El-Kabong

So, I'm sitting on 5 or 6 free dvds from one of the many MyFreeDVD sites. I was thinking of picking up some of the old school Star Trek - but it's been SO long, I don't really remember any of the episodes. They've all seemed to blur into one big amalgamation of flying vomit monsters, styrofoam rocks and Kirk banging a green chick.

So, if you were going to grab 6 discs - which ones would it be? Broadcast order matter to me - volumes from any of the 40 episodes is fine. (Tho I do have the very first volume from the TV Greats club, so that's the only one out of the running).

Spooky

Get the following:

Vol. 3: The Man Trap/The Naked Time

Vol. 8: The Menagerie Parts I & II

Vol. 14: Errand of Mercy/City on the Edge of Forever

Vol. 17: Who Mourns For Adoniais/Amok Time

Vol. 20: Mirror, Mirror/The Deadly Years

Vol. 21: I, Mudd/The Trouble With Tribbles


Of these, Vol. 14 & Vol. 21 are "Must Haves" due to the fact that City on the Edge of Forever and The Trouble With Tribbles are the best two episodes of the original series.

And just for the record, Kirk never banged a green chick. Although Captain Pike (Jeffery Hunter) came close.

Falc04

He came pretty darn close in "Whom Gods Destroy"...that green chick was all over him, right before she pulled out a knife from under the pillow...

My six would be:

1) Where No Man Has Gone Before / The Corbomite Maneuver

2) Mudd's Women / The Enemy Within

3) The Man Trap / The Naked Time

14) Errand of Mercy / The City on the Edge of Forever

20) Mirror Mirror / The Deadly Years

40) Turnabout Intruder / The Cage (Color)

You can't go wrong with of the first 12 - 14 episodes from the first season. These are the one's most closely associated with Gene Roddenberry, before Gene Coon took over as line-producer. And Mirror Mirror, having an evil Mr. Spock is wonderful to watch.

I included #40, because Shatner's acting as a woman is a laugh-riot, while watching the restored "color" version of the original pilot will give you a sense of the way the show would have gone, had it been accepted by the networks.

El-Kabong

Never banged a green chick? But. . . but - I could have SWORN that he made time with the green ladies. Hmmm, I guess I must have been mixing the one from the end credits up with someone in the show.

Still, thanks for the input. I'm off to place the order. . . .

Spooky

Kirk's usual reaction to anyone of color (except Uhura) was "Oh, shoot it down...it's GREEN! What does it matter?!"

Doughboy

What?! No love for "Space Seed"?

Falc04

We were only given 6 choices...It would have been much easier to point out which 6 to skip....

Spooky

This actually is kind of a boring episode...hard to believe they made such a kick-ass feature based on this show.

Iron_Giant

Wow, you gave the list I was thinking about and all for the same reasons.

My next two would be:
Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 11, Episodes 21 & 22: Tomorrow is Yesterday/ The Return of the Archons (1966)

"Tomorrow Is Yesterday," a time-travel story with an infectious blend of suspense and humor. After dropping into a black hole, the Enterprise ends up orbiting the Earth in the late 1960s, and is spotted by U.S. Air Force Captain Christopher (Roger Perry), who happens to be flying by in his jet. Inadvertently giving poor Christopher an unwanted glimpse into the future, and wrecking his jet with an overpowering tractor beam, Capt. Kirk (William Shatner), not having a good day, beams him aboard the Federation starship. The collision of sensibilities and reference points between characters born several centuries apart has a fresh, urgent tone that subsequent Star Trek series have never captured (though Deep Space Nine came close with its dazzling episode "Trials and Tribble-ations"). The problem, of course, is what to do about Christopher now that he knows what he knows, and history demands that he stay put in his own world: the pilot's unborn son, it seems, will one day make a space flight of historic importance. Terrifically entertaining and something of a precedent-setter for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the theatrical feature set in contemporary San Francisco), "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is Trek at its best.

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 28, Episodes 55 & 56: Assignment: Earth/ Spectre of the Gun (1966)

The final broadcast episode of Star Trek's second season was this clever and funny story in which the Enterprise travels back in time to 1968 (the year this program aired) to discover how the nuclear arms race came to an end. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) encounters a strange fellow named Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), who claims to have been trained by extraterrestrials in sabotaging the escalating nuclear threat. With the ambivalent aid of a nervous secretary (Teri Garr), Seven (yes, there was a Trek character with that name before Voyager) attempts to carry out his assignment, but Kirk isn't sure if he can be trusted. Lansing's droll and somewhat imperious performance is nicely counterpointed by Garr's cute confusion, and the eerie presence of his familiar--a black cat named Isis--adds a hint of hoodoo exotica. (Don't blink at the end or you'll miss the really exotic creature Isis briefly turns into.) "Assignment: Earth" was actually the pilot for an intended Gene Roddenberry-produced TV series that never happened. Too bad... But speaking of eerie, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) at one point refers to an important assassination that will soon take place. A week after this episode's original airdate, Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered.

Falc04

I couldn't agree more with your assessment of this episode. Watching Captain Christopher ask Captain Kirk about what he'd do in his shoes....it's great to hear Kirk say in a soft-tone voice..."probably just what your doing".

El-Kabong

Oh, yeah I remember Tomorrow is Yesterday - not that I could tell you the name of it to save my life, mind you. I seem to recall that one was a classic. That was the one with K&S on the Air Force base, trying to recover a tricorder or something right?

Yeah - that one was Da' Bomb. It'll go on my "To Get Next" list.

chente

Green Chick = Yvonne Craig =

das Monkey

• Quoth Iron_Giant •<HR SIZE=1>Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 28, Episodes 55 & 56: Assignment: Earth/ Spectre of the Gun (1966)<HR SIZE=1>

Always a good choice. Don't ask me why, because I really can't explain it, but I have a soft spot for 'Spectre of the Gun'.

das

KitchenSink

"A Piece of the Action" is one with some real laughs, if you want something a little different.

das Monkey

• Quoth KitchenSink •<HR SIZE=1>"A Piece of the Action" is one with some real laughs, if you want something a little different. <HR SIZE=1>

Right?
Check.

das