The 10 Best Episodes Of Star Trek: The Original Series

Though the future of the movie series might be in doubt, what with Chris Pine currently having backed out of Star Trek 4, Gene Roddenberry's legendary sci-fi franchise seems to be in rude health on its traditional home of the TV screen. 2017's Discovery was the first Star Trek show on the airwaves since 2005 and CBS recently revealed that Patrick Stewart will be returning as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a brand new follow-up to The Next Generation. Given that it's a good time to be a Trek TV fan, it seemed like a ripe opportunity to revisit the show that kicked it all off - what's nowadays referred to as Star Trek: The Original Series, which ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1969. Whatever your personal favorite Trek show, it can't be denied that TOS holds a special place in television history as a program that helped legitimize science fiction with its terrific writing, costuming, sets and iconic cast. But, out of the 79 episodes produced, what are the 10 single greatest outings of Star Trek: The Original Series? Whether you're a diehard fan or a new convert looking for where to start, hop aboard as we take the Enterprise for a trip down memory lane and answer that very question. The Doomsday Machine The Enterprise discovers an ancient and humongous world-killing engine that has the potential to cause untold destruction if utilized. Seeing as this episode hails from the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, it's not hard to see it as something of an allegory for the paranoia the US was suffering during this time while under the threat of nuclear warfare. More than that, though, "The Doomsday Machine" works on a dramatic level as well as a thematic one as there's a great one-off character in the form of Commodore Matt Decker, the only survivor of a previous Starfleet ship to investigate the machine who's suffering from PTSD and has been left crazed, which leads to clashes with Kirk - technically the inferior officer in this case. This is a smartly-written "sci-fi Moby Dick" tale which combines huge stakes with the small-scale story of a man driven to the end of his tether. Plus, it has one of the most iconic monsters from the original series. Amok Time Despite being known for his logical, emotionally-distant ways, Spock's at his best when Leonard Nimoy is allowed to stretch the character a little and show the Vulcan's half-human side. "Amok Time" is perhaps the best example of this in the series as the season 2 premiere gives us our first trip to Spock's home planet. The visit is necessitated because Spock's caught in the throes of pon farr, the Vulcan mating ritual that takes hold of the males of the species every seven years and practically drives them crazy. When Spock returns home to his betrothed, the beguiling T'Pring, he's forced to engage in combat with another mate of her choosing in order to win her affections - and his opponent is none other than Kirk. As well as giving us a fascinating glimpse into Vulcan society, this is also a great one for the Spock and Kirk friendship as their battle (which is as awesome as you'd expect) oddly brings them closer together. And let's not forget the touching moment shared between Spock and Bones, too, in which the Vulcan admits the good doctor is one of his closest friends. Journey To Babel Star Trek takes a leaf out of Agatha Christie with this murder mystery in space. In "Journey to Babel," the Enterprise is hosting a band of various diplomats for an important summit meeting when one of the ambassadors is killed. And it looks like Vulcan ambassador Sarek is to blame. That's bad news for Spock, as Sarek's his father. As enjoyable as the mystery narrative is, however, what makes this a real standout episode is how it's another great one for expanding Spock's character. It's illuminating to meet Spock's parents - his human mother and Vulcan father - as it helps us think of the Enterprise crew as living, breathing people with a past and a life beyond the confines of Starfleet. "Journey"'s introduction of Sarek to the Star Trek mythos would prove to an important one, too, as Spock's pa would return many times, with Mark Lenard playing him again in the movies, Ben Cross in the Kelvin timeline reboot and James Frain in Star Trek: Discovery. The Devil In The Dark The Enterprise travels to a distant colony world where an unknown creature is killing off the human miners that've settled there. As the murdering alien continues to pick off its victims, our heroes have to work out what it is and how it can be stopped. Or is the situation actually more layered than it seems? "The Devil in the Dark" is another strong episode that has more going on under the surface than it first appears. On one level, it's a fun, sci-fi horror show but it's also, as Trek often is, a moral play, culminating in the episode's best scene - when Spock attempts a mind-meld with the creature and discovers its true motivations. As for the thematic core of this episode, Leonard Nimoy summed it up beautifully when he named "The Devil in the Dark" as his favorite Star Trek episode of all time: "'Devil in the Dark' I thought was a wonderful episode about the fear of the unknown, how we fear and even hate something that we don't know anything about. Learn who your enemy is and maybe that is no longer your enemy." Arena Yes, this is the one where Kirk fights a Gorn, otherwise known as one of Trek's least convincing aliens. "Arena" sees the Federation and the Gorn on the brink of war until the mysterious Metrons pluck the captain of each ship and force them to fight in combat in order to discern the winner of the conflict. This fairly straightforward plot marks an important moment for Kirk's character, though. He'd already proven himself to us as a hero while sitting in the captain's seat on board the Enterprise, but this shows us that he can handle himself with just his own smarts, too, which he uses to outwit the Gorn. More importantly, he proves his compassion as well when he decides to defy the Metrons and refuses to kill his enemy. "Arena" might not be the episode you'd show a non-fan to make them take Trek seriously, but if you get past the dodgy costuming, this is smart episode that looks at the wider world of warfare, and the merit of mercy, through the lens of a one-on-one fight. Space Seed "Space Seed" is otherwise known as the episode that introduces perhaps' Trek's most infamous villain into the show's mythology, the genetically-enhanced superhuman Khan Noonien Singh, as brilliantly played by Ricardo Montalban (sorry, Benedict Cumberbatch, you're awesome, but you couldn't top the original). What's great about Khan in his first appearance is how he's portrayed as the anti-Kirk, someone who's got an even bigger ego and eye for the ladies that Shatner's captain. When the Enterprise comes across the SS Botany Bay drifting dormant in space, Kirk decides to wake up the crew, but this turns out to be a bad idea when he realizes Khan and his people are remnants from the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s (hey, that seemed a long time away back in the 60s). The resolution of this episode sees Kirk offer his foe mercy, dropping the charges against the warlord as long as he settles peacefully on the planet Ceta Alpha V. It's a move that he would come to regret, though, as Khan would of course return with a vengeance in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Trouble With Tribbles We've spoken a lot so far about TOS's intelligence and heart, but it's important to remember that it could be very funny at times, too. Generally, this took the form of the banter between Kirk, Spock and Bones, but the humor occasionally takes center stage, and that's never more evident than in "The Trouble with Tribbles," an episode that really shouldn't work as well as it does. On the surface, a light story about the Enterprise being overrun by cuddly furry critters that reproduce ad infinitum should be filler at best, but the material is so deftly handed and played so well by the cast that "The Trouble with Tribbles" is just so much fun to watch from start to finish, even if the Federation politics stuff takes a back seat. It's worth mentioning that Deep Space Nine later paid homage to this episode in "Trials and Tribble-ations," which celebrated the 30th anniversary of Star Trek. Using some then pioneering digital effects, it saw the show's main characters travel back to the events of this episode to prevent a time-travelling plot to assassinate Kirk. Mirror, Mirror Parallel worlds are a long-held sci-fi trope and while Star Trek can't claim to have invented the notion, it certainly offered perhaps what is still the most iconic example of the alternate reality episode even after all these years, with countless future genre series paying homage to TOS' "Mirror, Mirror." It sees Kirk, Bones, Scotty and Uhura accidentally sent to another universe after being caught in an ion storm. This mirror universe has the evil Empire in place of the kindly Federation, with the Enterprise crew's own doppelgangers being much different. Most famously, we have the Mirror Spock, complete with goatee. In fact, we practically have this episode to thank for the goatee now being the universal sign of a bad guy. Though such a famous part of Trek lore, the Mirror universe surprisingly hasn't been visited all that much beyond this episode. It has appeared in a handful of DS9 and Enterprise episodes, though, as well as playing a key role in the contemporary Discovery in a way we won't spoil here. Balance Of Terror "Balance of Terror," inspired by submarine warfare, sees the Enterprise come up against old enemies of Earth, the Romulans - the first time the classic Trek race appeared in the series - and engage in a fierce battle that leaves both vessels marooned in space. As our perspective veers between Kirk and the Romulan commander (Mark Lenard's other important Trek role), we see the similarities between the two foes rather than their differences. Later episodes would help flesh out the Romulans even more, but this one introduces the intriguing idea that they're the belligerent cousins of the Vulcans, which leads to Spock taking abuse by members of the crew who equate his kind with their enemies. This plot thread serves as a reminder that, even in the enlightened times of Starfleet, xenophobia and racism sadly still exist in moments of high tension. As has become obvious through our rundown of TOS's best episodes, a unifying theme of the show was its attempt to champion peace over the needless conflict of war and "Balance of Terror," which smartly captures the futile hostility between two races, is perhaps the finest example of Trek's most noble theme. The City On The Edge Of Forever As fantastic as many of TOS' episodes are, there's one that rises above the pack to be the most critically-acclaimed installment of the original show. The penultimate episode of the first season, "The City on the Edge of Forever" not only introduces time travel into Trek lore, but also tells a moving story that puts the very existence of the Federation at stake. When the Enterprise crew discover a time portal that takes them back to 1930s New York, they accidentally set in motion a chain of events that stops Starfleet from ever having formed. Obviously, Kirk and Spock need to fix this - but the tragic thing is that the lovely, kindly young woman Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) needs to die in order for their timeline to play out. Sporting one of Willam Shatner's finest performances as Kirk, "The City on the Edge of Forever" is an emotional doomed love story that proves that, as imaginative and as intelligent as its science fiction storytelling is, it's the human heart of Star Trek: The Original Series that made it successful enough to spawn an undying franchise.