Star Trek: Conscience of the King

Original Airdate: 12/8/1966
Synopsis (from the official website):

Twenty-two years before stardate 2817.6, the governor of Tarsus IV, Kodos, evoked emergency martial law and ordered half of the planet's population executed. His intent was to address a severe food shortage on Tarsus IV, and it earned him the name "Kodos the Executioner." It was believed that Kodos died on the planet, but there is some belief that he may have escaped and assumed another identity. James Kirk, Lt. Kevin Riley, and Dr. Thomas Leighton are the only surviving witnesses to Kodos' previous evil deeds; others who might have known Kodos have been mysteriously killed in various accidents.

A traveling theatrical troupe arrives at Planet Q, and a Dr. Leighton contacts the U.S.S. Enterprise regarding a new synthetic food concentrate. When he is beamed aboard, he tells Kirk that his real reason for contacting him was to tell the captain that he suspects Anton Karidian, the head actor in the theater troupe, is really Kodos.

When Dr. Leighton is murdered, Kirk agrees to transport the Karidian Players to the Benecia Colony on board the U.S.S. Enterprise. His real motive is to study Karidian and his daughter in an attempt to learn if he is, indeed, Kodos and responsible for Leighton's death.

Conscience of the King is a superb Star Trek episode, and I want to get that out of the way first. I am trying to remain impartial during The Star Trek Project, and it has been far more difficult than I thought it would be. When you have seen so much of a show and know so much about the series and the background you tend to have very set opinions about each episode and it can be hard to break free of that bias. Luckily with The Original Series it has been long enough since I have seen each episode that I can approach them with a mostly fresh perspective. With that being said, Conscience of the King is still one of the absolute best episodes of Season One, marred only by the unnecessary and poorly concieved "love story" sub-plot.

This episode helped to provide some of the backstory for Kirk's character. At this point we knew little about the young captain, and this was our first glimpse into some of the formative events of his youth. It also allows him a chance to show a greater depth of emotion as a character-first his desire for revenge, and eventually his need for justice as a starship captain. It gives us a clue as to what might have helped created the indominable will of the adult Captain Kirk, and it provides a story that has been elaborated on in several expanded universe books.

Conscience of the King is more of a mystery or thriller than most Star Trek episodes, and it is entirely predictable-but it is supposed to be, and it succeeds marvelously in what it sets out to do. I am not entirely sure if the writers of the episode ever intended the outcome to be in question, but they wanted to plant just a glimmer of doubt in the viewer's mind, just enough to offer some moral ambiguity about the actions of Kirk and Riley in trying to expose Karidian.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Conscience of the King is the skill with which the writers created a sympathetic character in Karidian/Kodos. He was now a broken, tired old man. He had completely immersed himself in his life as an actor, trying only to forget the memories of what had happened 22 years ago on Tarsus IV. He did not necessarily renounced his actions however; to the day he died he believed he had done the only thing he could have at the time. The saddest thing of all was that Anton Karidian was Kodos the Executioner, but was no longer the same man.

The only notable failing in this episode was the sub-plot with Karidian's daughter and Kirk. While the twist at the end involving Karidian's daughter was both unexpected and clever (as was her shockingly slavish devotion to her father's past life). The issue was with her totally unnecessary romance with Kirk. While television of the 1960's seemed to push hokey romances for the leading characters whenever possible, I have never liked the abundance of it in Star Trek.

I have no issues with Kirk being a ladies man-in fact it helps define his character for decades to come. The problem is that the writers and producers chose to force it on us constantly, in badly concieved circumstances, with poor actresses playing his love interests, and in unbelievable settings. There is no reason Kirk would begin a relationship of any type with a woman he thought might be the daughter of a mass murderer. There is little reason Kirk would fraternize with a girl who was likely in her late teens, either. While he was a ladies man, he obviously had some sense of propriety. This and the fact that the end of the episode features McCoy and a throwaway line about Kirk "really caring about this one" add to the absurdity of this sub-plot. It truly is the only thing that mars an excellent episode.

Continuity:
- This episodes helps establish Kirk's age as in his early thirties.
- This character of Kodos would be revisited in later series and expanded universe literature.

Fun Facts:
- This episode was the last appearance of Kevin Riley.
- This episode is the first that provides back

Star Trek: The Menagerie (Parts 1 and 2)

Original Airdates: 11/17/1966, 11/24/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official website):

The U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are diverted by a signal from the former captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Starbase 11, and proceed to the call. When they arrive they find Captain Christopher Pike, who is severely crippled by radiation burns, confined to a moving chair and his ability to communicate limited to the answers "yes" and "no."

Unbeknownst to Captain Kirk, Spock abducts Pike on board the ship. Captain Kirk returns to the U.S.S. Enterprise with Commodore Mendez, and soon discovers that Spock has locked the ship's controls on a course set for the planet Talos IV — a planet to which a visit carries the death penalty. Forced by the extreme actions of the Vulcan first officer, the two convene a court-martial against Spock.

During the proceedings, from an unknown source, they watch the events that transpired when Captain Pike was in command of the U.S.S. Enterprise. They are shown Pike's initial contact with the Talosians, a race of beings eager to study human beings in their natural state, and who can provide illusions to make things appear exactly as they would like. The transmission relays Captain Pike's entire mission surrounding the Talosians and their bizarre experiments while holding him in a powerful cage. The Talosians are telepathic beings, able to dig deep into the memories to find whatever illusion will be most effective. They attempt to hold Pike captive until his passion and fury force them to release him.

As the proceedings end, the entire court-martial is found to be meaningless, a result of Commodore Mendez being an illusion created by the Talosians for Kirk's benefit. The events, as well, which depicted Pike on Talos IV were also found to originate from the Talosians.

Because of Pike's condition, Spock has risked his career and freedom to bring his former captain to a place where he will be able to live an illusion of a pleasant life, rather than the tragically limited one he lives now. Kirk allows Pike to beam down to Talos IV and all charges against Spock are dropped.

While I rarely post the entirety of the episode synopsis, the Menagerie is a complicated episode and one that is more effectively (and easily) explained in the synopsis form than as a part of my discussion of the episode. In order to understand the Menagerie, it is useful to know the history behind the first Star Trek pilot, The Cage.

The Cage was the original pilot for Star Trek, filmed in November and December 1964 and never seen in its entirety on national television until 1988. While The Cage had most of the elements and ideas of what would become Star Trek, it was substantially different. The U.S.S Enterprise was captained by Christopher Pike, Spock was the science officer, and the ship's first officer was the rather mysterious Number One (played by Majel Barrett Rodenberry), and an entirely different principle cast. The pilot was rejected by NBC, but the studio took the almost unprecendented step of commissioning a second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. The Cage might have drifted into obscurity had Gene Roddenberry not devised a clever way to help budgetary constraints with a two part episode that would be called The Menagerie.

Roddenberry crafted the story of the now crippled Christopher Pike and Spock's efforts to get him back to Talos IV and interspersed the episode with footage from The Cage to create the background story of Pike and Spock and to use as "evidence" in the trial. The idea was well received by the studio (and far ahead of its time) and The Menagerie was rushed into production.

Though episode takes place roughly 12 years before the events in Season One of Star Trek, and there are many inconsistencies between The Cage and later Star Trek that are difficult to reconcile cannonically. Spock displays far more emotion, the technology seems far more primitive, and the uniforms are substantially different from the final versions, and much more. The inconsistencies with Spock are difficult to explain, but can best be attested to the fact that Spock was very young for a Vulcan when he joined Starfleet and as a result of his half-human heritage he was still struggling with his Vulcan need to supress his emotions. The difference in uniform can be explained easily by the 12 year time difference, but it it harder to reconcile the much more primitive technology. Perhaps the Federation made an enormous leap forward in science and engineering in the 12 years leading up to The Original Series, much like the United States did in the 1960's.

The other issue that bears discussion is Spock's behavior. His actions in The Menagerie are irrational, at times illogical, and are atypical for his character. He essentially hijacks the Enterprise, lies to his captain and friend, violates standing Starfleet orders that are punishable by death, aids aliens in creating a mock trial to distract Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise, and generally acts emotionally rather than logically. While I have never liked this aspect of the episode over the years, I believe that with some suspension of disbelief you can reconcile Spock's actions in this episode with his behavior through the years. One of the things the trinity of characters in The Original Series have in common is their unwavering loyalty to each other. They are loyal to each other no matter the consequences throughout the series and 6 films. Kirk loses a son and a starship to save Spock. Spock stands with Kirk at trial when he bears no obligation to do so and saves Kirk and the Enterprise at the cost of his own life. McCoy is the emotional support for Kirk and even Spock to some extent, offering advice, support, friendship, and eventually serves as the living host for Spock's Katra. The three men are inextricably linked, and if we can understand and believe this, we can understand Spock's somewhat irrational loyalty to his first captain, a man who helped start his career in Starfleet, who stood by Spock and nurtured him, that helped him understand and deal with his humanity. While it is an imperfect explanation, it is also an entirely plausible one that Spock felt at least some of the same loyalty to Christopher Pike as he later would for James T. Kirk.

Regardless of the continuity issues and the concern with Spock's behavior, The Menagerie remains one of my favorite episodes and has been a fan favorite for the last 40 years. It was a clever, innovative way of giving viewers a look at what Star Trek might have been and reconciling that with what it became.

Continuity:
- The technology in The Cage is far behind that of The Original Series, so much so that it takes some suspension of disbelief to accept that the Federation made such technological advances in only 12 years.
- The uniforms are very different in the Cage, although this can be attributed to the 12 year time difference.
- Spock displays much more emotion than in later episodes and it is clear that his Vulcan character is not fully fleshed out.
- One character briefly mentions something about "recently breaking the time warp barrier." While his sentence was incomplete, we must take this to be in reference to achieving a higher warp factor than previously possible or discovering improved warp technology rather than indicating that the Federation just discovered warp speed. This would present huge continuity issues with other established Star Trek issues and make the entire premise of the episode difficult to believe.

Fun Facts:
- Number One, the first officer of the Enterprise, is played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who would later marry Gene Roddenberry.
- Spock's eyebrows are substantially different in The Cage.
- This episode was the first appearance of Orion's and Orion slave girls in the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver

Original Airdate: 11/10/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official website):

While exploring an uncharted region of space, the U.S.S. Enterprise comes upon an alien space buoy which is cube-shaped and spins, warning ships away and blocking the starship's path. Kirk's orders the phasers to destroy the buoy but immediately an alien's ship, the I.S.S. Fesarius, shaped like a large, glowing crystal traps the starship.

A ghostly, almost skeletal face appears on the viewscreen, identifying itself as Balok. He tells Kirk that the U.S.S. Enterprise has trespassed and committed hostile actions, and therefore, must be destroyed. Employing a trick from the Earth game of poker, Kirk tries a desperate bluff by convincing Balok that if the Enterprise is fired upon, the corbomite in the starship's hull will self-destruct and destroy both ships.

I think it is necessary to admit that I think this is one of the best episodes of Season One. I remember it fondly, and my opinion of it was only confirmed when I watched it again recently. One of the best aspects of The Corbomite Maneuver is that its a rare glimpse into the tactical mind of James T. Kirk, starship captain. Star Trek in its original incarnation rarely featured complicated ship to ship combat (due to the cost of special effects), and as a result we rarely got a glimpse into the tactical and strategic minds of famous combat officers such as Kirk and much later on Sulu as well. I have always regretted that more of this background was never established, because Kirk is clearly meant to be a tactical genius. He defeats the First Federation in The Corbomite Maneuver, outwits the Tholian Web, destroys a far more powerful Romulan warship, outsmarts the Klingons on more than one occasion, and battles his way to victory in the Star Trek movies. The man clearly was intended to be the premier combat captain of his time, and possibly in the history of the Federation. Unfortunately due to the technical limitations of the time we rarely saw that, and The Corbomite Maneuver was the first episode to truly display this aspect of Kirk's personality.

This is also the first of many episodes in Star Trek where the crew uses the concept of "bluffing" from the "ancient Earth game of poker" to help bring about victory. While I love the many forms of poker and truly appreciate that Star Trek was one of earliest television shows to mention it with frequency (and this continued with The Next Generation before fading out in the later series), I have always found it somewhat silly that nearly each and every time poker comes up, its to explain the concept of bluffing. Bluffing is not complicated. It's part lying, part deception, part playing chicken with your opponent. Unfortunately, the writers tend to act like its a concept unique to poker or unique to humans and that aliens would be baffled by the concept. Logically, this makes little sense and makes it a little hard to find the situation plausible.

With that being said, The Corbomite Maneuver delivers despite the weak premise of Kirk's primary tactic. The Enterprise is clearly not as powerful as the Fesarius, as the small initial probe they encountered almost destroyed the ship. The only advantage Kirk and the Enterprise had was the element of surprise. The enemy knew nothing about them beyond what they learned from their initial scans. While the technology was sufficient to reveal the ship's configuration, it would be limited to what the technology of the sensor knew to look for. When Kirk realized the Fesarius was unwilling to destroy the Enterprise immediately, he sensed an opportunity to give himself enough time to find a way to escape-and the bluff was born. Knowing that the alien had no way of detecting the fictitious material corbomite in the Enterprise's hull, Kirk played his cards and gave the Fesarius the chance to call his bluff. It couldn't, and when it starts to tow the Enterprise out of First Federation space, Kirk executes an emergency all stop and tears away from the Fesarius, in the process damaging the ship and freeing the Enterprise.

While I appreciate the subterfuge that the ending uncovers and the fact that Balok and the First Federation's intentions were not malicious, I would have greatly preferred it without the odd appearance of the infant Clint Howard as the mysterious alien. While this is partially because Clint Howard even as a baby had a distinctive look, it is also because once again the alien in Star Trek looks just like a human (and I do understand the budgetary constraints they faced each episode).

While the simplicity of Kirk playing chicken with Balok takes away somewhat from the tactical depth I referred to at the beginning of this post, it is a look into the mind of the way Kirk approaches command and starship combat. It shows that above all else, he is not afraid of taking risks when he thinks the situation warrants it. Above all, it shows his willingness to think far outside the norm in a time when it is established in the Star Trek universe that the rules are strict, that training and discipline make good captains and good crews, and that caution is the best way to ensure the safety of ship and crew. While we will see even deeper insight into Kirk as a tactician in Balance of Terror and other episodes, The Corbomite Maneuver laid the groundwork for Kirk's career as a maverick.

My only real problem with the episode was the character of Lieutenant Bailey. It was an issue for me for two reasons. The first is that the character was clearly unstable, probably would never have made it through Starfleet's rigorous psychological testing, and he was insubordinate. This is a common theme in Season One, and an issue I have addressed previously. It is one of my absolute biggest peeves with The Original Series. While Kirk was a friendly, affable commanding officer who would likely let his men get away with more than most, I find it absolutely difficult to believe he would accept the level of insubordination that junior officers frequently demonstrated in Season One-and this episode is one particularly glaring example.

The second problem is directly related to the first. When Kirk wanted to first decided to keep Bailey at the helm despite his obvious stress and anxiety, Dr. McCoy, one of Kirk's absolute most loyal and fervent supporters, disagrees vehemently about it (and somewhat irrationally). When Kirk is then forced to remove Bailey from his post, McCoy goes absolutely ballistic, challenging Kirk in front of the crew, threatening to put his protests in his official log, and acting completely insubordinate. While McCoy never hesitated to tell Kirk how he felt and certainly had no compunction about telling Kirk he was wrong, he almost never did it in front of the crew, and never with this much anger and vehemence. McCoy was, above all else, one of Kirk's best friends and closest confidantes, and I find it very hard to believe he would rationally act in the manner he did in this episode-in fact its probably the single biggest issue I have with the portrayal of McCoy's character throughout The Original Series.

Continuity:
- McCoy's behavior towards Kirk.
- Bailey's insubordination.
- Inconsistent color in uniforms and the roles and appearance (or lack thereof) of principle castmembers.

Star Trek: Dagger of the Mind

Original Airdate: 11/03/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official website):

When Dr. Simon van Gelder of the psychiatric staff at the Tantalus Penal Colony escapes to the U.S.S. Enterprise exhibiting signs of manic insanity, an enraged McCoy insists that Kirk investigate the colony. The Captain reminds McCoy of Tantalus' excellent reputation, but McCoy is unconvinced.

Kirk and Dr. Helen Noel, the U.S.S. Enterprise's psychiatrist, tour the facility. They discover that the Colony director, Dr. Tristan Adams, has been using a brainwashing device, the neural neutralizer, to control not only the colony's inmates, but his staff as well. When the doctor realizes that Kirk has discovered his secret, he convinces the captain to try the machine for himself, to prove that it is perfectly safe. The result is that Kirk falls madly in love with Helen Noel and the two remain on the Colony as Adams' prisoners.

Meanwhile, on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, van Gelder is in such a distraught state from the neural conditioning that he is unable to explain to Spock what is going on at the penal colony. The Vulcan attempts a mind-meld with van Gelder and discovers what has been happening on the planet below. On Tantalus, Dr. Noel escapes through an air-conditioning duct to the power room, where she lowers the planet's defense shields, enabling Spock to beam down a security team.

I had only a vague recollection of this episode when I first sat down to watch it. As with many of the first season episodes it has been several years since I have seen Dagger of the Mind and I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was an entertaining if unremarkable episode of Star Trek, which probably explains why I didn't remember it.

I liked the basic premise of the story quite a bit, and it successfully adhered to the Star Trek ideal of telling a story that was relevant to issues in the real world while staying faithful to creating a believable science fiction future. Even 40 years later, we are still debating the appropriate methods of punishment for criminals. Many believe in rehabilitation, others in punishment, some in retribution. We can only hope that 300 years in the future mankind will have found a better way to deal with crime-and in Dagger of the Mind it appears they have.

It seems that Dr. Tristan Adams of the Tantalus Penal Colony has come up with innovative techniques to condition the minds of criminals, helping them to see the error of their ways while shedding their past-essentially being reborn as new, healthy members of society. Dr. McCoy suspects that something might be out of the ordinary and Kirk soon discovers that it is a devious brainwashing device that "cures" the criminals and makes them slaves to any suggestion or commands Adams chooses to give.

While the brainwashing and mind control angle was nothing new at the time for science fiction (and would become another overused them through the years on Star Trek), having it used as a means of forced rehabilitation on criminals was arguably ahead of its time. Unfortunately, even with good ideas and a story still relevant today, the episode ended up far more formulaic and unexciting than it needed to.

Before I arrive at my issues with episode, I must point out that it was very successful in one regard: the establishment of Kirk's legendary strength of will. One of overriding themes through The Original Series and the early movies is that Kirk is a man of both deep passions and deep convictions. When lesser men might fail, Kirk would always succeed, often through force of will alone. He had a singular purpose, a drive that would make him a legend. Dagger of the Mind is one of the first episodes where we really see a glimpse into that strength of will.

Now for the bad. To start, Dr. Helen Noel, ship's psychologist. What an awful idea-introduce yet another semi-love interest from Kirk's past, yet this time make her an insufferably annoying, rude, insubordinate psychiatrist who idolizes the man they are investigating. Her presence was entirely a plot contrivance that only serves to reinforce the Kirk as Lothario stereotype and provide him an unnecessary "object" to fight for while he is being brainwashed. The character might not have been so bad had the writers not allowed her to get away with being so insubordinate (a theme that recurs more and more towards the middle and end of Season 1 that I will discuss frequently and so completely blind to her idol's criminal behavior.

It really isn't entirely fair to pick on the special effects and props of a show that was ahead of its time and is now 40 years old. At the same time, the "neural neutralizer" looked like an oversized cardboard box with a two dollar oven dial attached to it. It just did not look good.

My final issue is with the entire concept of crime and punishment in Star Trek. I know Roddenberry's initial vision was for a future Earth and human race that was free of poverty, of war, and of crime. Yet starting in this episode and continuing through the later series, we frequently hear references to criminals, penal colonies, rehabilitation, etc. It is of course grossly simplistic to presume that without genetic manipulation any genetic factors that might influence the likelihood to commit crime would simply disappear in the next 300 years, or that laws would be so liberal as to make hard to find people guilty of crimes. We know from Star Trek history that neither of these possibilities is a factor, and thus the conclusion I must draw that while Roddenberry envisioned a future free of crime, he also realized that this ideal might not be achievable in the structured and moral Federation.

Continuity:
- While not strictly continuity, the blatant insubordination in this episode becomes a somewhat annoying recurring theme in Season 1.
- I need to do more research to understand why all the principle cast members are not in every episode.
- The uniform colors still vary, often by shades of blue or gold.

Star Trek: Miri

Original Airdate: 10/27/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

The U.S.S. Enterprise answers an old distress signal to find an unnamed planet that is almost an exact duplicate of Earth in the 1960s. A landing party beams down and discovers that 300 years before, the natives of the planet conducted experiments to prolong life, but had instead created a deadly virus. The virus killed all adults by rapid aging and madness. In children, the virus slowed the natural aging process greatly, leaving them in a state of prepubescence for centuries.

There are no adults on the planet, only children, and they survive the best they can without adults to aid them. The landing party contracts the virus, except for Spock, who becomes a carrier of the disease. Until a cure for the disease can be found and created, the landing party is confined to the planet. To return to the U.S.S. Enterprise would mean a rapid spread of the disease.

The landing party attempts to make friends with the children, but they vividly remember the horrible deaths of their parents and refuse to have anything to do with them. One of the older children, Miri, falls in love with Kirk and tries to help him with the other children until she begins to see Yeoman Rand as a rival for the captain's affections. Stung, Miri helps Jahn, one of the boys, to lead the children in a campaign to harass the U.S.S. Enterprise crew members. When Kirk tries to reason with the children, he is badly beaten.

Miri is an interesting episode, if only because it tries so very hard to be a science fiction homage to Lord of the Flies. Although the episode features strong performances from the lead and takes its subject matter seriously, as a whole the episode feels shallow, as if it lacks its own creative spark to keep it going, and it fails to live up to the quality of its inspiration. While there is a moral to the story, it is nowhere near as poignant or as urgent as it was in Lord of the Flies.

The episode also has some massive plot holes that are never filled. The planet where Miri is discovered is an Earth-type planet. I don't just mean a "M-class" planet, but a planet that has cities and vehicles and roads that all resemble the Earth of the mid 20th century. It is also populated by human children. While we know that Earth has likely hundreds if not thousands of colonies at this time in Star Trek, there is no reason for an Earth colony to look like it was the 20th century unless the people lived in some sort of purposely restricted and controlled fashion. Considering that all the children are human, the only other explanation would be some sort of convoluted theory of mass human abduction and relocation to a planet meant to replicate Earth. Neither explanation seems plausible, and the issue is not only not addressed specifically in the episode, it is barely even noticed but for a few throw away lines of dialog and scenes when they first arrive on the planet.

Another issue that irked me was Miri's infatuation with Kirk. It's not the actual plot device that bothers me so much as how it is portrayed. While it is absolutely reasonable to expect a young girl entering puberty to develop a crush on an older boy, I find the "young girl falling in love with 34 year old man" explanation that the official website provides as a little disturbing and slightly inappropriate. Again, this is likely more a result of the rather drastic change in socio-cultural norms in the 40 years since the episode aired then any impropriety in the subject matter, but it didn't stop me from thinking it wasn't the best angle to take given Kirk's reputation as a Lothario.

Nevertheless, Miri is a competent episode that features a compelling climax as Kirk finally is able to reach the "children", all hundreds of years old, and convince them that only trust in others will save them from their greatest fear. While Miri will never be one of my favorite episodes, it is far from the worst of The Original Series.

Continuity:
- Medical equipment is inconsistent with previous episodes and later episodes, although this is a common theme in Star Trek.

- Once again, several main cast members fail to make more than a token appearance or simply do not appear in the episode.

Star Trek: What Are Little Girs Made Of?

Original Airdate: 10/20/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives in orbit around Exo III, to search for exobiologist Dr. Roger Korby. When Kirk asks Spock if Korby could possibly still be alive, Spock glances at Christine, then quietly shuts off his monitor. Christine Chapel, McCoy's chief nurse, is Korby's fiancé. Chapel had signed on with the U.S.S. Enterprise in the hope of finding him. Korby is known as the "Pasteur of archeological medicine."

At Dr. Korby's request, only Kirk and a very excited Christine Chapel beam down to the planet. They find the doctor living in an underground cavern built by what is known as "The Old Ones," the extinct natives of Exo III. He tells them that he discovered the caverns while suffering from severe frostbite, five years before.

Using equipment left behind by these now-dead beings, Korby has learned how to construct androids who look and act like humans. His android companions, Ruk and Andrea, amaze Kirk and Chapel with their realness. Although, Korby explains, Ruk existed long before he arrived — a product of "The Old Ones."

This episode marks the first appearance of Nurse Chapel, played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, a popular recurring character on The Original Series and later Gene Rodenberry's wife. It also is the first mention of androids in the Star Trek universe, an idea that wouldn't be fully revisited after this episode until nearly 20 years later when an android became a full-time cast member on The Next Generation.

I must admit to barely remembering this episode when I first started watching it-while this is not entirely surprising given how long its been since I have watched all of The Original Series, it gave me the opportunity to approach the episode from a nearly fresh perspective and see how much I liked it relatively free of bias. Fortunately my impressions were mostly positive and I enjoyed the episode quite a bit and found the subject matter appealing.

As with all early Star Trek episodes you know there will be some sort of continuity issue and the occasional part of the show that looks terribly dated. The basic concept of the androids, especially the way they are created and the transferral of a person's consciousness are very, very different from the evolution of this science fiction in later iterations of Star Trek, and also are somewhat incompatible with current real-word scientific ideas.

Creating an android in this episode is as simple as finding some sort of apparently pre-built or grown bio-mechanical husk and placing it on an object next to a real person. That device is then activated and the husk becomes a physically identical copy of the person, at least outwardly. Internally the new android is all circuitry (funny looking 1960's prop circuitry to boot) and aritficial intelligence. Apparently the technology also copies the brain waves and memories of the human counterpart over, but does so without transferring the ability to have emotion (however, this apparently can be done if the human chooses to transfer his consciousness in this manner).

The first issue is with the construction of the android and the machine that nearly instantly creates the android out of a shell. While it is reasonable to expect many species to have technological superiority over the nascent Federation, we rarely see such glimpses of sophisticated technology when it comes to artificial intelligence amongst advanced races nearly 100 years later in the Star Trek universe. That makes the entire process seem to simple (not to mention it makes it look much more like cloning than the actual construction of artificial life). While the technology is clearly ahead of the Federation's, and the androids are very sophisticated, they show no other signs of technological superiority, the race that created them has been lost to history, and the species or their androids are never heard of again in the entirety of the Star Trek lexicon. This poses strange continuity issues that are best resolved by believing, as stated in the episode, that these androids were the last remnant of a race completely extinct at the end of the episode.

I give tremendous credit to the writers of this episode, as they made the androids complex yet limited. They limited their ability to express emotion, established their failings as machines that can be ordered to do terrible things, yet gave the artificial life forms a glimmer of a conscience, just enough humanity that at the very end they were able to do the right thing, or at least process right from wrong and begin to think for themselves. Tragically, at the end the last of the androids finally felt an emotion-love for Dr. Korby, and that love enabled her to realize that the android Dr. Korby was not the same as the man Dr. Korby, and his ideas to save humanity might serve only to destroy it. As long as the androids were alive they could be used to harm others, and she was forced to destroy both of them to prevent it. It was a sad, but fitting end to an excellent episode.

Continuity:
- There is a surprising amount of continuity from this episode to the final iteration of androids in The Next Generation. Concepts such as neural synapses, lack of emotions, and other common ideas originated in this episode and surfaced again in Data's character.
- There are also several incongruities with the type of androids in this episode-the ease and simplicity of their construction, the method to essentially mirror and clone the outward appearance of a human, the necessity of a host human to create an android, the primitive circuitry and ethical programming, and many other minor details that make creatures that should be so technologically advanced seem no more sophisticated than the Federation.

Fun Facts:
- Majel Barrett Roddenberry plays Nurse Christine Chapel. She later married Gene Roddenberry, and played Deanna Troi's mother Lwaxana Troi on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
- Majel Barrett Rodenberry's also voices the Federation computers in The Original Series and all subsequent Star Trek series.
-In the very first Star Trek pilot titled The Cage, Majel Barrett Roddenberry was cast as the Enterprise's first officer and was given only the enigmatic name Number One-a nickname that would finally see use again 20 years later.

Star Trek: Mudd's Women

Original Airdate: 10/13/1966

Episode Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

The U.S.S. Enterprise pursues an unknown ship into an asteroid belt to save its crew before it's destroyed. The four people aboard are beamed on to the U.S.S. Enterprise; former nemesis Harry Mudd and three beautiful, sultry women: Ruth Bonaventure, Eve McHuron and Magda Kovacs. Mudd was transporting the three women to Ophiuchus VI to marry settlers there.

The Enterprise computers reveal that Mudd has been charged with a number of infractions of the law. In pursuit of Mudd's ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise has burned out its lithium crystals, which power the starship's engines, and Kirk orders them to proceed as quickly as possible to the nearest lithium mining planet. That planet is Rigel XII, which is inhabited by only three lithium miners.

Mudd manages to contact Ben Childress, the head miner, and make a deal with him. Mudd promises to deliver the three beautiful women to the lonely miners in exchange for lithium crystals and their help in escaping Kirk.

Mudd's Women is one of the iconic Star Trek episodes. Chances are if you are at all a fan of Star Trek you have heard the name Harry Mudd and likely seen the episode. It is always interesting to watch the classic, famous, iconic Star Trek episodes, perhaps even more so than the filler episodes that most people don't remember. The best part of it is the opportunity to see what everyone has found so appealing for so many years and see how it has stood the test of time.

Mudd's Women is an interesting episode. It tries to have a point to the story, but its unfortunately as basic as "beauty is what you make it to be." Seriously, it is really no more sophisticated than that-and that is not necessarily a bad thing, because the episode is clever, well written, and funny. The problem is that it has so many logical loopholes and just makes so little sense at time that it drives me crazy.

Let's get the good out of the way first. It is still a good episode that has stood the test of time well. The general attitude towards women and the way Mudd's women were portrayed is chauvinistic at best-and you must accept it as a mark of the time and move on. The story was well written, the dialog was funny, and Roger Carmel is brilliant as Harcourt Fenton Mudd. I enjoyed watching the episode again even though I was picking it apart, and while I don't quite think of it as a true classic, it was a lot of fun.

Now for the inconsistencies, and god there are a lot of them. So first we have a magic Venus pill that makes you beautiful. It slowly transforms your facial features and in a few minutes you are a stunner. It isn't clear if this pill acts to actually physically transform your features or if it simply projects an illusion, but the distinction is irrelevant to the story. Eventually the story takes a turn where one of the lithium miners is unhappy with his purchased bride to be because her true features are shown and she is not as attractive as he wanted (because she now refuses to take the Venus pill). She eventually pretends to take the pill (or at least appears to pretend, its not clear if she does or does not) and she suddenly becomes beautiful again and the lonely miner is happy-before he finds out from Kirk that she didn't take the pill and he now sees her true beauty or some such groan-inducing explanation. Putting aside the appalling shallowness of the entire situation, this notable only because the writers don't actually end the story as a real beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to the effect of "an unattractive person can trick you into believe they are attractive and that should make you happy!" It's very odd and I still don't really understand why they chose to go this route.

The episode also features other huge inconsistencies. The Enterprise is almost out of lithium to power their engines, so they go to a planet to get more. The mining planet has all of three miners to produce this obviously valuable and rare element, which makes no sense to begin with. Secondly, they refuse to provide even though that it their stated purpose in mining it in the first place (and presumably compensation of some sort has been offered). To add insult to injury, Kirk, a man never shy about acting when necessary, makes no attempt with his starship or crew of 420 to simply take the lithium in order to prevent the Enterprise from spiralling into a decaying orbit and crashing into the planet. While such action might not be a first choice, it seems reasonable given the miners behavior.

Another minor thing is the rather amusingly primitive computer and voice stress recognition device used when Kirk convenes a hearing to determine if and what crimes Mudd might have commited. It is amusing more so because it is scripted in such a way that it sounds very fake, and also because the computer doing the "lie detecting" is as big as most modern televisions. This is obviously a product of the technology and effects of the 1960's, but that makes it no less funny to watch.

Continuity:
- The Enterprise is apparently fueled by "lithium" which will shortly become the accepted "dilithium crystals".
- The early and now non-canonical fuel source of lithium apparently was used up very quickly and the Federation apparently had little control of lithium miners to provide it to starships in need, which makes little logical sense.
- Enterprise retcons almost all of the fuel issues we see in this episode, providing some serious continuity issues with early canon.

Fun Facts:
- Uniform colors continue to be inconsistent, and some key cast members appear only very briefly or not at all.

Star Trek: The Enemy Within

Original Airdate: 10/6/1966

Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

While orbiting the planet Alfa 177, the U.S.S. Enterprise experiences a transporter malfunction when Technician Fisher is beamed up from the planet with some magnetic ore on his clothing. Scotty checks the transporter and finds nothing wrong, so Captain Kirk beams aboard. Kirk leaves with his officers and when the transporter room is deserted, a second Kirk materializes on the pad.

When a space animal is beamed aboard the starship and splits into two entities; one tame and one vicious, it is discovered that the same thing has happened to Kirk. While one Kirk is good and honorable, the other is evil and runs amok on his ship, committing violent acts, including the attempted assault of Yeoman Janice Rand.

The Enemy Within was an interesting episode. It was the first in what would become a frequent, overused, almost cliched plot device where a transporter malfunction would cause some sort of disaster. In this case, the transporter is somehow affected by the introduction of a bio-contaminant from Alfa 177. The transporter functions mostly as normal, but creates two copies of everything-one containing the good, noble, honorable side of a person, the other the evil, dark, aggressive, primitive part.

Putting aside the fact that the science of it (I know, I know. I keep going down the slippery fact of discussing science with science fiction) is absolutely absurd, even by Star Trek standards, and you actually get a surprisingly interesting, adult story. I very much appreciate it when Star Trek writers don't pull punches with episodes. All too often throughout the last 40 years potentially great, dramatic episodes have been ruined by forced humor. The Naked Time is an all-time classic that I never grew to love for that very reason. Fortunately, The Enemy Within does away with that staid convention, and is surprisingly adult for 1960's television. The episode features an assault on Yeoman Rand, and some deep, interesting conversation as to which part of a person's personality make up their "better qualities."

Perhaps what I appreciated the most was the fact that the writers didn't shy away from the obvious answer, the difficult answer. Everything about our personalities defines who we are, good and bad. If one facet of our being is forcibly removed (not through rehabilitation or personal choice), then we cease to be the person we were. James T. Kirk is a great man on Star Trek-an honorable, kind, gentle man, but even he is fueled to some extent by his inner demons. While Kirk could still be a good man without his "dark" side, he could no longer be the captain he once was. While this is an admittedly oversimplified way to look and good and bad or right and wrong, it has the advantage of being true for most people. We need both our good and bad experiences, memories both happy and sad, anger and happiness to make us who we are. James T. Kirk lost them and was a shell of his former self until he got them back.

William Shatner does a surprisingly good job acting with himself, and gives real depth to both sides of his character, including a rather touching seen at the end. While Shatner is often criticized and mocked for some of his peculiar acting tendencies, my overall impressions through the first few episodes of The Original Series are almost all good.

Continuity:
- We continue to sporadically see main characters. Some episodes will feature McCoy heavily, and Scotty will never appear, etc.

- Uniform color is still off and characters are not always wearing the correct colors for their positions.

- The transporter is portrayed as being far more primitive than we know it should be during the time period (of course this knowledge is 40 years of background story after the fact).

- The Enterprise is shown as having one transporter room (and it is repeatedly referred to as the only transporter room). This makes absolutely no sense for a ship who's crew numbers over 400. In later episodes the Enterprise appears to have more than one transporter room, and by the first movie we know that the Enterprise indeed has several. Early technical manuals published by Paramount indicate the same thing. At this point it must be assumed that one transporter room was used and discussed for budgetary purposes only and that the Enterprise has been retconned to have more than one transporter room.

Star Trek: The Naked Time

Original Airdate: 9/29/1966

Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

Spock and Joe Tormolen beam down to planet Psi 2000 to pick up a research party before the planet disintegrates. They find everyone has died, frozen when life support was turned off. Even stranger, the positions of the researcher's bodies show they were out of their minds when they perished and some died by suicide.

Unknowingly, Tormolen carried what is later termed the "Psi 2000" virus back to the U.S.S. Enterprise and it spreads among the crew at an alarming rate, reaching into their souls and pulling out their deepest desires for public display. The virus is water borne and spread by perspiration in a touch. While trying to stop Tormolen from killing himself, Sulu and Kevin Riley are infected with the virus.

The Naked Time is an interesting episode. While the story is serious and somewhat grim for a 1960's episode of television, the writers obviously tried too hard to inject humor into the script to offset the dark tone of the primary storyline-the Enterprise's crew is slowly becoming infected with a virus and the ship is locked into a decaying orbit of a planet without functioning engines. The basic premise is interesting, even gripping at times and while this episode has become a classic, it could have been so much more had it simply been a harrowind tale of the Enterprise's near destruction.

Instead, the virus from the planet (which can be transmitted a number of ways) basically just removes everyone's inhibitions (now there is a plot device we will never see again...). Uhura acts a little wierd, Sulu for some reason decides not only to start fencing in random places on the ship (apparently he think he is D'Artagnan), but to do it shirtless and with a crazed smile on his face. Kevin Riley, an engineer that is featured only in this episode, is also infected and suffers delusions of grandeur as he decided to take over the entire engine room and proclaim himself Captain of the ship, all the while saying odd and stereotypical things about his Irish heritage. It is odd to say the very least. While I think most of the forced humor was unnecessary and felt flat (especially Kevin Riley's unfortunate moment in the spotlight), the stuff with Sulu was hilarious and has become part of the Star Trek legend-so its hard to find too much fault with the humor elements of the episode.

Continuity:
- Some very, very suspect Star Trek science (even setting aside the questionable merit of discussing present world science as it applies to science fiction), specifically some very odd things about impulse engines, warp mechanics, and time travel. While much of this can be attributed to the show still being in its formative episodes, it is interesting to note that while some elements(completely made up at will explanations for time travel) remain constant, basic impulse and warp engine operation eventually becomes fully fleshed out.

Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before

Original Airdate: 9/22/1966

Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

The U.S.S. Enterprise finds the Valiant's disaster record-marker, which reveals that just prior to its destruction the crew had been searching library tapes for any information on psionics. The Enterprise arrives at the edge of the galaxy and the same force affects the ship's drives that must have affected those of the Valiant. Kirk notices a strong personality change in his good friend, Lieutenant Gary Mitchell, whose latent psionic abilities are heightened by the force field.

Where No Man Has Gone Before was essentially the second Star Trek pilot, introducing James T. Kirk and many of the other main characters we would grow to know and love over the last 40 years. The story itself is a fairly interesting take on how society might react to "super-humans", or humans with extra-sensory perception, super strength, intelligence, and other traits. The basic premise of the story surprisingly stays away from the typical, staid "the human race isn't read for a race of super-humans" angle and instead examines how super-humans would react to their more evolutionary deficient counter-parts.

In Where No Man Has Gone Before, the super-human essentially becomes evil, although it is never clear if his evil is fueled by any genuine desire to cause harm, or rather whether he believes that his new powers simply elevate him to a position where societal norms and morals simply do not apply. It is an interesting concept and Kirk and Spock spend much of the episode trying to reconcile the man Mitchell was with the man he has become.

One particularly interesting thing to note about this episode is that it frequently mentions extra sensory perception, "espers", and the "esper" rating for each crewmember in their medical files, almost as if the concept of ESP is widely accepted and common in the 23rd century. For whatever reason, this concept (at least in relation to humans) almost completely ended with this episode, and rarely returned for the next 40 years. I like the choice of allowing ESP and telepathy to be the realm of aliens on Star Trek-it allows us to more closely identify with our future counterparts. It also eliminates a very common science fiction theme from humanity in the Star Trex lexicon early on, which likely helped separate it from the works that inspired it.

Also of note is that this episode lays the groundwork for one of Kirk's most admirable personality traits: his loyalty to his friends. Gary Mitchell was one of Kirk's best friends. They had served together prior to Kirk's command and he came to the Enterprise at Kirk's request. Kirk spends nearly the entire episode reconciling that his head is telling him that he must give up his friend before it is too late, while his heart is telling him that he cannot possibly harm a man who had nearly died to save his life. It makes the end of the episode just that much more poignant, and demonstrates Kirk's unwavering loyalty to his friends.

Continuity:
- As this was the second pilot, there were a number of inconsistencies between this episode and The Cage as well as the ohter Season 1 episodes.

- Perhaps the most obvious continuity issue is the uniforms, which not only look different but are different shades of color than they would be in Season 1 proper. The cast is also not wearing the appropriate colors. While gold is still the color for command, Spock and Scotty wear that color, Sulu wears blue, and red is rarely seen.

- The ship's chief medical officer is not Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), but instead Mark Piper, a rather boring and uninspired character that fortunately was recast in favor of the salty country doctor that we all know and love.

- ESP and "espers" are the mentioned frequently throughout this episode, with mention of an "esper" rating in each crew members medical history, but no such mention of "espers" or ESP in this manner is ever made in future Star Trek series.

Fun Facts:

- Spock's uniform collar is visibly different from everyon elses, to allow him to remove the shirt in a different fashion so as not to damage his ears.

- Spock's eyebrows are noticably different, and are pointed much more sharply upwards on his forehead.

- This is the first time we see three-dimeonsial chess in a Star Trek episode, a game we will see many times over the next 40 year.

- The attitude towards women is again rather alarmingly chauvanistic.

Star Trek: Charlie X

Original Airdate: 9/15/1966
Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

Charles Evans, the lone survivor of a crashed colonizing expedition to the planet Thasus, comes aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise from the S.S. Antares. But when the Antares' Captain Ramart contacts Kirk in regards to Charlie, the Antares suddenly explodes.

Fortunately for my Project, Charlie X is an excellent episode of Trek. It features a story heavy on morals and social commentary which would quickly become the standard for Star Trek and help make it a cultural icon.

17 year old Charlie is an orphaned survivor of a shipwreck that survived for nearly his entirely life on a planet with almost nothing to keep him alive. He is transferred to the Enterprise for delivery to an Earth colony and almost immediately begins causing trouble. Charlie is human, but was given super-human powers by a nearly extinct alien race to help him surive alone.

Charlie has no concept of human morals and no understanding of right and wrong and finds it difficult to adapt to life aboard the Enterprise. More than anything he wants to be liked and loved, but he abuses his powers to fulfill his desires and when spurned, he turns dangerous quickly, and wreaks havoc on the crew of the Enterprise.

The writers of this episode do an excellent job of portraying Charlie in a sympathetic light-the boy is not evil or malicious, he simply has no concept of morality. This would be the first in a long line of Star Trek episodes that dealt with morality, social consciousness, and paralleled Earth's history with events in individual episodes. The surprisingly unhappy resolution of the episode also illustrates Trek's willingness to break from the Hollywood norm.

Continuity:
- Spock smiles during the scene in the recreation room, another example of human emotion from his not yet fully conceived character.
- Sulu's role on the ship is not yet fully fleshed out, and he acts as much as security chief as helm officer at times in this episode.
- Scotty does not appear in this episode.

Random Facts:
- The attitude towards women is very obviously 1960's flavored, and would in many instances be considered politically incorrect.

Star Trek: The Man Trap

Original Airdate: 9/8/1966
Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):

The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at planet M-113 to deliver supplies to Dr. Robert Crater and his wife, Nancy, whom Doctor Leonard McCoy was once romantically involved with. M-113 is home to the Craters for five years, where they conducted an archeological survey of the planet's ruins. They are the only known inhabitants of the planet.

While this episode was not nearly as bad as I thought it might be, it still was a rough transition back to TOS. The Man Trap is fairly standard science fiction, and it does a servicable job of introducing the characters of the Star Trek universe. There is nothing particularly interesting or notable about the episode save Spock's occasional human emotion, and the rather rare look into the personal life of Dr. McCoy. As I find frequently in episodes of TOS, the guest actors are almost always uniformly poor. This episode does see the first use of a Star Trek handheld phaser, which is interesting enough in its own right to see the special effects they were able to create in 1966.

Continuity:
- Spock occasionally demonstrates human emotion, likely because his character has still not been fully developed.
- First appearance of a phaser onscreen.

Star Trek: The Original Series

So, the Project officially begins today, with the original Star Trek. This is going to be the first time I have watched through TOS in many years-dating back to when I watched the series on VHS, so it will make for an interesting experiment. I am approaching this part of the Project with some trepidation, as I know that there are going to be many elements of the original Star Trek that have not aged well. Nonetheless, after a long week it is time to get this show on the road.

The Star Trek Project Explained

I have been thinking about the Star Trek Project for several years, but until now have never bene able to determine exactly how I wanted to go about doing what I have created this page to document. I must admit to being vain enough to be concerned with how rabidly geeky this would make me out to be, but in the end, my enjoyment of Star Trek and my desire to write about the series overrode my fear of the nerd label.

This project was born out of my tendancy to watch and rewatch the various Star Trek series as I did other things. Normally I would be studying, playing a computer game, surfing the internet, or some other activity and I would almost always pop in a Star Trek DVD to watch. I usually would do it in order, so that I had to watch all of The Next Generation in a row or all of Deep Space Nine in a row and so on before I switch. At one point I think I even watched them all chronologically.

The last time I was going through Deep Space Nine I had an epiphany of sorts. I knew I wanted to write about Star Trek for some time but couldn't decide how, and then I realized that almost every time I watched an episode I found something new, or made an observation to myself about something. Often it would be a new found apprecaition for the episode, consistency errors, plot holes, or implausibility of some sort. Each time I wondered why I didn't just write it down and make a project of it. Thus the Star Trek Project was born.

I know that there are at least a few websites that have reviews for every episode of Star Trek ever aired. One person who ran such a project even had his name used for a character in Star Trek: First Contact. My goal is not to replicate that feat. While some episodes may be "reviewed" and most will have a synopsis written by me or copied from the official site, my desire is neither to summarize the events of each episode nor provide a review or score per se. While I do want to talk about the relative merit of each episode, I also want to create a sort of running lof of thoughts on each series, the continuity, the errors, and have the opportunity to discuss the episodes that truly moved me.

After some deliberation, I have decided that the best way to start is chronologically in the order that the series aired. I think this will be the best for continuity as the project will end with Enterprise, allowing me to tie in issues of continuity easily with all the other series that came before it. Thus, I will start with The Original Series and the corresponding feature films in order, move on to TNG, DS9, and Voyager with the movies in the correct order, and end with Enterprise. I have not yet decided whether to include The Animated Series, although I will make that decision sometime prior to ending the work on TOS.

This project will consist of, at a minimum, 704 episodes of Star Trek spanning approximately 528 hours and 10 movies totalling just over 20 hours. I have no idea how long this project will take to complete as I have never watched the entire series straight through in this fashion. At the absolute minimum it will take a full year-I frequently watch 4 episodes a day on the weekends while doing other things, and as long as I am careful enough to note the specifics of each individual episode I can likely watch most of them while multi-tasking (especially for the episodes I have seen countless times). While it would be tempting to skip the episodes I actively dislike (not a tremendous number, but at least a dozen or so episodes for the longer series), I intend to watch each and every one with no fast forward or any other aid. Furthermore, I will not multi-task to the point where I am watching them just to list them. If I don't have something constructive to say, I haven't paid enough attention to the episode.

Finally, I am not sure exactly how I will format this page or whether the project will remain here or find its way to a real website. At the least I will try to make each episode recap its own post for clarity. I hope the few of you that have found your way to this website enjoy the idea and eventually enjoy the work that will go into making this project happen. At the very least I can finally say that I did something odd and extravagant with one of my hobbies just because I wanted to and I had fun doing it-no matter how geeky it may be.