10 Best Star Trek The Original Series Episodes
6. Arena
By now, even non-Trekkies will be aware of Arena. The notorious fight between Kirk and the Gorn is the stuff of legend, with subsequent parodies of the sequence almost always failing to outshine the sheer hilarity of the actual scene itself.
Beaming down to a planet thought to have been colonised by the Federation upon the request of a Starfleet officer, it turns out that the colony in question has been destroyed and that the invitation itself was a ruse. Kirk, Spock, Bones, and a couple of unfortunate redshirts are trapped on the planet, and the culprits in question are as cold-blooded as they come.
The crux of the episode doesn't lie there however, as it doesn't take long for the Metrons - a group of omnipotent beings - to get involved, beaming Kirk and his lizard counterpart to the planet below to fight to the death using only what they find. Kirk comes out on top, but it's his mercy that proves to be the episode's legacy. The Gorn and the Federation may come into conflict, but resolution is always at the forefront of Kirk's mind, with the captain reiterating Starfleet's use for exploratory and defensive - not offensive - means to the Metrons at the end.
It might have that corny fight scene, but - at the end of the day - Arena is smarter than it's given credit for.