Bow down and give praise, for the Geeky List Thing’s portion of Star Trek is about to hit it’s main event. This was how it all began, the original Star Trek series running from 1966-1969. A low budget campy show that no one thought would run three seasons, let alone be a cult icon that lived through several spin offs, eleven motion pictures and is about to live even longer with two more movies in the pipeline with a new era of the Franchise growing.

When it came to making a new Star Trek film, JJ & Co went back to the beginning. DS9 was awesome, the Next Gen brought in a new era and Voyager and Enterprise… well, they had their moments. But they knew they had to start at the beginning as nothing had been as iconic as Kirk and his crew. So… let’s take a peek at what we left behind…

Close that hatch!
The Trouble with Tribbles (season 2)
Hoping to have super-grain protected, the station commander of K-7 dupes Kirk into coming along to scare off the Klingons, but the Enterprise comes under a bigger threat: Tribbles.

Feed them, and they multiply in masses and eventually overrun your ship. Like an evil bunny. But the little critters help Kirk realise there’s a Klingon infiltrator on the station, who eventually goes back in time to kill Kirk in DS9′s Trails and Tribblations.

The ep is one of my first Trek memories. It’s light fluffy fun. And it’s wonderful. The tribbles seem to be surrounded in fun moments, but Kirk’s line at the end “And third… close that hatch.” still makes me smile.

Not everything’s black and white…
Let that be your last battlefield (season 3)
Kirk finds himself with a criminal seeking asylum after stealing a shuttle craft, Lokai, who we then find out is being chased by another man, Bele, from his home world. When Lokai’s plea goes unheard, he runs from Bele to his homeworld only to find it destroyed…

…and that synopses doesn’t do it justice in the slightest. But that doesn’t matter right now… a lot of people look back on Star Trek and see moral messages more than sci fi action adventure. Not every episode was a sermon, but the two things Trek did well were fun and lectures.

In this we see a moment where Kirk struggles to recognise the racial differences between Bele and Lokai – an obvious hatred between them stemming from the colour of their skin. An obvious parallel that spoke to a lot of people back in the day.

That Romulans my daddy!
Balance of Terror (season 1)
Emerging for the first time since the war, the Romulans make their first Star Trek appearance. Noticing outposts on the border have been destroyed, Kirk finds himself in a battle of wits with a Romulan commander trying to avoid another war between the two nations.

Starring the late Mark Lenard, who would go on to portray Spocks father Sarek, he acts as the Romulan Commander who bears a striking resemblance to Spock. In that moment we see that the Romulans and the Vulcans have more in common than the logician would like to admit.

Joan Collins meets bus
City of the edge of Forever (season 1)
Running wilder than a Hulkamaniac, McCoy goes batshit crazy, jumps through a time portal and everything changes. Kirk and Spock find themselves isolated in an alternate time line years before the fanboys screamed for JJ’s head where the Enterprise never existed. So, they head in to fix whatever it was McCoy broke.

Finding themselves in the depression era of the US, Kirk and Spock befriend Edith Keeler, get enough work to be able to afford a patch job on Spocks tricorder which then tells him that Keeler was supposed to die in an accident. McCoy saved her and it changed everything.

So we have a wonderful moment where Kirk, who’s fallen for Keeler, has to stand by and watch her die to make sure history follows the right path. Which was one of the most heartbreaking, and in general one of the best overall, moments in the land of Trek.

Fight Club, Vulcan style.
Amok Time (season 2)
Spocks going through the pon far. For Vulcans there are two options. ave sex, or fight to the death. Which is fair enough. Kirk takes Spock home for some sexy time with the wife T’Pring, but she’s got different idea’s as Spock’s half human and has chosen a new pumping partner.

Spock then fights for her with Kirk as T’Pring’s champion and the two fight to the death!

This is not only an epic episode and one of the classic moments of Star Trek which wil be remembered for all time, it’s the one identifying scene everyone knows. Whether it be the action, the setting, the weapons or the music, everyone knows something and whenever it’s parodied – and Jesus, it’s parodied a lot – it’s always a familiar sight.

So there it is. The list. Feel I missed something out? Maybe you think Khan’s takeover or Pike’s last mission count as something to add? Two Kirks? The Gorn? If you’ve got a differing opinion – speak now, or… well… I won’t know about it.

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