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Star trek 3

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James Blish began adapting the stories of the original Star Trek television show in 1967. The third paperback book was titled "Star Trek 3." This paperback book contains the seven stories of the original book adapted mostly from the second season of the show, with one story from the third season of the television show.

Note that all episode numbers are the order in which the episodes originally appeared on television.

The first story is "The Trouble with Tribbles," which was the fifteenth episode of the second season. The television show was one of five Star Trek episodes nominated for a 1968 Hugo Award, the winner being "The City on the Edge of Forever," collected in "Star Trek 2." The Enterprise is delivering grain to a planet in dispute between the Klingons and the Federation. Lovable little tribbles interfere by eating all the grain, but the little critters discover that the grain, and Klingons, does not agree with them. This story is one of Star Trek's best.

The second story is "The Last Gunfight," which was the sixth episode of the third season, titled "Spectre of the Gun" on television. The Enterprise enters the Melkotian system with the intent of inviting the Melkotians to join the Federation. The Melkotians seem intent on remaining outside the Federation, and soon members of the Enterprise find themselves adjacent to the OK Corral and an impending gunfight. Mr. Spock may hold the key to the salvation of them all!

The third story is "The Doomsday Machine," which was the sixth episode of the second season. This episode was another 1968 Hugo Award nominee. The badly damaged Constellation and the Enterprise must fight a machine that munches on entire planets. How can two starships fight a device that uses entire planets for fuel and has an impervious hull? Sometimes terrible sacrifices must be made to save a galaxy.

The fourth story is "Assignment: Earth," which was the twenty-sixth and final televised episode of the second season. The Enterprise travels into Earth's past, only to discover an alien beaming to Earth with incredible technology. What is Gary Seven's intention? As Mr. Seven attempts to sabotage a rocket Captain Kirk must make a decision that could either destroy the human race or insure its survival.

The fifth story is "Mirror, Mirror," the fourth televised episode of the second season. The television episode was yet another 1968 Hugo Award nominee. Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Lt. Uhura are beaming aboard the Enterprise when they discover they are in an alternate universe. In this alternate universe the members of the Enterprise's crew are ruthless, with assassination being a popular means of promotion. The four members must keep their origin secret while learning how to return to their own universe. This story is based on one of the best Star Trek television episodes.

The sixth story is "Friday's Child," which was the eleventh televised episode in the second season. The television episode on which this story was based was quite daring in its day, as it showed a child in danger and a brutally cold woman that showed no qualms in sacrificing her child. The landing party has a difficult time trying to meet the prime directive while negotiating with the locals, and dealing with Klingons who are less concerned with polluting the local culture.

The seventh story in this volume is "Amok Time," the first televised episode of the second season. The televised episode was yet another 1968 Hugo Award nominee. We have observed Mr. Spock to be as emotionless as possible throughout the first season of the show. However, Vulcan mating rituals require Vulcans to observe a particular custom periodically, or die. Spock returns to Vulcan, but he also returns to betrayal and plots. In order for Spock to extract himself from an impossible situation, Captain Kirk may have to die!

James Blish did a marvelous job of adapting the television episodes. Sometimes Blish made modifications to the story to make it work better for a written short story, but Blish kept the intent of the story as faithful to the television series as possible.

Note: I derived all the information regarding episode numbers from the web site imdb.

A novelization of a movie or television show takes the screenplay and fleshes it out into the narrative form, and if you are lucky the author builds upon the screenplay to add depth and richness to the story. The stories in this book are NOT novelizations of the shows but adaptations. What this means is that the author took the storyline from the show and rewrote it to "improve" it. In general, the changes are not significant - for example, in The Doomsday Machine, Commodore Decker does not commit suicide by flying a shuttlecraft into the Doomsday Machine, and survives the encounter with it. Also, in The Trouble With Tribbles, the Tribbles do NOT eat all or even most of the grain.

But, nonetheless, each story does have changes from the original Star Trek show. So, if you are expecting a novelization of the old Star Trek shows, then you will probably be disappointed with this book. However, if are interested in a slightly different take on the old shows, then you might find these stories an interesting twist on the stories you are already familiar with.