Star Trek Episodes 1-99

Micro-reviews of every episode of Star Trek. The original series in production order and after that in strict airing order (even when that meant splitting multi-part stories up).

The Original Series
The Animated Series

Note: These are from brief, unedited comments posted on Facebook. Some of the grammar may be a little clunky – I hadn’t intended on archiving these anywhere, but I’ve popped them here as some people enjoyed them!

July 12th, 2021

Following a chat with the marvellous Christopher DeFilippis and Allison Pregler last night, embarking on another Trek marathon. All 801 episodes/movies so far, in my preferred viewing order (production for TOS followed by airing/release for everything else – stylistically I find TUC much easier to watch during TNG s5 than before TNG s1, Discovery after everything else, etc). 

I won’t spend a lot of time reviewing these (what’s not already been said to death?) but maybe the odd one-liner for anyone who finds such things entertaining. 

Episode 1: The Cage  
Love the world-weary burdened Jeffrey Hunter (although lorks, he was 38 when he made this – when did I become older than the grumpiest Enterprise captain?!). Smirking Spock is a giggle. Susan Oliver’s delivery is equal parts seductive and just plain creepy. “You appear to be healthy and intelligent”. 🤤 And overall the fact that this looks and feels like Forbidden Planet: The Series or something, providing a bit of a bridge between 50s schlock and the Star Trek style we came to know and love.

Episode 2: Where No Man Has Gone Before
Surprising how quickly and confidently after The Cage, WNMHGB gets into the standard TOS style. Plenty of fragile masculinity, a good old fist fight, some misogyny but nicely forward thinking considering the era, and an exciting and intriguing plot. 
Some of the aesthetics are clearly left over from The Cage, and Scotty and Sulu are just glorified extras, but definitely getting there fast.

Episode 3: The Corbomite Maneuver
Fun episode. Some awesome use of handheld cameras and high angles which I’m sure get dropped pretty quickly, and soft focus whenever we have a close-up of Shatner or a lay-dee, which I’m sure does not.

Also starting to see the family come together, as Bones joins the crew and we quickly see some Kirk/McCoy interplay that’s different but equally satisfying to Pike/Boyce.
Uhura is there too, even if she doesn’t do much. Like Takei, Nichols casting still a bit tokenistic at this point, but it’s the 60s and it’s inspirational to see any attempts at diversity.

Episode 4: Mudd’s Women
I mean, how ridiculous. 
Plenty of those fun soft focus shots I love so much, though, and watching Bones get the horn is good for a giggle.

Episode 5: The Enemy Within
Erica’s “Alien Dog” episode. Alien dog is cute. Shatner turns in two quite moving vulnerable performances. Sci-fi cliche (although was it in 1966?) but fun and action-packed. Very dubious moment at the end where implied Rand probably wanted to be raped anyway so that’s all ok lolz 😬🙄

Episode 6: The Man Trap
Always struggle a bit with this one. Silly salt vampire. Hard to imagine this launching the series and people continuing to tune in, but I guess it’s a bit more standard action-packed adventure than the others that had been produced so far.

Episode 7: The Naked Time
(Erica’s Irish space virus episode)
Ah so much fun about this. Risky having a “cast act out of character” so early in the series (although TNG did it worse). But hey, it’s a giggle and there’s tension and shirtless Takei. 
And now, Facebook followers, I shall render Kathleen… ONE. MORE. TIME!

Episode 8: Charlie X
Always had a soft spot for this one, even if most of the plot is given away in the teaser. Robert Walker Jr marvellously creepy, and Shatner gets to show off his acting chops a bit. And Uhura sings!

Episode 9: Balance of Terror
Can’t remember if I actually like this one or if it’s just “the one with the Romulans”. 🤨🧐

Episode 10: What are Little Girls Made Of?
Stupid title. Fun episode. One of the pioneers of the “will the crew spot the imposter?” trope. Awesome lighting. Cock-rock 🤣

Episode 11: Dagger of the Mind
Can never engage with this one. Nothing really wrong with it, just doesn’t grab me.

Episode 12: Miri
Grown on me over time. As a kid I never enjoyed seeing other kids in scifi. As an adult I appreciate how terrifying the idea of giving a bunch of illogical irrational people any sort of physical power (see also Charlie X), even if “just” strength in numbers.
Also an early example “coincidental planet that looks like Earth in the production year”.
All the child/“child” actors are pretty damn good too.

Episode 13: The Conscience of the King
Great little mystery, this one. Cool twist. Grand performances all round. Lovely to see Riley back (sadly not singing Kathleen ONE. MORE. TIME) and getting some backstory for Kirk, both of which flesh out this universe to something more believable.

Episode 14: The Galileo Seven
Genuinely tense episode. I like the debates about logic vs emotion although it does seem to all end very much with egg on Spock’s face, which I’m less keen on. One of the classic “crew chuckles heartily at a joke Spoke doesn’t comprehend” endings. Could have been more balanced. Nimoy takes centre stage admirably.

Episode 15: Court Martial
Plot holes you could drive a truck through, but as trial episodes go (I’m really not a fan of courtroom dramas) this one’s not bad, mainly as Cogley’s especially watchable.
Still, now that’s over, I’m sure we won’t have any more senior staff on trial for at least… oh 😉

Episodes 16 and 17: The Menagerie Parts I and II
Ahhh, Trek does Trial of a Time Lord. Excellent central plot, interrupted by reminders that we’re watching this on a Magic Screen(TM).
Much the same feelings as I have for The Cage. The Menagerie additional scenes don’t really add much, nor annoy either. They’re just there. It’s a wee bit inconsistent seeing McCoy yelling at Kirk that either of one of them could go off half-cocked, but never Spock, after just last week McCoy making the point under oath that Kirk could never go off half-cocked, but whatever. Also there’s definitely been more dangerous planets in Star Trek history before and since to command the FRICKING DEATH PENALTY in response to a quick trip, but this sort of stuff is necessary to get the plot moving along.

Episode 18: Shore Leave
Damn, I try and enjoy this one for its bright silliness but I can never focus on anything outside the horrible depiction of Yeoman Genericfemale

Episode 19: The Squire of Gothos
Very Encounter at Farpoint. Early example of “child/childlike being as a non-malicious adversary being inquisitive with too much power”. Love the fact they’re all having coffees on the bridge at the start, like it’s early morning and they’re kickstarting a day in the office – we don’t see enough of that in Trek. Campbell is great. Tally Ho! My constant rewatching of the blooper reel in my youth just makes me hear the outtake of “do you challenge me to a duel?!” “YES. If. You have. The courage”.

Episode 20: Arena
Suffers Target novel syndrome: I read the James Blish version loads before I saw the cheap production values of the real episode. Can’t deny it’s entertaining though. Fun fact: Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey featured a clip from this old show when it was 24 years old. Bogus Journey itself turned 30 this week. HOW?!

Episode 21: The Alternative Factor
Never been too fussed about this one. Cool idea, stretched over a 50 minute episode. Silly beard.

Episode 22: Tomorrow is Yesterday
Lots of fun, some great comedy moments and a clever “twist” about Christopher’s relevance in history. In retrospect, bit early in Trek’s long history to be introducing a hugely important McGuffin that’s only reused twice.

Episode 23: The Return of the Archons
Classic “Kirk talks computer to death”. Used to find this episode boring but actually VERY creepy. Love Festival even though not adequately explained.

Episode 24: A Taste of Armageddon
Always been captivated by this idea. Cool idea for a plot and well realised. Thought provoking.

Episode 25: Space Seed
Overrated by virtue of being The Wrath of Khan Part 0. It’s a solid enough episode but always baffles me that it got picked out for a sequel 🤷🏻‍♂️

Episode 26: This Side of Paradise
Some daft moments but great performance by Nimoy, especially just after Kirk “cures” him.

Episode 27: The Devil in the Dark
Heh. Spock mind melds with a rock. No, but seriously, really great concept and twist. A bit of a slow moving episode but solid idea behind it.

Episode 28: Errand of Mercy
Yay, first appearance of the Klingons (and part of Worf’s costume too). Although episode overall is 🤷🏻‍♂️ and I’m not sure what’s so great about the Klingons except Colicos specifically that makes them a returning villain. They come into their own much more later.

Episode 29: The City on the Edge of Forever
Justifiably known as a classic. Unlike many “fan favourite, not overrated. Fun, exciting and smart. I particularly love the choice of direction to postpone us seeing Shatner’s reaction to Edith’s death by focussing first on McCoy’s ❤️. Fully aware of the rewriting controversy here, which sometimes spoils episodes but in this case they still produced something great.

Episode 30: Operation — Annihilate!
Always found those flappy back creatures creepy af. Good solid episode. Hilarious (brief) use of the Hollywood “all family members look identical, just put the lead character in a moustache to play his own brother” trope.

And with that, end of season 1 of the 28 full-length seasons :O

Episode 31: Catspaw
Doesn’t matter how many times I watch this ridiculous episode, my mind wanders and suddenly there’s a giant cat CSOed into the action attacking a goofy man. Can someone summarise this for me?

Episode 32: Metamorphosis
Cool episode. Didn’t need to add to the lore by introducing Cochrane, but not a problem that it does. Stands well by itself.

Episode 33: Friday’s Child
Never grabbed me just because the planet, it’s people and its culture disinterests me. Not a BAD episode, just the plot isn’t enough to engage. Nimoy performs the shit out of his final line though.

Episode 34: I AM APOLLO! *ahem* Who Mourns for Adonais?
Another godlike creature, and another woman who’s in the pre-credits so we just know she’s going to get the hots for the main male guest star. Feel like we’ve definitely seen this plot a bunch already but I do really like this one.

I wish I’d been tracking and commenting McCoy’s inconsistent eyeshadow, perhaps with some sort of grading system. They all suffer it but for some reason he does the worst by far. Too late now!

Episode 35: Amok Time
Kirk is so dumb in this – he worries more about Spock asking to take shore leave than he does about him throwing a bowl of soup at a junior officer. Then after Spock starts lying, claiming forgetfulness, and committing insubordination, he sends Spock to sickbay without personally escorting him 🙄
Obviously all of this is just a big build up to finally seeing Spock’s homeworld. This is one of those episodes that’s more “important” than actually “entertaining”, but definitely a good one with some fun fighting and Shatner-nipple.
“Vulcan biology”
“You mean the biology… of Vulcans?”

Episode 36: The Doomsday Machine
Love it! Excitement, adventure, really wild things. And I always get giddy when Trek shows re-use the hero sets for “other ships in the same class”. I don’t know why. Is that weird? Anyway, great episode.

Episode 37: Wolf in the Fold
Enjoyed it much more this time than normal. It’s quite a standard horror story, which I always found weird for Star Trek. And it still stands out as a real oddity, but I took for what it was tonight and found some pleasure in it.
Bit of a good run coming up over the next couple of days as I approach the half way mark through TOS…

Episode 38: The Changeling
Short version of TMP, but that’s on TMP for ripping off this story so closely. Great concept, rips along at a fair pace. Love that Uhura speaks some Swahili (yep, I know Nichelle had to fight for that) although so many questions – how did she re-learn everything so fast? Did Chapel toilet train her? These things concern me.

Episode 39: The Apple
I often forget this one as it’s sandwiched in the middle of a cracking run mid-s2, but it’s pretty cool, despite the hefty biblical overtones.

Episode 40: Mirror, Mirror
Episode 41: The Deadly Years
A couple of great episodes with fabulous concepts and the chance for the actors to shine. Particularly love Shatner’s brief turn as Mirror Kirk which is far more subtle than his Evil Kirk from The Enemy Within. And as always when McCoy’s out of character he suddenly becomes much more Southern (see also This Side of Paradise). DY is a bit uneven, stopping in the middle for Senior Officer On Trial Yet Again shenanigans but that just means it’s two great plots squeezed into a single episode. I adore the whole MU saga, and this is part of a great short run in TOS this middle of this season (and the half way mark!). Two more strong ones up next too…

Episode 42: I, Mudd
As with Mudd’s Women, mixed feelings. Some great comic moments, from Carmel and all the regular cast, and an engaging plot, although the beautiful submissive android women are typical 60s sexist claptrap, and of course we have the boomer-humour classic horrible wife. Norman’s bulge also worth the price of admission alone 😳

Episode 43: The Trouble with Tribbles
Entertaining as ever, although I’ve seen Trials more, so sometimes it feels wrong not seeing the DS9 crew walking around in the back of shots. Scotty explaining to Kirk who started the fight is a highlight of the entire TOS for me. “Is this off the record?” “No, it’s not off the record!”

Episode 44: Bread and Circuses
An entertaining entry into the “civilisation peculiarly similar to Earth” canon. I enjoyed this one more this time than usual. Final twist is one I read about before I ever saw, so it’s never been a big deal for me.

Episode 45: Journey To Babel
Great performances from Nimoy, Lenard and Wyatt. And what could be a gimmicky episode designed just to introduce a member of Spock’s family is elevated above by a genuinely interesting mystery plot.

Episode 46: A Private Little War
Some good moments but this episode never grabs me as much as I feel it should. It’s an interesting idea, just the execution doesn’t appeal.

Episode 47: The Gamesters of Triskelion
Ridiculous episode. Big-green-haired woman asking Kirk to explain love to her, including the phrase “won’t you help me again?”, and wearing the epitome of Theiss-Theory-of-Tiitilaton dresses, talking brains, topless Shatner – it’s basically a spoof of Star Trek. I always find it enjoyable enough but it’s not one to show people who already think Trek is shit.

Episode 48: Obsession
Nice to see some more background for Kirk, fleshing out his backstory some more and making the universe seem a bit more three-dimensional. Good episode too.

Episode 49: The Immunity Syndrome
Silly concept that feels like it should be in a Saturday morning cartoon (hell, it feels very TAS), but still exciting, and bugger me if the effects in this aren’t the highlight of the remastered episodes – absolute beauties.

Episode 50: A Piece of the Action
Meh. Silly episode, and never been a favourite of mine. Shatner’s awful gangster accent is so off-putting.

Episode 51: By Any Other Name
I always remember this for its serious snyopsis, and forget it’s actually one of season two’s great comedy episodes. Some real laugh out loud moments. Love it! Although we do have a repeat of the Trisklelion line “help me again”, in Kelinda asking Kirk to apologise to her again 🙄. Very high rewatchability factor if I just remember the tone!

Episode 52: Return to Tomorrow
Can’t take Pulaski seriously as the token hot young thing of the episode. Once past that though… 🤷🏻‍♂️ It’s OK. Quite a good plot. Nimoy is fabulous, and this is definitely one of the episodes that makes you wonder why Chapel wasn’t considered one of the “main cast” as established in the 80s movies. Shatner does some of his best “fighting an invisible force” dance sequences here too.

Episode 53: Patterns of Force
I don’t usually like the Nazi trope in scifi but this one has some good twists. And I don’t think I’d ever really appreciated just how recently WW2 was at the time and therefore the bravery to take quite a clinical look at how Nazism gained popularity. We’re only a couple of years away from 9/11 being as old, and I can’t quite imagine the cast of Strange New Worlds going undercover on a planet inspired by al-qaeda.

Episode 54: The Ultimate Computer
Daystrom chews the scenery but is extremely watchable, and written in a sympathetic way. Solid plot, and the “man replaced by machine” thing is totally timeless. Resonates today and always will.

Episode 55: The Omega Glory
I have yet to get through this without my mind wandering. This time was no different. Some crew members turn into crystals, someone senior in Starfleet goes a bit crazy, we have a planet based on a period in Earths history, and some “yay America” patriotism. Treks greatest hits but I couldn’t tell you what happens.

Episode 56: Assignment: Earth
I mean, it’s not Trek. Even the Trek elements aren’t Trek (this is the first and last time in TOS time travel is just considered to be a banal thing they get up to for kicks every so often). But Lansing and Garr are engaging and would have made a cute show for a season or two. This was one of two episodes I had on commercial VHS back in the day so I’ve seen it to death. Enjoyable romp.

Episode 57: Spectre of the Gun
Never like the “Western episodes” of any sci-fi show, but this one has some real peril, some good humour and some cool set pieces, so gets a pass from me. Chekov is bloody dumb though. A pretty face and he just forgets everything else. His stupidity is even a plot point at the end. Doesn’t serve him well.

Episode 58: Elaan of Troyius
Urgh. Unlikeable guest cast. Meh plot. Might have been more interesting having a male in the role of the unlikeable childish leader who cries and throws tantrums. Sexy outfits though – some of Theiss’s best.

Episode 59: The Paradise Syndrome
Any Earth eras we’ve not plundered yet? This is cute though. Beautiful location footage. Unsure if offensive stereotypes?

Episode 60: The Enterprise Incident
One of the few stone cold classics of the third season. Solidifies the Romulans as worthy of coming back for TNG – hard to believe they were only in two TOSs and a lot of it is because this episode is just so strong. Love it!

Episode 61: And the Children Shall Lead
Shit version of Charlie X. Although the kid giving a handjob to a ghost every time something is about to happen is suitably creepy. Not bad but definitely not good.

Episode 62: Spock’s Brain
Look, the concept is silly. But get past that and this is great, campy fun. There’s plenty to enjoy here as long as you can accept that Spock can function without a brain.
“Brain and Brain! What is Brain?!”

Episode 63: Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Some nice ideas and good plot beats but sadly overwhelmed by all the BS about why a beautiful woman would want to spent time surrounded by ugliness.

Episode 64: The Empath
Never got the fuss about this one. Its OK I guess. Love the set pieces, and the idea is fine just stretched over 50 mins.

Episode 65: The Tholian Web
One of my favourites ever. Creepy, edgy, some great Spock/McCoy stuff, cool visuals. And one of my old favourites – the hero sets being used as “another ship in the fleet”. Needless to say I was so excited when Enterprise did a sort-of sequel!

Episode 66: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Good to see McCoy get a romance, but overall not a personal favourite. It’s an OK episode just not one I can bring myself to care about much.

Episode 67: Day of the Dove
Getting past some rubbish blackface and some hammered home moral messages, this is a really good one. Exciting, fun and Kang is good. Koenig also gets some wonderful material here.

Episode 68: Plato’s Stepchildren
I feel like we’ve seen elements of this episode before, but the fear played up by Nichols and Barrett in particular make this one a solid episode. And of course it has THAT kiss. And some off colour jokes “I have a little surprise for you” 😳

Episode 69: Wink of an Eye
One of my favourites. Very clever and creepy in places. And who can fail to love a post-coital scene slipping past the censors.

I seem to be discovering season three has a lot more hits than misses. Far more than I remember. I think The Way to Eden just takes over my recollection somehow.

Episode 70: That Which Survives
No, it’s no good, it’s another one I glaze over a bit for and I’m sure I’m missing something 🤷🏻‍♂️ Lee Meriwether does her best though, and Spock gets some great (sometimes out of character) snarky lines. Love his comment about Scotty straddling the nacels being “undignified”.

Episode 71: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
I believe this is one the classics, right? It definitely has some good moments, and Loki in particular is very watchable. Some thought provoking stuff, and some “slam around the head” morality.

Episode 72: Whom Gods Destroy
I adore this one. Steve Ihnat (and occasionally Shatner) is marvellously camp and crazy, in the best possible way. And who can fail to love a bad drag queen Andorian? Riveting stuff.

Episode 73: The Mark of Gideon
Great concept, very creepy visuals with the Gideon people milling in the background (although that tightly packed, one has to wonder how they’re able to do the thinks necessary to create a population crisis), a thankfully brief “safe sex” message, and another example of the Enterprise sets getting a clever reuse 🙂

Episode 74: The Lights of Zetar
Meh, mostly a bland monster-of-the-week type episode, although it’s nice to see Scotty get a romance (even if it all comes across a bit creepily paternal, and the line Kirk has about a man of Scotty’s years finding love I’m finding very scary, approaching that age myself!). The victim face-mashing is dead creepy.

Episode 75: The Cloud Minders
Love the sky backdrop, gorgeous colours. Shatner is good in this one playing quite a dark Kirk. Jeff Corey is great and makes me wonder what happened between now and Z’ha’dum when he suddenly forgot how to act. Some good concepts here but execution iffy.

Episode 76: The Way to Eden
Space hippies! Look, I actually find all the singing and cool outfits kinda fun. It’s a silly episode and not one I’d choose to watch, but it has its merits.

Episode 77: Requiem for Methuselah
Ah the perils of immortality, which we just looked at a few episodes back… combined with bits of What Are Little Girls Made Of. Lack of originality aside, this one’s OK, although Kirk is getting a bit out of control in these final episodes, isn’t he?

Episode 78: The Savage Curtain
(I definitely watched this as part of my marathon but seem to have forgotten to write up a review – only discovered this when compiling everything December 2022!)

Episode 79: All Our Yesterdays
Always loved this one. The focus on the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triumvirate is fab, the idea is cool, and Nimoy gets some fab material to work with. One of my favourites!

Episode 80: Turnabout Intruder
Another great episode, ending the much-maligned TOS3 on a high note. Sandra Smith does some good Shatnerisms. Shatner himself does dip a little bit into just mincing around, but *often* plays a woman plausibly in this. The glass ceiling for women plotline does seem dealt with in a REALLY ubsubtle way, but since it’s still an issue today, we clearly weren’t listening enough. Scotty and McCoy both wrestling with what “right” is, isn’t something we usually see in the clean-cut world of TOS, outside the third movie. If the show was going to be cut short at all, this is a reasonable exit note, and certainly better than if – for example – The Way to Eden had formed the series finale!

Slowing down a bit now – I powered through so I could watch the new 4K releases of the first four films when they come out in September, but I seemed to go a bit faster than planned and I now have just TAS to stretch out over a month!

Episode 81*: Beyond the Furthest Star
A fun opening to TAS. Amazing visuals and cool tech that wasn’t possible in TOS. Plot is nothing spectacular but enjoyable enough.

*switching to airing order now. Only really followed production order for TOS s1, which leaked into s2 and 3. No reason not to go with airing from now on, and definitely necessary by the time I get to Skin of Evil/Symbiosis.

Episode 82: Yesteryear
Generally known as the highlight of TAS. Very leisurely pacing, odd for a Saturday morning kids show, but really hits home that this is aimed at a more mature audience. Planet Vulcan looks amazing. Some tough themes well handled, and great to hear Nimoy and Lenard back together again.

Episode 83: One of Our Planets is Missing
Pretty bog standard “giant thing swallows planets” of the type we’ve seen in many shows, and in Trek in Doomsday Machine. Some cool visuals though.

Episode 84: The Lorelei Signal
I always find Siren-based stories ill-serving of men and women alike, but every long running show has to do a take on it, and I do like the ageing male crew. Also cool to see Uhura kick some ass.

Episode 85: More Tribbles, More Troubles
Yay, a sequel! Yay, David Gerrold! Pink suited Klingons! Lots of fun to be had here – if anything the Tribbles are better suited to an animated show. Also I’ve always had a huge soft spot for the grain ship design that premieres here and then shows up retrospectively in a few TOS-Remastereds. Great seeing the D7 in animated form too 😍

Episode 86: The Survivor
I love the plot behind this. One of the strongest TASs for me. Great concept, well handled. Sadly a bit overshadowed when TNG remade it with almost the same name 🙄

Episode 87: The Infinite Vulcan
No, I’m still not sure what happened here. Besides Giant Spock and Koenig getting rewritten over and over again (which might explain the stupid plot).

Episode 88: The Magicks of Megas-Tu
Urgh. Rodenberry’s obsession with adding God as a character into his shows now stretched to Satan. Stupid episode.

Episode 89: Once Upon a Planet
I never loved Shore Leave. Of all the episodes to warrant a sequel this isn’t one (although imagine if TAS had made a sequel to Space Seed – that would have stuffed up Harve Bennett and co later!). However, it’s a fun episode and works MUCH better in animated form than the original did in live action.

Episode 90: Mudd’s Passion
The previous Mudd stories sailed a little close to the wind, but here we have hijinx ensuing thanks to that madcap salesman peddling date rape drugs. Many lolz. Erm, just wow. This one hasn’t aged well. Shame as it’s great to see Chapel doing something, and Nimoy given something different to do.

Episode 91: The Terratin Incident
Fairly forgettable, although some cool visuals that would have been way too expensive to achieve live action.

Episode 92: The Time Trap
Great to see Kirk and the Klingons brokering some kind of truce, but not much else going on here.

Episode 93: The Ambergris Element
Silly episode, but I love the fact that they spend so much time underwater, really making use of the animation budget.
There seems to be some real peril here, and I like seeing Kirk coming to terms with something that might be a permanant change.

Episode 94: The Slaver Weapon
I don’t get the big fuss about this one, or the Kzinti. I remember the rumours that they might come back for Enterprise and everyone losing their shit over the possibility. Big cat people, yeah, pretty cool and all, but I think I’m missing something to not see their legendary status. I feel like I do when I watch Genesis of the Daleks and go ‘yeah, OK, that happened’. Nice stuff for Uhura and Sulu, wish we’d seen more Kirkless episodes tbh.

Episode 95: The Eye of the Beholder
Nice idea, if a little derivative of previous episodes. Love the giant slug creatures with their big sad looking eyes. Aww. There’s a Majel character in it where Majel isn’t even attempting to put on a voice though – it’s like Chapel’s just randomly got a new head.

Episode 96: The Jihad
Lots of fun, good adventurous stuff, cool flying sequences, and the flirty hunter is hilarious – want to see more of her in future episodes!

Episode 97: The Pirates of Orion
Opening the second season of TAS and the final season of Kirk and Co… The plot is straightforward but the characterisation and the interplay more than makes up for it. And I love how Orions are pronounced to rhyme with the cookies.

Episode 98: Bem
Really fun episode. I love what a dick Bem is. Makes him an entertaining character for 20 minutes. Any more than that would be too much.

Episode 99: The Practical Joker
Silly, and definitely playing up to the Saturday morning kiddie crowd, but very watchable.