." I can overlook substandard special effects. I can't overlook sloppy writing.
This is an excellent point, and one of the things -which I had neglected to mention- that makes "Day of the Dove" outstanding. Mara was also a fully realized character.
Bubbles McGee
Lieutenant Commander
Bubbles McGee
Lieutenant Commander
Time was of the essence. Parmen wanted all the Feds except McCoy out of there ASAP. That's why he brought down the ladies for the live action snuff show! Pressuring them to leave.
You haven't been hanging on my every word then, much to your loss. Seriously, It's one of my favorites. Sometimes style and execution matter. Cool score, cool surrealism, good acting. Love it. Had it been done realistically, I'd agree with you. I take this over Arena as it is, though.
Yeah, GR rewrote much or all of S1, along with Gene Coon and Dorothy Fontana. Not so in S3, though DC wrote eps. Iirc, she was actually unhappy with the rewrites her stuff received under FF.
Thanks for the friendly nod, Burma. 
I used to dislike "Spectre of the Gun", partly because I couldn't stand Westerns, but also because of the seemingly out of place setting selection by the Melkotians. Gunfight at the OK Corral? C'mon... and the incomplete sets looked oh so remarkably silly.
But it took some time for me to change my mind. I still don't consider it a top favorite, but I do appreciate it much more than I used to. And I really like how much was relied upon the Vulcan mind meld. It definitely helped bring the concept front and center much more so than any other episode. Also, I thought the Melkotian buoy looked pretty cool and the representation of the Melkotian alien was one of the more impressive they'd ever done.
I used to dislike "Spectre of the Gun", partly because I couldn't stand Westerns, but also because of the seemingly out of place setting selection by the Melkotians. Gunfight at the OK Corral? C'mon... and the incomplete sets looked oh so remarkably silly.
But it took some time for me to change my mind. I still don't consider it a top favorite, but I do appreciate it much more than I used to. And I really like how much was relied upon the Vulcan mind meld. It definitely helped bring the concept front and center much more so than any other episode. Also, I thought the Melkotian buoy looked pretty cool and the representation of the Melkotian alien was one of the more impressive they'd ever done.
I love Spectre of the Gun, always have. It's a fun, offbeat story with a great musical score. Sure, it's kind of a Corbnomite Maneuver/Arena mashup (the warning bouy was a shameless swipe), but I honestly believe that if this episode kicked off the 3rd season in 1968, the overall impression would have been kinder. I'm still convinced fan disappointment of "Spock's Brain" being the premiere episode had a lot to do with the eraly hatred of the run. When I was a kid watching it in reruns, I didn't differentiate the seasons, my local station was mixing them up something awful.
You know, when I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, and even in to the 1980s, it seemed to me that the hate for S3 was much worse then than it was now. From what I remember, it almost seemed like Season 3 was just awful as a whole even though many of the episodes didn't deserve it. Some of the early Trek bios like "I Am Not Spock" seemed to me to reinforce that.
Maybe it's because of the fact that the rise of the Internet makes it much easier for ST fans to discuss the show among each other than maybe it once was, but I've sometimes wondered if the bad rep for S3 was at least partially due to the way the studio hurt the series - the poor time slot, the slashing of budgets, and so forth. That kind of thing doubtless put a bad taste in many fans' mouths, and when two of the first four episodes of the season were "Spock's Brain" and "And the Children Shall Lead", that bad taste probably got worse. But I don't think there is quite the same level of dislike for Season 3 out there now than there was a couple of decades ago.
Yes, Season 3 certainly had a few howlers, and I agree that "Spock's Brain" might not have been the best choice for a season opener (I'd have opened with "The Enterprise Incident"), but there were some awful episodes in Seasons 1 and 2 also - "The Alternative Factor", "Miri", "The Omega Glory", and "Patterns of Force" come to mind, at least IMO. But I sometimes wonder, if TOS was made today, would Season 3 get as much criticism as a whole as it did in reality?
Maybe it's because of the fact that the rise of the Internet makes it much easier for ST fans to discuss the show among each other than maybe it once was, but I've sometimes wondered if the bad rep for S3 was at least partially due to the way the studio hurt the series - the poor time slot, the slashing of budgets, and so forth. That kind of thing doubtless put a bad taste in many fans' mouths, and when two of the first four episodes of the season were "Spock's Brain" and "And the Children Shall Lead", that bad taste probably got worse. But I don't think there is quite the same level of dislike for Season 3 out there now than there was a couple of decades ago.
Yes, Season 3 certainly had a few howlers, and I agree that "Spock's Brain" might not have been the best choice for a season opener (I'd have opened with "The Enterprise Incident"), but there were some awful episodes in Seasons 1 and 2 also - "The Alternative Factor", "Miri", "The Omega Glory", and "Patterns of Force" come to mind, at least IMO. But I sometimes wonder, if TOS was made today, would Season 3 get as much criticism as a whole as it did in reality?
Part of the reason for S3's redemption might be in comparison to what else has come along since over the years. There's a good chunk of S3 that's rocket science compared to a lot of what we've gotten since. In that context there isn't as much contrast between TOS S1, S2 and S3. Hell, I'll take TOS S3 over anything VOY and ENT have offered up. I'll take it over the later seasons of TNG. And, of course, there's other sci-fi we've gotten over the years, some of which was good and a lot which wasn't.
I think its music is the best. George Duning and his romantic strings are more prominent. Ymmv, of course.
Edit: Ditto to what Warped just posted as I was typing. I rewatch little of Berman-era. I do rewatch S3. But TOS was my childhood, and is my first love. Frankly, I like the tighter one-plot storytelling, though I admit the B-plots in the Berman era are often more interesting than the A's.
Edit: Ditto to what Warped just posted as I was typing. I rewatch little of Berman-era. I do rewatch S3. But TOS was my childhood, and is my first love. Frankly, I like the tighter one-plot storytelling, though I admit the B-plots in the Berman era are often more interesting than the A's.
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^ Warped9 and plynch make a good point. There was once a time--when TOS was all there was--that Season 3 was clearly the worst of Trek. Not so anymore.
The studio (Paramount) slashed the series' budget.
The network (NBC) gave it the lousy time slot.
Given the performance of the series, both moves are understandable. In the long run, the budget cuts have hurt the series a lot more than it's time slot in 1968-1969.
Seriously the reduced budget in terms of sets and f/x doesn't make itself apparent all that much. I find what hurts the disappointments of S3 most are the same things that can hurt episodes in any season: poor stories and ideas and/or poor execution---lazy or sloppy thinking.
"Spock's Brain" is a good science fiction story at heart, but somewhere along the line they fucked up the execution. There are actually some damn good moments early in the episode, but then it goes off the rails once they beam down to the planet surface with the remote controlled Spock in tow. From that moment the episode goes off the rails in grand style.
Decent story + sloppy thinking = big disappointment. And there are other examples.
"Spock's Brain" is a good science fiction story at heart, but somewhere along the line they fucked up the execution. There are actually some damn good moments early in the episode, but then it goes off the rails once they beam down to the planet surface with the remote controlled Spock in tow. From that
moment the episode goes off the rails in grand style.Decent story + sloppy thinking = big disappointment. And there are other examples.
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