Star Trek: EVERY Season Ranked Worst To Best

This one actually seems a little unfair, as the quality of the season was very much a product of behind the scenes drama rather than anything intentional on the part of the writers. Even with that, there are some fantastic hours here.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield is an excellent exploration of the pointlessness of racism, while The Enterprise Incident introduces the wonderful Romulan Commander.

The main issue with the season is the visible reduction in quality, which was a direct result of the reduction in budget. The show had been cancelled after its second season, saved then by a fan letter writing campaign. However, when it was returned to air, it was bumped to 10pm on Friday nights - the death slot.

This had a knock-on effect. Advertisements cost less to book at this time, meaning the income was lower. This meant that each episode of the third season had roughly 10% less budget than the first season. This can be most notably seen in the fact that only one episode - This Side of Paradise - features any prolonged location shots.

The show unforunately lost more and more viewers as the season went on. Roddenberry excused himself from the daily stress by stepping away, remaining an Executive Producer though largely only an advisery position. Despite another attempted letter writing campaign, Star Trek died at the end of the season, never to be resurrected.

The end.