EARLY ACCESS - Star Trek TOS Season 3: Why It's Better Than You Remember
Added 2023-05-09 12:32:47 +0000 UTCOur Star Trek TOS Season 3 wrap-up discussion video will be posted on Friday, but you can watch it right now!
We give our general thoughts on the season, if we agree with its bad reputation, and then jump into our favorite episodes!
Thank you for being a Patron & enjoy!
Comments
He wouldn't split it. He'd unite it in saying "this season sucks!
MntrTodd
2023-06-21 01:44:29 +0000 UTCFred would go on to split Space 1999 fandom several years later
Scarpad’s Domain
2023-05-18 03:06:23 +0000 UTCI think they meant the longest teaser in Season 3.
James H
2023-05-12 00:37:07 +0000 UTC"I. Mudd's" teaser is longer than "Spectre of the Gun".
MntrTodd
2023-05-12 00:33:46 +0000 UTCTo quote Lord Garth: "Blind. Truly BLIND!"
Jeff Cornell
2023-05-10 17:01:43 +0000 UTCI also think it is the worst season but it has good episodes. But y'all liked some episodes I think are pretty bad and you did not like some episodes or did not like some episodes as much (in other seasons) as I do. To each his own. I really like IS there no Truth in Beauty, the Cloud Minders, Elaan of Troyius, and All our Yesterdays are great episodes. I even like Plato's Stepchildren even though it takes to long with the bad guys controlling them. But I really hate the Paradise syndrome, The Empath, And the Children Shall lead, and Requirem for Metheuselah. I was surprised how well oyu like Spectre of a Gun and Let that be your last Battlefield. I think those are fine but a little off for me for different reasons.
Carl Peterson
2023-05-10 16:22:00 +0000 UTCWeakest = worse than 1 and 2. I still believe that is true. Doesn't mean I think it's awful, but there are a lot of straight up goofy episodes of Season 3. I appreciate that you guys LIKED those, but most trek fans don't. Camp is part of that. The 3rd season was trying to be Lost in Space because that was more popular. But Trek fans like Trek more than Lost in Space for a reason.
Chuck Rice
2023-05-10 02:39:58 +0000 UTCI wonder if people's opinions of the original series episodes is largely determined by how old they were when they first saw certain episodes. For the people who are still alive, the core demographic for Star Trek when it first aired is probably between the ages of 62 and 90 now. My generation was born just after the original series was canceled, but then it found new life in syndication which means that it aired frequently when you were a child basically as alternative children programming as it was probably a channel away from stuff like Sesame Street. Back then Star Trek was much more popular with boys, so we probably found episodes like Day of the Dove to be more exciting and possible romantic-type episodes written from a female fan view to be more boring and slow. Maybe there was more romantic-type stuff and less action during the third season; I never noticed that before. Most people born after 1970 never watched the episodes in order, so people might have just say liked the first few god-like being episodes that they watched the best.
Chtphr Rrr
2023-05-10 02:22:26 +0000 UTCNice job guys 👏👏
Charles Regazzi Jr
2023-05-10 00:38:14 +0000 UTCThe Tholian Web and Day of the Dove had good things but were mostly average to us. Whom Gods Destroy we did not like outside of the Garth as Spock scene
Josh (Target Audience)
2023-05-09 22:54:41 +0000 UTCInteresting that you did not mention Day of the Dove or The Tholian Web. I think those two episodes are often mentioned as bright spots from Season 3. You didn't mention Whom Gods Destroy which I think is probably an above average Season 3 episode due to the guest actors, but making the Tellarite and Andorian speaking actor roles would have improved that one. You can kind of point out the Season 3 episodes for the small cast for those episodes and the lack of outside shooting locations. Some of those first few Season 1 episodes had lots of background extras. Some of the Season 3 episodes just seemed to have Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beaming down to a new random planet. Except for the fact that those are just about the three most important characters on the show except for Scotty who keeps the ship running and that they would beam down without any security guards which sort of made no sense, those episodes were sometimes unique, interesting, and good. To me Star Trek should mostly be about beaming down to strange new worlds. It seemed like some of the later series did not even have the budget to do even this. I guess three of the better or more unique episodes were written by fans. Too bad that they could not have kept this sort of thing fan writing going for a Season 4 and 5 or for more and better animated episodes.
Chtphr Rrr
2023-05-09 22:44:53 +0000 UTCVINDICATION!!! Woo hoo! Finally someone agrees with me about “turnabout intruder “. Everybody online always bags about this episode, and when I’ve defended it, people get very personal and nasty. I don’t know why. It’s a solid episode. Also interesting to note that the very first episode produced, “the Corbomite maneuver “features the introductory scene of Kirk and McCoy giving Kirk a physical in sickbay, using that funky leg exercise machine and Kirk drying off with a little green towel. In the very last episode produced, “turn about intruder”, it also features Kirk and McCoy‘s final scene together in sick bay, giving Kirk a physical using that leg contraption, and toweling off with the same little green towel. I very much doubt at the time anybody noted the coincidence.
Rich Cirivilleri
2023-05-09 20:46:58 +0000 UTCTrue!
Josh (Target Audience)
2023-05-09 20:33:12 +0000 UTCThank you both. I have to say, revisiting this series again still manages to show me something new. For instance, my dislike of season 3 is not nearly as great as it was for many years. Seeing the show through your eyes as new viewers (something pretty much all of us will never have again, and now you, too) helped a lot in that regard. A mindset based on 50+ years of viewing and listening to other people can be hard to change. Let's face it: even the worst season of Star Trek TOS is better than 90% of the TV shows that came along over the next 40 years.
Collin Freeman
2023-05-09 19:59:50 +0000 UTCTng and ds9 did things better sure, however, I still think they are the most representative episodes of what classic tos is about
Andreas Schmitt
2023-05-09 18:25:48 +0000 UTCThe problem I have with battlefield is that while the message is a good one it's as subtle as a sledgehammer. I still think the episode is perfectly fine but for a franchise that likes to think of itself as smart the writing here is way too clunky.
Phillip Grischa
2023-05-09 18:18:58 +0000 UTCGlad to get this praise now before I get absolutely shredded in the comments once this goes public
Josh (Target Audience)
2023-05-09 17:58:31 +0000 UTCI was happy to see both Turnabout Intruder and Savage Curtain make the lists. Both favorites of mine that are widely reviled among the fan base.
James H
2023-05-09 17:18:25 +0000 UTCAnyone who places "Turnabout Intruder" in their top 5 is a superior human being and if it was physically possible I'd bow in your presence as a show of respect for your good taste. Perhaps bowing isn't on topic and I would just do the "Mirror Mirror" salute. Before this channel I felt alone in this world for loving it, and now I look forward to the cartoons.
Ken R
2023-05-09 17:04:28 +0000 UTCJosh, what you said about " let that be our last battlefield", white black and black white is exactly word for word how I feel about the episode. It's the one tos episode I'll always remember. It's unforgettable, it has a classic message, wrapped in a Sci fi analogy... it's exactly the kind of story that every single star trek show kept telling, to shed light on issues. If anyone wanted to know what star trek is about and how it feels, I'd show them this one and the gorn episode Arena. You get all the messages, all the camp, all the action, lots of shatner. Those two episodes tell you everything you need to know about star trek
Andreas Schmitt
2023-05-09 14:31:50 +0000 UTCClearly you guys are wrong. And The Children Shall Lead Should be Number 1. Like, c'mon. You hacks. Great video guys. Good way to start the morning while I'm waking myself up. Look forward to seeing the full series wrap up. Onward to new and better things. On the subject of your favorite TOS episode... Not to spoil anything of course, but i'd say by Season 3 of TNG, that type of episode, and episodes like Enterprise Incident, and Cloud Minders do become almost the normative type of episode you see. TNG Season 3, and going forward. Very different to The Original Series, in a good way. It has a unique flavor and identity. TOS very much feels like the seeds being planted structurally. There are episodes of TOS that, once you get deeper into Star Trek, will feel almost like the prototypes or the archetype for what comes later. Obviously, future writers looking back. We had a number of big TOS fans working on later Star Trek shows, such as Ronald D. Moore, who would then go onto create the Battlestar Galactic reboot.(Which you guys should definitely check out the miniseries at the very least. I think you'd both enjoy that.)
Steven Johnson
2023-05-09 13:42:18 +0000 UTC
