Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Favourite 'Star Trek' episodes ??

what are your favourite episodes ???

they can be from any of the series:

ORIGINAL

THE NEXT GENERATION

DEEP SPACE NINE

VOYAGER

ENTERPRISE

Matthew.

i'm gonna pick mine from THE NEXT GENERATION !!!

this is the only series that i've seen them all !!!

my favourite of them all is 'YESTERDAY's ENTERPRISE' !!!

such a great 'time travel' adventure !!! and i loved the fact that TASHA YAR got to return .... only to go to the past and have a daughter SELA !!! who returned at the end of season four !!!

in the behind the scenes docu on season five [ DVD ] Denise Crosby who plays TASHA, said it was her idea for Tasha to have a daughter in the past !!!

Matthew.

My favorite is from the Original Series.

Mirror, Mirror. That episode started a fascination with alternate reality when I was but a lad that still lasts to this day. One of my favorite arcs in comics was the Star Trek series, when Marvel was doing it, that revisited the Mirror, Mirror universe and Kirk found his son David (killed in the Search for Spock) alive and leading the revolution.

My second favorite Trek episode would have to be the DS9 where they interacted with the Tribble episode of TOS. Can't remember the episode's name.

Third would be Yesterday's Enterprise. Same reasons as you Matt, plus it dealt with alternate reality.

I'm not much of a Star Trek fan despite being a bona-fide science fiction fan. Saying that though I really love "The Library" (I think its called) from the original series where Spock, McCoy and Kirk land on a doomed planet and the mysterious librarian sends them back into different pasts. Great stuff!

i think the episode was called 'The Trouble with Tribbles' ??

Matthew.

My fav might have to be that two-parter with the Borg capturing Picard.

I also liked that ep where the Enterprise was caught in a time loop and kept blowing up.

From the original series, I loved the episode that introduced the Romulans (with the actor who would later play Spock's father as the Romulan commander).

Good thread, Matthew!

I hasitated to answer, because what with the Transformers stuff and all, and now this, I could wind up looking like the biggest geek on Legion World, but... hell, you like what you like!

Anyway, since I LOVE top 10 lists, I did one for ST:TNG here, and BOY, it was hard.There were a LOT of my favorites that didn't make the list, I'll tell you. Anyway, for better or for worse, here it is:

10. Face of the Enemy

I like Romulans. They're crafty bitches all, and they're so damn arrogant! And this one, which had Troi being kidnapped onto a Romulan ship, actually gave Marina Sirtis something cool to do, though I have to admit being a bit surprised that Deanna didn't just collpase into a quivering heap... who knew there was a little James Bond inside our favorite Betazoid?

9. Cause and Effect

There are a LOT of great trippy episodes (well-written all!) where you're not really sure EXACTLY what's going on. Where something really fucked up is happening to the Enterprise and they basically have an hour to figure it out. Well, this one (where the Enterprise is stuck in a repeating time loop) stands out as the best of these generally gerat episodes.

8. Reunion

I have two major Worf episodes on this list. In this one, his old flame K'ehy'lyr gets killed by his old enemy Duras and he claims the right of vengeance over Duras, killing him in GREAT style. This episode had SERIOUS repercussions, setting up the Klingon Civil War as well as Alexander's stay on the Enterprise.

7. Sins of the Father

This may be my favorite Klingon episode EVER. Kurn comes aboard the Enterprise and reveals himself to Worf, and they go to the Klingon homeworld to clear his father's name. What they find is a hotbed of corruption, Picard gets to be Worf's cha'diy'ch... and Worf gets one of his best moments EVER when he accepts dishonor to save the Empire, but gets to tell Duras, "YOU are the son of a traitor." Chill bumps.

6. I, Borg

This episode forces Picard to come to grips with some of his emotional scars regarding the Borg, and is also one of the better Guinan and Geordi episodes. The line "No. I am Hugh." still gives me chill bumps, and that scene between Picard and Hugh is one of the best-written in the series.

5. Chain of Command, part 2

THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Nuff said.

4. All Good Things

This was an incredible tour-de-force ending movie (it's MORE than an episode, and if it had gone straight to the big screen, it would have done better than Generations did.) It's just very VERY solid, all the way around.

3. Lessons

This one is just very special to me personally, because I am a musician, composer, and teacher. Not a lot happens, just Picard meeting Neela Daren, that busty stellar cartologist who plays the piano so well. One of my very favorite moments in all of Star Trek is that sexy duet in the Jefferies tubes. I realize that the episode as a whole doesn't stand up to most of the others on this list, but I just love it for purely personal reasons.

2. The Best of Both Worlds (parts 1 and 2)

I'm sure no one disagrees with this one, except to move it up to first place!

1. Yesterday's Enterprise

Yes, it's my very favorite too. It's just SO good. It is one of the most emotional episodes in the whole series. It has one of those trippy time-paradox things that makes it intellectually so engaging. And it gives Tasha Yar the death she should have always had. Not only that, Guinan and Picard get to share some of the best scenes in Star Trek. Not to mention Guinan's scene with Tasha in the cafeteria. Oh, and that conversation between Captains Garrett and Picard, that ends up with her saying "The Romulans will get a GOOD FIGHT. We'll make it one for the history books." Chill bumps on top of chill bumps on top of CHILL BUMPS. Oh yeah, I love that episode.

I'm such a GEEK, guys.

David Warner is pretty friggin' cool is he not??

Great list Prime -- it really brings me back to when TNG hit its stride and was just about my favorite tv show.

great list 'KP' !!!

some of my other favs are there ....

Matthew.

I've only seen TOS and TNG -- not enough of DS9 and Voyager to reckon with, none of Enterprise.

(The best theme music, though, is by Jerry Goldsmith for "Voyager.")

My ten top favorites, as I can recall them, from TOS and TNG:

01 "Yesterday's Enterprise," TNG ("That'll be the day!")
02 "The City on the Edge of Forever," TOS ("He knows, Doctor. He knows.")
03 "The Inner Light," TNG ("Twenty-five minutes?")
04 "Mirror, Mirror," TOS ("One man cannot summon the future.")
05 "The Measure of a Man," TNG ("You're a wise man, my friend." "Not yet, but with your help, I will be.")
06 "Amok Time," TOS ("In a pig's eye!")
07 "Shore Leave," TOS ("Well, there were these two girls I knew on Rigel Six ...")
08 "All Good Things," TNG ("Five-card stud, jokers wild ... and the sky's the limit.")
09 "The Trouble With Tribbles," TOS ("... the Klingons' engine room, where they'll be no tribble at all.")
10 "Requiem for Methuselah," TOS ("Forget.")

Special prize for most hilarious episode:
"I, Mudd," TOS ("Logic is a pretty little flower ... that smells BAD.")

There's 2 episodes that pop into my mind.

The 2 parter in TNG where Picard gets assimilated by the Borg.

The 2 parter in Voyager where the Borg get their butts kicked by Species 8472 (I hope I got the number right).

I guess I'm a sucker for epic battles where the good guys are outpowered but win anyway.

"City On the Edge of Forever" is a great episode.

I also liked any episode that featured Spock-- though I think my relating to this character had a negative impact on my youth.

I liked NEXT GENERATION (the Romulan episodes and the BORG were the highlights, I'd have to agree) and some of DEEP SPACE (the most amibitious, I thought)... but I stopped watching regularly during VOYAGER. Liked the captain of that series, though. ENTERPRISE, I've only watched sporadically.

Did anyone enjoy any of the animated TREK? I remember there was one that involved a 'junkyard of spaceships' that I liked as a kid. I always thought M'ress and Arex (?) got a raw deal as TREK characters. I thought they were pretty fun and interesting. Does anyone remember the novelizations of the animated series? I quite liked them and wished the actual show had matched them a bit more.

That was the 'new' TREK for me, I guess-- with the original episodes showing up as reruns.

TN

I didn't mention DS9 or Voyager before since I have to rack my brain to think of anything that really stands out.

DS9 had the disadvantage of being out around the time of "Babylon 5" and trying to do something similar with a huge storyline involving a war, but B5 was so vastly superior, it hurt my appreciation of what DS9 was doing. But I did like:
-- The Tribbles episode -- it was cute and clever - especially Dax's attraction to Spock
-- (also a tribute to the past) The one where the DS9 crew meet up with their counterparts from that alternate dimension.

Voyager:
-- That time paradox episode where there were two Voyagers and they made you think the one ship that was getting trashed was the alternate version that was going to sacrifice themselves, but it was really the other one. (kindof a SW6 switcheroo)
-- The one where Harry Kim, Chikotay and the Doctor are the sole survivors in an alternate future and he sacrifices his timeline to undo his mistake and save the crew.
(as a side note, I liked Peter David's TNG novel "Imzadi" for the same reason -- it had an older Riker go through the time portal in "City on the Edge of Forever" to save Troi who had died years earlier)
-- The last episode of Voyager was also very good. It was great to see Alice Krige return as the Borg Queen -- she does it so well!

I liked the animated Trek! The novelizations were great, though it's been a long time since I've read them.

I love "City on the Edge of Forever."

I've never had the chance to watch either "All Good Things" or "The Best of Both Worlds."

Anyone got a collected DVD set they can loan me?

Hmm, off the top of my head, I'd say my top ten overall episodes (in no particular order) are:

1. Charlie X (TOS)
2. The Trouble With Tribbles (TOS)
3. Where Silence Has Lease (TNG)
4. Vanishing Point (Enterprise)
5. The Nth Degree (TNG)
6. Move Along Home (DS9)
7. Who Mourns For Adonais? (TOS)
8. Where No Man Has Gone Before (TOS)
9. A Piece of the Action (TOS)
10. Mirror, Mirror (TOS)

Favorite TOS episodes, in no particular order:

"The Devil In The Dark" -- very creepy tale, with a monster in a cave that doesn't turn out to be such a monster.

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" -- Gary Lockwood did such a good turn as Gary Mitchell that I've often wanted more of the back story between him and Kirk. Plus, I loved the idea of getting turned into a psionic superhuman capable of doing anything, complete with glowing eyes.

"The Man Trap" -- another creepy episode with a mysterious killer who can look like anyone.

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" -- I think this was one of the first ST episodes I ever saw. Its message about bigotry is over the top (the two dudes have half black and white faces!), but the fatalistic ending came as a complete surprise. It drove home the point that no one wins wars of hate.

"Day Of The Dove" -- Michael Ansara was for years my favorite Klingon (before Worf, that is). This is another episode about hate and what it takes to overcome it.

I'm a huge fan of TOS and would LOVE to own a DVD collection of each season (I REFUSE to buy the 2-eps per disc CRAP currently offered!!! There's no REASON for this!!!!)

So many great eps there's no way I can list 'em all.

SHORE LEAVE was a long-time favorite of mine of those already mentioned. THE GALILEO 7, DEADLY YEARS. Oh, there's no way I can remember them all. I always tended to enjoy the eps that featured a female crewmember and really enjoyed any ep that featured Nurse Chapel, Lt. Uhura or Yeoman Rand actively participating in a mission!

I'm with you Lash. Why can't TOS have a boxed set, by season even, like the other Trek series?

But I did get my favorite episode (Mirror, Mirror) for Christmas from one of my friends.

That's a fave ep of mine too! Possibly because Lt. Uhura has a fairly meaty role in the mission!

It seems like having a TOS boxed set by seasons is a NO-BRAINER. Is it like practically the ONLY TV series that doesn't have one now? *angry growl*

HMM I liked the one that had Joan Collins in it...beautiful story where Kirk found love.

That was City on the Edge of Forever. It was written by Harlan Ellison who actually won a Hugo award for the story.

Everyone knows this was the way Spock was meant to be shown.

Oh, and I was also particularly fond of any episode where Kirk got his shirt ripped open (which would be nearly all of 'em)!

Actually, they're releasing season sets of The Original Series sometime this year, along with Voyager. Don't know when the first one's due, but I'll definitely be getting it when it comes out!

Don't know how to edit my posts here yet, but by "this year," I meant 2004...way to late in '03 to release them now

Pex... bless you for delivering this most happy of news. Were I a sensual male genie, I would grant thee 3 boons.

"City on the Edge of Forever" for Drama.

"The Trouble With Tribbles" for Comedy.

As a ST fan since Sept'66, I've seen some of the old episodes MANY times. Quite a few, especially from the first 2 seasons, really can be watched OVER and OVER and OVER without getting old. That's just not something I've been able to say about 99-9/10% of what's out there! Trying to narrow down favorites is tough… but I'll give it a whirl. In no particular order…

THE CAGE (1965 pilot, now part of the regular syndication package!)

WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE (2nd pilot; 1st Kirk story!)

THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER (3rd episode filmed; 1st McCoy story!)

BALANCE OF POWER (1st Romulan story; based on the movie “THE ENEMY BELOW” with Curt Jurgens as the German u-boat commander)

SHORE LEAVE (Alice & the white rabbit)

ARENA (Kirk vs The Gorn commander)

A TASTE OF ARMAGEDDON (war with computers; w/ David Opatoshu & Barbara Babcock)

THE DEVIL IN THE DARK (scary—then, surprisingly—heartwarming—no pun intended)

ERRAND OF MERCY (the 1st Klingon story; John Colicos as Kor!)

AMOK TIME (Spock returns to Vulcan)

MIRROR, MIRROR (Spock with a beard! SOUTH PARK did a great tribute to this)

JOURNEY TO BABEL (1st app. of Spock's parent)

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES (comedy on ST!!! w/ William Campbell as Koloth)

I, MUDD (Roger C. Carmel's 2nd appearance as Harry Mudd; MORE comedy!)

A PIECE OF THE ACTION (ST meets The Untouchables; comedy # 3!!!)

DAY OF THE DOVE (Michael Ansara as Kang; swordfights on the Enterprise!)

…and, from the cartoon…

THE SLAVER WEAPON (the only episode to feature ONLY Spock, Suliu and Uhura—and NO Enterprise!)

Gene Roddenberry was WRONG to dismiss the 22 cartoons. Most were better-written than most of the 3rd season, and shared something with the original show that NONE of the revival shows have had—being written by established science-fiction writers !!! (As opposed to grown-up TV-show fanboys.)

Are the cartoons generally not considered "canon" by ST followers?

I wonder if Tribbles are related to rodents?

If so, I support their cause!

My favorite would have to be the Menagerie from TOS, with Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike. It was a glimpse of what the show could have been.

“Are the cartoons generally not considered "canon" by ST followers?”

I don't know about the fans… but Gene Roddenberry went on record as preffering to ignore them!

But really, you try watching the 3rd season (where there were more bad episodes than good ones) and compare it to the 22 cartoons. As a teenager, I loved the job Filmation did. They had most of the original cast doing voices. James Doohan got to do several voices and make use of his talent for accents. Writers included D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, Howard Weinstein (who went on to write a healthy run of the DC STAR TREK comic many years later). They did sequels with The Tribbles, Harry Mudd, and the Orion pirates. Because of the limitations of the animation, STORY and science-fiction IDEAS were stressed over action. There were several alien races introduced, who I find MORE interesting (and cooler-looking) that 90% of the “humans with face-bums” of TNG, DS9, etc. And the “Holodeck” made its debut. I could never figure why they only did 22!

Talk of the animated TREK reminds me of the paperback prose adaptations written by Alan Dean Foster.

I enjoyed those much more than the adaptations of the 'regular' TREK episodes.

In particular, there was a sequence featuring Lt. M'Ress set on her homeworld that I thought was wonderful. I believe it was created whole-cloth-- having no animated basis. I always wanted this character and her leonine people/culture to pop up in one of the new Star Trek series.

I agree that many aliens featured in the animated series were much more intriguing than the very similar aliens we've been seeing for years now.

I particularly remember one episode set in a graveyard of spaceships that I liked.

Are the animated episodes out on DVD?

TN

I have those novelizations, but never got around to reading them! I imagine a LOT could be done “fleshing out” little 23-minute episodes. Filmation was the company that did the ARCHIE cartoons, as well as THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, AQUAMAN and BATMAN in the late 60's. STAR TREK was a big step up for them, in both writing and animation. Of course, the most “animated” thing on the show was The Enterprise, which was apparently done using rotoscoping. Filmation didn't get around to doing rotoscoped people until their later TARZAN, BATMAN and FLASH GORDON cartoons. (Ever see their 1979 FLASH GORDON cartoon feature? It's the single best thing they ever did, with very few shots used more than once.)

We never did get to see M'Ress' homeworld, although the 2nd episode, “Yesteryear”, did get to show off a LOT more of Vulcan than has ever been seen before of since in live-action. It also contained an unfortunate time-loop-paradox that to this day STILL bugs me. Some people who try to write time-travel stories really don't think things through! (By comparison, the single BEST –if very complex—time-travel-paradox I've ever seen was in the LOST IN SPACE movie. I had to really think that thing out for some time before realizing, YES, the whole thing made complete sense! A real rarity among those kind of stories.)

No idea of the ST cartoons are available, but I have all 22 on video from a local station about 15 years ago. They're not perfect by any means. In fact, there's a number of them that are just plain DUMB. But at the time, they were the only STAR TREK being made! And because of the sorry state of 1970's TV, they were by a wide margin the BEST thing on Saturday mornings.

Next Generation is easily my favorite of the series and I loved MANY episodes.

Jean Luc Picard is the definitive captain.

The episode that sticks out most is the one where Data created an android daughter. Her emotions caused her positronic brain to malfunction and she died. I have rarely been that emotionally effected by any movie or show. I cried so hard that my chest hurt and I couldn't breathe.

Another few that I particularly enjoyed include...
One where Picard is trapped on the Enterprise with some thieves as the Enterprise goes through a maintenance run...

One where Beverly is trapped in her own little universe and she has to escape back into the real universe before her's ceases to exist...

the one where we got to see Picard's naked butt.

OK, this may be a dumb question, but: did James Doohan really have a Scots accent?

Are we sure it's not a stunt butt? Or a butt double?

No. He's Canadian.

Wasn't a number of the cast Canadian? And Jewish?

I dunno. How credible are Adam Sandler's sources?

Just wanted to state that I am THOROUGHLY enjoying my Star Trek (OS) Season 2 dvd set so far. Only a few eps to go.

Still gotta get 1 & 3.

Well... any episode where Kirk was sporting a ripped shirt was always my fave... oh wait... that was just about all of them wasn't it.

lol... just went back and read the other posts and saw that I wrote nearly word for word what Lash did... scary!

I love all of the series with the exception od DS9, I never took to any of the characters,pity.

And I STILL haven't seen the series finale of Voyager!

As for Enterprise... I've only seen a few episodes, the opening song with vocals was a real turn off. It's really hard to follow now because even though most of the cast is intact, they've changed the storyline so many times that it's hard to tell what the hell is going on (shades of Alias). I can't help but feel that this series will eventually end where they alter their timeline to save humanity and in the process erase themselves out of the history books (shades of thedream sequence from Dallas), otherwise why is so little of them mentioned in any of the other series which their adventure predates.

I loved all the original paperbacks of the Treks and the Best of Trek books were great since they had essays about the tech, timelines and non-fiction by fans and experts. Long before we had the internet to find such things.

As for the animated series, its not been released. At least not yet. But I am 'acquiring' the episodes as we speak.

I see many references to my favorite episodes from TOS, DS9, TNG. Lightning Lad even pointed out the fact that City of the Edge of Forever was based on a Hugo Award winning story. I am totally out-geeked on this site!

As far as a DVD collection of the animated series check this out.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/notification-item-request-done/102-3114183-6084906

The Trouble with Tribbles is the best original series episode. Humor, violence, intrigue, Klingons, etc.

The Menagerie eps

I always liked the completely over the top Day of the Dove episode. A shirtless Sulu!

The Borg episodes where Picard is captured, the landmark battle at Wolf 359 (?)--classic.

The final TNG episodes. A fine ending to a landmark series.

I really thought the premiere episode of DS9 was a classic. The death of Sisko's wife, his concern for his son's welfare, the introduction of the characters, all pointed to how good the series would become.

The techical wizardry of the DS9 Tribble episode might be on my five best ever list.

The retaking of DS9 from the Dominion and Cardassians two parter was excellent.

I've never watched more than one or two episodes of Voyager or Enterprise. Am I missing anything?

i think the DS9 episode where they traveled back to Kirk's era was called Trials and Tribbulations. the only Voyager episode that i like a lot was called "A Year in Hell" it was the one where this race was messing with the timeline to bring their race back to it's former glory but it was affecting everything around it and Voyager got so "F'ed" up and that Janeway had to ram Voyager into the The badguys ship to destroy it. and the kicker was when they did everything that had happened was erased and returned to normal.

I tried to do a DVR search for Voyager and couldn't find it. Is it really not in syndication anywhere?

"James Doohan got to do several voices and make use of his talent for accents."

"OK, this may be a dumb question, but: did James Doohan really have a Scots accent?"

"No. He's Canadian."

"Wasn't a number of the cast Canadian? And Jewish"


Doohan had a Scots accent-- but only on STAR TREK!

I believe one of the voices he did on the ST cartoons was Lt. Arex. I believe Majel Barrett did the voice of Lt. M'Ress.

I've seen Doohan on a 2nd-season OUTER LIMITS episode playing a cop-- probably in his "normal" accent. A number of ST actors had appeared on OL, including William Shatner ("Cold Hands, Warm Heart"), Leonard Nimoy ("I, Robot", written by Eando Binder), Michael Ansara ("Soldier", written by Harlan Ellison).


Ever notice how many great 60's tv heroes are CANADIAN?

William Shatner (STAR TREK)
Robert Vaughn (THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.)
Richard Basehart (VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA)
Patrick Macnee (THE AVENGERS)

Wait a minute, Patrick Macnee, aka John Steed from the Avengers is Canadian and not british? "oh the deception, i feel so violated!!!!!

another really good TNG episode that i liked was the one were Picard got injured and Q gave him a "it's a Wonderful Life"-esqe vision of his life if he had "played it safe" and not taken the actions and risks (ie not fighting the Norsicans in that bar which led to him getting the artifical heart, etc.)that had led him to where he was in life at that time. it showed the consiquences of what happend if he had played it safe. he became a low ranking crew member and when he asked Riker and Troi what were his chances for advancement Riker give him the harsh truth that he would never have a chance of advancing because he played it safe. then Picard realized that this was not how he wanted his life to turn out he begged Clerence-er-"Q" to send him back and he realized that he had no regrets for the things he'd done.
the name of the Episode escapes me right now does anyone know what the name of that episode was?

Patrick Macnee is English, born and raised. He was born in London and attended school there his whole life. He didn't leave the UK for Canada until he was almost 30.

As for Robert Vaughn, he was born and raised in New York to parents who were both in the New York show business scene.

As for the Star Trek cast both Shatner and Doohan were born in Canada. Shatner in Montreal and Doohan in Vancouver.

While I agree that THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES is an excellent episode, it is included in the Season 2 set and I recently rewatched it.

That ending kind-of bothered me. Was no one at all concerned that the tribbles were certainly condemned to death once they were beamed aboared that Klingon ship? No, everyone got a good "tee-hee" out of it.

"Patrick Macnee is English, born and raised. He was born in London and attended school there his whole life. He didn't leave the UK for Canada until he was almost 30."

Ah, good, I knew he spent SOME time in Canada! (As for Robert Vaughn, I must be thinking of some OTHER 60's tv star... I'm sure I haven't named ALL of them.)


On the other hand, SIDNEY NEWMAN, I'm very sure was Canadian, and met Macnee in Canada. Later, Newman moved to England, and was working for ATV (which I believe later became Thames TV). Newman seriously revised an existing show, POLICE SURGEON, and created a new show (not a spin-off) called THE AVENGERS. Macnee had been moving into the area of producing, and wasn't sure he wanted to go back to acting-- so he reportedly asked for a rediculous amount of money, and was surprised when he got it! That was the end of his career as a producer (which he reflected was probably a good thing).

Because of his achievements at the "commercial" network, Newman was hired by the BBC to completely revamp the aging dinosaur of an organization, which irked a LOT of "old school" types there, considering he was an outside to the company, AND a Canadian!!!

While he managed a LOT of changes, bringing the Beeb into the modern era, perhaps the single most famous thing he did was create the initial format for a brand-new show, which under an army of other hands (typical of BBC beauracracy) became DOCTOR WHO! Imagine finding out 2 of my favorite British TV shows were created BY THE SAME GUY!

Par for the Star Trek course.

A number of episodes where one or more of the actual crew get killed end the same way.

Okay... how about LEAST-favorite ST episodes? I have to limit myself only to the original show, because I've only seen the majority of the stories since once apiece. While that might qualify entire ST series for "least favorite" across-the-board, I'd rather get into those episodes that I've seen maybe DOZENS of times, and CONTINUE to hate each time I see them over the decades.

MIRI -- I just HATE those kids-- especially Michael J. Pollard. About the 4th time I saw this, it started to grow on me, but not by much. What surprised me recently was, I got really hooked on reruns of TRUE GRIT-- must have seen parts of it 3 times-- but didn't realize the place I'd seen Kim Darby before was this ST episode!

THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELLION -- my best friend dug the Amazon in the silver bikini, but the whole concept of this story just bugged me so much that this was one of the few episodes I SKIPPED entirely the last few times I watched every episode in sequence. (At least THE SIMPSONS got some mileage out of it!)

BREAD AND CIRCUSES -- for similar reasons, there's something about the "rat in a trap" plot that rubs me the wrong way. Worse than the above, perhaps, because the main villain in this one never gets his come-uppance. I can't see actor Logan Ramsey in anything without thinking of this and getting angry.

THE PARADISE SYNDROME -- one of the worst of all TV cleches must be "amnesia". This one's worse than most! The last time I watched it, I actually fast-forwarded over it, only watching the part of the story seen from Spock & McCoy's POV. I just couldn't bear the rest of it.

THE OMEGA GLORY -- what starts out as an interesting "plague of the week" story degenerates into a "Starfleet officer gone INSANE" tale when Ron Tracy (Morgan Woodward) disintegrates one of Kirk's men, then threatens to do the same to Spock & McCoy if Kirk doesn't cooperate. The Comms-Yangs plot had interesting parallels with Earth history-- UNTIL they had the UNBELIEVEABLE nerve to pull out the US flag AND Constitution, which was identical, word-for-word, to the one on Earth! (NO FREAKIN' WAY!!!) I was shocked to be reminded just this week that this one one of the 3 scripts originally submitted to NBC for ST's 2nd pilot-- the others being "Mudd's Women" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before". I think they picked the best one-- would this have been any different (or better) if Roddenberry had produced it himself early in the 1st season???

Prof,

I LOVE most of the early, 1st season Star Trek episodes, because they just feel brash, fresh and creative. Even if all the interesting continuity/backstory isn't there yet. Corbomite Maneuver, Where No Man Has Gone Before, Conscience of the King, Naked Time, Arena, Shore Leave, Balance of Terror, Menagerie, Court Martial, even Mudd's Women and Man Trap. These stories laid the foundations for the main characters, the ethos of Star Fleet and the Federation, and told gripping, humorous tales to boot. The writers and producers took typical sci-fi themes of the time and turned them into great TV drama (and, for Shatner, melodrama!) I increasingly find these episodes more fun than the "agreed-on" classics like Amok Time, City on the Edge of Forever, Tribbles, Babel, etc.

I agree with you on all your dislikes. Miri was alternately too creepy and too annoying. The alternate earth thing was done WAY to often -- it seems to be a Roddenberry obsession, or crutch. Paradise Syndrome could have been good -- a story about Kirk feeling burned out and seriously tempted to give up Starfleet for a simpler life -- but got turned into more hackneyed TV melodrama, something that happened a lot in the TOS third season.

I haven't read the whole thread, but I wanted to vote for a TNG episode "Darmok." While it vergese on preachy, this tale about using storytelling to communicate with aliens is to me the epitome of what Star Trek is all about.

Great points, Doublechinner! I was just discussing with a friend last weekend how ST had 4 different producers, and each gave the show a different "feel". Roddenberry produced the first dozen or so (I'd have to check exactly which ones and how many). His run is a lot less "comfortable" than what followed when Gene Coon (a veretan of THE WILD WILD WEST) took over and stayed for a whole year. Coon's era is when the characters became real "friends" and the show felt more "viewer-friendly". All the same, Roddenberry's era is a continual surprise. The episodes are dense in detail, the hallways crowded with crewmen, and quite a few of them have a dark, disturbing feel, and even downbeat endings. I like to describe Roddenberry's era as "THE OUTER LIMITS in color with regular characters". Considering the number of actors and behind-the-scenes people on ST who were TOL veterans, I guess this shouldn't be surprising. (I believe assistant producer Robert Justman worked on ST for all 3 years it was on-- and he'd been on THE OUTER LIMITS as well!)

"Creepy and annoying"-- great desciption of "Miri"! I was thrown a bit when I found out "The Omega Glory" had been in the running for the 2nd pilot. This means it could have been the 1st "alternate earth" story. It certainly would have been a lot FRESHER of a concept if it had been done that early, instead of coming after "A Piece of The Action", "Patterns Of Force", "Bread And Circuses"-- and "Miri", for that matter.

"Paradise Syndrome could have been good -- a story about Kirk feeling burned out and seriously tempted to give up Starfleet for a simpler life -- but got turned into more hackneyed TV melodrama, something that happened a lot in the TOS third season."

Also, great point. That's pretty much how I felt about "The Omega Glory"-- an idea with great potential gone horribly astray. I feel I was proved right about this when elements of both "The Omega Glory" AND "The Way To Eden" (another episode not thought well of) turned up in STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, one of my favorite of all the TNG stories.

Come to think of it-- the way you described "Paradise Syndrome" reminds me of what was going on with Christopher Pike in "The Cage"! (But it was done much better the first time, of course.)

Different, yes. Better, probably not.

Different because, in the original story, the guy who gets disintegrated is a Lt. Phil Raintree, who (at least in the James Blish adaptation) is none too brave. Had they done this early on, they may have decided to cast that part.

But I believe the budgets were getting tighter by the time they decided to go back and do this one, so they used one of their background regulars instead. Namely, the guy who played Security Lt. Galloway. Can't really make Galloway cowardly, since he'd been through too much already, so he just suddenly gets stupid instead. Funny thing is, likely thanks to episodes being shown out of order, the actor is back shortly afterwards - as Security Lt. Johnson, with the most dialogue he's ever had. And *then*, for the final broadcast episode, he shows up again - as Lt. Galloway!

I love those Trek background guys. I really do. I can think of one guy in particular - who I don't think ever had a line of dialogue - but he played a navigator, engineer, security guard, and medical technician in different episodes.

Geez! All these years, and that's something I NEVER really noticed. Although I did note the one actor who was a Commodore (or Captain, or something-- you can tell I never let picky "details" like this bother me, heh heh) in THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER had earlier been one of Kirk's crewmen.

Speaking of "out of sequence", one that always got me was how the 2nd Klingon episode, "Friday's Child", was actually aired FOURTH, because somehow, it got pre-empted (probably at the very last minute). The 2nd season of ST was the first time in my life I ever managed to watch EVERY episode of a season without missing one, and I always recall that being right near the end of the season. It was listed that way in the book THE MAKING OF STAR TREK, but years later other sources indicated it had been filmed MUCH earlier (one of the earliest 2nd-year stories filmed, in fact), and had apparently been scheduled for mid-December '67. Next thing you know, someone listed it under its intended airdate rather than its actual airdate, and fans too young to have been there when it was first-run take the mistake as "official". Mind you, I'd much rather watch the series in PRODUCTION order (as Philly's Channel 17 did in the early 80's)... but the Sci Fi Channel's been running it in the Network Broadcast order instead.

All the same, that's better than what Philly's Channel 48 (long gone) did when they FIRST got ahold of the show in the early 70's. I'd missed quite a few, and delighted in being able to finally see ALL of them for the first time. I'd gotten a complete list of stories from Lincoln Enterprises (Roddenberry's mail-order company) and was using it as an "episode guide". Imagine my astonishment-- downright dumbfoundedness-- when I saw Channel 48 running the show in EXACT-- REVERSE-- ORDER!!! I'm not making this up. They started with "Turnabout Intruder" and slowly worked their way back to "The Man Trap". It was like they'd gotten a stack of the film prints, in sequence-- but started at the WRONG end!! After, someone must have pointed out their error, and they began running it in a more rational order...

Hmm...so many episodes - the TNG ones were my fav, especially one with Wesley, the one where they eat Deanna Troi peptide cake, and ones with extended jaunts on the Holodecks...

Have to admit I was never a Wesley Crusher fan, though I felt the fault was always in the concept and writing, not in Wil Wheaton's portrayal.

One of the fantastic things about the Holodeck stories was the fact that it was clear that the crew were all Holodeck addicts. There's no way anyone with sense wouldn't shut that thing down after the first disaster.

Yeah, they spent too many eps in that damn room - whatever happened to "discovering new civilizations?" My biggest critique of "TNG" might be that they didn't do enough stories with their initial premise of Picard being the Captain on the bridge and Riker being the away team leader, doing the rough and tumble stuff planetside. Maybe they weren't able to keep up the expense of creating new worlds all the time or they figured out early on that Stewart is ten times a better actor than the rest of the cast...

i think i was big on wesley cause my friends and i always wanted to be in his place. anyone else wanted crusher and picard to just drop what they were doing and start making out on the bridge? that woulda be AWESOME!

I never understood the whole teen sidekick phenomena as a means of getting kids interested in a book. For me, I always found the kid sidekick annoying because they were in the way more than they were helpful (yeah, i'm thinking mostly of Robin). I always identified with the hero. If I tried to fantasize that I were in that world, I'd fantasize being a lot more effectual (maybe that was the appeal of the Legion - all teens as heroes rather than second fiddle to a grownup).

I forgot to mention one of my favorite TV episodes of anything ever--

1. "Far Beyond The Stars" (#137)

In a dramatic twist so subtle as nearly to be missed in the sea of almost-familiar faces (the regular cast, without uniforms or make-up), Sisko finds himself dreaming that he is a black writer in 1950s New York ... dreaming about being a black space station commander in the distant future. As he moves deeper into his vision, Sisko begins writing down his tales of science fiction and space opera, only to be told that any story featuring a black commanding officer is "unbelievable." Unusually, this is a story not only about the strength of the individual, but also about the fragility of the individual – an approach which underscores the essential importance of every human being more forcefully than a dozen grenade-lobbing Rambo figures ever could have done. This is an episode absolutely dedicated to courage, and it took courage to put it on the air.

I LOVED this episode--it's everything I really liked about DS9.

DS9, after a very shaky start, eventually proved to be my favorite of the ST spin-off series. It's the only one I've watched reruns of many episodes of, though unlike the original show, never enough to remember any of them by title.

That said, one of my favorites (which I did catch again by luck recently) was when Kira winds up going on a missing WITH Gul Ducat, who she HATES (and with good reason), trying to track down renegade Klingon ships attacking Federation ships. In a situation almost replaying the one in ST3, they find themselves outgunned and outmatched-- until Kira cleverly uses the transporter to BEAM BOTH CREWS to each other's ships. I was flabbergasted! Before this, I'd long thought Kirk had really SCREWED UP by blowing up the Enterprise (something, it's said, Gene Roddenbery would NEVER have had him do). Watching this first-run, my admiration for Kira skyrocketed-- I saw her as a BETTER commander than Kirk had been!

And then Ducat cold-bloodedly destroys the helpless Klingons.

"Was that really necessary?"

"You're the terrorist-- you tell me!"

I think it's a commentary on the series that I can't really remember one episode at all in particular as being a stand-out. They all blend into one for me, although I do recall liking DS9 a lot more than ST:TNG... The rest? Eh.

"The Conscience of the King" is mt long-timefavorite TOS episode.

TNG - almost too many ot choose from. "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "All Good Things" stand out - as does a 7th season episode focusing on Deanna and her mother's loss of D's older sister.

DS9- loved almost all of it. it's truly hard to decide. "Trials and Tribulations" and "Our Man Bashir" stand out for their quirkiness, as does "Far Beyond the Stara" to a lesser extent. But the regular storylines were also fantastic.

VOYAGER- It hurts mt brain to dwell on it too long.

ENETERPRISE - only saw a few. liked it, but not enough to overcome Voyager fatigue.

"The Conscience of the King"

Barbara Anderson gets my vote for one of the prettiest women to ever appear on ST. (Too bad her character was PSYCHO!!!)

I got ST: TOS Season 3 for Christmas, and have been watching episodes here and there...

it's been DULL, overall, so far. I'm actually surprised how boring these episodes are, for the most part. They don't hold a CANDLE to season 2.

I should have opted to get Season 1 instead (it's the only of the 3 seasons I lack).

I always said season 4 was better than season 3...


YES, I know, they were half-hour CARTOONS. That's besides the point!

Last time I watched the 3rd season, I remember thinking how MUCH "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" reminded me of an episode of ST:TNG. Characters board the Enterprise at the beginning of the story... lots of dull, low-key, talk talk talky scenes... some pretty bad drama, some pretty bad acting... and at story's end, characters are back in the transporter room, beaming off the ship. (YAWN!)


One funny thing came out of it (well, at least for ME). Back in the 70's my brother did a comic-book story wherein he drew a picture of Camden's City Hall. On one face of the building, he enscribed: "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" --WALT WHITMAN (when, in fact, the actual WW quote on the building says "In A Vision I Saw A City Invincible")

can somebody list all the mirror universe episodes for me and which season of what show they appeared in please.

"Mirror Mirror" Season 2 (Kirk era)
Through the Looking Glass Season 3 (Sisko era)
Shattered Mirror Season 4 (Sisko era)
The Emporer's New Cloak - Season 7 (Sisko era)

Prehaps im going mad but wasnt there also a voyager episode in the mirorverse?

It's been rainy all day, so I've continued on with Season 3. Am on the last 6 episodes, and things have definitely improved!

THE WAY TO EDEN was groovy what with all the space-hippies and the singing and stuff! I'd never seen it before. Good stuff! Even in the far-flung future, hippies will be a dangerous, shifty, barefoot, sexy lot!

THE CLOUD MINDERS was another I hadn't seen before, it was excellent.

Coming up is ALL OUR YESTERDAYS, which I remember to be excellent, and THE CAGE, which we all know is fantastic.

Why did Season 3 wait until the final episodes to get popping?

Charles Napier, who played the guitar-slinging "Adam", recently turned up as a sheriff on an episode of MONK. After all the dumb rednecks he's played over the years (BLUES BROTHERS, anyone?) it was nice to see him play a "nice guy" role.

Skip Homeier, as Dr. Severin, had been the leader of the Nazis a season earlier in "PATTERNS OF FORCE". Strangely, it took me years to notice this!

Jeff Corey, the high minister in "THE CLOUD MINDERS", is somebody I've developed a lot of respect for. Seems he was blacklisted for years in the 50's & 60's, and became an acting teacher to pay the bills. Gene Roddenberry was one of the first people to give him an acting job in a long time. Later he turned up as the baddie in TRUE GRIT, alongside another ST alumni-- Kim Darby ("MIRI"). I recently found out Darby has become one of the most respected acting teachers working today!

And of course, "ALL OUR YESTERDAYS" features Ian Wolfe as "Mr. Atoz" (built-in in-joke). He's oe of those actors, like John Carridine, who seems to have gotten old very early, and never changed in appearance for decades! I've seen him in mysteryu movies in the 40's, looking the same, and he was later "Hirsch" the butler on WKRP IN CINCINATTI.

my fav tng episode is yesterdays enterprise.
where tasha comes back.

in tos i liked the one with "apollo" cause he was hot.

Ah, yes. "Who Mourns for Adonais?" with Michael Forest playing Apollo. A very tasty piece of man, he.

In terms of rednecks, his villainous role in "BJ and the Bear" would have to stand out . He's been in a bunch of Jonathan Demme movies too - from a hairstylist in "Married to the Mob", to the judge in "Philadelphia" to one of the guards who gets killed by Hannibal in "Silence of the Lambs" (among others I'm sure). I think he was also General Eiling in "JLU", but I'm not sure about that.