Archive for July 2011
The Original Star Trek’s Best TV Episodes
July 31, 2011 | 
Author Joan Collins and William Shatner in The City on the Edge of Forever (1967)
NBC-TV’s Star Trek (1966-69) is a giant in television history. Nearly canceled after two seasons, Star Trek returned for a third and final one, eventually becoming one of the most successful franchises in entertainment history.
Here are seven classic episodes that no Star Trek fan should ever miss. Live long and prosper!
1. The City on the Edge of Forever, April 6, 1967
Season One, Episode 28
Teleplay: Harlan Ellison, D.C. Fontana, Gene Roddenberry, Steven W. Carabatsos, Gene L. Coon
Director: Joseph Pevney
Nearly everyone’s favorite, The City on the Edge of Forever features a trip back through time. While investigating disturbances on a nearby planet, Captain Kirk and company encounter a glowing structure that identifies itself as the “Guardian of Forever.” Beaming down is a paranoid Dr. McCoy, who has accidentally injected himself with an overdose of cordrazine. The delirious McCoy flings himself through the Guardian’s gates, traveling back in time where he alters the course of history.
The City on the Edge of Forever is a time travel classic. The setting is New York City of the 1930s, with guest star Joan Collins playing Edith Keeler, a social worker who is destined for greater things. It’s an interesting “what if” segment, as Keeler later becomes the leader of a pacifist movement that prevents the United States from entering World War II, thus ensuring an Axis victory.
There are plenty of interesting scenes in this one: First Officer Spock having to explain his Vulcan ears; Spock constructing a crude device that enables him to view future newspaper headlines; and Captain Kirk’s brief romance with the doomed Edith Keeler, head of the 21st Street Mission.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Kirk declares after he, Spock and McCoy return from the 20th century. Good idea, as the “Guardian of Forever” is rife with peril.
2. Space Seed, February 16, 1967
Season One, Episode 22
Teleplay: Gene L. Coon, Carey Wilber
Director: Marc Daniels
Guest star Ricardo Montalban appears as Khan Noonien Singh, a late 20th century “superman” who is discovered frozen in suspended animation aboard the SS Botany Bay. Singh and his cryogenic followers – the last survivors of Earth’s Eugenics Wars – are revived, where they later attempt to take over the Enterprise.
Space Seed is among Star Trek’s best, thanks in large part to Ricardo Montalban’s bravura performance as the sinister Khan. In excellent support is Madlyn Rhue as Lt. Marla McGivers, the Enterprise’s young historian who becomes smitten with the 20th century super warrior.
Space Seed – the basis for the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) – features an enigmatic ending. Rounded up by Kirk and his crew, Khan and his followers are banished to Ceti Alpha V, a savage planet where their survival is not guaranteed. Lt. McGivers, choosing to avoid a court martial for her role in aiding Khan, will accompany them to their new world.
Ricardo Montalban and William Shatner in Space Seed (1967)
3. A Piece of the Action, January 12, 1968
Season 2, Episode 17
Teleplay: David P. Harmon, Gene L. Coon
Director: James Komack
Kirk, “Spocko” and McCoy beam down to Sigma Iotia II at the invitation of one Bela Okmyx (Anthony Caruso), where they find themselves on a street resembling 1920s Chicago. Relieved of their phasers and communicators by men sporting Tommy guns, the Enterprise crew members are brought to Bela, who is in the midst of a bloody war with rival gang leaders. The Ioatians’ entire culture is based on a book left behind by the USS Horizon. Its title: Chicago Mobs of the Twenties.
This delightful episode provides plenty of action and humor as Kirk and his Federation boys – a.k.a. “The Feds” – attempt to bring Okmyx, Jojo Krako (Vic Tayback), Tepo (John Harmon) and other gang leaders to the table in order to restore some kind of order to the unruly, highly imitative Iotian society. They finally succeed through a massive show of force, taking out an entire block of gangsters via a well-placed phaser stun from the orbiting Enterprise. That nets the Federation some respect, and “a piece of the action” for years to come.
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley have a blast in this segment, dressing up as Chicago hoods, affecting “gangsterese” and eventually coming on like G-men gangbusters. Even James Doohan as Scotty gets into Roaring Twenties mode aboard the Enterprise, warning Vic Tayback: “Now you mind your place, mister, or you’ll…you’ll be wearin’ concrete galoshes.” He of course means “cement overshoes.”
William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in A Piece of the Action (1968)
4. Assignment: Earth, March 29, 1968
Season 2, Episode 26
Teleplay: Art Wallace, Gene Roddenberry
Director: Marc Daniels
Robert Lansing guest stars as Gary Seven, an enigmatic super agent programmed by aliens to save the Earth in 1968. The Enterprise, catapulted back to the same era via a gravitational slingshot maneuver around the sun, takes Seven and his mysterious black cat Isis aboard. Confined to a holding cell, Seven escapes his Federation captors and beams down to New York City where he continues his mission.
James Bond aficionados will love Assignment: Earth, with Robert Lansing employing several sophisticated secret agent devices, including a “servo” weapon disguised as a pen. Time travel fans will also appreciate this segment, as Kirk and Spock are afforded the opportunity to visit 1960s Earth, which is on the brink of World War III.
Teri Garr is a smash as the ditzy secretary Roberta Lincoln while Victoria Vetri goes uncredited as the black cat in human form. Meow?
5. Requiem for Methuselah, February 14, 1969
Season 3, Episode 19
Teleplay: Jerome Bixby
Director: Murray Golden
James Daly guest stars as Flint, the lone inhabitant of a planet which harbors an ample supply of the mineral ryetalyn. The element is needed by the Federation in order to combat an outbreak of deadly Rigellian Fever. On Holberg 917-G, Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy meet the mysterious Mr. Flint, whom they discover is an immortal born in Mesopotamia in 3834 BC.
The fascinating story idea provides the real allure, with James Daly (looking fairly well for a 6,000-year-old man) admitting to Kirk and company that his past identities on Earth have included those of Alexander the Great, Lazarus, Leonardo DaVinci, King Solomon, Johannes Brahms, Merlin and Methuselah. A genetic quirk – instant tissue regeneration – has made him immortal, but Dr. McCoy now reports that Flint is now aging like everyone else, with Earth’s protective magnetic force no longer in play on his new world.
Louise Sorel plays the frigid Rayna, a series of androids created by Flint to keep him company through the long years. For techie fans there’s also Flint’s M4, the hovering robot tasked with gathering the ryetalyn.
Louise Sorel and James Daly in Requiem for Methuselah (1969)
6. Spectre of the Gun, October 25, 1968
Season 3, Episode 6
Teleplay: Gene L. Coon
Director: Vincent McEveety
For violating Melkotian territory, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Chekov are transported back to the town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, on October 26, 1881 – the scene of the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The Enterprise landing party now become the future victims: Ike Clanton (Kirk), Frank McLaury (Spock), Tom McLaury (McCoy), Billy Clanton (Scotty) and Billy Claiborne (Chekov). Gunning for them are the Earps and Doc Holliday, who mean to fill them full of lead.
This quirky episode is a cowboy soap opera, with Kirk and company trying desperately to avoid a confrontation with the Earp brothers (Ron Soble, Charles Maxwell, Rex Holman) and their gunslinging dentist sidekick Doc Holliday (Sam Gilman). The laws of nature don’t seem to apply in this illusory world created by the Melkotians, with Mr. Spock concluding that nothing is real and therefore they cannot be harmed.
Prior to the gunfight, Spock performs a mind meld on his comrades, erasing any doubt as to the unreality of their situation. Doc and the Earps open fire, but their bullets prove harmless. When Kirk and his men refuse to kill their attackers, the Melkotians are impressed, and welcome the Federation into their midst.
7. A Taste of Armageddon, February 23, 1967
Season 1, Episode 23
Teleplay: Robert Hamner, Gene L. Coon
Director: Joseph Pevney
The Enterprise becomes involved in a longstanding war between Eminiar VII and Vendikar. The war is being fought via computer simulation, with “casualties” reporting to disintegration chambers. When conventional war proved too costly, the two planets agreed to continue hostilities via war games in order to preserve their respective societies and culture.
A Taste of Armageddon presents an intriguing idea – two hostile societies who have reduced war to a neat, sterile pursuit involving simulated computer attacks and an orderly march to the death chamber. But when Kirk and his crew are deemed “casualties,” the Enterprise captain is having none of it, telling one of Eminiar VII’s council elders, Anan 7 (David Opatoshu), that he plans on giving the two planets a real war, complete with all the blood, gore and horror that such an undertaking encompasses.
James Doohan as Scotty shines in this segment. When ordered by Ambassador Fox (Gene Lyons) to lower the Enterprise’s shields in order to show good faith, the wily Scott refuses, surmising correctly that Anan 7 plans to blast them out of orbit once their defenses are deactivated.
And your favorite Star Trek episodes? Beam them below in the comments section…
Written by William J. Felchner
Professional Writer
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Top 10 Deadliest Gunslingers
10. Ben Thompson
Ben Thompson (November 2, 1843 – March 11, 1884) was a gunman, gambler, and sometime lawman of the Old West. He was a contemporary of Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill Cody, Doc Holliday, John Wesley Hardin and James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickock, some of whom considered him a trusted friend, others a lethal enemy.
Ben Thompson had a colorful career, fighting with the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, and in Mexico under the Emperor, before being imprisoned at age 25 for the murder of his brother-in-law, who had physically abused Thompson’s sister. After his release, Thompson made his name as a gunman and a gambler in Texas and Kansas. After he was hired in 1881 as Marshal in Austin, Texas, the crime rate dropped sharply during his term. He was murdered at age 41 in San Antonio on March 11, 1884. -Wikipedia.org
9. Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American peace officer in various Western frontier towns, farmer, teamster, buffalo hunter, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, and two of his brothers, Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp. He is also noted for the Earp Vendetta. Wyatt Earp has become an iconic figure in American folk history. He is the major subject of various movies, TV shows, biographies and works of fiction. -Wikipedia.org
8. King Fisher
King Fisher (1854 – March 11, 1884) was a gunslinger of the American Old West. John King Fisher was born in Collin County, Texas, to Jobe Fisher and Lucinda Warren Fisher. He had two brothers, Jasper and James, and his mother died when he was two years old. His father then remarried to a woman named Minerva. After the Civil War ended, the family moved to Williamson County, Texas, where his brother James was then living. His father was a cattleman, and owned and operated two freight wagons. After his father’s second wife died, the family moved to Goliad, Texas, and were joined there by his father’s mother who wanted to help Jobe Fisher raise his children. -Wikipedia.org
7. Dallas Stoudenmire
Dallas Stoudenmire (December 11, 1845 – September 18, 1882) was an American Old West gunman and lawman, who gained fame for a brief gunfight that was later dubbed the “Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight”. Although lesser known than many others from the Old West called gunfighters, his name is becoming more prominent. Hollywood briefly considered a movie of him, but it has yet to materialize. Stoudenmire had a deadly reputation in his day and was involved in more gunfights than most of his better known contemporaries, such as John Selman, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Elfego Baca, Luke Short, and Doc Holliday. -Wikipedia.org
6. Billy The Kid
Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney (reportedly November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881), was a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War. According to legend, he killed 21 men, but he is generally accepted to have killed between four and nine. McCarty (or Bonney, the name he used at the height of his notoriety) was 5 feet 8 inches (173 cm) to 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall with blue eyes, a smooth complexion and prominent front teeth.
He was said to be friendly and personable at times, and many recalled that he was as “lithe as a cat”. Contemporaries described him as a “neat” dresser who favored an “unadorned Mexican sombrero”. These qualities, along with his cunning and celebrated skill with firearms, contributed to his paradoxical image, as both a notorious outlaw and beloved folk hero. -Wikipedia.org
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5. Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a figure in the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized. His nickname of Wild Bill has inspired similar nicknames for men known for their daring in various fields.
Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach driver, then became a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, and professional gambler. Between his law-enforcement duties and gambling, which easily overlapped, Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts, and was ultimately killed while playing poker in a Dakota Territory saloon. -Wikipedia.org
4. Clay Allison
Clay Allison (September 2, 1840 – July 3, 1887) was a gunfighter and well known historic figure of the American Old West. Born Robert Clay Allison , known as “Clay”, September 2, 1840, the fourth of nine children, to Jeremiah Scotland Allison and Mariah R. Allison. His father, a Presbyterian minister, also worked in the cattle and sheep business and died when Clay was only five. Clay was said to have been restless from birth, and as he grew into manhood, he became feared for his wild mood swings and quick temperament. -Wikipedia.org
3. Jim “Killer” Miller
James B. “Killer” Miller, (October 25, 1866 – April 19, 1909) was also known as Deacon Jim because he regularly attended the Methodist Church and because he did not smoke or drink. He was an outlaw and assassin of the American Old West who was lynched by a mob of angry citizens over his assassination of a former Deputy U.S. Marshal. -Wikipedia.org
2. Tom Horn
Thomas “Tom” Horn, Jr. (November 21, 1860 – November 20, 1903) was an American Old West lawman, scout, soldier, hired gunman, detective, outlaw and assassin. On the day before his 43rd birthday, he was hanged in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for the murder of Willie Nickell. Horn’s exploits as an assassin far overshadowed any other accomplishments he made during his lifetime, including during his time as a scout in tracking Apaches in southeastern Arizona Territory, southwestern New Mexico Territory, and into the states of Sonora and Chihuahua in northern Mexico along the Sierra Madre Occidental. -Wikipedia.org
1. John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin (May 26, 1853—August 19, 1895) was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West. He was born in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. When Hardin went to prison in 1878, he claimed to have killed 42 men. Hardin’s criminal career resulted not only in the deaths of his victims but also in the deaths of his brother Joe and two cousins who were hanged by a lynch mob seeking revenge for a Hardin killing. -Wikipedia.org
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