It's the Star Trek TOS Challenge!

[i_calql8]

First, and most importantly, my Cubbies have a 4 1/2 game lead going to the All-Star Break! YESSS!!! Even if we go .500 the rest of the season, we'll have 90 wins, hopefully at least enough for a wild card berth. We're on the way to repeating as NL Central champs, though. We play 10 of the next 13 on the road, though...four of them against the evil Brewers. Things are looking pretty exciting in Wrigleyville for the next couple of months.

Okay, I really enjoyed the Trek discussions with my friends a while back, so here is a challenge: Name your favorite original Trek episodes. Minimum of 5, no more than 10.

And the catch: you cannot include any on the Top 10 list as culled from Entertainment Weekly:
1. The City on the Edge of Forever
2. Space Seed
3. Mirror, Mirror
4. The Doomsday Machine
5. Amok Time
6. The Devil in the Dark
7. The Trouble with Tribbles
8. This Side of Paradise
9. The Enterprise Incident
10. Journey to Babel

Personally, #6, 8, 9, or 10 wouldn't make my second string list, much less my top 10. My list:

11. Balance of Terror (Romulans, with a seemingly superior weapon--suspenseful episode. Mark Lenard's first on-screen Trek death)
12. I, Mudd ("Harcourrrrrrrt! Harcourt Fenton Mudd!")
13. Arena (Starts slowly, but Kirk v. Gorn, with the crew forced to look on, more than makes up)
14. A Piece of the Action (One word: Fizzbin. Kirk goes gangster, with Spock uttering the immortal line "I'd advise yaz ta keep dialin', Oxmyx.")
15. The Gamesters of Triskelion (One of my favorite "Oh, s**t, how are they getting out of *this* one?" eps)
16. Operation: Annihilate (Spock goes blind...oh noes!)
17. The Menagerie, parts 1 and 2 (So enjoyable, you forget Spock's hide is on the line here)
18. Where No Man Has Gone Before (You'll believe an omnipotent being can be crushed by rocks!)
19. The Corbomite Maneuver (The first evidence that Clint Howard will never lack for an acting job)
20. The Immunity Syndrome (You could seriously feel the fatigue and despair among the crew in this episode)

I look forward to any and all entries. :-)

Comments

[germankitty]

Some overlap for me:

(In no particular order)

1. Balance of Terror
2. I, Mudd
3. A Piece of the Action
4. Where No Man Has Gone Before
5. The Tholian Web
6. Naked Time
7. The Enemy Within
8. Shore Leave
9. Patterns of Force
10. The Galileo 7

(Incidentally, "Patterns of Force" was never shown on German TV, for rather obvious reasons; I still like the episode for its subject matter -- how even the best of intentions can go horribly wrong if in the hands of the wrong people and without a whole lot of critical reflection which means are the right, honorable way to an end.)

[i-calql8.livejournal.com]

Good choices!

'Tholian' almost made the cut for the scene where Spock and McCoy see Kirk's last message. The rest of the plot had me going 'yeahbuhwhuh?'.

'Naked Time' almost made the cut, if not for Riley constantly wailing 'I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen'. On the plus side, it was much better than 'The Naked Now' ripoff that Next Gen tried to pull off.

'The Enemy Within': A good idea wasted by bad cinematography (and bad makeup on Kirk's face--my God, he had *eyelashes*!) and Shatner's overacting.

'Shore Leave': Another good idea, it just had too much of Kirk v. Finnegan

'Patterns of Force' to me could have been a 5-minute episode if the Tholians had just known at the start that Feds v. Klingons wasn't going to solve itself, and stepped in immediately. Interesting backstory, btw--thanks!

'Galileo Seven' almost made my cut, except for the fact that the humans on the shuttle seemed to have an extreme case of PMS. Gandhi would have had a tough time uniting them.

[lovellama.livejournal.com]

I'll have to think about this, but I can tell you that City on the Edge would be in my BOTTOM 10. I did NOT like that one at all. I don't know if it's because of the ep itself of the backlash I have against it because everyone says it's the best, so of course I hate it. :/

I do like The Naked Time, so much I wrote a ST:Enterprise version called The Naked Then. "Get your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty Vulcan!" lol!!!

[germankitty]

Thanks -- and please remember that a lot of my 'real' favorites were already on the original list. :) I guess my all-time favorite would be "Trouble With Tribbles", for the sheer zaniness ... made even better by DS9's "More Tribbles, More Troubles" tribute episode.

I used to watch ST way back when just because it was halfway decent TV science fiction; here in Germany, each episode was cut down to 45 minutes overall, which led to some VERY strange changes in the plot, even (the dubbed dialogue was changed accordingly). For example, the whole "mating cycle" aspect of Pon Farr was edited out, and Spock's weird behaviour retconned in the epilogue as a "space fever". I nearly bashed in the TV when I saw that (having seen the original before). Also, ST was treated as a kids' program -- strictly Saturday afternoon/early evening (pre-news) fare back in the early 70s.

What made me a fan was the Spock/McCoy interaction, and the dynamic between the Big Three. Then I discovered the novels, then fanfiction ... and I was seriously hooked. :)

Edited to place it below the correct comment, sorry!

[germankitty]

I liked "City", but I don't think the episode ever made my top 3 or 5. Sure, the writing was among the most complex, but the whole romance and "one, true love" thing always put me off somehow.

Any link to your story? *looks hopeful*

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

By the way, your Cubbies have 8 men on the All-Star team. Congrats!

ST:TOS roster o'mine, draft #1:

Balance of Terror
A Piece of the Action
Charlie X -- I still remember that poor kid being taken back by the aliens
The Conscience of the King -- who could resist Shakespeare plus a grand villain disguised as a lowly actor?
Tomorrow is Yesterday (Alternatively, "Assignment:Earth"
The Alternative Factor -- is that Lazarus One or Lazarus Two?
Obsession -- is Kirk fit for command or is he out of his mind?
Wolf in the Fold -- Could Mr. Scott be the murderer?
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky -- Bones thinks he is about to die
The Empath -- let's torture them to teach this mute alien about life!

[lovellama.livejournal.com]

Erm, the file isn't all there, trying to fix, sorry! :(

[germankitty]

Hey, between fanfic authors ... *grins*

[lovellama.livejournal.com]

Finally! Here it is:

Title: The Naked Then
Rating: NC-17
Code: Tu/S, others
Category: Smut
Summary: Fortune favors the bold. Or the infected.

[germankitty]

Cool, thanks! Will read later tonight ... *goes to bookmark*

[i-calql8.livejournal.com]

True, but 1) Soriano still has his broken finger, so he won't play, 2) Wood has a blister on his index finger, so he won't be pitching, and 3) I have no idea why Lou chose Marmol to be his reliever given the troubles he's had lately and considering Lou wanted to rest him for the week.

I look forward to the final draft of your list, but I have to comment on 'Conscience'. I loved the Shakespeare, and I would have had the episode on my list, except the daughter was so over-the-top psycho that it was almost laughable.

I still think Riley is one of the unluckiest Enterpsie crewmen ever--first he almost destroys the ship, then he gets poisoned by the daughter of a criminal. The only bigger loser in the whole Trek mythos that I can think of would be Reg Barclay. Just sayin'.

[i-calql8.livejournal.com]

'More Tribbles, More Troubles' was from the animated Trek, where the li'l critters got bigger...and bigger.... I think the DS9 ep was 'Trials and Tribblations'.

[i-calql8.livejournal.com]

Oops, I was thinking of 'Errand of Mercy', and I still got the Tholians wrong (it was the Organians). Insomnia and Trek don't mix, kids.

I wasn't a big fan of the 'altered versions of Earth' episodes, like 'Patterns of Force', and also 'Bread and Circuses'. So why did I like A Piece of the Action? Because they played it for laughs.

[germankitty]

*facepalm* Of course. Sorry, been awhile.