In “House Seed,” the Enterprise recovers the USS Botany Bay and releases from suspended animation one of many folks inside, the one-time warlord Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). Instantly, Khan proves himself a risk, due to Montalbán’s extremely charismatic tackle a person who asserts his energy in each state of affairs, even charming the Enterprise’s historian (that’s a job?) Lt. Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue). So compelling is Montalbán’s efficiency and the story by Carey Wilber and Coon that Khan can be a Star Trek nice, even when Wrath of Khan by no means occurred.
10. Amok Time (Season 2, Episode 1)
Like “House Seed,” “Amok Time” typically will get diminished to a one-sentence synopsis: the one the place Spock will get sexy. Nonetheless, the mating drive generally known as pon farr is simply one of many many facets of Vulcaln lore that author Theodore Sturgeon and director Joseph Pevney introduce in “Amok Time.”
Pushed mad by his have to mate, Spock returns to Vulcan to reunite along with his betrothed T’Pring (Arlene Martel), solely to find that she has chosen one other, which results in ceremonial battle. Though “Amok Time” leans laborious into its pulpy depiction of the planet and its folks, all concerned play it straight, together with Celia Lovsky because the matriarch T’Pau. Due to their dedication, “Amok Time” ends with Vulcan as a compelling place, giving the franchise a basis for lots of of attention-grabbing tales.
9. Mirror, Mirror (Season 2, Episode 4)
Like Tremaine and Harry Mudd, the Mirror Universe is a extremely divisive TOS idea. There’s no in-between. You could both embrace the over-the-top nature of the tropes or you should skip the episodes altogether. Of the three ideas, the Mirror Universe wins out, due to the episode that launched it, “Mirror, Mirror” by author Jerome Bixby and director Marc Daniels.
A lot has been stated concerning the central thought of Kirk, McCoy, and Uhura arriving in a universe stuffed with evil doppelgängers, together with Spock with a goatee. Equally compelling, nonetheless, is the body narrative across the Mirror Universe journey, during which the Federation tries to dealer a deal for Dilithium crystals from the Halkans. The Halkans refuse on the grounds that the Federation might use the crystals for battle, a place supported by the Mirror Universe journey, regardless of the episode’s conclusion, making the group extra advanced than typically realized.
8. The Corbomite Maneuver (Season 1, Episode 10)
Like its up to date Physician Who, Star Trek understood its goofy wanting aliens have been a part of the attraction, not a distraction. “The Corbomite Maneuver” from author Jerry Sohl and directer Joseph Sargent includes a humdinger of a bizarre alien in Balok, the determine who reveals up on the Enterprise view display as a consultant of the First Federation. After all, as we’ll study, that determine is only a puppet for the true Balok, a childlike entity portrayed by Clint Howard (voice dubbed by Walker Edmiston).
