The top 20. The penultimate part of the new Gary’s Ranked Reviews series on the original Star Trek. Speculation on social media as to the identities of these episodes in the top 2 parts has been mostly accurate, but seldom more than vague predictions of episodes falling into the top 20 or top 10. Few predictions are made that attempt to place the exact rank of an episode, although I’ve had 2 people correctly guess the #1 episode in the survey. (I’ve also had a couple of amusing incorrect guesses, but at least both of those guesses are in the top 10). But that won’t be seen until next week’s conclusion to the survey. For this week, we cover episodes ranked from #20 through #11. There are, technically, 11 episodes in this part because of the appearance of Star Trek’s only 2-part episode, but it is placed here as a single episode for reasons explained when we get there. This part is dominated by second season episodes (5 of them), including 2 that rose in rank by several places compared to my 1990s reviews. Also included here is Star Trek’s longest episode title. Can you guess which episode that is? It’s one of the 2 out of the remaining 4 episodes of the third season yet to review.
#20 The Corbomite Maneuver
Season 1, Episode 10
Preceded by “Dagger Of The Mind”
Followed by “The Menagerie”
The decision to air “The Man Trap” as the first episode of Star Trek was a good one, but definitely not the best one. By far, the best choice for a first episode of Star Trek would have been this episode, a first contact story, for a number of reasons. One is that this was, in fact, the very first regular first season episode to be filmed, following the pilot episodes. (Airing it almost 3 months later was due mainly to post-production special effects, which took a long while.) Another is the subject matter: first contact with a potentially hostile alien entity, and the young and sometimes inexperienced crew’s reaction to it. We get a much more “real world” feel for an adventure in which one crewman, in particular, loses his nerve in the face of danger. We seldom see that in any televised science fiction, much less Star Trek.
And speaking of science fiction, it’s interesting to note that this early episode truly establishes the tone for the Enterprise’s mission of exploration. Unlike any of the other early (this was the 10th episode aired though the first to be produced) first season episode, there is no encounter or even view of other Federation personnel outside of the Enterprise crew, no other Federation ships, no other “known” aliens outside of Balok, the main plot point of the episode, and except for the ending takes place entirely on the Enterprise in space, not in orbit around any planet. This is a pure sci-fi tale with no allusions to classic literature, Shakespeare, or other genres. It suffers from some admittedly worse “growing pains” than other early episodes but that’s because it was actually the first one produced. And in light of the subject matter of the episode, it is easily forgiven.
The special effects were notable in that, even before the remasters, they were far superior to anything else that was being done in the 1960s. Besides having inferior plots, sets, and actors, shows like “Lost In Space” which actually got higher ratings than Star Trek had very poor special effects, particularly when compared to Star Trek. This episode truly set the standard for what science fiction TV should look like, even though they waited for 10 episodes before showing it off.
Despite the growing pains, the characters seemed very well fleshed out. The plot features a nice mix of tension and suspense along with lighter moments such as Kirk getting his physical and being placed on a salad diet. Kirk using a poker-style bluff to get the Enterprise out of their predicament would be used many times after this episode. And Yeoman Rand’s line about using a hand phaser to make coffee hot was absolutely hysterical (Grace Lee Whitney must have had a blast making this episode). All this makes for an episode that should have been used to introduce Star Trek to the public.
#19 The Immunity Syndrome
Season 2, Episode 18
Preceded by “A Piece Of The Action”
Followed by “A Private Little War”
One of mankind’s most primal fears is of being consumed by another living creature. Usually when we think in these terms, we think of wild animals or sea creatures, whose claws or teeth would tear us agonizingly apart. What doesn’t usually come to mind is a giant “amoeba” that would simply engulf us. What Star Trek did with this basic plot idea is truly amazing. Although a single-celled creature of this size constitutes one of Star Trek’s Wonky Science Momentstm, the way they presented it in this bottle episode was nothing short of brilliant. It easily makes you forget just how crazy an idea this is to start with, and lets you concentrate on the great character interactions.
So it is that the Spock first “feels” the deaths of the all-Vulcan crew aboard the USS Intrepid. Then they find an entire solar system devoid of life where there once was a billion people. These deaths were caused by the giant creature they eventually encounter, not by direct consumption but through the draining of all life energy via a “zone of darkness”. What isn’t told anywhere is that this “zone” exhibits the exact properties of an event horizon surrounding a black hole. The math behind this was a relatively recent discovery in the 1960s, and they put it to superb use here without talking about it in exact scientific terms. In particular, the notion that rules of physics seem to be reversed is actually quite sound, as the theory about black holes states that once you are within the event horizon, thrust in any direction always points to the singularity at the center. “Direction” itself doesn’t even have any meaning. Having a living cell be that singularity is a bit of a stretch, but again, they present it so well here that one easily forgets how farfetched the idea is.
This is also the episode that truly reveals the motivation in the constant ongoing fued between Spock and McCoy: jealousy. McCoy volunteers to take the shuttlecraft into the creature to get the data needed to destroy it, only to be overruled by Captain Kirk. Kirk sends Spock instead, whose stoic and professional manner comes off to McCoy as aloofness. If you look at this episode and then look at other interactions between the two characters, you see that this kind of jealousy is the driving force of the entire feud. In the third season episode “The Empath,” Dr. McCoy would finally get the upper hand with Spock when it comes to an issue of potential sacrifice. (Earlier in the second season in the higher ranking “Journey To Babel,” McCoy also gets to take charge of a situation over both Spock AND Kirk, but to humorous effect instead of the more serious scene here.)
Altogether, this is one of Star Trek’s best and most tense adventures that features no guest cast outside of Enterprise crewmembers.
#18 For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky
Season 3, Episode 8
Preceded by “Day Of The Dove”
Followed by “The Tholian Web”
Star Trek’s longest episode title goes to this gem, nestled between (spoiler alert) the only 2 top 10 episodes to come from the third season. Put another way, Star Trek’s third season’s first 9 episodes include all 4 of that season’s best episodes (though it also contains the worst episode of the entire series – and it’s the season premiere). Few TV shows have ever seen the kind of drop in episode quality that followed this string of episodes up here in the top 20. If they could have kept up the quality found in episodes 7, 8, and 9 of season three throughout the season, they would have likely not been canceled. They were certainly on a roll here.
This episode is one of the few instances where we get an opportunity for a Dr. McCoy love story. It was a “B-plot” to the main issue of the story, namely a spaceship disguised as an asteroid that was on a collision course with a Federation planet, but it was significant nevertheless. It’s also a really good way of depicting an all-too-common occurrence in our lives: a terminal diagnosis, and the reaction to it by the sick person as well as the people around him/her. It is thus McCoy who starts the episode with the announcement that he would die of this rare illness within about a year, while the Enterprise goes to investigate the source of a random missile attack. The source turns out to be the asteroid mentioned above, whose collision course will impact Daran V in about the same time.
It’s the encounter with the inhabitants of the asteroid, which they call “Yonada”, that takes up the rest of the episode, and presents the very good overall plot: Captain Kirk is presented with a triple dilemma: violate (potentially) the Prime Directive by telling the people of Yonada about their situation, destroy the asteroid and its inhabitants, or let it impact Daran V in a year’s time. In the end, both plots and both dilemmas are resolved quite well, with McCoy’s affair (and marriage!) with Natira becoming the basis for finding a better alternative for the asteroid’s situation (correcting their course) and a cure for McCoy’s disease, all wrapped up in one. The pacing and execution are excellent as well, which is why this episode ranks here. Very enjoyable story. Well done.
#17 Who Mourns For Adonais?
Season 2, Episode 2
Preceded by “Amok Time”
Followed by “The Changeling”
Another episode from inside a string of top 20 episodes, this time at the beginning of the second season. It’s also the second time here in the top 30 in which a female Enterprise crewmember falls in love with the lead male guest character (the other one being “Space Seed”, #27 in part 6). The similarities don’t end there: in both episodes of this comparison, the relatively high rank of the episode is due largely to that charismatic guest character. This time, though, that character isn’t a human who has been in suspended animation for close to 200 years; instead he’s the god Apollo, widely known to the Ancient Greeks.
The theory of “ancient astronauts” was first proposed right around the same time as this episode was produced (1967). Swiss author Erich von Däniken formalized the idea in his book Chariots of the Gods the following year. The theory goes like this: many of the wonders of the ancient world, including the pyramids, were actually built by aliens, advanced civilizations themselves, who brought their knowledge to Earth thousands of years ago from planets far away. Among the things they left behind were belief systems, particularly in Ancient Greece, where these alien astronauts were revered as gods: Dionysus, Hermes, Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, and of course, Apollo. It is thus that the Enterprise happens upon the planet where Apollo has “retired” to. He captures the Enterprise itself and takes the opportunity to “come out of retirement” as it were, and restart Ancient Greece, with the Enterprise crew as his worshipers.
The plot is simple and straightforward. Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Chekov spend most of the episode trying to figure out a way to escape Apollo, searching for the source of his power, and mostly trying not to get on his bad side lest they get themselves killed. A line during the main part of the conflict between Apollo and the Enterprise crew is what raised this episode in rank a bit, as Apollo explains how the new arrivals will “worship us as gods once again”. Kirk’s reply is that “we find the One sufficient”. Another surprising – and, frankly, refreshing – affirmation of God in a TV series created by an atheist. Mind you, this episode was not written by Gene Roddenberry, but he was still the “showrunner” at this point.
The wild card in it all is the historian they brought with them, Lt. Carolyn Palamas, who becomes quite infatuated with Apollo. Once she is convinced of the need to spurn Apollo, she does the right thing and keeps Apollo away from his temple in time for the Enterprise to destroy it. With the source of his power gone at the end, he fades into the wind like the other “gods”. McCoy said it best when he says “I wish we hadn’t had to do this”.
The story was a good enough one to get a sequel, but not in one of the regular Star Trek shows; rather, Apollo was the subject of the premiere episode of Star Trek Continues, where we meet Apollo again, this time as a much older but still quite fit man, who still has at least some of his old powers. The really neat thing about the episode is the casting of the original actor, Michael Forest, as Apollo, at the then-age of 84.
#16 The Changeling
Season 2, Episode 3
Preceded by “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
Followed by “Mirror, Mirror”
All 4 of the other episodes in which Kirk destroys a computer with logic rank lower than this one, thus making this episode the highest ranking such episode. It is definitely the one with the best plot of the bunch (15 places higher than “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”), but there are 2 “flaws” that most reviewers point out in the episode, that cause most other critics to rank this much lower. I’ll address both in this review, of course, but even if I considered them to be serious, it’s balanced out with a superior plot and a fantastic scene at the climax of the episode with one of Kirk’s best speeches, ever.
I’ll not go into a plot summary here, as it is made up of numerous details that make this episode, though it technically falls into the category of “action thriller,” one of Star Trek’s most intricate. The fact that they lifted this plot to put together Star Trek: The Motion Picture 12 years later is no fault of this episode. The premise behind both is quite sound: the idea that a damaged machine could repair itself, even to the extent that it would combine itself with another machine, is a fundamental tenet of artificial intelligence. And of course, making the machine virtually sentient as a result of the merger makes for a wonderfully suspenseful plot. The machine (Nomad) was now a “berserker”, and it was out of control. The fact that it mistook Captain Kirk for its creator Jackson Roykirk was truly the only thing that saved them, but Captain Kirk then wisely used this fact to defeat Nomad in what even Spock remarked was a “dazzling display of logic…”.
The first of the two flaws normally used to criticize this episode comes right after Nomad comes to believe that the Enterprise contains its creator. The Enterprise beams Nomad onto the Enterprise despite the fact that it just got done attacking the Enterprise, after previously destroying all life in an entire star system. Many say that this was a hugely reckless mistake; I disagree. Knowing that the attack was truly over, even if the Enterprise crew didn’t initially know why, they would have been safe in assuming that Nomad would not attack the ship like it did before while inside of it, lest it basically commit suicide. It was still a risky move, but it actually makes sense in light of what they were trying to do. So long as Nomad was outside of the Enterprise but nearby, it posed a danger to everyone, in that it could resume its attack at any time.
But after attacking two individual people on the bridge (Uhura and Scotty), the other “flaw” appears. It is not too much of a stretch for Nomad to “repair” the “unit Scott”, basically performing a resurrection on him, but the scene with Uhura is where things break down, at least a little bit. Claiming that it could not restore Uhura’s memory, as there was no physical damage to her brain, the decision was made to simply re-educate her. This makes sense except for the amount of time this would have taken. They did add the rather nice touch of having Uhura speak in what was, presumably, her native Swahili, as though she had been reverted to childhood, but restoring her adult memory and education would have taken much, much longer than the half-episode that it appeared to take here. Admittedly, as a woman of 35 years, her physiology makes it possible to re-educate her much more quickly than trying to do this with an actual child. But, it still could have been portrayed better had they done just a couple of things differently. One would have been the portrayal of some kind of longer time jump between this episode and the next (“Mirror, Mirror”) – or whichever episode they aired next, as they didn’t broadcast them in the order they were produced. Alternatively, they could have aired a few episodes after this one in which Uhura did not appear (which would have been difficult in Star Trek’s second season, as she appears in all but one episode, “The Doomsday Machine”). Either way, it could have been solved a little more easily. I, however, don’t see that as a major problem with this episode; rather, it was more of an issue with Star Trek’s continuity as a series, which they mostly didn’t care about during its original run.
It’s interesting to note that one of the reasons why I rank the first Star Trek movie as low as I do (3rd from the bottom, in another blog series some time) is because of its plot being essentially the same as this episode, stretched out to more than 2 hours. There is a tremendous amount of padding and filler in The Motion Picture mainly because they started with a plot, great as it is, that really can be told in a much shorter amount of time – like this episode, for instance.
#15 The Naked Time
Season 1, Episode 4
Preceded by “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
Followed by “The Enemy Within”
“The Naked Time” is the second highest-ranking episode of Star Trek involving time travel (even if the scene involving it takes up only the last 2 minutes of the episode), and contains some of the most quotable lines in all of Star Trek. Were it not for the simple fact that 14 other episodes were even better, overall, than this one, it could have ranked even higher. Despite how early this episode is, it suffers from truly no “growing pains” that mark many first season episodes. Best of all, it contains some of Star Trek’s best acting by both regular and guest cast.
The plot is relatively simple, but it is executed to perfection. Lots of great attention to detail went into writing this action thriller. Even the orbital mechanics of a planet that is breaking apart is well-thought-out. Riley’s (actor Bruce Hyde’s) performance before we find out what he really did (shutting off the engines) is spot on, including his singing of “I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen” to everyone’s chagrin. As more and more of the crew become infected, each crewmember’s performance (Sulu’s chasing of people with a fencing foil, Chapel’s declaration of love for Spock, and especially Spock’s emotional breakdown) of someone under the influence of an intoxicant is absolutely thrilling. The suspense is ramped up a notch further when they regain Engineering and discover what Riley did. I get goosebumps to this day when Scotty first says “he turned the engines off.” Under any other routine circumstances, getting away from a planet when the orbit got messed up is a routine and ordinary thing – but not here. “I canna change the laws of physics! I’ve got to have thirty minutes!”. Just simply amazing stuff.
The remasters solved a number of visual problems with the episode, none of which were annoying or really bad, but it did boost the episode a little to actually see the science station they were visiting, and get a better view of the planet from the decaying orbit. The time travel sequence was as brief as it was handled well, with great background music to boot. Originally, this was intended as part one of two, with part two being the episode “Tomorrow Is Yesterday.” The decision to split this into two separate episodes (several months apart) was actually a good one, as this part ranks much higher than “Tomorrow…”. It was thought-of highly enough to reuse in Star Trek: The Next Generation as “The Naked Now”. However, that episode’s attempted rehash of these events didn’t gel nearly as well, and the episode ranks very low, mostly because of acting performances that weren’t anywhere near as good as they were here in this episode.
#14 The Deadly Years
Season 2, Episode 12
Preceded by “Friday’s Child”
Followed by “Obsession”
Where “The Naked Time” gets props for its acting, this episode gets props for makeup along with the acting. In “The Naked Time,” the crew had to act intoxicated. Here, they had to act old. Very old, and each with some different effects of extreme old age. The only acting performance that could have been a bit better was Chekov, in the teaser, when he encounters the dead body. Of course, he needed to act as though he was frightened, and that’s fine, but Walter Koenig overplayed it a bit (that is, he should have acted as though he had calmed down a bit once the other members of the landing team met up with him). For the rest of the episode, his performance was superb, as were those who were afflicted with the radiation poisoning that caused the extreme rapid aging.
This is another episode in which the plot could be easily summed up in a single paragraph, but the details and dialog are much more intricate. Chekov’s encounter with the body led to the discovery of the crew of the research station, all people in their 20s and 30s, now either dead or dying of old age. After returning to the Enterprise, every member of the landing party except for Chekov begins to gradually exhibit the same symptoms. Lt. Galway complains of hearing loss. Captain Kirk starts to show early signs of dementia and has a pain in his shoulder that McCoy identifies as advanced arthritis. Scotty contacts McCoy requesting a visit, to which McCoy tells him he just needs vitamins. When he does appear, he’s a gray-haired old man that can barely walk. Spock becomes badly cold-sensitive and complains of slow reflexes. Best of all, each of the acting performances depicting these maladies was top-notch. Meanwhile, there was a mystery to solve, specifically why Chekov was not affected. Once they figure out that his scare on the planet was the difference, getting a cure was a relatively quick.
It needed to be, of course, as a bad error in judgement by a visiting Commodore left the Enterprise under attack by Romulans. When the antidote was made, Kirk got the first dose which was successful. He had the presence of mind to use a communications code he knew the Romulans had violated to escape. A nice tie-in to an early episode had him using the same “Corbomite” bluff Kirk had used back then. Altogether, a wonderfully tense episode with great acting performances, and it’s even scientifically plausible!
#13 Metamorphosis
Season 2, Episode 9
Preceded by “I, Mudd”
Followed by “Journey To Babel”
“Metamorphosis” is one of Star Trek’s great character studies. There is very little in the way of action, and the big pair of reveals is simply wonderful. It is in this episode that we are introduced to the character of Zephram Cochran, the discoverer of the space warp and inventor of the warp drive. Some consider the fact that the Shuttlecraft crew doesn’t recognize him right away to be a flaw in the episode; I disagree. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy (and probably Commissioner Nancy Hedford, though this is never stated) don’t associate the name Cochran with the known historical figure, because Zephram Cochran vanished 150 years earlier when he was 87 years old. At 237 years of age, he would have been presumed dead.
But then comes the other big reveal: the “Companion,” a non-corporeal life form (similar to the lives within “The Lights Of Zetar” except this is a singular creature) who reversed Cochran’s aging and has kept him alive all these years, and is also responsible for diverting the Shuttlecraft and its crew to the planetoid. While Kirk, Spock, and McCoy attempt (without success) to either destroy the Companion or, at least, escape it, they have to deal with the issue Commissioner Hedford who is dying of a rare disease. Thus time is of the essence. In a last ditch effort, Spock modifies a Universal Translator module from the Shuttlecraft so they can attempt communication.
The Universal Translator is another of those top 10 Star Trek concepts or technologies that stretch the limits of the willing suspension of disbelief. Though not nearly as high in the list as the Transporter (it’s actually #10), it’s still a technology that makes communication a little bit too easy with alien creatures. However: this episode features the best-ever use of the technology, as the Companion is summoned and Kirk speaks with it. The great part of it is when Cochran (and everyone else) observes that the Translator speaks in a female voice. This puts the relationship between Cochran and the Companion in a whole new light. Cochran assumes that the Translator was programmed with a female voice; Kirk counters with the fact that the concepts of male and female are universal… the Companion is female. Today’s young people who claim there are more than 2 genders would do well to watch this episode and pay attention to this central tenet.
The relationship isn’t that of captor and captive; the relationship is one of love. Cochran’s reaction is understandable, even if a little over the top. But it adds a level of complexity to the character that reflects really good writing (by Gene Coon, who wrote or co-wrote 6 episodes in the top 30, 13 altogether, all of which feature well-written characters). And the resolution at the end, where a dying Nancy Hedford is taken over by the Companion to become a true, human love interest for Cochran, is well thought-out (if, perhaps, a little awkward for Kirk, having to explain how and where Hedford died, later). It is certainly one of Star Trek’s most beautiful episodes, and has something rare for the series: a serious, mature love story, not based on lust but real love. It should be noted that the few such stories in the series are all in the top 20.
#12 The Enterprise Incident
Season 3, Episode 2
Preceded by “Spock’s Brain”
Followed by “The Paradise Syndrome”
This episode constitutes the third-largest gap in rank between two adjacent episodes of Star Trek. This episode’s predecessor is at the bottom of the list, marking the worst example of “what were they thinking?” in all of Star Trek. Some say that is was “so bad that it’s good,” but the only way I could see that is if I looked at it as a comedy episode, and I don’t find it the least bit funny. “The Enterprise Incident,” on the other hand, raises the bar with an action-packed, Ocean’s Eleven-style heist episode, minus the comedy, and loosely based on real, historical events. It’s a much better episode despite its one flaw, and almost cracks the top 10. As it is, the episode stands as the 3rd best episode from the third season. What an upward swing!
The episode’s title reflects the true event that it’s based on, The Pueblo Incident, where a U.S. Navy ship was captured when it strayed into North Korean waters and held captive for a year. But the idea of straying into hostile territory is where the resemblance ends. The episode’s only real flaw is the “Kirk’s dead oh wait no he isn’t” trope that I have complained about before. I simply don’t like it when characters are killed and resurrected for what seems like no good reason. But this, like Scotty’s death and resurrection in “The Changeling”, is much different. Scotty’s “demise” in “The Changeling” was both caused by and fixed by the powerful Nomad machine. In this one, Kirk is never really dead. But that’s by design – a deception to the Romulans. It should have been made a bit more obvious to us, the audience, perhaps with a brief and quiet scene near the beginning of the episode, showing Kirk and Spock finalizing a discussion about their secret mission.
A lot is said by other reviewers about Spock’s apparently out-of-character actions when he is with the Romulan Commander. The depth of the intimacy of the scenes makes many believe that the seduction of Spock went much farther than his character would normally allow. This, though, is an overstatement, as the whole thing was a distraction, and Spock was simply acting under orders – right on up to and through his betrayal of the Romulan Commander. The resolution of the story works quite well, using the stolen cloaking device (running it through the shields) to escape the Romulans and return to Federation space. Mission accomplished.
That same Romulan Commander plays a major role in the series finale (“To Boldly Go”, parts 1 and 2) of Star Trek Continues, portrayed by the daughter of the original actress to great effect.
#11 The Menagerie
Season 1, Episodes 11 and 12
Preceded by “The Corbomite Maneuver”
Followed by “The Conscience Of The King”
The accolades for this 2-part episode, the only such episode in the original Star Trek series, are huge. Only one other episode of Star Trek would go on to win the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (the other being the number one episode of this series). A bit over 75% of the original series pilot “The Cage,” that was rejected by NBC (before Lucille Ball’s intervention that resulted in a second pilot), is used here, inside a framing story that is among Star Trek’s best. It’s the last episode to be reviewed outside of the top 10. It is reviewed here as a single episode for a number of reasons: the two parts aren’t really separable; the cliffhanger that separates the two parts is a minimal one, and it doesn’t bridge a gap between seasons or “mid-seasons” like many shows today. There is also no real difference in episode quality or writing between the two parts. More of “The Cage” appears in part two than in part one, and thus more of the framing story appears in part one than in part two. But the assemblage of the two completely different stories into one magnificent whole is what makes this episode great.
TV shows in the 1960s were very different than today, and one of those differences was the use of pilot episodes. Not only were they almost never broadcast for general public viewing, but having more than one of them was completely unheard-of. Star Trek broke both barriers by having two pilots and then airing one of them, basically unaltered, in the form of the episode “Where No Man Was Gone Before”. The first pilot, “The Cage” had a different cast (with one notable exception) and a largely different personality, but it was an excellent story that ended on a somewhat ambiguous note. The fact that NBC executives found it to be “too cerebral” is largely a product of the times: there really were no other TV shows doing the kinds of things with the kinds of subjects that even this pilot episode did. NBC figured it wouldn’t sell; that the ratings would be very poor and that they’d lose money on the venture.
Fast forward 2 years. Star Trek was accepted after a second pilot and had already aired 10 other episodes, one of them being that second pilot. Ratings weren’t great but they weren’t bad, either. The budget, however, was out of control with the special effects. Star Trek badly needed an episode that would cost less to produce and could be put together in a shorter amount of time. They discovered the answer in the first pilot, but rather than just air it as is, they put together a brilliant framing story, centering on the only character common to both the pilot and the regular series: Spock. All they had to do was say “let’s give Star Trek an actual backstory”. “The Cage,” with its adventures of Captain Christopher Pike, became that backstory. Rather than tell it in flashback, though, it was written in such a way as to put Spock in the position of resolving the final part of “The Cage” using a staged mutiny and staged court martial, returning the Captain who he first served under to a place where he can live out the rest of his life enjoying the illusion of a fully functional and young body.
Every detail worked. The episode enjoyed its highest ratings for the season up to that point, and the future of Star Trek looked pretty good. The scene where Spock realizes that his ruse was not going to work without causing harm to his current Captain (chasing the Enterprise in a Shuttlecraft), and then surrendering himself on the charge of mutiny (and Dr. McCoy’s response) is one of the best in the whole series, much less just this episode. The only flaw, and it is truly a minor one, comes at the end of Act 3 in part two: taking a vote on the charge of mutiny at that point was a little bit much; a better “cliffhanger” moment going into the final would have been better. Had that been done, though, I would have a bit of a crisis: the episodes ranked #11, #10, #9, and #8 are so close together that I had to consider a number of tie-breakers to put them into this review, and it may have made this episode rank as high as #8 but breaking that tie would have been just that much more difficult.
Interesting trivia: in the 1990s, the original pilot episode “The Cage” was made available on VHS and DVD in black and white. Among other differences was the voice of the “keeper” of the menagerie: much lower and very different sounding until you listened very carefully: it was the voice of actor Malachi Throne. In “The Menagerie” his voice was pitched higher to distinguish it from another character – Commodore Mendez, because the voice actor and the live actor were the same person. He also then recorded the new closing speech by the Keeper to Kirk at the end of the two part episode.
End of part 7
If you’re already a Star Trek fan, you probably have figured out the names of the 10 episodes that remain in this review. If you weren’t previously a fan of the series, you’re in for a real treat. I still encourage using either Netflix or Paramount Plus to view the episodes in ranked order. It would make for an incredible binge watch, particularly once you get to the top 30, top 20, or the episodes in next week’s top 10. The best of the best is coming up. Can you guess the order of the remaining episodes? Next week’s finale features 4 episodes from season one, 4 episodes from season two, and 2 episodes from season 3. I welcome any and all speculation about the identities or placement of the remaining episodes, but I won’t reveal things until next week. Until next time, happy viewing!
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[…] “The Enterprise Incident” (#12 in part 7) saw the third-largest gap in rank between chronologically adjacent episodes (against […]