- Catspaw
The Enterprise finds a haunted castle inhabited by tiny aliens who have transformed themselves into a witch and a warlock and imprisoned some of the Enterprise crew.
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The Halloween episode, written by Robert Bloch. Lows: the "giant cat" and the obvious threads controlling the admittedly cool alien figures at the end of the episode. Highs: the lovely Enterprise silver charm, which is on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum; Kirk mistakenly addressing a skeleton in the dungeon as "Bones" and then not using this nickname for Dr. McCoy in the rest of the episode.
- Metamorphosis
The shuttlecraft Galileo, carrying Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford, is drawn to a small planet by a mysterious cloud, which turns out to be a creature that has been caring for shipwrecked warp drive inventor Zefram Cochrane.
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Written by Gene L. Coon. The character Zefram Cochrane would reappear many years later (for us) in Star Trek VIII: First Contact.
- Friday's Child
Attempting to negotiate a mining treaty on Capella 4, the Enterprise crew becomes involved in a Klingon-instigated civil war and must save the pregnant wife of the planet's leader.
- Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Enterprise crew is trapped on a planet by the Greek god Apollo, who wants humans to stay on the planet to worship him.
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Written by Gilbert A. Ralston, Gene L. Coon from a story by Gilbert A. Ralston. The obligatory female guest star, lovely Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas, falls in love with Apollo. (Hey, he's a Greek God.) There's a scene where Apollo uses wind and thunder to demonstrate his affections to Carolyn. The Star Trek Compendium says "One casualty ... of the network censors ... was the first-draft script's ending, in which Dr. McCoy proclaims that Carolyn is pregnant."
- Amok Time
Under the stress of his first Pon farr, Spock returns to Vulcan to wed his childhood betrothed, only to find that she has chosen another and forces Spock into a ceremonial fight to the death with Kirk.
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Written by acclaimed science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon. The first episode to deal extensively with Mr. Spock's Vulcan heritage and a fan favourite. Features great costumes by William Theiss and a score by Gerald Fried that featured a bass guitar theme for Spock. This theme was reused as Spock's leitmotif in the rest of the series.
The episode features a glaring blooper in which Leonard Nimoy is leaning against the wall while supposedly deep in plak tow and has to run back onto the set.
- The Doomsday Machine
A giant robot ship wandering through the galaxy destroying everything in its path cripples the starship Constellation and then turns on the Enterprise.
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Written by science fiction author Norman Spinrad, this episode focuses on Commodore Matthew Decker, captain of the Constellation. Decker has made a horrific error of judgement, which caused the deaths of his entire crew. In the despair and blind obsession of the character, we see James T. Kirk as he might be in a similar situation.
Fans of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series will see a certain conceptual resemblance between the Doomsday Machine and Berserkers. Think of what this episode might have been like with one of them as an opponent...
This is one episode that uses the infamous recalcitrance of the transporter to good, and believable, dramatic effect.
- Wolf in the Fold
Scotty is accused of the brutal murder of several women who were really killed by a non-corporeal creature known in Earth's past as Jack the Ripper.
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This episode was written by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho. It features a guest appearance by character actor John Fiedler, best known as the longtime voice of Piglet.
Spoiler Warning!
Do 30+ year old shows need spoiler warnings? If you have not seen the episode, don't read on...
One of the most disturbing parts of this show for me was not the un-Scotty like behaviour of Montgomery Scott but the sound of a deranged Piglet's voice issuing from Enterprise's computer banks. "Die, die, kill you all, make you suffer!" - Piglet was never the same for me again.
- The Changeling
The Enterprise encounters Nomad, a small mutated Earth probe that has been destroying planets in its path in an attempt to sterilize the "imperfect" life forms on them.
- The Apple
The seeming paradise found by the Enterprise on Gamma Trianguli 6 is really controlled by a computer called Vaal, which tries to destroy the Enterprise to prevent intervention from the outside.
- Mirror, Mirror
While transporting during an ion storm, Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Uhura are switched with evil counterparts in a parallel universe, and it is up to the parallel Spocks to get their respective crew members back.
- The Deadly Years
Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty undergo accelerated aging after being exposed to radiation on a planet, but Chekov isn't affected and Dr. McCoy must find out why in order to cure the others.
- I, Mudd
An android masquerading as an Enterprise crew member hijacks the ship and delivers it to Harry Mudd, who has developed a race of beautiful android women.
- The Trouble with Tribbles
When the Enterprise stops at the K-7 space station to pick up a shipment of a new type of grain, trader Cyrano Jones introduces the Enterprise crew to tribbles, cute furry creatures that multiply so rapidly that they almost fill the Enterprise to its seams with fur.
- Bread and Circuses
The Enterprise crew encounters the abandoned SS Beagle in orbit around Planet 892-IV, and beams down to find that its captain has introduced a Roman-like gladiator culture to the planet.
- Journey to Babel
The Enterprise is transporting delegates to a Federation conference, when Spock's father, Ambassador Sarek, becomes ill and requires a transfusion from Spock.
- A Private Little War
The Enterprise crew becomes involved in a civil war on Neural, and must arm the tribe of an old friend of Kirk's in order to maintain a balance of power with the opposing tribe that is receiving arms from the Klingons.
- The Gamesters of Triskelion
While surveying an uncharted planet, Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov are transported to the planet's surface, where they are forced to be gladiators in combats staged for the pleasure of unseen aliens.
- Obsession
Kirk is obsessed with trying to kill a cloud-like vampire creature similar to one that killed Kirk's commanding officer, Captain Garrovick, 11 years earlier.
- The Immunity Syndrome
The Enterprise is sent to investigate a giant amoeba-like creature that has killed all life on Starbase 6 and the Vulcan-crewed starship Intrepid, and Spock penetrates the amoeba in a shuttlecraft.
- A Piece of the Action
The Enterprise crew investigates the progress made by a planet visited by a Federation ship over 100 years earlier, and find that a book on the Chicago mobs of 1930's Earth has served as the role model for the planet's development.
- By Any Other Name
The Enterprise crew is captured by a group of Kelvans from the Andromeda Galaxy, who are scouting this galaxy for possible colonization.
- Return to Tomorrow
On a long-dead planet, the Enterprise finds three disembodied entities who ask for assistance in constructing android bodies for their brains, but one of the entities tries to steal Spock's body instead.
- Patterns of Force
On a routine visit to the planet where a Federation historian has been stationed, the Enterprise finds that the planet's culture has been patterned after Nazi Germany.
- The Ultimate Computer
The Enterprise is fitted for tests of an advanced computer containing the erratic brain patterns of its inventor, Dr. Richard Daystrom, and begins a real attack on other starships during what is supposed to be a war game.
- The Omega Glory
The Enterprise crew finds the empty starship Exeter in orbit around Omega 4, and beams down to discover that the Exeter's captain has provided advanced weapons to the Kohms in their battle against the Yangs.
- Assignment: Earth
The Enterprise travels back in time to 1968, where Kirk and Spock help a mysterious stranger named Gary Seven avert a nuclear crisis.