25 Best Star Trek TOS Episodes: Consensus-Classics Chronology
Instead of my personal opinions, I've tried to give the consensus-best episodes (based on my 40 years as a Star Trek fan). I'm thinking of someone who's never seen the show and wants to watch only the best.
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- DirectorJames GoldstoneStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyGary LockwoodThe flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy.The second pilot, so looks a little different than the rest of the series, but a great episode. No Dr. McCoy.
- DirectorLeo PennStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyA transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two halves: one meek and indecisive, the other violent and ill tempered. The remaining crew members stranded on the planet cannot be beamed up to the ship until a problem is fixed.Good Kirk vs. Evil Kirk, but much better than that sounds, and offering some real psychological truth thanks to writer Richard Matheson, and the cast. Note that Kirk commits a horrible crime in this one.
- DirectorHarvey HartStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyRoger C. CarmelThe Enterprise picks up untrustworthy entrepreneur Harry Mudd accompanied by three beautiful women who immediately put a spell on all the male crew members.Harry Mudd, one of the classic Trek antagonists, in an unusual and imaginative episode that mixes humor, suspense, sex appeal, and speculation. Gorgeous photography, as in all S1 shows.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyAnthony D. CallAfter the Enterprise is forced to destroy a dangerous marker buoy, a gigantic alien ship arrives to capture and condemn the crew as trespassers.A very early episode, a cinematic and exciting space adventure with an anti-war message.
- DirectorMarc DanielsRobert ButlerStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyJeffrey HunterSpock kidnaps the disabled Capt. Pike, hijacks the Enterprise, and then surrenders for court martial.This two-parter recycles the first pilot (known as "The Cage"), otherwise unusable because it had a different Captain.
- DirectorRobert ButlerMarc DanielsStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyJeffrey HunterAt Spock's court martial, he explains himself with mysterious footage about when Capt. Pike was kidnapped by powerful illusion casting aliens.The conclusion of a movie-quality epic in which Spock mutinies -- but why? This story has been compared to "Forbidden Planet," but Star Trek's version may be even better.
- DirectorVincent McEveetyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyMark LenardThe Enterprise must decide on its response when a Romulan ship makes a destructively hostile armed probe of Federation territory.Another anti-war episode, and the introduction of the Romulans. One of the most naval episodes, similar to a submarine movie.
- DirectorRobert SparrStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyEmily BanksThe past months have left the crew exhausted and in desperate need of a break, but does this explain McCoy's encounter with a human-sized white rabbit or Kirk crossing paths with the prankster who plagued his days at Starfleet Academy?Whimsical, but suspenseful too. Written by Theodore Sturgeon.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyFor bringing hostility into their solar system, a superior alien race brings Captain Kirk into mortal combat against the reptilian captain of an alien ship he was pursuing.The one with the lizard-man, called the Gorn. Kirk vs. the Gorn on a deserted planet.
- DirectorMarc DanielsStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyRicardo MontalbanWhile on patrol in deep space, Captain Kirk and his crew find and revive a genetically-engineered world conqueror and his compatriots from Earth's Twentieth Century.Introduces Khan, the genetically-engineered dictator who'll return as the villain in 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."
- DirectorRalph SenenskyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyJill IrelandThe Enterprise investigates a planet whose colonists should be dead, but are not.A heartbreaking love story, another Eden-that-wasn't-meant-to-be.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyThe Enterprise is sent to a mining colony that is being terrorized by a mysterious monster, only to find that the situation is not that simple.Only Spock can communicate with a "monster" that's preying on miners. One of the great "message" episodes.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyJoan CollinsWhen a temporarily insane Dr. McCoy accidentally changes history and destroys his time, Kirk and Spock follow him to prevent the disaster, but the price to do so is high.Often cited as the best episode of TOS, has Kirk and Spock go back in time to fix the timeline. From a script by Harlan Ellison.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyIn the throes of his Pon Farr mating period, Spock must return to Vulcan to meet his intended future wife, betrothed from childhood.Theodore Sturgeon again, and the S2 premiere, taking us to Spock's home planet of Vulcan for lots of sturm and drang.
- DirectorMarc DanielsStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyA transporter accident places Captain Kirk's landing party in an alternate universe, where the Enterprise is in the service of a barbarically brutal empire.Spock has a goatee, and promotions come by assassination -- must be an alternate universe.
- DirectorMarc DanielsStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyThe USS Enterprise encounters the wrecked USS Constellation and its distraught commodore who's determined to stop the giant planet-destroying robot ship that killed his crew.Imagine "Alien," if the Alien was a mobile weapon. Sort of like a giant drone in outer space.
- DirectorRalph SenenskyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyWhile returning to the Enterprise aboard the shuttlecraft, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a seriously ill Federation diplomat find themselves kidnapped by an energized cloud.Haunting, unique episode with a message of tolerance. Zephram Cochrane would reappear (but played by a different actor) in "Star Trek: First Contact."
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyThe Enterprise hosts a number of quarrelling diplomats, including Spock's father, but someone on board has murder in mind.Fans love this one because we meet Spock's parents (and we see why it took so long).
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyTo protect a space station with a vital grain shipment, Kirk must deal with Federation bureaucrats, a Klingon battle cruiser and a peddler who sells furry, purring, hungry little creatures as pets.One of the most famous episodes, about the perils of an invasive species, even a cute one.
- DirectorJohn Meredyth LucasStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyAn apparently insane Capt. Kirk has the Enterprise deliberately enter the Romulan Neutral Zone where the ship is immediately captured by the enemy.One of the best S3 episodes, concerns the ethics of espionage and maintaining a balance of power, in this case with the Romulans.
- DirectorMarvin J. ChomskyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyBoth humans and Klingons have been lured to a planet by a formless entity that feeds on hatred and has set about to fashion them into a permanent food supply for itself.Like "Errand of Mercy" from S1, a memorable use of the Klingons in an anti-war story.
- DirectorHerb WallersteinRalph SenenskyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyWith Capt. Kirk and the derelict USS Defiant apparently lost, the Enterprise grapples with an insanity causing plague and an attack by the Tholians.A mournful episode, as the characters fear that Captain Kirk is dead. They need to get him back before the Tholians web them in.
- DirectorJohn ErmanStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyTrapped in an alien laboratory, Kirk, Spock and McCoy meet an empath and are involved in a series of experiments.A science-fiction passion play, very unusual and hard to forget.
- DirectorMurray GoldenStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyOn a planet, looking for an urgent medicinal cure, Kirk, Spock and McCoy come across a dignified recluse living privately but in splendor with his sheltered ward and a very protective robot servant.Another star-crossed love affair for one of the space wanderers of the Enterprise.
- DirectorMarvin J. ChomskyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyWhen Kirk, Spock and McCoy investigate the disappearance of a doomed planet's population, they find themselves trapped in different periods of that world's past.A typically fatalistic S3 show, with time-travel, romance, suspense and drama. Followed by the novel "Yesterday's Son."