Classic Star Trek: The Genuine Item vs. Obvious Inferior Forgeries

Oooh. This could be dangerous. Classic Star Trek available on the iPod...

What is real genuine Classic Star Trek, anyway?

I believe that there is universal agreement that the genuine Classic Star Trek canon includes the three movies Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. (The other so-called "Classic" Star Trek movies--I, III, V, and VII--are, by universal agreement, dismissed as spurious interpolations added to the canon at a later date by unknown but untalented writers, producers, and directors.)

But I know of no similar agreement as to which of the one-hour Classic "episodes" are real Classic Star Trek and which are forgeries. Now that the first season is available on iPod format, this is an important question. I know of three first-season episodes that are definitely genuine: "The Devil in the Dark," "The City on the Edge of Forever," and "Balance of Terror." But what are people's views on the others?

Comments

[Rex Momus]

I would say "Mirror, Mirror" has to be listed in the canon. The influence of Evil Spock With A Beard on the popular gestalt is not to be underestimated.

I will go out on a limb and say that "Spock's Brain" from the last season, I believe, (in which an alien race steals Spock's brain to replace the master computer controlling their culture; and in which Spock must direct McCoy in the delicate surgery to replace his brain in his own skull - as he is being operated on!) also should be ranked in the canon. Many would raise their voices in opposition to this proposition, pointing out that something so egregiously horrible could not be genuine Star Trek. Those people, however, fail to realize that the episode was a brilliant self parody. This is manifestly evident because such a ridiculous story could not have been put forth seriously -- could it?

[Matt McIrvin]

There seems to be a general loathing for season three among the fandom. Exaggerated, yes--a few S3 episodes, such as "The Enterprise Incident", are all right--but when they started with "Spock's Brain" it must have seemed evident that there was a problem, and most of the memorably risible stinkers are from that season.

[Eric Rauchway]

For a definite classic, "Arena," in which Kirk MacGyvers up gunpowder and a homemade mortar.

For classic didacticism, "The Omega Glory," in which they discover Yankees and Communists reduced to primitive conditions by centuries of fighting, and win release by reciting the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Awesome.

[Steve]

Is it wrong that I love, Love, LOVE "The Trouble with Tribbles?" I think it would make an excellent musical.

[Bruce Moomaw]

Quite apart from those tribbles (in his latest story in "F&SF Magazine", David Gerrold mentions how tired he is of having people at SF conventions ask him to talk about "the damn things"), I'd probably include "The Changeling" and "A Piece of the Action" from the second season (never mind that I discovered years later that both plots had been stolen practically verbatim from James Blish's "VOR" and Anderson and Dickson's "Hoka" stories) -- and very definitely "Charlie X" and "A Taste of Armageddon" from the first season, my favorite two episodes in the whole series by a country mile.

Also, at the risk of being cast into outer darkness, I actually liked the first and third movies more than the second and sixth (especially the longer version of the first movie that came out on VCR). Sue me. Oh, and for Real Awfulness like Mother used to make, "Spock's Brain" and "The Omega Glory" don't hold a candle to "The Gamesters of Triskelion" from the second season. I will never, ever forget the horror of watching that thing at age 13 along with my own mother, while she made frequent pointed comments upon the quality of my taste in SF.

[Stoffel]

I liked ST3. Christopher Lloyd was wonderful.

[Tim Bartik]

I always liked the Season One two-parter "The Menagerie", which used part of the footage of the original pilot. Spock mutinies for reasons that are unclear, and then allows himself to be courtmartialed as the ship is forced to visit a mysterious planet associated with the past voyage of the Enterprise under its previous captain. I think part of the power of this one was that this was early enough in the series that it was quite a mystery as to where this was going. Was Spock going to be written out of the series?

[Matt McIrvin]

"The Gamesters of Triskelion" is indeed a major-league cheeser, one of the richest sources for parody in the series history; but I have to speak up in favor of the opening of the episode, because it terribly frightened me as a kid. Our heroes step into the transporter and just suddenly vanish by jump-cut, without the usual special effect! Nobody knows where they went!

Unfortunately, when we find out where they went, it gets pretty silly. I think that the first time I saw that scary opening, something came up that prevented me from actually watching the rest of the episode, which greatly enhanced the effect.

[Paul]

"Space Seed" of course--since it sets up Wrath of Khan.

[Steven J. Berke]

Two I would think would have been mentioned already--"City on the Edge of Forever" and "Amok Time" (written by two of the foremost SF writers of the day, Harlan Ellison and Theodore Sturgeon, respectively). "City" was first-season, while "Amok Time" was the second-season opener--the difference between it and "Spock's Brain" marks the creative deterioration of the show in the third season.

[Ken Houghton]

How "Shore Leave" (Sturgeon's other script) fell to me is a glory of the ST draft I shall not let go unnoticed.

(I'll also add Norman Spinrad's "The Doomsday Machine" and plug Robert Bloch's "Wolf in the Fold," not only because it strengthens my argument below on expanding the canon.)

Bob Wise (ST I) was not an untalented director; the problem was that he actually tried to make a movie (note the long holds on the stars as they enter) but was given a cobbled television script.

ST III, similarly, cannot be left out of the canon if one is including ST II, since they are a diptych. (I walked out of Wrath of Khan saying, "Why did Spock do that?")

Where you will get an argument is whether ST:TAS counts as canonical. The standard kant seems to be no, but: (1) it's the only place we hear Kirk's middle name, which is canonical; (2) it includes the sequel to "The Trouble with Tribbles" (quintotriticale, anyone); (3) it includes a sequel to "City on the Edge of Forever" that is almost as heartbreaking as Peter Beagle's "Sarek" for TNG; (4) it expands the ST universe to include the Kzin (script by Niven); (5) it includes David Gerrold's funniest script for Trek (B.E.M.), (6) we actually get to see the first commander of the Enterprise (Robert T. April, who is as canonical as Christopher Pike), and (7) Kirk's acting is far superior.

I'm working from memory, but the entire 22-episode set is available for around $35 (or, one hopes, from Netflix), and I suspect a review would show it to be at least as faithful to the ST ideal as most of Season 3, or ST IV.

[Ken Houghton]

To clarify, the "Why did Spock do that?" was not from Nick Meyer's needs-of-the-many paradiddling (which gets closed out in ST III as well), but from the "Remember" to the unconscious McCoy, which is an unnecessary (irrational) distraction without the Kata or katra or whatever-it-is of ST III.

It would be as if one took the first episode of "The Menagerie" and ignored the second part--it might be preferred, but it isn't cohesive.

[Matt]

Maybe the solution is to divide the canon into "Books of Kirk", "Books of Spock" and "Apocrypha".

[Anthony Damiani]

Maybe the solution is to divide the canon into "Books of Kirk", "Books of Spock" and "Apocrypha".

Good, good. This will accelerate the inexorable movement of fandom into all-out holy-war nicely.

[Marcus]

>>Maybe the solution is to divide the canon into "Books of Kirk", "Books of Spock" and "Apocrypha".
>>Good, good. This will accelerate the inexorable movement of fandom into all-out holy-war nicely.

...add in the scriputres of Saints McCoy & Scottie, along with the commentaries of Chekov, Uhura, Sulu, annotated by Chapel, and the movement would really get off the ground!

[Cal]

As for moments: When Frank Gorshen says (paraphrase): "Can't you see he's black on the left side . . ." That's up there with the Star Bellied Sneetches . . .

[Jacob T. Levy]

I will never, but never, understand the inclusion of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the same category as, say, ST5. It's a little ponderous, but, well, no moreso that some of TOS in the first place. It doesn't have Wrath of Kahn's action-excitement, but what does?

But it does a terrific job establishing the characters as aging and changing and concerned with both; without it, the subsequent Kirk's son plotline, or what Spock's death does to both Kirk and McCoy, etc etc, just don't carry the same emotional punch. The sequence of movies is made better by pretending ST5 never happened; it's rendered a lot more emotionally empty by pretending ST:TMP never happened.

Its plot wasn't actively incoherent or stupid a la ST5. And, damn, it was purty-- especially on the big screen, especially in nineteen seventy-whatever against the background of TOS or Space: 1999 or even 70s SF movies like Logan's Run. As visually successful, for its vastly more optimistic worldview, as Star Wars was for its worldview. Visually beautiful, musically beautiful.

Did anyone who saw it in theaters at the time, anyone who had watched Star Trek before, *not* get at least a few goosebumps at the Enterprise-in-spacedock sequence?

So: why the hatin'?

[DILBERT DOGBERT]

Thanks all for the funny comments. I grew up in the 40's and 50's when SF was read not viewed. Therefore ST was "crap" to me as I was too busy trying to finish my education, get some traction on a career and raise the kids. Ah! to be 13 during the era of ST.
This kind of stuff is why I come to Brads blog every morning. There can be a laugh or two along with the moaning and groaning about the state of the WaPoo and NYT.

[Christopher Davis]

ST:TMP also had an amazing score. This isn't to slight Horner's work on II and III, but Goldsmith's score for TMP is still a classic IMO. (Which is why it was incorporated into the TNG theme.)

[Esq.]

Mr. Houghton,

ST:TAS What is that????

Kzinti vs. the Federation? Too delicous. I always thought a Kzinti vs. the Borg would be a wonderful match up!

["As You Know" Bob]

Dilbert Dogbert: >Ah! to be 13 during the era of ST.

That would be me.

Not all NBC affiliates carried the first few episodes. My father was a EE, so we had an antenna that would pull in the premiere of "Star Trek" from the next market over.

And I went in to school the next day to discover that I was the ONLY person in town who had seen it, the only kid who knew anything at all about it for several weeks, until it was finally picked up locally.

"Star Trek" made me realize that I did not need to depend on others' opinions.

[Valuethinker]

esq

The animated series. Ran on Saturday mornings for a while in the late 70s. Used the original actors voices and added some neat features:

- what The Bridge has always needed (no, not seatbelts!), a bridge defence system (phaser fired from the roof against an intruder)

- 3 armed helmsman (Mr. Arix)

Some chilling episodes including 'Yesteryear' about the origins of Spock.

There was also a wonderful ad spot, about 20 seconds, which ran on Saturday mornings.

The Enterprise comes upon a lifeless planetary belt in space. The gist of it was pollution killed all the races in that part of space. The didactic message is about the dangers of pollution.

It left me, as messages like that do in your childhood, with a lasting concern on pollution.

When I think about Global Warming now, I wish we still had ads like that to show our kids.

Live long, and prosper.

Vt