Without the original Star Trek, released from 1966 through 1969, there would not be Star Trek. Over the course of three seasons, the series boldly went where quite literally no one had gone before. While some may prefer later iterations of Star Trek for one reason or another, one cannot deny that TOS created the template from which every subsequent incarnation is derived.
Personally, the original series is not only my favorite version of Star Trek but also my favorite TV show in general. Despite growing up in the 2000s, I’ve never minded the “cheesy” effects or the lack of continuing stories. In fact, those are actually things I really appreciate about the show’s format.
As much as I love the original Star Trek, I don’t think every episode is perfect. A ranking could definitely be made of the relative quality of every episode. Rather than going through all 79 episodes, though, I’ll save you some time and just rank each of the three seasons of the original Star Trek. It’s all opinions, of course.
3. Season Three
This probably doesn’t surprise much of anyone. After a massive letter-writing campaign from avid fans rescued the series from cancellation, Star Trek got a third season on a smaller budget and a worse timeslot. On top of this, many of the writers for the first two seasons—including D.C. Fontana, Gene L. Coon, and series creator, Gene Roddenberry—left during this season.
All of this behind-the-scenes drama almost certainly contributed to the inconsistent quality of the season. But that inconsistency goes both ways. While season three has my absolute least favorite TOS episode, “And the Children Shall Lead,” it also has some of my favorites, like “The Enterprise Incident,” “All Our Yesterdays,” and “The Empath.”
This season is certainly the weakest of the three, but it still has a lot of episodes that are fun and interesting to watch. I would not describe it as an unmitigated disaster, as I have heard others put it, but I also can’t help but admit that there are some real stinkers. I could go on so long about how painfully, miserably dull I find “And the Children Shall Lead” to be.