Les and I spent the last week talking about fifty episodes each that
we consider the best Trek has to offer. Would you believe that between
the two of us, after 100 episodes, we didn’t come close to covering
every good episode?
Here now are a few more episodes, at least one from each series,
which is pretty good but still didn’t make our list. To keep this from
going on forever I am picking only fifteen episodes.
Balance of Terror (TOS)
I’m kind of surprised my friend Les didn’t pick this one. I talked about
this episode briefly in my article slamming Season 1 for the stupid
phaser control room. But if you take that silliness out there are some
pretty tense moments in the episode. It’s sort of a submarine movie in
space (hence the phaser control room as some kindly pointed out, it was
analogous to the torpedo rooms on subs. Stupid but at least I get the
reasoning). And Mark Lenard it pitch perfect as the Romulan commander,
no wonder he came back the next year as Sarek.
Space Seed (TOS)
I alluded to this in the main article but figured it was worth another
mention. I think this episode is a tad over rated. It’s really only good
for on single reason, and yes that reason is Ricardo Montalban. He
sells every scene he is in and makes this episode good. Especially the
he manipulates McGivers. Aside from him, there isn’t much to offer.
While the ending is a natural for a sequel I would bet that without The
Wrath of Khan this episode would not be as lauded. To be fair, that
fight scene between Khan and Kirk is pretty damn good.
Who Mourns for Adonais? (TOS)
I’m really sad this episode didn’t get on there (maybe I should have
switched for “The Apple”), it really deserves an Underrated Trek article
because it’s a good episode which kind of gets ignored because it came
at the point in Trek when every episode was great. So when you get
Doomsday Machine, Amok Time, Journey to Babel and Mirror, Mirror it’s
easy to forget this one. I mean it’s Kirk out thinking the god Apollo,
how cool is that? There are some cool visuals in this one including the
teaser where a giant hand stops the Enterprise in its tracks. Oh ok it’s
really a force field but it’s still cool!
The Drumhead (TNG)
This was supposed to be a clip show but instead turned into quite an
episode taking a look back at the Communist scare in the 50’s (or if you
want, the Salem Witch Trials in the 1600’s). An admiral comes on board
determined to discover the conspiracy on the Enterprise…even though
there clearly isn’t one. The guest actress is real good though I do find
myself disagreeing with Picard in the end. I honestly don’t think she
is evil, just a tired old woman whose time has passed.
Clues (TNG)
I simply love this episode. It is the epitome of a bottle show, never
leaving the confines of the ship for even a second (holodeck teaser
aside). After a jump through a wormhole everyone finds Data acting odd.
Then other odd things start to happen, leading Picard to wonder just
what happened after the wormhole hit them. I like this for two reasons,
one is that every character gets decent screen time and something to do.
And two is that the ending makes sense for the most part, and the
episode just works. I love bottle episodes and this one may be my
favorite.
Disaster (TNG)
What is they did a disaster movie on Star Trek? That’s pretty much what
this episode is all about. The smart thing the writers did was to put
the characters in situations that is difficult for them. Troi is in
command, Worf has to deliver a baby, Picard is trapped with children…a
nice episode.
The Defector (TNG)
As I said before, picking a favorite from Season 3 TNG is almost
impossible. This one is fantastic but often gets overlooked because
there are other great episodes. But man every time I watch it…yeah it’s a
really good episode! The Enterprise intercepts a Romulan defector who
claims to have information on a Romulan base. But, is he lying? Why did
he defect? Should they trust him? A tense episode with a great climax
as Picard out thinks the Romulans in a reveal which is just fantastic!
Parallels (TNG)
In the dreck of Season 7 TNG comes this offbeat episode which is really a
lot of fun. We get to see different parallel realities including one
toward the end which is just classic. It involves The Borg and…it’s a
good moment. Why was it off the list? Because this episode began the
Worf/Troi romance the creators shoved down our throat and it pisses me
off. I wont say it ruined the episode but it didn’t help it either.
Our Man Bashir (DS9)
I love this episode! It may need it’s own article, not sure. Its
basically a James Bond spoof using a transporter accident as the device
to get the characters, well, out of character. It’s a lot of fun and
just a good episode. Even Garak is cool in it! I almost mentioned “Dr
Bashir, I Presume?” until I re-watched that. It’s a little overrated,
yeah there is a good stuff in it but also a lot of nonsense.
Defiant (DS9)
This episode should have been better. It had Jonathan Frakes in it! At
first I was worried what they were doing when I saw the teaser for it,
then I realized it wasn’t William Riker after all but Thomas Riker (long
story see TNG’s “Second Chances”). What began with a great first act
and strong set up kind of gets boring, as if the writer’s just had no
idea what to do with the idea once it got rolling.
Little Green Men (DS9)
It seems a lot of people like this episode where Quark and Rom end up
back on Earth in the 50’s in a little town called Roswell, New Mexico.
It was OK, when I finally saw it I didn’t think it was anything special.
Tuvix (VOY)
This is an episode that’s hard to talk about, because of the ending. A
transporter accident has fused Neelix and Tuvok into one person. By the
time a solution is finally found, this new person has created a new life
for himself. A life he likes so much that he doesn’t want to “die” so
that Tuvok and Neelix can live again. Interesting dilemma, how is it
resolved? Let’s just say it’s a bit controversial.
Year of Hell (VOY)
What would happen if Voyager got wrecked? I don’t just mean damaged, I
mean severely damaged to the point where the crew had to abandon it
because they couldn’t live on it anymore! That was the great idea which
went from being a season long arc to this two part episode. It was a
real departure for Voyager…so you know the reset button would be used in
the end. The tension is well done and there are some nice character
moments. This is an example of what Voyager could have been.
Relativity (VOY)
This is a time travel episode which is a lot of fun to watch…but doesn’t
really make sense. So I kept it off the main list because of that. But
if you don’t mind turning your brain off the episode is a lot of fun.
And getting to see Seven of Nine in a standard Starfleet uniform for a
change totally makes it worth it.
Vanishing Point (ENT)
I had to have one Enterprise episode here, and while this one makes no
sense whatsoever..it’s not that bad. Hoshi is feared dead after a
transporter mishap when in reality she is phased or something. She can
see and hear the other crew members but can’t interact with them. It’s
basically just like TNG’s “The Next Phase”, except that was a great
episode and this one has a cop out ending so infuriating that you won’t
believe it.
To be honest I could do another list easily, but I think after a
whole week, six articles, and 115 episodes we’ve sort of covered best
episodes. Thank goodness Les helped me with these, I would have missed a
lot of great episodes if I had tried to handle this alone.
So, we’ve talked a lot of Star Trek in the last few weeks. Am I done
yet? Heck no! We’re celebrating the 50th anniversary here! I’ve got lots
more coming in the months ahead including character tributes, more
underrated articles, and other things I haven’t even decided on yet. So
what’s next? Well after all this time talking about the great stuff I
think it’s only fair to take a look at the crap. We’ll dive into that
next time.
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