Star Trek Marathon VII

Star Trek Marathon VII
Season 1 Disc 7

Errand Of Mercy
One of my favourite episodes and welcome to the Klingons, you know the more human like aliens of the Trek verse before the budget and makeup techniques which the movies and TNG brought to us.
The most obvious lesson to be learnt from this story is that at least with the military side of the galactic cultures the men and women are not too different, both Kor and Kirk were up for the battle although
beyond a certain point the Federation are the good guys, they don't slaughter civillians (as a rule).
John Colicos was magnificent as kor and appeared years later in DS9.

The Alternative Factor
I honestly couldn't remember much about this episode although it did come back to me but maybe the weakest episode of the first season even though it had a solid scifi backbone.

The City on the Edge of Forever
To many fans this is the best episode of TOS if not the entire franchise. It's written by Harlen Ellison and deals with the retroactove tampering of the timeline and the consequences it can bring espeically to those who retain knowledge of what has been.
Kirk's relationship with Keeler played by Joan Collins who looked smashing is realistic and shows a side of his character we don't see too often and that of course hammers home the impact of his decision in stopping McCoy at the critical moment, classic scifi classic Trek.

Operation Annihilate
A pattern of destroyed cultures leads the Enterprise to Deneva where Kirks brother lives but they arrive too late and find a world dying of some sort alien parasites. A fun episode but maybe not the greatest to wrap up the first season, seems strange not to have a cliffhanger.

Extras
Previews
Billy Blackburns Treasure Chest
Romance in the 23rd Century
Sci-Fi Visionaries
Starfleet Access Episode

The first season of Star Trek to my mind is simply the best first season of any of the Trek franchise, it probably even makes the top five first seasons of my entire TV viewing, few shows hit the ground running as most build on more dodgy foundations. Errand Of Mercy, City on the Edge Of Forever, Balance of Terror and The Menagerie are true scifi classics and the added benefit of modern CGI tweaks really makes the series shine without taking away the original tone and feel.
On to season 2:)