TOS Season 3 - The Fred Freiberger Episodes

People often assume Fred Freiberger was solely responsible for all 24 Season 3 TOS episosdes. Its true that as Producer, Freiberger was ultimatly responsible for hiring (firing) the Director, the casting, and the final script, but the  original story outlines weren't all his creation. He seems to been responsible for the following TOS Season 3 episodes from the start to finish:

1. All Our Yesterdays
2. Cloud Minders
3. Lights of Zetar
4. Mark of Gideon
5. Plato's stepchildren
6. Requiem For Methusala
7. Whom the God's Destroy
8. World is Hollow and I touched the Sky

In addition, he massively revised two D.C. Fontana stories (causing her to take her name off the credits)  and  Freiberger deserves all the praise (or blame) :

1. That which survives
2. Way to Eden

 Finally,  three original scripts from outside authors were selected by Bob Justman and approved by Freiberger (and Roddenberrry) for production.  They deserve to be called "Bob Justman episodes" since he's the one that found the scripts and helped shepard the writers through the process.  But Fred deserves PARTIAL credit:

1. The Empath
2. Is There no Truth in Beauty
3. Tholian Web

The other eleven Season 3 episodes originated with Gene Roddenberry, although  approving the original story outline was often all he did. 

TOS Season 3 - The Almost Good Episodes

 These are the four TOS Season 3 episodes that contained some good things, but are weighed down by some parts that were truly awful.

Way to Eden:  8 minutes of horrible "space rock" plus another 8 minutes of a boring Checkov romance. The other 34 minutes aren't bad.  The badness starts at the 11:00 minute mark, and goes on for another 5 minutes.  Then goes off the rails again at the 24:00 minute mark till the 35:00 minute mark,  

Spock's Brain:  We get an interesting first 21 minutes. But the second the elevator reaches the ground floor its snoozeville for the next 15 minutes. This is where we get lots of boring fights, and lines like "Brain? What is Brain?".  Its not till Zombie Spock releases the "Pain belts" that the episode gets back on track. The ending surgery wth McCoy is quite well done. 

That which Survives - In terms of rewatchability the first 15 minutes are at the bottom of the TOS episode rankings. Its not till D'Amoto dies, that it starts to get interesting.  Before that its just exposition and padding.  By starting to watch after his death, you miss nothing. The rest of the episode is well done.

Plato's Stepchildren:  This episode has more bad mixed in with the good than any other TOS episode. We get 14 minutes of completely unwatchable "torture porn".  Bascially, two 7 minute long segments, one in the second act, and one in the last act. If this isn't bad enough, the first 6 minutes are boring exposition.  Its not till Parmen becomes delerious and things start flying around that it becomes interesting. Now, on first watch its not uninteresting,  but once you watch it once,  the only thing you can do is is FF through these 20 minutes, and watch the remaining 30 minutes. 

Star Trek Discovery - Season 1

Well, I gave it a chance. I was very impressed with the set design, special effects, makeup, and overall look of the show. If only TOS, could've had this kind of technology and special effects back in the 1960s! Unforturnately, STD is all sizzle and no steak. The characters were bland or unlikable, the dialogue forgettable, and the stories just aveage. So, I lost interest fast. I can only sit through so many "cool" special effects and explosions before I get bored.

But I'm not the target audience.
I'm not just talking about Teenagers and young adults. Hollywoods sells its movies/TV shows to the whole world now. And young people around the world want action and "cool special effects". And there's no sense writing great English language dialogue, when it'll be dubbed in Chinese or German.

And the actors didn't make much of an impression. But actors have to work with what's on the page. And they didn't get much. 

So, its back to watching "Old" star trek for me.

TOS - Season 1 - Ranking

 Excellent

1. Balance of Terror
2. Corbanite maneuver 
3. City on the edge of Forever
4. Menagerie

Very Good

1. Arena
2. Conscience of a King
3. Devil in the Dark
4. Enemy within
5. Errand of Mercy
6. Galileo Seven
7. Shore Leave
8. Space Seed
9. Tomorrow is yesterday
10. Where no man has gone before
11. What are little girls made of?

Good

1. A taste of Armageddon
2. Charlie X
3. Court Martial
4. Dagger of the  mind
5. The Man Trap
6. Miri
7. Mudd's women
8. Naked Time
9. Operation Annialate
10. Squire of Gothos
11. This Side of paradise

Average

1. Return of the Archons

The Worst

1. Alternative Factor

TOS Season 2 - Ranking

Excellent

1. Amok Time
2. Doomsday machine 
3. Mirror, Mirror
4. Troubles with Tribbles

Very Good

1. Bread and Circuses
2. Gamesters of Triksolian
3. Immunity Syndrome 
4. Journey to Babel
5. Metamorphosis
6. Obsession 
7. Patterns of Force
8. Piece of the Action
9. Private Little war
10. Return to Tomorrow
11. Ultimate Computer

Good

1. Assignment earth
2. By Any other name
3. Cats-paw
4. changling
5. Deadly years 
6. Friday's Child
7. I, Mudd
8. Omega Glory 
9. Wolf in the fold 

Average

1. The Apple
2. Who mourns for Adonis

TOS - The Apple

Plot:  When Kirk and a landing party visit Gamma Trianguli VI they find innocents who  worship an all-powerful God - and danger.

Time hasn't been kind to The Apple. A fairly expensive episode, it offered (for the 60s) cutting edge special effects, unusual makeup and extensive set design. We also get a lot of action. Sadly in 2022, the sets looks incredibly fake, as do the "landmines" and "Killer flowers". And we no longer can suspend disbelief when American actors in tan makeup are presented as primitive space aliens. 

Also, the story is far too familiar. Once again, as in the "The Last of the Archons", we have an all-power computer/mechanical being that runs a "Utopia". A once again, Kirk has to destroy it, because its threatening the USS Enterprise.

With all that said, "The Apple" isn't that bad. We get some great Spock-McCoy byplay, some funny lines (hat tip Gene Coon), some Checkov romance, and some good action sequences. The story drags at times, but its watchable.

Best Quote

McCoy: Jim, you're not just going to stand by and be blinded to what's going on here. These are humanoids, intelligent. They need to advance and grow. Don't you understand what my readings indicate? There's been no progress here in at least ten thousand years. This isn't life. It's stagnation.

Spock: Doctor, these people are healthy and they are happy. What ever you choose to call it, this system works, despite your emotional reaction to it

McCoy: It might work for you, Mister Spock, but it doesn't work for me. Humanoids living so they can service a hunk of tin.

Kirk: Gentlemen, I think this philosophical argument can wait until our ship's out of danger..

Summary: Currently ranked as the 8th worst episode on IMDB, the problem with The Apple isn't that its terrible - its that so many other Star Trek Episodes are better. It has flaws, but its not mind-numbing boring like Mark of Gideon, or annoying like And the Children shall Lead. Its just very, very average.

TOS - The Empath

Plot: Trapped in an alien laboratory, Kirk, Spock and McCoy meet an empath and are involved in a series of experiments.

Pros: Acting, Ending, Some good drama, Dialogue, minimalist set, Guest star
Cons: Slow moving, not enough story or action. Villians aren't logical

Favorite Quote
McCoy: Men weren't intended to live this far underground. It's just not natural.
Kirk: And space travel is?
Spock: Some men spend the majority of their lives in mines beneath the surface.
McCoy: I'm a doctor, not a coal miner.

De Forrest Kelly's Favorite
This was supposedly De Forsest Kelly's favorite episode, and its easy to see why. The set is a darkened sound stage with the guest stars and "The big three". The focus in on the acting, and Dr. McCoy gets a lot of screen time. And he gets to be the hero and show a wide range emotions, instead of just being cantankerous or trading barbs with Spock.

Almost a Great Episode
The Empath was one rewrite away from being a great Star Trek episode. While the acting, script, and Guest star, are good there's not enough story. The plot moves at a snails pace. Its a great 35 mintues, but the show is 50 minutes long.

Its one Star Trek episode that needed a "B" plot. Or maybe more action. Maybe "our guys" could have escaped from the undergound facility and the aliens had trouble reacapturing them. Of course, that would've cost more $$ and that would've gone against the whole goal of making a low budget episode.

Summary:
Anyway, the episode needed an exciting 10 minutes in the middle. And it didn't get it. However, its not that bad on DVD, since I could FF and focus on the best parts, which are very good indeed. But given the drawn out plot, I can't rate it more than average.