Star Trek TOS: Season three ... this may be sacrilege but...

[icarus]

Star Trek TOS: season three.

This may be sacrilege, but watching season three, I can see why it went off the air. Who killed all the good writers from season one and two?

Comments

[rembrandtswife]

Season three was when it passed from Roddenberry's hands, as producer, to some other dude's. And then the ball started to roll downhill.

*pauses a minute to recall if there are any good s3 episodes*

Well, I like "The Empath" a lot. And "Spock's Brain", for MST3K values of "like". *g*

[icarus]

Drinking. Game.

[rembrandtswife]

"What is 'brain'??"

*gulp*

[icarus]

I'm going to write that Kirk/Spock fanfic.

[rembrandtswife]

That one? which one?

[icarus]

Oh, I have one in my notebook. Based on season one.

[rembrandtswife]

Ah, good.

"Turnabout Intruder" is kind of interesting for the sake of William Shatner playing a bitchy queen. Mostly that episode is SEXISM ALL UP IN YO' FACE, though.

[icarus]

Yes, Star Trek has the virgin/whore dichotomy down pat, don't they?

[rembrandtswife]

Actually, I don't think that's a big issue for TOS; I think it's generally pro-female sexuality. The annoying thing about "Turnabout Intruder" is this idea that women can't be starship captains because they're too emotional and impulsive.

*pauses to let that sink in*

AND JAMES TIBERIUS KIRK ISN'T???

When Kirk's old flame switches consciousness with him, her mind in his body and vice versa, Kirk turns into a camp gay version of himself. But it's mostly a more extreme version of himself, whereas the actress playing Kirk's-mind-in-Lester's-body comes across as more rational and decisive than Kirk does most of the time. After all, this is the same guy who was split into an empathetic but indecisive wimp and a self-indulgent alcoholic rapist and coward.

... Can you tell I just don't actually *like* Kirk very much?

[icarus]

AND JAMES TIBERIUS KIRK ISN'T???

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

[senmut]

It was intentional by the network. They wanted the show dead, which meant killing off the fanbase. There are SOME gems in the 3rd season, but yeah, it went downhill hard.

[icarus]

The difference between season two and season three is ... stunning.

[icarus]

What are the gems of the third season? *hunts* Because "Spock's Brain" hurts my brain.

[senmut]

"The Enterprise Incident", "Day of the Dove", "The Tholian Web" (mostly for Bones and Spock interaction), "The Savage Curtain", "All Our Yesterdays", and "Turnabout Intruder" (for Shatner's acting) are all ones I remember as being solid episodes.

[icarus]

The Enterprise Incident has actually turned out to be one of my favorites. "Military secrets are the most fleeting" and "You underestimate yourself" are two of my favorite lines.