10 Star Trek Episodes That Seriously Deserve A Second Chance

There are several third-season episodes of the Original Series that are overlooked as that season as a whole displayed a sharp drop in quality for the show. The Empath was an example of taking a minimalist approach to the story of the week, largely thanks to Robert Justman and director John Erman.

The pair had previously worked on an episode of The Outer Limits called Nightmare. This dealt with a very similar theme to the Empath, so Justman felt confident that Erman could handle it. The director did such a good job with a minimal budget that the BBC refused to air it until the 90s, owing to its themes of torture.

For Star Trek, and particularly early Trek, the scenes are fairly brutal. McCoy's condition, in fact, is perhaps the most difficult part of the episode to watch. The grumbling Doctor is one of the most popular characters in the series, so to see him selflessly put himself in harm's way to protect the captain, and Spock, was a powerful moment.

The episode could easily be transformed into a stage play - the script is solid, the set is easily reproduced, and the story doesn't require any external shots. One is left to wonder that, had there been more episodes like this in the third season, would the Original Series have made it to a fourth year?