Back in 2017 I reviewed James Blish’s The Star Trek Reader (you can read my review here). I just happened to run across Blish’s The Star Trek Reader II at a recent Library Book Sale and picked it up for a buck. While I prefer the previous The Star Trek Reader, this volume collects the stories from Star Trek 1, Star Trek 4, and Star Trek 9 (there were 12 paperback volumes of stories based on Star Trek scripts and four hardcover The Star Trek Readers). These omnibus editions are handy, but I rarely see them any more.
Are you a Star Trek fan? Do you have a favorite episode? GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Book 1: Star trek 1.
Charlie’s law.
Dagger of the mind.
The unreal McCoy.
Balance of terror.
The naked time.
Miri.
The conscience of the king
Book 2: Star trek 4.
All our yesterdays.
The devil in the dark.
Journey to Babel.
The menagerie.
The Enterprise incident.
A piece of the action
Book 3: Star trek 9.
Return to tomorrow.
The ultimate computer.
That which survives.
Obsession.
The return of the Archons.
The immunity syndrome
My roommate and I used to watch ST while we ate dinner on TV trays! Saw them all multiple times! Original series, of course! Never had much interest in the sequels or read any of the books! I did see a few of the movies and was underwhelmed! You can’t go home again!
Bob, various TV channels around here show the original STAR TREK at odd times. I occasionally will watch some of the episodes. I loved STAR TREK as a kid.
The Unreal McCoy must be The Man Trap. Sad, how now they have completely obliterated Bones from Star Trek lore.
There are many episodes which I love but perhaps the top three would be: The Ultimate Computer, The Squire of the Gothos, and The Empath. Conscience of the King is also a powerful one. Recently I rewatched That Which Survives and was surprised how much I liked it on rewatch.
Neeru, I agree with you: many of these STAR TREK episodes hold up over time.
I always thought STAR TREK to be a bit over-hyped. The low budget, the cheesy look of the alien planets, the rubber-costumed aliens, the trite attempt at social commentary, Kirk’s stiffness…The follow-up series and films were much, much better.
Unlike some writers, Blish never blew hot-blew cold for me. In my mind he always blew hot-blew lukewarm. When he was good, he was really, really good; when he was not that good, he always remained somewhat readable. His STAR TREK adaptations fall in the latter category.
I’ve often wondered what went through the mind of an intellectual like Blish when it came time to adapt “Spock’s Brain.”
Jerry, I always thought it was curious James Blish would be chosen to write these STAR TREK books…and that he would agree to it. The guy who wrote “Surface Tension” for GALAXY in 1952 must have been flummoxed by having to write an adaption of “Spock’s Brain.”
It’s probably more than a bit sad that Blish reached easily his largest audiences with his ST books. I enjoyed watching most of the original series as a young child, to some degree with my parents in Alaska when it was new and more consciously when we lived in the Boston suburbs, where we had Kaiser Broadcasting station WKBG (now WLVI from its 56 channel assignment), part of the group that had massive success running ST repeats in afternoons, counterprogramming other stations’ local newscasts)…though some, such as the last episode broadcast in the NBC sequence, were annoying as hell (the body-swap episode between Kirk and a Mere Woman driven mad through her inability to Accept Her Place, and some of the worst overacting of Shatner’s career).
Heard Roddenberry speak once. Underwhelmed. It was notable how much better ST: THE NEXT GEN became after he passed. But glad his series helped a number of people find a nurturing (at least some of the time for some) fandom and drew at least a few to reading more widely in SF and other fantastica. It certainly averaged better than most other ’60s sf tv series, when not Nigel Kneale nor Patrick McGoohan imports.
Todd, Gene Roddenberry brought a vision to STAR TREK that still persists in reruns decades after the original series was canceled. That’s not nothing…
And Roddenberry had more than his share of hobbyhorses to ride!
Yeah, I’m a fan of sorts, some more than others. But no, I don’t have a favorite episode. The first series was pretty samey – go down to a planet, fight aliens, have Kirk make love to a hot alien woman, watch a Redshirt or two get killed, save the planet and move on.
Jeff, you’re right about the original STAR TREK formula. I was always a fan of Spock and enjoyed episodes when the Vulcans were featured.
“WAGON TRAIN in Space” as the elevator pitch famously went …I won’t over- nor underrate the series as a whole…but Blish did tend to underrate Sturgeons’ scripts, I’d say.
I’m with the Cap’n on this one.
Back in the day I was obsessed with TV, scheduling my social life around my favorite shows (if you missed it, you had to wait for summer reruns). I loved Star Trek and have had no interest in the TV spin-offs and various movies.
Jerry’s comments reminded me of what a disappointment it is to watch some of these episodes in HD. The costumes leave A LOT to be desired.
Still … cutting edge back in the day.
Beth, you’re right about STAR TREK being “cutting edge” back in the Sixties. But in HD, everything looks chintzy.
Liked it wel enough as a kid. Find it rather cheesy and cheap looking now. Never watched any of the follow up series. I thought I read somewhere that Blish wrote the books because he needed money for his family and was in ill health.
He was dogged by ill health throughout his later life.
Todd, a lot of these older SF writers were heavy smokers.
Steve, you might be right about Blish’s heath problems and financial problems.