Talk:List of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes/Archive 1

2006 Remastering
Since these eps have been digitally remastered yet again, with the minuature footage being replaced with CGI, I've added a section dealing with the changes. I propose that all episodes receive updates with this section. [Unsigned comment added on 24 Sep 2006 by 66.90.151.114 (Contribs|Talk
 * Somehow I totally missed this comment at the time, perhaps because it was put at the top of the page instead of the bottom where new stuff generally goes. How are the remastered episodes being released? Is some network scheduling them, or are they going straight to syndication or being released as DVDs, or what? Where did you get these release dates? -- CWesling 00:55, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

Number of episode lists
Do we really need three lists of Episodes? Cyberia23 23:20, 7 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I'd say, they could be combined into one table with two additional columns to show all three ways of counting.


 * I agree - having three tables is a bad idea - it's redundant and means information has to be updated in three places. We should have only one table. I would go with the production number order myself as this is the 'official' order (or possibly by air date, but not by stardate, as many of them were quite arbitrary). We wouldn't really need extra columns as the airdate and stardate columns will show they are not in the same order. We could just have a note explaining why they're not in the same order as the production number. Marky1981 12:30, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

As there was no objections, I have gone ahead and removed the stardate and air date orderings. I have left the notes in so that readers will know there are other possible ways to order the episodes. If you do not agree with this, please don't revert without discussing here first. Thanks, Marky1981 20:39, 11 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I have no disagreement, but you forgot to update or remove the second paragraph of the article, which still stated that there were three lists. I was wondering where the other two lists were until I read this discussion page. I've removed that paragraph. -- CWesling 05:26, 17 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Apparently user 68.98.193.32 disagreed -- he or she took it upon him/herself to reorder the entire list by air date order and change all the episode numbers to a system of 3 digit numbers where the first digit is the season number, without any discussion here first. I have reverted to the last version by Marky1981. -- CWesling 10:44, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Hi,

The article says 'The episodes are listed in order of production number. This is the "official" order of the episodes, used by the 1989 and 1997 official Paramount VHS releases, and the 2004 DVD release.' However, both Amazon UK and USA list the DVD sets as having the episodes in the airdate order (i.e. "The Man Trap" is the first episode). I do not own these DVD sets, but it seems to me like the "official" order is that of airdate order. Kidburla2002 22:07, 9 June 2006 (UTC)


 * The article is wrong on that point. The 40 DVD-releases from 1999-2001 (two episodes on each disc) were in production number order. However, Paramount switched to air date order for the season sets. Even Paramount is not sure of which order to use, it seems. I corrected this in the article. Davhorn 17:38, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

The article has two lists again: airdate order and production order! One list is sufficient, please just decide which it should be. If we do need to list both, we don't need to have the synopses duplicated as well. Marky1981 16:16, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Frankly, I'd just as soon have both lists if it means we don't have to keep arguing about which way it should be listed. Look how many times the whole list has been changed from one order to another and back again. It's not like the lists are going to need much updating, anyway -- they're not producing any new episodes, after all -- so having to update in two places instead of one doesn't really matter. -- CWesling 05:54, 17 September 2006 (UTC)


 * What is the significance of the production order that it has to be listed separately? Does it add or take away anything from the episodes? Is it of any high significance? Alastairward (talk) 13:48, 25 February 2008 (UTC)


 * It is needed because the word episode is incorrectly used by vulgar people. The "Star Trek Show" is composed of a series of shows which have been created from episodes. Since most episodes are completed in a 1 hour show, the vulgar misuse of the word episode as synonymous with show has become the defacto norm, thus we are forced to create a new pristine word such as "Production-number", which does require its own list to correctly convey the original concept of episode. Byzerodivide (talk) 00:04, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Byzer, what on earth are you talking about? A show is a show, check the wiki link. The Star Trek "show" is composed of episodes. Your misunderstanding is strange, I've never come across that interpretation before. Back to the subject in question, what is the significance of production order vs first broadcast order that it needs an entirely separate list Alastairward (talk) 10:32, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * The Show is a show
 * The Businessman is a businessman
 * The Democrat is a democrat
 * The point that the word "show" and "episode" is currently defined in a certain manner is moot, since I originally stated the normal definition of the word has changed.
 * The point of saying 'The Star Trek "show" is composed of episodes' is also moot, since I originally stated the word "episode" is now the defacto norm for this use.
 * A list ordered by "Production Number" conveys conceptual information, not found in a list ordered by so called "Episodes".
 * Byzerodivide (talk) 15:05, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * What are you rambling about now? What is this "conceptual information"? Explain in plain English or you may find nobody wants to keep your edits Alastairward (talk) 18:46, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * If you are only able to understand “plain English”, I suggest using the Simple English Wikipedia. Which would certainly be indicated if you do not understand the difference between;


 * A show is a show. and The Show is a show.


 * Or that the 19th century definition of episode has been vulgarized into meaning a 1-hour show whether or not the episode (19th century definition) is completed in 1,2, 3 or more of those said 1-hour shows. The conceptual information that the list conveys, is that Star Trek was created as a series of episodes (19th century definition) but was presented as a series of shows. Byzerodivide (talk) 22:59, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Why are we using 19th century definitions? You're adding nothing to the argument but your own misunderstanding and love of semantics. If you've nothing else better to ad, best you leave the article alone Alastairward (talk) 00:23, 27 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Season 1 has 28 episodes.
 * Season 1 has 29 episodes.
 * Both statements are correct. Some people will always use episode synonymously with production-number, while other people will use episode synonymously with show-number. That is why 2 lists are needed. Byzerodivide (talk) 01:37, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Statement no. 2 is the only correct one, "The Menagerie, Part I" and "The Menagerie, Part II" are two separate episodes at no. 11 and 12 in the initial broadcast order and no 16 in production order. The point of my discussion is not why we need production order, but why we need a separate list for production order when it's already included in a column on the first list of episodes Alastairward (talk) 08:54, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Didn't South Park predict this? 4th_Grade_(South_Park) :P Really, we don't need two lists. I have seen no arguments in its favor. I would like to see a table that allows the user to choose the sort order, though (not sure what the technical Wiki term for that is). Sometimes it's convenient to view the episodes in production order. No need for two lists though. --Kerohazel (talk) 00:13, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Order of episodes
I'm a bit confused as it looks like the list's order follows the production number except for season 3 which is in order of airdate. Theshibboleth 00:05, 11 March 2006 (UTC)


 * You are correct. Since the stated objective was to keep only the production order list, I have gone ahead and resorted the 3rd season accordingly. -- CWesling 05:26, 17 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Those available through Netflix are arranged by production sequence, not airdate. &mdash;Tamfang 00:08, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. Well, maybe we should change the list to the airdate order, then. It's my least favorite order of the three, because it's the only one that we KNOW is not accurate by the internal chronology of the series... Then again, if the default order on the DVDs is by airdate, maybe it would make sense to keep this in production order, because people who want to watch the episodes in chronological order need to be able to find that list somewhere (since they can't find it on the DVDs) -- so why not here? - CWesling 23:44, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

A lot of people have debated here about how the episodes of Star Trek should be ordered. There are three popular ways: production order, airdate order, and stardate order. Let's examine all three:


 * Production order: In the early 1970s Paramount released the series into syndication as a package of 78 episodes. These were arranged by order of production, from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" to "Turnabout Intruder." VHS releases in the 1980s and DVD releases from the 1990s did the same. Although considered by some to be "official," this ordering ignores the chronological history of the program. It makes sense only if the show is considered one giant unit, which, of course, as a syndication package, it is. The concept of "seasons" has no place in this ordering, and therefore the VHS and early DVD releases were not ordered by season. This is the same as listing records by recording date.


 * Airdate order: This method of ordering represents the chronological history of the show as a broadcast program. It reflects the way that the show was originally presented to the world: Season 1 ("The Man Trap" to "Operation - Annihilate!"), Season 2 ("Amok Time" to "Assignment: Earth"), and Season 3 ("Spock's Brain" to "Turnabout Intruder"). This is not the same order that the show was produced, but it IS the way it was originally shown. The later DVD releases, ordered by season, follow this order, and for good reason: this how the show was first released to the public. This is the same as listing records by release date.


 * Stardate order: Let's get real, people. Star Trek was a television show, broadcast on a television network. "Stardates" were trivialities. Why they are listed on the DVDs are beyond me. —The preceding unsigned comment was added on 27 August 2006 by 4.131.46.149 (talk • contribs).

Episode list in text format
I have moved the plain text episode list here as it is inappropriate on the main article page. Marky1981 15:54, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

The following is a text-formatted list of Star Trek TOS episodes that is useful for direct import into spreadsheets and databases.

Star Trek - 1964-01-00 [01] The Cage Star Trek - 1966-09-22 [02] Where No Man Has Gone Before Star Trek - 1966-11-10 [03] The Corbomite Maneuver Star Trek - 1966-10-13 [04] Mudd's Women Star Trek - 1966-10-06 [05] The Enemy Within Star Trek - 1966-09-08 [06] The Man Trap Star Trek - 1966-09-29 [07] The Naked Time Star Trek - 1966-09-15 [08] Charlie X Star Trek - 1966-12-15 [09] Balance of Terror Star Trek - 1966-10-20 [10] What are Little Girls Made Of? Star Trek - 1966-11-03 [11] Dagger of the Mind Star Trek - 1966-10-27 [12] Miri Star Trek - 1966-12-08 [13] The Conscience of the King Star Trek - 1967-01-05 [14] The Galileo Seven Star Trek - 1967-02-02 [15] Court Martial Star Trek - 1966-11-17 [16] The Menagerie - Part 1 Star Trek - 1966-11-24 [16] The Menagerie - Part 2 Star Trek - 1966-12-29 [17] Shore Leave Star Trek - 1967-01-12 [18] The Squire of Gothos Star Trek - 1967-01-19 [19] Arena Star Trek - 1967-03-23 [20] The Alternative Factor Star Trek - 1967-01-26 [21] Tomorrow is Yesterday Star Trek - 1967-02-09 [22] The Return of the Archons Star Trek - 1967-02-23 [23] A Taste of Armageddon Star Trek - 1967-02-16 [24] Space Seed Star Trek - 1967-03-02 [25] This Side of Paradise Star Trek - 1967-03-09 [26] The Devil in the Dark Star Trek - 1967-03-16 [27] Errand of Mercy Star Trek - 1967-04-06 [28] The City on the Edge of Forever Star Trek - 1967-04-13 [29] Operation: Annihilate! Star Trek - 1967-10-27 [30] Catspaw Star Trek - 1967-11-10 [31] Metamorphosis Star Trek - 1967-12-01 [32] Friday's Child Star Trek - 1967-09-22 [33] Who Mourns for Adonais? Star Trek - 1967-09-15 [34] Amok Time Star Trek - 1967-10-20 [35] The Doomsday Machine Star Trek - 1967-12-22 [36] Wolf in the Fold Star Trek - 1967-09-29 [37] The Changeling Star Trek - 1967-10-13 [38] The Apple Star Trek - 1967-10-06 [39] Mirror, Mirror Star Trek - 1967-12-08 [40] The Deadly Years Star Trek - 1967-11-03 [41] I, Mudd Star Trek - 1967-12-29 [42] The Trouble with Tribbles Star Trek - 1968-03-15 [43] Bread and Circuses Star Trek - 1967-11-17 [44] Journey to Babel Star Trek - 1968-02-02 [45] A Private Little War Star Trek - 1968-01-05 [46] The Gamesters of Triskelion Star Trek - 1967-12-15 [47] Obsession Star Trek - 1968-01-19 [48] The Immunity Syndrome Star Trek - 1968-01-12 [49] A Piece of the Action Star Trek - 1968-02-23 [50] By Any Other Name Star Trek - 1968-02-09 [51] Return to Tomorrow Star Trek - 1968-02-16 [52] Patterns of Force Star Trek - 1968-03-08 [53] The Ultimate Computer Star Trek - 1968-03-01 [54] The Omega Glory Star Trek - 1968-03-29 [55] Assignment: Earth Star Trek - 1968-10-25 [56] Spectre of the Gun Star Trek - 1968-12-20 [57] Elaan of Troyius Star Trek - 1968-10-04 [58] The Paradise Syndrome Star Trek - 1968-09-27 [59] The Enterprise Incident Star Trek - 1968-10-11 [60] And the Children Shall Lead Star Trek - 1968-09-20 [61] Spock's Brain Star Trek - 1968-10-18 [62] Is There in Truth No Beauty? Star Trek - 1968-12-06 [63] The Empath Star Trek - 1968-11-15 [64] The Tholian Web Star Trek - 1968-11-08 [65] For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky Star Trek - 1968-11-01 [66] Day of the Dove Star Trek - 1968-11-22 [67] Plato's Stepchildren Star Trek - 1968-11-29 [68] Wink of an Eye Star Trek - 1969-01-24 [69] That Which Survives Star Trek - 1969-01-10 [70] Let That Be Your Last Battlefield Star Trek - 1969-01-03 [71] Whom Gods Destroy Star Trek - 1969-01-17 [72] The Mark of Gideon Star Trek - 1969-01-31 [73] The Lights of Zetar Star Trek - 1969-02-28 [74] The Cloud Minders Star Trek - 1969-02-21 [75] The Way to Eden Star Trek - 1969-02-14 [76] Requiem for Methuselah Star Trek - 1969-03-07 [77] The Savage Curtain Star Trek - 1969-03-14 [78] All Our Yesterdays Star Trek - 1969-06-03 [79] Turnabout Intruder

Naming conventions poll
There is an ongoing poll and Request for Comment at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (television) which has direct relevance to how to title the Star Trek episode articles, meaning that based on how this poll comes out, many Star Trek episodes may get moved around. All interested editors are therefore strongly encouraged to participate, to ensure that your wishes are incorporated into the consensus process. --Elonka 22:11, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Episode numbers
I note that the episode numbers on this list and the episode numbers on the articles themselves, do not match. The articles appear to be giving the "aired episode #"; the only list of numbers here is "production #". Morwen - Talk 13:46, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Hmm, we used to have numbers on the airdate list. I went back in the history a while and couldn't find when we lost them. It would probably be a good idea to add them back. -- CWesling 07:30, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Synopses getting out of synch
I note that people are editing episode descriptions in the first list, but not putting the same change into the second list. I suggest we merge the descriptions into the first list and delete them from the second list -- as somebody else said some time ago, there's no real point in having two sets of synopses. -- CWesling 07:30, 5 December 2006 (UTC)


 * This makes sense. I'm not sure which is the more usual order to list them in : whichever that one is, it should be the order we present first.  I will check. Morwen - Talk 20:34, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Right, the ordering Bjo's concordance (the updated version) uses is airdate, but with "The Cage" first, as episode 0. It considers both parts of "The Menagerie" to be episode 11.  It also has weird production numbers.  For the first season these are of the form


 * "#6149-06", where -06 is the production number as we have it

For the second season, it has "5149-30" as the Desilu production number (for Catspaw), and also "#60330" - Catspaw is 030 as we have it. oddly catspaw is said to have "Story #51", which I've no idea where that comes from.

Looking at the third season, the first episode produced was "Spectre of the Gun", which gets the production code #60043-56, and story #92. These codes are bizarre. I'd advice we avoid them and just stick to sequential numbering. Morwen - Talk 19:16, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Request Move
A Request Move affecting the naming of articles in this list is currently being conducted here. All opinions are welcome. -- `/aksha 10:26, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Color Change
I made the change of colors that was used in the article to differentiate each season. Whomever came up with this idea: it was a good one! However, orange purple and green seemed a little out of place, so I changed the colors to match the colors that were used for the DVD cases shown in the article. --jpmck 16:44, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Good idea, however it looks a bit garish. Can they be toned down so they aren't as bright? Marky1981 18:10, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * You know, I was thinking of making that exact suggestion, as the orange/purple/green colors didn't make much sense to me either. I've tried to adjust the colors so that they're (a) slightly paler, and (b) slightly closer to the uniform colors (e.g., more gold than yellow for the first season), and (c) from the standard list of 219 "web-safe" colors (though I'm not sure how relevant that is nowadays). How do they look now? -- CWesling 09:17, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I think that it looks good. I thought about making them a little bit lighter myself, but noted that on the list for The Next Generation (I think) the colors were so light that it was difficult to differentiate between seasons when you are scrolling through at any higher speed. I was going to fix that too, but, I'm a University student, so I can't spend all day on here... :-) --jpmck 02:19, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I changed the colors of the episode listings. How do they look to you? Jimknut (talk) 21:28, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Removed garish colors not compatible w/all browsers, made reading text problematic and nav confusing. Implemented the standard Wiki Template:Episode list format, though at some point it should be conformed to the actual template and not the work-around short-cut used with the current generic Wiki table format--75.51.188.49 (talk) 22:24, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Star Date Listing
In the dvd sets I have, it lists the star date next to each episode. I realize that not all episodes have a star date but 90% do. Would this be something useful to list next to each of the episodes?

Fair use rationale for Image:TOSDVD1-3.jpg
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Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 06:24, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Remastered episodes
A third column rather than yet another table might be preferable for featuring remastered air dates, if these are indeed important Alastairward (talk) 12:03, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Is this list missing an episode?
I remember a Star Trek episode (original series) where there was an alien creature who drew its life from the energy created by other's anger and hatred, and therefore was instilling anger and hatred in everyone in order to continue to live, and that it was growing stronger in that it was succeeding in making everyone fight, and that they finally killed the creature by realizing what the creature was doing, and ceasing their animosities and laughing it to death. I don't remember which year it came out, but I'm not finding it on this list. I have also read brief descriptions of the episodes in a book containing what was supposed to be a summary of each episode of the series, but I couldn't find it there, either. And, no, I'm not imagining things. It was one of the series most meaningful episodes. Am I just not seeing it in these descriptions, or do we have a "lost" episode of Star Trek? Interested observer28 (talk) 03:15, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Byzerodivide (talk) 13:58, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * No, its not a lost episode, its Day of the Dove as has been pointed out. I don't know why there is a table above with spaces for other "possible" episodes Alastairward (talk) 18:44, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * The description for "Day of the Dove" was short to the point of crypticism; I've expanded it slightly to mention that the creature fed on emotions. -- CWesling (talk) 04:57, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Formal (MLA) Citation of Eps
Since any causal fan (and most people who have even heard of ST) know what a stardate is should it included in the works cited page of a formal research paper for example:

Who Mourns for Adonais?, Star Trek (“the orginal series”), Gene L. Coon (Writer), “Stardate”: 3468.1 (2267), NBC, 22 September 1967 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aryeh M. Friedman (talk • contribs) 08:32, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Pilots
The only pilot listed is The Cage. It is listed as a separate category, however, it is traditionally included by Paramount in the third season collection in two forms: the color version as broadcast and the mixed color and black & white version which appeared on VHS collections for two years prior to the color broadcast. Theoretically these should be color coded with the third season if not included as part of it (confusing). Also, Paramount counts the pilot as two different episode numbers: 01 (color) and 99 (B&W/color). Is it worth listing this distinction? Certainly it is a notable fact and presumably creates a certain amount of confusion for those not familiar with the background. Also, Where No Man Has Gone Before is listed only as production no. 2 and broadcast episode no. 3, but not as an unaired/unreleased pilot, which is in fact as different a version as The Cage is from the Menagerie. This version included a different introduction, different Main and End Titles, different Act-Ons and additional footage. Altogether about half the amount of deleted material from The Cage pilot. It would seem this also counts as a different episode than the broadcast version. The fact that it was never broadcast or released on video in its original form does not negate the fact that it officially exists or did exist. In the absence of any official studio designations, I would propose something like this: PILOTS: The Cage (color) 01/80, The Cage (B&W/color) 01b/NA, WNMHGB (pilot) 02a/NA.--76.233.87.107 (talk) 02:42, 7 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Does anyone know when the partially black-and-white version of The Cage was released? The color version was released in October 1988 but the actual release date is the black-and-white version. Night of the Living Dead was first colorized in the 1980s but the release date is still 1968, so why should it be different for The Cage? 220.244.198.109 (talk) 10:45, 25 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I just read on Memory Alpha that the partially black-and-white version was released on VHS in November 1986. Does anyone know any other source for this? 220.244.198.109 (talk) 11:13, 25 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I've beefed up "The Cage" section, complete with sources on the various releases (air dates and VHS / DVD). Aatrek (talk) 16:21, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Remastered DVD release dates
The release dates for the remastered episode DVDs needs to be added to this page. This is necessary because some of the remastered episodes were released on DVD BEFORE they were aired. Therefore the DVD release date is the true release date of remastered episodes such as The Enemy Within, Mudd's Women, and Return of the Archons. 220.244.198.109 (talk) 10:51, 25 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Done. Aatrek (talk) 18:42, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Revamping the Listings
I've reworked the page to include writers and directors, as well as reworking the column ordering. I based my changes on the featured list, List of 30 Rock Episodes. In addition, I removed the "production order" section because it's essentially duplicate material - the production number for each episode was already in the season tables. I've also moved the pilot ("The Cage") to above Season 1 - even though it didn't air until the late '80s, it's still the first thing ever produced for the series.

On top of all that, I also redid the "DVD Release" section of the page to include the new Blu-Ray releases and to note the HD-DVD info. Finally, I rewrote the page header to give a little more description of the information below. Aatrek (talk) 12:52, 15 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I found the Production Order section to be useful. The information exists elsewhere in the article, but not in a form that is easy to read.  I think we should put it back in the article. Capedia (talk) 06:40, 18 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Too bad the tables can't made be sortable with the typical episode layout. I guess with some hacking it could work though... Davhorn (talk) 16:20, 18 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Yeah, that's a good point. I've rewritten the "Production Order" paragraph and cleaned up the tables a bit, then reinserted the information back to the article. Aatrek (talk) 17:12, 20 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, after discussion in the peer review, I've eliminated the "production order" section again. Aatrek (talk) 15:39, 2 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Having the episodes numbered in absolute order is largely useless and unhelpful. It's far more often that when one needs to look up "what episode was Assignment: Earth", one is looking for "Season 2, Episode 26" -- NOT "Episode 55". Most other series episode lists do this sensibly.  96.225.201.101 (talk) 20:24, 10 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The Peer Review seemed to be assuming that the Production Order listing was redundant because the network order would be sortable, but the sortable version of the table wasn’t used. I’ll revert the deletion.
 * —FlashSheridan (talk) 16:06, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Is there any reason all the titles in the episode list are quoted? Given that the column is for the title, the quotes seem redundant. 72.48.75.131 (talk) 05:42, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Why Different Production and Airdate Order?
Forgive me if this is explained someplace else (but it should also be here), but why exactly were the episodes aired out of production order? I've never read a satisfactory explanation for this. Certainly, as I have read, the network putting a stronger episode first that defined the regular cast and look for building an audience has merit, but Trek shot a good many shows before the first airdate, any of which were better than The Man Trap. That leaves me with the one theory that makes the most sense. The Man Trap had the fewest visual effects of most of the early episodes, suggesting it was one of the first to be fully processed by the first airdate, while others still had additional work to be completed. Again this is just a theory I don't recall ever reading that anywhere, but whatever the actual reason is, it is certainly something that needs to be included in any article about the production of the series. Also, the production order list is valuable, but should be expanded to include the actual production date as well.--75.51.189.141 (talk) 06:00, 24 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, I don't think there's any "official" explanation for the out-of-order airdates, except for the network at the time doing whatever they wanted. Plus, since every episode (except The Menagerie) is pretty much a stand-alone story, there isn't any need for them to go in a certain order. As for "production date," it took about a week to film each episode, so there's nothing that specific. The second list is only there because there's interest in seeing the two different orderings. Aatrek (talk) 13:01, 24 April 2009 (UTC)


 * 75.51.189.141, my understanding is that there were several episodes ready for broadcast at the start of the series, and it was the network that chose "The Man Trap." Most fans and critics agree that it was probably the least inspired of the early episodes, but I think it was precisely its lack of innovation that made it so palatable to the network.  It's basically a paint-by-numbers monster movie that typified the genre of the era on both film and television, and the network was comforted by the fact that it followed a formula that had been shown to work. Capedia (talk) 23:05, 8 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Exactly. Until arc-based shows arose in the 1980s, networks always rearranged the order of shows.  They wanted to start a season with something exciting ("Amok Time" instead of "Catspaw"), and not to lead with the more boring shows.  This is especially notable in season one.  In some of the earliest shows produced, the actors were new in their roles and the shows weren't very good ("The Corbomite Manuever"!).


 * Yes, it's true that "The Man Trap" is not a fan favorite. But you shouldn't conclude that the network were idiots.  They realized that "The Naked Time" was a great way to introduce all the characters and their motivations, and so they moved it earlier in the broadcast order than it would have been otherwise.  &mdash; Lawrence King ( talk ) 01:55, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

The Cage should be at the end
Aatrek, why did you move The Cage from the end of the series, to the beginning of the series? The Cage is at the end of Season 3 on the DVDs and Wikipedia typically lists episodes in DVD order regardless of when they were broadcast. Look up list of Firefly episodes and list of Futurama episodes for examples. I think The Cage should be moved back. Observatorr (talk) 00:33, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I moved it because (a) it was the first thing produced for the series, (b) it takes place before all the other episodes (chronologically speaking), and (c) the individual episode page has it listed as the first episode, before "The Man Trap". Aatrek (talk) 13:14, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Are the writers correctly identified?
I have just watched the episode 'Space Seed' on Youtube and according to the end credits, the 'teleplay' was by Gene Coon and Carey Wilbur, but the story was by Carey Wilbur. However this page just credits Gene Coon as the 'writer', so is this accurate? If not then since I haven't checked any of the other episodes, maybe there are others which need changing? 88.104.88.161 (talk) 23:27, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
 * You are correct; this list for some reason skips story credits. JoeD80 (talk) 00:44, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Syndication order: a third kind of order?
This page does a good job of explaining the original airing order and the Production Order.

But according to the first two sentences of this paragraph, there was a third order, used in the 1970s for syndication:

"In the early 1970s, Paramount Television released Star Trek to television stations as a syndication package of 79 episodes. This syndication ordering was, in some cases, significantly different from the show's original broadcast order. The list below details the series' episodes in production order, including the original series pilot, 'The Cage'. While the 'complete season' DVD releases (listed above) follow the original broadcast order, the original episodic DVD releases[10] are numbered by production order."

Notice how the first two sentences tell us about this 1970s syndication order -- but then the third sentence changes the subject and introduces the list of production order (which already appears in the big list on this page anyway).

Does anyone know what the 1970s syndication order was? If so, we should say it. If not, we should delete the reference to it: I don't think it's notable that syndication varied the episode order, since all syndicated shows until the 1980s were shown in random order. &mdash; Lawrence King ( talk ) 01:59, 24 August 2010 (UTC)


 * As no one has responded, I deleted those two sentences. Their only source was a dead link.  There does not seem to be any such thing as "syndication order".  Prior to the 1980s, all syndicated shows were broadcast in random order, so the fact that Star Trek was usually not shown in sequence when syndicated is not noteworthy.  And it's misleading to suggest that there was something called "syndication order", as if all the channels showing it in syndication somehow followed the same sequence as each other. &mdash; Lawrence King ( talk ) 02:37, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Tabulary "Production order" created recently
I'm not principally against having the episodes shown in their production number in the new tabulary ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series_episodes#Production_Order ) in this article, but as the production numbers are already have been in the big tabulary, it seems a bit senseless to me to have them now two times in the article - I don't know much of the tabularies here on wikipedia, but can't the big tabulary here not just be so arranged that its vertical line fields can be sortable with just making the tabulary one sort of a tabulary with a "sortable" function like others here on wikipedia? I don't know whether or whether not the all-lines-crossing text fields of every episodes could match which this or what must be done to rearrange this tabulary to a sortable one so that is also could be sorted by production number, also, so that the new tabulary could be removed...178.201.87.106 (talk) 01:22, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Gary Seven was not from the future.
The description given for the episode "Assignment: Earth" says Gary Seven came from the future. Although he demonstrated a little knowledge of the future, he claimed to be from the present (1968). Also, the Memory Alpha and Memory Beta webpages about him do not say he was from the future. So how about deleting "from the future" from the description? SEppley (talk) 05:09, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Nova, not Supernova
I just checked by watching the episode. It is clearly nova, not supernova. There is no doubt. I will correct it. Betaneptune (talk) 12:48, 8 September 2012 (UTC)