[bravo whiskey]

Interesting how so many space battles are in two dimensions. ST 2 was an exception.

[Jeff Chandler]

Interesting how so many space battles are in two dimensions. ST 2 was an exception.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbTUTNenvCY

[RansomOttawa]

Interesting how so many space battles are in two dimensions. ST 2 was an exception.

Kirk doesn't quite escape 2D thinking himself. Note that the Enterprise and Reliant are always oriented with the same side "up." (Apparently Spock's idea of 3D thinking is to hide underneath the enemy. I wonder if Khan was familiar with submarines...)

Ironically, the first 3-dimensional space-battle tactics I recall seeing are in Star Trek: in the finale episode of TNG, the future Enterprise takes on two Klingon cruisers by attacking them from underneath.

Even with the advent of CGI, space battles tend to orient themselves in the same direction (e.g. Babylon 5, although by the time the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica came along, they were getting better at thinking in three dimensions.