If you haven't read the introduction to see how and why I went about creating the episode guide for The Original Series, you may wish to do so now.

A salt-dependent alien lifeform that can assume any identity begins killing members of the crew in its need to appease its appetite for salt, which it completely drains from each of its victim's bodies. The alien initially poses as an old love from McCoy's past, who is a scientist at an archaeological dig on the planet the Enterprise is orbiting. Inevitably, the alien is unknowingly beamed aboard the ship. Why NBC chose to air "The Man Trap" as the first episode of Trek instead of launching the series with its actual pilot, the better-paced and more textured "Where No Man Has Gone Before," is something of a mystery. "Man Trap" features a relatively nondescript plot that moves along slowly and features one particularly lackluster action sequence that begs for the bold, renowned Alexander Courage underscore but doesn't have it. Much of the story follows the alien around the decks of the Enterprise as it takes the form of other people in preparation for luring more victims--scenes that don't benefit from nearly enough tension or suspense. Saving the episode is the respectable torment brought to Bones in the final showdown, which benefits from good portrayal of confusion on the part of DeForest Kelley; and good use of the cast as an ensemble overall.

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Charlie X -- Air date: 9/15/1966. Teleplay by D. C. Fontana. Story by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Lawrence Dobkin.

The Enterprise provides transport for 17-year-old Charlie Evans (Robert Walker Jr.), an adolescent who grew up alone on an uninhabited planet after being the sole survivor of a crash 14 years before. Initially unbeknownst to Kirk & Co., Charlie holds powerful abilities that were given to him by an alien race so he could survive his isolation. Charlie now finds himself unable to cope with life among humans, as he careens into social situations where, when he doesn't understand, he feels forced to throw people upon the mercy of his own abilities--including making people "go away," vanishing into apparent oblivion. The true success in "Charlie X" is in its central character's sympathetic dilemma. Charlie is a boy who wants to be liked and understood, but he doesn't grasp the social norms, and as a result feels threatened whenever he is faced with anything approaching the unpleasant or adversarial. When he experiences a crush on Yeoman Rand, his determination to win her over is poisoned by his ability to harness his anger when his feelings aren't returned. The episode depends less on plot manipulations than it does on intelligently analyzing one person and the understandable problems surrounding him. Walker Jr. turns in a vivid performance, making Charlie pitiable even when he's at his most sadistic and malevolent. His face-off scenes with Kirk are right on the money. The story's conclusion is a necessary yet unfortunate turn of events.

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Where No Man Has Gone Before -- Air date: 9/22/1966. Written by Samuel A. Peeples. Directed by James Goldstone.

When zapped by a mysterious energy field, Kirk's longtime friend and fellow shipmate, Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood), begins developing telekinesis and other astounding superhuman powers. Power corrupts, however, and Mitchell soon sees the Enterprise and its crew as being as far beneath him as any insect. With no choice but to attempt marooning Mitchell on a nearby planet, Kirk finds that he must battle one-on-one with a former friend who is now a powerful being. The famous second pilot for NBC features an admirable mix of action scenes, choices for the captain, and a contemplation on what an individual may do if given powers beyond what he was meant to have. Interestingly, Dr. Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman) offers the sole voice of initial curiosity in embracing this superbeing when everyone else harbors fear. All in all it's not a great hour of Trek, but it's a good one.

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The Naked Time -- Air date: 9/29/1966. Written by John F. D. Black. Directed by Marc Daniels.

After beaming down to investigate a research post whose team had apparently gone mad and killed themselves, members of the landing party bring back a virus that has intoxicating side effects. As the virus spreads through the ship and crew members start acting strangely, Kirk finds himself with a crisis on hand when Lt. Riley (Bruce Hyde) locks himself in the engine room and shuts down the engines ... causing the Enterprise to spiral down out of planetary orbit. A lot of the sophomoric silliness involving the ship's officers in "drunk mode" is goofy and didn't do much for me. But the real core of "The Naked Time" emerges in its analysis of Spock; when he becomes affected we see just how torn he is between his human emotions and his Vulcan sense of reason and control. Leonard Nimoy's rendition of the role is exceptional. Also of interest is Nurse Chapel's confession of buried feelings for Spock, as well as Kirk's discussion about being essentially married to the ship. The ending, involving a sci-fi tech procedure that results in time moving backwards, is a non sequitur that's tough to swallow. But at least it shows the writers were trying something imaginative.

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The Enemy Within -- Air date: 10/6/1966. Written by Richard Matheson. Directed by Leo Penn.

Unbeknownst to the Enterprise crew, a transporter malfunction creates a duplicate of Captain Kirk, which somehow receives all of the real Kirk's darker, "negative" qualities. The story documents Kirk and Spock's attempts to track the faux Kirk through the ship as the impostor runs around causing trouble--particularly in one episode where he has a rather nasty encounter with Yeoman Rand. "The Enemy Within" epitomizes why TOS could be so much fun. We have mood and attitude injected into the anti-Kirk scenes, thanks to a wonderfully bombastic score by Sol Kaplan. We have William Shatner chewing scenery like there's no tomorrow ("I said give me the brandy!"; "I'M CAPTAIN KIRK!"; "I want to live!") in delightfully entertaining scenes. And we have an effective balance of good dialog utilizing Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Keeping the story grounded in the intelligent is the idea of the real Kirk's slow demise of will and his eventual inability to function as captain because he has been drained of the aggression that his counterpart possesses. It's an effective revisit to Jekyll and Hyde lore, and even though it can be campy at times, it's quite engaging along the way.

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Mudd's Women -- Air date: 10/13/1966. Teleplay by Stephen Kandel. Story by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Harvey Hart.

By way of emergency beam-out, Scotty rescues galactic scoundrel Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) and his mysterious passengers--women who have a hypnotic effect on men--but these people are all obviously hiding something. The plot centers around some dilithium miners who agree to purchase these women from Mudd in exchange for dilithium crystals the Enterprise needs. Shatner's retrospective comment about "Mudd's Women" explains how "daring" the episode was for NBC in 1966, and how the fact it was even made remains a small miracle because of its implicit topics of prostitution and drug addiction. Well, maybe that's true, but that doesn't make it a good show. Carmel's amusing turn as Harry Mudd is fine and well, and attractive women have always been a Star Trek staple, but the story for "Mudd's Women" is simply not interesting enough to withstand the passage of time--assuming it was ever good in the first place. Given the episode's "payoff" of either choosing a beautiful but useless woman to hang perfunctorily at one's side, or a woman who cooks and cleans, the options seem equally unflattering today. Shatner claims this episode became a fan favorite, but not this fan's.

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What Are Little Girls Made Of? -- Air date: 10/20/1966. Written by Robert Bloch. Directed by James Goldstone.

Nurse Chapel is reunited with her fiancé Dr. Roger Korby, a brilliant scientist who has "perfected" the ability to create an android copy of a human being, and hopes to replace humanity with these superior, emotionless androids in the interest of removing dangerous emotions from society. Needless to say, Kirk does not agree with Korby's views. "Little Girls" is a good example of Trekkian ideology. There's a plot here featuring a kidnapping and some attempted escapes, but the story is much more concerned about dialog concerning the nature of existence. For example, would stripping away humanity's ability to feel in favor of cold, strict logic make it less prone for violence and aggression? What about stripping away the positive aspects of emotion, like compassion and generosity? And what happens if you can preserve a person's mind in an android body, potentially forever? And what happens if the androids somehow evolve and create these pesky feelings all over again? Those are some of the intriguing questions posed by the story, though the answers provided only begin to scratch the surface. There are some moments in the episode that are a tad silly, like a scene where Kirk somehow manages to trick Ruk (Ted Cassidy) into turning against Korby by using some strategic use of logic and semantics ... although the argument Kirk comes up with doesn't really seem to make much sense. Of course, two redshirt deaths also come across as a little pointless, but, hey, that's how clichés are born. (Also, another story so soon after "The Enemy Within" featuring a duplicated Captain Kirk may be pushing it.)

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Miri -- Air date: 10/27/1966. Written by Adrian Spies. Directed by Vincent McEveety.

The Enterprise encounters a planet that is an exact duplicate of the Earth, but a place where all the adults are dead, leaving behind children who age incredibly slowly ("one month every 100 years"). The problem: These children all have a disease causing them to die the moment they surpass puberty. The other problem: Kirk and the landing party have now contracted the disease, and must race against the clock in finding the cure before they die. Unfortunately, it's not much of race. "Miri" feels long, slow, and surprisingly uneventful (to the point where Kirk's speech near the end is particularly hard to sit through), and has far too many lapses in logic to make the emotional core ring true. The notion of an "exact duplicate of the Earth" is put to absolutely no interesting use, and exists, apparently, for no other reason than so the plot could have a setting of "Earth, 1960." I had too many questions involving the children, like, just how is it they've managed to survive so long, yet don't have the capacity to grow beyond their childish ways? That's the paradox, and the story even acknowledges it at one point, but not effectively or believably on the given terms. Still, just to hear Spock ominously say, "Without [the computer analysis of the vaccine], it could be a beaker full of death" [cue music of doom], makes it almost worth the hour spent.

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Dagger of the Mind -- Air date: 11/3/1966. Written by S. Bar-David. Directed by Vincent McEveety.

Kirk, along with psychiatric expert Dr. Helen Noel (Marianna Hill), investigates the methods of Dr. Tristan Adams (James Gregory), a penal colony administrator who is using unique technology to control and terrorize his patients. The story's tech device is a "neural neutralizer," which allows Adams to cause great pain in patients who disobey him. No points for guessing that at one point in the story Kirk ends up as one of the "patients." Acting gets the job done in an episode like this. When your neural neutralizer is no more than a little plastic dome on the ceiling with a rotating light in it, you need acting to sell the idea of it causing extreme pain, loss of will, and submission to an authority. Shatner is enjoyable to watch in such a situation, though the true praise deserves to go to Morgan Woodward as the tortured Dr. Van Gelder, who has been forced into deep madness by Adams' "therapy." The Trek franchise's first mind meld confirms Spock's suspicions that Van Gelder is a victim rather than the problem. "Dagger" is one of those episodes that looks at the side of Trek that rarely manages to rear its head--that of analyzing violent tendencies and the potential madness and corruptibility of people. And by the end, the little plastic dome is actually a pretty terrifying object.

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The Corbomite Maneuver -- Air date: 11/10/1966. Written by Jerry Sohl. Directed by Joseph Sargent.

Traveling into uncharted space, the Enterprise encounters a mysterious alien probe. When the probe poses a threat, Kirk is forced to destroy it, much to the ire of the apparently superior alien race that created it. The alien commander, Balok, subsequently sentences the Enterprise to destruction for trespassing in their space. Every element is in place to make "Corbomite" a big winner: The mysterious alien ship is intimidating through its immensity and its implacable commander; watching Kirk under such a high-pressure situation gives us the chance to learn a great deal about his poker-game tactics; and crewman Bailey (Anthony Hall) cracking under pressure is certainly a relevant story piece. Unfortunately, it all goes on just a little too long. Under Joseph Sargent's uneven direction, the initial suspense gives way to repetition until the whole crisis runs out of steam. The games with the tractor beam just can't sustain the energy level that the initial countdown to annihilation promised. The ending, where it turns out Commander Balok (a 7-year-old Clint Howard) was testing the Enterprise crew, is still a neat twist--but it can't quite make up for the pedestrian execution in the latter passages of the plot.

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The Menagerie -- Air dates: 11/17/1966 and 11/24/1966. Written by Gene Roddenberry. Part I directed by Marc Daniels. Part II directed by Robert Butler.

The original unaired Trek pilot, "The Cage," becomes the subject of the series' only two-part episode when Spock commandeers the Enterprise to take Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter)--the former captain of the Enterprise, who has been paralyzed in a recent accident--to the off-limits planet Talos IV. To reach there would invoke the only death penalty still on record. While en route, Spock undergoes a court martial held by Kirk and a Starfleet Commodore. Part of Spock's testimony is the story of Pike's original visit to Talos IV 13 years earlier. The testimony is broadcast from the Talosians themselves. Although the episode was designed to save money, "The Cage" is nevertheless a Trek adventure worth unearthing. Although coming across as even more dated than an average TOS episode, it benefits from an ability to say something about a human inner struggle of mind over matter. The device used to tell this story is clever, if a little forced. Spock's theft of the Enterprise was nicely executed, and Kirk's decision to chase the Enterprise in a shuttle (hedging his bets that Spock would have to turn around to rescue Kirk before his shuttle runs out of fuel) also demonstrates ingenuity. The shifting back and forth between "The Cage" footage and the new footage is sometimes awkward and is accompanied with rather weak explanations, but the suspense factor (What happened on Talos, and why are we going back there?) allows us to forgive all. The ending works pretty well too ... but I still wonder why Pike was so adamant on not going to Talos IV from the outset.

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The Conscience of the King -- Air date: 12/8/1966. Written by Barry Trivers. Directed by Gerd Oswald.

When Kirk discovers that a stage actor named Anton Karidian (Arnold Moss) may really be the believed-dead "Kodos the Executioner," known for executing 4,000 innocent people in the midst of a social crisis, the captain launches a search for the truth. In hopes of learning more, he manipulates Karidian's daughter Lenore (Barbara Anderson) into coming aboard the Enterprise, and finds himself beginning to fall for her. "The Conscience of the King" is like a stage play brought onto a starship, featuring the classic elements of a Shakespearean tragedy rolled into an episode of Trek. The storyline is accomplished through an ingenious device that is wondrous in the way it threatens to bring down the "fourth wall" separating audience and television production, forcing us to consider the connections between classic literature and now-classic popular culture. It's very creative in its use of archetypes, and Moss and Anderson throw themselves into their roles with the exuberance of, well, stage actors. Unfortunately, this otherwise stellar episode is almost completely undermined by its inappropriate ending, in which a single line of dialog uttered by McCoy obliterates the tragic realization that played out just moments before. Are we supposed to believe that a woman who has murdered seven people will be set free just because she has suffered a great deal? And that she can be released from her tragic burden through some vague but apparent memory alteration? What kind of authority does Kirk have? And how in the world can you have a tragedy that tries to lighten the mood with a cheat ending?

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Balance of Terror -- Air date: 12/13/1966. Written by Paul Schneider. Directed by Vincent McEveety.

After a century of silence, the Romulans, a race with whom humans had a war long ago, appear to be on the move again--apparently testing their new cloaking technology--and the Enterprise may be the only ship to stop them from starting another conflict. The episode is in the tradition of submarine thrillers like Run Silent, Run Deep (or The Hunt for Red October as a more current comparison), but like "The Corbomite Maneuver," it has a tendency to get too wound up in its tactical moments and special effects, which can be confusing and sometimes go on for too long. And, I'm sorry, the set design on the Romulan ship is just not convincing; unlike the Enterprise, it feels too much like a cheap set and little more. And what's with those corny helmets the Romulan officers wear? There are, of course, many strengths here; the episode takes some stabs at relevant issues, especially when the crew discovers the Romulans may be related to Vulcans and a bridge officer's bigoted aggression (aimed here at Spock) emerges. The Cold War allegory was certainly timely, and the idea of each captains' respect for their counterpart makes for a nice theme, but I wish it had been taken a bit farther. Mark Lenard is good as a Romulan commander who begins to doubt his military's usefulness, but his thoughtfulness isn't utilized nearly as much as it could've been. The episode's unevenness is its drawback, and it's too bad; there's the potential for greatness here that goes unrealized. Each little theme would've been more effective if given more focus. "Balance" needed more balance.

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Shore Leave -- Air date: 12/29/1966. Written by Theodore Sturgeon. Directed by Robert Sparr.

Crew members beam down to a beautiful planet, where they slowly realize that their thoughts are magically manifested into reality. After a number of apparent misfortunes, the crew learns the world they're on is a magical alien amusement park, capable of making dreams come true. "Shore Leave" isn't a wonderful story, but it does have an undeniable sense of fun. Kirk is beat up by his academy-days tormentor, and later gets to return the favor (it's fitting for the captain that his idea of fun is having the chance to "beat the tar out of Finnegan"); Sulu gets to fire off a few rounds with a six-shooter; and Bones gets to chase a white rabbit, then die, and then come back to life. This episode maintains enough balance between adventure, danger, comedy, and silliness that it manages to be a pleasant hour of rather non-cerebral fantasy.

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The Galileo Seven -- Air date: 1/5/1967. Teleplay by Oliver Crawford and S. Bar-David. Story by Oliver Crawford. Directed by Robert Gist.

A shuttlecraft carrying a research team, commanded by Spock, is lost in an ion storm, rendering sensors useless. The shuttle is forced to crash-land on a hostile planet populated by large, violent creatures that would like nothing better than to kill Spock's team one by one. Meanwhile, the Enterprise conducts a desperate search for the team (sans sensors, it's a needle in a haystack), with time running out. Before long Kirk will be forced to abandon the search and proceed to a threatened colony in need of medical supplies. So at last, here's a full-fledged character analysis of Mr. Spock. "The Galileo Seven" certainly isn't a standout science fiction outing, but so what? History has shown us that Trek's evolution was one that put emphasis on its dialog and characters rather than in revolutionary sci-fi premises. And this episode, the original Shuttle Crash outing (Voyager writers take note), is a perfect example of what makes Trek so enduring. The simplicity of having Spock and six other crew members stranded on a planet gives us plenty of time to study "Spock's first command." It's fulfilling to watch Spock engage in a logical approach to a survival situation--so logical and lacking in emotional intuition that the rest of his team nearly turns on him. Of particular interest is the way his logic is so sensible if you think it through, yet it still doesn't work in practice. The most brilliant line: "Strange--step by step I've made the correct and logical decisions, and yet two men have died." Spock seems trapped in a paradox where succumbing to emotion may be the only solution--which it is, as evidenced by an act of desperation that he ultimately takes ... an act that itself could be rationalized as a logical one given the limited options. A most clever story.

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The Squire of Gothos -- Air date: 1/12/1967. Written by Paul Schneider. Directed by Don McDougall.

The Enterprise is snagged by an unknown force near a barren planet, and Sulu and the captain are kidnapped. Upon beaming down to search for them, the landing party finds itself the unwilling guests of the quirky Trelane (William Campbell), a strange lifeform with unusual powers and particular tastes for being amused. "The Squire of Gothos" is a lot like its central character Trelane: It can be fun to watch but it's ultimately undisciplined and meandering. The story provides Kirk with one obstacle after another, as he and Trelane become adversaries in a series of potentially deadly games, but few of these gimmicks enhance the storyline. More is not better. Also, this episode isn't sure if it's out-and-out comedy or something more relevant. The ending sequence is overly obvious and overlong, with a theme (a powerful being turns out to have the mind of a child) that is little more than a rehash of the far superior "Charlie X," which had a far more sympathetic antagonist. Sure, some of the gimmicks are interesting, and Campbell does a good job with a selfish character, but it's not enough.

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Arena -- Air date: 1/19/1967. Teleplay by Gene L. Coon. Story by Fredric Brown. Directed by Joseph Pevney.

When an Earth outpost is attacked and destroyed by a race called the Gorn, Kirk orders the Enterprise to pursue the Gorn ship with the intent of destroying it. In the midst of this high-warp chase, both the Gorn ship and the Enterprise wander into the territory of the powerful Metrons, who halt both ships and express their disdain for violent ways. The Metrons force Kirk and the Gorn captain to a planet where they must battle to the death using whatever primitive weapons they can find or create. The battle's winner's ship will go free; the loser's will be destroyed. "Arena's" anti-violent, show-mercy-to-all message is heavy-handed, featuring a final scene that explains the message with the grace of a brick shattering on pavement. The use of Yet Another All-Powerful Alien Species [TM] to pass judgment on primitive humans is quickly becoming a cliché. In the meantime, the action sequences are laughably inept, even for late ‘60s Trek. Kirk's nemesis, the Gorn captain, never comes off as anything more than a klutzy man in a cheap rubber suit, performing "stunt scenes" that often have unintentionally comical results. (Ironically, considering the outdoor locations, it must've cost a lot of money to film this episode.) The "cleverness factor" that is supposed to emerge from Kirk's situation doesn't pan out; Kirk's attempts to gain the upper hand with resourcefulness are undermined by bad pacing and a lack of suspense. And the notion of the Enterprise crew watching the entire fight on the viewscreen is both logically dubious and dramatically useless. The story scores a few points for being well-intentioned, but it was very poorly conceived.

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Tomorrow Is Yesterday -- Air date: 1/26/1967. Written by D.C. Fontana. Directed by Michael O'Herlihy.

The Enterprise is hurled back through time to Earth of the 1960s, where they inadvertently become the subject of Air Force Captain John Christopher's (Roger Perry) UFO sighting. After beaming him aboard the ship following an accident that destroys his jet, Kirk is forced to prohibit him from returning to Earth and contaminating the timeline with knowledge from the future. The only problem: Removing Christopher from Earth would also contaminate the timeline, because his unborn son would not be able to make a vital contribution to Earth's history as the future knows it. As Trek's first time-travel outing, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is a brilliantly fascinating story, beginning with its exciting opening shots of the Enterprise flying through Earth's sky, and continuing through an adventure where the crew must remove all traces of their presence in the past by breaking into an Air Force base and stealing video recordings of the Enterprise. All of this is a great deal of fun, but the subtext of "Tomorrow" is what really stands out here: Through Christopher, this becomes a story analyzing the significance of any random individual and how they can make a difference in the world. And putting Christopher in the center of the story allows us to see the Enterprise and the future through his eyes. True, the ultimate solution to the story's problem has its share of inconsistencies and loopholes (why is it traveling back in time would only clear Christopher's memory and not the Enterprise crew's?), but who really cares? This was a pioneer time-travel outing for Trek, and a great one at that, beginning a tradition of storytelling open to limitless possibilities.

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Court Martial -- Air date: 2/2/1967. Teleplay by Don M. Mankiewicz and Steven W. Carabatsos. Story by Don M. Mankiewicz.

In an episode of Trek courtroom drama, Kirk is accused of negligence in the death of Lt. Cmdr. Ben Finney and subsequently burdened with becoming the first Starfleet captain to face a court-martial proceeding. This episode is a bit of a mixed bag, benefiting from some very nicely staged and acted courtroom scenes, including the use of Elisha Cook Jr. as Kirk's interesting defense lawyer Samuel T. Cogley. Watching Kirk in 100 percent "Kirk mode" (as only Shatner could play him) is entertaining, as he demands the court martial when Commodore Stone (Percy Rodriguez) recommends Kirk resign his commission to avoid bringing humiliation upon himself and the uniform. Working against the episode is the concept of why this court martial is taking place in the first place. I find it a little hard to believe that the death of an officer in this particular instance would be so much different in presumed fault than the average "red-shirt" death--at least not to the degree of perjury accusations. I also find it hard to believe that the excessively crazy Finney (an over-the-top Richard Webb), as it turns out, staged his own death and rigged the whole episode to gain some sort of elaborate revenge upon Kirk. Too bad--it's an enjoyable view; it just doesn't bear much motivational scrutiny.

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The Return of the Archons -- Air date: 2/9/1967. Teleplay by Boris Sobelman. Story by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Joseph Pevney.

The crew beams down to a world inhabited by people exhibiting strange behavior: a single-minded zombie-like trance state that explodes into temporary anarchy when "red hour" approaches. Kirk & Co. become involved in an underground movement to oppose the all-knowing Landru, a manipulative dictator that has apparently forced all of his citizens into uniform submission. Appropriately enough, Landru ultimately turns out to be a computer. This episode is a metaphor for a lot of things, many of them approached with sophistication: anti-communist and anti-oneness sentiments, a warning of calculated technology replacing flesh-and-blood anticipation and adaptability, and the argued need for fighting authorities. But the plot flow lacks a cohesiveness to make it all come together into a unified, strong story with an underlying message. The "red hour" craziness is bizarre but confusing in narrative terms, and other small details of the plot are never fully developed. Also, we have a slightly goofy resolution in which Kirk Outsmarts the Computer [TM] by feeding it some sort of circular logic that makes it fry itself and explode--arguments that just aren't convincing enough on story terms to be wholly worthwhile. Still, "Return of the Archons" has an intelligent underlying structure to it; it's just too bad the plot couldn't deliver on all fronts.

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Space Seed -- Air date: 2/16/1967. Teleplay by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber. Story by Carey Wilber. Directed by Marc Daniels.

A good thriller requires a good villain, and "Space Seed" has Khan Noonian Singh (Ricardo Montalban), a 20^th-century tyrannical leader from the era of the Eugenics War--a conflict fought over the dispute of genetically engineering human beings. Khan and his crew have been in suspended animation on the S.S. Botany Bay since 1996. Now awakened, Khan intends to reinitiate his old ways, beginning with taking over the Enterprise and (as they say) moving on to the rest of the universe. Khan's quite a presence; his skill in manipulating historical officer Lt. Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue) demonstrates his great ability for balancing attractive charisma and frightening psychological terrorism--and Montalban is exceptional in the role. Khan's tactic in trying to force support from crew members (subjection to suffocation) is particularly treacherous. The ending fight scene was a little typical in its way of "Kirk versus an adversary," but it was executed well. Oh, and there was great use of Bones' attitude in the early scenes ("Well, either choke me or cut my throat--make up your mind!"). But like much of classic Trek, the polemics linger: the argument and implications of "improving man"; the reflection upon a savage reign of tyranny; the savageness inherent in humanity. All interesting stuff.

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A Taste of Armageddon -- Air date: 2/23/1967. Teleplay by Robert Hammer and Gene L. Coon. Story by Robert Hammer. Directed by Joseph Pevney.

The Enterprise investigates a planet in the vicinity of another starship's disappearance, but the crew is warned of danger as they approach the planet. Detecting no actual threat, Kirk and Spock beam down, where they are told that the Enterprise crew has been labeled a casualty of a recent attack--a simulated attack in a simulated war with a neighboring planet. Now Kirk and his crew--like generations of people before in this war--are expected to willingly walk into "disintegration chambers" where their deaths can be tallied. This episode is a good example of an anti-war message the way only TOS could tell it. It drops the subject under a spotlight of absurdity, and has Kirk take a defiant attitude in an effort to change these people's backward ways. Ultimately, he changes their minds by giving them no choice: Either they give up the simulated war and declare peace, or they fight war with real weapons and real destruction, destroying the society they've tried to preserve. It's strangely amusing how Kirk's bold-and-brash in-your-face attitude can make a story work.

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This Side of Paradise -- Air date: 3/2/1967. Teleplay by D.C. Fontana. Story by Nathan Butler and D.C. Fontana. Directed by Ralph Senensky.

Beaming down to investigate the fate of a research colony that has failed to check in, the Enterprise crew discovers these researchers to be in a state of constant happiness, an effect caused by plant spores indigenous to the planet. Needless to say, Enterprise crew members are infected when the plants are brought aboard the ship, and before long Kirk finds he is the only person left who hasn't abandoned the Enterprise for "paradise." Of course, the big story point of "This Side of Paradise" is that the spores allow Spock to experience full-fledged emotions and even briefly fall in love. Unfortunately, there isn't enough of an edge to the material. It's pretty bland. Nevertheless, it's probably worth the price of admission to see Spock hanging from a tree, and telling Kirk, "No, I don't think so," when ordered to beam up to the ship. And I must also admit the hilarity of watching Kirk push Spock over the edge into anger once he learns that negative emotions purge the spores. ("Your father is a computer!" has to be among the silliest yet more memorable lines in the TOS canon.) Still, the best realization in this episode is when the effect of the spores is terminated, causing the research team leader to reflect on how the years have been wasted in a "paradise" that strove for no goals. Bottom line: entertaining, but pretty thin.

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The Devil in the Dark -- Air date: 3/9/1967. Written by Gene L. Coon. Directed by Joseph Pevney.

A mining colony desperately seeks help from the Enterprise in finding and killing a monster that has been tunneling through the mines and killing men. As Kirk, Spock, and a security team track the monster, they learn that it is not inherently hostile but rather misunderstood. Spock mind-melds with it (mind-melding with a rock?), and learns the nature of its existence. With the intriguing encounter with the Horta, "The Devil in the Dark" represents some of Trek's best ideological values: tolerance for all forms of life, the search for intelligence in unlikely places, and communication with the unknown rather than simply destroying what we fear. And as an action show, the episode works well, too. Alas, this episode also tends to show some of Trek's unavoidable plotting hokiness--including a painfully obvious "mystery" involving silicon spheres that turn out to be--gasp!--the Horta's eggs! It's perhaps idealistic to a fault, but this episode epitomizes the hopefulness and anti-cynical nature for which Trek is partly known, and for that reason I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and then some.

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Errand of Mercy -- Air date: 3/23/1967. Written by Gene L. Coon. Directed by John Newland.

Starfleet, on the verge of war with the Klingons, sends the Enterprise to the planet Organia to negotiate a protection settlement so the Klingons won't invade the planet and set up a base there. But these people want nothing to do with the Federation or their protection--and they're convinced that they aren't in any danger. Kirk is furious when these Organian "sheep" refuse to stand up for their own way of life. The Klingons, led by Kor (John Colicos), subsequently arrive, take Kirk and Spock hostage, and threaten to subject them to a rather nasty mind probe to extract Starfleet war information. This story finds irony in its plot, as Kirk is determined to convince the Organians to turn to violence, even though Starfleet's mission is supposedly one of peace (this is a story suited particularly well to Captain Kirk's adamant boldness). The Organians' claim to ultimately safety is proven when they turn out to be powerful beings capable of stopping at will the war between the Klingons and Federation. The use of all-powerful, superior beings to preach a message of anti-violence to lowly humanoids is a theme that's been grossly over-utilized in Trek's freshman season, but fortunately the usage here is far better realized than in, say, "Arena." Kirk arguing vehemently for the right to engage in war is particularly telling.

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The Alternative Factor -- Air date: 3/30/1967. Written by Don Ingalls. Directed by Gerd Oswald.

Investigating what is apparently a "rip in space," a landing party beams down to a planet to find Lazarus (Robert Brown), an unstable man involved in a mysteriously bizarre problem: He's in a battle with his counterpart self from a parallel universe. Among a stretch of shows that exemplifies many of Trek's most visible qualities is the arrival of this episode, which unfortunately exemplifies science fiction excess. First of all is the ridiculously extreme notion that the meeting of the two Lazaruses (or is that Lazari?) would mean the destruction of the "entire universe." Such overlarge devices are rarely effective. Also, this episode seems to be in love with its own use of sci-fi buzzwords. In addition to matter and antimatter, we've got the concepts of a "parallel universe," a "rip in space," a "time ship," an "inter-universal gateway," etc. Little of this makes much sense, no matter how hard Shatner and Nimoy try in bouncing incredulous dialog off each other. The episode becomes an untenable collection of disjointed story items with no overriding cohesion. (And, by the way, why would the Enterprise destroying one time ship cause the parallel universe time ship to be destroyed?) Saving some face is the somewhat interesting implication of Lazarus fighting his duplicate counterpart "for all eternity."

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The City on the Edge of Forever -- Air date: 4/6/1967. Written by Harlan Ellison. Directed by Joseph Pevney.

What hasn't been said about "The City on the Edge of Forever"--considered by many as the all-time best episode of Trek? It's a true classic, with a poignant, tragic story and brilliant performances. The crew makes the great discovery of a time portal (the Guardian of Forever), but a demented McCoy--suffering from an inadvertent maddening-inducing medicinal-drug overdose--jumps into Earth of the 1930s and somehow radically alters history for the worse. Kirk and Spock follow McCoy through the portal to undo the damage. In the past, Kirk and Spock are taken in by Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), whom Spock learns is destined to lead a pacifist movement delaying the United States' entry into WWII, thus allowing Germany to conquer the globe. The tragedy, as everyone knows, is that Kirk must let this warm, generous woman die in order to preserve history--even as he begins to fall in love with her. Harlan Ellison's story, despite the controversy surrounding Roddenberry's alterations to it, makes a great hour of television with a social relevance and an emotional core that resonates. Shatner delivers one of his best performances, and Nimoy is terrific as the voice of reason while Kelley's manic raving is downright frightening. It's almost surprising that such a fully textured story fits within the confines of a single hour.

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Operation--Annihilate! -- Air date: 4/13/1967. Written by Steven W. Carabatsos. Directed by Herschel Daugherty.

Alien life seizes control of a Federation colony and its inhabitants, leaving the Enterprise as the last defense from a species of parasitic invaders that induces anguish, madness, and even death in its victims. Among the victims: Kirk's own brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. While investigating on the planet, Spock is attacked by one of the creatures, leaving him in agonizing pain--which he is barely able to control with his Vulcan mental disciplines. The most appealing aspect of "Operation--Annihilate!" is Spock's struggle of mind over matter--nicely conveyed through Nimoy's balance of wincing, writhing, and snapping back into control. Still, the way TOS plays with the galactic doublespeak can be corny, especially when Kirk and Spock talk about the lifeform coming from another galaxy where "our physical laws wouldn't apply." Come again? Just what galaxy are we talking about? Never mind. As a body-snatching alien plot, the show is certainly entertaining, if not exactly inspired. I question, however, the wisdom of having an officer say, in regard to one of the fake-looking plastic creatures, "Captain, it doesn't even look real!" Perhaps not, but you never show your cards.

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Next: Season 2