Maybe not, but given that the new set was little more than a bunch of greens on a soundstage, it's not like it would have cost much.
I think with STAR TREK, we can slightly liberalize that to include shows with one extra indoor set that was thrown together fast and simple. "The Mark of Gideon" with it's tiny council chamber, and "Is There in Truth No Beauty" with it's Arboritum, still qualify as I see it. These were low budget episodes.
I would suggest "The Drumhead" as perhaps one of the best bottle shows across all the series. And although I don't think it fits in the same category as that, I'd cite "Where Silence Has Lease" as one that's always been a favorite of mine. And, man, that's a true bottle show. Only one guest star, and the only scenes off the Enterprise on an identical sister ship! And I agree with categorizing "Shades of Grey" as a bottle show, and with its label as the worst.
TOS: Like: Mirror, Mirror The Ultimate Computer Dislike: Charlie X Turnabout Intruder The Way to Eden TNG: Like: The Measure of a Man Deja Q The Offspring The Drumhead Cause and Effect Ship in A Bottle Dislike: The Naked Now The Child Imaginary Friend DS9: I haven't seen DS9 since the finale so I won't have many entries on this one. Like Duet The Visitor Our Man Bashir Dislike Q-Less His Way VOY: Like Death Wish Worst Case Scenario Latent Image Bride of Chaotica Real Life Dislike Tuvix Once Upon a Time Bliss One ENT: Like Shuttlepod One Silent Enemy Vox Sola Fallen Hero Minefield Singularity The Catwalk Cogenitor Similitude Disllike Doctor's Orders Stratagem
Totally agreed. I think the reason bottle shows are awesome is precisely because they do have limits imposed on them: there's something about being told "you can only use the regular standing sets, and don't go employing too many guest stars" which forces everybody to come up with a much tighter, less flabby final product. Whereas productions with a bit more freedom in those areas can sometimes over-indulge to the point of losing traction somewhat. In my opinion, bottle shows have proven to be among some of Star Trek's most successful formats.
Right on. With bottle shows, many times it falls to the actors to carry the eps in lieu of location shooting or lots of guest stars or extra visuals. And ST actors and characters are the hallmarks of the greatest eps. Plus, I like eps aboard the Enterprise. Strange new worlds are great, but for me personally, my favorite ST location will always be TOS Enterprise. I never get tired of being shipbound in the eps.
Doomsday Machine from TOS is one of my favorite Trek episodes; the tension packed into that episode is brilliantly thrilling, even today. TNG: Where Silence Has Lease holds a special place in my heart. One, for a more frank exploration of death that Trek sometimes lacked and, two, for the fact that Nagilum freaked me out as a kid (still does a bit). I like A Matter of Perspective, courtroom dramas are fun and I thought this one was rather well done. Clues is another fun, "What the heck is going on?", episode that invited multiple viewings. Conundrum follows in its footsteps. DS9 Duet. One of the best of the early DS9 episodes. Great character building for Kira. Same goes for "The Wire" for Bashir and Garak. Civil Defense (seeing Dukat so flustered is great) and Our Man Bashir (I'm a big Bond fan) are fun episodes as well. Haven't watched much Voyager or Enterprise lately. Looking at the Memory Alpha lists aren't jogging my memories sufficiently.
You know, I never thought of this one as a bottle show, but I guess it -could- vaguely qualifty. Though they brought in a lot of guest stars and designed a new Romulan shuttle just for Vreenak. Duet still sets the high water mark for what a bottle show should be for me though. That was the crowning moment of season 1 and really not only told a powerful story but set the theme for DS9 as a whole. The worst? ANIS takes the cake for me. Bad writing, bad acting = bad episode. Go figure.
How could "Family" be considered a bottle show? It has a significant number of guest stars, it uses never-before-seen sets, and parts of it are even filmed on location.