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'

Star Trek's Balok

 

Balok was one of Star Trek's most iconic aliens.

Designed by noted sculptor and special effects master Wah Ming Chang, the sinister effigy appeared in the first season episode The Corbomite Maneuver.

 

Wah Chang was responsible for many of Star Trek's most memorable creatures - the Salt Vampire, the Gorn, Tribbles - as well as some of the series' iconic props: the Communicator, the Tricorder, the Vulcan Lute. The design of the Romulan Bird of Prey warship was also his creation.

Trek aside, Chang worked on a host of motion pictures during his career:

At Walt Disney, he created sculptures that were used as references by the studio's animators: articulated deer models for Bambi, and a maquette of the Pinocchio puppet. The spectacular headdress worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 feature film Cleopatra was designed by Chang as well, as was one of advertising's most famous mascots: the Pillsbury Doughboy.

 

The vocalizations of Balok were done by Ted Cassidy, the actor most known for his role as Lurch in the Addams Family television series. Cassidy had been hired to play in the Star Trek episode What are Little Girls Made Of and producers asked him to record Balok's threatening lines with his deep voice.

 

Throughout the years, the image of Balok has remained legendary in the hearts and imaginations of Star Trek fans and a symbol of one of the most influential television shows of all time. Balok enthusiasts can buy t-shirts, wall graphics... even a Halloween mask...!

The ultimate souvenir, the original Balok head was recently unearthed and put up for auction. It sold for 70,000$...!

 

The most memorable image of Balok for me was the one that appeared during Star Trek's final credits (above). I just loved that image of the bluish, cat-eyed alien in the eerily-lit control center...



images: (1-3-4) anonymousworks.blogspot.com
(2) google image search
(5) montage by author

Star Trek's Nurse Chapel

The soft-focus, platinum blonde loveliness of Nurse Chapel.

One of my favorite Star Trek ladies has always been Nurse Christine Chapel.

Nurse Chapel was played by Majel Barret, born Majel Leigh Hudec in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1932. In the 1950's and 60's, Barrett had secured bit parts in film and television before her stint as the USS Enterprise's competent but compassinate head nurse.

On contract at Lucille Ball's Desilu studios in the early 60's, Barrett had received comedy training from Ball herself, and appeared in The Lucy Show.

It was on the set of The Lieutenant in 1964 that Majel Barrett met Gene Roddenberry, father of the Star Trek franchise. The two became romantically involved, while Roddenberry was still married to his first wife.

Majel Barrett in her role as Number One.

During this time, Roddenberry was developing a pilot for what was to become Star Trek. Roddenberry chose Barrett (his mistress) to play Number One, the first officer of the Enterprise, in his initial pilot entitled "The Cage".

"The Cage" was initially rejected by NBC, but Roddenberry was given the chance to produce a second pilot. The network asked, however, that the steely Number One character be dropped, citing that audiences would never accept a woman being second-in-command of a ship. (The fact that Majel Barrett was Roddenberry's on-the-sly girlfriend didn't help, either...)

When Star Trek was picked up as a series in 1966, Barrett was given the role of Nurse Chapel. Like early episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Barrett donned a wig to dissociate herself from her previous role. She also went by the name "Majel Barrett" rather than "M. Leigh Hudec," as she had been credited in "The Cage".

Nurse Chapel appeared in 25 of the 79 original Star Trek episodes. Majel Barret also supplied the voice of the USS Enterprise's on-board computer.

Barrett and Roddenberry were married in August of 1969, two months after the final Star Trek episode was aired.

One of my favorite Star Trek episodes featuring Nurse Chapel is "The Naked Time", where a mysterious virus causes the crew to lose their inhibitions.

Afflicted by this illness, Nurse Chapel confesses her unrequited love for Mr. Spock... all while sporting a stunning sideswept, silver bouffant!

Check out the scene below:



images: (1) flickr.com
(2) acavill.com
(3) "The Naked Time" screen capture
(4) elevenfreakinthousand.com

Star Trek Memories

While on vacation at my parent's cottage, I found this book on the coffee table, and I must say, I can hardly put it down.

Written by Captain Kirk himself, this book offers an insider's look at the 3-year run of the original Star Trek series, complete with cast interviews and photos.

Chock full of (almost useless) details and trivia, this is just the type of book I like to read...

And, it doesn't hurt that I totally love the original Star Trek series...

image: fiercefocus.com

The Ladies of Star Trek

I love Star Trek, the original series. The son of a die-hard trekkie, I watched Sunday morning reruns on CBC, all throughout my childhood, with my mom.

Star Trek came about in the mid 1960's, when there was great interest in space travel and exploration. It was a time where people thought we would one day live on the moon. The most popular national pavilions at Expo 67 were ones that boasted space exhibits.

The shows were very well written, as their enduring appeal will attest.

The best part of Star Trek, for me, is the retro-futuristic aesthetic. The Starfleet Command uniform for ladies included a miniskirt and knee high boots! (nothing could be more practical, or comfortable, in outer space...!) Captain Kirk was always falling in love with some scantily-clad alien woman with sky-high hair! And the close-up shots of all these beautiful women were always in soft focus...

Yeoman Janice Rand deserves an honorable mention, here. As a kid, I was always intrigued by her blonde, basket-weave beehive!

Lieutenant Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, was one of my favorites. In the 60's, a beautiful black woman playing an important role in a television series was ahead of its time. The name Uhura means "freedom" in Swahili.

By the end Star Trek's first season, Nichelle Nichols wanted to leave the show. A chance meeting with Martin Luther King, himself, changed her mind. He told her not to give up, that she was a great role model for young black women everywhere.

images: (top) io9.com
(bottom) trekcore.com