Star Trek: Ranking The 100th Episodes Worst To Best
3. How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth - Star Trek
While the Original Series missed out on 100 episodes by a mere twenty-one, the Animated Series has long been considered the official fourth season to the show. Coming in at the 100th overall episode of Star Trek, the penultimate episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series sees Captain Kirk and crew encounter Kukulkan, an ancient alien who served as the basis for many of the religious and industrial discoveries on Earth, thousands of years prior. The episode is both a tribute to the series overall and a tribute to producer Gene L. Coon, who had recently passed away.
Coon had written the Original Series episode Who Mourns For Adonais?, which followed a very similar outline to this. Co-writer Russell Bates was also part-Kiowa Native American, which inspired D.C. Fontana to request the inclusion of 'little green men that visited the Native Americans' in the script.
The end result is one of the stronger episodes of the Animated Series. The character of Ensign Walking Bear depicts Native Americans serving in Starfleet in the 23rd Century, which also allows them to recognise the alien quickly. The imagery in the episode is beautiful, with the design of Kukulkan in particular loaded with colour.