Season the third, but without the Great Bird.
Season Three arrives under diminished circumstances—most notably the absence of Gene Roddenberry’s day-to-day guidance. Yet even without the Great Bird, STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES continues to explore the tension between “Keeping” and “Sharing,” sometimes clumsily, sometimes bluntly, but still with moments of surprising clarity. I went through season one here, and season two here. And if anything, the third season reveals what happens when those ethical instincts persist without the same steady creative hand to refine them.
SPOCK’S BRAIN— The argument: “Brain and brain—males are only good for one thing; having their brains removed.” “Sorry, my dear, we’re going to KEEP our brains where they are. But as a consolation prize, we’ll dismantle your gynocentric dominatrix culture and attempt to restore equity between the sexes—see later episode TURNABOUT INTRUDER for details.”
THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT— Now it’s time for the Trekkers to play “KEEPING up with the Romulans” by stealing their technology. The only “sharing” occurs in the uneasy interplay between Spock and the Romulan Commander.
AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD— Well, no. Contrary to the Gospel sentiment, even godlike powers do not make a group of children into leaders, any more than it worked for the overgrown child in CHARLIE X. They must KEEP to their proper lane.
IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY?— The Trekkers believe their emissary Spock should be able to SHARE in the privilege of communing with an alien ambassador. But his “keeper” resists such sharing—until circumstances force her hand.
DAY OF THE DOVE— Not all energy beings are as benevolent as the Organians. Here, one seeks to “keep” hostilities between Trekkers and Klingons at a constant boil. This time, both sides choose to SHARE a common interest—if only survival.
FOR THE WORLD IS HOLLOW AND I HAVE TOUCHED THE SKY— Once again, a stratified civilization must be taught to SHARE a common destiny with the wider universe.
PLATO’S STEPCHILDREN— Apparently, it is not enough for the Trekkers to challenge Greek gods; now they must confront their philosophers as well. Few will mourn the Platonians when they are forced to SHARE parity with other sentient beings.
WINK OF AN EYE— “No, thank you; we’d prefer to KEEP well clear of your accelerated breeding schemes.”
THE EMPATH— Certain aliens demand that Gem SHARE her very life as proof of worth. The Trekkers counter with a different ethic: love does not require self-annihilation.
ELAAN OF TROYIUS— Unlike PLATO’S STEPCHILDREN, here the Trekkers must teach a single arrogant aristocrat to SHARE for the good of her people. This time, however, the captain suffers for Elaan having over-shared her influence.
LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD— “No, thank you—KEEP both your revolutionaries and your reactionaries confined to your ruined world.”
REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH— Neither father nor would-be son-in-law gets to “keep” the lady fair. What they SHARE instead is mutual tragedy—though Spock experiences his own distinct form of emotional sharing.
THE WAY TO EDEN— Have we not already seen multiple variations on “KEEP off the Eden grass”? Even so, space hippies insist on testing the rule.
THE CLOUD MINDERS— Here the Trekkers compel the privileged to SHARE with the disadvantaged—achieved, notably, without invoking overt political doctrine.
THE SAVAGE CURTAIN— So, Trekkers—you wished to SHARE the glory of your enlightened values with all? Then why balk when asked to dramatize those values in stark, literal terms?
TURNABOUT INTRUDER— If there is one person with whom you do not wish to “share” body and soul, it is a vengeful former lover. Kirk must KEEP his identity intact long enough to convince his crew that he remains himself—and that some boundaries are not meant to be crossed.
THIRD SEASON EXCLUSIONS— THE PARADISE SYNDROME, SPECTRE OF THE GUN, THE THOLIAN WEB, WHOM GODS DESTROY, THE MARK OF GIDEON, THAT WHICH SURVIVES, THE LIGHTS OF ZETAR, ALL OUR YESTERDAYS.
With that, the survey is complete. Across three seasons, STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES reveals itself not as a simple vehicle for utopian “Sharing,” but as a far more balanced moral landscape—one in which the necessity of “Keeping” is never fully abandoned. Even in its uneven final season, the series continued to wrestle with the same fundamental question: when must we give, and when must we draw the line?
The answer, as Trek so often suggests, lies not in absolutism, but in the uneasy space between where should all dare to dwell.
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English (US) · 