Need a good starter episode for a newbie

[Noname Given]

IMO - the episode the encapsulates 'Star Trek' for me is:

The Corbomite Manuever (And I still think it's one of the best Star Trek episodes from any of the 6 series <-- I'm also counting TAS .)

The ship is exploring the edge of known space. All the characters have good bits in the episode, and there's some suspense and danger; and it's essentially a 'Fisrt Contact' situation as well.

And if you don't care for 'hokey special effects' show him the remastered version. Hell, even in syndication these days the channel show the series in my area is showing the remastered version of the episodes.

[erastus25]

In my experience, Shore Leave never fails. Space Seed is another good choice. You even get a badass McCoy moment!

[Greg Cox]

erastus25 wrote:

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In my experience, Shore Leave never fails.

That could depend on gender. I have a soft spot for Shore Leave myself, but a female acquaintance once rolled her eyes a bit at the 60's era sexism. McCoy showing up with two scantily-clad showgirls, the yeoman wanting to be carried off by Don Juan, etc.

And Ruth is probably the most boring of all Kirk's ex-flames.

[T'Bonz]

I'd go with The Trouble With Tribbles.

[emergencyfruit]

We went with Balance of Terror, and mission accomplished! He loved it! Thanks so much, everyone! While we ran out of time to watch a second episode, he is eagerly awaiting the next one. Corbomite or Tribbles will be next on the list, and then I'll set him loose to explore on his own. This is really awesome - thanks a million times, guys!

[Jackson_Roykirk]

T'Bonz wrote:

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I'd go with The Trouble With Tribbles.

I still think you need to have a baseline knowledge of the characters for that episode to have its full effect.

If the viewer does not know anything about Kirk, Spock, Scotty, McCoy, or Chekov to begin with, then the intentional caricatures of themselves that were presented too us loses their meaning.

[Nacluv]

Jackson_Roykirk wrote:

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I still think you need to have a baseline knowledge of the characters for that episode to have its full effect.

If the viewer does not know anything about Kirk, Spock, Scotty, McCoy, or Chekov to begin with, then the intentional caricatures of themselves that were presented too us loses their meaning.

I think it's the same with The Naked Time and Mirror, Mirror.


OP: Now that he has seen Balance of Terror and liked it, maybe you should just let him watch the episodes in either production order or airdate order.

[Mr_Homn]

The Doomsday Machine is what hooked my buddy.

[Nacluv]

My girlfriend has decided that she wants to be a part of my biggest reason to live, my passion for the cinema. We understood that it would neither be very easy or much point in trying to converge and agglutinate our tastes (and especially since she wants to become versed in what kind of movies I watch) so we don't make any kind of accommodations and literally force one another to watch what ever movie that person desires. So far, the only good thing is that at least I get to see new movies for a change. This evening we've seen MILF, The Strangers and Rogue River and later tonight she will submit to Perché si uccide un magistrato, Laugh, Clown Laugh (her first silent flick haha) and two Star Trek TOS & TNG episodes. Altough annoyed at the fact that I only choose movies I've wanted to rewatch many times but usually do not allow myself to as I have so many different projects and movies that I must see, she's looking forward to seeing Star Trek, since it's such a big deal to me.

The episodes I've picked are The Enemy Within and The Measure of a Man. I personally feel that those are pretty good episodes to introduce someone to Star Trek. Any opinions?

[Greg Cox]

Nacluv wrote:

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The episodes I've picked are The Enemy Within and The Measure of a Man. I personally feel that those are pretty good episodes to introduce someone to Star Trek. Any opinions?

Good choices, especially Measure of a Man.

For TOS, you might also consider "Balance of Terror," "The Doomsday Machine," or "City on the Edge of Forever."

[JimZipCode]

emergencyfruit wrote:

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We went with Balance of Terror, and mission accomplished! He loved it! Thanks so much, everyone! While we ran out of time to watch a second episode, he is eagerly awaiting the next one. Corbomite or Tribbles will be next on the list, and then I'll set him loose to explore on his own. This is really awesome - thanks a million times, guys!

I'm glad this thread got bumped so I got to see it.

I'm curious how the rest of this story went down. It seems to me that someone could like Balance and Corbomite, and not like seasons two and three, what with the changes of producers etc.

[TheRealSuluh]

I second both "Space Seed" and "The Trouble With Tribbles".

"Space Seed" because it introduces Khan and you'd have to have lived under a rock for the last 35 years not to know who Khan Noonien Singh is.

"The Trouble With Tribbles" because it is one of the most famous episodes outside Trek-dom. Bonus points if you watch "Trials & Tribble-ations" from DS9, too. In fact, I'd probably watch that episode of DS9 as a "gateway episode" to TOS.

If he's a gamer, get him hooked on STO (Star Trek Online). Then he'll have to work his way through all the series so that he can keep up with the 'verse.

[BoredShipCapt'n]

[QUOTE=Sindatur;6875927]

Nacluv wrote:

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Another really popular episode I've never cared a whole lot for is "The Giant Flying Terd" one, The Doomsday Machine.

It's a "Bugle," actually.

[Metryq]

Methos wrote:

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Failing that, find some green bodypaint and wear that while watching The Cage.

Count me in! Cosplayers can be dangerous, though.

By the way, did anyone else think red lipstick on a green woman looked a little weird? (That is, unless Orions are red-blooded. Blush response and all that.)

[Robert Comsol]

Since it was a Star Wars fan (original trilogy) that needed to be "turned" I agree that the cat-and-mouse play of "Balance of Terror" was (obviously) a good choice as it's similar to events in "The Empire Strikes Back".

"The Corbomite Maneuver" (it was the first regular episode of TOS, most impressive!) revealed that Captain Kirk wouldn't have been up to play a game of poker with Han Solo. Understandably the ghost of Bill Shatner told the protagonist in Meyer-Burnett's "Free Enterprise" to kick the butt of the Star Wars antagonist who claimed Han Solo was cooler than Captain Kirk ( Can you believe that?).

And then there is "The Doomsday-Machine" that obviously came before the Death Star of Star Wars. Another concept pretty palatable to a Star Wars fan and revealing that some ideas of Star Wars had been there first in TOS (even if the VFX, admittedly, didn't look that great).

Bob