10 Best Star Trek The Original Series Episodes

5. The Corbomite Maneuver

The Corbomite Maneuver was one of the first Trek episodes ever recorded, but it's no less effective in terms of its sticking power.

Starting off with Spock at the conn, the episode sees the crew of the Enterprise placed in an almost un-winnable scenario. Trapped by a ship commanded by the First Federation and subsequently deemed to be a threat, Kirk, Spock and co. find themselves at death's door.

As far as premises go for an opening episode, they don't get much graver - or more confident - than that, but again, it's the strength of the Enterprise's characters that carries this episode through. Spock comes into his own as a methodical and collected First Officer, referring to the crew's situation as a 'checkmate' scenario, while Kirk displays his prowess as a compassionate motivator even in the midst of death, going one step further when he countermands Spock's metaphor with an especially deadly game of poker with the Enterprise's would-be executors.

Bluffing his way to victory, Kirk claims the Enterprise is hauling an undocumented quantity of 'Corbomite' that'll destroy the enemy vessel if the Enterprise is destroyed. There's a twist that subverts the preceding acts of the episode in an equally interesting way, but Corbomite was best when Kirk and Spock were bouncing off together, formulating a relationship that would go on to become one of the genre's most iconic on and off the screen.