My Top 5 Star Trek Episodes

Star Trek aired on NBC from September 8, 1966 to June 3, 1969.

In its initial run, Star Trek's ratings were low, and it was cancelled after 3 seasons (a total of 79 episodes).  It was only several years later in broadcast syndication that the series became a hit, achieving the cult classic status it has today.

When I was a kid, reruns played Sunday mornings at 10am on CBC.  I have fond memories of watching it with my mother, a bona fide trekkie.

It was difficult to narrow down, but here are my top 5 favorite episodes:

5. The Enterprise Incident

Synopsis: An undercover mission to steal a Romulan cloaking device takes the Enterprise into the Romulan neutral zone. Kirk and Spock beam over to a Romulan ship under the guise of Kirk being insane and commanding the Enterprise into the neutral zone on his own personal accord. Kirk is imprisoned while Spock catches the interest of the Romulan commander.

Why I love it: The espionnage mission, the feisty female Romulan commander, Spock getting romantic... The scenes between Spock and the commander are excellent: the intimate dinner, the subdued and almost cerebral eroticism... This episode is considered one of Star Trek's best.

Highlights:  • Kirk's overly-dramatic lash out at Spock  • The commander's swanky quarters and bizarre food  • Her outfit when she "transforms [herself] into a woman"  • Spock's hilariously long-winded "Romulan Right of Statement"

4. What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Synopsis: Nurse Christine Chapel is reunited with her fiancé Dr. Roger Korby, a brilliant scientist who has "perfected" the ability to create android copies of human beings.  Korby hopes to replace humanity with these superior, emotionless androids in the interest of removing dangerous emotions from society.  Kirk does not agree with this.

Why I love it:  This episode is classic vintage sci-fi camp.  I've always loved Nurse Chapel, and this is one of the only Star Trek episodes where she is a central character.  I love the underlying debate of the android storyline: Would a society stripped of all emotion actually be better...?

Highlights:  • Andrea and her criss-cross costume  • The spinning "android duplicator"  • Captain Kirk's obscenely shaped stalactite  • When Ruk gets hit by a phaser beam

3. Is there In Truth No Beauty?

Synopsis: A beautiful woman escorts an alien ambassador so hideously ugly that the sight of him can drive a human insane. When the Enterprise is thrown off-course by a madman, Spock must mind-meld with the alien to bring them home.

Why I love it:  I've always loved bottle Star Trek episodes, and this particular one is bursting with color and style.  The idea of Kollos the ambassador as a noncorporeal being is intriguing.  I also love the irony that Miranda, a woman considered so beautiful, turns out to be blind—literally and figuratively.

Highlights: • Kollos: the light effects used to create him and the visor needed to look at him  • The dinner, where Kirk and McCoy drool over Miranda  • Her "sensor web" dress  • The Enterprise being propelled through the (pink) "galactic barrier"

2. The Doomsday Machine

Synopsis: The Enterprise discovers a weapon capable of destroying entire planets, and a commodore whose crew was killed by the machine jeopardizes the crew on a crazed mission of revenge.

Why I love it:  Bold and suspenseful, this is one of the episodes I vividly remember as a kid. Kirk and Spock have an intricate rapport during this episode, even though they are on seperate ships most of the time.  The moment where the un-hinged Commodore Decker is relieved of command is greatly satisfying.

Highlights: • The Doomsday Machine itself (and music that makes it seem so threatening)  • The love-to-hate Commodore Decker  • The ineffective phasers bouncing off the planet-killer's "neutronium" hull  • Kirk's plea to be beamed aboard the Enterprise (and him barely making it back)

1. The Tholian Web

Synopsis: When the Enterprise investigates the disappearance of another starship, the crew loses Kirk in a dimensional interphase and must deal with a hostile alien race while trying to recover him.

Why I love it: To me, this is one of the most visually appealing episodes. Though most of Star Trek's adventures take place on "Class-M" planets, this was the only episode to use spacesuits—and that, despite the show's budget constraints.  Kirk is presumed dead most of the episode, and it's interesting to see how the crew go on without their captain (including Spock and McCoy's conflict, and Uhura's meltdown). The use of the first-person perspective and unique camera effects adds to the episode's allure.

Highlights: • The Tholian ships spinning their forcefield "web"  • Those campy spacesuits!  • Tholian commander Loskene  • Kirk's ghostly apparitions  • Chekov going mad

images: 
(1 and 7) montage by author
(2) io9.gizmodo.com
(3) memory-beta.wikia.com
(4) tos.trekcore.com
(5) trekmovie.com
(6) flickr.com/photos/birdofthegalaxy

episode synopses:
adapted from 'jammersreviews.com' and 'memory-alpha.wikia.com'