Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 3 (1968)

Star Trek was an influential science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that followed the adventures of the crew of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise. The show began with the production of the 1964 pilot "The Cage". "The Cage" featured Jeffrey Hunter as Enterprise captain Christopher Pike. The pilot was rejected by NBC executives as being too cerebral. In order to demonstrate the action-adventure potential of the series, another pilot entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was produced. Replacing Jeffrey Hunter as Enterprise captain was William Shatner who starred as Captain James T. Kirk. The new pilot also starred Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock who was the only character to return from the original pilot after NBC's rejection of "The Cage". Response to the second, action-oriented, pilot was good and NBC gave the go ahead to the series. The series premiered on NBC on Thursday, September 8, 1966 in the 8:30-9:30 PM timeslot with the episode "The Man Trap". Critical response to the series was mixed and rating were lower than expected. In its second season, reoccurring guest star DeForest Kelley was added to the series' starring cast and the show was moved to Friday at 8:30. A decline in the ratings, however, prompted NBC to attempt to cancel the series after its second season, but a letter writing campaign by die hard fans of the show saved it from cancellation. An additional season of episodes were produced, but ratings continued to decline most likely due to the quality of the third season episodes and a bad 10:00 PM Friday night time slot. Despite another letter writing campaign, the series was finally cancelled after its third season. The last new episode "Turnabout Intruder" was shown on June 3, 1969. After its three year run Star Trek began running syndication where it was discovered by legion of new fans and became a phenomenon. The show inspired six features films, an animated series, and four additional spin-off television shows. Other spin-off's include novels, comic books, merchandise and an enormous amount of fan-fiction based on the series. Despite its short network run, Star Trek has become one of the most successful shows in television history. Aside from its three main stars, Star Trek featured a large cast of reoccurring guest stars that includes James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett, and Grace Lee Whitney. Other notable guest stars include Diana Muldaur, Gary Lockwood, Ricardo Montalban, Sally Kellerman, Julie Newmar, Frank Gorshin, John Colicos, Roger C. Carmel, William Campbell, Ted Cassidy, Michael Ansara and Elisha Cook, Jr. Notable writers for the series include Gene Roddenberry, Gene L. Coon, George Clayton Johnson, Jerry Sohl, Jerome Bixby, Robert Bloch, Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, David Gerrold, and D.C. Fontana.

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 9/20/1968 1. Spock's Brain

Stardate 5431.4: The Enterprise is intercepted by a starship of unknown design and a woman from the ship beams directly into the bridge and uses a device to render the Enterprise's crew unconscious. She then walks over to Spock... When the crew awakens, McCoy summons Kirk to sick bay and informs him that the alien visitor apparently removed Spock's entire brain without even performing surgery. After Spock's body is fitted with a device that allows McCoy to control the Vulcan's motor functions with a remote control, Kirk starts a search for Spock's brain, hoping it can be recovered and somehow returned to Spock before his body decays.

Director: Marc Daniels Writer: Gene L. Coon

Guest starring: Marj Dusay, James Daris, Sheila Leighton

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 9/27/1968 2. The Enterprise Incident

An unusually tense and irritable Kirk orders his ship into the Romulan Neutral Zone, where it is promptly surrounded. Beamed to a Romulan ship, Kirk lies about the intrusion, then attacks Spock, who responds with a Vulcan death grip. While the female Romulan commander courts Spock, a secret mission unfolds.

Director: John Meredyth Lucas Writer: D.C. Fontana

Guest starring: Joanne Linville, Jack Donner, Richard Compton, Robert Gentile, Mike Howden, Gordon Coffey

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 10/4/1968 3. The Paradise Syndrome

Stardate 4842.6: Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to a planet to inform any inhabitants that they must evacuate the planet due to an approaching asteroid's imminent collision. A society similar to Native American Indians has arisen on the planet, but near their villages, the landing party finds a strange obelisk whose design and construction is far beyond the capabilities of the planet's natives. Kirk finds that the monolith can be opened by the combination of sounds found in the order ""Kirk to Enterprise,"" but when he enters the obelisk, he is attacked by waves of energy that erase his mind. With no time to spare, Spock and McCoy have to return to the Enterprise without Kirk, and begin trying to use the ship's tractor beam to divert the asteroid. Meanwhile, Kirk becomes the tribal chief, takes a wife and even expects to become a father, but the Enterprise may not be able to save her former captain's future.

Director: Jud Taylor Writer: Margaret Armen

Guest starring: Richard Geary, Sabrina Scharf, Rudy Solari, Richard Hale, Naomi Pollack, John Lindesmith, Peter Virgo Jr., Lamont Laird

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 10/11/1968 4. And the Children Shall Lead

The Enterprise travels to a planet where a scientific team has killed themselves...except for the children, who began to act oddly.

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky Writer: Edward J. Lakso

Guest starring: Dick Dial, Jay D. Jones, Craig Hundley, James Wellman, Melvin Belli, Pamelyn Ferdin, Caesar Belli, Mark Robert Brown, Brian Tochi, Lou Elias

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 10/18/1968 5. Is There in Truth No Beauty?

Stardate 5630.7:...or is there in beauty no truth? Miranda Jones, a telepath who studied mental disciplines on Vulcan, arrives with Ambassador Kolos, a Medusan - an alien life form whose physical form is so hideous, humanoid life forms are driven insane if they look upon him. Also beaming aboard is Larry Marvick, one of the original designers of the Enterprise - and hopelessly in love with Miranda, although she has chosen to spend her life serving as a liason between the Medusans and other humanoids. Miranda senses that someone is actively contemplating murder, and suspects Spock is envious of her once-in-a-lifetime mission - but even Miranda is unaware of the real would-be killer and their target.

Director: Ralph Senensky Writer: Jean Lisette Aroeste

Guest starring: Diana Muldaur, David Frankham, Richard Geary, Robert Balver, Vince Deadrick, William Blackburn, Ralph Garrett, Alan Gibbs

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 10/25/1968 6. Spectre of the Gun

When coming to an exaphobic isolationist planet, Captain Kirk and his landing party are punished for trepassing. They are sentenced to death in a surreal recreation of the Gunfight at the OK Corral with the landing on the losing side.

Director: Vincent McEveety Writer: Gene L. Coon

Guest starring: Richard Anthony, Paul Baxley, Ron Soble, Bonnie Beecher, Charles Maxwell, Rex Holman, Sam Gilman, Charles Seel, Bill Zuckert, Ed McCready, Abraham Sofaer, Gregg Palmer, Bob Orrison, Gregory Reece, James Doohan

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 11/1/1968 7. Day of the Dove

When the Enterprise brings aboard Klingon prisoners, an alien entity pits both sides against each other in an ever-escalating struggle.

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky Writer: Jerome Bixby

Guest starring: Michael Ansara, Susan Howard, David L. Ross, Mark Tobin

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 11/8/1968 8. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

The Enterprise must deflect an asteroid on a collision course with an inhabited planet...but discover the asteroid is a spaceship with a population unaware of the outside world.

Director: Tony Leader Writer: Hendrik Vollaerts

Guest starring: Katherine Woodville, Byron Morrow, Jon Lormer, James Doohan

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 11/15/1968 9. The Tholian Web

Stardate 5693.2: The Enterprise arrives at the last known position of the U.S.S. Defiant (NCC-1764), an area of uncharted space, to search for the missing starship. When the Defiant appears on the viewing screen enshrouded in a strange green glow, Spock is unable to scan the vessel on his sensors. Kirk beams over to the Defiant with a boarding party to investigate and finds the entire crew dead. What's more, the Defiant seems to be trapped in an interphase between two different universes. A power loss partially disables the Enterprise transporter, but the landing party manages to beam back to the Enterprise except Kirk who suddenly disappears along with the Defiant. Spock calculates that the next time to interphase will be approximately two hours, and that the captain can be rescued at that time. As the Enterprise begins to experience the same problems that doomed the Defiant: power loss, weakness and insanity among the crew, an alien vessel appears and demands that they leave Tholian

Director: Ralph Senensky / Herb Wallerstein Writer: Judy Burns / Chet Richards

Guest starring: Barbara Babcock, Sean Morgan, Lou Elias, Jay D. Jones

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 11/22/1968 10. Plato's Stepchildren

Kirk and his crew find themselves at the mercy of powerful individuals who possess mind-over-matter powers...and plan to use the Enterprise crew for their twisted entertainment.

Director: David Alexander Writer: Meyer Dolinsky

Guest starring: Michael Dunn, Liam Sullivan, Barbara Babcock, Ted Scott, Derek Partridge, Armando Gonzales, Jay D. Jones

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 11/29/1968 11. Wink of an Eye

Stardate 5710.5: When a landing party investigating Scalos begins to vanish one by one, Kirk, Spock and McCoy try to find out what is happening before more of the crew disappears, until Kirk himself is abducted. Kirk finds the cause to be a group of endangered Scalosians who move faster than human sight or hearing can detect. They need to repopulate their species, and find that speeding human males up to Scalosian speed will meet their needs. Kirk must find a way to get a message to Spock and McCoy, who are working on a cure for the mystery ""ailment,"" as well as stirring up fighting among the Scalosians, before they have control of the Enterprise.

Director: Jud Taylor / Gene L. Coon Writer: Arthur Heinemann

Guest starring: Kathie Browne, Jason Evers, Erik Holland, Geoffrey Binney, Richard Geary, Ed Hice

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 11/6/1968 12. The Empath

On a planet doomed to destruction, Kirk, Spock & McCoy become involved with two aliens who use them as laboratory animals in a bizarre series of tests on an alien empath who may be the savior of her planet.

Director: John Erman Writer: Joyce Muskat

Guest starring: Kathryn Hays, Alan Bergmann, Davis Roberts, Jason Wingreen, Willard Sage, Roger Holloway, Jay D. Jones, Paul Baxley

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 12/20/1968 13. Elaan of Troyius

The Enterprise must escort an alien princess to her marriage to seal an interplanetary alliance...but she becomes attracted to Kirk.

Director: John Meredyth Lucas Writer: John Meredyth Lucas

Guest starring: France Nuyen, Jay Robinson, Tony Young, Lee Duncan, Dick Durock, Charles Beck, K.L. Smith, Victor Brandt

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 1/3/1969 14. Whom Gods Destroy

Kirk and Spock investigate an insane asylum where a former Starfleet captain is being held, only to discover that he has freed the inmates and is running the place.

Director: Herb Wallerstein / Lee Erwin Writer: Lee Erwin

Guest starring: Steve Ihnat, Yvonne Craig, Richard Geary, Gary Downey, Keye Luke, Frank da Vinci, Roger Holloway

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 1/10/1969 15. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

The Enterprise finds itself host to two alien beings from the same planet, who share an intense and self-destructive hatred of each other.

Director: Jud Taylor / Gene L. Coon Writer: Oliver Crawford

Guest starring: Frank Gorshin, Lou Antonio, Dick Ziker

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 1/17/1969 16. The Mark of Gideon

Kirk beams down on a diplomatic mission...and finds himself in an Enterprise where all the crew have vanished and only a mysterious woman resides.

Director: Jud Taylor Writer: Stanley Adams / George F. Slavin

Guest starring: Richard Derr, Gene Dynarski, David Hurst, Sharon Acker

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 1/24/1969 17. That Which Survives

Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu are stranded on a barren planet where a mysterious woman attempts to kill them one at a time, while the Enterprise must travel halfway across the galaxy to rescue them.

Director: Herb Wallerstein / D.C. Fontana Writer: John Meredyth Lucas

Guest starring: Kenneth Washington, Brad Forrest, Booker Bradshaw, Naomi Pollack, Arthur Batanides, Lee Meriwether

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 1/31/1969 18. The Lights of Zetar

The Enterprise must deal with discorporeal cloud-like corporeal aliens who have already destroyed the inhabitants of a library planet and plan to eliminate the Enterprise crew if they cannot acquire a human host.

Director: Herb Kenwith Writer: Shari Lewis / Jeremy Tarcher

Guest starring: Barbara Babcock, Bud da Vinci, Libby Erwin, Jan Shutan

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 2/14/1969 19. Requiem for Methuselah

While seeking a cure for a fever ravaging the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock encounter Flint, a hermit-like Earthman, and his beautiful young ward.

Director: Murray Golden Writer: Jerome Bixby

Guest starring: John Buonomo, James Daly, Louise Sorel, Phil Adams

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 2/21/1969 20. The Way to Eden

The Enterprise picks up a group of space ""hippies"" looking for Eden.

Director: David Alexander / D.C. Fontana Writer: Arthur Heinemann

Guest starring: Phyllis Douglas, Deborah Downey, Victor Brandt, Mary Linda Rapelye, Elizabeth Rogers, Charles Napier, Skip Homeier

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 2/28/1969 21. The Cloud Minders

Kirk must resolve a mining dispute on a the cloud city of Stratos to acquire the resources to cure a space plague.

Director: Jud Taylor / David Gerrold Writer: Margaret Armen

Guest starring: Ed Long, Garth Pillsbury, Fred Williamson, Kirk Raymone, Charlene Polite, Diana Ewing, Jeff Corey, Harv Selsby, Jimmy Fields, Jay D. Jones, Richard Geary, Marvin Walters, Lou Elias, Walter Scott, Bob Myles

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 3/7/1969 22. The Savage Curtain

Kirk and Spock meet Abraham Lincoln and Surak of Vulcan and must do battle with some of histories most terrible villians.

Director: Herschel Daugherty / Gene Roddenberry Writer: Gene Roddenberry / Arthur Heinemann

Guest starring: Nathan Jung, Carol Daniels Dement, Arell Blanton, Phillip Pine, Barry Atwater, Robert Herron, Lee Bergere, Bart La Rue, Janos Prohaska, Phil Adams, Gary Epper, Bill Catching, Jerry Summers, Bob Orrison, Troy Melton

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 3/14/1969 23. All Our Yesterdays

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy become trapped in the past of another world.

Director: Marvin Chomsky Writer: Jean Lisette Aroeste

Guest starring: Johnny Haymer, Stan Barrett, Al Cavens, Anna Karen, Ed Bakey, Ian Wolfe, Mariette Hartley, Kermit Murdock

Seen it: Yes 60 mins 6/3/1969 24. Turnabout Intruder

The Enterprise is in danger when Janice Lester, one of Kirk's former lovers, steals his body.

Director: Herb Wallerstein / Gene Roddenberry Writer: Arthur H. Singer

Guest starring: John Boyer, Harry Landers, Barbara Baldavin, Sandra Smith, Roger Holloway

	William Shatner	Captain James T. Kirk
	DeForest Kelley	Lt. Cmdr. Leonard McCoy
	Leonard Nimoy	Spock
	James Doohan	Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott
	George Takei	Lt. Hikaru Sulu
	Grace Lee Whitney	Yeoman Janice Rand
	Nichelle Nichols	Lt. Uhura
	Walter Koenig	Ensign Pavel Chekov
	Majel Barrett	Christine Chapel