Must See Trek

[psikeyhackr]

I had a peculiar thought a few days ago.

What are the MUST SEE Star Trek episodes?

I don't just mean really popular or even necessarily that enjoyable, but which ones help in understanding the meaning/significance of the series or science fiction in general.

For instance I think the  The Doomsday Machine is about as "good" as Amok Time.  But Amok Time introduces the Pon farr biology of Vulcans and the rituals surrounding it which turns up in subsequent series but I am not aware of any later consequences to Doomsday Machine.

With over 700 episodes and a bunch of movies I could see the Star Trek compendium might even be intimidating to newbies.  TOS is so 60's I could imagine some people might not want to watch it even with updated graphics.

So I was wondering if anyone else thought episodes in any of the series were MUST SEES and why.

Where No Man Has Gone Before
    The 2nd pilot, real start of show.
   
The City on the Edge of Forever
    Best Trek episode
   
Amok Time
    Vulcan home world and pon farr

The Menagerie
    Criminal Spock and The Cage

Balance of Terror
    Romulans

Space Seed
    Kahn, movie prequel

Mirror, Mirror
    Mirror universe, used in DS9 & Enterprise
   
The Tholian Web
    added to Mirror universe in Enterprise, though I never thought the episode was that good.

psik

[Rico]

Those are great picks.  I'll just say....

ALL OF THE EPISODES are MUST SEE!   ;)

[billybob476]

Are we only talking about classic Trek? Becuase there are a bunch of episodes from other series that give us insight into specific races.

Lots more detail about the Vulcans in Enterprise.

A lot more about the Borg in Voyager.

DS9 has huge development of Klingon beliefs and culture where TNG gives us views of the upper levels of their political structure.

[psikeyhackr]

Are we only talking about classic Trek?

No, I wasn't intending to limit it to TOS, I just thought that was where I should start.

I've included

Journey to Babel

since Spock's parents are introduced.

Enterprise certainly makes things more complicated since it was before TOS in the Trekverse.

Do you think this whole concept makes any sense?   I did a little Google search to see if anyone had tried it.  I found a MUST SEE list for Data fans.  LOL  I could easily imagine people being somewhat interested in Star Trek but kind of alienated by their perceptions of Trekkies and not having a clue where to start but thinking, "I am not going to watch 700 episodes."  It is like we need some good selected bait to get them HOOKED.   :roflmao

psik

[Rico]

I have done this before for non-Trek fans but usually stuck to TOS.  I'd love to see people come up with say 10 episodes per series that are must see.  It will also help me for the podcast.  I'll try and come up with a list of my own soon for all of the series as well.

[Ktrek]

I have done this before for non-Trek fans but usually stuck to TOS.  I'd love to see people come up with say 10 episodes per series that are must see.  It will also help me for the podcast.  I'll try and come up with a list of my own soon for all of the series as well.

Perhaps there should be separate threads for each series because it is kind of a daunting task to select ten or twenty episodes from 28 seasons of Trek. It might even be best to run polls by season beginning with TOS and let members post comments within. That way you could collate all the data at the end to determine what shows members consider to be the best of the best, but the polls would have to allow for multiple votes.

When I saw this topic I thought to myself it might be easier to list the episodes that are not all that great than it would be to list the best ones.

Kevin

[billybob476]

Also, the best episodes to bring in new viewers are not necessarily the best episodes overall. Show someone a random episode from season 3 of Enterprise or from season 6 or 7 of DS9 and they'd likely be lost.

[PepperDude]

I understand what you're trying to say billybob. I think that the must-see episodes for newbies are the ones that work well as stand-alone episodes like "The Inner Light" for TNG or "Far Beyond the Stars" for DS9.

[billybob476]

Though even far Beyond the Stars, while being a great episode, isn't very representative of the series.

[psikeyhackr]

I'd love to see people come up with say 10 episodes per series that are must see.

I think about 10 episodes per series sounds good.  That is two years worth of episodes.  If that isn't enough too reel in a newbie then he's a lost cause anyway.

Perhaps there should be separate threads for each series because it is kind of a daunting task to select ten or twenty episodes from 28 seasons of Trek.

Separate threads could be the way to go especially if a lot of people join in.  The poll could work if we have to reduce the selection from say 30 episodes from a season to 10 or 15.  I don't know how we could use it from he start.

I was considering

The Naked Now

from TNG as a good link to TOS The Naked Time.  It shows what a jerk Wesley Crusher can be and Data gets layed.  LOL

And:

The Neutral Zone

provides the first hint of the Borg and the Romulans show up.  The cryogenic neanderthals from the 20th century are interesting too.  One thing useful about sci-fi is showing that cultures evolve over time.  That is one way that Star Trek is better than Babylon 5.  People must be different in 300 years we just don't know in what way.  We are creating a cyper-culture now.  Maybe we need to Trekify it.

There is still stuff from Voyager and Enterprise that I haven't seen.  I'm putting off DS9 cause I know I'll have a hard time with that since it is my fave Trek.

I think

Crossover

would have to be included.  Bashir kills Odo and the episode has the sexy Superintendent Nerys.  The return to the Mirror, Mirror universe.  What did Spock do?   :roflmao

psik

[psikeyhackr]

OK. what did I say?

No suggestions?

psik

[psikeyhackr]

I just watched the premier of TNG.  I haven't seen it in years.  It goes somewhat overboard with the melodrama but I think it is important to see. 

The cameo appearance of DeForest Kelley is a reason by itself.

The introduction of the relationships between Picard and Dr. Crusher, Troy and Riker and Data's Pinocchio complex and of course Q.  I suppose I was very forgiving when I first saw it but besides all of  the introductory material I don't consider it that great an episode.

psik

[billybob476]

I think DS9 and Enterprise have the best first episodes while Voyager and TNG have the best final episodes. The series finale of Enterprise was just god awful.

[Dan M]

TNG:
The Best of Both Worlds leads into, among other things, First Contact
Sins of the Father, kicks of the Duras/Worf Klingon saga which continued into DS9.

[psikeyhackr]

  ==========  Star Trek Original Series  ==========

Where No Man Has Gone Before
    The 2nd pilot, real start of show.

The Menagerie
    Criminal Spock and The Cage
   
Balance of Terror
    Romulans

The Galileo Seven
    Shows Vulcan management style aggravating humans, LOL
   
Space Seed
    Kahn, movie prequel

The City on the Edge of Forever
    Best Trek episode
   


Amok Time
    Vulcan home world and pon farr

Mirror, Mirror
    Mirror universe, used in DS9 & Enterprise
   
Journey to Babel
    Spock's parents are introduced.
   
The Trouble With Tribbles
    DS9 episode link, a fave episode, Trek humor
   
The Ultimate Computer
    demonstrating relevance of sci-fi to reality in technology


   
The Enterprise Incident
    demonstrating relevance of sci-fi to reality in politics
   
The Tholian Web
    added to Mirror universe in Enterprise, though I never thought the episode was that good.
   
The Cloud Minders
    social commentary and economics, heard episode censored
   
==============  Next Generation  =============

The Naked Now
    a good link to TOS The Naked Time.  It shows what a jerk Wesley Crusher can be and Data gets layed.  LOL

The Neutral Zone
    provides the first hint of the Borg and the Romulans show up.  The cryogenic neanderthals from the 20th century are interesting too.  One thing useful about sci-fi is showing that cultures evolve over time.
   
The Best of Both Worlds
    Borg confrontation, Sisko's wife killed and he hates Picard

Sins of the Father
    kicks of the Duras/Worf Klingon saga which continued into DS9.
   
==============  Deep Space 9  =============

The Emissary
    Introduces characters, discovery of wormhole and aliens

Crossover
    would have to be included.  Bashir kills Odo and the episode has the sexy Superintendent Nerys.  The return to the Mirror, Mirror universe.
   
==============  Voyager  ==============

The Caretaker
    sets up entire situation of mixed crew in delta quadrant   
   
   
   
=============  Enterprise  =============

Broken Bow
    introduction
   
Borderland, Cold Station 12, The Augments
    Relates the Soong family to augments and the inspiration for Data
   
The Forge, Awakening, Kir'Shara
    restoration of Surak's philosophy
   
    I only saw the last 3  on internet downloads.  There are still Enterprise and Voyager episodes I haven't seen. 

Nothing is written in stone at this point.  I guess some of the TOS episodes need to be eliminated but I don't know what anyone else thinks should be considered.

psik