In “Space Seed,” the Enterprise recovers the USS Botany Bay and releases from suspended animation one of the people inside, the one-time warlord Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). Immediately, Khan proves himself a threat, thanks to Montalbán’s incredibly charismatic take on a man who asserts his power in every situation, even charming the Enterprise’s historian (that’s a job?) Lt. Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue). So compelling is Montalbán’s performance and the story by Carey Wilber and Coon that Khan would be a Star Trek great, even if Wrath of Khan never happened.
10. Amok Time (Season 2, Episode 1)
Like “Space Seed,” “Amok Time” often gets diminished to a one-sentence synopsis: the one where Spock gets horny. However, the mating drive known as pon farr is just one of the many aspects of Vulcaln lore that writer Theodore Sturgeon and director Joseph Pevney introduce in “Amok Time.”
Driven mad by his need to mate, Spock returns to Vulcan to reunite with his betrothed T’Pring (Arlene Martel), only to discover that she has chosen another, which leads to ceremonial conflict. Although “Amok Time” leans hard into its pulpy depiction of the planet and its people, all involved play it straight, including Celia Lovsky as the matriarch T’Pau. Thanks to their dedication, “Amok Time” ends with Vulcan as a compelling place, giving the franchise a foundation for hundreds of interesting stories.
9. Mirror, Mirror (Season 2, Episode 4)
Like Tremaine and Harry Mudd, the Mirror Universe is a highly divisive TOS concept. There’s no in-between. You must either embrace the over-the-top nature of the tropes or you must skip the episodes altogether. Of the three concepts, the Mirror Universe wins out, thanks to the episode that introduced it, “Mirror, Mirror” by writer Jerome Bixby and director Marc Daniels.
Much has been said about the central idea of Kirk, McCoy, and Uhura arriving in a universe filled with evil doppelgängers, including Spock with a goatee. Equally compelling, however, is the frame narrative around the Mirror Universe adventure, in which the Federation tries to broker a deal for Dilithium crystals from the Halkans. The Halkans refuse on the grounds that the Federation could use the crystals for war, a position supported by the Mirror Universe adventure, despite the episode’s conclusion, making the organization more complex than often realized.
8. The Corbomite Maneuver (Season 1, Episode 10)
Like its contemporary Doctor Who, Star Trek understood its goofy looking aliens were part of the appeal, not a distraction. “The Corbomite Maneuver” from writer Jerry Sohl and directer Joseph Sargent features a humdinger of a weird alien in Balok, the figure who shows up on the Enterprise view screen as a representative of the First Federation. Of course, as we’ll learn, that figure is just a puppet for the real Balok, a childlike entity portrayed by Clint Howard (voice dubbed by Walker Edmiston).
