In about 6 months we've come to the end of the first season of the Original Series and arrived at probably the most popular episode in all of Star Trek...
The City on the Edge of Forever
The most popular, favourite and remembered episode of The Original Series. The Enterprise is monitoring some violent distortions in orbit of an uncharted planet. Sulu becomes injured and treated by McCoy, who becomes accidentally injected with an overdose of the medication used on Sulu. This sends him mad and he beams down to the planet below.
Searching for him, Kirk and Spock find the Guardian of Forever, a portal to any point in history. McCoy dives through the portal and soon enough the landing party find out that history has been altered as the Enterprise has disappeared from orbit.
Kirk and Spock step through in an attempt to find McCoy and correct history. They meet Edith Keeler, a social worker in Earth's 1930's. Spock discovers that she is the focal point of the distortion in the timeline and realise that she must die for their future to remain intact. They are ultimately successful and even save the Doctor, but not before Kirk falls in love with Edith.
I watched this episode with lower expectations than previous episodes I'd had fond memories of. The episode still delivered. The story is simple, there's no major conflicts, space battles or villains but it is well told. A time travel story where our heroes must save their future, a love story between Kirk and Keeler and a story of sacrifice.
The Guardian was rarely seen again through Star Trek history, even though the Guardian it(him?)self suggested that many more trips were possible. It's not clear if the planet was quarantined or what action would be taken after its discovery, considering the dangers involved in travelling through time.
As is a common theme now, the remastered blu-ray of this episode was exceptional!
Overall Rating: 9/10
Operation -- Annihilate!
The Enterprise is investigating a pattern of mass-insanity spreading through their part of the galaxy and are approaching the planet Deneva. A small ship leaving the planet heads directly for the Sun and breaks up, killing the occupant.
On the planet surface, the crew comes across a group of men displaying aggressive tendencies but calling out that they do not want to hurt them. The landing party also discover Kirk's brother, Sam, dead, his wife and his son are beamed to the ship.
The Denevan population has become infected by a single-celled organism, or a neural paraside that is causing the colonists insanity. Spock is attacked by one and attempts to take control of the Enterprise after being beamed to Sickbay. Spock retrieves a parasite for study from the planet's surface in the hopes they can find a way to stop their spread. Eventually it is found that a certain spectrum of light will kill the parasites and leave the million inhabitants of Deneva unharmed.
This episode is one of the few I have not seen before. Not that it mattered with many 'familiar' episodes of this season being more unfamiliar to me than I thought. Here we learn of Jim's brother, Sam, although we never really see or interact with him as he is dead on arrival. The neural parasites, while crude and simple in their design are well animated to show they are living creatures. This probably was quite a scary episode at the time of its release.
The remastered version of this episode shows the Enterprise deploying a network of satellites from a cargo area at the bottom of the engineering hull. The scene was an added feature for the remaster that wasn't seen in the original.
I think there was a scene in this episode that showed Kirk issue an order to Sulu, and in a quick scene change to the helm panel, the officer sitting in Sulu's position was wearing a red shirt. I also thought it interesting that each time Kirk consulted Scotty on the bridge, Scotty was standing at the back near the turbolift door, would look forward (not really at anything in particular) and then provide a report - he didn't even touch or do anything?! :)
Overall Rating: 7/10
Of course this was also the final episode of the first season. By this point, the crew have come together as a family and everyone (except the notably absent Chekov) has taken to their positions. Season Two awaits, with more adventures and more of the galaxy to explore...
The City on the Edge of Forever
The most popular, favourite and remembered episode of The Original Series. The Enterprise is monitoring some violent distortions in orbit of an uncharted planet. Sulu becomes injured and treated by McCoy, who becomes accidentally injected with an overdose of the medication used on Sulu. This sends him mad and he beams down to the planet below.Searching for him, Kirk and Spock find the Guardian of Forever, a portal to any point in history. McCoy dives through the portal and soon enough the landing party find out that history has been altered as the Enterprise has disappeared from orbit.
Kirk and Spock step through in an attempt to find McCoy and correct history. They meet Edith Keeler, a social worker in Earth's 1930's. Spock discovers that she is the focal point of the distortion in the timeline and realise that she must die for their future to remain intact. They are ultimately successful and even save the Doctor, but not before Kirk falls in love with Edith.
I watched this episode with lower expectations than previous episodes I'd had fond memories of. The episode still delivered. The story is simple, there's no major conflicts, space battles or villains but it is well told. A time travel story where our heroes must save their future, a love story between Kirk and Keeler and a story of sacrifice.
The Guardian was rarely seen again through Star Trek history, even though the Guardian it(him?)self suggested that many more trips were possible. It's not clear if the planet was quarantined or what action would be taken after its discovery, considering the dangers involved in travelling through time.
As is a common theme now, the remastered blu-ray of this episode was exceptional!
Overall Rating: 9/10
Operation -- Annihilate!
The Enterprise is investigating a pattern of mass-insanity spreading through their part of the galaxy and are approaching the planet Deneva. A small ship leaving the planet heads directly for the Sun and breaks up, killing the occupant.On the planet surface, the crew comes across a group of men displaying aggressive tendencies but calling out that they do not want to hurt them. The landing party also discover Kirk's brother, Sam, dead, his wife and his son are beamed to the ship.
The Denevan population has become infected by a single-celled organism, or a neural paraside that is causing the colonists insanity. Spock is attacked by one and attempts to take control of the Enterprise after being beamed to Sickbay. Spock retrieves a parasite for study from the planet's surface in the hopes they can find a way to stop their spread. Eventually it is found that a certain spectrum of light will kill the parasites and leave the million inhabitants of Deneva unharmed.
This episode is one of the few I have not seen before. Not that it mattered with many 'familiar' episodes of this season being more unfamiliar to me than I thought. Here we learn of Jim's brother, Sam, although we never really see or interact with him as he is dead on arrival. The neural parasites, while crude and simple in their design are well animated to show they are living creatures. This probably was quite a scary episode at the time of its release.
The remastered version of this episode shows the Enterprise deploying a network of satellites from a cargo area at the bottom of the engineering hull. The scene was an added feature for the remaster that wasn't seen in the original.
I think there was a scene in this episode that showed Kirk issue an order to Sulu, and in a quick scene change to the helm panel, the officer sitting in Sulu's position was wearing a red shirt. I also thought it interesting that each time Kirk consulted Scotty on the bridge, Scotty was standing at the back near the turbolift door, would look forward (not really at anything in particular) and then provide a report - he didn't even touch or do anything?! :)
Overall Rating: 7/10
Of course this was also the final episode of the first season. By this point, the crew have come together as a family and everyone (except the notably absent Chekov) has taken to their positions. Season Two awaits, with more adventures and more of the galaxy to explore...
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