That Wacky Redhead

[THE OBSERVER]

Brainbin, think you can name the legislation that Hubert Humphrey passed as President? Is it good stuff?

 

[Brainbin]

First off, as I unfortunately neglected to notice in my last post, That Wacky Redhead now has over 2,000 replies! Thank you all for making your interest in this timeline known, and for all coming back now, y'hear? This month also marks the first anniversary of That Wacky Redhead, after who knows how long I kicked that little plot bunny of an idea around in my own Brainbin. I originally decided to post in November because the story I was writing for NaNoWriMo wasn't panning out - which, sadly, happens every year - and, fed up with this constant lack of creativity, I was sufficiently motivated to post what I thought was a fairly original idea to a forum I'd been reading for years and posting to for a couple of months. And 125,000 words later, here we are. Needless to say, I won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year - but fortunately, my RL schedule has lightened somewhat, allowing me to write (and update) a good deal more often than I have been recently, so do look forward to that!

When the big day itself (the 18th) finally rolls around, I'll unveil a proper "celebration" post. (Fortunately, it's on a Sunday this year.) But in the meantime, I'm going to get the ball rolling by bringing up two previous reader participation events which have sadly fallen by the wayside and need to be revived.

First is my Commenter Demographics report. So far, I have 32 data points, acquired from three different sources: user information pages, voluntary disclosure, and discreet inquiry. If you've already commented and want to let me know what year you were born (I can infer your age from that - I need the birth year to make my spreadsheet work), I'll add you to the list. If you want to do so privately, that's also acceptable, as I will not disclose the identities of any specific data points. And obviously, this will not be a scientific sample of the population, because it was not chosen randomly, and was provided by volunteers, etc., etc. I already have age data for the following commenters:

Brainbin (obviously), phx1138, Glen, NCW8, Thande, Falkenburg, vultan, unclepatrick, stevep, The Professor, e of pi, Orville_third, Andrew T, joea64, The Blue-Eyed Infidel, Electric Monk, DTF955Baseballfan, e_wraith, LordInsane, ChucK Y, Lizzie Harrison, Unknown, Chipperback, PW MAX, TxCoatl1970, Dathi THorfinnson, Evermourn, GAB-1955, Fardell, The Sandman, Theodoric, and Tovarich. If you are on this list, but have not been mentioned, I invite you to participate.

In addition, a number of us have contributed our list of Top 10 Star Trek episodes, including Yours Truly, and again I was hoping for a larger sample in order to codify something approaching a "definitive" list. I invite all of you to share your list of favourites. Of course, by Star Trek I refer to only to the series of the same name, which aired (IOTL) from 1966 to 1969, as I have consistently done throughout this thread. So far, myself, phx1138, Glen, Falkenburg, and ChucK Y have contributed.

And now, as always, to respond to your thoughtful comments!

It will be ... intriguing to see the history of the mini-series ITTL; Shogun, The Winds of War, and The Thorn Birds, to name a few, were written well after the POD.

All true - not to mention all of the original telefilms that also began taking off IOTL at about this time, and carrying on into the 1980s.

I would've gotten away with it, if it wasn't for that pesky Brainbin!

Well, really, that ghost costume was awfully transparent

Mind you, it could be a sign of the maturing multi-cultural society.
In the case of Roots, maybe the African-American communities have moved beyond securing public consciousness of their Story.

That would be the best possible explanation

Or maybe the younger element of the 'Public' believes it knows all it needs to about the subject and adopts that infuriating indifference that can be so maddening?

And that would be the worst

It's interesting that you bring this up, because the stereotype here is pretty much the opposite: that Americans, being a nation of immigrants, are obsessed with their genealogy (and the negative side of the stereotype is the idea that they're hypocrites who bang on about republicanism by day but by night are constantly trying to prove that they're descended from monarchs or nobles).

What you say about American interest in genealogy is true, of course, but the groups most stereotypically interested in that sort of thing are the most "British" ones - either the old Yankee elite, who can (and do, with relish) trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower; or the old Dixie aristocrats, who tout their proud (and "untainted", given the high probability of "racial mixing" in that region) heritage, with all ancestors being of Southern stock since the 17th or 18th centuries.

Whereas here until recently there just wasn't that much interest precisely because of the class system: the upper classes already know their (and each others') family trees inside out, everyone else can look it up in Burke's Peerage, and thus nobody needs to talk about it--while the working classes are peversely proud of being the opposite.

But you're taking for granted that there is a codified social registry which has become ingrained in the culture - that's certainly not the case everywhere

I think I'm just sceptical of this because I've been hearing it constantly from futurist types since the early 1990s and it never seems to happen. Though of course that might just be people predicting something too early, before the technology has caught up. And back then it was more expecting that internet would be merged into TV rather than the other way around...

Well, technological "progress" is a really a matter of timing more than anything else - we've certainly ample evidence of that throughout history.

To my untrained eye it does seem that the sort of national-medium idea was more prevalent in the USA in the 1950s and 60s and today when people nostalgically look back at that period, which of course leads neatly back to the point of your TL.

Yes, that's very much my impression as well (though by my reckoning, this attitude continued into the 1970s), probably because (as I've noted several times) viewing options were very limited during this era, which stretched - at the very least - for a quarter-century (from the widespread adoption of television and the collapse of DuMont in the mid-1950s, to the rising popularity of cable in the early 1980s). That is a remarkably long tenure for any such status quo in the media.

I missed that... In my defense, tho, I've never been able to keep straight a share point & a rating point...

This update should serve as an excellent refresher course for you, or anyone else who might be confused on that subject.

If you do, there were plenty of good memetic commercials in the UK in the seventies - the PG Tips Chimps, the Hovis Bread ads, Fred the Homepride flour grader and the Smash aliens.

I think I'll have my hands plenty full with American commercials, but thanks for the suggestions of British ones. Since we keep veering back onto the topic of Whose Line, I'll share a British advertisement which is so hilarious that it brings me to tears, even though I've never actually seen it: the "weird, disembodied head that does the TV ads for The Sun newspaper". These ads would presumably have aired in the early 1990s, though sadly I'm not having much luck finding them on YouTube.

I thought you might be . I'd just like to mention an unusual case. In the 1990s, the BBC remade a 1930s American radio series - the Marx Brothers Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel - using scripts that had recently been rediscovered in the Library of Congress. It was recorded before an audience, and they even dressed the Spot FX man up as Harpo.

Thank you for sharing that with us - though I must say, I do not envy those two gentlemen who had to emulate Groucho and Chico, though I do admire their chutzpah.

Interesting. From what I've seen of his directorial work on ST, he should do well.

I felt that it was only right to have Burton become a director, since I'd already extended the same courtesy to Nimoy.

Brainbin, think you can name the legislation that Hubert Humphrey passed as President? Is it good stuff?

I'm afraid that the nature of the legislation passed by the Humphrey Administration is largely beyond the scope of this timeline.

I've been making excellent progress on my next update, which I hope to have ready in the next few days!

 

[Pyro]

I was born on the tenth day in the year of Big Brother if that helps. (January 10, 1984)

 

[unclepatrick]

Top Ten Star Trek

10:Squire of Gothos 9: Shore Leave 8: Space Seed 7:Mirror Mirror 6: Devil in the Dark 5: Arena 4:City on the Edge of Forever 3: Doomsday Machine 2.Balance of Terror 1.Trouble with Tribble Honorable mention Amok Time, Spectre of the Gun. Episode I tell my Wife, the family Star Trek Fanatic is my favorite Spock Brain. That drive her crazy.

 

[Unknown]

I was born on October 8, 1981.

 

[jpj1421]

I was born on August 4th, 1988. Ironic for this timeline, I don't really care for the original Star Trek. City on the Edge of Forever is the one I actually really love. Oh, the one with the Tribbles.

 

[PW MAX]

I was born February 24th, 1980, but you've already got my age data, so that's neither here nor there. As for my favorite original Trek episodes, there are many. I liked "The City On The Edge Of Forever" - had a great time watching that one with a bunch of my fellow Trek fans at a convention many years ago. "The Doomsday Machine" - I THINK that was the first original series episode I ever saw, not 100% sure. I liked it even more when Peter David linked the Doomsday Machine itself to the Borg in his novel Vendetta, even though I know the books aren't canon. "The Balance Of Terror" is another favorite. I like the episode "Mirror, Mirror" a lot, because I LOVE alternate universes - a big reason Fringe is one of my favorite shows now. I also like "Space Seed" a lot. And I like "The Trouble With Tribbles" a lot as well. Think I saw that one at a Convention as well, and I enjoyed it's tie-in with Deep Space Nine too.

Hopefully some of that was useful.

 

[NCW8]

In addition, a number of us have contributed our list of Top 10 Star Trek episodes, including Yours Truly, and again I was hoping for a larger sample in order to codify something approaching a "definitive" list. I invite all of you to share your list of favourites. Of course, by Star Trek I refer to only to the series of the same name, which aired (IOTL) from 1966 to 1969, as I have consistently done throughout this thread. So far, myself, phx1138, Glen, Falkenburg, and ChucK Y have contributed.

That's trickier than I thought it would be, but here you go:

1. Mirror, Mirror
2. The Trouble with Tribbles
3. The City on the Edge of Forever
4. The Devil in the Dark
5. The Menagerie, Parts I & II (Cheating, I know)
6. Amok Time
7. Balance of Terror
8. The Conscience of the King
9. Arena
10. I, Mudd

With honourable mentions to:

• The Man Trap
• Errand of Mercy
• The Doomsday Machine
• A Piece of the Action
• Day of the Dove

I know you didn't ask for it, but here's my top 10 Pertwee Doctor Who episodes:

1. The Dæmons
2. Day of the Daleks
3. The Three Doctors
4. Terror of the Autons
5. The Sea Devils
6. The Curse of Peladon
7. Carnival of Monsters
8. The Green Death
9. Inferno
10. Colony in Space

Honourable mentions:

• Doctor Who and the Silurians
• Frontier in Space
• The Time Warrior

Cheers,
Nigel.

 

[Thande]

Top ten TOS episodes? I haven't seen every episode, and some I haven't seen for a long time, but I'll give it a go.

The City on the Edge of Forever
Tomorrow is Yesterday
Balance of Terror
The Enterprise Incident
The Doomsday Machine
The Trouble with Tribbles
The Ultimate Computer
Arena
The Devil in the Dark
A Taste of Armageddon

I haven't actually seen "Mirror, Mirror" yet so I didn't include that one, though I suspect it'll be in the top ten when I do see it.

Unsurprisingly your tastes change over time. I remember when I was a kid I liked a lot of the bigger and more colourful/campy episodes that can seem sillier to me today like "Bread and Circuses", "The Mark of Gideon", "For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky", "And the Children Shall Lead", "The Immunity Syndrome", and even "The Alternative Factor". I don't necessarily dislike those episodes now, but I appreciated them a lot more back then. But not "Spock's Brain". Nobody can ever take "Spock's Brain" seriously, not even kids

 

[drakensis]

First off, as I unfortunately neglected to notice in my last post, That Wacky Redhead now has over 2,000 replies! Thank you all for making your interest in this timeline known, and for all coming back now, y'hear? This month also marks the first anniversary of That Wacky Redhead, after who knows how long I kicked that little plot bunny of an idea around in my own Brainbin. I originally decided to post in November because the story I was writing for NaNoWriMo wasn't panning out - which, sadly, happens every year - and, fed up with this constant lack of creativity, I was sufficiently motivated to post what I thought was a fairly original idea to a forum I'd been reading for years and posting to for a couple of months. And 125,000 words later, here we are. Needless to say, I won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year - but fortunately, my RL schedule has lightened somewhat, allowing me to write (and update) a good deal more often than I have been recently, so do look forward to that!

And now I am torn! As a regular NaNoWriMo participant I want to encourage you to try again... but I'd also like to see more of this! Can't you add 50,000 words to this in November?
(Seriously, congrats on keeping a project going for a year. That's as hard in it's way as completing NaNoWriMo)

First is my Commenter Demographics report. So far, I have 32 data points, acquired from three different sources: user information pages, voluntary disclosure, and discreet inquiry. If you've already commented and want to let me know what year you were born (I can infer your age from that - I need the birth year to make my spreadsheet work), I'll add you to the list. If you want to do so privately, that's also acceptable, as I will not disclose the identities of any specific data points. And obviously, this will not be a scientific sample of the population, because it was not chosen randomly, and was provided by volunteers, etc., etc.
If you are on this list, but have not been mentioned, I invite you to participate.

1978.
My first encounter with Star Trek was actually the James Blish anthologies which 'novelised' the series as short story collections. The volumes were published between 1967 and 1978 (although J A Lawrence may have written the last few). I wonder, do those exist ITTL?

In addition, a number of us have contributed our list of Top 10 Star Trek episodes, including Yours Truly, and again I was hoping for a larger sample in order to codify something approaching a "definitive" list. I invite all of you to share your list of favourites. Of course, by Star Trek I refer to only to the series of the same name, which aired (IOTL) from 1966 to 1969, as I have consistently done throughout this thread. So far, myself, phx1138, Glen, Falkenburg, and ChucK Y have contributed.

It's quite a struggle to keep it down to 10 but:
1. Balance of Terror
2. Mirror, Mirror
3. The Corbomite Maneuver
4. The Ultimate Computer
5. The Doomsday Machine
6. Journey to Babel
7. The Trouble with Tribbles
8. A Taste of Armageddon
9. Spectre of the Gun
10. Mudd's Women


Honorable mention for The Enterprise Incident and The Conscience of the King.

 

[phx1138]

Even if you don't cover commercials, there's some worth remembering. (I used to have a list of my favorites...)

Two I still recall, after all the others were sadly lost to failing memory... A Canadian beer commercial, parody of the sports figure endorsement: Aussie soccer players saying how much they like Molson Canadian (IIRC), with the tag, "But then, what do we know about beer?" (Funnier now, knowing about Aussies and beer...)

The other was a Shake & Bake commercial with a bunch of lads at a rooming house (could have been brothers, I suppose...), where one guy is "helping" by reading the instructions, provoking the remark, *strong Scottish accent* "Is that box heavy, Dave?"

 

[NCW8]

I think I'll have my hands plenty full with American commercials, but thanks for the suggestions of British ones. Since we keep veering back onto the topic of Whose Line, I'll share a British advertisement which is so hilarious that it brings me to tears, even though I've never actually seen it: the "weird, disembodied head that does the TV ads for The Sun newspaper". These ads would presumably have aired in the early 1990s, though sadly I'm not having much luck finding them on YouTube.

I can't say that I recall that one. As the characters in my son's current favourite cartoon would say, "the giant floating baby head ... yeah, where did that come from?"

And just to add one of my favourite UK adverts from the eighties: Paxo the Rooster Booster (which surprisingly is not for performance enhancing substances)

Thank you for sharing that with us - though I must say, I do not envy those two gentlemen who had to emulate Groucho and Chico, though I do admire their chutzpah.

I was reminded of it because I stumbled across them on archive.org a few days ago. There are also a couple of clips of the original series there.

Cheers,
Nigel.

 

[unclepatrick]

I was born February 24th, 1980, but you've already got my age data, so that's neither here nor there. As for my favorite original Trek episodes, there are many. I liked "The City On The Edge Of Forever" - had a great time watching that one with a bunch of my fellow Trek fans at a convention many years ago. "The Doomsday Machine" - I THINK that was the first original series episode I ever saw, not 100% sure. I liked it even more when Peter David linked the Doomsday Machine itself to the Borg in his novel Vendetta, even though I know the books aren't canon. "The Balance Of Terror" is another favorite. I like the episode "Mirror, Mirror" a lot, because I LOVE alternate universes - a big reason Fringe is one of my favorite shows now. I also like "Space Seed" a lot. And I like "The Trouble With Tribbles" a lot as well. Think I saw that one at a Convention as well, and I enjoyed it's tie-in with Deep Space Nine too.

Hopefully some of that was useful.

I planning with My Step by Step Timeline, to have David Gerrold bring in Peter David as a Writer on Star Trek Next gen season Two writer staff, and have him do three episodes for that season. The episodes are a more serious version of the Book Strikezone. He will do Q in Law as a two part episode for season 5, and the book Vendetta (The Borg/Doomsday Machine Book) as the season 6 final and two part season 7 opener.

 

[The Blue-Eyed Infidel]

Well, Brainbin has my details, so here is my top ten list of ST:TOS episodes:

10: The Deadly Years
9: The Enemy Within
8: And The Children Shall Lead
7: City On The Edge Of Forever
6: I, Mudd
5: A Piece Of The Action
4: Space Seed
3: Mirror, Mirror
2: The Trouble With Tribbles
1: The Squire Of Gothos

TB-EI

 

[Lord Insane]

Top ten Star Trek TOS episodes? Hm... may I ask for a pass for now? It was a while since I saw most episodes, and I've always felt a bit uncertain when asked to rank most things.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

It's been a long time since I saw a lot of them, but ones that are most memorable are probably favorites, so witht he help of Wikipedia's list for the names (since I don't recall names of episodes as much as scenes usually)

1. The Trouble With Tribbles - I love a good comedy.It's nice to see them with Klingons and not overtly fighting. Scotty's solution inspiring the "Double, Double, Toil and Tribble" fic I wrote on fanfiction.net back in 2000 or so as a way to get Voyager home. Just all sort of great scenes witht hsoe tribbles.

2. City on the Edge of Forever - Barely edged out for #1, but I won't complain if someone puts this first, as not everyone loves comedy like I do. Maybe best Trek episode ever ("best ever" doesn't have to mean "favorite" - it's just not everyone likes silliness like I do)

3. Amok Time - It's cool to remember that at age 7 or 8 when i first saw this, I had no idea that regulars coudln't die and was as shocked as Mr. Spock was that Captain Kirk was still alive.

4. I, Mudd. ("Mudd is unhappy. Now, listen to him - everything he says will be a lie." "I am unhappy." I love how Kirk outthinks people and androids and such.)

5. Space Seed

6. Tomorrow is Yesterday

7. The Doomsday Machine

8. A Piece of the Action ("Why would he wish to put our captain in a box?" Shades of the very literal Data I'd enjoy later, Plus as a kid I was already considering that stuff happens before and after scenes and episodes, and loved considering just what they coudl do with McCoy's communicator.

9. The Menagerie (Parts i and II) - I don't recall this being a two-parter, but I remember enjoying seeing the stuff with Captain Pike

10: Either Mudd's Women or The Corbomite Maneuver, though i didn't really recall it till I read the summary and noticed a few others had rated it highly.

So, let's go with Mudd's Women sicne I remember it more for #10, although frankly, if I had more time to investigate I might change the last few. Indeed, "The Ultimate Computer" sounds like one I would enjoy if I recalled it based on how I say I love Kirk outsmarting the androids, etc..

 

[Brainbin]

Thank you all for responding so enthusiastically to my call for volunteers! It's great to see so many familiar faces posting again; this now compels me to create a truly elaborate and comprehensive Anniversary Update to mark the occasion! Fortunately, I still have two weeks to go, and there's a lot to do between now and then!

I was born on the tenth day in the year of Big Brother if that helps. (January 10, 1984)

That helps a great deal, thank you! Great to have another child of the 1980s reading along!

10:Squire of Gothos
9: Shore Leave
8: Space Seed
7:Mirror Mirror
6: Devil in the Dark
5: Arena
4:City on the Edge of Forever
3: Doomsday Machine
2.Balance of Terror
1.Trouble with Tribble

Honorable mention Amok Time, Spectre of the Gun.
Episode I tell my Wife, the family Star Trek Fanatic is my favorite Spock Brain. That drive her crazy.

Thank you for sharing your list, unclepatrick. And although I've made abundantly clear that I'm not a fan of irony, I must admit that I do love so-bad-it's-good fare, and "Spock's Brain" is one such example. I adore that episode. Best moment: when Bones announces to Kirk that Spock's brain is gone. Kirk actually mouths the words "His... brain?"

I was born on October 8, 1981.

Then you may want to correct your user profile

I was born on August 4th, 1988. Ironic for this timeline, I don't really care for the original Star Trek. City on the Edge of Forever is the one I actually really love. Oh, the one with the Tribbles.

The most acclaimed episode of the series, and the most famous, respectively. Great episodes, both. And thanks for sharing your birthday!

As for my favorite original Trek episodes, there are many. I liked "The City On The Edge Of Forever" - had a great time watching that one with a bunch of my fellow Trek fans at a convention many years ago. "The Doomsday Machine" - I THINK that was the first original series episode I ever saw, not 100% sure. I liked it even more when Peter David linked the Doomsday Machine itself to the Borg in his novel Vendetta, even though I know the books aren't canon. "The Balance Of Terror" is another favorite. I like the episode "Mirror, Mirror" a lot, because I LOVE alternate universes - a big reason Fringe is one of my favorite shows now. I also like "Space Seed" a lot. And I like "The Trouble With Tribbles" a lot as well. Think I saw that one at a Convention as well, and I enjoyed it's tie-in with Deep Space Nine too.

Hopefully some of that was useful.

Thank you, PW MAX, it was! Six excellent episodes. I still have to work out just how to stick everything on a spreadsheet, though...

That's trickier than I thought it would be, but here you go:

1. Mirror, Mirror
2. The Trouble with Tribbles
3. The City on the Edge of Forever
4. The Devil in the Dark
5. The Menagerie, Parts I & II (Cheating, I know)
6. Amok Time
7. Balance of Terror
8. The Conscience of the King
9. Arena
10. I, Mudd

With honourable mentions to:

• The Man Trap
• Errand of Mercy
• The Doomsday Machine
• A Piece of the Action
• Day of the Dove

Thanks for sharing, Nigel! That's an excellent list - two-parter shenanigans aside, of course. I tend to find both "I, Mudd" (terrific mugging from Carmel elevates the episode all by itself) and "The Man Trap" (really effective atmosphere, even if it doesn't really feel all that Star Trek) to be underrated.

I know you didn't ask for it, but here's my top 10 Pertwee Doctor Who episodes:

Yes, you're right; I didn't But thanks anyway.

Top ten TOS episodes? I haven't seen every episode, and some I haven't seen for a long time, but I'll give it a go.

The City on the Edge of Forever
Tomorrow is Yesterday
Balance of Terror
The Enterprise Incident
The Doomsday Machine
The Trouble with Tribbles
The Ultimate Computer
Arena
The Devil in the Dark
A Taste of Armageddon

Thanks for sharing, Thande! Some very solid episodes there (and of course you get major bonus points for including my own favourite, "Doomsday"), including two more which I find underrated: "Computer" (with a compelling tragic hero in Daystrom and some extremely prescient social commentary) and "Armageddon" (a really solidly put-together episode with a thought-provoking message and some crackerjack dialogue). On the whole, I do like "Tomorrow is Yesterday", but (unsurprisingly) I can't help but think it would have been a good deal stronger if it were made as originally intended: as the second-part of a two-parter, with "The Naked Time" as Part I. (And before anyone asks, no, I couldn't swing it ITTL, as most of the key events that would set it in motion are pre-POD; I could barely justify bumping "City" to the season finale, thanks to Ellison's antics).

I haven't actually seen "Mirror, Mirror" yet so I didn't include that one, though I suspect it'll be in the top ten when I do see it.

I have no doubt. It's #2 for me, and (as with "Doomsday") I can't help but praise every single aspect of the episode: the novel premise (which, as with so many great Star Trek episodes, proved extremely influential) which is nevertheless superbly-executed; the fantastic musical score (it would easily be the best-scored episode set in the Mirror Universe even if we weren't expected to take that as a given); the excellent guest performance (which, for the record, is also my pick for Hottest Babe on the show); and the rare opportunity for a true ensemble piece (along with "Tribbles", this is one of Uhura's finest non-singing moments).

Unsurprisingly your tastes change over time. I remember when I was a kid I liked a lot of the bigger and more colourful/campy episodes that can seem sillier to me today like "Bread and Circuses", "The Mark of Gideon", "For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky", "And the Children Shall Lead", "The Immunity Syndrome", and even "The Alternative Factor". I don't necessarily dislike those episodes now, but I appreciated them a lot more back then. But not "Spock's Brain". Nobody can ever take "Spock's Brain" seriously, not even kids

I sought out the show relatively late, which has allowed my preferences to remain relatively static. The type of episode which I love above all else is the claustrophobic ship-bound show, which I think the series did so well, really getting across the feeling of being stuck in a tin can in the great, big, wide open galaxy. This probably explains my choice for most underrated episode, "The Immunity Syndrome", which does have one of the sillier "villains" in the series, but boy oh boy do those people really sell how exhausted and overwhelmed they are. A lot of people like to knock old-style TV acting, but when it works, it really works.

But wow, you liked "The Alternative Factor"? That's my personal pick for Worst. Episode. Ever. Dull as dirt, unlike the "campy" bad episodes like "Spock's Brain", and a lot of the other third season episodes. In fact, I would rate "Alternative" as the only real dud of season one, though some others were lacklustre and/or mediocre. In comparing the first two seasons, I've found that their episodes have about the same average quality, but the standard deviation is much larger for season two than for season one.

And now I am torn! As a regular NaNoWriMo participant I want to encourage you to try again... but I'd also like to see more of this! Can't you add 50,000 words to this in November?

Funny you should mention that, drakensis - I actually was planning on trying to add 50,000 words to this timeline within the span of a month, in order to (unofficially; I'm not formally participating) fulfill my NaNoWriMo obligations. As it stands, I'll probably fall short, but I still want to do a lot more writing than I have been lately.

(Seriously, congrats on keeping a project going for a year. That's as hard in it's way as completing NaNoWriMo)

Thank you very much! It has been hard to keep going at times, I must admit, but stopping now would be... inconceivable!

1978.

Thank you for sharing, and in so doing you have put the "Me Decade" back in the lead; it's been neck-and-neck with the 1980s pretty much from the beginning.

My first encounter with Star Trek was actually the James Blish anthologies which 'novelised' the series as short story collections. The volumes were published between 1967 and 1978 (although J A Lawrence may have written the last few). I wonder, do those exist ITTL?

Excellent question! I hope to have an answer for you on or before the first anniversary! Fingers crossed...

It's quite a struggle to keep it down to 10 but:
1. Balance of Terror
2. Mirror, Mirror
3. The Corbomite Maneuver
4. The Ultimate Computer
5. The Doomsday Machine
6. Journey to Babel
7. The Trouble with Tribbles
8. A Taste of Armageddon
9. Spectre of the Gun
10. Mudd's Women


Honorable mention for The Enterprise Incident and The Conscience of the King.

And thank you for sharing! A very solid list. I admit an affinity for "Mudd's Women", which perhaps best illustrated the original "Wagon Train to the Stars" concept envisioned by Roddenberry - with that in mind it's easy to see why that was one of the three scripts considered for second pilot.

A Canadian beer commercial, parody of the sports figure endorsement: Aussie soccer players saying how much they like Molson Canadian (IIRC), with the tag, "But then, what do we know about beer?" (Funnier now, knowing about Aussies and beer...)

Typical Canadian self-deprecating humour. And as for the Aussies, well, I'm sure they'd prefer anything to Foster's

(Disclaimer: I have never tried Foster's. It may well not be as awful as everyone says it is.)

And just to add one of my favourite UK adverts from the eighties: Paxo the Rooster Booster (which surprisingly is not for performance enhancing substances)

One of my closest relatives is English. I know very well what Paxo is (and Bovril, Bisto, and Oxo, for the complete pre-fab fixings experience )

I was reminded of it because I stumbled across them on archive.org a few days ago. There are also a couple of clips of the original series there.

Thanks for sharing that link! Always nice to see something on that site that isn't blocked by robots.txt

Well, Brainbin has my details, so here is my top ten list of ST:TOS episodes:

10: The Deadly Years
9: The Enemy Within
8: And The Children Shall Lead
7: City On The Edge Of Forever
6: I, Mudd
5: A Piece Of The Action
4: Space Seed
3: Mirror, Mirror
2: The Trouble With Tribbles
1: The Squire Of Gothos

Thanks for your list, TB-EI! That's a pretty bold choice for #1, but I always liked that episode. I thought that Campbell made a much better Trelane than Koloth (hence why I didn't cast him as such ITTL - Kor was far more imposing anyway). But "And the Children Shall Lead"? Wow, that's... really bold

Top ten Star Trek TOS episodes? Hm... may I ask for a pass for now? It was a while since I saw most episodes, and I've always felt a bit uncertain when asked to rank most things.

I understand, LordInsane. If you like, I would also accept a list of just those episodes which you most enjoyed; it doesn't have to be a full ten

1. The Trouble With Tribbles
2. City on the Edge of Forever
3. Amok Time
4. I, Mudd.
5. Space Seed
6. Tomorrow is Yesterday
7. The Doomsday Machine
8. A Piece of the Action
9. The Menagerie (Parts i and II)
10: Mudd's Women

Thanks for sharing your list! (I trimmed the commentary for formatting reasons, as I will of course refer to this post when I'm tallying the results, for the sake of convenience.)

The next update will almost certainly be ready for this Wednesday, hopefully with another soon to follow! So until then, please feel free to continue participating in the Commenter Demographics and Top Star Trek Episodes surveys, and thanks very much to those of you who already have!

 

[unclepatrick]

Thank you for sharing your list, unclepatrick. And although I've made abundantly clear that I'm not a fan of irony, I must admit that I do love so-bad-it's-good fare, and "Spock's Brain" is one such example. I adore that episode. Best moment: when Bones announces to Kirk that Spock's brain is gone. Kirk actually mouths the words "His... brain?"

To me, the Great Thing about Spock Brain is how it can bring down, my wife ,when she on one of her, Star Trek is the Greatest Show ever, kicks. I agree with you it had its moments. It not quite Plan 9 from Outer Space Bad, but it as close as the show came.

I can never figure out why it came about. The Script was by Gene L Coon(he used Lee Corin because He was under contract with Universal at the Time) and Marc Daniel was a good Director.

Normally when I read other people Top ten lists, I have a why the Hell did he pick so and so. But the Thing with Star Trek is that a Large Number of Episodes are very very good, so when I read other people lists, it "Oh, That a good one too."

 

[Thande]

But wow, you liked "The Alternative Factor"? That's my personal pick for Worst. Episode. Ever. Dull as dirt, unlike the "campy" bad episodes like "Spock's Brain", and a lot of the other third season episodes. In fact, I would rate "Alternative" as the only real dud of season one, though some others were lacklustre and/or mediocre. In comparing the first two seasons, I've found that their episodes have about the same average quality, but the standard deviation is much larger for season two than for season one.

Liked is perhaps the wrong word. I found it scary as a kid, easily the scariest episode of TOS I saw at that age. Certainly not dull. I think it's a combination of the high stakes (two entire universes) and the 'And I must scream' aspect of Lazarus spend all of eternity wrestling his doppelganger futilely in the space between the universes. That and the graphics really appealed to me, they had a unique sixties-ness to them similar to James Bond intros. And earlier on the idea that you have two very different personalities with the same appearance being mistaken for one person and the paranoia that induces in you--as also seen in 'The Enemy Within'.

It certainly doesn't feel like a Star Trek episode, more Buck Rogers-y or Flash Gordon-y. I don't think there's any coincidence that when somebody wrote a 'Captain Proton' series of short stories to accompany Voyager, the main story was quite similar in plot to "The Alternative Factor".

 

[The Blue-Eyed Infidel]

Thanks for your list, TB-EI! That's a pretty bold choice for #1, but I always liked that episode. I thought that Campbell made a much better Trelane than Koloth (hence why I didn't cast him as such ITTL - Kor was far more imposing anyway). But "And the Children Shall Lead"? Wow, that's... really bold

1. No apologies for choosing "The Squire of Gothos"; it legitimately is my favorite episode.

2. Like Thande, I haven't seen all of the TOS episodes; pretty much anything out of my top five could be bumped off.

3. "And The Children Shall Lead" ... well, I'm not particularly proud of this one ... and the ending is cheesy ... let's just say the concept is much better than the execution and leave it at that.

TB-EI

ETA: If "The Menagerie" were a single episode, it would probably be in the list.