Actually, for the time, the acting was good. Looking back on it now we find it overwrought. But Shatner was down right docile compared to some of the acting in the 30s, for example! But in earlier decades they were acting as if on the stage.

Grant, the point we NCC-1701 types are trying to make is that it's not the technology that matters, it's the people behind it. Or the Kirk.

Kallen, I admit that the Klingon Empire is strong. But look at how many time Kirk beat the Klingons. Okay, so the Organians interveined in "Errand of Mercy", and we'll never know who would have won, but, as the man said, "It would have been glorious!"

Another thing in Kirk's favor, to add to Jamie's excellent list, is that if your ship, base, planet, space station, or car dashboard has a computer, Kirk can talk it to death. In one way or another, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", "The Return of the Archons," "The Changeling," "I, Mudd," and "The Ultimate Computer," not to mention all the times he talked a higher life form to either death or departure (for instance, "Who Mourns for Adonais?", "Day of the Dove.")