It’s not dead, Jim: The third season roars back this week. “The Tholian Web” features a new alien menace, growing madness among the crew, a disappearing starship, and Spock and Bones at each other’s throats. “Plato’s Stepchildren” features telekinetic jocks, the first (sic) interracial kiss on television, and a singing Spock. Plus! Scotty gets drunk …
Archives
Trekabout Episode 32: Day of the Dove/For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
8 episodes into the third season of The Original Series, and we’ve cracked the code on why it’s so disappointing: everyone involved has decided to give us a steady diet of fight scenes, love scenes, and general half-assed pulp nonsense. In “Day of the Dove”, the Klingons and the Federation learn that the cure for …
Trekabout Episode 31: Is There in Truth No Beauty?/Spectre of the Gun
In “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”, the crew of the Enterprise wanders around for 50 minutes while a guest star does her best to convince everyone that she’s blind, and then she leaves. In “Spectre of the Gun”, the crew of the Enterprise wanders around for 50 minutes while guest stars do their best …
Trekabout Episode 30: The Paradise Syndrome/And the Children Shall Lead
Want some mild racism? Well you have it in “The Paradise Syndrome”! Want to feel a burning hatred for children? Well you have it in “And the Children Shall Lead”! Want to watch a better TV show? Well, you have to wait for us to get to Star Trek: The Next Generation in about six …
Trekabout Episode 29: Spock’s Brain/The Enterprise Incident
Oh boy, guys and gals–we made it to the third season of The Original Series, and it’s all downhill from here for quite a while. “Spock’s Brain” isn’t nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be, and gives us some hilarious camp, while “The Enterprise Incident” is… pretty good? Which is about the …
Trekabout Episode 28: Bread and Circuses/Assignment: Earth
Okay! We’ve reached the end of the second season, with “Bread and Circuses”, another Gene Roddenberry-penned episode, so, really, enough said, and “Assignment: Earth”, another exciting outing from our intrepid adventurers Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln, and Isis the cat… wait, what? What the hell are we watching? Is this Star Trek? Also! Richard doesn’t like …
Trekabout Episode 27: The Omega Glory/The Ultimate Glory
What is nuclear war good for? “The Omega Glory” tries to answer that, and the answer is… Christ, I don’t know, look, this is one of the worst Original Series episodes, let’s just move on to “The Ultimate Computer”, where we learn that computers are not adept at starship command. Plus! Is Spock McCoy’s little …
Trekabout Episode 26: Patterns of Force/By Any Other Name
Okay, we just have to come out and say it: we’re dealing with Nazis this week. “Patterns of Force” is a strangely funny episode, seeing as how it deals with, as we just mentioned, Nazis, but it’s also disturbing. “By Any Other Name” is neither of those, but it does present us with the idea …
Trekabout Episode 25: A Private Little War/Return to Tomorrow
We’re presented with a tough set of episodes this week. “A Private Little War” is overstuffed with plot and weird ideas about gender and sexuality, while “Return to Tomorrow” is understuffed with plot and weird ideas about gender and sexuality. There’s a space yeti though, so that counts for something. Also! Shatner is really starting …
Trekabout Episode 24: A Piece of the Action/The Immunity Syndrome
We’re pleased to be joined by Zack Handlen, who writes weekly Trek reviews for The Onion’s AV Club. He’s nice enough to answer some questions about his writing, and then sticks around to discuss “A Piece of the Action” and “The Immunity Syndrome” with us. Plus! Richard wants a zoot suit. iTunes Google Play RSS