Wanderlust

What were your favorite episodes from season one?  Top eight? Cheat sheet of episode titles after the jump.

What were your favorite episodes from season one?  Top eight? Cheat sheet of episode titles after the jump.

1.1 — “The Man Trap”

1.2  — “Charlie X”

1.3 — “Where No Man Has Gone Before”

1.4 — “The Naked Time”

1.5 — “The Enemy Within”

1.6 — “Mudd’s Women”

1.7 — “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

1. 8 — “Miri”

1.9 — “Dagger of the Mind”

1.10 — “The Corbomite Maneuver”

1.11 — “The Menagerie, Part I”

1.12 — “The Menagerie, Part II”

1.13 — “The Conscience of the King”

1.14 — “Balance of Terror”

1.15 — “Shore Leave”

1.16 — “The Galileo Seven”

1.17 — “The Squire of Gothos”

1.18 — “Arena”

1. 19 — “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”

1.20 — “Court Martial”

1.21 — “The Return of the Archons”

1.22 — “Space Seed”

1.23 — “A Taste of Armageddon”

1.24 –“This Side of Paradise”

1.25 — “The Devil in the Dark”

1.26 — “Errand of Mercy”

1.27 — “The Alternative Factor”

1.28 — “The City on the Edge of Forever”

1.29 — “Operation: Annihilate!”

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9 responses to “What were your favorite episodes from season one?  Top eight? Cheat sheet of episode titles after the jump.”

  1. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    This is surprisingly hard. I’ll have to think about it. I’m tempted to rewatch some of the early episodes first, like “Charlie X.” 

    Reply
  2. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    “Enemy Within” – just looove this episode

    “Balance of Terror” – great intro of the Romulans, lovely cat and mouse between Kirk & Romulan commander

    “Menagerie I & II” – a really cool re-use of the pilot and compulsively watchable courtroom drama

    “Tomorrow is Yesterday” – very cute

    “Errand of Mercy” – annoying mischaracterizations of Kirk & Spock but love the aliens being right for a change and Kirk undercover

    “City on the Edge of Forever” – of course

    “The Naked Time” – Sulu with a rapier scene is what puts this ep in my top 8

    Reply
  3. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    My first sort is into piles of “excellent,” “middling,” and “poor.” The ratio is 18, 8, and 3. I have some tough decisions to make to narrow it down to top eight.

    Reply
  4. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I don’t know how to evaluate whether the episode still haunts me or not on this list. I feel like I’ve fully processed certain excellent episodes that we wrote extensively about, like “The Naked Time,” “The Corbomite Maneuver,” and “The Menagerie.” I can’t quite shake “Charlie X” and “The Conscience of the King”–so, today, they are more present in my mind. Does that make them better episodes?

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  5. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Narrowing down to eight is a really painful exercise. Results alphabetized:

    “Charlie X” — The stakes are very high, and personal, in this very human episode.

    “The City on the Edge of Forever” — For the Guardian, Joan Collins, and that look on McCoy’s face. Let’s get the hell out of here.

    “The Corbomite Maneuver” — For the essence of Trek, and a Close Encounters style story both grand and microscopic.

    “The Enemy Within” — Randi persuaded me on this one. A story for any century. And for the Unidillodog.

    “The Menagerie, Parts I & II” — So much storytelling is packed into this one. Hard sf, but the stakes are human at every turn. Shivers.

    “The Naked Time” — Love this. Writers, cast, production firing on all cylinders.  The queerest first season episode (although the last episode on the list is competitive). Can you tell I like the really human episodes?

    “Space Seed” — For design, boldness, vision, drama, and services innumerable to the world of Star Trek.

    “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” — Ruk. Korby. Andrea. Chapel. Naked Kirk. Android Kirk. This design-forward episode makes me think of Edgar Allan Poe, classic Universal Horror, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s probably the most sex-forward episode (vastly more daring than “Mudd’s Women”). I love it unreasonably.

    Honorable mention: “Errand of Mercy,” “The Devil in the Dark,” “This Side of Paradise,” “Tomorrow is Yesterday,” “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

    I can’t believe what didn’t even make my honorable mention list! “Balance of Terror,” “The Squire of Gothos,” “The Return of the Archons,” “The Conscience of the King”–REALLY?? Because every one of those episodes is still better than we deserve.

    Reply
  6. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Dara Korra’ti, dare I say that the creep factor is part of what’s great about “The Conscience of the King?” It’s an episode that looks into the dark side.

    Reply
  7. Bill Testerman Avatar
    Bill Testerman

    My favorite 8 from the 1st season (no order, and this is tough with so many great ones) –

    1. “City on the Edge of Forever” – My very favorite of the whole series , since all works so well – script, acting, music, direction, etc.

    2. “The Squire of Gothos” – Good drama, then funny as Trelane is really a little kid – William Campbell great as Trelane

    3. “Tomorrow is Yesterday” – Great time travel dilemmas, good script

    4. “Shore Leave” – Again, both good drama and fun too, plus I’m a big Alice in Wonderland fan and this echoes that

    5. “The Cage” (original version of “The Menagerie”) – good story and production values, plus I’m a Jeffrey Hunter fan

    6. “Devil in the Dark” – good anti-prejudice theme and great acting by Leonard Nimoy

    7. “The Enemy Within” – I’m a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fan, plus William Shatner great as both Jekyll and Hyde (although, where are the shuttlecraft??)

    8. “Balance of Terror” – again good anti-prejudice story, first view of Romulans, and I’m a Mark Lenard fan

    Reply
  8. Robert Balmer Avatar
    Robert Balmer

    A late submission. 🙂 I’ll count down to my favorite.

    Honorable mention (9th and 10th places): “The Naked Time” and “The Menagerie”

    8th place: “The Conscience of the King” – I’ve always loved it when Star Trek references Shakespeare, and this episode kicks that pairing off nicely.

    7th place: “Errand of Mercy” – I like the introduction of the klingons. I kind of wish klingons had stayed more like this….I’m not a huge fan of how they were changed in TNG. The whole “honor” thing got kind of tired after awhile, imho.

    6th place: “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” – I love the ambience of the subterranean setting. And Sherry Jackson is….something else in that costume.

    5th place: “The City on the Edge of Forever” – I feel like I’m not quite as smitten as everyone else is about this episode. That being said, I can still see that it’s clearly one of the best of season 1.

    4th place: “Charlie X” – Robert Walker Jr gives one of the best guest star performances of the season….really great stuff.

    3rd place: “The Squire of Gothos” – Of all the many TOS episodes that feature the Enterprise and her crew being toyed with by omnipotent beings, this is my pick as the best. And Trelane is far and away my favorite “space douche” :D.

    2nd place: “A Taste of Armageddon” – Not without its flaws, but such a classic premise (“remember that old Star Trek episode where computer is fighting the war?”). This one also has my favorite Kirk Speech (TM) at the end: “We can admit that we’re killers, but we’re not going to kill today….”

    1st place: “The Devil in the Dark” – I still have 17 episodes of season 3 to watch, but so far this is my favorite TOS episode.

    Reply
  9. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Right on, Robert. I like that you voted for my special favorite “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, Dara Korra’ti’s special favorite “The Conscience of the King,” AND an episode I have on my worst list, “A Taste of Armageddon.” I hope you stick around!

    Reply

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