45 – The Gamesters of Triskelion

Grade: C-

Summary

When Kirk, Chekov and Uhura try to beam down to a planet, they are kidnapped and sent somewhere else. On this new planet, they have been recruited to participate in fights to the death. The aliens who witness these fights bet on the outcomes out of sheer boredom.

Commentary

This is a rather mediocre episode. In fact, I don’t really like it much. Honestly, I’m wondering why I even graded this a C-. More than all the other episodes, this one deserves to be mercilessly mocked. The best part is how Spock handles the complaints from McCoy and Scott.

Of Note

This episode was spoofed on an episode of CSI (Las Vegas) when one of the CSIs started fantasizing about one of his co-workers (Liz Vassey) who was also a fan of a cheesy 1960s sci-fi series. I’m not much of a fan of CSI, but I thought it was a pretty funny episode, since Gamesters is among the easiest targets in the Star Trek series. Coincidentally, Liz Vassey also appeared in an episode of Next Generation as a confused Crewmember wearing a bathing suit while in Sickbay.