The Original Series

Star Trek is a seminal American science fiction television series that first aired in the 1960s. The series follows the adventures of the starship Enterprise and her crew as they explore the Milky Way galaxy in the mid-2260s. In my most recent re-watch of the series, I sought to stick to what I considered the “best of” the series in order to cut down on the time it would take to view the entire franchise.

Each episode is indicated with either a “W” for watch or an “S” for skip. I also opted to order my viewing in “chronological order” as best determined by the initial stardate given in the episode. If there isn’t a stardate, I placed it where it made the most sense relative to the other episodes. Eventually, each title will link to a post that discusses the reasoning for seeing an episode or skipping an episode.

Lastly, episodes that are “essential” are indicated with an * in the Ep. No. column. Essential episodes are selected on a number of factors including character development, other cannon connections, and cultural impact. In other words, these often are best of the best of each season.

Season 1

Season One had 29 episodes, though with the first pilot it is a total of 30. Many of them now considered classics, both for the series, franchise, and 60’s television. I ended up with 77% of the season’s entries worth watching. 10 episodes I consider essential in the season.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
1×00*	The Cage	Unknown	W
1×01*	Where No Man Has Gone Before	1312.4	W
1×03*	Mudd’s Women	1329.8	W
1×02	The Corbomite Maneuver	1512.2	W
1×05	The Man Trap	1513.1	W
1×07	Charlie X	1533.6	S
1×04	The Enemy Within	1672.1	S
1×06	The Naked Time	1704.2	W
1×08*	Balance of Terror	1709.2	W
1×18	The Squire of Gothos	2124.5	S
1×09	What are Little Girls Made of?	2712.4	W
1×11	Miri	2713.5	S
1×10	Dagger of the Mind	2715.1	W
1×12	The Conscience of the King	2817.6	W
1×13*	The Galileo Seven	2821.5	W
1×14	Court Martial	2947.3	W
1×15*	The Menagerie | Part 1	3012.4	W
1×16*	The Menagerie | Part 2	3013.1	W
1×17	Shore Leave	3025.3	S
1×19*	Arena	3045.6	W
1×20	The Alternative Factor	3087.6	S
1×21	Tomorrow is Yesterday	3113.2	W
1×24*	Space Seed	3141.9	W
1×22	The Return of the Archons	3156.2	W
1×23	A Taste of Armageddon	3192.1	S
1×26*	The Devil in the Dark	3196.1	W
1×27	Errand of Mercy	3198.4	W
1×28*	The City on the Edge of Forever	Unknown	W
1×29	Operation — Annihilate!	3287.2	W
1×25	This Side of Paradise	3417.3	S

There are a few Season Two episodes that occur during Season One. “Catspaw” chronologically occurs after “The Menagerie | Part II” and before “Shore Leave.” “The Gamesters of Triskelion” occurs after “Errand of Mercy” and is followed by “Metamorphosis.” “Amok Time” follows “Operation — Annihilate!“

Additionally, there are two episodes of The Animated Series that occurs, chronologically, during the first season of The Original Series. “The Practical Joker,” which occurs after TOS episode, “The Return of the Archons” and before TOS’s “A Taste of Armageddon,” and (through a bit of head-cannon hand waving) “The Magicks of Megas-Tu,” which I’ve placed between the TOS episodes “The Squire of Gothos” and “What Are Little Girls Made Of?“

Season 2

Season Two ran 26 episodes. 58% of the season made it through to the watch list. Stardates are, relative to the broadcast order, all over the place for the season as well. There are 8 episodes I consider essential in this season.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
2×01	Catspaw	3018.2	S
2×17	The Gamesters of Triskelion	3211.7	S
2×02*	Metamorphosis	3219.8	W
2×05*	Amok Time	3372.7	W
2×04	Who Mourns for Adonais	3468.1	S
2×11	The Deadly Years	3478.2	S
2×03	Friday’s Child	3497.2	S
2×08	The Changeling	3541.9	S
2×07	Wolf in the Fold	3614.9	S
2×18	Obsession	3619.2	S
2×09	The Apple	3715.0	S
2×10*	Mirror, Mirror	Unknown	W
2×15*	Journey to Babel	3842.3	W
2×14	Bread and Circuses	4040.7	W
2×06*	The Doomsday Machine	4202.9	W
2×16	A Private Little War	4211.4	W
2×19	The Immunity Syndrome	4307.1	W
2×20	A Piece of the Action	Unknown	W
2×12*	I, Mudd	4513.3	W
2×13*	The Trouble with Tribbles	4523.3	W
2×21	By Any Other Name	4657.5	S
2×23	Patterns of Force	Unknown	W
2×24	The Ultimate Computer	4729.4	W
2×25	The Omega Glory	Unknown	S
2×22*	Return to Tomorrow	4768.3	W
2×26	Assignment: Earth	Unknown	W

There is a single Season One episode that occur chronologically in Season Two, “This Side of Paradise” which falls after “Amok Time” and before “Who Mourns for Adonais?“

In season two, The Animated Series episode “The Slaver Weapon” occurs between the TOS episodes “Bread and Circuses” and “The Doomsday Machine.”

Lastly, a couple of Season Three episodes occur in the middle of Season Two, including “Elaan of Troyius” which follows “The Immunity Syndrome” and “Spectre of the Gun” and precedes “I, Mudd.”

Season 3

Season Three produced 24 episodes of varying quality. It is well-documented the challenges the cancelled then renewed series experienced in it’s last season. I won’t rehash them here, but even with the unevenness there are still several standout episodes. Like Season Two, 58% of the episodes qualified for a W. Also like Season Two, 8 episodes rank as essential.

The first two episodes of Season Three are chronologically out of order. By stardate they would occur between The Immunity Syndrome and “I, Mudd.” To keep things neat and tidy, they lead off the Season Three list. The earliest episode by stardate for the season is then “The Paradise Syndrome“.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
3×02	Elaan of Troyius	4372.5	W
3×01	Spectre of the Gun	4385.3	W
3×03	The Paradise Syndrome	4842.6	S
3×04*	The Enterprise Incident	5027.3	W
3×05	And the Children Shall Lead	5029.5	S
3×08*	The Empath	5121.5	W
3×11*	Day of the Dove	Unknown	W
3×14	That Which Survives	Unknown	S
3×17	The Mark of Gideon	5423.4	W
3×06	Spock’s Brain	5431.4	S
3×10	For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky	5476.3	W
3×07	Is There in Truth No Beauty?	5630.7	S
3×09*	The Tholian Web	5693.2	W
3×13	Wink of an Eye	5710.5	W
3×16	Whom Gods Destroy	5718.3	W
3×18	The Lights of Zetar	5725.3	S
3×15*	Let That be Your Last Battlefield	5730.2	W
3×12*	Plato’s Stepchildren	5784.2	W
3×19	The Cloud Minders	5818.4	S
3×20	The Way to Eden	5832.3	S
3×21*	Requiem for Methuselah	5843.7	W
3×22	The Savage Curtain	5906.4	W
3×24	Turnabout Intruder	5928.5	S
3×23*	All Our Yesterdays	5943.7	W

Most of the Animated Series episodes have stardates that occur during Season Three. The TAS episode “Mudd’s Passion” follows “The Paradise Syndrome,” after which, TAS episodes “The Survivor,” “Beyond the Farthest Star,” “Albatross,” “One of Our Planets is Missing,” the classic “Yesteryear,” and “More Tribbles, More Troubles,” round out the first tranche of episodes. After the TOS episode “Day of the Dove,” more animated adventures continue including, “The Lorelei Signal,” “The Ambergris Element,” “The Eye of the Beholder,” “The Infinite Vulcan,” “The Terratin Incident,” and “Once Upon a Planet.” Then, after TOS’s “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” is “The Jihad.” Lastly, after what I consider to be the true original TOS series finale “All Our Yesterdays” are the final four episodes including, “How Sharper Than a Serpents Tooth,” “The Pirates of Orion,” “The Counter-Clock Incident,” and “Bem.”

At the end of the series, 64% of episodes are worth watching and 34% are essential.