The third season of Star Trek: The Original Series came about because of slash and female fans. And so, in 1976, The New Voyages 1 and 2 were released, a set of official fanfics (including "Surprise", written by Nichelle Nichols) edited by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, with forewords from Gene Roddenberry and the cast.
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- Bedlam House: The 50s mental hospital that “The Mind Sifter” has is mostly a hellhole, with only a few people trying to help Kirk and the rest are sadistic guys who leer at him.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: “The Mind Sifter” has Kirk tortured by Kor and the titular device to get to the Guardian of Forever, with the added bonus of amnesia but massive screaming trigger of pain whenever he remembers his name and rank, reducing him to becoming like a helpless violent child in a 50s mental hospital until he’s saved.
- Companion Cube: Lampshaded in-universe during “The Face Of The Bar Room Floor”, as Perez notes that Kirk and the Enterprise come in a set. “The Winged Dreamers” also has Kirk call the Enterprise a dominating woman in an appreciative way.
- The Chew Toy: “The Face Of The Bar Room Floor” has Sulu wondering if Kirk was human after a particularly anal bout of Married to the Job, and boy is he. On a shore leave he’s forced to go on, he splurges on a gaudy neo-samurai outfit (so doesn’t have his uniform), goes to a bar and can’t get a free drink with his Pretty Boy smiles but everyone thinks he’s a short Brainless Beauty anyway, inadvertently starts a Bar Brawl, gets knocked out, robbed and arrested, and gets condescended to that his “captain” will come pick him up in the morning.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: “The Mind Sifter” has the one kind nurse, Jan, convinced that she loves Kirk. She means well, but Bones and Spock point out two things 1) Kirk is really not in any position to consent, having been tortured into regression, and 2) kisses aside, it’s a pitying mother kind of love, which she admits to, and Spock mind melds with her to take away her worry about Kirk because they can fix him in the future.
- Manly Men Can Hunt: played with in “The Hunting”, as the mok farr is a coming of age ritual for Vulcans, and it’s a mind meld to understand the ferocity of the beast, to better understand the savagery of the Vulcan nature.
- Mind Rape: “The Mind Sifter” is not subtle with parallels to actual assault, with Kirk getting drugged and kidnapped on an (implied coerced) date during a shore leave when he was alone, tortured by Kor with the device to the point that his own name and authority is a trigger so that he’s kept helpless, and ends up in a Bedlam House with, save for one kind nurse, sadist guys who torture him, call him a pet and think he’s pretty.
- Slash Fic: To varying degrees, every story is obviously Kirk/Spock, enough to notice (which the cast forwards are fine with) but not too explicit.
- Straw Vulcan: "Ni Var" has Spock split into his human half and Vulcan half, throwing his friends for a loop when the latter doesn’t even want to banter with Bones.
- Trauma Button: In “Ni Var”, Kirk comes across children who have been separated by a machine into two, and immediately feels ill, remembering “The Enemy Within” and how badly that went, not just for himself but others. Bones notes later that Spock’s the one that split in half, and Kirk is taking it worse, still in denial about having a darker side and feeling useless over not being able to help
- What the Hell, Hero?: In “Ni Var”, Bones hits below the belt (he wants Spock in for a physical, and only Spock and Kirk know Spock is split into his human and Vulcan half), assuming Kirk is trying to pull rank, and brings up “A Private Little War”, asking if Kirk wants to play god again.
- You Should Have Died Instead: In “Intersection Point”, a mission destroys a man’s mind, and his girlfriend has a breakdown at Spock, clawing at him and screaming he should have gone instead.
