Saturday Trekking...

The second season was really a mixed bag of great and mediocre episodes and near season's end things were getting a bit repetitive. The Ultimate Computer is yet another smart assed machine with delusions of grandeur that takes over the Enterprise. Not fond of that type story to begin with but this being the second for the season is quite enough. Another Fontana episode, so not surprising I didn't much care for it, especially the cheerful little ending after so many people were killed. There are some nice enhancements with the space battles, however.

Bread and Circuses is another Roddenberry script (with Gene L. Coon) and a rehash of his others. The crew lands on a planet paralleling earth development, but this time it's the Roman's who televise gladiator games and executions. Kirk beds yet another hottie (I hate that guy sometimes...) and in the end they just leave. I can see why the show faced danger of cancellation. I think they needed more writers like Bloch and Gerrold adding scripts, and a return to the more wondrous sci fi episodes of the first season. That said, an average episode of Star trek is still better than much of what is offered today on television.