Spock’s Brain

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5431.4: The Enterprise is intercepted by a starship of unknown design and a woman from the ship beams directly into the bridge and uses a device to render the Enterprise’s crew unconscious. She then walks over to Spock… When the crew awakens, McCoy summons Kirk to sick bay and informs him that the alien visitor apparently removed Spock’s entire brain without even performing surgery. After Spock’s body is fitted with a device that allows McCoy to control the Vulcan’s motor functions with a remote control, Kirk starts a search for Spock’s brain, hoping it can be recovered and somehow returned to Spock before his body decays.

Season 3 Regular Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy)

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Lee Cronin
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Marj Dusay (Kara), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), James Daris (Creature), Sheila Leighton (Luma)

Notes: Generally considered the original Star Trek’s lowest ebb, Spock’s Brain – and every other third season episode attributed to “Lee Cronin” – actually came from the pen of Gene L. Coon, who has laid much of the series’ groundwork, including the Klingons and the Prime Directive.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Enterprise Incident

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5031.3: Captain Kirk, acting tense and irrational, orders the Enterprise straight into the Neutral Zone for no reason. Romulan warships (identical to Klingon ships due to sharing of technology) capture the Enterprise, and Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Romulan flagship. When Spock admits that Kirk may be unfit to command, the Captain lunges at Spock – and receives a “Vulcan death grip.” Kirk, actually alive, is beamed back to the Enterprise and reveals to McCoy and Scott that their actual mission is to steal one of the Romulans’ cloaking devices and escape intact.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by D.C. Fontana
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Alexander Courage

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Joanna Linville (Romulan Commander), Jack Donner (Tal), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Richard Compton (Technical Officer), Robert Gentile (Technician), Mike Howden (Romulan Guard), Gordon Coffey (Romulan Soldier)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Paradise Syndrome

Star Trek ClassicStardate 4842.6: Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to a planet to inform any inhabitants that they must evacuate the planet due to an approaching asteroid’s imminent collision. A society similar to Native American Indians has arisen on the planet, but near their villages, the landing party finds a strange obelisk whose design and construction is far beyond the capabilities of the planet’s natives. Kirk finds that the monolith can be opened by the combination of sounds found in the order “Kirk to Enterprise,” but when he enters the obelisk, he is attacked by waves of energy that erase his mind. With no time to spare, Spock and McCoy have to return to the Enterprise without Kirk, and begin trying to use the ship’s tractor beam to divert the asteroid. Meanwhile, Kirk becomes the tribal chief, takes a wife and even expects to become a father, but the Enterprise may not be able to save her former captain’s future.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Margaret Armen
directed by Jud Taylor
music by Gerald Fried

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Sabrina Scharf (Miramanee), Rudy Solari (Salish), Richard Hale (Goro), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Naomi Pollack (Indian Woman), John Lindesmith (Engineer), Peter Virgo, Jr. (Warrior), Lamont Laird (Indian Boy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

And The Children Shall Lead

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5029.5: Kirk and the crew, visiting a scientific colony manned by several human families, are shocked to find that all but the children have died violently – and the children do not seem to care about anything but playing. Aboard the Enterprise, the children gradually begin to influence and take over the minds of the crew as part of a plan by their “friendly angel,” a seemingly benevolent alien called Gorgon who uses children as a means of spreading his influence, and unless he can find some way to expose Gorgon’s true intentions, Kirk will become a prisoner on his own ship.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Edward J. Lasko
directed by Marvin Chomsky
music by George Duning

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Craig Hundley (Tommy Starnes), James Wellman (Professor Starnes), Melvin Belli (Gorgan), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Pamelyn Ferdin (Mary), Caesar Belli (Steve), Mark Robert Brown (Don), Brian Tochi (Ray), Lou Elias (1st Technician)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Is There In Truth No Beauty?

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5630.7: Miranda Jones, a telepath who studied mental disciplines on Vulcan, arrives with Ambassador Kolos, a Medusan – an alien life form whose physical form is so hideous, humanoid life forms are driven insane if they look upon him. Also beaming aboard is Larry Marvick, one of the original designers of the Enterprise – and hopelessly in love with Miranda, although she has chosen to spend her life serving as a liason between the Medusans and other humanoids. Miranda senses that someone is actively contemplating murder, and suspects Spock is envious of her once-in-a-lifetime mission – but even Miranda is unaware of the real would-be killer and their target.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Jean Lisette Aroeste
directed by Ralph Serensky
music by George Duning

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Diana Muldaur (Dr. Miranda Jones), David Frankham (Larry Marvick)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Spectre of the Gun

Star Trek ClassicStardate 4385.3: A Melkotian warning buoy is unwittingly destroyed by Kirk and the Enterprise. When Kirk beams down with a landing party, the owners of the buoy, fearing that a pointlessly violent race has entered their space, trap the Enterprise officers in a replica of Tombstone, Arizona (drawn from Kirk’s mind) and force Kirk and company to play out the roles of the Clanton Gang – doomed to lose the gunfight at the O.K. Corral at sundown.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Lee Cronin
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Jerry Fielding

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Ron Soble (Wyatt Earp), Bonnie Beecher (Sylvia), Charles Maxwell (Virgil Earp), Rex Holman (Morgan Earp), Sam Gilman (Doc Holloway), Charles Seel (Ed), Bill Zuckert (Johnny Behan), Ed McCready (Barber), Abraham Sofaer (Melkotian Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Day of the Dove

Star Trek ClassicStardate not given: Having both received distress calls from a besieged planet, the Enterprise and a Klingon ship arrive simultaneously, and Kang, the Klingon captain, forces Kirk to beam a party of Klingons aboard the Enterprise. The ship then runs into an area of turbulence, and automatic emergency systems close bulkheads on most of the ship. The Klingons escape into the Enterprise to battle an equal number of the ship’s crew. Both Klingons and Federation officers blame the ship’s problems on each other, and some individuals even see the opportunity to settle scores with their arch-enemies, but nobody realizes the real catalyst behind the violence.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Jerome Bixby
directed by Marvin Chomsky
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Michael Ansara (Kang), Susan Howard (Mara), David Ross (Lt. Johnson), Mark Tobin (Klingon)

Notes: Michael Ansara reprised the role of Kang in 1994’s Deep Space Nine episode Blood Oath, and in Flashback, the 1996 30th anniversary episode of Voyager.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Tholian Web

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5693.2: Searching for the missing starship Defiant, the Enterprise eventually finds the lost ship enshrouded in a strange glow. A landing party beams aboard, finding that the entire crew of the Defiant went mad and murdered one another. While Kirk and the landing party inspect the Defiant, they notice the ship’s solid surface are becoming ghost-like, while the crew of the Enterprise see the Defiant fading away. With the Enterprise’s transporters confused by the fading, Kirk waits while the others beam back, but he cannot be retrieved as the Defiant disappears. Waiting for the next “interphase” during which the Defiant might return to the Enterprise’s dimension, members of the crew begin to go insane, like the Defiant’s crew. To make matters worse, a Tholian vessel arrives, and its commander refuses to believe that the Enterprise is assisting a damaged ship since the ship in question has disappeared. Tholians begin to weave a web of energy around the Enterprise, holding the ship in place as more of the crew lose their minds, and Spock and McCoy debate Spock’s ability to command in Kirk’s absence.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Judy Burns and Chet Richards
directed by Herb Wallerstein
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Sean Morgan (Lt. O’Neil)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Plato’s Stepchildren

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5784.0: The Enterprise is summoned urgently to assist the seriously ill Parmen, head of the planet Platonius. After McCoy manages to give Parmen the necessary elixirs, Parmen and his fellow Platonians use immense telekinetic powers to force Kirk, McCoy and Spock to stay on the planet and behave as puppets to Parmen’s whim for their amusement. The only Platonian showing disgust at the others’ abuse of their power is Alexander, but he is also apparently the only Platonian incapable of telekinesis, and he cannot assist the landing party as they try to escape Parmen’s control.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Meyer Dolinsky
directed by David Alexander
music by Alexander Courage

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Michael Dunn (Alexander), Liam Sullivan (Parmen), Barbara Babcock (Philana), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Ted Scott (Eraclitus), Derek Partridge (Dionyo)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Wink Of An Eye

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5710.5: When a landing party investigating Scalos begins to vanish one by one, Kirk, Spock and McCoy try to find out what is happening before more of the crew disappears, until Kirk himself is abducted. Kirk finds the cause to be a group of endangered Scalosians who move faster than human sight or hearing can detect. They need to repopulate their species, and find that speeding human males up to Scalosian speed will meet their needs. Kirk must find a way to get a message to Spock and McCoy, who are working on a cure for the mystery “ailment,” as well as stirring up fighting among the Scalosians, before they have control of the Enterprise.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Arthur Heinemann
story by Lee Cronin
directed by Jud Taylor
music by Alexander Courage

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Kathie Browne (Deela), Jason Evers (Rael), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Erik Holland (Ekor), Geoffrey Binney (Compton)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Empath

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5121.0: Kirk, Spock and McCoy search for two missing scientists on a planet whose sun is about to explode, but they only find visual logs that show the scientists disappearing. Then the landing party disappears as well, finding themselves trapped by two aliens who snatched the scientists away and experimented on them until they died. The aliens now have Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and a mute empath nicknamed “Gem” by the landing party in their custody, and the captors seem to be intent on repeating the same deadly experiments on their new specimens.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Joyce Muskat
directed by John Erman
music by George Duning

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Kathryn Hays (Gem), Alan Bergmann (Lal), Davis Roberts (Dr. Ozaba), Jason Wingreen (Dr. Linke), Willard Sage (Thann)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Elaan Of Troyius

Star Trek ClassicStardate 4372.5: The Enterprise is ordered to ferry Ambassador Petri of Troyius to up the dohlman of Troyius’s sworn enemy, the world of Elas. The dohlman turns out to be Elaan, one of the most striking examples of the women of Elas, whose tears, according to legend, leave any man susceptible to her charms. Petri’s duty on the slow voyage back to Troyius is to train the savage Elaan in the more civilized ways of the Troyians, a lesson she does not willingly take on. After stabbing Petri, throwing numerous tantrums, and ordering her guards to refuse Kirk permission to resolve any disputes, Elaan sheds a tear, which infects Kirk, clouding his judgement at precisely the wrong time when a Klingon warship enters the sector.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by John Meredyth Lucas
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Frances Nuyen (Elaan), Jay Robinson (Petri), Tony Young (Kryton), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Lee Duncan (Evans), Victor Brandt (Wilson), Dick Durock (Guard #1), Charles Beck (Guard #2), K.L. Smith (Klingon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Whom Gods Destroy

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5718.3: The Enterprise is carrying a new drug to the mental hospital on Elba II, where it is hoped that the last dangerously insane patients in the Federation can finally be treated. But when Kirk and Spock beam down, they do not realize that the facilities have been taken over by the inmates, led by Garth, a former Starfleet captain who has also become a shape-shifter. Before anyone on the Enterprise realizes what is transpiring on Elba II, Garth has activated a shield to prevent the landing party from escaping.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Lee Erwin
story by Lee Erwin and Jerry Sohl
directed by Herb Wallerstein
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Steve Ihnat (Garth), Yvonne Craig (Marta), Richard Geary (Andorian), Gary Downey (Tellarite), Keye Luke (Cory)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5730.2: Two natives of the planet Cheron are brought aboard after one of them helps the Enterprise chase the other down after he had stolen a shuttlecraft from a Federation starbase. Bele and Lokai, however, have a dispute that goes far beyond a simple pursuit of a criminal. Their hatred – and, indeed, the entire shuttlecraft incident – is rooted in a deep racial prejudice which threatens to engulf not only them, but the Enterprise and Kirk’s crew.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Oliver Crawford
story by Lee Cronin
directed by Jud Taylor
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Frank Gorshin (Bele), Lou Antonia (Lokai), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Mark of Gideon

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5423.4: Kirk is planning to beam down to the overpopulated planet Gideon to meet with the leaders, but apparently arrives at the wrong place in a transporter malfunction (or so it seems to the Enterprise crew.) Kirk finds himself aboard the Enterprise, but cannot locate anyone else aboard except for Odona, who offers no answers to his bafflement at why no one is aboard the ship but him (or so he thinks). It turns out that the leaders of Gideon plan on using Odona – and now Kirk – as pawns in a horrific scheme to reduce the planet’s population…

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by George F. Slavin and Stanley Adams
directed by Jud Taylor
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Sharon Acker (Odona), David Hurst (Hodin), Gene Dynarski (Krodak), Richard Derr (Admiral Fitzgerald)

LogBook entry by Earl Green