Wade’s Star Trek Page









My Star Trek Episode & Film Rankings

Wade’s Ranking Star Trek: TOS Star Trek: TAS Star Trek film Star Trek: TNG Star Trek: Enterprise Star Trek: DS9 Star Trek: Voyager
#1 “The City on the Edge of Forever” (1x27) “Yesteryear” (1x02) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home “Cause & Effect” (5x18) “In a Mirror Darkly” (4x18 & 4x19) “Blood Oath” (2x19) “Learning Curve” (1x14)
#2 “The Trouble with Tribbles” (2x13) “More Tribbles, More Troubles” (1x05) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan “Unification” (5x07 & 5x08) “Borderland” (4x04) “Trials and Tribble-ations” (5x06) “Ex Post Facto” (1x06)
#3 “A Piece of the Action” (2x20) “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” (1x08) Star Trek: First Contact “Redemption” (4x26 & 5x01) “Harbinger” (3x15) “Crossover” (2x23)
#4 “The Doomsday Machine” (2x06) “The Time Trap” (1x12) Star Trek III: The Search for Spock “The Best of Both Worlds” (3x26 & 4x01) “Detained” (1x19) “The Way of the Warrior” (4x01)
#5 “The Tholian Web” (3x09) “The Counter-Clock Incident” (2x06) Star Trek: Generations “Relics” (6x04) “Kir’Shara” (4x09) “Duet” (1x17)
#6 “The Day of the Dove” (3x11) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (3x15) “Shockwave” (1x24 & 2x01) “Second Skin” (3x05)
#7 “The Enterprise Incident” (3x04) Star Trek: Insurrection “Time’s Arrow” (5x26 & 6x01) “Affliction” (4x15) “Tribunal” (2x25)
#8 “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” (3x15) Star Trek: The Motion Picture “The Game” (5x06) “Carpenter Street” (3x11) “Paradise” (2x15)
#9 “Mirror, Mirror” (2x10) Star Trek “Chain of Command” (6x10 & 6x11) “Shadows of P’Jem” (1x13) “The House of Quark” (3x03)
#10 “The Changeling” (2x08) Star Trek: Nemesis “Ship in a Bottle” (6x12) “Civilization” (1x07) “The Visitor” (4x02)
#11 “Amok Time” (2x05) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier “In Theory” (4x25) “Unexpected” (1x03) “Rivals” (2x11)
#12 “Balance of Terror” (1x07) “Tapestry” (6x15) “Carbon Creek” (2x02)
#13 “Errand of Mercy” (1x26) “I, Borg” (5x23) “Storm Front” (4x01 & 4x02)
#14 “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” (1x20) “The Mind’s Eye” (4x24) “United” (4x13)
#15 “Bread & Circuses” (2x14) “Qpid” (4x20) “Observer Effect” (4x11)
#16 “The Ultimate Computer” (2x24) “Sarek” (3x23)
#17 “By Any Other Name” (2x21) “Conundrum” (5x14)
#18 “The Omega Glory” (2x25) “Reunion” (4x07)
#19 “Friday’s Child” (2x03) “Face of the Enemy” (6x14)
#20 “Journey to Babel” (2x15) “Ensign Ro” (5x03)
#21 “Elaan of Troyius” (3x02) “Deja Q” (3x13)
#22 “The Paradise Syndrome” (3x03) “Who Watches the Watchers” (3x04)
#23 “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” (1x08) “Devil’s Due” (4x13)
#24 “Court Martial” (1x13) “The Measure of a Man” (2x09)
#25 “A Private Little War” (2x16) “Power Play” (5x15)


Inception
Pet Peeves
Star Trek & Star Wars
“Dammit, Jim”
The Transporter
The Trouble with Klingons (& Romulans)
The “Terrible” Third Season of TOS
Constitution-class Starships
TOS Admirals & Commodores
Recurring characters on TOS
Notes on Favorite Episodes/Films


Check out Kirk, Spock, Picard, Data, McCoy, Worf, & Mr Scott on my Favorite Characters from Pop Culture Page.

Inception

The phenomenon called Star Trek is either an extremely unlikely fluke or something that was destined to be.

Star Trek began as a television pilot—called The Cage—created by Gene Roddenberry in 1965, which NBC executives rejected as “too cerebral,” but, nevertheless, ordered an unprecedented second pilot.

Roddenberry created the second pilot with an all-new cast (with the important exception of Leonard Nimoy as Spock), & the network accepted the show. It aired from 8 September 1966 to 3 June 1969 & ran for three seasons (and 79 episodes). Star Trek had abysmal ratings during its run & only remained on the air due to fan letter-writing campaigns & the network’s good graces.

Majel Barrett (eschewed by Desilu), the first officer in the first pilot (& Roddenberry’s mistress & eventual wife), later returned (with a blonde wig) as a new character, Nurse Christine Chapel.

Jeffrey Hunter,who played Captain Pike in The Cage, chose not to return to the role when NBC ordered a second pilot. Hunter’s second wife (of three) was Barbara Rush, who appeared in When Worlds Collide, It Came from Outer Space, & Hombre, as well as the Batman episode “Nora Clavicle and the Ladies’ Crime Club” & The Bionic Woman episode “Jaime’s Mother” as Jaime’s faux mother. Hunter died at the age of 42 of cerebral hemorrage & skull fracture resulting from injuries sustained after an on-set explosion during production of a film in Spain. Ironically, Hunter died exactly seven days before the airing of the final episode of Star Trek: TOS.

Star Trek’s popularity escalated during its run in syndication. Soon, Star Trek conventions began popping up across the nation. Star Trek’s cult phenomenon status, in addition to the success of the blockbuster films Star Wars & Close Encounters of the Third Kind, led to the resurrection of Star Trek as a film franchise, &, later, a multiple-series property.

Following the exploits of the United Federation of Planets Starship, USS Enterprise, in the 23rd Century, Star Trek was a revolutionary series for its time. It was the first hour-long SF drama with one of the highest production budgets ever. It featured a racially diverse & mixed-gender cast of characters in more relevant roles than previously allowed by television. Finally, Star Trek explored controversial social issues, such as authority & obedience, racial bigotry, & war. Star Trek, in fact, featured television’s first interracial kiss between Kirk & Uhura in “Plato’s Stepchildren.”

Star Trek has culminated in 11 feature films & 726 television episodes (so far) & is certainly among the most successful pop culture franchises in existence. Star Trek was the first TV series to be released on VHS in its entirity.


Pet Peeves on Star Trek in general

Logic, emotion, & Star Trek

According to numerous statements on the television series Star Trek & in the feature films, Mr Spock (and all members of the Vulcan race) operate solely on the basis of logic without emotion. Dr McCoy, among others, frequently compares Spock to a computer, and if he did in fact operate in this way, the comparison would have merit. However, based on observed behavior, one can readily see that both the comparison & the statements must be false. Computers (at least the ones we have today), unlike biological organisms, do not do anything of their own volition. Computers have neither goals nor motivations and merely carry out whatever instructions their users give them according to their relentless, encoded, binary logic. Mr Spock, however, constantly performs actions, thinks, speaks, and obviously has a will, goals, & motivations. Spock’s two signature expressions, “interesting” & “fascinating,” betray an emotion—curiousity. This is an emotional state, a feeling. To have a motivation, a desire to learn more about a given phenomenon, is to have a gut feeling, an irrational emotion that is quite separate from pure, intellectual reason. On the other hand, when Spock speaks of goals or actions as “logical,” he is using the term incorrectly. Logic is a system of reasoning, or making inferences, from propositions with known truth values. Goals, such as “we should explore our section of the galaxy” or “we should defend our planet from aliens” do not have known truth values and are not subject to logic. These statements require emotional judgments and their “truth” is based on one’s internal system of values and cannot be based on logic. Spock’s famous statement that, “Logic suggests that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few,” also has nothing to do with logic. You cannot logically demonstrate the value of a person, a few people, or many people, and you certainly cannot argue from logic about what may be good for these people or whether one good is preferable to another good. Logic has nothing to do with these arguments about ethics & moral judgments.
Perhaps this is why Spock, son of Sarek, never rose above captain, attained the Kolinahr, nor won the fair T’Pring...

Military in the media

Hollywood usually doesn’t get it right.

Watching Star Trek in both its TOS & TNG incarnations, you’d think it was perfectly natural that the chief of engineering, a lieutenant commander, is the one who fixes everything.

In a fifth-season episode of The A-Team—“Trial by Fire”—the heroes undergo a court-martial, in which, of course, they wear class-A uniforms, on which their awards & decorations (ribbons) are displayed. Face (Dirk Benedict), whose rank is first lieutenant (O-2), has significantly more ribbons than BA (Mr T), whose rank is Sergeant First Class (E7). Although not impossible, this is unlikely.

Star Trek & Star Wars

Star Wars would not exist without Star Trek (or it would have taken a markedly different shape). Lucas himself purportedly admits to being a Trekkie & cites Star Trek as his inspiration for getting into SF in the first place.

I have never understood the Star Wars-bashing Trekkies, nor the equally zealous Star Wars fans who disparage Star Trek. The elements that supposedly distinguish the two universes are either untrue or irrelevant. Supposedly Star Wars is frivolous, while Star Trek is dry & intellectual, lacking in humor or action. On the other hand, Star Trek is supposedly technically & scientifically accurate, while Star Wars is pure fantasy. First, Star Trek: The Original Series is neither so dry, humorless, nor intellectual as one may suppose. Despite Gene Roddenberry’s culling many episode titles from Shakespeare & the Bible, the series was, foremost, a 1960s television show & displayed the characteristics expected of it. Despite the cries of network executives to the contrary, Roddenberry’s creation was, more often than not, in his own words, “Wagon Train to the stars.” In spite of the social relevance of many episodes, the central importance of ideas, the attention to characterization, & the influence of literary SF on Star Trek, the plots nevertheless frequently revolved around fisticuffs, the monster of the week, &—significantly—starship battles. In spite of the excellent technical advice sought & implemented by Roddenberry from such luminaries as Professor Isaac Asimov, the science of Star Trek is frequently as fanciful if not more so than that of Star Wars, even if it is more elaborately planned & conceived.

Humor is a part of every episode of TOS, & some episodes, such as The Trouble with Tribbles & A Piece of the Action are best described as “comedies.” All of the characters are caricatures (or—more generously—archetypes) of some facet of humanity. Kirk is the roguish, womanizing, strategically brilliant, egotistical star captain, rather like Han Solo. McCoy is the impulsive idealist (rather like Luke). Spock, the hyper-intelligent, conflicted, & proud alien among humans, really has no analogue in Star Wars (sort of a fusion of Obi-Wan & C3PO). Mr Scott & Chekov also represent extreme character types. The humor in the situations in which this crew finds itself is a function of the chemistry between these characters, just as it is in Star Wars.

Finally, & most significantly, no portrayal of SF in a visual medium had ever shown space vehicles with the level of detail of those in Star Trek (except 2001, which followed Star Trek). Moreover, no film or TV series had ever depicted prolonged space combat in the way that Star Trek did. The space battles of Star Trek hinged on the technological differences between ships of different design & complexity. The skirmishes depended on the tactical considerations relating to a variety of technological systems that had never been mentioned previously on the screen—such as deflector shields, diminishing shield strength, available power, engine status, backup power supplies, alternate weapon systems, cloaking devices, et cetera. Without this precedent, it is difficult to see what form Star Wars might have taken.

There can be no mistake that the alternate weapon system of X-wing fighters in Star Wars—proton torpedoes—derives from photon torpedoes. Furthermore, when Captain Needa in The Empire Strikes Back, speaking of the Falcon, claims that “no ship that size has a cloaking device,” he is referring to something that no one would be familiar with outside of Star Trek.

The flip side, of course, is that the success & style of Star Wars has affected Star Trek to an incalculable extent, as it has every other SF property. Whether Star Trek would ever have become a multi-film or -series franchise without the impact of Star Wars remains an open question. Regardless, the Star Trek franchise is indebted to the new era of special effects heralded by Star Wars.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan & Star Trek: First Contact, in particular, have a distinctly Star Wars feel about them.

Finally, fans of the respective milieux argue over which franchise is technologically or militarily superior. The Star Wars camp makes these basic points: 1) the Galactic civilization (& technology) of Star Wars is at least 25,000 years old, whereas that of Star Trek is only a few thousand years old, 2) Star Wars space vessels can travel from one side of the galaxy to the other in a relatively short time, whereas in Star Trek, the galaxy has not even been completely explored and trips across the galaxy require decades or centuries, 3) the space vehicles of Star Wars are massive & bring commensurately massive firepower to bear—from Imperial Star Destroyers to the Death Star—the size of a moon with the power to destroy planets, &, finally, 4) the Galactic Empire has essentially the resources of the entire galaxy at its disposal making its fleets and military basing far superior to those of the Federation, which controls just 1% of the Milky Way. The Trekkies’ only argument is that the presence of the matter/energy conversion technology of transporters, replicators, & the holodeck imply that the Federation’s scientific & technical knowledge is far advanced over that of the Empire, Republic, or Rebellion. Some might add that the weaponry in Star Wars all seems to be referred to as “LASERs” from time to time & that the folks in Star Trek have stated on more than one occasion that LASERs are absolutely incapable of penetrating the shields of Federation Starships.

As intriguing as this speculation is, these arguments, not to put too fine a point on it, really just show that these are fictional creations under discussion, & not terribly realistic ones at that. In the case of Star Wars, one might ask why their technology is so backward after 20 millenia. Is it due to an over-reliance on the Force? And one could equally claim that the relative slowness of Starfleet just highlights the fact once more that Star Trek tends toward greater scientific & technical accuracy than Star Wars (although doing an impossible thing more slowly is still doing an impossible thing). On the other hand, the magical transporters of Star Trek are so out of step with the rest of Federation technology as to seem the height of silliness at times, and this, again, merely indicates the imaginary nature of the topic.

I must say, ’though, IMHO, that the superior technology of Star Trek has always seemed to me to give the Federation a decisive advantage over the Empire, who, after all, have trouble dealing with a few hundred Ewoks... Size & numbers are a poor substitute for technology, at least in open-field conflicts. 100 men armed with stone knives & enormous catapults are still at a tactical disadvantage over 10 men with M-16 rifles...

“Dammit, Jim”

Doctor Leonard McCoy (lieutenant commander) has two stock phrases: “He’s dead, Jim” & “I’m a doctor, not a”...(fill in vocation here). He uses both of these expressions numerous times on Star Trek: TOS. The “Dammit, Jim” expression has passed into the collective cultural language of Americans, & I use it too. It is appropriate as an homage to the original show just as, “Beam me up, Scotty” is. However, when people actually attribute these words to quotations from Star Trek: TOS, they betray an ignorance—not only in the show itself, but in the television culture of the 1960s & 1970s in which Star Trek: TOS existed. In those days, “damn” & “hell” were considered strong curse words. Consequently, “The City on the Edge of Forever” is the only episode of TOS in which “hell” is said. Never, in all 79 episodes of TOS nor in the 22 episodes of The Animated Series are the words “damn,” “damn it,” or “God damn it,” ever spoken.

To the best of my knowledge (& I might have missed one or two somewhere), the only time McCoy ever says “dammit, Jim” is in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. McCoy & Kirk are in Kirk’s apartment drinking Romulan ale, & McCoy bursts out, “Dammit, Jim, what the hell’s the matter with you? Other people have birthdays. Why are we treating yours like a funeral?”

In all of DeForest Kelley’s appearances in Star Trek as Dr McCoy—the 76 episodes of TOS in which he appeared, the 22 episodes of The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture through Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, & in the pilot episode of TNG, “Encounter at Farpoint”— he does not once say, “Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a”...(fill in vocation here).

Transporter technology

First, I know that this has, in essence, been said before. And I know the pragmatic exigencies behind the creation of the magical transporter, that it was added due to the show’s budget.

And the transporter makes for good drama. Some of the best episodes of TOS & TNG are based on the malfunctioning transporter.

And I’m not going to harp on the fact that the level of technology necessary for the transporter is far greater than that otherwise showcased in TOS or TNG.

Nevertheless, two things about the magical matter-energy converting teleporter known as the transporter must be said:

1) The notion that the transporter converts a human’s matter into energy, moves that very same energy to another location, & then reassembles the very same energy into the same human who stepped on the transporter pad is ridiculous. There is nothing special about this energy once the human has been destroyed in this way. The energy does not “remember” what it was. Just as one atom of carbon is the same as another atom of carbon, so one photon is the same as another. A device with the ability to assemble matter in a form as complex as a living organism from energy would have the ability to use any energy, not just the energy of the converted individual. This fact, then, begs the question, why do people ever die on Star Trek? Why do they not reassemble the dead from their last transporter pattern (or, indeed, a younger one)?

2) Finally, a people so technologically advanced would not have the sort of problems frequently displayed on Star Trek. In order to accomplish this sort of matter-energy conversion, they would have to have complete knowledge & mastery of matter & energy. Therefore, running out of dilithium crystals would never be a problem. They would simply make more. And they would have to understand every last detail of human anatomy & physiology down to the subatomic level. Therefore, these people would not ever have a problem diagnosing or curing a disease. They would compare a sick person’s current state to his last state & instantly detect the difference. And such a people should not ever spend hours trying to open a locked door!

The Trouble with Klingons & Romulans

Star Trek: TOS portrayed the Klingons as dark-skinned humans with Asian facial hair. Klingons were deceptive, belligerent, & brutal, with few redeeming qualities (until Kang & Mara in “The Day of the Dove”). Series creators intended Klingons as one-dimensional bad guys, a future parallel to the 1960s Soviet Union. Klingons first appeared in “Errand of Mercy” (in which they were forced by the Organians to sign a peace treaty with the UFP) & appeared in a total of six TOS episodes & an additional two episodes of TAS.

In contrast, Romulans were designed as a hybrid between a futuristic Roman Republic & Communist China, with the confounding factor that, although sharing ancestry & appearance with Vulcans, they were polar opposites to the peaceful, logical, emotionless race, being instead passionate & aggressive. The Romulans first appeared in “Balance of Terror” & appeared in a total of three TOS episodes (but in “The Deadly Years” only Romulan ships are seen, not actual Romulans) in addition to three episodes of TAS. Their ships, named after the “bird of prey” painted on the underside, were distinctive in possessing sub-light drive, an extremely powerful plasma torpedo, & a cloaking device.

This is it in a nutshell, then. The Federation’s two main antagonists had simplistic, yet readily distinguishable traits. TOS writer DC Fontana has stated that series creators wanted every race to have immediately recognizable features to allow them to be distinguished. She has also claimed that many episode screenplays were written featuring Romulans (as the more interesting of the two adversaries) but were re-written as Klingons due to budget constraints. Romulans’ pointed ears caused the episodes to be more expensive. (Ironic, because the retconned, forehead-ridged Klingons are now surely the more expensive of the two in terms of makeup.)

The problem began in the third season of TOS & was all because of budget. The series creators had made ships for the Romulans, which had featured in two episodes, but had made no ships for the Klingons, who had not been intended to be the main opponents of the Federation. Because of budget constraints, however, Klingons had appeared as the enemy of the Federation many more times than the Romulans. So between the second & third seasons, Matt Jeffries, the set designer who created the Enterprise, created the D-7 Klingon Battlecruiser. The TOS episode “Elaan of Troyius” (featuring Klingon enemies) was the first episode produced, which showcased this ship. However, the episode “The Enterprise Incident” (featuring Romulans) aired before “Elaan of Troyius”. Because the Bird-of-Prey Romulan ship model had been lost, the series producers decided to use Jeffries’ new D-7 design as the Romulan ships. They explained this discrepency away by maintaining that the Klingons had formed a new alliance with the Romulans resulting in an exchange of technology. As a result of this situation, viewers saw Romulans using Klingon ships before they saw Klingons using them.

Despite the appearance of D-7 Battlecruisers in TOS with cloaking devices (in “The Enterprise Incident”), Klingons were never portrayed in TOS or TAS as having cloaking technology or bird-of-prey type ships. In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Kruge is captain of a “bird of prey” with a cloaking device. Although events had conspired to cause a fusion of Klingons & Romulans in terms of characteristics, this was the pivotal moment when the two races became completely confused, &, since it is difficult to blame the budget of this multi-million-dollar film, the blame must land squarely on the shoulders of the director—Leonard Nimoy.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, while adding depth to the different races of Star Trek & having access to a higher budget & better special effects technology, still failed to resolve the confusion. TNG changed the design of Romulan ships so that they neither resembled Klingon ships nor the original Bird-of-Prey, & that is good. However, TNG continued the use of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey & continued to show Klingon vessels with cloaking devices.

Klingons, however, have probably won the battle for overall interest due to these circumstances. Klingons are the only Star Trek race with an actual, complete, artificial language (invented by Marc Okrand), & this language is considered to be the fastest-growing artificial language spoken (over Tolkien’s Elvish & Esperanto).

The other trouble with Klingons...

...is their appearance. In TOS & TAS, Klingons looked like normal humans. In 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with its $40 million budget, revealed Klingons with elaborate forehead ridges. While the new Klingons were undeniably cool-looking, they were a glaring continuity error. 17 years passed before the continuity issue was even acknowledged in canon. In the fifth-season DS9 episode “Trials & Tibble-lations,” Worf merely says, “We do not discuss it with outsiders.” Nine years later, in the fourth-season Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Affliction,” we learn that the Klingons exposed themselves to the “augment virus,” the same virus used by Khan Noonien Singh & his people to increase their strength & intelligence. A side-effect of this exposure lead to the disappearance of Klingon forehead ridges. This canonical explanation, nevertheless, leaves a continuity error in the matter of Kahless the Unforgettable, who had lived 1500 years before the events of TNG. Kahless appeared as a ridge-less TOS-era Klingon in the third-season Star Trek: TOS episode “The Savage Curtain,” but as a forehead-ridged Klingon in the sixth-season Star Trek: TNG episode “Rightful Heir.” It may be argued that since the Klingon claiming to be Kahless in both of these episodes was not, in fact, the original Kahless, that this comparison is unfair. Furthermore, the Kahless in “The Savage Curtain” may have been created based on the mental images of Kirk & Spock, who knew little of Klingons & did not know about the augment virus. However, this begs the question that if they knew so little about Klingons, how did they know about Kahless?

The “Terrible” Third Season (of TOS)

Many claim that the episodes of the third season of TOS are of significantly lower quality than those of the preceding seasons. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, & Nichelle Nichols are among those who make this claim. They state that NBC intentionally moved Star Trek to a “death” time slot & cut its production budget to assure its cancellation. In protest of some of these changes, Roddenberry switched from series producer to executive producer & distanced himself from the series. The lower budget should imply worse special effects & worse guest cast. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth, as the third season marks the first appearance of the iconic D-7 Klingon Battlecruiser & such distinguished guest stars as Frank Gorshin, Lee Meriwether, France Nuyen, Michael Ansara, Melvin Belli, Diana Muldar, Mariette Hartley, et cetera. Four season three episodes made my personal top 10, compared to one season one episode. IMHO, six episodes (of 23) of the third season are genuinely bad, but I consider six episodes from season one to be bad also. True, season three drastically reduced location shooting resulting in a much greater number of “canned” episodes, but I did not notice this until I read it. Finally, I don’t understand why people bash “Spock’s Brain” so much. I think it was an interesting idea fairly well executed with Star Trek’s usual dose of humor & action—& certainly no less realistic than time travel, rock monsters, transporters, & travelling at 512C. “Spock’s Brain” is a much better episode than “The Alternative Factor,” “Operation: Annihilate,” “Charlie X,” “The Man Trap,” “The Corbomite Maneauver,” or “The Galileo Seven,” IMHO.

Constitution-class Starships


In “Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” Kirk states that there are 12 ships like Enterprise in Starfleet.
Definite Constitution-class Starships
(The following Constitution-class Starships appear in episodes of TOS.)
Name Registry Skipper Status Star Trek: TOS episode TOS season
USS Constellation NCC-1017 Commodore Matt Decker destroyed “The Doomsday Machine” second
USS Exeter ? Captain Ron Tracey operational “The Omega Glory” second
USS Lexington ? Commodore Bob Wesley operational “The Ultimate Computer” second
USS Excalibur ? Captain Harris destroyed “The Ultimate Computer” second
USS Hood ? ? operational “The Ultimate Computer” second
USS Potemkin ? ? operational “The Ultimate Computer” second
USS Defiant ? ? in another universe “The Tholian Web” third

Therefore, eight of the 12 Starships (including Enterprise) are accounted for in episodes of TOS.
Possible Constitution-class Starships
(The following Starfleet ships are mentioned in TOS dialogue but not seen.)
Name Star Trek: TOS episode
Republic “Court Martial”
Intrepid “Court Martial” & “The Immunity Syndrome”
Yorktown & Farragut “Obsession”


Kirk served on both the Farragut & the Republic prior to his assignment as captain of Enterprise. It is not clear from dialogue whether any of these four ships is, in fact, Constitution class. (Perhaps the strongest case can be made for the Intrepid.) Also, the Yorktown appears in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , but without exterior shots, & dialogue fails to establish its class. Of course, many other Federation vessels are mentioned over the course of TOS, but most are not considered candidates for Constitution class either due to their expressed age or because they are directly stated not to be Starships.

In the 1975 book, Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, Franz Joseph Schnaubelt includes the following list of 14 Constitution-class Starships:
Inexplicably, this list does not include the USS Defiant, a ship shown onscreen in TOS & clearly Constitution class. Of course, this list is not canonical, &, in any case, some of the registry numbers have later proved false in canon.

TOS Admirals & Commodores


The following are the flag officers who made onscreen appearances on TOS:
Rank & Name Star Trek: TOS episode
Admiral Komack “Amok Time”
Admiral Fitzpatrick “The Trouble with Tribbles”
Admiral Fitzgerald “The Mark of Gideon”
Admiral Westervliet “For the World Is Hollow & I Have Touched the Sky”
Commodore Stone “Court Martial”
Commodore Decker “The Doomsday Machine”
Commodore Wesley “The Ultimate Computer”
Commodore Mendez “The Menagerie”
Commodore Barstow “The Alternative Factor”
Commodore Stocker “The Deadly Years”
Oddly, Admiral Komack & Admiral Westervliet were played by the same actor—Byron Morrow. Commodore Barstow & Admiral Fitzgerald were also played by the same actor—Richard Derr—perhaps best known as the star of the 1951 SF film When Worlds Collide.

Of course, over the 77 episodes of TOS (not counting the two pilots) many other flag officers were referred to & even heard over the radio, but the above were the only 10 with onscreen appearances.

While Starfleet clearly used commodore as a rank in the TOS era, the history of the usage of commodore as a rank & a position in the US Navy is complex & convoluted. Suffice to say that Starfleet began using rear admiral (lower half) in lieu of commodore around the time of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Recurring characters on TOS

Leonard Nimoy: Spock appeared in all 79 episodes of TOS (and in the unaired pilot “The Cage”), 22 episodes of TAS, all six TOS films, two episodes of ST: TNG, & the 2009 JJ Abrams Star Trek film.

William Shatner: Jim Kirk appeared in all 79 episodes of TOS (but was not in the unaired pilot “The Cage”), 21 episodes of ST: TAS, all six TOS films, & the Star Trek: Generations film.

DeForest Kelley: Leonard McCoy appeared in 75 episodes of TOS, 21 episodes of TAS, all six TOS films, & one episode of ST: TNG.

James Doohan: Montgomery Scott appeared in 63 episodes of TOS, 20 episodes of TAS, all six TOS films, the Star Trek: Generations film, & one episode of ST: TNG. In addition, Doohan provided numerous voices for different characters on both TOS & TAS, & Doohan’s voice was in fact in all 22 episodes of TAS, despite the character of Mr Scott being absent from two.

Nichelle Nichols: Uhura appeared in 66 episodes of TOS, 19 episodes of TAS, & all six TOS films. (In TAS, Nichols provided voices for several other characters besides Uhura.)

George Takei: Hikaru Sulu appeared in 51 episodes of TOS, 15 episodes of TAS, all six TOS films, & one episode of ST: Voyager.

Walter Koenig: Pavel Chekov appeared in 36 episodes of TOS, all six TOS films, & the Star Trek: Generations film.

Majel Barrett: Christine Chapel appeared in 25 episodes of TOS, five episodes of TAS, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, & Star Trek IV. In addition to the part of Nurse Chapel, Barrett had many other voice roles on TAS, played Deana’s mother, Lwaxana Troi, on TNG & DS9, Number One in the unaired Star Trek pilot “The Cage” (billed as M Leigh Hudec) as well as parts I & II of the TOS episode “The Menagerie,” & served as the voice of the computer on all five live-action Star Trek series. Thus, Barrett acted in some capacity in nine more episodes of TAS, bringing her total to 14 episodes. As Lwaxana, she contributed to six episodes of TNG & three episodes of DS9. As the voice of the computer, Barrett acted in seven additional episodes of TOS, bringing her total to 32 episodes of that series. Also, as the computer Barrett contributed to 97 episodes of TNG, 23 episodes of DS9, 96 episodes of Voyager, two episodes of Enterprise, Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis, & the 2009 JJ Abrams reboot Star Trek. So despite Barrett’s never having been a regular castmember of any live-action Star Trek series, she holds the distinction of being the only actress to have a role (if, only by voice) in all five live-action Star Trek series & is second only to Colm Meaney for total Star Trek episode roles.

On a completely different side note, Majel was Gene Roddenberry’s wife. They were involved before TOS even aired, & they eventually married on 06 Aug 1969 in Japan in a Shinto ceremony (ironic, because Star Trek is not especially popular in Japan) just two months after TOS was cancelled, & they remained married until Roddenberry’s death in 1991. So, just as Roddenberry is known as the Great Bird of the Galaxy, Barrett is often called “The First Lady of Star Trek.”

John Winston: Lieutenant Kyle appeared in 11 episodes of TOS & Star Trek II. He was the second-most featured recurring, minor character with dialogue (after Chapel). He was most often transporter chief, but occasionally an engineering assistant, & once helmsman. In Star Trek II, he held the rank of commander & was the communications officer of the USS Reliant.

Grace Lee Whitney: Janice Rand appeared in eight episodes of TOS (early first-season), Star Trek: TMP, Star Trek III, Star Trek IV, Star Trek VI, & one episode of Voyager. Purportedly, network executives asked for Grace Lee Whitney’s departure from the show, because Kirk could not be seen as a “one-woman” man.

Whitney, who was in a number of early Star Trek publicity photos, understandably thought she was the female lead & equally understandably was confused & distraught at this turn of events.

William Blackburn: Blackburn was an extra who appeared in 62 episodes of TOS, more often than any other extra, &, indeed, more often than either Sulu or Chekov. He appeared most frequently as helmsman or navigator on the bridge wearing a yellow shirt, but he also appeared occasionally as a redshirt security or engineering officer. Usually he was a lieutenant, but he was occasionally an ensign. Mr Scott called him by name, Lt Hadley, in “A Piece of the Action.” This was the only time the character was ever referred to by name. Blackburn was never credited, nor did he ever have lines of dialogue. Blackburn also played the Gorn in “Arena.”

Eddie Paskey: Paskey was an extra who appeared in 57 episodes of TOS, more episodes than either Sulu or Chekov. Paskey had lines in four episodes, was credited in two episodes, & was called “Mr Leslie” by Kirk in four episodes, the first of which was “Conscience of the King.” Called Hunters by McCoy in “Mudd’s Women.” Leslie appeared most often as the bridge engineering officer, but also appeared as helmsman, navigator, science officer, medical assistant, main engineering assistant, & security officer. Leslie, thus, during his tenure, wore yellow, blue, & red shirts. He frequently wore the gold stripe of Starfleet lieutenant, but also appeared as an ensign. Leslie fired the ship’s phasers once, sat in Kirk’s command chair twice, received Spock’s Vulcan nerve pinch once, & appeared to die in “Obsession,” although he appeared alive & in good health later in the very same episode & several thereafter. “Lt Leslie” was purportedly named after William Shatner’s eldest daughter (who appeared as one of the very young children in “Miri” along with her sister Lisabeth).

Frank da Vinci: Da Vinci appeared in 49 episodes of TOS, frequently as Lt Brent. Like other extras, da Vinci appeared as a variety of characters with multiple positions & ranks. Spock refers to Brent by name in “The Naked Time,” the only episode in which Da Vinci has dialogue. Da Vinci is possibly never given onscreen credit in TOS.

Roger Holloway: Holloway was an extra who appeared in 32 episodes of TOS, frequently as Roger Lemli. He appeared as a variety of characters with multiple positions & ranks. Holloway is never credited. Scott calls him Roger in “The Changeling.” Kirk calls him Mr Lemli in “The Lights of Zetar” & in “Turnabout Intruder,” also the single episode in which Holloway has a line of dialogue. Kirk calls him Mr Mulney in “The Savage Curtain.” (Lemli was purportedly a reference to the three Shatner girls, Leslie, Melanie, & Lisabeth.)

David L Ross: Ross appeared in nine episodes of TOS & was given screen credit five times, twice as guard, once as transporter chief, once as Lt Johnson, & once as Lt Galoway (in “Turnabout Intruder”). He was called Lt Galoway twice in dialogue, in “A Taste of Armageddon” & in “The Omega Glory.” Captain Tracey vaporizes Galoway with a phaser in “The Omega Glory,” but Ross appears again in “Day of the Dove,” although now credited as Johnson (and called Johnson by Spock) rather than Galoway. However, in Ross’ next & final appearance (“Turnabout Intruder”), he is credited as Lt Galoway for the only time, ironic because, although uncredited, he had been called Galoway in two previous episodes, but due to the events of “The Omega Glory,” Galoway was supposedly deceased.

Jim Goodwin: Farrell (3) Michael Barrier: DeSalle (3) Roger C Carmel: Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2)

Bruce Hyde: Lt Kevin Thomas Riley appeared in, received screen credit for, & had several lines of dialogue in two first-season TOS episodes: “The Naked Time” (as navigator) & “Conscience of the King” (as communications officer).

Elizabeth Rogers: Communications officer Lt Palmer appeared in two episodes of TOS: “The Doomsday Machine” & “The Way to Eden.” Rogers also performed the (uncredited) voice of the Companion in “Metamorphosis.”

Hansen (2) Angela Martine (Teller-2)
Gary Lockwood: Lieutenant commander Gary Mitchell, although not a recurring character, is important in the history of Enterprise as helmsman, first officer, & Kirk’s best friend in the second pilot of Star Trek, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Mitchell gains godlike intellect & psionic abilities after contact with the galactic barrier, & as his powers escalate, his human morality diminishes. Kirk, therefore, has to kill his best friend, paving the way for Spock to assume the first officer position as well as the best friend spot. Lockwood also portrayed ill-fated Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey & made two guest appearances on The Six Million Dollar Man as hit man John Hopper & guest appearances on one episode of The Bionic Woman (“The Night Demon”) as well as an appearance on “The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man & the Bionic Woman” as two entirely different characters.

Notes on favorite episodes/films



Star Trek: TOS


#1

“The City on the Edge of Forever” (1x27)

#2

“The Trouble with Tribbles” (2x13)


#3

“A Piece of the Action” (2x20)

#4

“The Doomsday Machine” (2x06)











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Star Trek Page II—Star Trek: TOS (continued)
Star Trek Page III—Star Trek: TOS (continued)
Star Trek Page IV—Star Trek: TOS (continued)
Star Trek Page V—Star Trek: TOS (continued)
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Star Trek Page VIII—Star Trek: TOS (continued)
Star Trek Page IX—Star Trek IV, Star Trek II, First Contact, Star Trek III, Generations, & Star Trek VI
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