Episode:1x01
The Man Trap

Jack's Rating:

A salt creature that can disguise itself in any form stalks the Enterprise.

Features:
Stardate: 1513.1
Air Date: 09/08/66
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
Excellent way to start off the series. Setting the tone for future episodes in many ways, we see the death of the red-shirts for the first time as well as the mystery solving skills of the crew. The salt vampire is creepy and you actually end up feeling a little bit sorry for the murderous thing.

Episode:1x04
The Naked Time

Jack's Rating:

A mysterious alien virus strips the Enterprise crew of their inhibitions, exposing their innermost thoughts.

Features: Time Travel
Stardate: 1704.2
Air Date: 09/29/66
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
Easily one of the greatest Star Trek episodes ever. It has everything. Even Sulu shirtless and fencing! Oh, you must like this one! They even reused the story in The Next Generation.

Episode:1x11
The Menagerie, Part 1

Jack's Rating:

Spock commandeers the Enterprise to take Captain Christopher Pike to the off-limits planet Talos IV.

Features:
Stardate: 3012.4
Air Date: 11/17/66
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
I bumped this episode up to a 2.5 because I watched it recently after decades of skipping it and found that it didn't bother me as much as it used to. That being said, and before I get roasted by Trek fans everywhere, I know this is a classic. Captain Pike in the chair beeping his head off is entertaining - but it's clearly the producers trying to shoehorn the pilot episode into the series which makes it feel clunky. The main reason I have never been a fan of this episode is pretty simple: it was on ALL THE TIME when I was a kid! Every other week, it seems, this episode was on TV!

Episode:1x20
Court Martial

Jack's Rating:

Kirk is charged with negligence in the death of an Enterprise crewman, but is later acquitted when Spock discovers that the crewman isn't really dead.

Features:
Stardate: 2947.3
Air Date: 02/02/67
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
I typically don't much like the courtroom drama episodes....I mean, this is Star Trek! I want to see warp speed and phasers and photon torpedoes and aliens....But as is true with each Star Trek series, there is always a really good court-based episode ["Measure of a Man; TNG], and this is the one for the original series.

Episode:1x22
Space Seed

Jack's Rating:

The Enterprise finds the S.S. Botany Bay, a 1990's sleeper ship carrying a group of genetically bred supermen led by Khan Noonian Singh.

Features:
Stardate: 3141.9
Air Date: 02/16/67
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
Up there with "Arena" as far as classic Trek episodes go, "Space Seed" is even more infamous in that it gives us the backstory for one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. I admit I had never seen this episode when I watched Wrath of Khan in theaters in 82. The terrific thing is you don't need to see it to enjoy that film. One fun bit of trivia. When Kirk smashes the glass on Khan's sleeping chamber, his phaser falls off his hip. You can see Deforest Kelley look at the phaser and then up in the direction of the camera as if questioning if they were going to call a cut for a retake.

Episode:2x02
Who Mourns for Adonais?

Jack's Rating:

The Enterprise crew is trapped on a planet by the Greek god Apollo, who wants humans to stay on the planet to worship him.

Features:
Stardate: 3468.1
Air Date: 09/22/67
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
Yet another classic! This one really captivates me to this day. Who's to say that the ancient greek gods weren't aliens? If all myths and religions have a basis in fact....well anyway, this is a great episode.

Episode:2x03
The Changeling

Jack's Rating:

The Enterprise encounters Nomad, a small mutated Earth probe that has been destroying planets in its path in an attempt to sterilize the "imperfect" life forms on them.

Features:
Stardate: 3451.9
Air Date: 09/29/67
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
Here it is....my second favorite episode of all time. This one has everything you need to be a classic. Powerful enemy, eminent danger for the ship, a mind meld, and Kirk at his absolute best! It also follows the red-shirt rule! My step-dad and I used to drive my Mom crazy walking around saying "I am Nomad. I am Perfect" for a week after seeing this episode on TV. Couple of neat trivia items here: This is the first time Scotty says the famous "giving them all we got" phrase. This episode is also one of four times Kirk is able to talk a computer to death. The other episodes are The Return of the Archons , I, Mudd, and The Ultimate Computer.

Episode:2x04
Mirror, Mirror

Jack's Rating:

While transporting during an ion storm, Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Uhura are switched with evil counterparts in a parallel universe, and it is up to the parallel Spocks to get their respective crew members back.

Features:
Stardate: Unknown
Air Date: 10/06/67
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
And here we have the reason why Season 2 is the best season of the original series. Because of this episode, everyone knows that goatees mean you are evil! This is a truly exceptional episode...hands down. The overall peril Kirk and company face is nerve-wracking, and the acting is terrific. Let's face it, everyone has a person or two they would like to put in the agony booth, right? I would easily list this one in my top ten TOS episodes.

Episode:2x06
The Doomsday Machine

Jack's Rating:

A giant robot ship wandering through the galaxy destroying everything in its path cripples the starship Constellation and then turns on the Enterprise.

Features:
Stardate: 4202.9
Air Date: 10/20/67
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
This one really shines with the new HD effects! The over the top acting by William Windom is terrific. I usually dislike episodes where someone pushes Kirk and the crew around but this one makes sense. The overall peril of the planet eater is so palpable that it should make you nervous.

Episode:2x08
I, Mudd

Jack's Rating:

An android masquerading as an Enterprise crew member hijacks the ship and delivers it to Harry Mudd, who has developed a race of beautiful android women.

Features:
Stardate: 4513.3
Air Date: 11/03/67
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
A hysterical romp with Harry Mudd! Roger Carmel was amazing in that role and I really wish he had come back another time or two. As it is, this is the last live action appearance of Harry Mudd until Rainn Wilson's very different Mudd on Discovery. This one is a riot with a really fun ending. Did you know that Roger Carmel did voice work on the original Transformer's cartoon? You won't hear Cyclonus, Motormaster, or Bruticus the same ever again!

Episode:2x19
A Private Little War

Jack's Rating:

The Enterprise crew becomes involved in a civil war on Neural, and must arm the tribe of an old friend of Kirk's in order to maintain a balance of power with the opposing tribe that is receiving arms from the Klingons.

Features: The Klingons
Stardate: 4211.4
Air Date: 02/02/68
Director: Marc Daniels

Episode:2x22
By Any Other Name

Jack's Rating:

The Enterprise crew is captured by a group of Kelvans from the Andromeda Galaxy, who are scouting this galaxy for possible colonization.

Features:
Stardate: 4657.4
Air Date: 02/23/68
Director: Marc Daniels

Episode:2x26
Assignment: Earth

Jack's Rating:

The Enterprise travels back in time to 1968, where Kirk and Spock help a mysterious stranger named Gary Seven avert a nuclear crisis.

Features: Time Travel
Stardate: Unknown
Air Date: 03/29/68
Director: Marc Daniels

Episode:3x01
Spock's Brain

Jack's Rating:

A mysterious woman steals Spock's brain.

Features:
Stardate: 5431.4
Air Date: 10/25/68
Director: Marc Daniels

Jack's Review
This episode gets a really bad rap, but it is actually a lot of fun.