The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: Albatross

When the Enterprise pays a visit to the planet Dramia, Dr McCoy is placed under arrest for apparently having caused a plague some nineteen years earlier. In the hopes of clearing McCoy, Kirk and Spock launch an investigation – only to encounter a recurrence of the same plague.

The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: The Practical Joker

After the Enterprise passes through a strange energy cloud, the crew notice that they are becoming the butt of a series of increasingly silly – and dangerous – practical jokes. When it becomes clear that the culprit is none other than the ship’s computer, Kirk and crew must figure out how to deal with the issue.

The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: Bem

The Enterprise is playing host to an observer – Ari bn Bem from the planet Pandro. On a mission to observe the natives of an alien planet, Bem decides to accompany Kirk and his landing party, only to create trouble at every turn.

The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: The Pirates of Orion

When Spock catches a disease that is deadly to Vulcans, the Enterprise requests that a cure be rushed to them as quickly as possible. But when the ship bringing the cure is attacked and its cargo stolen, Kirk must track down the culprits before it’s too late.

The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: The Jihad

The galaxy is in imminent danger. The Skorr have lost their most precious religious artefact, and unless it can be retrieved, they will launch a devastating interstellar jihad. Desperate to prevent this outcome, the Vedala summon Kirk and Spock to participate in a dangerous mission to recover the artefact.

Starfleet’s most incompetent and corrupt admirals and commodores

Anyone who’s ever worked for a large organisation will know that it’s not necessarily the brightest and the best who make it to the top. Starfleet is no exception, and over the course of its long history, our heroic captains and crews have had to deal with more than their fair share of downright incompetent or shadily corrupt top brass. In this article, I’ll list some of the worst offenders.

Note: admirals taken over by the aliens in Conspiracy won’t feature, since we don’t know if they were incompetent or corrupt in and of themselves, or just victims of misfortune.

On the Holodeck, a toilet isn’t just a toilet

Regular readers of this blog will know that I like to analyse and overthink about all things Star Trek. Which is why, the other night, I found myself wondering on Twitter: “What happens if you take a shit in a holodeck toilet, and then end the program?”

The holodeck was originally mooted as an idea for Kirk’s Enterprise way back in the 1960s, but it took until TNG’s pilot for it actually to be realised onscreen (excluding an animated appearance in TAS). Throughout TNG, DS9 and Voyager, the Star Trek writers leapt on the opportunities it provided. We saw characters enjoying detective stories, James Bond rip-offs, 19^th century romances, and even the Wild West. We met holographic recreations of historical figures such as Freud, da Vinci and Einstein. Love them or hate them, holodeck episodes are woven tightly into the fabric of 24^th century Star Trek.

The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: The Eye of the Beholder

The Enterprise heads to the planet Lactra VII in search of a missing team of Starfleet scientists. However, Kirk’s landing party soon discovers that the planet is home to a zoo of a interplanetary life forms – and that they are destined to be the newest exhibits.

The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: The Slaver Weapon

While transporting a rare “stasis box” to Starbase 25, the shuttlecraft Copernicus falls into a trap laid by the Kzinti, a rare of fierce warrior felines. Now Spock, Uhura and Sulu must figure out not only how to escape, but keep the contents of the stasis box out of Kzinti hands.

This episode was a big deal back when it aired. Given the chance to write for the show and bring some of his IP into the Star Trek universe, Larry Niven adapted his short story, “The Soft Weapon” into this, The Slaver Weapon. At the time, this was all very exciting, and lots of fans greatly enjoyed seeing Niven’s Kzinti show up in the Star Trek universe.

The Great Star Trek TAS Rewatch: The Ambergris Element

The Enterprise is investigating Argo, a planet whose landmasses have become entirely submerged underwater. Events take an unexpected turn, however, when Kirk and Spock go missing after being attacked by a sea monster. When they are finally recovered, it turns out that their entirely physiology has been altered, turning them into water breathers! Unwilling to live underwater for the rest of their days, Kirk and Spock set about unravelling the mystery of their transformation.