TOS Episode Tier List Season 2

Star Trek TOS Episode Tier List

Season 2

30 Catspaw

Investigating the death of an away team member Kirk Spock and McCoy beam down to find witches, a castle and a black cat.  In the castle the crew are captured by Scott and Sulu under mind control by two beings named Korob and Sylvia who turn out to be extragalactic explorers.  Star Trek’s first and only “Halloween episode”.  Also the episode introduces Pavel Chekov as a new regular character.  Overall it’s ok, albeit heavy on the scary (and sometimes campy) spooky imagery.  C tier

 

31 Metamorphosis

While transporting a Federation diplomat by shuttlecraft Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the diplomat crash on an asteroid where they discover Dr. Zefram Cochrane, the human inventor of warp drive, who disappeared over a century ago.  They come to learn that Cochrane is being kept alive by a noncorporeal being known as the companion.  The companion takes over the body of the mortally wounded diplomat, who has to stay on the asteroid.  Interesting story, nice lore building establishing Zefram Cochrane as a key figure in future history.  B

 

32 Friday’s Child

While trying to secure mining rights for the Federation on Capella IV Kirk and co. find themselves in the middle of a power struggle and vying for the rights against the Klingons.  A good, fun, heavy action episode with a solid story.  Also solid acting by Julie Newmar.  B

 

33 Who Mourns for Adonais?

After being grabbed by a giant green space hand in orbit of Pollux IV the Enterprise crew meet the being once known to ancient humans as the Greek god Apollo.  Apollo becomes infatuated with Lieutenant Palamas and tries to get her to stay with him as his queen.  A fine episode with a bit of whimsy, wit and Kirk outsmarting a super powerful being.  B

 

34 Amok Time

Spock enters Pon Farr, the Vulcan mating drive the male Vulcans endure every 7 years and ends up in a ritual fight to the death over his woman on Vulcan-against Kirk.  Great episode, great writing by Theodore Sturgeon.  A lot of fun seeing Vulcan for the first time and learning about the Vulcan people.  Leonard Nimoy gives a tour-de-force as Spock in the throws of Pon Farr.  Guest stars Celia Lovsky (T’Pau) and Arlene Martel (T’Pring) shine in the episode as well.  Gerald Fried’s Vulcan fight music is iconic as well.  S Tier episode.

 

35 The Doomsday Machine

After receiving a distress call the Enterprise follows a trail of destroyed planets and discovers its sister ship the USS Constellation wrecked, its crew dead except for the captain after being attacked by an automated planet killer weapon.  A really fun episode, great action sequences, amazing acting from guest star William Windom as the shellshocked and guilt-ridden Commodore Matt Decker.  Great effects for a sixties TV series.  A tier.

 

36 Wolf in the Fold

While on Shore Leave on Argelius II Scotty is framed for several murders.  The true murderer is discovered to be a malevolent noncorporeal entity which took over Scotty (and many others in the past) called Redjac, also known as Jack the Ripper.  This is a fun, slightly spooky episode with a neat historical tie in.  Also great Scotty character material and backstory thanks to the computer readout.  B tier.

 

37 The Changeling

Responding to a distress call from a Federation science team the Enterprise finds the entire Malurian system destroyed by an automated probe calling itself Nomad which turns out to be a lost Earth probe from the early 2000s that has been merged with an alien probe.  Nomad’s damaged memory files cause it to mistake Kirk for its creator.  I liked this one, the future history established with Nomad, the character bits with Scotty and Uhura and Kirk talking Nomad into destroying itself.  Good stuff.  A tier

 

38 The Apple

On Gamma Trianguli VI Kirk and co. discover an Eden-like paradise and a stone age society completely stagnated by a giant machine that the primitive natives revere as a god.  Interesting, fun adventure with some good Chekov moments.  Decent episode, though a bit campy at times.  C

 

39 Mirror, Mirror

Beaming back to the Enterprise during an ion storm Kirk, Scotty, McCoy and Uhura are switched with their counterparts from a mirror universe where instead of the Federation a brutal, tyrannical, savage Terran Empire rules by fear and military force.  Writer Jerome Bixby’s indelible mark on the franchise gives us Spock with a goatee, the I.S.S. Enterprise and a whole universe that is a dark mirror of our own.  A Tier.

 

40 The Deadly Years

After contacting a disease on Gamma Hydra, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott begin aging rapidly.  While McCoy races against time to find a cure, a desk job admiral with no command experience takes the Enterprise into the Romulan Neutral Zone, getting the ship attacked.  Interesting episode, good premise, the idea of a flag officer with absolutely no command experience is less believable for an organization like Starfleet.  The main characters old age makeup is not bad for 1960s TV.  B

 

41 I, Mudd

The Enterprise is hijacked by a crewman who turns out to be an android and taken to an uncharted planet inhabited by thousands of androids and one Harcourt Fenton Mudd.  Mudd tries to use the androids to take over the Enterprise and use it to escape his android purgatory, only for the androids to turn on him.  This was a fun, engaging, light-hearted episode with just enough stakes and a fitting payoff at the end (Mudd being left on the planet with an army of Stella androids.  B tier

 

42 The Trouble with Tribbles

After being called to a deep space station near the Klingon border the Enterprise finds itself protecting a shipment of grain from Klingon sabotage and infested by cute, furry, quickly multiplying tribbles.  The tribbles save day in the end by revealing the Klingon spy.  What a fun episode!  I love how Shatner plays Kirk’s annoyance with both the bureaucrat Nilz Baris and the tribbles infesting the Enterprise and the station.  A Tier

 

43 Bread and Circuses

After investigating the wreckage of a missing merchant ship captained by a former classmate of Kirks, Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to the nearby planet and are captured by the inhabitants, who Merik, the merchant ships captain have exposed to Earth culture and who have modeled their civilization after ancient Rome.  Another fun alternate Earth/Parallel Earth story, a-la “Miri” (and later “Patterns of Force” and “A Piece of the Action”).  Also another what happens if the prime directive is violated story.  B tier

 

44 Journey to Babel

The Enterprise transports Federation delegates to a conference on a neutral planet, among them Vulcan Ambassador Sarek (Spock’s father) and his wife (Spock’s Mother) Amanda.  Kirk is attacked by an Orion spy masquerading as one of the delegates aides, while Spock has to be forced to relinquish command to give his father a life-saving blood transfusion.  Federation diplomacy, intrigue, high stakes, and great character scenes.  Mark Lenard shines in his first appearance as Sarek, as does Jane Wyatt as Amanda.  A tier.

 

45 A Private Little War

While surveying a planet with a primitive, pre-first contact civilization visited by Kirk years earlier, the away team discover that the stone aged natives have been armed with firearms.  After dealing with Klingon interference and a Mugato Kirk decides to balance the struggle on the planet by giving the other group firearms, despite McCoys protests.  This is an interesting episode, both for the Kirk backstory material and the commentaries on warfare, prolonged war and the realities of war (especially pertinent when the episode first aired during the Vietnam War).  B tier

 

46 The Gamesters of Triskelion

Beaming down to check on an automated communications station Kirk, Chekov and Uhura are abducted off the Enterprise and enslaved on a planet where they are made to fight other captives while the powerful beings imprisoning them gamble on the outcome.  A fun, campy adventure with good Kirk machismo scenes with guest star Angelique Pettyjohn.  C

 

47 Obsession

During a prospecting survey the Enterprise away team is attacked by a cloud creature which Kirk fought years earlier while serving on the Farragut.  Shatner shines as Kirk, dealing with both the guilt from the earlier encounter in which his captain died and the responsibility he feels for the captains son, in whom he sees aspects of his younger self.  Some nice deep Kirk character and backstory material in this episode.  B tier

 

48 The Immunity Syndrome

En route to starbase for shore leave the Enterprise is diverted to investigate the loss of contact with system Gamma 7A and the USS Intrepid.  They find that both were destroyed by a giant spaceborne amoeba and must destroy it before it multiplies.  I always liked this one, the science aspect with the amoeba and biology concepts, the character stuff and the overall story.  B tier

 

49 A Piece of the Action

Following up on a starship which disappeared in the Sigma Iotia system a century ago the Enterprise crew discover that the earlier ships crew contaminated the native culture on the planet by leaving behind a book about Chicago mobsters.  The planets inhabitants have since patterned themselves and their culture after Earth mobsters.  A fun, light-hearted, funny story with Kirk and Spock in period attire and trying to use period lingo.  B

 

50 By Any Other Name

Responding to a distress call Kirk and co. beam down to an uncharted planet and get captured by aliens in human form who subsequently hijack the Enterprise to use it return to their home in the Andromeda Galaxy.  This was fun episode, with stakes, interesting aliens of the week and a return to the galactic barrier (from “Where No Man Has Gone Before”).  B tier

 

51 Return to Tomorrow

Kirk, Spock, McCoy and astrobiologist Dr. Ann Mulhall beam into a chamber deep beneath the surface of a long dead planet, where Kirk, Spock and Mulhall’s bodies are taken over by ancient telepathic aliens.  This one is fine, the idea of Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch wanting to use the crews bodies to escape their noncorporeal prisons and live forever, but being forced to give up those bodies and dissolve into oblivion is interesting and also sad.  This episode also gives us Kirk’s famous “risk is our business” speech.  B tier

 

52 Patterns of Force

Searching for missing historian and professor John Gill the Enterprise arrives at the last planet he was observing, Ekos, to discover that Gill has violated the prime directive and exposed the natives to Earth culture, the planets society now being modeled after Nazi Germany, with Gill himself as the Fuhrer.  Another parallel Earth episode, this one commenting on Nazism, Fascism and the dangers of these ideologies.  B tier

 

53 The Ultimate Computer

The Enterprise is emptied of most of its crew and used to test the M-5 computer, an automated computer system designed to run the entire ship without a human crew.  The M-5 goes rogue, destroys an automated freighter and attacks a war games task force with full power weapons, killing the crew of the USS Excalibur.  I like this one.  William Marshall gives a memorable performance as Dr. Daystrom.  The use of existing shots of K-7 as the starbase, the S.S. Botany Bay as the Woden, and the wrecked USS Excalibur being the Constellation from “The Doomsday Machine” are creative ways of crafting a visually rich story on a low budget.  The message about computers replacing people is a powerful, especially in the present day.  A tier

 

54 The Omega Glory

After discovering the USS Exeter derelict in orbit of Omega IV and its crew dead, Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to the nearby planet to find that they’re infected by the disease that killed the Exeter crew and that the Exeter’s captain Ronald Tracy has violated the prime directive by giving one party of the primitive natives phasers to aid their fight against the other parties.  A kind of campy, somewhat silly episode with a really good if heavy-handed look at the consequences of violating the prime directive.  D tier

 

55 Assignment…Earth

Having travelled back in time using the slingshot maneuver the Enterprise monitors late 1960s Earth to determine how Earth avoided nuclear annihilation during the Cold War.  The answer involves a human secret agent raised on a distant planet, his blonde hippie assistant and a shapeshifting black cat.  The Gary Seven episode.  Created as a backdoor pilot for a spinoff series of the same name, this episode gives us iconic characters Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) and Roberta Lincoln (Teri Garr).  Overall a really fun time travel spy-fi adventure.  A tier