Star Trek Episode: “Gamesters of Triskelion”

I was watching an old Star Trek episode last night. I have all of them on DVD. Picking an episode is a serious matter when you have seen each one about 20-30 times each. You want to make sure it’s something that can be watched repeatedly, still leaving you satisfied. The second season episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion” unfortunately doesn’t quite cut it for me anymore. I think this episode has a good reputaion among fans with the still trim looking Kirk and herioc Uhura and Chekov fighting for their lives on a perverse planet the equivalent of a cockfighting ring. Also for the famous silver costume of Shana. So it’s bascially an action packed type of episode.

But for me, it didn’t satisfy. The “comic book” Kirk is in full play here and his attempts
to seduce Shana to escape was typical for Kirk. Chekov’s “chosen one” was some good comic relief but Uhura’s scene was quite disturbing as she resists “selection”. Also sad, Spock and McCoy’s usually entertaining bickering seemed kinda forced and I’m surprised I never noticed that before. Kirk’s “freedom and universal justice” speech was very cut and paste and just a way for him to exit as gracefully as possible in order to put on a fresh shirt (he lost it again!).

On a positive note, Galt (the prison warden guy) is one of the best characters with his cold minimal voice, dusty green skin and glowing eyes which make him quite evil and scary (he would have made a great Klingon!). So “Gamesters” just gets a passing grade for at least making me think about what makes a quality episode.