Collector Model

You know, it had been a long, long time since I had watched an episode of the Original Series of Star Trek. I’m not sure if I had seen one since my elementary school days before we signed up the license. I remembered it fondly but I fell into the “Star Wars guy” division of sci-fi fandom. I couldn’t help it, it was all the timing of the thing. Sure I had seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture on the big screen but it didn’t have the quick pace of Star Wars. What can I say? I was just a kid.

Fast forward to the last year or so. Once we lined up the license, I went back and watched a few old episodes over the net. I had to do a google search to find out which episodes were supposed to be the best. It was a novelty for a while. I watched a few episodes of the remastered show before it too was cancelled.(around here at least) Then I asked for and received the first season on Blu-ray. I watched a few episodes and marveled at the beauty of the cinematography, the lighting, etc. It is a beauty to watch.

As I was working on the K7 Space Station illustration, I played old episodes over the net again. I concentrated on the second and third seasons since I has season 1 waiting for me downstairs. There is a lot more good stuff than I remembered. Then this last weekend, I watched a couple disks worth of season 1 while assembling test shots. I’m just past half way through season 1 now. I have to admit, I feel like a fan now. I genuinely like the show whereas I had just respected it and remembering liking it as a kid. I can take it seriously now I guess.

What I’ve found is that my personal preference is that I like the episodes where they stay on the Enterprise more than the ones where they have an away mission. Stand out episodes…

Balance of Terror – My favorite single episode. The Romulan Bird of Prey is becoming one of my favorite ships. I can’t stand Yeoman Rand though. I’m interested to see what order the episodes were filmed in. This one seems pretty early even though it aired in the middle of the season.

Carbomite Maneuver – It was good until we got to Ronny Howard’s ugly little brother as the big bad. Couldn’t take it seriously after that.

The Menagerie– I liked everything that happened in the “present” much better than the stuff from the pilot.

Trouble With Tribbles – I LOVE Scotty. He’s by far my favorite character and the fight scene sealed that.

Mirror Mirror – Made me want to shave my beard into a goatee so I could become evil.

Whom Gods Destroy – Green Yvonne Craig… Yum. It dawned on me while watching this one that Star Trek has to be the show with the highest babe guest stars per capita. Virtually every episode had an outstanding guest-babe that put today’s starlets to shame… except for Yeoman Rand. I still don’t like her…

Let That Be You Last Battlefield – I’m not one for having to “think” about my sci-fi but even as heavy handed as their social message was in that one, it was done very well.

Shore Leave – started VERY weak but ended pretty strong.

Squire of Golthos – I’ll never get that 45 minutes back again. It seems like I either love an episode or hate it. There are only a few I would say fall between. This is the worst I’ve seen so far.

Other favs in no particular order… Tholian Web, Doomsday Machine, Galileo 7, Naked Time, Immunity Syndrome, Amok Time, The Enterprise Incident, Deadly Years and The Ultimate Computer.

With all that said, I can’t wait to put my hands to work on more Star Trek TOS projects for Round 2 models.