Star Trek: TOS 1.23: "A Taste of Armageddon"

Quite possibly, this might be the specific incident -- out of many on Kirk's watch alone -- that got the Federation to think up the Prime Directive. The sad thing is, if the first person on the planet that Kirk encountered had not been a hot chick, I don't think he would've cared enough to destroy 500 years worth of culture.

What I thought might have been a nifty conclusion to the story, instead of blowing up the war computers, would've been to hack them. Make the computers on both planets declare that every single person has been killed in a virtual attack. What would they do then? Would every single person march into a disintegration chamber? That wouldn't accomplish their goals of preserving their cultures. They'd be forced to open dialog. It's basically the same ending, except Spock gets to be the hero hacker.

yr: 2267
sd: 3192.1
ad: 23 Feb 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.22: "The Return of the Archons"

A bit like the society depicted, this episode is dull and lifeless.

I think it contained the very first mention of the Prime Directive... and the very first breaking of that law. Meh. Destroying a 6000-year-old culture: what could go wrong?

No one will ever, ever beat Kirk at being able to talk a computer into suicide. He's the Michael Jordan of that sport.

yr: 2267
sd: 3156.2
ad: 9 Feb 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.21: "Tomorrow is Yesterday"

Maybe it's because I exist in the body-modding 21st century, but I don't quite get why people are always freaked out over Spock's appearance. Should a scowling man with a Moe Howard haircut and deformed ear tips elicit an expression of shock from a 1960s military man? Captain Christopher must also jump at his jet's shadow on the runway.

yr: 2267 / 1969
sd: 3113.2
ad: 26 Jan 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.20: "The Alternative Factor"

Kirk, pal, you could've thrown the crazy one in space-jail. Trapping both in the parallel universe corridor "for all eternity" wasn't even close to the only alternative. Then again, it allowed for your fine "What of Lazarus?" moment on the bridge.

Strangely, I had no memory of this episode.

yr: 2267
sd: 3087.6
ad: 30 Mar 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.19: "Arena"

I'm surprised that this episode is even rerun in these times. It describes the correct components of black powder? Think of the children!

I feel real sorry for the poor guy who had to wear the rubber lizard suit in the California desert. You're a trooper, man.

I dig the new radio chatter added to the bridge soundtrack. It's a nice reminder that there's hundreds of people busy at work in the lower decks, making sure the ship runs smoothly.

yr: 2267
sd: 3045.6
ad: 19 Jan 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.18: "The Squire of Gothos"

Was this the original "all powerful alien turns out to be a child" story, or was this a well-established sub-sub-genre of sci-fi by this time? It's hard to tell from this distance and you never know with the original Trek.

I dig that Trelane has a salt monster trophy from "The Man Trap," even if it doesn't fit his 19th century decor.

yr: 2267
sd: 2124.5
ad: 12 Jan 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.17: "Shore Leave"

They're really going to regret being so nice to humans. Once word gets out about the magical amusement planet, it's going to look like an overcrowded version of Second Life. Shame, really.

yr: 2267
sd: 3025.3
ad: 29 Dec 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.16: "The Menagerie, Part II"

That "only death penalty left on the books" thing is bothersome for such a supposedly enlightened future. The planet and aliens aren't anywhere bad enough to warrant such a thing. The Talosians rejected our species as worthwhile to keep around... there isn't much of a danger in going there post-Pike. If they were worried we were going to learn their power of illusion and destroy ourselves, the Talosians can simply refuse to talk to us about it. Killing people for stepping foot on one particular piece of rock doesn't seem to be in the spirit of freedom and exploration.

Still not as bad as Spock smiling at the plants.

yr: 2267
sd: 3013.1
ad: 24 Nov 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.15: "The Menagerie, Part I"

A great way to get some use out of that footage from the unaired pilot. Interesting to note Pike's crack about not being used to having women on the bridge was cut, but Spock's uncharacteristic smile over the singing plants was not. Gene tried to clean up the old version of the ST universe a bit, I guess.

Man, they just got done trying to court martial Kirk, too. The whole crew's getting a lot of use out of their SF Academy "Space Law 101" course lately.

yr: 2267
sd: 3012.4
ad: 17 Nov 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.14: "Court Martial"

Note to future hackers: don't screw with Spock's chess program while editing video to frame someone.

yr: 2267
sd: 2947.3
ad: 2 Feb 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.13: "The Galileo Seven"

I'm with Spock on this one. What's with the fascination with risking your life to bury dead bodies? Escape the planet of the walking carpets first, mourn later. Geez.

yr: 2267
sd: 2821.5
ad: 5 Jan 1967

Star Trek: TOS 1.12: "The Conscience of the King"

Lenore gets angry with Kirk because he applied the ole Captain's charm just to get close to her father, but she's the one with Kirk on her "to kill" list. Then again, she was nuts.

yr: 2266
sd: 2817.6
ad: 8 Dec 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.11: "Miri"

McCoy effortlessly comes up with the cure to another unknown disease for the second time in five episode while on a planet that, for absolutely no reason outside of the budget, looks exactly like 1960s Earth. Worst. Episode. Ever. (up to this point)

yr: 2266
sd: 2713.5
ad: 27 Oct 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.10: "Dagger of the Mind"

Spock mind-melds with Dr. Van Gelder, becoming intimately familiar with what being a really sweaty man is like.

yr: 2266
sd: 2715.1
ad: 3 Nov 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.09: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

I wish I had Kirk around every time I have computer trouble. No one will ever be as good at talking computers to death than he was.

So, after this incident and and "The Enemy Within" issue, you'd think the crew of the Enterprise would devise some method of determining whether the captain was the captain or yet another evil twin. A pass phrase, a bio-scan, a tattoo on the real Kirk's thigh... something that's easy to check every time you run into the man to make sure he isn't evil. This would at least save some time when the Mirror Universe stuff goes down.

yr: 2266
sd: 2712.4
ad: 20 Oct 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.08: "Balance of Terror"

The spiritual ancestor to the space battle in Wrath of Khan. Damn good stuff.

They might have taken the submarine metaphor a wee bit too far. When trying to hid from another ship in outer space, it's not gonna matter how much noise you make inside of your own little vessel. Ah well, it worked for the plot.

yr: 2266
sd: 1709.2
ad: 13 Dec 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.07: "Charlie X"

"It's a Good Life" in space.

Omnipotent beings are such a plague in the Star Trek Universe. Starting on this stardate, the Federation should've immediately begun working to find some kind of variety of torpedo to shoot at these things. It would've come in handy many times over if they'd succeeded.

yr: 2266
sd: 1533.6
ad: 15 Sep 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.06: "The Naked Time"

Can you infer anything about the people who were not infected? After all, you have to touch other people to catch it... you need to swap perspiration. This implies that Scotty, McCoy, Uhura and Rand didn't come into contact with another human for 72 hours. Maybe they have Howie Mandel disease?

Kicks the royal hell out of the TNG remake.

yr: 2266
sd: 1704.2
ad: 29 Sep 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.05: "The Man Trap"

I can see why this episode was picked to air first. The cast has really come together at this point and everyone seems comfortable in their roles. It's got some of that "western in space" flavor Roddenberry was going for with the lone scientist/rancher in the desert having a shootout with space army/marshals. It has a really scary alien monster at the end that freaked me out as a kid. There's a glimpse of some classic Trekian morality as Kirk briefly laments to death of the last of its kind.

You kinda have to wonder what the monster's problem was. Clearly, the critter was intelligent. It could speak in English when in human form and successfully pretended to be various crew persons. One of the reasons a starship arrived on its planet in the first place was to drop off supplies. Why couldn't the thing hold its horses and wait for the giant bags of salt to beam down? To immediately begin feasting on the new arrivals has got to be a record in the annals of bad manners. I'm glad it was phasered to death, the rude bastard.

yr: 2266
sd: 1513.1
ad: 8 Sep 1966

Star Trek: TOS 1.04: "The Enemy Within"

It only took five episodes to get to the very first transporter accident. The wrath of those infernal machines will extend for at least the next 113 years. I might blame Richard Matheson for that, but I'd rather thank him for the first solid episode of the show. I'm not surprised such a talented writer was the man to establish the essential Kirk-Spock-McCoy triangle.

Evil Kirk: a tour de force performance from one Mr. William Shatner. Thank you, Bill.

yr: 2266
sd: 1672.1
ad: 6 Oct 1966