Ranking all 80 Star Trek TOS Episodes (with TL/DR intro)
What better way to spend a couple of frustrating months being ill than watching all 80 eps of the original Star Trek? Well, there's probably loads of better ways but I did the Star Trek thing, seeing the vast majority of them for the very first time. Surprisingly, there's a good amount of really good episodes about...unsurprisingly, also a bunch of duffers.
If you've never watched any TOS and are curious: you have to enter it in a different mindset than when watching anything TNG onwards. There's the famously-limited production budgets (wobbly sets, dodgy costumes, recycled props etc), outdated attitudes towards women, lack of season-long story arcs or even appreciable character-development...and then there's the acting...
Think of TOS eps as theater performances, and you can better sink in to the whole thing. You accept the clumsy unrealistic fight scenes (replete with obvious stunt doubles), and knowingly allow yourself a smirk when Shatner dials the ham up to 11...
...because when the episode is a good one, you begin to appreciate the argument that TOS just might be the strongest Star Trek series of them all: it often asks timeless philosophical questions of our human potential, using - now-familiar - sci-fi concepts as a springboard, with strong intelligent dialogue (mostly). What's striking is it does this without getting bogged down in mawkish sentiment, without becoming too distracted by the kind of 'emotional character moments' modern efforts spam us with, and crucially without always presenting us with clear moral answers to the questions it presents. Often, we're left to think for ourselves what those answers might be.
Proper old-school science-fiction.
How to watch: personally I recommend the 2004(ish) DVD-Release where the effects are original. Sure, they are 'of their time', but they fit into the overall package, and are interesting from a tv-history-buff perspective. The later 'Remasters' (and current online streams) use horribly-dated computer graphics. Also wouldn't recommend marathoning: it's not designed for it. 1-2 eps per day was good for me, and in any order you like. There's no real benefit to production or air-date order, other than curiousity. I roughly followed user-ratings: highest first, combined with which synopsis sounded most interesting. It meant I ended my run with generally the weaker efforts, tho' I didn't always agree with the user-rating consensus.
Here a guide to how I score, anything with a 6+ is worth a watch in my book (49 out of 80 eps score this). 4 & 5 scores may have enough in them for completists to not feel let down, but anything scoring 3 or below is a SKIP (only 7 out of 80 eps score this).
10/10 - the very best...must-watch for all sci-fi fans, even non-Trekkers.
9/10 - excellent & essential for anyone who enjoys a bit of Trek.
8/10 - very good.
7/10 - good, tho' only recommended if already tuned into TOS.
6/10 - worth-watching, but weak bits are catching up to the good.
5/10 - average, middling...fine for completists.
4/10 - some good, overweighted by weaker elements.
3/10 - poor...decent bits getting scarce. SKIP.
2/10 - almost irredeemably bad, feels like a waste of time but a fun line or an idea with potential might surface briefly.
1/10 - worst of the worst (no TOS ep scored this, mind).
Spoiler-free mini-reviews below.
If you've never watched any TOS and are curious: you have to enter it in a different mindset than when watching anything TNG onwards. There's the famously-limited production budgets (wobbly sets, dodgy costumes, recycled props etc), outdated attitudes towards women, lack of season-long story arcs or even appreciable character-development...and then there's the acting...
Think of TOS eps as theater performances, and you can better sink in to the whole thing. You accept the clumsy unrealistic fight scenes (replete with obvious stunt doubles), and knowingly allow yourself a smirk when Shatner dials the ham up to 11...
...because when the episode is a good one, you begin to appreciate the argument that TOS just might be the strongest Star Trek series of them all: it often asks timeless philosophical questions of our human potential, using - now-familiar - sci-fi concepts as a springboard, with strong intelligent dialogue (mostly). What's striking is it does this without getting bogged down in mawkish sentiment, without becoming too distracted by the kind of 'emotional character moments' modern efforts spam us with, and crucially without always presenting us with clear moral answers to the questions it presents. Often, we're left to think for ourselves what those answers might be.
Proper old-school science-fiction.
How to watch: personally I recommend the 2004(ish) DVD-Release where the effects are original. Sure, they are 'of their time', but they fit into the overall package, and are interesting from a tv-history-buff perspective. The later 'Remasters' (and current online streams) use horribly-dated computer graphics. Also wouldn't recommend marathoning: it's not designed for it. 1-2 eps per day was good for me, and in any order you like. There's no real benefit to production or air-date order, other than curiousity. I roughly followed user-ratings: highest first, combined with which synopsis sounded most interesting. It meant I ended my run with generally the weaker efforts, tho' I didn't always agree with the user-rating consensus.
Here a guide to how I score, anything with a 6+ is worth a watch in my book (49 out of 80 eps score this). 4 & 5 scores may have enough in them for completists to not feel let down, but anything scoring 3 or below is a SKIP (only 7 out of 80 eps score this).
10/10 - the very best...must-watch for all sci-fi fans, even non-Trekkers.
9/10 - excellent & essential for anyone who enjoys a bit of Trek.
8/10 - very good.
7/10 - good, tho' only recommended if already tuned into TOS.
6/10 - worth-watching, but weak bits are catching up to the good.
5/10 - average, middling...fine for completists.
4/10 - some good, overweighted by weaker elements.
3/10 - poor...decent bits getting scarce. SKIP.
2/10 - almost irredeemably bad, feels like a waste of time but a fun line or an idea with potential might surface briefly.
1/10 - worst of the worst (no TOS ep scored this, mind).
Spoiler-free mini-reviews below.
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