July 2012
14 posts
7 tags
149. [TOS] The Gamesters of Triskelion
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov step on the transporter pad and vanish. What the hell, that’s never happened before! But seriously folks, I’ll be here all night. Tip your waitresses. Anyway, the transporter was never engaged, and the trio find themselves not on the planet they expected. They are informed that they are on the planet Triskelion, and they are to become...
June 2012
12 posts
7 tags
148. [TOS] A Private Little War
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
Kirk’s returning to his old stomping grounds, the first planet he ever surveyed. His report many years beforehand described the planet as a veritable Garden of Eden, which should be an immediate red flag for those of you watching along at home. Can we remember what happened every single time someone described a planet as an Eden? Hint: if you’re going to say...
7 tags
147. [TOS] Journey to Babel
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
The planetoid Babel, previously used as a neutral place for cosmopolitical talks and featured in Enterprise, is the site for the latest Federation conference which will decide, among other things, voting on new Federation members. As a rather important event, the flagship of the Federation is sent to pick up delegates from various races: the Tellarites, the Andorians, and the...
7 tags
146. [TOS] Bread and Circuses
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
Tracing the wreckage of the SS Beagle, the Enterprise comes across a planet that is a prime example of Hodgkin’s Law of Parallel Planetary Development. Its surface-to-water ratio is identical, as is its atmosphere, and even cultural development: the planet has technology similar to that of 20th century Earth, but the Roman Empire never fell, and now English-speaking...
7 tags
145. [TOS] The Trouble with Tribbles
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy...
7 tags
144. [TOS] I, Mudd
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
McCoy is suspicious of a new crewman who acts far too robotic and Vulcan for his tastes. Spock berates him for this attitude, but Bones is vindicated when it turns out the new crewman is actually an android who quickly takes over all ship controls and forces the Enterprise to a planet of androids, mandating all the main cast but Sulu beam down to the planet’s surface....
7 tags
143. [TOS] The Deadly Years
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
Visiting a scientific outpost near the Romulan Neutral Zone staffed by people all under the age of thirty, the crew of the Enterprise is surprised to find only old and dying people on the surface. Worse, these aging seniors identify as the very same young staff. McCoy can’t make heads or tails of it, but they’re aging at a rate of 30 years a day—and it gets worse....
7 tags
142. [TOS] Mirror, Mirror
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
After negotiations over dilithium mining rights prove fruitless, the away team of Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura (because you totally need a doctor, an engineer, and a communications officer when entering into trade negotiations) beam back up to the Enterprise. But there’s problems with the stream as they attempt to pass through an electromagnetic storm, and by the time...
7 tags
141. [TOS] The Apple
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
Not to be outdone by last week’s massacre of redshirts, Starfleet orders the Enterprise to survey a “paradise” planet full of poison-spitting flowers, explosive rocks, and improbably aimed lightning bolts. To let you know how dangerous the planet is, a redshirt is dead before the opening credits. After Spock takes a near-fatal barrage of poison spikes to the chest, Kirk...
7 tags
140. [TOS] The Changeling
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
The Enterprise is responding to a distress call in the Malurian system. If you remember back to the Enterprise episode where they beamed down to a medieval-era civilization and discovered they weren’t the only aliens visiting, the Malurians were the other guys, blue-skinned reptiles. Anyway, I guess after a hundred years they started being more friendly to the...
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139. [TOS] Wolf in the Fold
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
In what I might call the most misogynistic episode of the series (at least, up to this point), the Enterprise faces off against the disembodied form of Jack the Ripper, but more importantly, the writers show off quite a few ways of backwards thinking themselves. Kirk, Scotty and McCoy visit Argelius 2, a planet known for its hedonistic predilections. Scotty’s down there...
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138. [TOS] The Doomsday Machine
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
Responding to a distress call from the USS Constellation, the Enterprise finds itself in a solar system that’s been obliterated. Five of seven planets have been turned to rubble. The Constellation herself is adrift, completely wrecked, and only one survivor: Commodore Matt Decker. He is disheveled and half-crazed, wracked with guilt. You see, he beamed the crew down to...
7 tags
137. [TOS] Amok Time
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Something’s amiss with Spock. He’s agitated, irrational, prone to anger and violence. Kirk and McCoy are clearly concerned about him, but he won’t explain himself other than to request that the Enterprise divert course from Altair to Vulcan. Since the Enterprise is on an important diplomatic mission there, Kirk is loathe to alter course without Spock...
