The Top Three Episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series
If you know anything about me, you know that I grew up in the 1970s, and the television and movies of the time heavily influenced my creative path.
In fact, I have written about the films and TV shows that influenced me many times. These articles include:
Horror / Sci-Fi / Suspense Inspirations on TSJ Before the Age of Ten
The Best Science Fiction Movies of the 1970s
And there have been many other articles, as well.
I thought I would spend a bit of time writing about my favourite Star Trek: TOS episodes. I was born in 1970, right after Trek’s cancellation, but all good Trekkies know (yes, I am a Trekkie, not a Trekker) the show exploded into public consciousness during the 1970s, when in syndication it found a brand new audience. I watched it nearly every single day for years. Usually it was right after school at 5:00 PM and before family dinner. I could identify the episode airing within the first few frames and the first few notes of the score. I knew all the episode titles and, in fact, eventually compiled a list (in order!) of the episodes so I could predict what would be airing the next day. I had the Starfleet Technical Manual and also the now-iconic Trek book, The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry. Further, I saw all the TOS movies in theatres, usually multiple times. I still watch it, and I also make scale models, and they are exclusively from Trek.
Now, without more stalling, here are my top three episodes, ranked in ascending order. Also find some extra “Honourable Mentions.”
3. Mirror, Mirror; Season 2 Episode 4
What an episode! While transporting during a magnetic ion storm, Kirk, Scotty, McCoy, and Uhura materialize in a parallel dimension where their counterparts are evil, the Federation (now the “Terran Empire”) is fascist and hellbent on conquest, and Spock is still logical, though now decidedly evil. Ascending through the Starfleet ranks is often achieved via assassination, and the landing party must navigate this new reality until they can plan an escape back to their own dimension. It’s a compelling episode complete with backstabbing colleagues, a highly suspicious first officer, violent punishment, a technological challenge, spycraft to avoid detection, and a sinister Mr. Sulu. The episode was written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Marc Daniels.
Here, from CBS on YouTube, is the opening sequence when the landing party realize what has happened. It’s a gripping episode right from the teaser, and the viewer is desperate to not just solve the mystery of what has happened, but root for Kirk and Co. to get back home.
2. The Doomsday Machine; Season 2 Episode 6
This is a special episode. Firstly, it’s entirely filmed on Enterprise (or Constellation) sets. Because of this, the director, Marc Daniels, came up with some creative ways to shoot the actors. There were also areas of the ship we had never seen, such as the auxiliary bridge and other areas of Engineering. The acting was stellar. Commodore Decker, in particular, portrayed by William Windom, played his character on the very edge of sanity due to recent tragedy and PTSD. You can just feel the tension radiating from this man and from everyone around him. It’s electric. People are terrified by what he might do, and by the orders he might give. And in a (quasi-)military organization like Starfleet, rules must be followed. It’s why thrillers set in the military can be so compelling. Characters are bound by rules, procedures, and the rules of engagement. If someone feels the need to break those conventions, the tension can be electrifying. In The Doomsday Machine, the score, acting, story, and stakes create edge-of-the-seat tension. I love this episode, and the concept of a “doomsday weapon,” created by a long-extinct society, still operating and killing, is a fantastic idea for a Science Fiction show, written by Norman Spinrad. Here’s the teaser with upgraded effects:
1. The City on the Edge of Forever; Season 1 Episode 28
It doesn’t get better than this. Practically every Star Trek episode ranking, and even ones that include all the series since, lists this one as the best. Joseph Pevney directed. To ensure I created this list objectively, I went back and watched it again. Sure enough, The City on the Edge of Forever is hands down the greatest Star Trek episode. It has everything you could want in a show, and more. And not only that, everything is absolutely top notch. The emotion, romance, score, drama, excitement, the stakes, the mystery, and the acting … it’s all pitch perfect. Harlan Ellison’s story, about inadvertently changing time and having to go back and fix it, is gripping. The stakes are absolutely massive. Can you think of more pressure than having to repair all of human existence? I have read the original script by Ellison, and Gene Roddenberry’s famous changes done during rewrites — to make it more suited to Star Trek — were needed. Kirk’s decision at the end regarding Edith Keeler’s fate is heartbreaking and extremely emotional. What an episode. I can still picture McCoy growling at Kirk, “You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her … do you know what you just did?”
Honourable Mentions
Space Seed; Season 1 Episode 22
Operation – – Annihilate; Season 1 Episode 29
Amok Time; Season 2 Episode 1
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— Timothy S. Johnston, 28 April 2024
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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel
“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop
“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews
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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.
Book Cover & Jacket Copy:
AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!
A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …
Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.
Taunting him.
Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.
If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.
But the assassin could be anyone …
Watch your back, Mac.
A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.
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The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:
The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007
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THE WAR BENEATH: FIRST PLACE 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Action / Adventure Category Winner, 2019 Silver Falchion Award Finalist, 2018 CLUE Award Semi-Finalist, 2019 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist, & 2019 CYGNUS Award Shortlister
THE SAVAGE DEEPS: FIRST PLACE 2020 CYGNUS Award Winner, 2019 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards Finalist, 2022 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist; 2019 CLUE Award Shortlister
FATAL DEPTH: FIRST PLACE 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Winner, 2022 Silver Falchion Award Finalist (Best Action Adventure), 2021 CYGNUS Award Semi-Finalist
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