Amph Beam me up, Scotty! Star Trek: The Original Series.

Next batch:


100- The Cage:
-Premise: Pilot episode focusing on the previous captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike, as they investigate a distress signal which lures Pike and his ship to Talos IV, where a race with powerful mental abilities use their powers of illusion to trap Pike in a zoo-like facility.
-T2Q Comments: Despite being a pilot, this one is actually pretty decent and has a slightly more serious/mature feel to it (though the big brained aliens are still silly, and it's hard not to crack up at Spock's exclaimation of "The women!!" )
The Number One character played Mrs Roddenberry actually improves the general dynamics of the crew arrangement and, in retrospect, is sorely missing from the actual series and actually makes a whole lot of sense; thankfully the position would be resurrected later on with Riker in TNG. The Cage is more of a show that was not to be, replaced with what we know now, though I can't help but think it might have been a better show.
Lacking any solid transition from Pike to Kirk, I wouldn't reccomend this be viewed as an introduction to the series itself, and so it kind of remains a standalone oddity of interest. So, with that in mind, and given aspects of The Menagerie, I'd put this one down as an "Ok, But Not Necessarily Essential" episode.

111 & 112: The Menagerie, parts 1 & 2:
-Premise: After Spock hijacks the Enterprise and sends it on course for the forbidden planet of Talos IV, he is forced to stand trial for his actions, where he uses video testomony of the events from The Cage in his defense.
-T2Q Comments: Basicly The Cage split into two parts to accomodate a clipshow-like framestory with Kirk and co. Once I got past the funny now-obvious Futurama/Pike-blinking-wheelchair reference connection, it was still hard for me to really get into this episode, especially having seen The Cage beforehand since I was able to deduce Spock's purpose in his actions long beforehand, which made the unnecessity of using the "video testimony" all the more blatant- as Kirk said at the end, Spock could have just told them. Now, if one hadn't seen The Cage, there might have been some more mystery to Spock's actions to draw the viewer in, but the same conclusion is eventually reached, which is disspaointing.
Additionally, the "Kirk show feel" doesn't quite mesh well with the "Pike show feel", which just hampers the episodes further.
If it wasn't for those two points rendering the episodes somewhat pointless, I'd have normally considered The Menagerie to be preferable viewing in favor over The Cage, since it has a Pike/Kirk transition of sorts thats still grounded in the Kirk show. As it is, The Menagerie didn't levae me with a good enough impression to really consider it essential, and so, IMO, it joins the same classification as The Cage itself does, thoguh for different reasons mentioned above.

113: The Conscience of the King:
-Premise: [When an actor is suspected of being a mass murderer believed dead, Kirk take ssteps to try and prove his identity, while the only surviving witnesses to those past deeds start ending up dead- and Kirk could be next./i]
-T2Q Comments: Actually a pretty good mystery episode with an interesting idea through the plan behind the execution (no pun intended) of the murders. Acting overall, shy the female guest star, was unproblematic, the actor in particular was better than average for a guest star.
An offhand comment of the murderer having his own idea of Eugenics and that "he wasn't the only one" makes a nice hint/setup for Kahn as well, which I think, when combiend with the overall quality of the episode, elevates to "Good Episodes, But Not Necessarily Essential".

114: Balance of Terror:
-Premise: When a Romulan ship capable of cloaking begins attacking Federation outposts along the Federation/Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise engages in a game of tactics against the aggressor.
-T2Q Comments: Some good action, and the sub-battle feel to things was pretty interesting (a

 

115- Shore Leave:
-Premise: Finding an uninhabited world for the crew to take some shore leave on, once on the planet they begin seeing things from their mind, including Alice in Wonderland, WW2 Planes and a bully from Kirk's past.
-T2Q Comments: Though not particularly terrible (except for the guy in the rabbit costume), I just couldn't bring myself to care about this episode. And what's with this show and Irish stereotypes?
Overall, pretty forgettable.

116- The Galileo Seven:
-Premise: Investigation of a cosmic event ends with a shuttlecraft and 7 crewmembers stranded on a planet inhabited by hostile giants.
-T2Q Comments: A pretty good Spock-centric episode, though Spock's logic-based mindset is taken to almost cartoonish levels at times, which hampers the episode a good deal. Still I'll put it in the "good but necessarily essential" grouping.
Also worth noting the Commisioner's unfiform looks very much like the ones eventually used on Enterprise.


117- The Squire of Gothos:
-Premise: A powerful being fascinated by mankind's past keeps members of the crew inside his mansion, manipulating the reality around them at his will./i]
-T2Q Comments: Not a bad episode, though I started to suspect this was the "Futurama episode ending" episode towards the end. Still, though some silliness occur at times (am I the only one who find Uhurha to be an absolutely worthless character?) no particularly terrible 60's acting pops up, so it ends up being a decent episode. I'll classify it in the same "good but necessarily essential" grouping.



Up next- 118: Arena, 119: Tommorow is Yesterday & 120: Court Martial

 

continuing my review...

118- Arena:
-Premise: After a Starfleet outpost is destroyed by an unknown ship, the Enterprise pursues, only for Kirk to be forced to face his opponent, a Gorn captain, in personal combat on a planet by more powerful entities.
-T2Q Comments: This ones pretty cheesy (I mean, that Gorn costume and his slow-mo punches are just laughable), but it is watchable. The chemistry solution was rather obvious though (Kirk can't be that dense). When watching this I suspected this was the episode that had footage used in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, and I was right :.
Overall, given the Gorn presence (later seen again on Enterprise) and the Bill & Ted connection, I'm willing to list it as "Potentially Essential, But Not Necessarily Good".

119- Tommorow Is Yesterday:
-Premise: An accident ends up sending the Enterprise back in time to the 1960's.
-T2Q Comments: Fun little time travel adventure. This was originally going to be a 2-parter with The Naked Time, but they were separated, and doing so basicly renders that little time travel forumla thing at the end of TNT irrelvant since it's not used at all in this episode, which allows me to downgrade TNT to "Ok Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential". The "transporter replacement" trick at the end for returning the various people really made no sense at all though. Ah well, neither did the "drop-kick across time" in Enterprise, so it's kind of a running theme with Trek time travel stories I guess
Kirk's one line, responding to the threat of being locked up for the next 200 years, of "That ought to be about right." was actually pretty good too. Unexpectedly clever for the generally poor dialogue the show has.
In the end, with the time travel aspect, I'll put this one in as "Definitely Essential".

120- Court Martial:
-Premise: Kirk is put on trial for possible negligence in the death of a crew member when the computer logs contradict his statement of events.
-T2Q Comments: Ok, Starfleet court episodes generally suck. I'm not opposed to having a court drama episode, but this one was done very poorly, and has a couple really terrible performances (the guy who died and his daughter- must be genetic ) combined with some bad plot holes. You have the one lawyer who makes a big deal of books vs computers, but does nothing to challenge the computer until Spock shows up, basicly willing to give up without any cross exaimination. I'd have fired the buffoon.
Additionally, the romance with the prosecution chick really doesn't add anything to the plot or any drama or tension between them- what little there is feels artifical as a result. Also, I can't help but laugh at the guy who insists on finishing the court despite the fact that the ship is losing orbit- hello? you're crashing. Maybe you should finish that little court thing later.
There's also the plot point of them amplifying the audio aboard the ship (1 to the 4th power...which would be...1 ), which, while an interesting idea, is not executed or integrated well at all. If we can hear people's heartbeats, why not their breathing or all the talking on the bridge? Or the various machinery?
Also, it seems the only tool in engineering is a really big wrench. And why does the entire ship shake from Kikr pulling some power cables? The engines weren't on, so there's no kickback taking place. "That. Does Not. Make. Sense. If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit."
The court rules that this episode, though not entirely unwatchable, is forgettable. Court adjourned.



Up next- 121: Return of the Archons, 122: Space Seed (KAHNNN!!) & 123: A Taste of Armageddon

 

121- Return of the Archons:
-Premise: The crew, investigating the dissapearance of anotehr ship from 100 years ago, encounter a world being brainwashed into a peaceful and tranquil society.
-T2Q Comments: I liked this one- though not as much as others. Still, I got a crack out of the "You will be absorbed!" line, if only because I had that line as a sound file on my computer lonnng ago (probably about 10 years at least) that I had downloaded off of AOL, but never knew where it was from.
Anyways, the only major prolem with the episode is the "festival" riots that played a prominent role in the early aprt of the episode was never explained, so it comes across as pretty random after al is said and done. Another "good episode, but not necessarily essential".

122- Space Seed:
-Premise: Episode to which Wrath of Khan is the sequel to. The Enterprise discovers a sleeper ship carrying several enahnced humans aboard- including one Khan Noonien Singh.
-T2Q Comments: Though the chick who falls for Khan is written too weak for my tastes, her addiction to him is played well. Any complaints aside- Khan is cool, and watching Ricardo play him is just fun : With it being the basis for Star Trek II, it, above any other episode in this series, so far as I can tell, is Essential.

123- A Taste of Armageddon:
-Premise: Sent to open diplomatic relations with a world, Kirk discovers a society that ahs been at war for 500 years- only the war is fought virtually by mathematicly compuation, and the casualties are sent into suicide booths, to maintain the war without destroying the culture and infrastructure.
-T2Q Comments: Kirk: 2, Computers: O . A pretty solid episode- fairly decently acted and it definitely has that old-school written sci-fi feel to the story concept. Only shortcoming was the diplomat acting like a fool fr the first hal of the episode, but at least he wisened up towards the end. Still, having him be a more believable and effective diplomat less susceptible to obvious deception could have made this a a really great episode. So, while good, it almost has a "missed opportunity" vibe to it, so far as that facet goes. Also, someone should tell the Q Continuum that someone has been trying to make hats funnier than theirs.
Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential.



Up next- 124: This Side of Paradise, 125: The Devil in the Dark & 126: Errand of Mercy.

 

Next batch:

124- This Side of Paradise:
-Premise: The crew, sent to evacuate colonists from a world being exposed to harmful radiation, finds the population to be of perfect health- and under the influence of spores that induce happy feelings, which begin to infect the entire crew.
-T2Q Comments: This is definitely a "been there, done that" for this series, as much of the concept (mainly the "outside influence making populations content, and how that stagnates a society" angle) is a retread of "return of the Archons", while the spreading spores harkens back to The Naked Time.
However, this episode isn't all that offensive or annoying like naked Time, nor does it have a huge element left unexplained like the Festival from Archons- it's just kinda dull for the most part.
Also, the flower that spores Kirk comes out of nowhere, which is kinda funny since it makes it seem like the flower is stalking him, hehe.
And the last Captain's log entry is spoken aloud to nothing but the transporter console. There's also the girl's line that she's "never seen a starship before", which is pretty funny considering she would have ahd to have been ona starship to have been brought to the planet in the first place (as the colonists were only there for a short period of time, not long enough for her to have been born there and grown to that age), not to mention she and Spock had met elsewhere at some point in the past.
I also have to comment that any attempt thus far to make Spock work with feelings has never really been executed very successfully- every time I see him smiling with a grin, i just keep being reminded of Nimoy's Hobbit song...
I'd classify it as "OK, but not essential".

125- Devil in the Dark:
-Premise: The crew is sent to assist a mining colony where the miners have been attacked by an unknown creature in the caves.
-T2Q Comments: This episode could be summarized with three words- "Turn! Zoom! Scream!". As each time the creaure attacks, they do that exact same thing.
Actually not a bad episode overall, except that the spheres-are-eggs element is made way too obvious the moment Spock first remarks about them near the episode's start. Also, for a creature so set on protecting it's eggs, it's rather odd that it would cause a cave-in in an area containing some of the eggs.
Still, "Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential".
And remember- "Turn! Zoom! Scream!"

126- Errand of Mercy:
-Premise: The Enterprise must help bring a strageticly located planet to the side of the Federation before the Klingons can.
-T2Q Comments: This was a pretty good episode, once one gets past the old smooth foreheaded Klingon look (thankfully explained in a two-parter on Enterprise, at least). Kor is an interesting villian (one who apparantly made a few appearances on DS9, played by the same actor- who, it took me awhile to realize, was the same actor who played Baltar on the original Battlestar Galactica), though the Organians likely being powerful beings was too obvious (though perhaps it's not so bad, if taken in the context of the Trek sgaa being viewed in chronological order, where an episode of Enterprise has already revealed the Organians as powerful beings). And Kirk was a bit too bull-headed (even he should have been smart enough to maintain a more convincing cover for more than 30 seconds). Also, Kirk's comment at the end that "we think of ourselves as the most powerful beings in the universe- it's unsettling to discover that we're wrong" is just a damn odd one to hear since they've met at least a half-dozen beings more powerful than humans in this season alone.
Still, given the Kor, Klingon and Organian connections to the greater mythos, not to mention being pretty watchable, this episode is definitely essential.

Up next, the last three Season 1 episodes: 127: The Alternative Factor, 128: The City on the Edge of Forever and 129: Operation Annhilate!.

By a nice coincidence, TCOTEOF was this past weekend's SE trek episode, s

 

Wanted to note that, now as I get more into the series, I feel I was too easy on earlier episodes which were obviously harder to watch than some of these later ones. As such, I'm adding a new category for "Average Episodes"- ones of a better overall quality than the "ok episodes" (which tend to have strong moments of weakness), but still weaker than what could be considered an honestly good episode.

So, for now, the 8 episodes I previously listed in the "Good Episodes" will be placed off to the side for future reclassifying to determine if they still belong in the good episodes list or if they deserve to be demoted to "average".

And, now- the last batch of Season 1!:

127- The Alternative Factor:
-Premise: The crew encounter a man named Lazarus, who claims to be from an Anti-Matter Universe.
-T2Q Comments: Must..look..away..from..the..facial hair...!
Poor makeup job aside, a pretty decent episode- despite the obviously misuse of the term antimatter (because, otherwise, Kirk's arrival there would have caused an explosion, same as Lazarus would), and the seemingly omnipotent Commodore ("The distortion was felt in every quadrant of the galaxy and beyond."; Really? And just how do you know that, Commodore? Or, should I call you Q? Aha! I knew it! It's the Trek equivilent of a Scooby Doo mystery, that's gotta be it! What? Back to the episode? Well, if you insist...).
The "conflict" transition of the spinning nebula image is pretty cheesy, but I rather like the way it was utilized, all things considered.
The overall tone lacks much in the way of 60's syndrome or camp, for the most part, as well, which make sit fairly watchable.
Classifying this one as a "Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential"

128- The City of the Edge of Forever:
-Premise: Discovering a sentient gateway called The Guardian of Forever, Kirk and Spock must cross through it's portal to 1930 to prevent a drug-crazed McCoy from inadvertedly altering the future.
-T2Q Comments: Though the love story, as usual, is the weakest link in this episode, it's still a fun little time travel episode, with an interesting moral quandry.
The woman's little speech towards the start was rather hokey though, in that it came out of nowhere and had little to do with anything else going on around her.
To nitpick the plot a bit, it's weird that, despite knowing she was supposed to die in an auto accident, Spock suggests she could have died falling down the stairs. Also gotta wonder why The Guardian reacts to a question when it didn't respond to almost the same question seconds earlier.
Classifying this one also as a "Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential" (though the time travel angle might bump it up to being essential, in retrospect).

129- Operation-Annihilate!:
-Premise: Parasitic creatures infest a Federation outpost and, eventually, Spock.
-T2Q Comments: Gotta love the mustacioed Kirk brother we never hear about again (though he was mentioned in an earlier episode, IIRC- though he had two other sons, which no one seems to care about here, hehe). I found the suggetsion that the parasites were single-celled creatures to be too silly- they were obviously too complex (not to mention too large) to be such creatures. And though their "flying pancake ons trings" look is a bit silly, it kinda works in a way. Like a jellyfish/bee. I hate bees.
There's also a case in this episode of the Mysteriously Vanishing Sulu towards the end, hehe.
This episode also seems to continue the series' habit of ending many episodes with a lame "lets poke some fun at Spock's emotions or lack thereof" scene on the bridge- though the joke at McCoy's expense actualy was somewhat humorous, at least compared to the fairly dumb previous examples of such a scene.
I let this episode christen the newly formed "Average Episode" classification.

Up next, the first three Season 2 episodes (again, going by the TV.com episode order): 201: Amok Time, 202: Who Mourns for Adonais? and 203: The Changeling[/b

 

Yeah, I've heard City considered to be the best episode before- I don't quite see it that way, but it could merely be the restraints of the genre and medium of the era; still, it gets points for trying.


Also, it just seems odd that there was no resolution to the presence of the Guardian itself- as far as we can tell, it's still there, and that seems to be pretty careless of Starfleet to just leave it there like that, as it is a very dangerous device- if someone as "good" as McCoy can erase the existence of Starfleet, what damage could be done by someone of a malicious nature?

At least seal it up, deactivate it or destroy it or something.

 

Continueing my look at the series- however, I haven't yet watched 2nd and 3rd episodes from the order I've been referencing, but I have caught two other early Season 2 episodes from the remastered airings on TV, so for a brief break from my pattern, I'm going to review the three Season 2 episodes I've watched to keep this rolling, and will fill in the blanks as I proceed.


201- Amok Time:
-Premise: Spock starts behaving strange as a Vulcan mating ritual approaches.
-T2Q Comments: This episode actually surprised me quite a bit- no 60's cheesiness (except, perhaps ever so slightly with the Chapel scenes, and the definitively-60's quick editing and camera angles of one sequence during the marriage ritual) and actually a pretty decent script and surprisingly decent acting from the main 3 characters, which is probably what makes this episode work so well- it focuses (and properly portrays) the Kirk/Spock/McCoy friendship very well. It's almost a pitty the various Vulcan weirdness had to happen at all since it's just an excuse for a Kirk/Spock fight.
Still, since a lot of the Vulcan weirdness pops up in other Trek shows (most notably Star Trek 3 and the Vulcan 2-parter in Enterprise's 4th season, particularly the latter since T'Pau is also in that episode), and the overall quality of the execution for the material, I'll list this one as a Definite Essential.

204- Mirror Mirror:
-Premise: A freak transporter occurance sends Kirk and others are sent to an alternate universe where Earth has become an imperialistic power.
-T2Q Comments: Alternate universe, evil-goatee, scarred-face fun. Don't really have to go into much detail, as I'm a sucker for AU stories, and this one's pretty decent. Mirror Sulu is better than Real Sulu though
Given the number of Mirror related episodes in the franchise, this one's also a Definite Essential.

207- Catspaw:
-Premise: Kirk and co are trapped in a Halloween-esque castle by a powerful entity
-T2Q Comments: Just the fact that they did a Halloween episode is amusing enough to recommend this, hehe.
Main flaws are the attempts at humor surrounding the cat and associated music, the cat turning into a woman and back (the cat is the most ruthless and most terrifying of animals? uh, sure lady, whatever you say...), not to mention Chechov's hair- wow, nice wig. The seduction scene is also a big "doh!".
However, the real dissapointment of the whole episode is that the DeSalle/Chechov "breaking-free" subplot aboard the Enterprisee is quite interesting and involving, but goes nowhere, which is a real shame as it could have made for a great payoff. I hope the DeSalle character shows up again.
Though I'm probably being to lenient on it just because it's a Halloween episode, I'm gonna list this one as a "Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential".

Up next, : 202: Who Mourns for Adonais?, 203: The Changeling & 205: The Apple.


Alternate Universe Log:

-TOS: The Alternative Factor (Anti-Matter Universe)
-TOS: Mirror, Mirror (Mirror Universe)


Links to the remastered footage for both Mirror Mirror & Catspaw:

[image=http://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/mirror/mirror_sequence_3.jpg] [image=http://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/mirror/agonizer_1_new.jpg] [image=http://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/mirror/leaving_planet_new.jpg]

Mirror Mirror Remastered Video

[image=http://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/catspaw/new_castle_1.jpg] [image=http://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/catspaw/new_castle_2.jpg]

Catspaw Remastered Video

 

The CG varies from episode to episode- the last 4 or 5 episodes saw a huge improvement over the first few episodes when they switched to a different CGI model (supposedly the first model was more detailed and accurate, but the new one is easier to light properly and thus is comes across as looking more realistic). Looks better on TV than it does in the screen shots, as well.

 

Yeah, the first few remastered episodes were way too faithful to the original FX shots they were replacing- they ended up looking just as bad, since they matched all the flawed camera angles and movement of the ship- it just didn't look natural. The more recent episodes look a lot better since they're taking more liberties in creating more dynamic and varied shots with more realistic movement (though the credits sequence still has the Enterprise swooshing around at that cartoony hot rod angle which, though a minor thing since I skip the credits anyways, annoys the living freaking hell out of me because it's such a boneheaded thing to be faithful to).

 

Yeah, I knew I messed up that spelling up somehow, I'll try to remember the right one next time

 

Actually, the Kahn episode was one of the ones where they started to do better work with the CGI and take liberties with the shots- some of the new shots between the Enterprise and Botany Bay really helped give a sense of size to the Enterprise that is almost always lacking in other shots, and you almost feel sorry for the Botany Bay as it's discarded in what is easily one of the best new shots.


The first 8 remastered episodes (Balance of Terror, Miri, The Devil in the Dark, The Naked Time, The City on the Edge of Forever, I Mudd, Arena & Catspaw) were the ones where nothing was really done all that differently, and most of those contained the other CGI ship moel which was much whiter and "flatter" looking.

Starting with The Trouble With Tribbles, Mirror Mirror, Space Seed, the Menagerie 1 & 2, Corbomite Manuever and onwards, starts started to get elaborated upon instead of being strictly CGI recreations of the original shots.

 

Space Seed also demonstrated just how big a pair McCoy has:

MCCOY: Well either strangle me or cut my throat. Make up your mind!
KHAN: Where am I?
MCCOY: You're in a hospital, holding a knife to your doctor's throat.
KHAN: Don't play games with me...
MCCOY: It would be most effective if you cut the caratoid artery just below the left ear...

Plus, Amok Time is essential for "Spock's Theme" and that hokey fight music On top of it all, Mirror Mirror is the inspiration for one of my all-time favorite jazz songs


[image=http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/0/0f/Mirror_Spock.jpg]
"Spock With A Beard"

 

202- Who Mourns For Adonias?:
-Premise: The crew are taken by a being claiming to be the greek god Apollo, who demands they worship him
-T2Q Comments: I like the Chekov humor ("I am Apollo!" "and I am Czar of all the Russians."). Though somewhat interesting in premise, the overall episode just feels like a rehash (albeit more tolerable than the material it is rehashing); from the powerful being having a power source destroyed to the female ancint history specialist falling in love with her subject (and as soon as we see she's on the away team, it's instantly and painfully telegraphed that that was exactly what was gonna happen- and, btw, why would she ask why she was with the away team AFTER she beamed down with them? Probably shoulda asked before they scrambled your molecules, eh?). The giant hand thing reaching out and grabbing the Enterprise, though a little cheesy, is a tad creepy of a visual though.
Bottomline? If you want aliens posing as mythological gods, stick to Stargate as this episode is ok, but definitely not essential.

203- The Changeling:
-Premise: A strange probe that wipes out an entire civilization is brought aboard the ship and mistakens Kirk for it's creator
-T2Q Comments: Kirk: 3, Computers: 0 (though, to be fair, this is definitely the best of the "Kirk talks a computer to death" episodes so far). This episode alsohad to be the basis for Star Trek: The Motion picture, what with the "earth probe being combined with an alien probe to become something new" angle.
Also, after Nomad has killed several Red Shirts who have fired upon him with no effect, you would think the other Red Shirts would, oh, I don;t now, stop shooting at the killer invincible probe or something so it wouldn't be provoked into disintegrating them.
And, the Uhura memory wipe thing is just...no. Rededucated to college level within a few hours? Somehow defaultly spoke swahili? Bluey?
A refernece to something past the Warp 10 barrier is irksome, though it's early for the franchise so i guess it's forgiveable (hell, I still remember a TNG trading card or some kind of spinoff book mentioning Romulan ships going at Warp 12...).
There's a particularly perplexing logic error within the script itself early on when Spock says the attacks by the Nomad on the Enterprise's shields is equal to 90 photon torpedoes, and the Enterprise is able to take several such attacks before losing shields (I guess they just don't make them like they used, eh?), then fires 1 torpedo at the Nomad with no effect on it, to which Kirk wonders in amazement how anything coukd absorb that much power... uh, apparently your ship did a bang up job on the magnitude of 360 times more.

There's a small Enterprise connection apparently in that the Malurian civilization destroyed in this episode was mentioned or appeared in an Enterprise episode.

Still, it's a fairly well done episode depsite those problems and the dumb Uhura plot. I classify it as a "Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential".

205- The Apple:
-Premise: An away team is stuck on a paradise world with deadly plants, exploding rocks and anangry machine god named Vaal, which treatens the Enterprise in orbit.
-T2Q Comments: Holy crap, talk about a "been there, done that" episode. We've got the plants that spurt attacking spores at people (which have a tendancy to appear and dissapear in the shot as needed ), a morality theme about a civilization stagnating (for, what? the 3rd time?) and a powerful being trapping an away team whose powersource must be destroyed (done at least 3 or 4 times now) by the Enterprise's phasers (which was just done TWO EPISODES AGO). Another episode that makes you wonder about the lack of shuttlecraft use (especially here in the 2nd season after it's been established that they're there and can land on planets).
Interesting to note a reference to the possibility of a suacer separation in this episode, even if it doesn't happen.
At one point the crew wonder how the locals, who have