3. Tone, pacing, and stakes
“Space Seed” is tightly focused and escalating: once Khan’s identity and background are revealed, tension builds steadily toward his takeover attempt, torture of Kirk, and the final brutal fight in engineering. The stakes are immediate and physical; the ship, the crew, and the captain’s life all hang in the balance, and the solution is decided by raw will and ingenuity in a classic TOS fistfight climax.
“The Neutral Zone” is structurally looser and more bifurcated, juggling the cryonics plot with the looming Romulan mystery about destroyed outposts. Instead of a single crescendo, it ends in an uneasy diplomatic draw with the Romulans and an emotional resolution for the revived humans, giving the episode a more diffuse, season‑finale “table‑setting” feel.