The third season of the original “Star Trek” is the weakest, but there are still a few gems to be found here.

Looking back, it’s not hard to see why season 3 was the last season for the original “Star Trek,” because the quality of writing went down the tubes. This 24 episode season contains some of the show’s worst episodes such as the unwatchable “And The Children Shall Lead,” the dull “The Lights Of Zetar,” and the universally panned “Spock’s Brain.” Of course, who can forget the hippies in space episode (“The Way To Eden”) which contains plenty of horrendous singing and Leonard Nimoy embarrassing himself!

Thankfully, there are a few stand out episodes here such as “The Tholian Web,” two versions of the original pilot “The Cage,” the goofy, but entertaining “Plato’s Stepchildren,” the Romulan centric “The Enterprise Incident,” and “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” which touches on race issues. The series finale ("Turnabout Intruder") is also a provoking episode about gender inequality. You have to give credit to the writers here for tackling so many controversial topics and issues for the time period. Not only were these episodes groundbreaking at the time, but they also proved to be good, smart television. That is something that is certainly lacking in many of today's formulaic shows.

Summary: If you want to get into the original “Star Trek,” season three is not the way to go. I would suggest checking out season two as it is the most consistent season and contains the best episodes. As for fans and hardcore Trekkers and Trekkies, buying this new remastered set is a no brainer.