The vacuum pump for the little guy only weighs 10 pounds, and I don't see why the ebeam source can't be miniaturized. Remember the smaller your chamber is, the easier it is to pump down to vacuum. I agree they don't follow Moore's law, but I have no problem imagining a truly portable SEM in the future.

Watching these again after nearly thirty years....

Man Trap was pretty bad. I remember being absolutely terrified over the salt creature, though. LOL.

Charlie X is pretty good. Uhura's song is laughable, though.

And in Man Trap, that wasn't Sulu's quarters with all of the plants, it was the botany lab.

I haven't looked, but is TOS available on Netflix? I've been watching a lot of DS9 reruns recently, I forgot about a lot of some good episodes that I've come across.

I think every incarnation of Star Trek is available on Netflix US, even the animated series


This is my watching plan, 2 a week unless otherwise stated

All of TOS
All of animated series (4 a week)
Going through a 'best of' list, and watching the best of TNG (I cannot wade through all of it, sorry)
All of DS9 (I've heard it's great)
Best of Voyager
Depending on how I feel at this point, either all of, or best of, Enterprise


I've already watched all the movies this year, btw.

Fun fact - after an initial screening in black and white, MIRI was banned by the BBC after viewer complaints and not seen in the UK until the 1990's.

It was not the only banned episode...

Just a heads up to anyone interested:

Original Motion Picture series (I-VI) are Amazon's deal of the day today. $30 for Bluray and $22 for DVD. Pretty excellent prices on both.

I've been trying to watch all of TOS on Netflix (as I've never sat down and watched every episode). But every time I put on the pilot episode I fall asleep instantly. This has happened like 6 or 7 times, and even though I start up again at the point where I left off in the episode, I'm still only just over halfway through. On the plus side I'm getting plenty of much needed beauty rest.

I have all the motion pictures on BD that I care to own of TOS... 1-3

Dagger of the Mind SEASON 1, EPISODE 09



Wiki Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagger_of_the_Mind

Not a great episode imo, kind of humdrum, boring and very standard American drama. The female interest, Lt. Helen Noel, was nice looking and reminded me of Geena Davis, but there wasn't great chemistry between her and Kirk. That mind probe light bulb thing was pretty iconic though. No red shirts died, but what is notable about the episode is the first use of the Vulcan mind-meld, and the title - the first use of a Shakespeare quote in an episode title (from Macbeth), something that would be a running thread throughout the original series.

Running Red Shirt Dead Count: 2

To put it in my list of order of how much I liked it:

Top.-
The Enemy Within (S1E05)
The Naked Time (S1E04)
Miri (S1E08)
Charlie X (S1E02)
Where No Man Has Gone Before (S1E03)
The Man Trap (S1E01)
What Are Little Girls Made Of (S1E07)
Mudd's Women (S1E06)
Dagger of the Mind (S1E09)

hah, that BBC quote is so BBC!

Oh man, I haven't seen the animated series since I was a kid and it was on Nickelodeon. Looking forward to watching it again if it will be on Netflix.

The Enterprise beams up a box from an insane asylum... I see nothing that could possibly go wrong with that plan!

I sorta liked the horror/suspense vibe of Dagger of the Mind, but it dragged a bit. The girl was pretty, but she's too much of a one-episode disposable character to be interesting. No redshirts die, but they do tease us by having two of them get knocked unconscious.

Misc:

As the episode was originally written, the writers wanted Yeoman Rand to beam down with Kirk, but there were ongoing issues with Grace Lee Whitney and also the writers finally realized that it makes not a lick of sense to send a yeoman off to places like alien worlds and insane asylums.

The Corbomite Maneuver SEASON 1, EPISODE 10



Wiki Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagger_of_the_Mind

(Note to Americans: It's spelt 'manoeuvre'). Very good episode, but it looked a little uncharacteristic. Spock's hair was odd, and Uhura was wearing mustard not red. Checking up, this was the first episode made after the 2 pilots, so that explains it, but in terms of character, dialogue, etc it was spot on. Very, very enjoyable, and EVERYONE knows the creepy image from Balok's ship (above). Also, I do love Clint Howard in this, he's got charisma.

Good script, plotting, coherent and well written about the central premise, and the whole Kirk describing the to-and-fro as poker rather than chess was super cool.

Also, I loved this little interaction between Spock and Kirk, it doesn't read as much, but it's played superbly by both in their face acting:

Spock: Has it occurred to you that there is a certain... inefficiency in constantly questioning me on things you've already made up your mind about?
Kirk: It gives me emotional security.


No red shirts down in this one

Running Red Shirt Dead Count: 2

To put it in my list of order of how much I liked it:

Top.-
The Enemy Within (S1E05)
The Naked Time (S1E04)
Miri (S1E08)
The Corbomite Maneuver (sE10)
Charlie X (S1E02)
Where No Man Has Gone Before (S1E03)
The Man Trap (S1E01)
What Are Little Girls Made Of (S1E07)
Mudd's Women (S1E06)
Dagger of the Mind (S1E09)

one of my personal favorites... I used to never be able to look at that image when watching ST in the sixties because the sight of it was to intense for me at the early age.

now it's just a great cat mouse episode with a beautiful ending of hope.

One of my favorites also.
Seven year old Clint Howard (Ron's little brother) is great.

The Corbomite Maneuver is definitely a top-tier Star Trek episode, hands-down. I love how the tension ratchets up. The Krik/Spock/McCoy chemistry is spot-on. The friction between McCoy and Kirk over Bailey is a fun subplot. Kirk's audacious last-minute bluff is what the James T Kirk character is all about.

We've seen chess used as a metaphor for Spock's logical philosophy a few times before, and this will be a theme that runs throughout the entire franchise. Poker as a counterpoint is a fun and very memorable device. I think poker gets mentioned a few times in TNG.

I even like the alien being Balok. We've seen the effects department do make some legitimately spooky aliens on a shoestring budget with Balok, and also in What Are Little Girls Made Of? and The Man Trap.

Misc:

The voice of Balok is none other than my main man Ted "Lurch" Cassidy, whom we saw earlier in What Are Little Girls Made Of?. He'll be back in another episode.

The "Tranya" that Clint Howard drinks is grapefruit juice. Young Clint Howard absolutely hated the stuff, which you can sorta tell by watching him drink it.

Honestly, the pilot is pretty zzzzzzzz. It's not great Trek. I would skip ahead to Charlie X.

Ya, I love the Roddenberry touch at the end --the idea that intelligent species will ultimately be peaceful and tolerant even if they are a bit cagey at first. A great classic sci-fi theme.

Are there any really good screen shots of kirk's girdle?

The Menagerie, part 1 and 2 SEASON 1, EPISODE 11+12



Wiki Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Men...iginal_Series)

Iconic, but basically a chopped up, padded and regurgitated version of the then unseen pilot 'The Cage'. The stuff with Pike is pretty good of course, and we have the iconic shots of the green slave girl, the actor that looked nothing like Jeffrey Hunter in that beeping chair, and the big headed aliens using mind control, that I didn't realise until many years after seeing it were little old ladies. I prefer the original pilot, it's has much better narrative drive, and I find the whole framing device mostly tedious, with a rather trite resolution to Spock's mutinous activities.
No red shirts down in this one

Running Red Shirt Dead Count: 2

To put it in my list of order of how much I liked it:

Top.-
The Enemy Within (S1E05)
The Naked Time (S1E04)
Miri (S1E08)
The Corbomite Maneuver (sE10)
Charlie X (S1E02)
The Menagerie (S1E11+12)
Where No Man Has Gone Before (S1E03)
The Man Trap (S1E01)
What Are Little Girls Made Of (S1E07)
Mudd's Women (S1E06)
Dagger of the Mind (S1E09)

Wow. I can't believe I just found this thread. How embarrassing.

I think I'll take some time to digest the entire thing. I was in High School when TOS originally ran, so I've had the good fortune of re-watching it through many phases of my life.

One thing I'd like to add is a comment on what I find to be the best Star Trek book ever written: "A Stitch in Time" - the back story of Garak's life written by Andrew Robinson, the actor who played Garak on DS9.

Most Trek books are meh at best, but this is a must read for any Trek fan,

http://www.amazon.com/Stitch-Time-St.../dp/0671038850

and majQa' to OP for starting the thread.

Menagerie really dragged. Honestly, I fell asleep. Nothing to add.

I feel like in the rankings so far, Corbomite is undervalued, Where No Man is overvalued. Dagger of the Mind was watchable too, I don't think it's the nut low episode we've seen.

I agree with the second bit, always rated Dagger quite highly.

I think you are right to some degree, I'm letting memory play its part, and I might reorder based on how they feel after a week or two...