The Animated Series, Season 1: The Magicks of Megas-Tu

The Animated Series, Season 1
"The Magicks of Megas-Tu"
Airdate: October 27, 1973
9 of 22 produced
8 of 22 aired

Synopsis

Travelling through a dimensional portal at the center of the galaxy, the Enterprise find a universe where thoughts manifest themselves as if magic. They encounter a powerful race of beings who put humanity on trial for its past sins. Can Kirk convince them of how far humanity has come?

After only one week of wearing these orthopedic fur shorts, just look how ripped I've become! (Results not typical.)

The Animated Series, Season 1: The Infinite Vulcan

The Animated Series, Season 1

"The Infinite Vulcan"

Airdate: October 20, 1973

2 of 22 produced

7 of 22 aired

Synopsis

The Enterprise has been ordered by Starflleet to investigate a newly discovered planet on the periphery of the galaxy. On this world, they discover an ancient race of sentient plant life. Soon, however, they realize that this race is held in thrall to a... giant... who appears to be related in some way to a scientist from Earth's past. This... giant scientist... has designs on Spock, who he deems the most perfect specimen he has yet encountered. Creating a giant clone of Spock, named (wait for it)... Spock 2, the maniacal giant clone Keniclius 5 seeks to dominate all life in the galaxy. 

Notice the stitch work on my impeccably resized Starfleet uniform, Captain!

The Animated Series, Season 1: The Survivor

The Animated Series, Season 1
"The Survivor"
Airdate: October 13, 1973
5 of 22 produced
6 of 22 aired

Synopsis

While near the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise finds the ship of long long philanthropist Carter Winston, missing for five. Coincidentally, his fiancée is currently serving aboard the Enterprise. However, Carter almost immediately ends their relationship, to everyone's surprise. What happened to Carter in the five years he was missing? What secrets is he hiding?

Why, of course I'm Carter Winston. Can't you see I'm wearing my rich guy cravat?

The Animated Series, Season 1: More Tribbles, More Troubles

The Animated Series, Season 1

"More Tribbles, More Troubles"

Airdate: October 6, 1973

1 of 22 produced

5 of 22 aired

Synopsis

Escorting a shipment of quinto-triticale grain to Sherman's Planet, the Enterprise comes across a Klingon battle cruiser in hot pursuit of a small Federation craft. Much to the surprise and chagrin of the crew, they discover that an old friend, Cyrano Jones, has run afoul of an old enemy, Koloth, over an old menace: the tribble.

No, friend Kirk, this model cannot be used as a toupee!

The Animated Series, Season 1: The Lorelei Signal

The Animated Series, Season 1
"The Lorelei Signal"
Airdate: September 23, 1973
6 of 22 produced
4 of 22 produced

Synopsis

The Enterprise is exploring a region of space where ships seem to go missing once every 27.346 star years. It is almost time for the next disappearance. The Enterprise receives a signal that draws it to the Taurean system. There they find a race of beautiful and technologically advanced women. The men of the Enterprise seem to immediately fall under their thrall. Lieutenant Uhura and Nurse Chapel seem to be the only crew members not affected. With most of the crew incapacitated by the siren song of these women, it is up to Uhura to save the Enterprise and her crew. What is the source of these mysterious women's powers? Will Uhura be able to stop them?

With this much mini-skirted fem-power, can there be any doubt?

The Animated Series, Season 1: One Of Our Planets Is Missing

The Animated Series, Season 1

"One Of Our Planets Is Missing"

Airdate: September 22, 1973

7 of 22 produced

3 of 22 aired

Synopsis

"Captain's log, stardate 5371.3. A huge cosmic cloud has been reported moving into the outer fringe of our galaxy. Nothing like it has ever been seen before. Starfleet Command has sent the USS Enterprise to investigate, as we are the only vessel in the vicinity of the phenomenon. Our present position is in the Pallas 14 system, which contains Mantilles, the most remote inhabited planet in the entire Federation." Mantilles is put into mortal danger by a planet-eating cloud, which may or may not be intelligent. The Enterprise rushes in, and discovers that the cloud is indeed sentient, and appears to be a giant space-borne organism with a brain, a digestive system, and antibodies. Spock initiates a mind-meld with the being in order to ascertain its level of intelligence. At the last moment, he convinces the creature to return from whence it came and to spare inhabited planets from its hunger.

She who smelt it dealt it, Enterprise!

The Animated Series, Season 1: Yesteryear

The Animated Series, Season 1
"Yesteryear"
Airdate: September 15, 1973
3 of 22 produced
2 of 22 aired

Synopsis

After returning from another trip through the Guardian of Forever, Kirk and Spock find that no one on the Enterprise remembers Mr. Spock or who he is. In fact, another man, an Andorian, claims to be the first officer of the Enterprise. History records that a seven-year-old Spock died during a maturity test, and thus never served in Starfleet. Realizing they changed history in some way, Spock uses the Guardian again to go back to Vulcan and save his own life. Will he succeed or will he only further alter the timeline?

Spock rushes headlong into the plot hole...

The Animated Series, Season 1: Beyond The Farthest Star

The Animated Series, Season 1

"Beyond The Farthest Star"

Airdate: September 8, 1973

4 of 22 produced

1 of 22 aired

Synopsis

On a mission beyond the galaxy fringe to investigate mysterious radio emissions and chart new stars, the Enterprise encounters a mysterious derelict in orbit of a dead star. This pod ship, a piece of highly advanced technology apparently left by an ancient insectoid race, has been cold and silent for 300 million years. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty discover that the ancient crew deliberately destroyed their vessel to contain a malevolent intelligence on the star below. When the same intelligence commandeers the Enterprise, they face the same decision. Do they fight, or do they self-destruct, in order to prevent this intelligence from taking over every starship and computer network across the inhabited galaxy? In the end, Kirk and crew bluff the entity off the ship, leading it to believe that they will crash land into the star husk while instead, they use the slingshot effect to surmount its gravitational pull. With the creature safely off the ship, the Enterprise resumes its mission of charting the reaches of extra-galactic space.

But not before Kirk got his animated butt zapped by the entity!

Treknobabble's Official TOS Top Ten List

To arrive at our top ten, we polled four of Treknobabble's contributors, and asked each to come up with their own personal Top 15 list for the series. We gave each number 1 pick 15 points, each number 2 pick 14, etc. Then, we added the totals of each list together, and the top ten totals gave us the ten episodes that earned the most accolades from us.

Without further ado, here they are:

10. The Doomsday Machine (22 Points)

In Soviet Russia, super joint smoke YOU!

A great "fallen captain" and a lot of peril make this episode a consistent entertainer. Ship after ship meet their ends in the maw of the planet-eater, and Kirk's level head prevails over Commodore Decker's rashness.

TOS Season Three Recap

Bittersweet though it may be, Season 3 has come to a close, marking the end of The Original Series and the end of our TOS reviews. So let's assess things as we wind up our three-season mission to explore strange new remastered discs, and to seek out new nerds and new appreciation... to go boldly where no blog has gone before! (Well, maybe a few...)

A major award goes to the fan who can name this episode...