Your TOP 5 Star Trek Episodes (Any series)

[minteK917]

We had a rank your Star trek series and movies a couple months ago which was fun. Now Heres the real test, which are your TOP 5 Episodes in Star Trek entirety. The episodes you either enjoyed the most or would recommend for anyone to watch. I kinda wanted to to this before, but its Guardian of the galaxy scifi that made me remember that im just a scifi guy when it goes down to it. I know all the popular games are almost all fantasy nowdays and scifi is down, but to me the future is where it will always be at!

#5 The Measure of a Man TNG

Star trek often try to get messages of tolerance and understanding, often it fails by making the message too silly like a bad PSA or being being a bit too pretentious. And yet its able to do one just fine in a total science fiction setting. Is Data a person or propriety? The question is simple, they dont shy away from the parallel with slavery and Riker being forced to be the prosecution against Data in court was a good touch. Ultimately this became a good episode and when you think about it, it could have been silly as hell, stupid, annoying, cringe worthy, but it was not.

#4 Living Witness VOY

If you were in the other Star Trek thread, you know i dont think much of Voyager, it was average to me. However i know a gem when i see one. Living Witness employs the best character of the show, the doctor, as the center of this episode providing a message about history and racism. The doctor is activated in an Alien museum 700 years in the future. This museum display recreation of events in which the crew of the ship, the doctor included, are written in history as being responsible of terrible war crimes when they entered a war helping one side beat the other. This leads to huge racial problems even 700 years in the future, the race that history said voyager helped conquer are still viewed as bad people, the "victim" race reminding them at every turns. Whats good about this episode is that it juggle 2 things well. The historical recreation are simply fun to watch, its like a "what if" world, the crew is violent, cruel, torturing people, creating mass murdering weapons, fist fighting between officers in the ready room. Its all fun to watch and its clear the actors just had fun with this. Yet it ties well into the other half of it, that is always very serious. I wont give too much of it away, but what this episode is getting at is, is it ok to rewrite history for peace?


#3 Best of Both Worlds part 1 TNG

No i dont hate part 2, but part 1 is the one that impress me of course you should watch both duh. So whats part 1 all about thats good, well first off its the second big episode about the borg, before they are turned into jokes forever. Secondly, its not what you would expect from an episode about the borg, its a character piece and not an action one. This one is about Riker and its good. Often in early season youd just want to punch his face, but this is where Riker is done right. We meet Shelby a young officer whose as smug and risk taking as Riker used to be, but unlike Riker shes in the business to go UP and Riker is in her way to the second officer seat of the enterprise. Riker is mature, experienced, decorated enough to be a captain, yet turned down his own command 3 time. Best of both worlds is more about Riker figuring out what he wants, then about the borg.

#2 The City on the Edge of Forever TOS

It is true that in retrospective time travel episodes, even if often totally nonsensical, are some of the best of star trek. City on the edge of forever is in my opinion what started it all and also one of the best. I dont want to give too much away here, but the concept is simple, McCoy goes back in 1930 America and saves a women, eventually from a chain of events, this prevents America from Ever entering WW2. Spock and Kirk are then forced to follow McCoy and try to fix it, however its not as easy as it sounds. Kirk is eventually thorn between doing whats logical yet bad or doing whats illogical yet good. Kirk might not believe in non win scenario, but City on the edge of forever is one of those he had to deal with and he lost.

#1 In the Pale Moonlight DS9

This one really cant surprise anyone that watched Star Trek, its even hard to find something that could be improved about the episode. I dont want to give too much away about this one, so ill just go over it lightly. Sisko wants to get the Romulans into the war, he needs something to force them into it, their involvement could save the entire Alpha Quadrant. Sisko seeks the help of Garak with a plan, but the plan does not go as well as expected and eventually lines have to be crossed in order to get to the goal, lines that Star fleet officers and even most people might not cross. Can you cross the line to save so many?


Whats your episodes MMO-champ

[the game]

I don't have a top 5 episodes however my order of favorite series favorite to least favorite

Enterprise
Voyager
TNG
DS9
TOS

[Shiny212]

That's really hard, they're all in DS9 though, best series in my opinion. Although S3 of Enterprise is as a whole pretty damn good too. Voyager's got some good bits but alot of nonsensical crap that was written when they were high or something. Like Janeway transforming into some kinda fish-creature.

I always felt TNG and TOS were surpassed by the newer series because they included more continuity.

[minteK917]

I don't have a top 5 episodes however my order of favorite series favorite to least favorite

Enterprise
Voyager
TNG
DS9
TOS

We had that thread already, this one is episode specific.

[Deleted]

I think that The Inner Light from TNG was one of the most brilliant and touching episodes there.

[minteK917]

I think that The Inner Light from TNG was one of the most brilliant and touching episodes there.

Theres many episodes from DS9 and TNG i had problem not putting up, i had to make choices 5 is not alot .

[Hammerfest]

I'm a Star Trek hawk. This means I enjoy the episodes that play up Starfleet as a space-faring Navy that engages in military sort of missions.

My top 5 would be:

Peak Performance (TNG): The Enterprise participates in a war game exercise in order for Starfleet to evaluate itself in a confrontational mismatch. This was precipitated by their discovery of the Borg threat. Riker and a select number of crewmen restore a derelict Constellation class starship and fight the Enterprise... only to be interrupted by an actual threat. Worf was great and, surprisingly, so was Wesley.

Duet (DS9): No action here, just a house show that really fleshes out Major Kira as she is confronted with what seems to be a Cardassian war criminal who ran a forced labor camp she liberated back when she was a terrorist/freedom fighter. The guest star really delivered a performance here and it stands out as not just the best episode of DS9's troubled first season, but the entire show.

Soldiers Of The Empire (DS9): Basically an episode of "Star Trek: Klingon." Worf accepts the position of first officer on a Bird of Prey under the command of Martok. After this show, I was very much interested in more episodes like this. I'd love to see a mini-series about the mission(s) of a Klingon ship.

In The Pale Moonlight (DS9): Sisko makes a confession to his personal log. The episode details the reasons why the Romulans enter the Dominion War. Shocking stuff for a Star Trek show at that time.

In A Mirror, Darkly PT1 & 2 (ENT): This show is basically Trek-porn for those of us who love TOS era concepts like the Mirror Universe, Tholians, Gorn and TOS era ships. It's basically an episode of "Star Trek: Mirror Universe."

[Jezziut]

5) Way of the Warrior (DS9)
Deep Space 9 is my personal favorite of the Star Trek series, and episodes like Way of the Warrior are the reason why, the character acting is perfect the dialog perfect, the battle scene wonderful, and just is one of the best episodes.
4) Sacrifice of Angels (DS9)
You really feel the epic larger story in this episode and the sense of desperation, add in a little bit of the Prophets and it makes it my overall favourite DS9 Episode
3) The Best of Both Worlds (TNG)
You really can't go any lower than 3 for this. Just one of those instant classics.
2) The Killing Game (VOY)
I absolutely love the story and the history appeal of this episode, I still to this day watch it on it's own as a stand alone movie almost.
1) Yesterday's Enterprise (TNG)
Tasha Yar gets the send off she deserves, just the best episode ever made imho.

[Silent Earth]

I'm a Star Trek noobie, and the only series I've seen all the way through is Voyager (I actually just finished it). I know a lot of fans hate it, but I thought it was really enjoyable. Anyway, blah de blah, I don't have a top five list but there were a few episodes that really, really stuck with me.

The Thaw (probably my favorite)
Timeless
Living Witness
Death Wish (by far the best Q episode of the series)
Scorpion

There were others, but those were the ones that I enjoyed the most I think.

Now, I keep hearing about a certain DS9 episode (and it has in fact been mentioned in this thread a few times already): In the Pale Moonlight. I hear unbelievably high praise about this episode time and again. I really don't want to just watch the episode in a vacuum, so my question to anyone who has seen it would be if it's worth watching DS9 for this episode? I'm sure the rest of the series is great as a whole but this is the one I'm really interested in.

[Hammerfest]

Deep Space Nine is worth watching period. It's the most unique of all the shows in that it isn't about a ship and about half the cast aren't Starfleet personnel. That and it depicts the Federation in a pro-longed (i.e. multi-season) war, which is something no Star Trek show has ever done except in episodes set in alternate realities.

[Deleted]

Top 5 but no real preference.

In the Pale Moonlight: Brilliant! DS9's finest 45 minutes of tv. Brilliantly written. Loved Sisko's struggle to justify his actions, bloody brilliant and I am not a DS9 fan.

Counterpoint: Clever Janeway episode. Kashyk pretends to defect, to help Janeway smuggle some Telepaths across Devour space as they need to use a wormhole to get to safety. He bonds with the Captain gaining her trust, and in the end she tells him where she has hidden the Telepaths. He immediately betrays her and the inspection teams surround and board Voyager only for Kashyk to discover there are no Telepaths. Janeway had used the knowledge that Kashyk gave her when he is trying to gain her trust against him. Brilliant ending.

The Best of Both Worlds. Tng fan so it has to be here.

Descent: I'm not sure this 2 part episode is that much better than some of the other 2 part episodes like Chain of Command for example. But after I watch Best of Both worlds this goes on next.

Dark frontier: Again Voyager has many good 2 part episodes but I like this one because most Starfleet captains would shit bricks rather than brave a heist to steal a transwarp coil from the Borg.

I am sad I'm only allowed five! No room for some of the other tng episodes or the ds9 episode where Dax/Sisko interact with Captain Kirk or the EmH episode Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy.

[minteK917]

Now, I keep hearing about a certain DS9 episode (and it has in fact been mentioned in this thread a few times already): In the Pale Moonlight. I hear unbelievably high praise about this episode time and again. I really don't want to just watch the episode in a vacuum, so my question to anyone who has seen it would be if it's worth watching DS9 for this episode? I'm sure the rest of the series is great as a whole but this is the one I'm really interested in.

If you were able to watch every episode of Voyager despite most of it being bland and still took good away from it. Like episodes such as Living witness, youll probably enjoy DS9 more. Even the first 3 seasons that are kinda slower paced and people point out as being DS9 weakness are mostly solid episodes on their own. I dont hate voyager, it did waste a bunch of opportunity it had while having so much materiel from TNG and DS9 to play with. Eventually even their own material they wasted potential of, like 7of9 in the final season.

- - - Updated - - -

the ds9 episode where Dax/Sisko interact with Captain Kirk

that was gona be in the honorable mentions, but i had so many i scrapped it all lol.

Trials and Tribble-ations, it was such a good episode for the anniversary back in the days. The technique they used like Forrest Gump was incredible at the time.

[Hammerfest]

Some honorable mentions I'd like to, well, mention...

Regeneration (ENT): The infamous Borg episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. It's been my experience that most Star Trek fans who haven't seen it don't realize that this is a follow-up to STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT. The comparatively primitive NX-01 Enterprise and her crew encounter a mysterious group of bionic zombies that Zefram Cochran warned humanity about after the events in the film. The best scene for me was when Archer blew the Borg off of the ship by sealing off the section they were in and blowing a nearby hatch.

Anomaly (ENT): The whole 3rd season of ENT was a big story where the NX-01 Enterprise basically went on a search-and-destroy mission in an area of space called the Delphic Expanse, which is a mysterious area where the laws of physics often don't apply. The episode is the second one of the season, where the ship encounters pirates in the Expanse and contains a fun and exciting duel between the two ships.

Trials and Tribble-ations (DS9): Already mentioned in this thread, this one is fun.

Faith, Treachery and the Great River (DS9): This was one of those light-hearted episodes that DS9 used to air right before the season finale (where something very dramatic would usually happen). This one is about Nog, the Ferengi Starfleet officer.

Message In A Bottle (VOY): Yes, a Voyager episode. I hate Voyager, but this episode stands out in my mind. It stars the most innovative character of that series, the holographic EMH program. The crew of the unfortunately-named Voyager discover a super-communication system that has detected a Federation ship in the Alpha Quadrant. They are able to transmit ("download" arrgh) the holographic Doctor into the ship. The Doctor discovers that the ship has been taken over by Romulans and is en route to their territory. He teams with that ship's EMH to overtake the ship. It's cool because the ship they are on is the Prometheus, a ship almost as kick-ass as DS9's Defiant. This episode also creates a milestone in the Voyager series. The Doctor is able to report to Starfleet that Voyager is stranded in the Delta Quadrant... a major development in the show. The episode, like the series, has its flaws. Why they couldn't just COPY the EMH program to Prometheus instead of MOVING him there is odd. I chalk this up to the writers not knowing much about actual computer programs.

[Deleted]

TNG - The 2 episodes where Picard is assimilated to Borg (The best of both worlds part 1+2)

Voyager - The 2 episodes with voyager flying through Borg space and encountering species 8472 (Scorpion part 1+2)

Anything with Q, especially the one where he has been stripped of his powers...

The first episodes of TNG (Encounter at farpoint) are also really good.

[Nekovivie]

I don't recall the name of the DS9 ep, but it had a squadron of JemHadar and a Vorta stuck on a planet with Sisko and his crew. Pretty good story to that one.

[Stormcall]

Hard to pick 5, but In the Pale Moonlight is definitely my number 1.

[babalou1]

I dont know about best, but i really enjoyed the last 2 episodes of the season. I thought they were really well done and remember when they aired.

[Revik]

This is a tough one. Its hard for me to compare episodes between series but it is easier for me to best episodes per series.

Voyager - This one is easily Living Witness. This is the only episode really of any merit in this series. Year of Hell was ok only because i liked the twist.
DS9 - In the Pale Moonlight I guess. I generally like the episodes with Garak in it being my favorite character of the show.
TNG - Tapestry - Basically Picard goes back in time to his younger self and changes the events of his youth only to find out that things turn out disasterous later in life.
TOS - Amok Time - Star Trek fight music at its finest.
ENT - Not really sure about this one. Mainly because while I liked the story arc in Season 3 but can't really nail down a specific episode that I thought was outstanding. I suppose I would go with Co-Genitor. This episode starts with Tripp innocently teaching the co-genitor sex of a society that basically views them as property or a tool. In the end it all ends tragically.

[Deleted]

Voyager: Distant Origin

Chakotay's speech.. priceless

[Val the Moofia Boss]

5. [Forgot the name] - one where Bashir is playing a secret agent in the holodeck with Garak and the transporter accident makes things... happen... *Evil smile*
4. Crystaline Catastrophe (TNG) - Nostalgia!
3. The Sloan Trilogy (DS9) - Probably one of the most morally ambiguous episodes' of all Star Trek
2. In the Pale Moonlight - Because. DS9! The Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones even existed! (as a TV show). Screw you, Martin! OT: One of the best DS9 episodes.
1. Best of Both Worlds (TNG) - This has to be remade into a full, three hour long movie!