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Are you a "Trekkie?" Do you live for all things Star Trek? Back in the 1980s, Star Trek, at least in the early 1980s was considered by many to "cheesy"--that is, the show did not hold up culturally in terms of the ever-changing pop culture climate of the day. Mostly, those that watched the show, always in re-runs on some local affiliate network, did so because of a certain nostalgic aura that it afforded. However, with the rise of VHS, the video store, and the listing of Star Trek: The Original Series being made available in that time, the show went from being cheesy to being cool, geeky--fun to watch. And in some way it managed to get tied into the upbringing of a generation that was most focused on education, academics and not on sports. Out of all of comes the term: Trekkie.
Coined to represent a person who loves Star Trek over anything else. In fact, there have been documentaries about Trekkies in the last 20 years, hell, even William Shatner aka Captain James T. Kirk from the show went on an episode of Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s and lampooned Trekkies. Still, the show lives on, and with each passing year, it gains new fans and loyal devotees.
The original 1966 Star Trek show has spawned several movies in addition to a handful of post-run TV series continuations with other characters in the Star Trek universe.
What follows is the list of our favorite episodes from Star Trek: The Original Series (1967-1969)
The Doomsday Machine (Air Date: 10/20/1967)
Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise, on their voyage through space, come across the remains of the USS Constellation and its survivors. As the Kirk and the crew investigate, the former captain of the Constellation tries to convince them that the Constellation and its crew were destroyed by an evil robot monster space spice that has the capability to destroy entire planets.
Mirror, Mirror ( Air Date: 10/06/1967)
Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise, while going down for a routine visit to a planet are accidentally transported into the realms of an alternate universe. While the universe, for all intents and purposes, looks and feels like their own, what they soon realize that is that the Space Federation, which they are all a part of, is no longer an upstanding good empire but that is
Arena (Air Date: 01/19/1967)
Perhaps, one of those classic Star Trek episodes that result in the show being construed as being cheesy in its early time of syndication across the United States, 'Arena' finds Captain Kirk battling to the death the captain of an alien ship and race whom the crew of the USS Enterprise has been relentlessly pursuing.
City on the Edge of Forever (Air Date: 04/06/1967)
A fan favorite episode of The Original Series, 'City on the Edge of Forever' (damn great title, isn't it?) finds the USS Enterprise Doctor, "Bones McCoy" trying to fix his only bungling when he accidentally changes the history of the galaxy and kills his own existence. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock have to set out through time, to go back to try to stop the accident from happening in the first place.
The Corbomite Maneuver (Air Date: 11/10/1966)
Perhaps one of the most surreal episodes of The Original Series, the crew of the Enterprise on a routine mission stumble upon a mysterious glowing cube floating along in space. When they investigate it, they discover that it is inhabited by a blue alien named "Balok." When the alien threatens to destroy the USS Enterprise, the crew tricks them and manage to board his ship only to discover a shocking secret regarding the real identity of the alien himself.