The second season of Star Trek's original series is considered by many to be the peak of the show's first run. It contains some legendary episodes, including "Amok Time," (E01), one of the series' most pivotal entries, and those that are famous outside the fandom, like "The Trouble With Tribbles" (E15). While there's no doubt that season 2 includes the most memorable episodes, a few completely missed the mark, so let's take a look at them and see what might have gone wrong.
1. "Catspaw" (E7)
This was the series' Halloween episode, which aired on October 27, 1967. Captain Kirk and the crew visit Pyrus VII after they beam aboard a security guard who arrives DOA, while the other members of the landing party, Scotty and Sulu, do not appear at all. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to search for them and instead meet two aliens who have set up something of a haunted house for them, complete with skeletons, witches, and a spooky castle.
While the guest stars in this episode (Antoinette Bower and Theodore Marcus as Sylvia and Korob) do a fine job with their roles, the storyline is weak and a bit scattershot. Their goals are aligned at first, but then Sylvia completely flies off the handle with ambition and becomes transfixed by her human form much too quickly. The magical elements, such as Kirk and Spock being chased by Sylvia, who'd transformed herself into a giant black cat, come off as silly. There are also some production issues, such as the visible strings on the puppets when Korob and Sylvia return to their actual forms, which look like sick baby geese. Boo, indeed.
2. "Wolf in the Fold" (E14)
As a hardcore fan of the original series, even I have a hard time getting through this episode when I binge-watch season 2. Kirk and McCoy take Scotty to Argelius II, a sort of pleasure planet, as it's supposed to heal his hatred of women after a female crewmember causes him to accidentally get tossed against a bulkhead. This is the only backstory we get, and as motivation goes, I'm not sure if sudden misogyny was the best choice.
When Scotty is accused of murdering a woman after leaving a pub together, Jaris, the prefect of the planet, and Mr. Hengist, an administrator for the people, detain Scotty, who can't recall what happened to the murdered woman. Fortunately, Jaris' wife, Sybo, is an empath (because of course) and believes she can identify the real killer--until she herself is stabbed during a seance. Scotty is accused again, until Kirk and Spock play connect-the-dots and reveal Hengist as the killer, only it's really the spirit of Redjac, or Jack the Ripper. Yes, that Jack the Ripper.
Once Redjac leaves Hengist's body and tries to scare the crew to death, Kirk orders McCoy to tranquilize everyone (Sulu's reaction of feeling that stuff hit his system is really the best scene in the entire episode), but otherwise, the idea of the spirit of Jack the Ripper wreaking havoc in space is confusing in many ways. Who was Mr. Hengist originally? Where and when did he get possessed? Are the writers asking us to believe in ghosts? There's too much answered here to make it a solid episode.
3. "The Ultimate Computer" (E24)
Starfleet chooses the Enterprise to test a new ship's computer, the M5. Dr. Richard Daystrom, its creator, also comes aboard. Kirk learns there will be war games with other starships so they can test M5's abilities but surprise, it takes over the ship instead, air-frying ensigns and building a super-human ego based on the human engrams Daystrom chose to program it with.
This is one of those episodes that is supposed to come off as tense, a man-versus-machine thriller, but there are too many unintentionally funny moments that pull me out of the story. Daystrom's ranting as he goes insane and Spock neck-pinch walking him off the bridge, for example, and Scotty's "What the!" expression when Ensign Harper gets zapped immediately come to mind.
These 3 episodes are part of the series' history, so despite their problems, we viewers usually find something to enjoy about them. Visit our Facebook page for more reviews, news, and Trek fun!