Penny Thoughts ‘12—Star Trek, season 3 (1968-1969) ***½

NR, 24 50-min. episodes

Creator: Gene Roddenberry

Directors: Marc Daniels, John Meredyth Lucas, Jud Taylor, Marvin J. Chomsky, Ralph Senensky, Vincent McEveety, Anton Leader, Herb Wallerstein, David Alexander, John Erman, Herbert Kenwith, Murray Golden, Herschel Daugherty

Writers: Gene Roddenberry, Gene L. Coon, D.C. Fontana, Margaret Armen, Edward J. Lasko, Jean Lisette Aroeste, Jerome Bixby, Hendrick Vollaerts, Judy Burns, Chet Richards, Meyer Dolinsky, Arthur Heineman, Joyce Muskat, John Meredyth Lucas, Oliver Crawford, George F. Slavin, Jeremy Tarcher, Shari Lewis, David Gerrold, Arthur H. Singer

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett

Guests: Marj Dusay, Joanne Linville, Jack Donner, Sabrina Scharf, Rudy Solari, Richard Hale, Craig Hundley, James Wellman, Melvin Belli, Diana Muldaur, David Frankham, Ron Soble, Bonnie Beecher, Charles Maxwell, Rex Holman, Sam Gilman, Michael Ansara, Susan Howard, Kate Woodville, Byron Morrow, Michael Dunn, Liam Sullivan, Barbara Babcock, Ted Scott, Derek Partridge, Kathie Brown, Jason Evers, Kathryn Hays, Alan Bergmann, France Nuyen, Jay Robinson, Tony Young, Steve Ihnat, Yvonne Craig, Frank Gorshin, Lou Antonio, Sharon Acker, David Hurst, Richard Derr, Lee Meriwether, Naomi Pollack, Booker Bradshaw, Jan Shutan, John Winston, James Daly, Louise Sorel, Skip Homeier, Charles Napier, Mary-Linda Rapelye, Jeff Corey, Diana Ewing, Charlene Polite, Fred Williamson, Lee Bergere, Barry Atwater, Phillip Pine, Mariette Hartley, Ian Wolfe, Kermit Murdock, Sandra Smith, Harry Landers

Wow. I can see this new way I have of listing the guest stars on an entire season of a television show is going to mean credits that are much more significant than the body of my miniaturized Penny Thoughts reviews.

“Star Trek” surprisingly only lasted three seasons in its original network run. It seems that it lasted my entire childhood. Of course, it was actually done and gone long before I was introduced to this world. However, it did play in syndication throughout my childhood. We adopted a dog named Blue when I was about seven. The man we adopted him from claimed that “Star Trek” was Blue’s favorite TV show. He was named after his favorite color, the same as worn by the science officers on “Star Trek”, so it was no surprise to learn that Spock was Blue’s favorite character. The funny thing is, I never saw that dog watch the show, or any television for that matter.

In it’s third season “Star Trek” provides pretty much more of the same. As is often the case with third season bubble shows, there isn’t quite as much risk taking. They’ve established a solid modus operandi by this point, however, and there are some fine contributions by the performers and the writers.

Some of the highlights of season three include Kirk’s turn as a Romulan in “The Enterprise Incident”. “The Paradise Syndrome” looks at the benefits of a simpler life on a planet inhabited by a culture similar to the North American Indian. The main characters face off with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday at the OK Corral in “Spectre of the Gun”. “The Tholian Web” offers the crew a puzzle while offering the production team a cheap episode consisting of Enterprise only sets and no guest stars. “The Empath” places McCoy in another minimalist set episode and an odd love story. “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” pits a couple of aliens in a yin/yang relationship for one of the series’ more memorable makeup jobs. “The Way to Eden” fully embraces the Flower Power movement with a hippie theme that introduced audiences to the great character actor Charles Napier in a role in direct opposition to the cops he would normally play throughout his career. And, “The Savage Curtain” teams Kirk up with Abraham Lincoln for some much needed vampire slaying. OK, that was something else, but Lincoln is a bad ass in this episode too.

As I finish my journey on the original television Enterprise (I’ll probably use this as an excuse to watch all the Original Crew movies again), I’m a little sad. I’m also excited to start watching the later “Star Trek” series, which I never followed as closely as this one.