Here's one episode I remember seeing when it first aired on November 15 1968. The Tholian Web was the 64th episode produced and broadcast. The Enterprise is searching for another Federation starship called the Defiant in unchartered spae. The ship had stopped reporting 3 weeks earlier. They find it, sitting there, everyone dead, the ship glowing green. The sensors say there isn't anything there but they can see it. They don't think about it too long and, after jumping into some environmental suits, Kirk takes Spock, McCoy and Chekov over to the Defiant. The environmental suit worn by Doctor McCoy on the show sold at the 2006 auction of Star Trek memorabilia for $144,000.
The Defiant is found to be dissolving, and fearing that they might dissolve too, the landing party decides to head home. Somehow the disruption in space has caused the transporter to act up. Only three of the units are working. Of course Kirk stays behind and then the Defiant disappears. Spock belives that the ship will reappear and decides that they should wait for the Captain to phase back in. While that's going on the pesky Tholians show up and tell Spock to vamoose. Spock explains the situation and they give him until the Defiant is supposed to show up. Then they will attack. The Defiant doesn't show up when that time ends and the Tholians attack. The Enterprise fights back and both ships take some damage. While the Enterprise is repairing their damage they can't move. The Tholians start to box it in with energy beams. Spock thinks the Captain is dead and they have a memorial. Spock and McCoy are bickering, well mostly McCoy, and it's kind of nasty. They look at Captain Kirk's "If I die" tape and he tells them to support each other. They sort of kiss and make up and get back to work.
There's a shitload of ticking time bombs in this episode. The Captain only has three hours of air left, the ship is damaged, the crew are going violently insane, and the web will destroy them if they can't get away. Lucky for him Kirk shows up as a ghost image in various places on the Enterprise so Spock can use the transporter to capture him. Kirk makes it back on board the Enterprise just as his air runs out. The doctor figures out how to cure the space madness by using a Klingon nerve agent. The ship is repaired enough to escape the web and everyone is happy except the Tholians. I enjoyed the episode for the most part. The new effects look great. There are so many great camera angles in this episode. I never heard of director Herb Wallerstein or cinematographer Al Francis but they did a good job.
Here's one I didn't remember seeing. Plato's Stepchildren aired November 23 1968 and it was another show where the crew of the Enterprise meet aliens with powers that give them an advantage over the men from Earth. These aliens are human like. They had actually been to Earth in our ancient past and they've adopted the trappings of the Greek people they admired. Since settling on the planet they have gotten telekenitic power, except for Michael Dunn, he got left out for some reason. The powerful aliens on the planet treat poor Michael as their personal slave and jester. He hates everyone and want the Captain to take him away.
That's Michael Dunn above left. He was in a ton of tv shows during the 1960's and early 70's. He passed away in 1973 after a 10 year career. He had a recurring role as the Wild Wild West villian Dr Miguelito Loveless. I remember him in that show, though it's a series I still haven't had an interest to NetFlix. Maybe once I have gotten through all the other shows I want to see. The aliens, who have poor immune systems, want McCoy to stay and be their doctor. He doesn't want to and as punishment they force Kirk and Spock to preform humiliation antics for the bored alien's entertainment. Again, what dickish aliens. The galaxy seems to be full of them. McCoy figures out that the powers come from a mineral. He uses that to give Kirk and Spock stronger mental powers so they can fight back and leave the planet. If the aliens behave they will send medical people. Michael Dunn gets his wish and leaves the planet. The episode is one of the first tv shows to have an interracial couple, Kirk and Uhuru, kiss. The world survived. The show got a lot of fan mail, almost all positive, from girls asking what it was like to kiss the Captain and from guys asking what it was like to kiss Uhuru.
November 29 1968 saw the broadcast of Wink Of An Eye. It was written by Gene Coon under another name. He'd left Star Trek and was working for another company at the time. The Enterprise gets a distress call from the planet Scalos, which is outside of Federation space. Upon arriving the landing party beam down and they find no one there. One of the crew men disappears but scanners indicate there isn't anyone else there. Back on the ship strange things start happening. It's all explained after Kirk disappears like the crewman. The few remaining Scalosians have gotten radiation from the planet and that sped them up. They move so fast that no one can see them. That's Kathie Browne playing Queen Deela and Jason Evers as Rael, a Scolosian scientist. They want to use the ship to leave the planet and the crew for breeding stock. Deela calims Kirk as her consort but she has a thing going with Rael. Spock figures out what's going on and speeds himself up to save the Captain from his new life as a stud. The Scalosians are eventually returned to their planet. Not a bad episode. Kathie Browne was married to Darren McGavin from 1969 until she died in 2003. She appeared on an episode of Kolchak with her husband.
The Empath was the 67th episode broadcast and it aired on December 6 1968. The Enterprise is sent to the planet Minaran to pick up the scientists who are studying the nearby star which is on the verge of going supernova. The landing party finds no one there. Scotty takes the ship out of orbit because of the disrupting solar radiation. Kirk, Spock and McCoy are all transported by some unknown aliens to an underground chamber where they find a young woman in a flowy dress. They meet some Vians who make life difficult for them. They are testing the woman to see if they should save her people or the people of another world. They can only save one of the races from the supernova. More dickish aliens leaving a whole planet to die. The guys on the Enterprise get out of this one. Not a favorite that's for sure but it's certainly watchable. The set is pretty empty for much of the show. I suspect was a way to keep the costs down. They did the same thing in a later episode of Babylon 5. You know the one I'm talking about. Don't you?