- Some Star Trek Episodes Are Truly Terrible
Star Trek: The Original Series has many great episodes that have become quintessential viewing for Star Trek fans, but other episodes are skippable even for the most devoted of Trekkies. From the painfully embarrassing “Plato’s Stepchildren” to the ridiculous but campy “Spock’s Brain” to the one with the space hippies (“The Way to Eden”), when TOS missed, it missed by light years. Whether they included racist stereotypes like the portrayal of Indigenous People in “The Paradise Syndrome” or blatant sexism like “Turnabout Intruder,” the worst episodes of TOS bordered on offensively bad. Still, even the worst episode cannot take away from the brilliance of episodes like “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Balance of Terror.” Every television show has great episodes as well as bad ones, and Star Trek: The Original Series swung wildly between those two extremes.
- Kirk Made Lots Of Mistakes As Captain Of The Enterprise
While Captain Kirk is often remembered as the greatest Starfleet Captain of all time, he made serious mistakes on Star Trek: The Original Series. Kirk went on dangerous away missions, despite the fact that he could be injured or killed, leaving the Enterprise without a Captain. He ended up in numerous fistfights, turning to violence more often than diplomacy. His treatment of women bordered on sleazy, and he regularly got distracted by the nearest attractive woman. He often acted without much thought and would joke and laugh at the end of an episode where several of his (red-shirt-wearing) crewmembers had died. Some of this can be chalked up to the atmosphere of the 1960s, and Captain Kirk also did a lot of good, but he was not always the brilliant Captain many claim him to be.
- Most of Star Trek’s Hand-to-Hand Combat Looks Ridiculous
Captain James T. Kirk ended up in far more fistfights than a Starship Captain probably should have (and likely went through far too many uniforms when his shirt inevitably ripped). The hand-to-hand combat scenes seemed to take place in slow motion and, somehow, a two-handed punch or a flying kick could incapacitate almost any opponent. While there was something campy and charming about the fistfights from TOS, they rarely looked remotely realistic. Many of the newer Star Trek series, such as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, have thankfully fixed this problem and have fast-paced, well-choreographed fight scenes.
- Star Trek’s Acting Can Be Over the Top
As the television landscape was different in the 1960s, the style of acting also differed from the way actors perform today. William Shatner, in particular, had a distinct acting style, and anytime Kirk was cloned or possessed or otherwise altered by an alien entity, Shatner’s acting became very over the top. Sometimes other characters suffered from this too, and it was made worse when an episode’s story called for something especially ridiculous. For example, “Plato’s Stepchildren” had William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy dancing around and crawling on the floor in scenes that must have been embarrassing for everyone involved.
- Star Trek’s Supposedly Dangerous Aliens Often Just Looked Silly
This is, again, a product of the era and low budget of Star Trek: The Original Series, but it could sometimes be hard to take the danger seriously when the aliens looked like flying pancakes or giant moving blobs. Like many elements of TOS, there is something charming about the lack of special effects, and the creators were able to do a lot with what they were given. But it’s difficult to be afraid of giant glowing mushrooms or the child-like Balok (Clint Howard). TOS introduced some incredibly interesting alien species who became integral parts of Star Trek, but some of the aliens are better left forgotten.
- Uhura Was a Great Character Who Rarely Got to Do Anything
While it was quite progressive for the time for Star Trek: The Original Series to have a Black woman among the main cast, Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) was often left with little to do. As a communications officer, she answered hails and declared hailing frequencies to be open many times over the course of the series. Though she occasionally got to go on away missions and join in on the action, she could have done so much more. Thankfully, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has brought new life to the character of Uhura and given her plenty to do.
- The Klingons’ Makeup & Appearance Looked Bad
The low budget and lack of modern effects may be to blame for this one, but the aliens the Enterprise encountered sometimes looked rough. While many of the aliens looked suitably creepy and alien, there was something particularly off-putting about the brown face paint used on white actors for the Klingons. The Klingons became an important part of Star Trek, but their TOS era look left something to be desired. Though the Klingons were a distinctly alien species, the use of white actors with dark skin paint and Eastern-inspired facial hair made their early look feel a bit distasteful.
- Far Too Many Star Trek: TOS Episodes Have Misogyny & Sexism
One of the most difficult aspects of watching Star Trek: The Original Series today is the rampant and obvious sexism. This is not so much a critique of the show itself, as it tried to be progressive in its own way, but more an acknowledgment of the problematic views about women that were widespread at the time. From historian Marla McGivers’ (Madelyn Rhue) instant infatuation with Khan (Ricardo Montalban) in “Space Seed” to the portrayal of Harry Mudd’s (Roger C. Carmel) former wife in “I, Mudd” to pretty much everything in “Turnabout Intruder,” the sexism in Star Trek crops up in all three seasons. While this clearly illustrates the show as a product of its time, it’s still jarring to hear even the ever-logical Spock reduce women to inaccurate stereotypes.
- The Enterprise Crew’s Treatment of Spock Occasionally Went Too Far
As the most alien of the main Enterprise crew members, it’s no surprise that the half-human half-Vulcan Spoc
