Broadcast vs production, does episode order matter?

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

They originally costumed her in gold. Corbomite Maneuver (Prod #3/Broad #10) and Mudd's Women (Prod #4/Broad #6). Someone decided the gold didn't work so they switched her to red for her next appearance in The Man Trap (Prod #6/Broad #1)

Thaaaaat's why she wore gold in "Mudd's Women," thank you so much!

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

That's called acting. The team is exhausted from burning the midnight oil and chugging coffee for eighteen hours.

Granted.....but as its also her earliest episode, her character would later establish as alert during equal crises. I, MUDD and PARADISE SYNDROME have similar long periods, mostly offscreen.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Granted.....but as its also her earliest episode, her character would later establish as alert during equal crises. I, MUDD and PARADISE SYNDROME have similar long periods, mostly offscreen.

It's about establishing the scene. People slumping. Coffee cups. data cards spread out. Showing not telling.

 

[Tallguy]

Also in I, Mudd and certainly in Paradise Syndrome the crew isn't on high alert for over 18 hours.

 

[TRON JA307020]

I'm watching the show for the first time on Blu-ray, and it's probably my 3rd time seeing the series as a whole. Most episodes I've forgotten, so it feels like I'm just watching for the first time, and I am having way too much fun. Given there's only 3 seasons, I'm just taking the show one disc at a time and making it last. Now, I have a question for the hardcore TOS fans. Does broadcast vs. production episode order matter? My Blu-ray sets are in the original 60's broadcast order. However, I did skip ahead to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" as it's the pilot episode and then circle back to the first episode, treating that as the first "regular" episode. I never understood why this was broadcast as the 3rd episode. To me, it just flows better to watch the pilot first and not as the 3rd episode.

Not really. Just watch the seasons in order and youll be fine. They occasinally reference a previous adcenture but hardly ever.

I also watch Where No Man Has Gone Befre first as well. It being obvious that its the earkiest adventure with the early style uniforms and pre enterprise mini refit. Enjoy.

P.S. Did you get the DVDs that have the choice of original and new effects?

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Not really. Just watch the seasons in order and youll be fine. They occasinally reference a previous adcenture but hardly ever.

Affirmative!

I also watch Where No Man Has Gone Befre first as well. It being obvious that its the earkiest adventure with the early style uniforms and pre enterprise mini refit. Enjoy.

I am not alone.

P.S. Did you get the DVDs that have the choice of original and new effects?

I have the three Blu-ray season sets that give you the choice to play original broadcast vs. remastered.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Affirmative!

I am not alone.

I have the three Blu-ray season sets that give you the choice to play original broadcast vs. remastered.

Good man. You made an excellent choice. I prefer the original effects most times myself. But some episides I like the extension of the planet scapes like Vulcan in Amok Time and in rare imstances space scenes like in The Doomsday Machine. Most times I dont like the CGI enterprise or space scenes as they seem rushed. But its nice to have the choice.

 

[Lord Garth]

I prefer Production Order. Especially during the first half of the first season. After that, Airdate Order works for me, even though it's not my preferred choice.

 

[drt]

Another vote for production order... but this probably comes down to if your primary reference point for TOS is original NBC broadcast / the ST Concordance guide / streaming versus syndication order / ST Compendium / ST Chronology & Encyclopedia.

Exactly. The local affiliates syndicating it in my neck of the woods aired it in production order, so having watched it umpteen times in that order, it just seems right.

At least TOS is relatively easy... it's not exactly like THE PRISONER from the UK where there are like 5+ different recommended orders (I still have a spreadsheet in My Documents with whatever "TUV" order is).

I like the Apel/KTEH order, which as above, is the order i first saw it. I recall reading somewhere that McGoohan approved that order, so I got that going for me...

 

[Henoch]

I have my own (extremely detailed) Stardate Order spread sheet, but never tried to watch it in that order. Mostly, I prefer Broadcast Order (but WNMHGB is first) just because I'm too lazy to bounce around and keep track of where I am.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

Good man. You made an excellent choice. I prefer the original effects most times myself. But some episides I like the extension of the planet scapes like Vulcan in Amok Time and in rare imstances space scenes like in The Doomsday Machine. Most times I dont like the CGI enterprise or space scenes as they seem rushed. But its nice to have the choice.

For me, it's simple: there was no CGI back in the 1960's, I like watching the show as it was originally broadcast. If I'm introducing a newbie to TOS, it'll probably be the remastered version. It's nice to have options.

 

[Tallguy]

Good news: I just finally finished ripped TOS season 3 to my Plex server in HD. Bad news: I just realized that I didn't capture all of the audio tracks so now I have to go back and do many of them again!

Fortunately Plex now allows different ways to order the episodes. I'm going with air date.

 

[Qonundrum]

Probably by season, but episodes within the season don't differentiate too much.

Kirk in season 1 is far sterner and stiffer than he is in season3. But watch "Space Seed" or "The Man Trap" against later seasons and he's toned down in some aspects and definitely not as angst-driven.

 

[Tomalak]

Yes, Season 1 Kirk is more in the Pike image where the burdens of command sometimes weigh on him. There's not much of this later on, with the exception of Requiem for Methuselah.

 

[Tallguy]

Yes, Season 1 Kirk is more in the Pike image where the burdens of command sometimes weigh on him. There's not much of this later on, with the exception of Requiem for Methuselah.

Lenore does go on about it, doesn't she?

And of course it's not just the Pike image, it's the Hornblower image.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Has anyone ever attempted to watch the show in Stardate order? That surely must be an interesting way to watch.

The big problems there are "Mirror, Mirror"'s "Stardate: Unknown" and "Day of the Dove"'s "Stardate: Armageddon." In addition, Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance gives the Stardate for "Patterns of Force" as 2534.0, but that's not in the aired episode. It's made into several other reference books, though, even though most episodes had Stardates in the 4000s by then. I assume she got it from an earlier script draft.

Generally, production order for TOS seems the most "right" to me, as that's the order they had in Allan Asherman's Star Trek Compendium, which was my bible when I was a burgeoning Trek fan. Most channels where I watched TOS in syndication seemed to use that order as well. That makes the most sense from a production design and character development standpoint, IMO. Whenever I look at Stardate or airdate order, they always seem to have similar episodes jammed up against each other. ("OMG, why is Mr. Spock acting so emotional? Is it those spores that were infecting him last week?" "Nope, nothing to do with that. He's just going through Pon Farr this week.")

With The Prisoner, I think the episode order on the A&E boxed set was pretty good, although I think I've tailored my personal order a bit from what they presented. Here's the order I currently have on my Prisoner Chronology doc:

1) "Arrival"
2) "Free For All"
3) "Dance of the Dead"
4) "Checkmate"
5) "The Chimes of Big Ben"
6) "The General"
7) "A, B, and C"
8) "The Schizoid Man"
9) "Many Happy Returns"
10) "It's Your Funeral"
11) "Hammer Into Anvil"
12) "A Change of Mind”
13) "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling"
14) "Living in Harmony"
15) "The Girl Who Was Death"
16) "Once Upon a Time"
17) "Fall Out"

But honestly, The Prisoner is such a surreal show anyway you can do most any episode order you'd like as long as you start with "Arrival" and finish off with "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out."

 

[Tallguy]

But honestly, The Prisoner is such a surreal show anyway you can do most any episode order you'd like as long as you start with "Arrival" and finish off with "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out."

As long as Dance of the Dead is very early if not second. (And what a fantastic episode.)

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

The big problems there are "Mirror, Mirror"'s "Stardate: Unknown" and "Day of the Dove"'s "Stardate: Armageddon." In addition, Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance gives the Stardate for "Patterns of Force" as 2534.0, but that's not in the aired episode.

The Prisoner is such a surreal show anyway you can do most any episode order you'd like as long as you start with "Arrival" and finish off with "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out."

THE PRISONER is the GROUNDHOG DAY of sci-fi. Or CAUSE AND EFFECT with reason and accountability. I surprised my friend in 1999 with a VHS mashup of PRISONER and WRATH OF KHAN, running as follows.

COMPUTER VOICE: Information. Information.
NUMBER SIX: You won't get it!
COMPUTER VOICE: By hook, or by crook----
McCOY: We will!

If PATTERNS OF FORCE was that early (just a stone throw away from MEGAS-TU on the Trimble-wheel), Chekov's not as young as he looks.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

As long as Dance of the Dead is very early if not second. (And what a fantastic episode.)

My understanding is that "Free For All," "Dance of the Dead," and "Checkmate" were all written as possible second episodes of the show, so they should all occur early in the run.

I ultimately decided to put "Free For All" before the others due to a few small things:

- Number 6 is startled when he sees Number 2 appear on his television in "Free For All," pointing to him having only just arrived in the Village. In "Dance of the Dead," he's not only unsurprised by seeing Number 2 on the television in his cottage, he addresses it first, pointing to Number 6 knowing about it already.

- Number 6 says, “The maids come, and they go” and “I’m new here!” to his new maid in "Dance of the Dead," which would make more sense after his experience with Number 58 in “Free For All.”

- And lastly, Number 2’s line “We’re democratic… in some ways” in "Dance of the Dead" also has more bite coming after the fake election of “Free For All.”

In addition, Patrick McGoohan's seven essential episodes, in his preferred order, were:

1) “Arrival”
2) “Free For All”
3) “Dance of the Dead”
4) “Checkmate”
5) “The Chimes of Big Ben”
6) “Once Upon a Time”
7) “Fall Out”

So I used those, in that order, as the starting point for my chronology.

 

[Tallguy]

My understanding is that "Free For All," "Dance of the Dead," and "Checkmate" were all written as possible second episodes of the show, so they should all occur early in the run.

I ultimately decided to put "Free For All" before the others due to a few small things:

- Number 6 is startled when he sees Number 2 appear on his television in "Free For All," pointing to him having only just arrived in the Village. In "Dance of the Dead," he's not only unsurprised by seeing Number 2 on the television in his cottage, he addresses it first, pointing to Number 6 knowing about it already.

- Number 6 says, “The maids come, and they go” and “I’m new here!” to his new maid in "Dance of the Dead," which would make more sense after his experience with Number 58 in “Free For All.”

- And lastly, Number 2’s line “We’re democratic… in some ways” in "Dance of the Dead" also has more bite coming after the fake election of “Free For All.”

In addition, Patrick McGoohan's seven essential episodes, in his preferred order, were:

1) “Arrival”
2) “Free For All”
3) “Dance of the Dead”
4) “Checkmate”
5) “The Chimes of Big Ben”
6) “Once Upon a Time”
7) “Fall Out”

So I used those, in that order, as the starting point for my chronology.

Wonderfully well thought out.

My only reason for putting DotD second is because McGoohan's performance is very caged and very raw in a way that it isn't for most of the series, except for Arrival.

Of course for me Checkmate is literally my first episode. PBS, sometime in 1979 I think. I didn't get into the show until it was running on PBS in 1986. And then I went nuts for it.