What were your 5 least favorite episodes of Season Three TOS? Cheat sheet below.

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3 responses to “What were your 5 least favorite episodes of Season Three TOS? Cheat sheet below.”

1. 

   Kevin Black

   June 3, 2014

   This is hard! I find I only want to name four episodes. They are:

   “Spock’s Brain” Perhaps a world with “Spock’s Brain” is a better world than a world without it. But, as Star Trek, it’s pretty terrible. And possibly more sexist than “Turnabout Intruder.”

   “Wink of an Eye” It’s the episodes that don’t try very hard that really piss me off. Give me at least an interesting failure, like “Plato’s Stepchildren.” Don’t you dare phone it in.

   “The Mark of Gideon” See comments for “Wink of an Eye.”

   “The Tholian Web” People actually like this one. A spectacular miss for me.

   There are other episodes that were disappointing in one way or another, many of them! But I don’t want to label any of the rest as “worst.” If you put a gun to my head, my fifth choice is “That Which Survives.” I originally gave a very low rating to “The Savage Curtain,” but I just can’t make it to worst with the episode where Abraham Lincoln judo throws a Klingon. I’m retroactively bumping that one up to two stars.

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2. 

   Randi Cohen

   June 3, 2014

   Spock’s Brain: if only it were not for the unfortunate title and the scene at the end with dr. mccoy reconnecting spock’s entire brain by guesswork, i could like this episode!

   Tholian Web: I could do with no more shots of voiceless Kirk appearing and disappearing in a spacesuit!

   The Empath: just weird.

   Mark of Gideon: Premise does not make sense, Kirk’s romance makes even less sense than usual, just not much to like in this one.

   That Which Survives: Eh.  The sexism of the title alone is enough to kill this one for me.  Plus not much substance here.

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3. 

   Robert Balmer

   March 4, 2016

   Biggest Letdown: “The Tholian Web” – Based on hearsay, I was all geared up for this to be one of the best of Season 3. Considering what else was in Season 3 this one doesn’t actually quite fall into my bottom 5, but it was certainly a huge disappointment. The “web” from the title ends up having basically no effect; they escape it without explanation, as I recall. Add in some forced, over-the-top Spock/McCoy fighting, and yeah….I did not like it at all.

   Counting down to my least favorite:

   5) “The Mark of Gideon” – Another Season 3 snoozefest. Apart from one memorable image (the people crowded outside the viewscreen of the Enterprise) I don’t think I’ll end up remembering anything from this one.

   4) “That Which Survives” – Completely and utterly forgettable. I think if you had asked me what it was about the very day after I had watched it, all I would have been able to say is “Lee Meriwether wears something purple”.

   3) “The Empath” – Many episodes have featured aliens with sketchy motivations, but for me this one takes the cake.

   2) “The Savage Curtain” – I love Lincoln as much as the next person, but this episode was a mess start to finish.

   1) “Plato’s Stepchildren” – I can’t believe the actors didn’t mutiny and refuse to film this episode.

   I can’t help but notice that four episodes commonly referred to as among the worst of the entire series are NOT on my list: “Spock’s Brain”, “And the Children Shall Lead”, “The Way to Eden”, and “Turnabout Intruder”. That’s not to say I loved any of them (except for “Turnabout Intruder”, which I quite liked), but I guess I don’t find them as offensive as does the fandom in general.

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