Month: January 2010

Another episode that really picked up in the second half. A grand threat seems to bring out the best in Kirk – he seems to be at this best when the life and death of entire planets is on the line. I’m not entirely sure why the write bought his family into it, as his…

The episode popularly ranked as the best of the original Star Trek. And? It’s a pretty strong episode, but it’s a bit held back by the sheer number of times the story has been repeated. It would, I suspect, be a lot better if you watched the episode cold. As it is it’s well constructed,…

Oh hey, Vasquez Rocks again. That’s just about the only highlight in a ‘blah’ episode. Again, it didn’t feel a lot like a Star Trek story – it could have been in a story in any one of a dozen different series. It also felt a little ‘short’ – some of the special effect sequences…

Great episode. The idea of Kirk and Spock alone together on a planet fighting a guerilla war against the Klingons is a lot of fun. The final twist at the end, with the Organians deciding to use their god-like powers, turns it into an interesting bit of SF. The story doesn’t quite add up, as…

I was fully prepared to not like this episode from the fairly sketchy start it has, but I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. My memory of this episode was a long way away from its reality. The idea of an alien life form based on Silicon is an old one in SF, and…

Some great moments, but generally a fairly slow episode. I really like the part of this episode with Kirk wandering around like a lonely god on the otherwise abandoned Enterprise. It almost feels like the kind of nightmare any slightly insecure starship captain might have from time to time. And the fight scene between Kirk…

“Prime directive? What prime directive?” Leaving aside the “Kirk knows best”, this was an interesting episode. Not sure if it was intended as a Vietnam war analogy or a cold war analogy, but it raises an interesting dilemma. Is a ‘clean war’ a bad thing, because it allows the war to go on forever? It’s…

The episode so good they made a movie as its sequel. Well, not really. The episode is pretty good, but it didn’t exactly scream ‘sequel’. Watching this today the episode falls for a common trap in Science Fiction – giving too specific a date in the near future. Referring to Khan ruling a quarter of…

A nice little planetside episode, albeit one that spends a bit too much time establishing the GREAT BIG MYSTERY. I think a subtler build up would have been more effective, although maybe that’s a bit much to ask from a single episode. Still, it was good to see the crew at least attempting to blend…

Another first for a plot that Star Trek would use time and again: the court martial episode. Of course, that brings another element with it, which is perfectly dreadful treatment of real life law and procedure in courts. My lawyer wife was shouting at the screen in places during this episode. Generally it’s pretty pedestrian.…