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Reviews
Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome (1968)
The Enterprise attacks a giant amoeba
The Immunity Syndrome" feels like a first-season episode not a lot of action, but plenty of drama. In most other TOS episodes, the villain is an alien race or some psychotic member of the Federation. In this episode, the villain is a giant amoeba. Not one of Trek's more memorable villains.
I hated this episode when I was a younger. Not enough action, no planet to visit, Klingons to fight or Trek babe to drool over. But it seems to grow on me as I get older. I can appreciate this episode for the drama and certainly don't consider it a stinker anymore. However, I wouldn't put in the top half of best Treks, though it's probably somewhere near the top of the bottom half.
I'm giving "The Immunity Syndrome" a C+ grade.
Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon (1967)
A solid episode dealing with computer war
Ambassador Fox wins my award for the stupidest, most belligerent Federation representative ever to come aboard the Enterprise. This guy is so full of himself, he's willing to ignore Code 710 and risk the Enterprise (and perhaps interstellar war) simply because he's convinced his diplomatic capabilities can overcome any obstacles. Despite the high probability that Kirk and the landing party have been taken hostage, and despite an obvious attack against the Enterprise from Eminiar VII, Fox ignores the sound advice of Scotty and the rest of the bridge crew and storms ahead with his ill-fated attempt at negotiating a treaty to secure a spaceport.
All in all, I find this episode very entertaining. Anan 7 seems pretty ruthless, Ambassador Fox has you throwing tomatoes at the screen whenever he's visible, and I always like it when Kirk and company are stealthily sneaking around blasting everything in sight. And the idea of a war fought totally by computers gets you thinking. We're really not that far away from that type of reality, where the ease of waging war makes it easy to forget the horrors behind it. I'm giving "A Taste of Armageddon" a B+ grade and setting up my own disintegration machine to help motivate my kids to get their homework done.
Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (1967)
Worst episode of first season
The storyline for "The Alternative Factor" is a great concept the possibility of a negative parallel universe and a madman whose insane actions could lead to the destruction of EVERYTHING. But there are several aspects of this episode that really bother me, and IMHO, "The Alternative Factor" is the worst first-season episode.
I like the concept for this episode. I also like the dialogue between Kirk and Spock in the briefing room when they finally put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. But letting Lazarus roam freely about the ship is a flaw I can't excuse, and the final solution seems a bit drastic. I'm also not a fan of the special effects. For the most part, first-season episodes are pretty good, but this episode feels like it was put together in a big hurry. I'm giving "The Alternative Factor" a D grade and will find an alternative episode to watch when I can.
Star Trek: The Deadly Years (1967)
Star Trek ages gracefully
I'm totally impressed by the makeup job for the landing party characters (with the exception of the aged Lt. Galway, who looks pretty fake). Kirk, McCoy and Scotty REALLY DO look old, especially McCoy. I'm not sure today's makeup artists could do a better job of making someone appear 30-40 years older. And the acting jobs by Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and Doohan are top notch. They ACT like they're old...especially McCoy, who is even crustier than ever in old age and has his southern drawl magnified. One note, however: Kirk appears to be balding pretty bad when he's "between the ages of 60-72," but he actually has MORE hair at the end when he's gotta be in his 80s.
"The Deadly Years" is an all-around solid episode. The script is well-conceived, the makeup is excellent, and the actors give arguably their best performance of the series. There are a lot of other TV shows that have an episode where the main characters are really old (Cheers, The Brady Bunch), but they never seem very convincing. In "The Deadly Years," I really felt like Kirk and company were 30 years older. There are several episodes I like better, but this episode definitely makes my Top 20 list. I'm giving "The Deadly Years" a B+ grade and admitting I'm getting a little gray but radiation will do that to you.
Star Trek: Metamorphosis (1967)
A relatively boring second-season episode
I like Kirk's speech to Cochrane about what's out in the galaxy: "We're on 1,000 planets and spreading out. We cross fantastic distances, and everything's alive, Cochrane. Life everywhere. We estimate there are millions of planets with intelligent life. We haven't begun to map them. Interesting?" Hell yeah!
This episode bores the hell out of me. There's virtually no action, I hate Commissioner Hedford, a lot of time is spent talking to the Companion via the universal translator, and I was never particularly fond of the love story. Plus, the end of this episode is really sappy. But there aren't any embarrassing moments and very few holes in the storyline. A below average episode in my book, but not pathetic. I've given "Metamorphosis" a C- grade.
Star Trek: The Omega Glory (1968)
A very underrated action episode
I really like this episode up to the point where the American Flag makes its appearance. It starts to go downhill when the parallel of Yangs/Yanks and Kohms/Communists comes into play. Though Shatner really goes over the top during his Declaration of Independence speech, it still sends a chill up my spine when he reads it. I especially like the line, "It must apply to EVERYONE or it means NOTHING! Do you understand!" There is lots of action in this episode, and Morgan Woodward pulls off another strong performance as Captain Tracy. I've always been surprised when I see this episode near the bottom of other fans' rankings. I think this episode is very underrated. I'm giving "The Omega Glory" a solid B grade and consider this to be at or near the Top 25.