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The best Star Trek episode, in your opinion
oldschooldork
Member Posts: 426 Arc User
I've made it known on here that I'm not a social person at all, but I wanted to post this question to the STO community, including devs and moderators. It was a question posed to me by my brother and I thought I'd ask the STO community. What, in your opinion, is the single best Star Trek episode ever? Considering ALL the Star Trek series...original, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise? Now I don't mean an episode from each series...I mean just one episode. For me it would have to be, hands down, the episode "In A Mirror, Darkly" (both parts) from season four of Enterprise. In my opinion, the single best Star Trek episode, ever, EVER!!! Now I'm not really a huge fan of the Enterprise series, but this episode...all I can say is...WOW!!! For those who haven't seen it, all I'm going to say is the entire episode takes place in the mirror universe...with just mirror universe characters. They even changed the title sequence to reflect the mirror universe.
Now I should say I have been a Trek fan all my life, literally. I remember watching the original series with my dad when I was little and I have seen every episode of every series at least two or three times. But "In A Mirror, Darkly"...the best ever, again in my opinion.
So which episode do you think is the best one?
Now I should say I have been a Trek fan all my life, literally. I remember watching the original series with my dad when I was little and I have seen every episode of every series at least two or three times. But "In A Mirror, Darkly"...the best ever, again in my opinion.
So which episode do you think is the best one?
I don't care what the header says, I am not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, an "ARC user".
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All Good Things (TNG)
http://cache.ohinternet.com/images/thumb/2/2d/Trollface_HD.png/618px-Trollface_HD.png
TOS The Enemy Within
TNG Journey's End
DS9 In The Pale Moonlight
VOY Blink Of An Eye
'City on the Edge of Forever' from TOS. A great episode but part of me wishes they'd tried filming the original screenplay. Roddenberry's rewrite didn't do it justice.
'The Trouble With Tribbles' from TOS. Another great episode, very fun and humourous.
'Best of Both Worlds' great episodes. Unforgettable climax at the end of part 1. Part 2 was weaker but had great moments as well.
'Darmok' and 'The Inner Light' from TNG. Incredible episodes and good science fiction stories.
'Tapestry' from TNG. A fantastic episode with Q playing a non-antagonistic role for once (he literally does nothing but help Picard in this episode). It says a lot about life and how we get to where we are. It really speaks to me.
'The Visitor' from DS9. I dare anyone to watch this and not cry at the end.
'In the Pale Moonlight' from DS9. This was a really good episode and had a unique style to it - Sisko's confession and elements that had him almost-but-not-quite break the fourth wall (his confession takes place in his quarters as he's making a personal log, but he keeps looking at the camera and at 'us' as he's doing it).
'Meld' from VOY. A really good episode that says a lot of interesting things about how senseless violence is and how hard it is to rationalise it away.
'Living Witness' from VOY. Another really good episode about how the truth is often sacrificed by history when people have a stake in it. Seeing the crew of the Voyager wear black hats was awesome and fun, but there was a seriousness about the theme how history can and will be rewritten by people for their own ends. The Doctor's impact on society is important as he really was a living witness to the events that had become grotesquely misshapen. And the climax of the show really is everything I love about Star Trek.
~
I don't know which of the above to choose if I only had one choice. Maybe 'Living Witness' as I said above, the climax of that episode is really everything I love about Star Trek.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
I honestly believe that the dialogue between Picard and Sarek is the single greatest piece of theater in the history of mankind. Brilliant writing, amazing acting and so much emotional and moral depth on so many levels.
The scenes where Picard and Riker deal with situations in their own ways, with wisdom and insight, the development of the plot - that's real sci-fi drama, not just blowing up stuff in space.
"TNG: "Family" is a close second. Picard visits his home village. It hasn't been attacked by aliens or possessed by demons or something. It's pure drama. And it's fascinating to see how in the 24th century the French are still French - focused on enjoying life and celebrating their bonds to other people.
TNG: "Inner Light" is another underrated episode. Very emotional. That is how I see MMOs. When I show it to MMOers who have never watched Trek they are always amused and encouraged by it.
Other series...TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon". Honestly most TOS sucked. A Taste of Armageddon is brilliant and also very prescient. If we adopted that model today we would all be speaking Korean <_<
I didn't care much for DS9/VOY and refuse to watch ENT. Best are probably "Improbable Cause" and "Scorpion", for the same reason.
Trek is about human drama and socialist idealism and too many JJ-Trekers don't get that.
TOS: The Doomsday Machine Episode (dont remeber the name)
TNG: Best of Both Worlds I-II
VOY: Message in a Bottle (The 2 EMH Doctors were hilarious in this one)
ENT: The Romulan arc episodes
DS9; The House of Quark (Gowron's face when Quark is explaining finance makes this episode worth it!!)
We still live!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaa! We live and we will conquer!!!!! Hahahahahaaha!
-Roach, when asked about Klingon extinction!
The Corbomite Manuever
IMO - the best episode of Star Trek made because it (for me) touches on everything that I enjoyed about the series:
- A starship at the edge of known space, moving out further into the unknown.
- A first contact situation with an intelligent alien race (whose technology may in fact be superior)
- A dangerous, possibly hostile situation forcing the crew to work together (even though they may not agree with each others actions, they stay professional and work to resolve the situation.)
- A desperate bluff conceived because of an argument.
- Human compassion playing a role throughout (and especially at the end.)
(IMO - That's one aspect I think TNG lost when GR retconned Star Fleet into being composed of perfectly well adjusted humans that suddenly seemed to expouse a sense of moral superiority wherever the traveled. Some of the best episodes of Star Trek were the ones that dealt with human failings - but that's another issue all together. Still that's why I prefer TOS<-- the first and BEST series, ENT, and the later seasons of DS9 over TNG. YMMV )
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
It wasn't a retcon. Kirk was a jerk, but the world of TOS was very much a socialist paradise.
Hence the multinational crew and the recurrent notion that squabbles over land and resources and petty political feuds are in the past - example being my favorite TOS episode: "A Taste of Armageddon". Kirk's point was that Humans had learned to overcome evil and those people chose not to.
A lot of people just got caught up on Kirk acting like an Army lifer, but when TOS was filmed the US Army was a conscript and not mercenary force and not in the business of wantonly invading hapless third-world countries, that meant something very different then than now.
For an audience that was conscripted during WW2, Kirk's experience as a soldier would have been culturally universal. His practical and cunning nature yet basic honesty and austere character would have been seen as part of traditional American values. The audience at the time saw military service as a civic duty and not as a basis for privilege or escapism from the challenge of civilian life.
They lived in a time when every elected official in living memory had been a WASP, a Catholic being elected to the Presidency was controversial, to say nothing of black people, the USSR (Russia) was the eternal enemy and the Japanese were still seen by most Americans as bloodthirsty savages (for which reason many people of that generation would never buy a Japanese car or TV).
TOS's cast was absolutely "moral superiority espoused" and it was VERY controversial.
Contemporary audiences don't like TNG because they find the idea of a better world (sans Kirk's lifer manner) terrifying. The notion that this is not the best of all possible worlds or that the evils people are party to are by choice and not necessity makes them question the validity of their own existence, and they don't like that.
And on that note here are my favs from each series.
TOS- Balance of Terror-
Why: I loved the first appearance of the Romulans, I loved how the "evil bad guy" was just like Kirk and the fact that they thought the same. I liked how that one officer was reacting to Spock and how Kirk dealt with it. Loved the result of the episode and how it showed that our enemies are not quite as evil as we thought them to be.
TNG- Q-Who-
single most redeeming episode of the second season-We got Q and we got the Borg. We got Q at his best and we got the Borg at their best when both were mysterious and dangerous!
DS9- In the Pale Moonlight- hands down best episode but I'll go with my "first time I was impressed with the show" answer, In the Hands of The Prophets,The Homecoming, The Circle, and The Seige. Too much to go on about but I think these episodes showed what DS9 was about and showed that it was truly worthy of being Trek.
VOY- Distant Origin- It loses a point because I think Voyager had waaaay tooo many episodes centered around Chakotay BUT I love when star Trek challenges us and makes us think a little and I think this episode does that greatly.
ENT- All story archs from Season Four were epic! The Augments, The Vulcan series, Terra Prime- These were the episodes that were truly Trek in this series!
And for Good measure I'm gonna throw in best Movie from each TOS and TNG
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country-
Had everything and more! A true ending, bridged the gap between TOS and TNG, it was simply perfect.
Star Trek: First Contact is an obvious answer and it is the one TNG movie I can watch and not fall asleep to BUT (and people are gonna hate me for this) I think Generations is the best. This a retrospective answer after watching each movie at least a billion times, and there are things I really hate about each film and things I really like but in all honesty when TNG hit the big screen It was my Birthday and I was 14 years old and it was awesome seeing the Enterprise-D on the big screen! I loved how funny Data was, I like seeing a planet blow up, I loved the references to the Borg, I almost cried when we learned that Picard's nephew and brother died, I loved Gunain's role in the movie, and I loved that they killed Kirk.
here's hoping that the next STAR TREK movie is trek
TNG's "The Wounded" popped up second. I guess I also always liked O'Brien.
Contrast with TOS, where Kirk and Spock or Kirk and Bones would occasionally butt heads, and particularly Spock and Bones. I think the interplay between these characters was great in showing how people can be professional colleagues and even friends and yet still come to argue about the right thing to do. DS9 had a bit of this and interestingly enough so did Voyager, although the latter was more influenced by the TNG standard too often with their 'Janeway is always right' climaxes.
I like them all... Even the cringe-worthy ones.
That's why they call me a Trekkie.
And I haven't even gotten to the worst part - Kirk's death was awful. They had to change it because originally having him be shot in the back by Malcolm MacDowell made the test audience upset. It's not that I want to worship the character or anything, but it's clear that the writers got themselves painted into a corner and dropped the ball. Even when they had to redo the scene they couldn't get past the fact that they had put themselves into a bind with that finale. I mean literally, Guinan tells Picard that he can return to reality anytime and any place, so when and where does Picard decide to go back? Like 5mins before Soran set off his doom missile. Um, why can't you go back a week, maybe even send a subspace telegram to your family to save them from DYING IN A FIRE, and also arrest Soran before he sets off those starkiller missiles? Oh wait, that would invalidate the entire plot of the movie we've been watching for almost two hours now.
There are bits of the movie which are nice, I like seeing the Enterprise on the bigscreen, and there are even a handful of scenes that are GREAT (I really like Kirk telling Harriman 'Risk is part of the game, if you want to sit in that chair.' and telling Picard 'Don't let them promote you etc' - those lines were written by someone who loved TOS and 'got' Kirk as a character). I also like Malcolm MacDowell and he gave a creepy performance as a villain whose motivations were clear. I also liked his line 'time is the fire in which we burn'. But ultimately Generations really seems to me a good film trapped inside the body of a terrible film.
I think the premise of an "evil Guinan" who wasted almost a century of life with his obsessive desire to escape it was interesting and needed more exploration. The Duras Sisters made a good appearance but again it needed more plot.
Kirk's appearance felt forced (which it completely was). The destruction of the Enterprise didn't seem to fulfill a plot purpose either, and it's glaringly obvious Picard was on the planet just so that he wouldn't have to go down with the ship.
Still, Generations was at least decently original compared to most Star Trek movies.
Wrath of Khan is the best. By far. The only Trek movie to be a great movie in its own right.
First Contact would have been as good if the Borg Queen was neatly cut out.
Generations was better than Nemesis and Insurrection. That's like damning with faint praise though. Having rewatched First Contact recently, I really liked it. It was certainly a better effort than what Moore and Braga turned in previously. I'm not sure I liked the Borg Queen, even if she was played well by Alice Krige. I certainly understand why they introduced her - the borg don't have a spokesperson so it's hard to give them a traditional villain's face, and they didn't want to retread old ground by having another Locutus. I just don't know if I would have gone the same route they did. EDIT For example, I think Voyager's 'Scorpion' was a much better treatment of the Borg as villains and who gave us a character out of it who could act like a spokesperson, ala Seven of Nine, and I think worked a whole lot better than FC and the Borg Queen.
I also think that First Contact is basically two stories in one film, and they really should have focused on one or the other. Either have a story about a borg invasion of the Federation, and draw that out for two hours (which is easily doable), which could even lead onto sequels. Or have a movie about timetravelling hijinks ala Star Trek IV and excise the Borg attack entirely. For one thing, it just doesn't make any sense for the Borg, whose stated purpose is to assimilate cultures for their technology, to go back in time and assimilate earth before they developed any interesting tech. This is a really fundamental flaw in FC which unfortunately, brings it down. I'd argue it's an even more egregious flaw than introducing the Borg Queen which undermines the whole concept of the Borg. At least you can kinda sorta argue that maybe the Queen is like an avatar for the Borg collective, and accept her that way. But I just cannot understand why the borg would bother going back in time to assimilate Earth - if they could do that then um, what's stopping them from doing so in a part of the galaxy not patrolled by Starfleet and thus, do so undetected? Either going back in time was always the plan and they carried it out in a really stupid way, or it was a fall back plan B which still doesn't excuse the contradiction from their previous appearances.
TAS - Yesteryear
TNG - Best of Both Worlds (Overall Winner)
DS9 - Our Man Bashir
VOY - Scorpion
ENT - In a Mirror Darkly
TAS: Never saw it.
TNG: "Inner Light" and "Family"
DS9: "In the Pale Moonlight" and the one where O'Brien spends 20 years in prison in a few hours
VOY: "Year of Hell"
ENT: "Twilight"
I believe it was stated somewhere in Voyager that they don't just assimilate cultures with useful tech/biology, they also assimilate cultures who pose a threat. The Queen said in "Dark Frontier" that humans were unremarkable, but they were dangerous. Hence their backup plan to go back in time and eliminate the threat before it started.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Has it all...
The next one would be "In the pale moonlight".
Original Cast:
Wrath of Khan: So many things which I love about this movie. The only thing which never sat easy with me, was the reactions to Khan himself. Yes, in the movie, he is fantastic. In Space Seed, he was fantastic. But. Kirk faced 'bigger foes' in his time, so for Khan to suddenly come back as Kirk's Ultimate Nemesis... Sorry, but I never bought into it, and no matter how many times I watch it, it never seems plausible. Other than that, I think as films go, it has everything. I wish they'd kept in the scene which revealed that Preston was Scotty's nephew. When I first saw it, I thought "What the hell is he playing at? Carrying a dead guy onto the bridge? WTF?! That's what sickbay's for!" When I realized that he was carrying his nephew, in the hopes that McCoy would be able to save him, the scene gained a LOT more emotional weight... Every time I see Spock's death scene, it chokes me up. There're bits in Search for Spock which have similar weight (and as for the Vulcan priestesses leading Spock's gurney on Mount Selaya...
TNG:
There were things I liked about all the films (even Insurrection, which was pretty cringeworthy) but my favorite of them is First Contact.
>>> The Undiscovered Country (Tho I can't ever forget Khans rendition of Capt. Ahab)
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
It deals with far-reaching political intrigue, several very human and personal issues and heavy stuff like prejudice (I know Gene didn't like things like that, but I think it far more likely that humans will always harbor prejudices), and the lingering after effects of war, something that we often as a society shy away from.
It introduced the Cardassians, one of my favorite races.
It has the warden from Shawshank Redemption, that guy is money in the bank.
It was just about the first starring episode for Colm Meaney and he knocked it out of the park.
But most of all because of that scene between the two. They start singing and the camera just slowly pans around them, no cutting away. Then they stop and the song starts up very feint in the background music and you see Maxwell come to the realization of everything he's done and everything he is, just with a look. Man it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. That's just absolute perfection in drama, acting, writing, sound design, set design. Everything comes together in that scene.
And to top it off, Picard's "We'll be watching" to Gul Macet at the end. Picard ain't no fool.
You are misreading the scene.
Someone once observed, "There are times when the end justifies the means. But when you build an argument based on a whole series of such times, you may find that you've constructed an entire philosophy of evil."
That is the point of the scene. Maxwell liked that military life gave him a sense of purpose and camaraderie, and he couldn't give that up. In assuming that what was necessary was good in its own right, he became an agent of evil.
People today lack moral courage, and they easily argue that the evils they choose to partake in - militarism, greed, "us-versus-them" - are good because they are inevitable. An entire philosophy of evil based on a single faulty premise.
This is also why so many people find the "Hogan's Heroes" world of DS9/ENT less disturbing than TNG.
By that logic, the Kazon received the ultimate diss. One wonders how they feel about that.