Where no MaN has gone before
Watching The Original Series has actually been really challenging. I can't binge it and sometimes even making it through an episode is work. Taking notes is helping, and now I've started I feel I must continue.
The really horrifying thing is how groundbreaking and revolutionary the role of women in this show was at the time. Wtf was the rest of TV like?!
S1E0: Captain Pike "isn't used to having women on the Bridge."
Captain Pike is somewhat disgruntled when trapped by aliens with a beautiful woman whose sole desire is to make babies with him. The woman is actually old and wrinkly and somewhat disfigured from when her ship crashed. She's so ashamed of her true appearance that she'd rather stay with the aliens in the end.
This pilot got bad reviews because there wasn't enough punching, and almost killed Star Trek before it began. The female first officer didn't go down well with the network either.
S1E1: Bones still has the hots for his ex-girlfriend so he doesn't notice she's a shape-shifting alien who drains the salt from peoples' bodies, killing several members of the crew. Most conversations are about how hot Bones' ex-girlfriend is.
S1E2: Charlie, a human teenager raised by aliens, has never seen human women before. His re-assimilation into human society doesn't go well, because all he wants to do is follow Yeoman Rand around and touch her inappropriately. Everyone is awkward about this and nobody does a good job of explaining to Charlie why this isn't going to work out. Also he has destructive psychic powers. They let the aliens have him back.
Spock and Uhura have a strangely intimate public moment involving song and harp.
S1E3: The episode opens with bridge officer Gary Mitchell making inappropriate comments about psychiatrist Elizabeth Dehner. In front of everyone, on the Bridge, during work hours. Apparently this is fine.
Gary is the hero of the story when he accidentally becomes imbued with ever-expanding psychic powers which make him think he's better than everyone else. He continues to sexually harass Dr. Dehner. Kirk is very sad that his friend's powers make him think he's better than everyone else, but doesn't seem too fussed about his treatment of Dehner. Eventually Dehner also gets psychic powers and runs away with Gary. She realises at the last minute this might have been a bad idea. They both die.
Kirk makes sure to note in his log that Gary was a decent bloke.
S1E4: Everyone is infected with an inhibition-removing virus. Nurse Chapel declares her love for Spock. Spock cries. Kirk is upset that being Captain means he can't get laid. Riley hijacks the PA system, sings Irish ditties, and has opinions on how the women dress.
S1E5: The Enterprise needs an HR department.
Evil twin of Kirk assults Yeoman Rand. She's interviewed by Spock and Bones in the captain's presence. She's very visibly distressed. Kirk keeps yelling that it wasn't him. "Well he's the captain, I couldn't just... I didn't want to get you into trouble sir... I wouldn't have said anything, only...". A male witness bursts in and confirms it was Kirk. He's escorted to sickbay. Rand is dismissed.
When Kirk is re-merged, Rand goes to apologise to him (or forgive him, or something) on the Bridge. Spock says "the imposter had some interesting qualities, wouldn't you say Yeoman?" and gives her this weird-ass smirk. Spock! Wtf.
S1E6: It's very hard to concentrate with ladies in the room.
Only the feelingless Vulcan is immune from the captivating charms of three "females". None of them are dressed appropriately for space travel, nor do they react reasonably to terrifying space emergency situations. And of course all they want is husbands. The episode is called "Mudd's women"; Mudd introduces them as his "cargo" and Kirk is fine to refer to them this way. If they don't take a pill for long enough, their makeup is washed off and they get some wrinkles near their eyes and can't stand themselves any more. Eve has some character and agency but in the end decides to stay with the abusive miners on desolate Rigel-12 I guess because one of them decided he wanted to talk to her even after he found out she didn't really look how he thought she did. Mining infrastructure on Rigel-12 seems... understaffed. The episode has an 'if you believe in yourself you can be anything' moral, specifically that "homely" women can still be appreciated by men if they "act beautiful".
Spock moment: "the fact that my internal arrangement differs from yours Doctor, pleases me no end."