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What is your favorite Star Trek episode, any series?

Stevicus

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"I do not want to command the Enterprise, but if it should befall me, I suggest you remember that my operatives would avenge my death and some of them are Vulcans."
 

Dan From Smithville

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It's difficult to make a definite choice. Overall, TNG had some mostly serious, often philosophical atmosphere about it, while TOS was much more lighthearted, sometimes comedic. Comparing them is comparing apples and pears. I followed TNG as a teenager, admiring Picard as the uber-patriarchal captain figure. That's why watching TNG today sometimes makes me cringe. I like the TNG "court shows" best, where several viewpoints to a disputed issue are shown.

- "A Matter of Perspective"
- "The Measure of a Man"

I didn't like DS9 as I found it too dark and I didn't like Captain Sisko.

As for Voyager, there was a spiritual aspect to it which I didn't really buy into as TOS was somewhat and TNG outspokenly atheist. Oddly, my favorite Voyager episide is "Sacred Ground", probably because it was so "un-scientific" and therefore seemed "un-Star Trek" to me.
As I read through these posts I am continually reminded of episodes I really like, but those that hadn't come to mind. Apparently choosing a favorite is difficult for me as well.

I find there are philosophical, cultural, topical and practical issues within all the series, but each has its own flavor. I think a person could draw a comparison in how the characters deal with each other both human and non-human and how that may serve as a basis for our own future if we ever contact another species of intelligence. The show serves as sort of a visualized thought experiment in preparing for that possibility.
 

Dan From Smithville

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It's difficult to make a definite choice. Overall, TNG had some mostly serious, often philosophical atmosphere about it, while TOS was much more lighthearted, sometimes comedic. Comparing them is comparing apples and pears. I followed TNG as a teenager, admiring Picard as the uber-patriarchal captain figure. That's why watching TNG today sometimes makes me cringe. I like the TNG "court shows" best, where several viewpoints to a disputed issue are shown.

- "A Matter of Perspective"
- "The Measure of a Man"

I didn't like DS9 as I found it too dark and I didn't like Captain Sisko.

As for Voyager, there was a spiritual aspect to it which I didn't really buy into as TOS was somewhat and TNG outspokenly atheist. Oddly, my favorite Voyager episide is "Sacred Ground", probably because it was so "un-scientific" and therefore seemed "un-Star Trek" to me.
I'll have to review Voyager and keep my mind open for that spiritual aspect you mention. I must admit, it apparently escaped my grasp.
 

Dan From Smithville

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Naked time when Spock cried.


Charlie X
The enemy within
What little girls are made of
Amok time
Mirror mirror
A peice of the action
Patterns of force
Elaan of Troyius

I don't care for the other star treks
With each response I am reminded of more episodes I like. For also being a Dr Who fan, I am not a big fan of time travel stories. I think I like how Dr Who does it on that show, but there are a couple of Star Trek episodes I like with a time travel theme.

TOS: Assignment: Earth and Tomorrow Is Yesterday are two of my favorites. I wish there had been more about Gary Seven and the alien world that was fronting his work as well as more about his cat Isis.
 

Dan From Smithville

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I like trouble with Tribbles. Especially when they gifted a few to the klingons at the end. Too bad they didn't make an episode focusing on that Klingon ship.

I think Lor , Data's brother was another cool series of episodes.

Anything with Q in it was a treat.
That would have been an interesting sequel to the story from the perspective of the Klingons and their relationship with the Tribbles.

I was taking an intro philosophy class at the time TNG was out and we spent a couple of lectures referencing Data and Lor on what it means to be human.

I am sort of back and forth on how much I like Q, but still a compelling character.
 

Dan From Smithville

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I have lots of favorites, the one off the top of my head though is the TNG episode where Worf is married to Troi in a parallel universe.
Along the way, I had some thought that Worf and Troi might actually take a relationship in that direction in the main storyline. Worf is a character that I really like.
 

Dan From Smithville

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The Arena was the very first Star Trek I ever saw when I was a kid and remains my favorite. The show that terrified me was the one that would take over the TV set and control the vertical and control the horizontal and I was not allowed to turn off the TV set otherwise known as the "Outer Limits". The one I remember best was about two people in the desert with tumble weeds after them and later frogs.
I don't think it was the first I saw, but it was the earliest that I remember and the one that scared the pants off me. I recall asking my father if you could really make gunpowder like that. He gave me and my brother a brief lesson on the subject. Perhaps to his later dismay, since we took the knowledge and went exploring with it on our own.

The "Outer Limits" is another favorite of mine along with "The Twilight Zone". Both deserve threads of their own if they haven't already been showcased as such.

I had the entire "Outer Limits" series on DVD for a while. I remember that episode. I didn't see the show as a child, but I can imagine that many of them would have been spooky to me if I had.

There were a lot of people that performed on that show that later went on to greater renown. I know that William Shatner and George Takei were in Twilight Zone episodes and Leonard Nimoy was episodes of both shows prior to Star Trek.
 

Dan From Smithville

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How did it go? Something like:

I put the crew down on the 3rd planet

Kirk: There is no 3rd planet.

You think I don't know that?

:eek::eek::eek:
That's it. The idea of a weapon that kills everyone including its builders was a big theme in science fiction. I suppose it still is, though less so since the Cold War is no longer there to drive the idea.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I am sort of back and forth on how much I like Q, but still a compelling character.

Q brings in a philosophical mix of religion and secularism by which he's a mischievous 'God' leading Picard through profound and well thought out episodes such as Picard 'playing it safe' and the 'trial of humanity' where humans are slated for destruction. Also when Q loses his powers and the death of 'Q' where dying becomes an obsession with a member of the continuum.

Many episodes that leave you thinking when it's over. A hallmark of good entertainment and philosophy I think.
 

MikeF

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
As a child I was frightened by the gorn on the original series episode "Arena", now it is one of my favorite episodes. I really like "Under the Pale Moonlight" episode of DS9 too.
"I am Kiirrrooocck!" - The Paradise Syndrome.

I don't really have one favorite. I have a particular affinity for The Man Trap because of the salt-sucking creature that takes the form of McCoy's old flame. All the women in my family are dietary salt addicts and that episode seems to strike a cord. :)
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
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Premium Member
Q brings in a philosophical mix of religion and secularism by which he's a mischievous 'God' leading Picard through profound and well thought out episodes such as Picard 'playing it safe' and the 'trial of humanity' where humans are slated for destruction. Also when Q loses his powers and the death of 'Q' where dying becomes an obsession with a member of the continuum.

Many episodes that leave you thinking when it's over. A hallmark of good entertainment and philosophy I think.
That is one of my favorite things about the entire Star Trek universe is that it leaves you thinking about a subject. Not just that, but when I was younger, it actually introduced me to many of those concepts used in the shows.

I haven't written Q off and you make some good points in defense of the character.
 

Dan From Smithville

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Premium Member
I think another favorite Star Trek was the return of the voyager spacecraft, but I think that was a movie as opposed to television.
That movie is an extension of the story of the Nomad probe in the TOS episode "The Changling". Certainly, the movie that put Star Trek back in the mind of the general public.
 
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