The one that brought you the most enjoyment, where you'd want to live, advanced Trek the most by displaying a counterpart. Or just had the hottest babes. Mirror universe. Abrams universe Yesterday's Enterprise universe. Edith Keeler lived universe. Spock died at seven universe. The Borg are everywhere universe. Or another of your own preference. For me it's the Yesterday's Enterprise universe, it's interesting to conjecture how one event generated so much change over the course of forty years. And was Picard telling the truth or lying to Garret about the Federation losing? Was the Federation actually winning, but Picard wanted to deceive Garret into volunteering to save the lives of billions of people? I also wonder if Spock was killed at seven, and the Enterprise (and Kirk himself) still existed until the time of TAS, were all of Spock's contributions to the prime timeline completely inconsequential? Your turn.
That's a toughie as there are loads of good ones to choose from. For me its a toss up between Yesterday's Enterprise and Borg Are Everywhere. I like the bleak, hopeless situations both are in, both of which will test the character of even the most hardened of Starfleet officer (Riker had obviously cracked under the strain).
You mean Places of Exile? It was a nice story, but I got a distinct aura of "smug" about it. Meaning, a utopian-ish "This is the way the show should have been all along" vibe. Although it's nice to see the Vostigye fleshed out a bit. My favorite universe: Mirror. Second favorite: Abrams-MU. (yes, I know that one doesn't technically exist, but it will! )
Some would argue that it -is- the way the show should have been all along. I won't go that far myself, but I'll certainly say I feel the writing on the show could have been better, and that some of the ways in which it could have been better are displayed here. Anyway, it's one of the few alternate timelines I'm recollecting that aren't almost by default worse than the Prime timeline in terms of how things turn out for the universe. I wish we could have gotten more of a comparison between the two timelines we're given in "Endgame" as a means of determining which one worked out better in general.
I started a thread about this a few weeks ago. There's an excellent MU story dealing with it called The Chimes at Midnight. Spoiler: The Chimes at Midnight In this continuity, Thelin th'Valrass becomes Kirk's closest friend and first-officer. The story begins in 2274 with the first chapter and then skips ahead to the events of TWOK. There are snippets in the story that suggest at least some of what happened during TOS still occurred (Arne Darvin makes an appearance, for example), but it's not clear where and when any differences took place. My favorite alternate universe hasn't been written yet (that I know of). I'd like to see what would have become of the Enterprise under Decker's command. Would she have survived the V'Ger incident? And what of Sonak and the rest of Decker's command crew? It's never been made clear who would've stayed aboard had he captained the ship as intended. --Sran
Agreed, and we can only hope! That said, I like all 285,000 of them. Parrallel universe stories are the best part of science fiction, Star Trek or not.
Wait, now there's 285,001, 285,002, 285,003... Remember, EVERY single solitary decision EVERYWHERE in the galaxy creates a parallel universe.
It's getting to the point where parallel universes are almost as overused and cliche as time travel is in Trek. That said, I liked the Yesterday's Enterprise one best. It made the most sense and didn't fundamentally change who the characters were, just their experiences. They weren't evil, or self-parodies, just filled with bitter experience and pragmatism yet still the same good people at the core. I'd have liked to see more of that universe.
Although it started as a book trilogy, my favorite Alternate Universe was created by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens in the Millenium trilogy. Its got a huge cast, all kinds of cameos, and references to old episodes but it works! The image on the cover is Weyoun wearing a Bajoran earring favored by the Kai. How could you not be intrigued!
I rather enjoyed the parallel universe where Barnabas Collins never became a vampire, but centuries later Walter Bishop became Secretary of Defense. This is of course the same universe where George Bailey was never born.