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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Having spent the last four years of my life doing rewatches of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I am now turning my attention back to the show that started it all back in 1966: Star Trek. The original, as it were.

“But wasn’t there already one of those?” I hear you cry. And yes, Eugene Myers and Torie Atkinson did an excellent rewatch of the first two seasons, followed by my good buddies Dayton Ward and David Mack doing the third season (as well as “The Cage”). But that was five years ago now (yes, really) and that’s an eternity in Internet time.

Plus I’ll be putting my own stamp on the rewatch, doing the same categorical rewatch that I did for TNG and DS9 (see below for specifics), including the in-depth “Trivial Matters” section, details on guest stars, character breakdowns, and all that fun stuff. In addition, I’ll be reviewing the episodes in production order, which I think is a better way to watch the series. Ninety percent of the time it doesn’t make a difference, but it’s worth it for that other 10% (particularly at the very beginning of the show; I mean c’mon, on what planet does it make sense to watch “Where No Man Has Gone Before” third?).

Best of all, though, is that I’ll be reviewing all the televised adventures of Kirk, Spock, and the gang: not just “The Cage” and the 79 live-action episodes that aired from 1966-1969, but also the 22 episodes of the animated Star Trek that aired from 1973-1974. This rewatch will run once a week every Tuesday, so like the others, this should take about two years.

Herewith, the categories (some of which will be familiar):

Captain’s log. The summary of the episode’s plot.

Can’t we just reverse the polarity? Any technobabble that shows up in the story.

Fascinating. Spock’s part in the story.

I’m a doctor, not an escalator. McCoy’s part in the story.

Ahead warp one, aye. Sulu’s part in the story.

It’s a Russian invention. Chekov’s part in the story.

Hailing frequencies open. Uhura’s part in the story.

I cannot change the laws of physics! Scotty’s part in the story.

Go put on a red shirt. Enumerating the poor unfortunates who are introduced just long enough to be horribly horribly killed off, most of whom are dudes wearing red shirts.

No sex, please, we’re Starfleet. As ever, the lusts and loves of the folks in Star Trek.

Channel open: An entertaining quote from the episode.

Welcome aboard. The episode’s guest stars.

Trivial matters. Stuff and nonsense relating to the episode. As you may have noticed in the other two rewatches, this section gets specatcularly geeky…

To boldly go. My review of the episode.

Warp factor rating: A 1-10 rating of the episode. It’s the least important part of the rewatch, but it doesn’t stop people from arguing about it. (And yes, I’m sticking with 1-10 because I want this to be compatible with my prior two rewatches.)

The Star Trek The Original Series Rewatch will boldly go with “The Cage” on Tuesday the 3rd of March 2015.


Keith R.A. DeCandido was born during the original series’ third season, but watched it religiously in reruns on Channel 11 in New York City as a child.

About the Author

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Keith R.A. DeCandido

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Keith R.A. DeCandido has been writing about popular culture for this site since 2011, primarily but not exclusively writing about Star Trek and screen adaptations of superhero comics. He is also the author of more than 60 novels, more than 100 short stories, and around 50 comic books, both in a variety of licensed universes from Alien to Zorro, as well as in worlds of his own creation. Read his blog, follow him on Facebook, The Site Formerly Known As Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and Blue Sky, and follow him on YouTube and Patreon.
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