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Made in in
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Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

So I went as a red shirt for Halloween which means that it's time to introduce Kyoto Secunda and her clone sister Kyoto Secunda Prime to Star Trek.

I'm going to start with Trouble with Tribbles, it's got a cute plot, TOS has little in the way of technobabble and all the main characters get a chance to shine. As a place to start for my little girls I can't think of anywhere better.

But that got me thinking about what is THE best episode EVAH?

There's been, what 6 shows, 1 cartoon, 13 (???) movies. If you had to pick one as the best EVAH, what would it be?


 
   
Made in gb
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TNG Inner Light for mine, though other contenders would be DS9 In the Pale Moonlight, TNG The measure of a man, for the more militant DS9 Sacrifice of Angles and TNG Best of both worlds.



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Oh and Darmok.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/11/06 07:01:58


On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
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Fixture of Dakka







I think my personal favourite is 'The Siege of AR-558' because of boy, does that have a lot to say about humanity. Quark is brilliant in that episode.
   
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Hyderabad, India

My first thought is TNG All Good Things (series finale) great tour d'force by the whole cast, trippy concept and good thoughts about all we all get old...

Might have to rewatch it this week.

 
   
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Pleasant Valley, Iowa

I would pick either "All Good Things" or "Q Who".


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ingtaer wrote:
TNG Inner Light for mine, though other contenders would be DS9 In the Pale Moonlight, TNG The measure of a man, for the more militant DS9 Sacrifice of Angles and TNG Best of both worlds.



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Oh and Darmok.


All of these, but just in front of all of them - ST:TNG - Family.

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In the Pale Moonlight, although I'd recommend watching other episodes first as part of its appeal is its not trekness, also Far Beyond the Stars and The Visitor are good Sisko (best 'Capt' by far) focussed episode

Also 'Dr Crusher and the Sex Pest ghost' is a good bar setter that makes nearly every other shaky episode look acceptable

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/11/06 11:04:08


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 Fifty wrote:
ingtaer wrote:
TNG Inner Light for mine, though other contenders would be DS9 In the Pale Moonlight, TNG The measure of a man, for the more militant DS9 Sacrifice of Angles and TNG Best of both worlds.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and Darmok.


All of these, but just in front of all of them - ST:TNG - Family.


Nah just behind them, watch Best of both worlds and family back to back, pretty much the only TV that makes me well up.

Films is a trickier one but I think it would be VI followed by VIII then II, not a fan at all of the newer films (or even willing to admit they exist).

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
Made in gb
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Another vote for In The Pale Moonlight.

It’s the episode where we get to see beneath the facade. We may be lead to regard Section 31 as the unpalatable face of Starfleet....but there’s Benjamin Sisko playing exactly the same dirty games....and not without sanction.

Just absolutely wonderful stuff.

   
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We'll find out soon enough eh.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Another vote for In The Pale Moonlight.

It’s the episode where we get to see beneath the facade. We may be lead to regard Section 31 as the unpalatable face of Starfleet....but there’s Benjamin Sisko playing exactly the same dirty games....and not without sanction.

Just absolutely wonderful stuff.


Funny, that's exactly why I consider it a decent episode of television but one of the worst episodes of Star Trek - it's a summation of the whole attitude the writers/showrunners had on latter DS9 series that the basic concepts underpinning Star Trek had to be torn down.

For my money, setting aside it's cheating a tad since it's more than one episode, you won't find a better incarnation of everything Star Trek should be about than Encounter At Farpoint & All Good Things. Man vs God, social evolution being the measure of a society over wealth or might, solving problems with intellectual curiosity and diplomacy over brute force, the thrill of discovery and the anticipation of the unknown, some top-class Treknobabble, even a wee bit of pew-pew action. There are a lot of great Trek episodes like Measure of a Man(the slightly extended version is even better) and Inner Light, but none encapsulate the whole so comprehensively as the "bookends" of TNG, especially since you could show them back-to-back with a "some time later..." screen between them and it still works as a story, AGT just lacks some of the emotional impact you get from having been with these characters for the full run.

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I love that people have chimed in front a half dozen countries, what a show...

 
   
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 Darkjim wrote:
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+1 on that, outstanding episode.



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 Yodhrin wrote:

Funny, that's exactly why I consider it a decent episode of television but one of the worst episodes of Star Trek - it's a summation of the whole attitude the writers/showrunners had on latter DS9 series that the basic concepts underpinning Star Trek had to be torn down.


I somewhat disagree. Well, sort of. While yes, a lot of DS9 is a Deconstruction, it's often forgotten that in the same show, it's a Reconstruction as well.

The galaxy is saved and peace is restored because the Federation upheld its values when it counted.

Oh, and that note, another favourite of mine. "Waltz" - An acting masterpiece.

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Dublin, Ireland

Best evah from all the series? Yikes tough call but I'd second EAF and AGT from TNG. A superb bookend to a series.

Surprised no one named Chain of Command...


I was going to!

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Duet.
Damn near moves me to tears. Harris Yulin should have gotten an Emmy, phenomenal acting.



 
   
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The Doomsday Machine and The Devil in The Dark are probably a tie for me.

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Fort Worth, TX

There are a lot of very good episodes to pick from. I can't really even pick just a top 10, as they would change from moment to moment as I remember others.
But, to add something, I'll mention one nobody else has said yet: TOS's The City on the Edge of Forever.

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Inner Light
Measure of a Man
Chain of Command
A Matter of Honor - this and Measure of a Man were probably the first episodes of TNG where I thought the show was actually finally getting pretty good.....
   
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UK

To go for an obscure one, I'll mention 'Where Silence Has Lease' from early TNG; the Enterprise is trapped in a totally uncharted and impossible space facing a being of near-unlimited power... it's a somewhat generic setup, and the effects for said being are a man's face pressed against a camera, but something about it is really quite haunting... Perhaps the fact they never actually 'solve' the mystery, they just survive it. I like the idea that sometimes, no matter how much you want to study and examine the world, there are going to be things that still can't be explained.

Not the best episode ever, but if you want something that plays to a lot of TNG's themes but in a slightly different way to normal, it's a good one.

Other honourable mentioned to 'Elementary, Dear Data', 'The Skin of Evil' and 'A Matter of Honor' from series 1-2 of TNG.

 
   
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 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Duet.
Damn near moves me to tears. Harris Yulin should have gotten an Emmy, phenomenal acting.


I'm seconding Duet. Season one of DS9; it was the first episode of DS9 that made me seriously consider the show might be something worth watching. Every episode prior had bored me or lost my interest in the first fifteen minutes, but Duet kept me glued to the TV from start to finish. Afterwards, I had to re-evaluate my opinion of the show as being a dull and uninspired follow-up to TNG.

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ingtaer wrote:
Films is a trickier one but I think it would be VI followed by VIII then II, not a fan at all of the newer films (or even willing to admit they exist).

2, 4 and 6 are all good movies, and 3 ties into all three in various ways. I also think that Star Trek Beyond is a lot of fun. The TNG era movies suffered from trying to make Picard into an action hero, when he was a very different captain to Kirk.

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No recommendations for TNG's Naked Now? or Voy's Threshold? Tut, tut.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/11/07 06:36:41


   
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Newcastle, OZ

In the pale moonlight is the standout for me.
With "Far beyond the stars" a close second.

No, I wasn't a fan of Voyager or TNG and Enterprise only had a handful of not-grating episodes in S4 to redeem it somewhat.

As for movies, Galaxy Quest is the winner there.

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Movies? Wrath of Khan. Hands down.

Episodes? Q who?, followed by Best of Both Worlds. Then swinging to the OS, we have Balance of Terror, Galileo Seven, and What Are Little Girls Made Of?

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The varying responses here do seem to suggest that the secret to Trek’s longevity is its narrative variety.

Sometimes it’s hard sci-fi (well, hard-ish). Other times it’s a character study. Occasional morality play etc.

And I think there are remarkably few episodes which are truly universally reviled. That’s quite an achievement, no? (Note I’m not trying to name any episodes that might be universally reviled. This is a positive thread, don’t want to mire it with negativity)

   
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 Tannhauser42 wrote:
There are a lot of very good episodes to pick from. I can't really even pick just a top 10, as they would change from moment to moment as I remember others.
But, to add something, I'll mention one nobody else has said yet: TOS's The City on the Edge of Forever.


I was going to mention that one. It is often picked by "serious critics" as the best ever.

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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
The varying responses here do seem to suggest that the secret to Trek’s longevity is its narrative variety.

Sometimes it’s hard sci-fi (well, hard-ish). Other times it’s a character study. Occasional morality play etc.

And I think there are remarkably few episodes which are truly universally reviled. That’s quite an achievement, no? (Note I’m not trying to name any episodes that might be universally reviled. This is a positive thread, don’t want to mire it with negativity)


It also makes it nearly impossible to name your favorite episode ever but I'll give it a whirl by series:

TOS

1. Balance of Terror
2. Where No Man has gone Before
3. The Tolian Web

TNG

1. The Best of Both Worlds parts I and II
2. The Measure of a Man
3. Cause and Effect

DS9

1. Duet
2. Visitor
3. The Way of the Warrior

Voyager

1. Timeless
2. Blink of an Eye
3. Course: Oblivion

Enterprise

1. Twilight
2. Azati Prime/ Damage
3. Shuttlepod One

And those top threes don't even scratch the surface: There are too many excellent episodes.

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