The new issue of Wisconsin Interest magazine includes a story about a lesser known, but more immediate, funding crisis in federal entitlements — Social Security Disability Insurance.
(Spoiler alert: The crisis is not just financial.)
The number one song today in 1955:
The number one British song (which is not from Britain) today in 1964:
Today in 1971, John Lennon released his “Imagine” album:
A lot can happen in four weeks, but as of today this doesn’t look to be a good election for Wisconsin Democrats.
The top of the ticket, gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, has had a floundering campaign since the revelations that her campaign is based on a grab bag of other people’s ideas. Their attorney general candidate, Susan Happ, has a major ethics problem. The Sixth Congressional District appears to be the only place where they might have a chance of flipping the seat, but even if that happens Mark Harris will be in the wrong party in the dictatorship of the majority that is the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrats have high hopes of flipping the state Senate to Democratic control. But state Democratic leadership has managed to alienate a lot of Democrats in one of those most flippable districts, the 17th, by recruiting a candidate to run instead of the original Democrat who ran.
Perhaps Senate Democratic leadership wasn’t counting on the frowned-upon candidate’s wife, Rita Wittwer, to start writing letters to newspapers in the Senate district:
This guy certainly had all the experience that a Senate candidate for a very rural district should possess. He had a P.O. box and rented a room in the district for a little over three years. He was mentored by and worked a bit over a year for a U.S. senator who barely remembers him. He was a law clerk of questionable merit for a Republican judge. He has a law degree but has never practiced law. Aside from his university years, he lived his life in urban Waukesha, graduating from a private high school. …
This was the beginning of the disenfranchisement of the voters in the 17th Senate District. In and of itself, a primary is not necessarily a bad thing. However, the Senate Democratic leader didn’t like leaving anything to chance — or, should I say, to the voters. He decided that he should endorse his chosen one and at the Democratic convention purposely failed to mention Ernie as the other candidate. That didn’t exactly go over well with our supporters and they made their feelings known to “his leadership.” Not that their views mattered. They were completely ignored. …
Losing an election is unbelievably painful. Losing an election because of political manipulation is even worse. To add insult to injury, we found out a few days ago that the list of supporters that we fought so hard to get was given to the chosen one without our permission. How special is that? Because our website was created under the Senate Demmocratic umbrella and because we loaded the names of anyone with an email address into our website for ease in communicating, the Senate Democratic hierarchy believes that they own our names and have the right to use them as they see fit.
Meanwhile, Burke probably needs to replace her campaign’s press people after this embarrassment, reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Telling reporters they can’t interview people at a political rally is like trying to take away Ted Nugent’s guns. You might get your wango tangoed.
At least three journalists ran into this restriction while covering Michelle Obama’s appearance in Milwaukee on [Sept. 29] on behalf of Mary Burke, Democratic candidate for governor.
But the White House, if I may refer to the first lady’s communications director that way, says it was a mistake that won’t be repeated.
“It is not our policy. This was an open press event. If anyone either from the Burke campaign or from our team obstructed a reporter from speaking with folks who were there, that was an error,” I was told Thursday by Maria Cristina “MC” Gonzalez Noguera.
There was no security reason for it, and really no reason at all.
“This is a case of an overzealous staff person,” she said.
That excessive zeal infected other Burke and White House staffers at the rally, held at the Wisconsin Center. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Meg Kissinger, who was in the corral of media workers at the back of the hall, was stopped twice as she talked to people over the dividing ropes while waiting for the speeches to begin.
“I thought it was a joke. I started laughing,” she said. Then she spread the word on Twitter and said this on Facebook: “To say that I was creeped out is an understatement. This is what reporters do in America: we speak to people. At least that’s how I’ve been doing things — at all kinds of political events — since 1979.”
I immediately clicked the like button. Her post went crazy on the Internet and was trending all over the place. The Madison chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists jumped in to condemn the curbed press access and cited other times at both Democratic and Republican events when the media were limited on where and whom they could interview.
Fans of press freedom, and, yes, there are some left, praised Kissinger for exposing such a ridiculous rule and then interviewing anyone she darn well pleased. Opponents of Burke seized the opportunity to say, see, she would make a lousy governor who will keep all the people’s quotes for herself.
The partisan attacks worry Burke campaign spokesman Joe Zepecki. He called the Journal Sentinel newsroom and tried to have the mention of press restrictions deleted from the online news article. Editors refused. Zepecki then complained bitterly in emails to Kissinger and said it wasn’t news, nor was her inclusion in the article that people at the rally who needed to sit down were having trouble finding chairs.
Zepecki later told me no other reporters mentioned any of this in their news accounts. That just proves Kissinger is the only one who got it right. We can’t have politicians or their staffs dictating how news is covered, because you know they’d love to.
Afternoon First Amendment violation update: Speaking of “We can’t have politicians or their staffs dictating how news is covered,” Wisconsin Reporter reports on itself:
Wisconsin Reporter was barred from covering a campaign rally Tuesday in Madison for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke and featuring first lady Michelle Obama.
Melissa Baldauff, communications director for the state Democratic Party, informed Wisconsin Reporter on Monday it wasn’t allowed to attend the event at the Overture Center because the online publication isn’t a legitimate news source.
This marks the second time in about a week the Burke camp has dictated press coverage of a campaign fundraiser in Wisconsin headlined by the first lady. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Meg Kissinger reported White House and Burke staff tried to block reporters from talking to crowd members Sept. 29 in Milwaukee.
Free press advocates denounced the decision.
Carol O’Leary, president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association board of directors, called the handling of Wisconsin Reporter’s request an assault on free press and criticized Obama and the Burke campaign for trying to control information released to the public.
“They are picking who they want to cover their stories … It’s not transparency,” O’Leary said.
The Madison chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which expressed disappointment with Burke and Obama for trying to prevent reporters from speaking to the audience in Milwaukee, supports wide media access to campaign functions.
“It seems to me that Wisconsin Reporter ought to be able to attend the event and report on it,” said Mark Pitsch, president of the local Society of Professional Journalists, a national journalism group.
Baldauff, who agreed to speak to Wisconsin Reporter on Monday outside the offices of the Democratic Party and Burke for Wisconsin, initially attributed the denial to a lack of space — even though a request for media credentials was submitted Saturday, shortly after the Burke campaign sent a news release outlining the logistics.
But that answer changed when Baldauff, who repeatedly declined to explain the process for selecting which media outlets can participate, was told Wisconsin Reporter would be doing a story on press being turned away from the political fundraiser.
“Well, you’re not the press though, so, thanks,” Baldauff said as she left the hallway and closed an office door.
Someone should tell Burke that should she get elected, she’s not going to be able to pick and choose which media talks to her.
Today in 1975, one of the stranger episodes in rock music history ended when John Lennon got permanent resident status, his “green card.” The federal government, at the direction of Richard Nixon, tried to deport Lennon because of his 1968 British arrest for possession of marijuana. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that trying to deport Lennon on the basis of an arrest was “contrary to U.S. ideas of due process and was invalid as a means of banishing the former Beatle from America.”
The number one British single today in 1978 came from that day’s number one album:
The number one album today in 1989 was Tears for Fears’ “Seeds of Love”:
If you’re a parent, you know that weekends are not time off any more than weekdays are.
This weekend was ridiculously full. I announced two volleyball matches Saturday, one day after doing a football game, and four days after doing another volleyball match. (In between, I got to be a parent at a Parents Night for the first time. I have sat through more than 100 Parents Nights for games I’ve covered or announced, but this is the first time I’ve gotten to participate, since we have a freshman soccer player in the house.) We also had our church’s annual St. Francis Day pet blessing, after which I went to a silo fire fought by seven fire departments.
Sunday, our daughter made her world debut as an acolyte, before her practice for a role in “The Nutcracker.” In between, an historic moment in the Prestegard family, or extended family:
This may be the first touchdown a Prestegard has ever scored in organized football. Had this been on the radio, my call would have been something like “Handoff to Prestegard on the end-around … and Prestegard to the 30, around the corner to the 20, down the sidelines to the 10 … tooooo the end zone! Touchdown for Dylan Prestegard — 34 yards on the end-around! And the Herd [team name, hence the green jerseys for Marshall] start the second half with a bang, and take the lead, 12 to 6!”
I feel like I should re-edit the video in slow motion with some NFL Films music, like …
Or, knowing popular music today, he’d probably prefer something like this:
A football game I announced earlier this season did involve a Prestegard child … in the marching band. That too is a family first. So yes, the marching band got airtime. I have yet to announce a game where one of our kids is a player … yet.
This week, I have games to announce every night from Wednesday to Friday, plus Saturday afternoon. A Neil Young song says it’s better to burn out than it is to rust.
Waukesha’s city administrator and an urban planner say that public employee collective bargaining reforms — the controversial Act 10 of 2011 — need to go further:
In its Sept. 17 editorial about Gov. Scott Walker’s second term agenda, the Journal Sentinel Editorial Board said, “Act 10 was a mistake” (“Gov. Scott Walker’s second term? Same as the first,” Our View). Act 10 virtually ended collective bargaining for many, but not all, state and local public employees.
It was not a mistake and should be followed up with Act 10.2 and Act 10.3. One would address the expensive early retirement feature included in the Wisconsin pension plan for all state and local public employees, and the other would bring in police and fire personnel, left out in Act 10. Police and fire together amount to about 60% of most local budgets, leaving only 40% covered by Act 10.
Wisconsin was the first state in the Union to allow public employees to bargain collectively, and, by the 1970s, unionization was showing its worst feature. That feature was, and will always remain, that unions cannot resist the temptation to try to control both sides of the bargaining table. They do this by being politically active in electing union-sympathetic public officials and in de-electing taxpayer sympathizers. The state teachers union was the first to consistently apply this power both in local and state elections and was very effective at both levels.
Wisconsin, having first created public collective bargaining, rightfully should be the first state to remove it. Indiana was slightly earlier, but the Indiana public at referendum put it back in place. That action, and the current race for Wisconsin governor, shows just how much unions are fighting to regain this power.
Early public employee unions recognized that public employee strikes did not sit well with the public. In exchange for removing the right to strike, unions were given arbitration, a power that likely gained more for unions than striking. The problem with arbitration is it becomes an averaging of the surrounding lowest and highest wages.
As the wealthier tax bases raise their wages and benefits, over time the lower tax base communities rise to the previous average of the higher base. If they both can rise faster than inflation, which they have done by a ratio of 2.5-3 to 1, in only a few successive contract periods the lower tax base pay equals the former high base levels.
Where bargaining has been especially deleterious for taxpayers is unions began focusing on fringe benefits, which are hidden from public view and often hidden from employees themselves and under-appreciated by them. It is now common for public employees to receive benefits that cost 50% of their total pay, whereas the private-sector ratio is around 25%. This “fringes strategy” has paid excess dividends to public workers in two costly areas: health insurance and pensions.
In health insurance, public employees were shielded from the huge run-up in health premiums because they were able to bargain 100% employer pickup of the cost. Such premiums between 1978 and the 2008 economic slump rose 600%, or double the 300% rise in general inflation.
For teachers, they achieved an extra bonus from their employer-paid health insurance. The local unions bargained, and won in 60% of Wisconsin school districts, that the no-bid contract for health insurance go to the insurance company owned by the state teachers union.
That insurance can be called “cadillac coverage.” Not only did it have five-way coverage — doctor, hospital, drugs, vision and dental — each was top of the line. For example, in private-sector dental insurance, when it existed, $1,000 per year was the typical limit per patient in the family. A few companies offered $1,200, and a very few $1,500. Some teachers’ coverage: $2,000 per patient per year.
Similarly in patient-paid deductibles, zero was a common ratio for teachers. When private-sector family premiums were reaching $18,000 per family a year, the teachers’ company was $22,000 to $25,000. School districts are learning they can retain this high coverage, but by bidding can lower the cost greatly, in some cases so far by over 50%.
In pensions, most private-sector employers contribute up to 3% of wages into the company 401(k) plan, and under 401(k) rules, employees may add another 3%, a total of 6% between them. But because the early retirement feature of the Wisconsin plan is so costly, the plan specifies total contributions as high as 16% a year.
In bargaining, there have been efforts to have the school district pay the entire 16%. Under the “Rule of 85,” a Wisconsin public employee may retire as early as age 55, provided he or she has worked 30 years under the plan. Until age 65, when federal Medicare begins, collective bargaining has won employer-paid health insurance covering that gap for early retirees. Often, it even continues after age 65 for a lifetime, thereby exempting retirees from paying their share of Medicare. Wisconsin’s early retirement is out of step with the times, considering longer lives and Social Security raising its age to 66, then to 67. …
The final, and some public administrators say, the worst aspect of collective bargaining, was how the labor agreement came to supersede some civil service rules and other rightful employer prerogatives. An example is how bargaining contracts typically dictate layoffs be only by least seniority, so the last in is the first out. School districts before Act 10 sometimes were laying off their most promising young teachers because of their recent hiring. Under Act 10, for the first time in four decades, public bodies again are creating their own handbook of work rules and benefits, which are correcting these past union-imposed arbitrary situations.
That last paragraph is all the evidence you need of why Act 10 had to become law, controversial and divisive though it was. The employees do not get to decide who works and who gets laid off. That is properly the role of management, whether or not the employees like the managers.
Gov. Gaylord Nelson’s signing of the law allowing government employees to unionize might be the single worst piece of legislation signed into law in Wisconsin in the 20th century. You’ll notice that neither Walker nor any other Republican has mentioned overturning that law, though it should be overturned.
You may remember claims by Da Union during Recallarama that the teacher unions were willing to bargain bigger employee contributions for their benefits. That was a statement that lacked any credibility for two reasons. First, given that there are 427 school districts in this state, no state union official can speak for every school district union head, let alone a majority of the members of all 427 teacher unions. Contract negotiations also take place behind closed doors, meaning Da Union could say one thing in public and do the opposite in private.
Act 10 is one step, and only one step, to giving taxpayers the power over the government we’re paying for instead of politicians and government employees, whose salaries and benefits are paid for by us taxpayers.
The number one song today in 1970:
The number one song today in 1973:
Britain’s number one album tonight in 1984 was David Bowie’s “Tonight”:
The number one song today in 1959 came from a German opera:
The number one British song today in 1961:
The number one British song today in 1974 came from the movie “The Exorcist”:
Today in 1957, the sixth annual New Music Express poll named Elvis Presley the second most popular singer in Great Britain behind … Pat Boone. That seems as unlikely as, say, Boone’s recording a heavy metal album.
The number one British song today in 1962, coming to you via satellite:
Britain’s number one album today in 1969 was the Beatles’ “Abbey Road”:
The io9 website has a list of the top 100 Star Trek episodes, encompassing all six series.
I don’t necessarily agree with all the rankings, and others I haven’t seen (I paid less attention to Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise than the original and The Next Generation), but I spotlight my favorites:
What makes for a great Star Trek episode? Obviously, the fun quotient has to be high, and there need to be awesome character moments. But I’d argue that a really notable Trek story explores some ideas, or some ethical quandaries, in a way that sticks with you after you’re done watching. If one thing has defined Trek throughout its run, it’s that …
99) Day of the Dove (Star Trek) – An alien entity wants the Enterprise crew and some Klingons to slaughter each other, and Kirk has nearly as much trouble with his own crew as with the “enemy.”
Michael Ansara (the Klingon) had one of the great voices in TV in his day. This is one of the few watchable episodes of the disastrous third season. (Another appears later.)
89) Court Martial (Star Trek) – Kirk is put on trial, and along the way he shows what it really takes to command a starship. …
87) Déjà Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Q has lost his powers, and now he’s learning to cope with being human. If he can survive the wrath of Guinan, that is.
I am not really a fan of the Q character, because it strikes me as a lazy plot device. (Hey! Let’s create an all-powerful being!) However, there is a cameo by Corbin Bernsen, when every TV viewer knew him as the womanizing lawyer on “L.A. Law,” and he was fantastic in his brief part.
85) Little Green Men (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) – Quark gets stranded on mid-20th century Earth, and for once even he can’t figure out how to profit from this, in a hilariously weird episode.
81) The Enemy Within (Star Trek) – The one where Kirk gets split into good and evil versions by a transporter accident — Richard Matheson’s script manages to get into some thorny questions about the nature of evil.
79) I, Mudd (Star Trek) – The most famous rogue in Star Trek has landed in a great spot — surrounded by beautiful androids who cater to his every whim. Except that he can’t leave.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd might be the only non-regular character from the original series to have appeared in more than one episode. His first appearance, “What Are Little Girls Made Of,” was considered as the pilot after the original pilot, “The Cage,” was rejected by NBC. This is a pretty silly episode, but entertaining, in addition to being many viewers’ introduction to the Liar’s Paradox:
76) Wolf in the Fold (Star Trek) – Mr. Scott is accused of being a serial killer… but the truth is a lot more bizarre.
This isn’t really one of my favorites; I bring it up to spotlight the killer (spoiler alert!), Platteville’s own John Fiedler, the voice of Piglet:
73) Family (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – This episode is revolutionary, purely because it shows the consequences of a big “event” episode — Picard is still shaken by his experiences with the Borg, when he goes home to visit his family.
71) A Piece of the Action (Star Trek) – One of many “visiting Earth’s past on another planet” episodes, this is the funniest and also the most trenchant. Kirk and friends have to outwit a whole planet of gangsters, while teaching them the arcane game of Fizzbin.
70) Sarek (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Peter S. Beagle wrote this episode where Spock’s father reappears, and he’s not the Vulcan he used to be — a bittersweet exploration of aging and loss.
67) Errand of Mercy (Star Trek) – The first Klingon episode is also the most daring, as Kirk is portrayed as being nearly as warlike as his foes, in the face of godlike pacifist aliens.
62) Cause and Effect (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – The one where the Enterprise keeps blowing up over and over. The most explosive, bewildering time loop ever.
60) Shore Leave (Star Trek) – One of the goofiest original-series episodes also has a major dark side, as the crew arrives on a planet where anything they imagine can become real. Anything.
55) The Pegasus (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Riker’s long-buried secret comes to light, and he’s forced to lie to Captain Picard.
53) The Conscience of the King (Star Trek) – This episode about a Shakespearean actor who may be a legendary mass murderer is also our first glimpse of the flaws in Trek‘s perfect future.
52) Relics (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Old Starfleet engineers never die — they just come back decades later, eager to tinker with another warp engine.
50) I Borg (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Another episode with a guest star who poses a huge ethical question — the Enterprise finds a disconnected Borg drone, and tries to turn him into a weapon.
48) The Enterprise Incident (Star Trek) – Kirk and Spock pull an elaborate hustle on the Romulans, in an episode that shows just how unethical our heroes are prepared to be.
43) Obsession (Star Trek) – Kirk’s judgment is called into question when he becomes fixated on revenge, showing once again just how dangerous an out-of-control captain can be.
39) Journey to Babel (Star Trek) – Most notable for introducing us to Spock’s parents, this episode also shows a Federation diplomatic mission gone horribly wrong.
36) Galileo Seven (Star Trek) – A shuttlecraft full of people is stranded on a planet, and it appears that not all of them can survive. Good thing Spock is in charge, and he has zero hesitation about making the tough call… Right?
34) The Drumhead (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – An Admiral subjects the Enterprise to an inquisition, and starts finding conspiracies behind every bulkhead, providing an object lesson in the dangers of paranoia.
32) Trials and Tribble-ations (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) – One of several time-travel episodes, this one sends Sisko’s officers back to the original series episode “The Trouble With Tribbles,” and provides a great love letter to Trek‘s history.
30) Yesteryear (Star Trek: The Animated Series) – Spock travels back in time and saves himself as a young boy on Vulcan, in an episode that reveals a lot about Spock’s life.
27) Where No Man Has Gone Before (Star Trek) – The second Star Trek pilot is the best, facing Kirk with an impossible choice: condemn his friend to death, or risk his entire ship.
25) The Offspring (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Data creates an android daughter for himself, but some miracles are too great to last.
22) Tapestry (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Picard is dying of an old wound caused by his recklessness, so Q shows him what his life would be like if he’d played it safe.
21) Arena (Star Trek) – Kirk faces two impossible challenges: making a weapon from scratch, and upholding his values in the face of a murderous Gorn.
20) Measure of a Man (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Putting Data on “trial” to see if he’s a person raises fascinating questions, but the best part is Riker’s total ruthlessness as prosecutor.
19) Yesterday’s Enterprise (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – The Enterprise finds itself in an alternate universe, and restoring the original timeline will come at a high cost.
18) The Doomsday Machine (Star Trek) – Kirk faces the ultimate weapon, but his real nightmare is an unhinged superior officer taking command of the Enterprise.
Favorite episode number 1B, because only Kirk would do this …
… and of course his crew would follow his orders. This episode proves why Kirk is the ultimate Star Trek captain.
16) Devil in the Dark (Star Trek) – The classic Star Trek scenario: a story in which the “monster” is misunderstood, and ignorant humans are the real danger.
15) Space Seed (Star Trek) – The only Trek episode to get a movie sequel, this story introduces a suave former dictator who’s a perfect foil for Kirk.
14) The Corbomite Maneuver (Star Trek) – This episode isn’t named after the villain or the McGuffin, but after Kirk’s cunning gambit — with good reason. Never play poker with Kirk.
This wasn’t the pilot, and it wasn’t the first episode, but it was the first episode to be filmed, after the rejected pilot “The Cage” and the approved pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” It would have been a good pilot episode.
11) Chain of Command (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Picard is captured by a ruthless Cardassian torturer — and gets pushed to his limits.
There is much more to this episode than that description. Picard is captured during a secret mission; his replacement as captain is more demanding, and actually relieves Riker of duty because Riker won’t follow his orders without question. I’ve read some thought that the series should have used this episode to replace Picard with his replacement, perhaps because those viewers prefer a series more like Deep Space Nine, where the characters have to live with each other, but don’t necessarily like each other.
10) Mirror, Mirror (Star Trek) – Meeting alternate crewmembers, including Bearded Spock, is cool — but the fascinating part is seeing our heroes try to pretend to be barbarians.
As main-universe Spock points out at the end, it is easier for civilized men to act like barbarians than it is for barbarians to act like civilized men.
9) All Good Things (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – The best Q story sees Picard tested at three points in his life, with the whole universe in the balance.
8) The Inner Light (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – Picard lives a whole life on a doomed planet, and becomes a living memorial, with just a flute as souvenir.
6) The Trouble with Tribbles (Star Trek) – The funniest Trek, it also faces Kirk with the most insidious threat: an organism that’s born pregnant.
2) The Best of Both Worlds (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – The Borg turn Picard into their mouthpiece, and our heroes nearly lose.
1) Balance of Terror (Star Trek) – Kirk’s battle of wits with a Romulan is spellbinding, but so is the exploration of prejudice, and the idea that noble people fight on both sides.
Favorite episode number 1A.
There are a few episodes from the first three series not on their list that are on my list. “A Taste of Armageddon” has Kirk ending an interplanetary war by escalating it. (Again, only Kirk can pull this off.)
“The Immunity Syndrome” has the Enterprise inside a giant single-celled creature that already destroyed another starship and solar system.
“Patterns of Force” has Kirk trying to undo the hideous mistake of a Federation functionary — unifying a divided planet through the Nazi Germany model. It’s not as funny as “A Piece of the Action,” but it has some great Kirk/Spock moments:
One episode from The Animated Series would have worked in any of the live-bodies series — “Beyond the Farthest Star,” where the Enterprise encounters an abandoned ship possessed by an alien that they get rid of by pointing the Enterprise at a black hole at high speed.
The Next Generation started with arguably its worst season, redeemed by two episodes — “Conspiracy,” where a truly creepy creature takes over its hosts’ bodies; and “The Neutral Zone,” where the Romulans make their reappearance. The former is in the spirit of one of the better original-series episodes, with a nice touch at the end, a ’50s-style To Be Continued??? ending.
You have to ignore the “We have eliminated need” self-satisfaction that belies human nature in the latter, but it’s still a very good episode.
I’m not sure much is in common with all these episodes. For me, the best Star Trek episodes combine action, whether on a planet or on the ship, and the characters doing the right thing despite fear, anger or other forces. In most of these episodes the byplay between characters stands out. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” begins with Kirk and Spock playing chess, and Spock about to win until Kirk makes an unexpected, unorthodox move. (Surprised?) “Trials and Tribble-ations” includes Odo’s withering sarcasm about Klingons’ destroying the tribbles’ home world, which he calls “another glorious chapter in Klingon history,” asking Worf, “Tell me, do they still sing songs about The Great Tribble Hunt?”
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 