The Trekmate podcast Ten Forward has a really neat recurring feature called Desert Island Trek. I thought it would be fun to borrow it for a thread here. Basically you are allowed five episodes from any of the series to have with you to watch on a desert island. I'm not sure if they allow the movies but for this version I'm going to. Also there is a "gimme" list that are episodes that are generally so universally acclaimed that everyone is likely to want them. The gimme's are... TOS The City On The Edge Of Forever TOS The Trouble With Tribbles TAS Yesteryear TNG Yesterday’s Enterprise TNG The Best Of Both Worlds DS9 Trials And Tribble-ations DS9 The Visitor Voyager Message In A Bottle Voyager Scorpion Enterprise E2 Enterprise In A Mirror Darkly So now I'm curious to hear people's five non gimme choices. Obviously you are free to just post a list and run but what I'd really love is if people will talk about why they've chosen what they've chosen.
Given the prospect of long-term isolation, I don't know if I'd want to be reminded that death may serve a greater purpose (City on the Edge) or that some absences are too difficult to get over (The Visitor), whatever the respective merits of the episode may be. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't choose, as the things I had with me, five hours of television. I would prefer several long, complex works of literature (like Musil's The Man Without Qualities or Jabès' Book of Questions), a telescope and a music instrument. However, if it must be five Trek episodes, I wouldn't pick my most favorite, but those that would occupy me best in that situation: The Omega Glory Chains of Command 1 & 2 The Way of the Warrior The Forge (I'll have to use my imagination on the continuing episodes)
Off the top of my head: Wrath of Khan The Voyage Home Star Trek (2009) First Contact The Undiscovered Country Chosen for rewatchability and entertainment value--and the fact that a two-hour feature film will pass more time than a forty-five minute long episode. If we're limiting ourselves to episodes, maybe: TOS: Journey to Babel TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise DS9: Little Green Men VOY: Future's End (can I cheat and choose both parts?) TOS: Amok Time A decent variety, I think.
Five total episodes? That's almost impossible! Balance of Terror Tapestry All Good Things... The Year of Hell Shockwave
You're not kidding five-only would be nearly impossible . But, what the heck - I'll give it a shot . . . The Corbomite Maneuver Balance of Terror The Enterprise Incident Yesteryear The Voyage Home
Hmm, interesting. Had to think about this one. TOS A Piece of the Action TOS Balance of Terror TOS This Side of Paradise TNG The Inner Light TNG Tin Man If movies were allowed, then I'd also include: Star Trek 2009 Star Trek Into Darkness The Wrath of Kahn The Voyage Home
A Taste of Armageddon The Omega Glory Bread and Circuses Where No Man Has Gone Before The Corbomite Maneuver
Narrowing it down to five really is difficult! TOS: The Devil in the Dark TNG: First Contact (the episode) TNG: The Inner Light DS9: Call to Arms DS9: Sacrifice of Angels
TOS- Balance of Terror -Mark Lenard makes the show, love the tension of not knowing what will happen TOS- Mirror, Mirror -it was such a novel concept, a classic TAS- Yesteryear -Spock's homeworld, Spock as a child, favorite Trek episode of all TNG: The Inner Light -this episode never gets old IMO, that haunting melody at the end DS9: Little Green Men -love the Roswell concept, no more crazy than current theories Star Trek (2009) -Trek Reborn! Star Trek: Into Darkness -gotta have the sequel Star Trek: The Voyage Home -the most fun Trek movie made, felt like the old TOS Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country -good story, worth rewatching Star Trek: First Contact -only good TNG movie, Cochrane & origin of warp drive