After the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series, the show was set to be cancelled by its network. However, after receiving a flood of letters from devoted fans that wanted to keep the show on the air, the network renewed it for one more season. As much as I hate to say it, those fans weren't rewarded with material nearly up to the par of those first two seasons.
Since the show was not the culutural phenomena that it has now become, the network buried it in a late-night time slot and forced creator Gene Roddenberry to operate on a shoe-string budget. As a result, the special effects or sets that are needed in a show which regularly shows viewers spectacular events are severely hampered in this season. One episode takes place in an empty Enterprise, one is set in a pitch-black room much of the time, and another takes place in a deserted old West town (as no money existed to pay extras).
It seemed like even the quality of the writing went downhill as well. The characters seem a little "off" at times, and the plots aren't quite as inventive as they were previously. Everything was just out of whack.
Really, the only highlight from this Third Season is the episode "All Our Yesterdays", which is classic Trek. Other than that, though, there were just a whole lot of episodes that were subpar or average-at-best.
So, while I consider "Star Trek" to be one of the classic shows of all-time, I really don't have too many good things to say about this final season. It's sad, considering that the show had so much potential and was essentially abandoned by its network. Die-hard fans can still watch this season knowing that their time with the iconic characters is running short, but compared to the first two seasons the overall quality is significantly diminished.
Since the show was not the culutural phenomena that it has now become, the network buried it in a late-night time slot and forced creator Gene Roddenberry to operate on a shoe-string budget. As a result, the special effects or sets that are needed in a show which regularly shows viewers spectacular events are severely hampered in this season. One episode takes place in an empty Enterprise, one is set in a pitch-black room much of the time, and another takes place in a deserted old West town (as no money existed to pay extras).
It seemed like even the quality of the writing went downhill as well. The characters seem a little "off" at times, and the plots aren't quite as inventive as they were previously. Everything was just out of whack.
Really, the only highlight from this Third Season is the episode "All Our Yesterdays", which is classic Trek. Other than that, though, there were just a whole lot of episodes that were subpar or average-at-best.
So, while I consider "Star Trek" to be one of the classic shows of all-time, I really don't have too many good things to say about this final season. It's sad, considering that the show had so much potential and was essentially abandoned by its network. Die-hard fans can still watch this season knowing that their time with the iconic characters is running short, but compared to the first two seasons the overall quality is significantly diminished.