I'm very torn over the original Star Trek series. I'm too young for it; I grew up in the 1980s with the original cast films - which I _loved_ and still do - but my real adoration for Trek began with _The Next Generation_ and then especially _Deep Space Nine_. The original _Star Trek_ is a very different show from any of that, and I have to look at it with a different mindset to try and appreciate it. I don't have any nostalgia colouring my view.

To put it bluntly, it's horribly dated and oftentimes difficult to watch or enjoy. It's campy and looks very cheap. BUT, it's saving grace is how good the actors, writing and characters are. They brought the show to life, and at points made it a complete joy. For the time it was made it did incredible things with progressive storytelling and strong special effects.

I'm never going to love the original series, or even really get it. It's not my Star Trek, but it has its place in history and that can't be denied. I feel it got it chance to shine when it moved into the film format (conversely, TNG and the rest of the franchise worked far better on TV than as films).

This show has almost a religious significance to me and of course countless others.

Growing up in the 70's, my first TV crush was on Veena (the Cage/Menagerie). The first girl I kissed was a blue-eyed blonde, and later I married a blue-eyed blonde, well, three of them, to be perfectly honest. I think it's Veena's fault. I never did score with a green Orion slave girl, though, despite what they say about them.

While there are many stinker episodes of Star Trek, there are also many masterpieces. "City on the Edge of Forever" is my favorite, for its emotional impact. Who could not fall in love with a young Joan Collins? Another noteworthy episode is "The Doomsday Machine," which is interesting because of its unique musical score, with different instruments/styles for each character. You can find a YouTube video about it, by user shemvonschroeck. I think the most important episode is "Mirror, Mirror", for its (probable) social commentary on American imperialism, the Vietnam War, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's spying on members of Congress, and the CIA's use of torture and assassinations in the 60's. We are living in the "Mirror, Mirror" universe. The Utopian Star Trek universe is not our own.

If you like Star Trek, then of course there are the official sequels/spin-offs, but also you should check out Star Trek Continues. And if you like "Mirror, Mirror", then you should check out its Star Trek Continues counterpart, "Fairest of Them All".

To go where sexism has gone before! Boy... It's like Uhura is the only female character that actually matters. The rest are there simply to carry the captain's tricorder etc, or the tricorder of someone else. If not, they are written as an entirely ridiculous character that just does silly things - of course because she's female.

The first actress who ever played Yeoman, was even written off the show because someone in the production company sexually harassed her. She was supposed to be an integral character in the show - and tbh, she was great (imo she disappears right when her character feels like it's gotten it's footing - right when I started to really like her).

They claimed her presence was getting in the way of the producers' desire for Kirk not to be tied to one love interest.
Silly, right?

Well.... At least the other parts of the show are good, and the movies are much better. I can't say I dont appreciate what came after, either. TNG, DS9 and Voyager are amazing. :sign_horns: Strange New Worlds, Prodigy and Lower Decks, also, recently, have been some of my favorites. A great franchise really.

Plus Leonard Nimoy is the man. He's really fantastic. Live long and prosper, dude.

Too young to appreciate how this show was ground-breaking 55 years back. It's certainly interesting to watch the show out of curiosity. There's the nucleus of many topics later discussed in much beloved shows like TNG or DS9. I absolutey love Star Trek. However, judging by my contemporary standards, this show can only be described as a fast-produced, cheap-looking mess with mediocre, overacting actors (Nimoy is great though) and mediocre boring stories. We live in the golden age of television, theirs was bronze colored at best. Most of the time. There are some hidden gems. But too few to call this an enjoyable show. It's certainly not made for binge-watching every episode as we became used to in the age of streaming. Digitalized film looks way better than DS9's or Voyager's tape recordings though. Colors are vibrant; resolution is flawless. I can easily overlook the 60s FX. Some aspects are hard to overlook though: sexism, misogyny, occasional racism and jingoism, lack of character depth, the focus on major characters while all other crew members are neglected, the focus on Kirk's fists and bare-chest, slow pacing of most stories, repetitive story elements (how often can you be imprisoned or captured in one show?).

It's beyond me that they were able to secure a reboot of this franchise a few years later with the movies. I'd probably given up the show after the disappointing third season. Second season is the best season imho. Best episode: *The city on the Edge of Forever*. Worst episode: *Assignment: Earth* (not even the worst plot but I feel betrayed). My guiltiest pleasure: *The Trouble with Tribbles*.

Judged by modern standards the whole show is maybe a 2/10. Worse than the average ratings of all episodes combined since there's no coherent overarching story. The overall show is worse than its average episode. However, that is perhaps not fair. It dates half a century back. Let's be generous: 4/10.

The original series may be a bit hard to watch with a modern mind set, but the episodes still contain the key discussions on what it is to be human. Really the show was a great platform for modern thinking and is worth watching to understand the process that people went through to get to the modern day. Yes it is Science Fiction, but really it is Social Commentary.