Best episode of Star Trek, post-TOS

[Orrex]

Let's also disqualify Yesterday's Enterprise, since that's a frequent favorite.

And also exclude that one in which the ancient spaceprobe teaches Picard to play the recorder.

[Posteritatis]

1. Hard to pick one, but I'm currently partial to "Duet" (DS9). (nt)

[TZ]

2. Gonna have to say

Best of Both Worlds, pt I.
Also for humor I'm sorry but I think the DS-9 tribbles episode was great along with the Q episode where he loses his powers....(can't remember those epi names at the moment)

[Orrex]

4. Three good suggestions

At one point Q is pouring his heart out to Picard, who flatly refuses to be Q's "father confessor." Q describes himself as "the king who would be man," and he also describes Data as his "professor of the humanties." Really sharp writing throughout. Was that Q Who? I don't want to lose my geek-cred by Googling, so a guess will have to do.

Best of Both Worlds I is excellent, and one of the all-time best cliffhangers IMO.

I think that the DS9 episode was Trials and Tribblations, or something similar. That was also a great one, very tightly written, and it obliquely set up the answer to the head-ridge question so elegantly answered years later by ST:ENT.

[JTG of the PRB]

51. "Q Who" was the episode where Q flung the Enterprise 7000 light years away...

...and directly into the path of a Borg cube, marking the first encounter between the Federation and the Borg.

The episode where Q loses his powers is "Déjà Q," and it's one of my favorites.

And I actually knew that title off the top of my head. Guess I used up all my coolness points for June! :shrug:

[Orrex]

61. Ah, yes. Thanks for the clarification!

I can't keep the Q episodes straight, since the names had so little to do with what went on in them.

[DarkTirade]

3. The one where T'Pal runs around in her underwear.

Wait, that's at least a quarter of the episodes of ENT. :P

[Orrex]

5. To be fair, Tripp was stripped down as often as not, too

They're a very handsome couple.

[DarkTirade]

6. No complaints about that either.

:P

[Orsino]

7. Dang it. You disqualified my fave.

How about Enterprise's "A Night in Sick Bay," just because it's unlike anything else Trek has done?

[Orrex]

8. That's a good one

In addition to sincere critics of ST:ENT, there are many who just like to blast the series outright. IMO it made a lot of interesting choices and took real risks, even after the ultimate risk of attempting the prequel series in the first place.

[madinmaryland]

9. This one...

Gorn is giving Kirk his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" Kirk exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as Kirk sits, head in hands.

Finally, Kirk looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

:evilgrin:

[TZ]

10. BWAHAHA! GORN!

Orrex is turning green with gorn envy as we speak...
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[madinmaryland]

15. You know,

looking at the picture and the joke, i just started. :rofl:

:hi:

I was wondering if you were around tonight!

[Orrex]

21. As much as I like ST:ENT

The TOS Gorn was much cooler than the lame CGI Gorn seen in Through a Mirror, Darkly.

[yurbud]

37. I haven't seen that one yet. ENT was only sporadically interesting after pilot

they should have stuck to the idea of doing a pre-history and fought the old enemies like Klingons and Romulans, and let them be as nasty as possible, which would have been all the more ironic given that Klingons and humans would eventually be allies.

[Orrex]

19. That's actually a pretty good episode

Kirk defeats the Gorn.
Saltpeter, carbon, sulfur;
Unlikely cannon.

[Book Lover]

22. Yes, it really is

[madinmaryland]

24. Well shit, that's why Kirk is smiling at Gorn!!1!!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

34. That's a rather brutal daily briefing from Gorn, don't you think?

[yurbud]

36. the place they filmed that is a half hour drive from here. I was humming the fight music

the whole time I was there: d-d-duh duh duh duh duh d-d-duh duh, DUH D-D-DUH DUH!

[leeroysphitz]

11. TNG, Picard, Ressikan flute. n/t

[Orrex]

13. Disqualified

See the OP, you slacker!

Recorder. Flute. Whatever. :evilgrin:

[leeroysphitz]

16. Ok. you're right...

I have another contest. Name the best music composer but Mozart and Beethoven are disqualified...

Um.. Der... uh...

Yeah. I thought so.

[Orrex]

17. Alexander Courage

RIP

[leeroysphitz]

18. .

:(

[LeftyMom]

12. TBOBWpt1

but that's such an obvious answer, I have to go with a non-obvious backup. I'm thinking Chain of Command (that's the "there are FOUR lights!!!!1" epi) because I'm a sucker for scenery chewing.

[Orrex]

14. That episode also features the third leg of the David Warner Trek-tripod

Also made up of Chancellor Gorkon from Trek VI and What's-his-name in Trek V.

That's a great episode, as well. Fantastic interaction between Warner and Stewart.

[Cannikin]

42. Favorite Voyagers:

Scorpion pt II
Year of Hell I & II
Counterpoint
Timeless

off the top of my head...

[Guava Jelly]

47. The best of both worlds was way better than any of the sttng movies

Hands down.

[Book Lover]

20. Yesteryear

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Yesteryear

[Orrex]

23. An unusual vote!

Notable for giving us our first glimpse of a sehlat

[Book Lover]

25. No one ever remembers the animiated series

We also got our first glimpse of the holodeck there.

[cloudbase]

26. "Frame of Mind"

from TNG.

[Danger Mouse]

69. AWESOME episode. I like.

[yurbud]

27. T'Pol's grandma in 1950s America, Voyager when they get stuck around the fast planet...

where the whole history of the planet flashes by while they're stuck...

And one in TNG when Picard is mistaken by some natives for a god, but he takes their leader up to his ship and convinces them to become atheists.

[Rabrrrrrr]

33. The Picard-as-God episode is one of my faves - it's "Who Watches the Watchers?"

But he doesn't convince them to be atheists until he allows himself to be shot with an arrow and killed.

[yurbud]

35. I would have just let them smell my bad breath or butt

No god would have a stinky butt.

[pokerfan]

28. TNG's 'The Inner Light'

I win. Game over.

[Orrex]

29. You lose--that one was disqualified in the OP

Additionally, I really dislike that episode.

[pokerfan]

32. Ah, that's my fault

I scanned the thread for that episode by title without any hits. Anyway, it is my personal favorite, closely seconded by the two-part Borg episode.

[bluecrush]

30. Trek Classic

"The City on the Edge of Forever"

[Orrex]

31. Hey, troublemaker!

The thread is about the best episode after the original series.

:spank:

[sarge43]

38. DS-9, "Far Beyond the Stars"

Near perfect examination of gentleman's agreement bigotry, both racial and gender.

(Picard's other life story is called "The Inner Light".)

[JTG of the PRB]

52. Seconded!

One of the best episodes of Star Trek ever made, hands down. An excellent hour of television.

[sarge43]

57. It should be shown in high school classes

"This is what it was like."

It occurs that it was the episode Rod Serling would have written.

[JTG of the PRB]

58. It was, simply, a beautiful piece of television.

It stands out as probably the best episode of the entire series (and I am of the opinion that DS9 was the best Star Trek series). It was an excellent piece of writing, it was acted incredibly well, and the directing was pitch-perfect. The pace was dead-on, and the performances were outstanding by nearly every actor.

Not too shabby for a science fiction show doing a period piece... They got it all right.

[sarge43]

59. "They got it all right"

Even down to the street lighting. Obviously a labor of love on everyone's part. Also nice to see the actors out of the alien makeup.

[Deja Q]

39. "The Measure of a Man" (TNG)

Runner up: "Elementary, Dear Data" (TNG)

[Rabrrrrrr]

40. "Elementary, Dear Data" is another fave! But I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan, too.

And of course the follow-up "Ship in a Bottle" is also wonderful. The guy who played Moriarty is a brilliant actor, and he and Diana Muldaur, and then later the two with Patrick Stewart, were a real tour de force of what acting should look like.

[sarge43]

41. Nitpick alert

Stephanie Beacham played the lovely Countess Barthalomew. Muldaur played the late and unlamented Dr Pulaski.

[Deja Q]

43. Pulaski rocked!!!

Compare her character in "Unnatural Selection"* with Crusher's "Ethics" and Pulaski wins every time...



* Yes, it's a remake of a TOS episode, but given the time it takes to explain the cure, and the general writing OF the story, I will give it high marks and I WILL say it's an example of when remaking an old, dug up story can be done right. (Which isn't often...)

[sarge43]

44. That's an unfair comparison

McFadden couldn't acted surprised if she found a T. rex in her walk-in closet.

[Deja Q]

45. !

[Rabrrrrrr]

46. Yes, I know - sorry for the confusion.

My final sentence was still about "Elementary, Dear Data", not "Ship in a Bottle", but of course no one who reads properly would know that.

My mistake!

The scenes with Moriarty, Stewart, and Beacham were also fantastic - she was/is an incredible actor, too.

[sarge43]

48. Yes she is and there was a spark between her and Stewart - great scene.

I can't edited my own writing, so certainly no criticism intended.

[Rabrrrrrr]

49. And the tension between Stewart and Famke Jannsen can be cut by a knife, even over TV

In "Perfect Mate" those two were fucking perfect together - two brilliant actors pulling off a love-but-can't-have story for a whole episode.

I don't think I've seen anything else as deeply erotic as that story, and I have rarely seen any woman exude such magnificent and all-consuming sexuality as Famke managed in that episode.

[sarge43]

56. Yup. That episode cooked.

Steward had the heat turned up, too. Reminds me of Henry Fonda's remark after his scenes with Barbara Stanwyke in The Lady Eve, "She came this close to being Jane's mother."

[Orrex]

63. One of the best closing exchanges in the history of Trek

Dr. Huer: I was chosen for this assignment for a very simple reason: I'm 200 years old; the temptations of a beautiful metamorph do not easily reach me. But I would be lying if I claimed that they did not reach me at all. But you worked with her. How could you resist her?

Picard: Ambassador, have a safe journey home.

Or something very much like that. Excellent writing. And such a poignant realization for Picard, knowing that he's met his literally perfect woman and had to let her go.

Also good interaction between Picard and Crusher in that episode. Great stuff!

[sarge43]

67. And the look the ambassador gave Picard after he answered.

Great stuff indeed.

[Rabrrrrrr]

50. And one must also include Stewart and Jean Simmons brilliant duet in "The Drumhead"

Wow!

Getting really good actors together is truly something to behold.

[Deja Q]

54. That too was an excellent episode

The ending was a bit shocking (Admiral Satee betrays Worf, yee-ouch!) but was better than the sum of its parts...

[Deja Q]

53. For season 6, "Ship in a Bottle" was damn good...

Only the music sucked, but the idiots running the show decided Ron Jones' style wasn't in their interests. (The idiots!...)

[Bucky]

55. The one where the space explorers get bored, so they go into the holodeck, but then get stuck there

I don't know about you, but if my job involved flying around the universe at faster than light speed and discovering new life and new civilizations the likes of which we can't even begin to comprehend, the one thing missing in my daily routine would be a big assed three dimensional television that could at least keep things interesting.

I mean, come on... silicon based life forms? ...species with whole new bodies of literature and religions to learn? Bo-ring!!

[Xipe Totec]

60. Time Squared

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Squared_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

[Orrex]

62. A daring Season One nomination!

And a great episode. I posted some thoughts about it here a little while back. It definitely stands out in the early TNG offerings.

[Xipe Totec]

64. Indeed!

Not bested until Time's Arrow.

I love time paradox epizooties!

[Juche]

65. Parallels

It reminds you how small choices can really add up in life.


I haven't seen all the episodes but these deserve to be among the best, at least from what I remember looking over the wikipedia entries on them.

Voyager:
Meld
Death Wish
Mortal Coil
Drone
Blink of an Eye
Critical Care
The one were kes is overtaken by the mind of a warlord

TNG:
Elementary, Dear Data
The Hunted
Brothers
Thine Own Self


I've never watched more than a couple episodes of TOS, DS-9 or Enterprise

[YankeyMCC]

66. "The Jihad "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series_episodes

[Danger Mouse]

68. Without a doubt, 'The Inner Light'...only episode of any Star Trek series

that brought tears to my eyes.

[Danger Mouse]

70. Shit, sorry, can't use that one. Okay, then I choose 'Night Terrors' because it's fucking creepy.

:) Also TNG.

[Orrex]

73. Another slacker who didn't read the OP. Disqualified!!!

:spank:

[Robb]

71. I'm gonna say "Carbon Creek" from Enterprise...

...Partly because no one else has brought up that ill-wrought series, and partly because I'm working my way through Season 3 and can't believe it went from "OK" to "Aw, Crap" so quickly. :D

[tigereye]

72. I wanted so badly to like Enterprise

but the" post 911 propagandizing" direction the series took was pretty hard to take...

[Orrex]

74. To be fair to the series, though...

That kind of propaganda was rampant in tv entertainment. And most other shows didn't have the congenitally awful teamwork of Berman/Braga to overcome, either.

Enterprise is the only series about which I can honestly say I don't hate any episodes (except the series finale, which is arguably the absolute worst Trek story in the history of the franchise). Each of the other series, including my beloved TNG and the vaunted Original have a number of episodes that I find almost unwatchable. I'll post a list, if you're interested (ha ha).

But I always found Enterprise to be at least adequately entertaining, from start to finish.

[tigereye]

78. I should watch the rest of the Ent. Episodes

my husband refused to watch anymore, and the "cowboy" attitude of the show was somewhat frustrating.


However, we still have a ton of Battlestar Galactica's we haven't seen, either.



Post the list of ones you don't like, I'd be curious.



I probably have to say I like DS9 the best, it has wonderful ensemble acting and the broadest type of stories. The one where CIsco and Jake build the ancient space craft is one of my faves, and the father and son interactions are very cool.

[Akoto]

75. "Tapestry" from TNG.

Picard's artificial heart is hit by a phaser blast, and he "dies" on the operating table. Q meets him in the supposed afterlife, where he offers Picard the opportunity to go back to his youth, and to avoid the foolish acts which had necessitated the implantation of said heart.

Picard manages to avoid the events which injured him, but as a result, he does not come to be the wise captain we all know. The new him is a dull and passionless man, always playing it safe, never taking any chances. In the end, he begs Q for another chance to go back, this time to do things as they'd been done before - even if it means needing the artificial heart which later caused his death. He would rather have died on the table than lived the pointless life of the man he'd just seen.


Of course, Picard survives, but he ends up confiding in Riker that he's grateful to Q. In his own way, Q showed Picard the value of the skeletons in his closet. They are an important part in the tapestry of his life (thus the episode name).

Also, episode contains one of my favorite lines. Picard to Q: "I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you; the universe is not so badly designed!" ;)

[Orrex]

77. Q's answer to him is equally fantastic:

"Blasphemy! I should cast you out or smite you or something."

That's a darn good episode. And a much more interesting treatment of his artificial heart than the episode in season two.

But why the heck couldn't they vat-grow an organic heart for him?

[jeff30997]

76. OMG! Star Trek !

DS-9 Sucked big time ! (Disclamer:This is just Jeff30997's humble opinion.)

Best episode of Star Trek:Anything involving Borgs or weird Identity confusion.