Game The Most Disliked Season Premiere

[Sakonna]

THE OBJECTIVE: A sudden-death elimination game in which we remove our personal favorite episodes from a themed list, until we arrive at the episode that is, if not the worst, at least the most disliked.

THE RULES: Below is a list of every season premiere of every Trek series (per original airdate, not production order) -- including today's Strange New Worlds premiere!

Eliminate/save your favorite, or the one you deem the ‘best.’
Post something you love about the episode you are saving, and copy-and-paste the list with your choice removed.

You can use any standard you like to judge which option is "best." You can save episodes for being widely recognized “best Trek” classics, or for idiosyncratic qualities that no one appreciates but you.

But -- no tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode because you don’t think anyone else will, or because you feel it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to “win.”

You can take multiple turns. Leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

Please make sure to spoiler-tag your eliminations reasons for "The Star Gazer" and "Strange New Worlds." Instructions on how to spoiler tag are the 5th item from the bottom at this link: https://www.trekbbs.com/help/bb-codes

New players are always welcome, you do not have to already be a "most disliked game" regular to dive in.

Enjoy!

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TOS, Season 3: "Spock's Brain"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 4: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part II"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 6: "Time's Arrow, Part II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 1: "Emissary"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 4: "The Way Of The Warrior"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 5: "Night"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"
SNW, Season 1: "Strange New Worlds"

 

[Summer Solstice]

Saving "Night" - it introduces Captain Proton which is the holodeck program I'd most like to play, we see what life is like on Voyager when it's quiet and Janeway in particular can't cope with that, and everyone deals with a crisis well. It's a fun episode. It's also the episode where Chakotay leads a successful mutiny.

Just looking down the whole list, there are loads of really good episodes. There are quite a few Part IIs and on Voyager in particular Part IIs are weaker than Part Is. It will be interesting to see how Part Is do vs Part IIs vs stand alone episodes.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TOS, Season 3: "Spock's Brain"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 4: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part II"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 6: "Time's Arrow, Part II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 1: "Emissary"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 4: "The Way Of The Warrior"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"
SNW, Season 1: "Strange New Worlds"

 

[Qonundrum]

So many to like...

Fettered by the fact they're season and not series openers,

DS9, Season 4: "The Way Of The Warrior"

Was what the whole of the franchise needed.

Other season and series openers were good, but TWOTW presents a huge shake-up and with a fair bit of deserved confidence. The new theme is slightly sped up in tempo, yielding a new sense of urgency. The Klingon war now opens up a lot. Adding in Worf opens up new plotlines, and in ways TNG couldn't begin to do with any credibility, not to mention Michael Dorn slips in effortlessly into the cast (and not to forget that he could even carry "Birthright" despite that script being sub-par...)

Definitely the best season opener of the lot. And that includes Uncle Locutus's... which is saying something but says more since there are a couple re-uses of plot fodder, such as Worf wanting to quit the Federation... but it doesn't stick out badly either, in part to surrounding material and how well Worf fits in.

What's left to be assimilated? Dissected? Disseminated? Deconstructed?

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TOS, Season 3: "Spock's Brain"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 4: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part II"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 6: "Time's Arrow, Part II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 1: "Emissary"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"
SNW, Season 1: "Strange New Worlds"

 

[Sakonna]

Gotta start with "Time's Arrow, Part II" The first season premiere I had the pleasure of anticipating in real time, having first become a fan in the middle of season 5. I still find it immensely fun.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TOS, Season 3: "Spock's Brain"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 4: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part II"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 1: "Emissary"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"
SNW, Season 1: "Strange New Worlds"

 

[Summer Solstice]

"Spock's Brain" - it's funny and using Spock's brain as a computer is such a cool idea.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 4: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part II"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 1: "Emissary"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"
SNW, Season 1: "Strange New Worlds"

 

[Qonundrum]

There are many top-tier episodes, but #2 on my list involves Locutus:

TNG, Season 4: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part II"

I like this better than part one.

Why?

Because, in 1990, I guessed way too early (and correctly, which is far more worrisome) that Picard would be Borgified. Yes, it's stylish and the cliffhanger still worked wonders for me (there's even a commemorative T-Shirt*!), but we all watch Road Runner cartoons, know that Dumbass Coyote will run off the cliff, we see him do that, and we laugh because it's still funny. So it's no less scary when seeing creepy Locutus appear on screen with his cat laser toy attachment only to offer candy to the ship's complement.

But I digress, with presumably the same response relative to me as what you expected when seeing Coyote and Picard but I digress again. What makes part 2 work is how they handle and resolve the setup from part one, along with not just a brilliant reversal of part 1's beats but an ending that isn't the cliched whiz-bang-boom-boom we'd otherwise get in script-by-numbers. This is some fantastic stuff, rendered more so knowing that the scriptwriter, who wrote part one, didn't expect to be returning - hence his writing Picard into a corner and was now stuck. The result is true brilliance. (Now think into why I still say TWOTW is that much superior, despite this concluding part being first rate and a masterpiece...)


* T-Shirt link


What's left to be assimilated? Dissected? Disseminated? Deconstructed?

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 1: "Emissary"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"
SNW, Season 1: "Strange New Worlds"

 

[Qonundrum]

"Spock's Brain" - it's funny and using Spock's brain as a computer is such a cool idea.

And the "battle of the sexes" idea was arguably handled better here than in "Angel One"... if not almost as superficially; there's a hint on how the divergence took place, but no real talk on how to get them to work together again. On the plus side, that allows viewers to think what they want but, come on, this is 1968 and on Friday - anyone watching was higher than Ben Franklin's kite during a thunderstorm... and arguably would have to be...

The fact they played it straight helped, and the bridge scene where the crew discuss which planet he might be on are definitely plus points. Ditto for the one time in the show's 79 episode history they bothered to use a(n expensive) backscreen projector instead of superimposing an image onto the viewer... It's a mixed bag, the old 60s trope of the people losing mental faculties due to all the computer doing the thinking for them is also told on cue, but all in all I don't dislike it... it's the type of story you wish they'd have done more with, other than Kirk asking where all the women are...

 

[gweeps]

DS9's series premiere, Emissary, for me is a fantastic opener for a show. We get emotional scenes that add depth to a character right out of the gate. We get superb tie-ins to the previous Trek series. We get an enchanting main theme score. We have the most unique setting for a Trek series yet - and still. Fascinating new characters. The episode has humour. It doesn't drag too much. There is a clear character arc for the thing, but we still have many unanswered questions we actually want to find answers for.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"
SNW, Season 1: "Strange New Worlds"

 

[Summer Solstice]

And the "battle of the sexes" idea was arguably handled better here than in "Angel One"... if not almost as superficially; there's a hint on how the divergence took place, but no real talk on how to get them to work together again. On the plus side, that allows viewers to think what they want but, come on, this is 1968 and on Friday - anyone watching was higher than Ben Franklin's kite during a thunderstorm... and arguably would have to be...

The fact they played it straight helped, and the bridge scene where the crew discuss which planet he might be on are definitely plus points. Ditto for the one time in the show's 79 episode history they bothered to use a(n expensive) backscreen projector instead of superimposing an image onto the viewer... It's a mixed bag, the old 60s trope of the people losing mental faculties due to all the computer doing the thinking for them is also told on cue, but all in all I don't dislike it... it's the type of story you wish they'd have done more with, other than Kirk asking where all the women are...

The bridge scene has actual peril - will they pick the right planet? Will Spock be ok? etc.

I love the way that computers are portrayed in TOS. I also love how sci-fi some of them look - massive brightly coloured buttons, taking up a whole room. But actually still quite relevant. How often do you ask a computer what the weather is vs looking out the window?

 

[Qonundrum]

DS9's series premiere, Emissary, for me is a fantastic opener for a show. We get emotional scenes that add depth to a character right out of the gate. We get superb tie-ins to the previous Trek series. We get an enchanting main theme score. We have the most unique setting for a Trek series yet - and still. Fascinating new characters. The episode has humour. It doesn't drag too much. There is a clear character arc for the thing, but we still have many unanswered questions we actually want to find answers for.

'Emissary" is the most level-flowing of the series premieres for sure. My only gripe is that the subplot about Sisko teaching the Prophets about love feels more like TOS, if not too much so. Possibly to help set the feel of this spinoff, but a couple times I was pulled out of the story with thoughts of "Seems a bit Kirky to me". Yet the more I rewatch, the more I realize that's the point. DS9's first year is replete in showing how this show is not in the shadow of TNG (as the Picard scenes readily demonstrate!) but how DS9 took the best of DS9 and TOS and made something of its own path instead. It's brilliant, rather... Especially when we see Quark, a character who would be given much more later in the first season but as far as premieres goes, you can tell they have plans more and other than "campy villain of the week".

The bridge scene has actual peril - will they pick the right planet? Will Spock be ok? etc.

I love the way that computers are portrayed in TOS. I also love how sci-fi some of them look - massive brightly coloured buttons, taking up a whole room. But actually still quite relevant. How often do you ask a computer what the weather is vs looking out the window?

They were a little too over the top at times, wonderful in others. Nomad being an example of over the top in ways but brilliant in others. Vaal was a joke. M5 rocked. Landru was meh, but the machines on Eminiar VII definitely looked cool.

As for computers being so futuristic they take up a whole room,
the definitive models are found here:

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If nothing else, note how he compares the innocent sweet things in this rated "G" movie to the frightening "PG" gorefests of recent...
(the computer line starts at 2:11, if not 6:45, but it's more fun to start at 0:00 and wait until 19:35 if possible... especially as he found a great way to put in a Star Trek reference too... )

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Maybe just the New Trek glow, but I’ll save the latest, SNW: Strange New Worlds. Many reasons, but mainly Anson Mount shining in a brilliant role at the centre of a promising new show.

Otherwise, no spoilers. I liked it a lot though.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
PIC, Season 2: "The Star Gazer"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[Sakonna]

Was just coming here to save SNW, which was SO GOOD.

So instead I'll go with "The Star Gazer."

Spoiler

Great reset from the problems of season 1. Fantastic returns of Guinan and Q. A compelling start to one of Streaming Trek's stronger seasons to date.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[Qonundrum]

I like some episodes more for other reasons, but in terms of overall balance:

TNG, Season 3: "Evolution"

This one certainly starts with a home run.

An episode so confident that they're already throwing in Michael Piller's love of baseball as euphemisms for Wesley to raise his bat for. And the egg euphemism is a bit of a dumbcluck as well, but not enough to really detract. Not with everything else going on that rocks.

Not just that, it shows Wes being fallible despite his high book smart IQ. Season 2 was the first to make him more human, season 3 completes the task and with as much deft handling too.

Guinan has a great moment with him as well.

The music feels a step up from what was already perfect.

The nanites are a cool invention. Not sure if they were intentional after season 2's "Q Who" episode, but between this episode and the 1996 movie "First Contact", either the Federation gave the Borg nanites during Wolf359 and played with them just like how all of us didn't spend our youths at Radio Shack learning about how electronics worked*, or they took the knowledge when borgifying Picard into Locutus and developed their own - with body snatching extra bits (the extent of which seems worthy of a separate argument).

* Well, I had and I sorta miss the days when you can pop in to get a couple spare potentiometers to fix the Atari 5200 Wico Command joystick controller with... but I'm a nerd, geek, and dweeb who even got lucky - what's more to want? Apart from the song 'Radio Shack" as played on the Dr Demento show (artist: "Guns'n'Moses') that no longer can be found anywhere... /pout)

Well, this is the next best thing, sorta... far lamer than just the song on its own...

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What's left:
TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TOS, Season 2: "Amok Time"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[Richard S. Ta]

All the way to the other end of the scale
for me is Amok Time. A bona fide classic.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 1: "Caretaker"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[Brennyren]

And here's a save for "Caretaker," a solid pilot that did a good job of establishing the series premise and introducing us to a range of characters.

TOS, Season 1: "The Man Trap"
TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[Richard S. Ta]

@Brennyren Aye, Caretaker is a great choice.

 

[dupersuper]

I'm saving The Man Trap: not because I like it much, but because Io hate considering it a premier just because NBC aired the first TOS episodes in a weird order.

TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Choosing TAS, Season 1: "Beyond The Farthest Star"
The alien ship is amazing. Great story, even if the execution is more than a little dodgy in places.
I'd rather watch it right now all the way through than any of the others all the way through, so there you go.
P.S. I too was coming to pick "Strange New Worlds." What an amazing episode.

TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Lots of great episodes in this list, but I'm going to save PIC, Season 1: "Remembrance". At the time I thought this was a contender for being the best of all the Star Trek pilots and my fondness for it hasn't faded.

TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 3: "That Hope Is You, Part 1"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"

 

[Richard S. Ta]

That Hope Is You, Part 1. An interesting and brave introduction to a new century in Star Trek. Book is great and he and Michael work really well together.

TAS, Season 2: "The Pirates Of Orion"
TNG, Season 1: "Encounter At Farpoint"
TNG, Season 2: "The Child"
TNG, Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
DS9, Season 2: "The Homecoming"
DS9, Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9, Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
DS9, Season 6: "A Time To Stand"
DS9, Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
VOY, Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY, Season 3: "Basics, Part II"
VOY, Season 4: "Scorpion, Part II"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY, Season 7: "Unimatrix Zero, Part II"
ENT, Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
ENT, Season 3: "The Xindi"
ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
DIS, Season 1: "The Vulcan Hello"
DIS, Season 2: "Brother"
DIS, Season 4: "Kobayashi Maru"
ST, Season 1: "Runaway"
ST, Season 2: "Q&A"
LD, Season 1: "Second Contact"
LD, Season 2: "Strange Energies"
PRO, Season 1: "Lost And Found"