Season 3 is a fairly notorious season of Trek. After the show got saved by a massive letter campaign, fans were rewarded with a season that was generally considered to be pretty bad. And honestly... I kinda agree.
Season 3 has a lot of issues that keep it from being as great as the first two seasons, but the biggest is easily the budget. It's obvious that this season had some pretty big budget cuts compared to the first two, as many episodes reused sets and footage, or at times just used whatever was lying around the studio. To give the crew some credit, this season definitely has a lot of really creative ways to get around these budget problems, and I might even say this is the most quirky and experimental season of the whole show. At times, these experiments worked really well, like in Spectre Of The Gun. However, not all of these experiments worked, and the emphasis on bizarre situations meant that this season kinda felt less like a science-fiction show and more like surrealist cinema. Even with episodes like The Enterprise Incident and The Tholian Web, Season 3 just didn't feel like the Star Trek I knew and loved from the first two seasons. It doesn't help that this season continues the problems that Season 2 had started to face. Episodes like The Paradise Syndrome and Turnabout Invader rank as some of the show's most unbelievably offensive episodes to date, and there are plenty of outings that felt like they were reusing storylines from previous episodes. This season also had an odd habit for flinging the Enterprise out of the galaxy and using that as a vague source of conflict, which I never really understood.
Once again, these are my reviews of every episode this season:
Spock's Brain: Ah, the infamous Spock's Brain episode. It's pretty much common knowledge that this is the "worst Star Trek episode" ever. But honestly, I kinda liked it. I mentioned this in Season 1, but the worst thing a story can be is boring, and Spock's Brain is absolutely not boring. The writing is so unbelievably bad, the acting is so tired and stiff, and the effects are so silly and fake-looking, that it completely doubles around to incredibly entertaining. The plot holes, the dumb quotes ("What is brain?"), the surgery scene, the species that forgot what the opposite sex is, Spock talking without his brain, the "BOING!" sound effect, it's all so incompetently made that it left me in stitches multiple times over.
The Enterprise Incident: Unlike Spock's Brain, this episode was unironically fantastic. It felt like Star Trek's attempt at a heist flick, which is a genre I'm always a fan of. It was a ton of fun to watch the Enterprise crew face the Romulans and try to nab the cloaking device from under their noses, but the best thing about this episode was how the audience is completely out of the loop for its first half. Most of the episode made it seem like Kirk was genuinely going insane, and it makes the reveal that it was all a plan incredibly satisfying and memorable.
The Paradise Syndrome: Oh, no, no, no, this is not good at all. Blackface? Stereotypical Native Americans? And they think Kirk is a god?! And there's an amnesia storyline?! As insulting as it was, at least The Omega Glory was so incompetent that it was funny. This episode actually seemed like it was trying to tell an emotional story with a tragic ending and deep subplots for the main trio, but it completely falls flat since the entire episode is so unbelievably offensive.
And The Children Shall Lead: This episode is a mix of some of other episodes, and is worse than all of them. Similarly to Miri, it's focused on a group of kids, but unlike that episode, the child actors are bad and the kids are incredibly bratty and annoying. Similarly to Charlie X, the children cause weird happenings in the Enterprise, but it lacks the commentary on adolescence. But worst of all, they picked a lawyer to play the Gorgan, meaning that the main villain of the episode is horribly acted and not intimidating at all. And to top it all off, ATCSL is just a bore to watch.
Is There In Truth No Beauty?: This was a really solid, if unremarkable, episode. It has a lot of things going for it. The camerawork was surprisingly dynamic, the contrast between Jones and Kollos was interesting, the core message about internal and external beauty was simple but effective, and Spock/Kollos was kinda adorable. I don't think this episode did anything amazing, but it was a solid story and a nice breath of fresh air after the previous two outings.
Spectre Of The Gun: This season of Star Trek has some pretty obvious budgeting issues, but this episode does a good job of getting around it by revealing that the "western town" the crew is in is actually an illusion. I like the concept of characters knowing how their story will end and trying to prevent it (case in point: Princess Tutu), and the incredibly offbeat and self-aware tone of the episode made it stand out. The final shootout was also pretty awesome.
Day Of The Dove: This was a very uneven episode, with really good points and really bad points. On the good side, the Klingons were more brutal and threatening than ever before, Kang is a terrifying villain, and the concept of the crew trapped with an equal number of Klingons was tense. On the bad side, the Klingon makeup was especially uncomfortable, Chekhov's material was awful, and I feel like the Enterprise is being flung to the end of the galaxy a bit too much. As a result, this episode was definitely fun, but it had its problems.
For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky: This episode was kind of a mess, and wasted two really interesting ideas. The main premise of correcting Yonada's trajectory could have been really tense and fun, but it didn't feel like there was much urgency. McCoy being sick could have led to a cool storyline about the Enterprise trying to take care of the doctor, but instead we just got a marriage storyline with a status quo-maintaining ending. What we got wasn't bad, but it could've been better.
The Tholian Web: This was a really cool episode. Giving how often Kirk gets a spotlight, having him be MIA for most of this one was a breath of fresh air. Instead, Spock and Bones were the real focus here as they had to figure out how to deal with the Tholians and save their captain, with the tension slowly rising as more and more conflicts pile on each other. I like how surreal the Tholians are, and it gave me serious Corbomite vibes.
Plato's Stepchildren: Did we seriously just get another Who Mourns For Adonais? This is the second Star Trek episode based on the Greeks, but at least this one is a little less boring. The main plotline of the Enterprise crew being telepathically tortured and forced to do things they normally wouldn't do could have veered into too depressing, but the especially awful effects cause much of the episode to veer into unintentional comedy. There's also the groundbreaking Kirk/Uhura kiss, even it was caused by two characters being forced to kiss against their will.
Wink Of An Eye: I've never seen anything like the way this episode is shot. Whenever you can see these "invisible aliens", the camera is tilted to show how fast they're going. It's such a bizarre usage of dutch angles, and I'm not entirely sure it works. Otherwise, the main premise of Wink Of An Eye is pretty neat, with the aliens that move too fast to see being a really cool concept. The science in play is a bit too overly ridiculous, but if you turn your brain off, it's an alright episode.
The Empath: The minimalist set design was charming in Spectre Of The Gun, but this episode was just ridiculous. The Empath took place on a set completely shrouded in darkness, as if it was a play rather than a standard episode of television. I'm sure this might be striking for some people, but for me, it's an obvious showcase of this season's budget troubles. As for the plot, it's not very good. It takes the same "trio is tortured" story from Plato's Stepchildren and makes it so much more incomprehensible. I'm still not even sure I fully understood what happened here.
Elaan Of Troyius: This episode feels like it threw everything at the wall to see what stuck. We got a new alien species, a plot apparently based on Taming Of The Shrew, a Klingon war, an arranged marriage, a love story for Kirk, and a whole lot of racism and sexism. The obvious sticking point is Kirk's "women are illogical" claim which shouldn't be in any TV show ever, but even more, the whole implication that arranged marriages are sometimes necessary just felt really wrong.
Whom Gods Destroy: Well, time for another torture episode. Thankfully, this was a big improvement on The Empath and Plato's Stepchildren. Garth was a well-acted and terrifying villain, which a solid motivation of trying to take over the Enterprise. Spock got some great moments, especially when he was trying to figure out which Kirk was which, and there was plenty of delightfully hammy acting. This wasn't an original episode, and it quite blatantly reused plot points and even props, but it was at least enjoyable.
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield: This episode was such a bizarre take on racism, it did so much stuff right and a lot of stuff wrong as well. It does a good job of exploring the futility of racial conflicts, with the fairly subtle skin-color differences and the unsympathetic depiction of both races. However, it's also painfully obvious that this episode was about the civil rights movement, which, let's face it, wasn't a "both sides" issue. I think this message could apply to plenty of useless racial conflicts... just not the one it was directly basing itself on. Still, I actually enjoyed this one for at least being original compared to the past few episodes, the ending was shocking, and the self-destruct sequence was fantastic.
Mark Of Gideon: This episode was pretty good. Similarly to The Tholian Web, it breaks Kirk away from the cast, though this time we still get to spend a lot of time with the captain. The "False Enterprise" storyline is really eerie and intriguing, though Kirk's love story with Odona drags a bit. The real highlight, however, is Spock trying to negotiate with Gideon and Starfleet, something I'd like to see far more often. The message about overpopulation and contraception is a bit heavyhanded, but the actual events of the episode were entertaining enough to make up for it.
That Which Survives: This one was decent? The main storyline was kinda hard to parse, especially with that exposition-filled explanation at the end of the episode, but I was still able to enjoy it because of all of the character work. Scotty and Sulu both got surprisingly large roles compared to most other episodes this season, and while I didn't love the villain, the fact that she can kill anyone with a touch added a good amount of tension. I didn't like Spock's arc being a retread of The Galileo Seven, though.
The Lights Of Zetar: So this is where Memory Alpha came from! The concept of a big intergalactic library sounds awesome, but the show's current budget didn't quite do it justice. I'd love to see the planet revisited in a later show, there's a lot of potential there. You can tell from the fact that I'm talking about a library planet that the rest of the episode was pretty dull. Scotty's boring love story took the bulk of the screen (and the narration that he was in love with someone one was so clunky), and the energy storm was a pretty unremarkable incorporeal antagonist.
Requiem For Methuselah: There have been a lot of Kirk love stories this season, and there's not a single one of them that got my interest. Not only do I not believe Kirk would fall in love with anyone as quickly as he does, but the fact that status quo is god in this show means it's obviously going to end in some sort of tragedy or separation. I also wasn't a fan of Spock erasing Kirk's memory of Rayna's death without him knowing, which is just the worst! I like seeing characters deal with pain head-on and come out the other side, and compared to Edith's death, this just felt cowardly.
The Way To Eden: One of the coolest things about Star Trek is finally being able to get all the references and in-jokes, as well as learning about jokes that were actually based on real events. Case in point: Star Trek actually had an episode about space hippies, and yeah, it was pretty awful. It's not even how poorly the hippies were depicted, it's just how unbearably awkward and annoying they were. The bad costumes, the irritating songs, I couldn't bear to watch most of it.
The Cloud Minders: The best part of this episode was by far the setting. I'm a fan of these beautiful orange-hued cities in the clouds (Bespin might be my favorite Star Wars planet), so Stratos is definitely a visual treat. Writing-wise, this episode was kinda boring. The message about class divisions was definitely less clumsy than Battlefield, and I like how the conflict wasn't entirely resolved. However, the emphasis on a dull Spock love story definitely held the episode back.
The Savage Curtain: Space Abraham Lincoln?! I'll be honest, this episode was pretty damn fun. I loved the first third, where everyone was skeptical that Lincoln was actually on their ship, but even after the mystery was resolved, the momentum didn't let up. The second half was a crazy battle between historical figures (Did Star Trek just do a Fate?), and I really liked how some of the historical figures were fictional characters from Trek's own history. This was a very silly premise, but a good time.
All Our Yesterdays: Finally, a genuinely great episode! Not ironically, not with an asterisk, but what is probably one of the best episodes of the whole show. There's a lot to love here. I love the shockingly good effects, the exploration of a one-off planet's history, the intercutting between both time periods, the character work for the main trio, a genuinely compelling love story, Spock's emotionalism, the bittersweet ending, it's all really good! Given how episodic TOS is, I also think this episode works as a solid finale for the series. Wait, what do you mean it wasn't the ending? Oh no...
Turnabout Intruder: While not all of Star Trek has aged well, Season 3 has been particularly problematic. Turnabout Intruder is by far the worst of the bunch, making the bold claim that "women can't be captains" (Janeway begs to differ). It's not just a few lines either, it's a message ingrained in the episode itself. Lester's characterization, Shatner's overacting, it all seems to imply that women are too emotional for a big job like captain. And as the last episode of TOS, it feels like a huge middle finger. Imagine ending a series by insulting half the human race? This is my least favorite episode of The Original Series and a horrendous finale. Shame on you, Trek.
Season 3 wasn't irredeemable by any means. It had a pretty good start, and plenty of solid episodes. However, the bizarre tone, lack of budget, and repeated storylines and clichés made for a season that just felt off compared to the first two. It doesn't get anywhere near the highs of Seasons 1 & 2, yet its lows reach far lower than any other season.
1/5 Stars
My ranking of the TOS seasons is:
- Season 1: Easily the most consistently strong season of The Original Series. There aren't too many genuinely horrible episodes but there also aren't too many episodes I would call the best in the series.
- Season 2: This is the uneven season. The heights are higher than anything in Season 1, but the low points are a lot lower, especially in the second half.
- Season 3: I liked about three to five episodes in this season, the rest was really bad. You could tell the writers ran out of ideas.
My ranking of the TOS finales (though none of them are good) is:
- Operation: Annihilate: Kirk losing his siblings is a pretty crushing way to end a season... if only his siblings made any appearances before this episode.
- Assignment: Earth: An insulting attempted series finale. Imagine if Star Trek ended with a pilot for another show, and a boringly dull pilot at that.
- Turnabout Intruder: Sexist. I don't think more needs to be said about this one, probably the worst series finale any show has ever had.
And since this is episodic, my Top 5 episodes are:
- The Trouble With Tribbles
- The Doomsday Machine
- The City On The Edge Of Forever
- Mirror, Mirror
- All Our Yesterdays
And my Top 5 least favorite episodes are:
- Turnabout Intruder
- The Way Of Eden
- The Paradise Syndrome
- The Omega Glory
- Mudd's Women
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