The Way to Eden

This is far down on my list of Star Trek episodes, but I think it gets too much scorn. Actually , I think it is one of the funnier episodes of the Original series. I especially get a kick out of Charles Napier's Adam. I'm not sure if the episode was supposed to be funny, but it is. There are certainly much worse episodes- bleak and nonsensical episodes like "the Empath" or " the Paradise syndrome". If you don't take it too seriously, it is a moderately fun episode. It is also interesting as a social commentary on the times the show was being made.

It surprises me that this is the lowest rated episode of Star Trek TOS. Granted it is silly, but at least it has some laughs. The worst episodes are just boring.

This episode was derided when it first came out for "exploiting and denigrating hippies". While stock versions of hippie counter culture folks and themes are used, it is not some mindless hippie love or hate fest, though it had scenes of intense hippie corniness with bad folk style music & vocals, and extravagant psychedelic day glow fashions. Star Trek was always hip to the current trends and if they didn't have at least one episode like this, in the height of the anti-war Woodstock days, they would have been neglectful. It certainly is a lot more sympathetic to hippies than a contemporary right wing talk show crackpot raving about evil godless communist hippies. The episode brought up some useful questions about how even the enlightened and far more humane and just future may be sterile, depressing and boring to some. It also captured the mindset of some of the demented radical types; renegade intellectuals and Scientists, who found a niche in those movements. It had some comedy, some drama and some insight. It wasn't one of the best episodes but far from the worst, I say 6 out of 10 in the scale of ST episodes. Certainly, it was in the spirit of Star Trek and avoided the stock monsters, bad aliens, superior beings or evil villains which drive most sci fi shows while it did explore uncharted space and ideas.

I've been struggling to make up my mind: is The Way To Eden the worst Star Trek episode of them all or the greatest piece of camp sci-fi TV ever? Actually, it's both!

Six occupants of a stolen spacecruiser are beamed aboard the Enterprise, and Kirk and his crew are in for a surprise: the new arrivals are members of Dr. Sevrin's hippie cult, who are in search of the legendary planet Eden. During their stay on the ship, they attempt to recruit new followers, stage a sit-down protest at their treatment by 'Herbert' Captain Kirk, and put on impromptu musical performances. Spock, who is intrigued by their counter culture, partakes in a jam session with his harp.

However, when Kirk refuses to go in search of Eden, Sevrin (Skip Homeier) and his hippies stage a coup and take the Enterprise into Romulan territory...

Ridiculous space-hippie lingo, awful flower power pop songs (written and performed by Charles Napier), and silly costumes make The Way To Eden very difficult to forget, try as you might. Those in the mood for something incredibly silly will find much to enjoy here, but anyone expecting a thought provoking piece of intelligent sci-fi will be sorely disappointed.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for lovely Mary Linda Rapelye as Chekov's old flame Irina, once a member of Starfleet Academy, now a hippie babe.

No spoilers here. Do they reach Eden? Watch and find out!

Yeah, I know, no self-respecting Trekkie would give this episode 9 out of 10 stars. But sorry, Herbert, if you don't reach, you don't reach.

I laughed so hard I pee'd myself when I saw this in 1969 (it's OK, I was 7 years old), and it still contains dozens of my all-time favorite Star Trek quotes, plus Spock playing an auto harp while the blond chick plays a bicycle wheel.

"He's not Herbert! We reach."

"Gonna crack my knuckles and jump for joy, got a clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy!"

"Only the primitives can cleanse me."

And the Obama "O" hand symbol, 40 years ahead of its time.

A previous reviewer wrote that Roddenberry was influenced by Woodstock for this episode; however, this couldn't possibly be the case.

This episode originally aired on February 21, 1969; Woodstock took place between August 15 and 18 in 1969.

Otherwise, this is not one of the best episodes of the series (much of Season 3 wasn't good due to a number of reasons, not the least of which was network interference and the downgraded role Roddenberry was allowed to have).