"79 Episodes, About 30 Good Ones"

So assuming that Fry's ratio of good to bad TOS episodes in Futurama's "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" is accurate, which 30 make the cut for you? (You can choose fewer episodes if you'd like, but for the purposes of this thread, you can't go over 30. We'll count the two-part "The Menagerie" as a single episode for simplicity's sake, as I believe that's how most episode guides list it.)

Here's my list. It was actually a bit tougher than I expected it to be. My first pass was 35 episodes. If I had a few more slots to play with, I'd put some third season episodes in there, but I can't say I'd miss most of them.

1) The Cage (unaired pilot)
2) Where No Man Has Gone Before
3) The Corbomite Maneuver
4) The Enemy Within
5) The Naked Time
6) Charlie X
7) Balance of Terror
8) What Are Little Girls Made Of?
9) The Menagerie (Parts I and II)
10) Shore Leave
11) Arena
12) Tomorrow is Yesterday
13) A Taste of Armageddon
14) Space Seed
15) This Side of Paradise
16) The Devil in the Dark
17) Errand of Mercy
18) The City on the Edge of Forever
19) Metamorphosis
20) Friday's Child
21) Amok Time
22) The Doomsday Machine
23) Mirror, Mirror
24) I, Mudd
25) The Trouble with Tribbles
26) Bread and Circuses
27) Journey to Babel
28) A Private Little War
29) A Piece of the Action
30) The Ultimate Computer

What are your choices?

 

There are a lot more than just thirty good ones.

My last rewatch I found 52 episodes good-excellent, 18 episodes fair and only 6 poor-bad.

In comparison my last TNG rewatch I found 56 episodes good-excellent out of 7 seasons! The series ran more than twice as long as TOS and couldn’t do better. Suffice to say the remaining episodes were fair to boring-as-hell.

 

Okay, then call it your 30 favorite, then.

 

I think there are more like 20 great ones, 30 good ones, 25 ok ones and 4 or 5 stinkers.

 

I had 26 excellent ones, 26 good ones, about 18 okay ones and the remaining…less than inspired.

 

My 30:

1. Where No Man Has Gone Before
2. The Naked Time
3. Mudd's Women
   
4. The Menagerie
5. The Conscience of the King
6. Balance of Terror
7. Court Martial
8. Space Seed
9. A Taste of Armageddon
10. Amok Time
11. The Doomsday Machine
12. I, Mudd
    
13. Journey to Babel
14. Friday's Child
15. The Immunity Syndrome
16. By Any Other Name
17. The Ultimate Computer
18. Bread And Circuses
19. The Enterprise Incident
20. The Paradise Syndrome
21. Is There in Truth No Beauty
22. Day of the Dove
23. The Tholian Web
24. Plato's Stepchildren
25. Wink of an Eye
26. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
27. That Which Survives
28. The Way to Eden
29. The Cloud Minders
30. All Our Yesterdays

I looked up Wikipedia for the master list and took names that had me instantly going "That one's good", or "That's generally good", with the intention of circling back to the "Erm, maybe, lemme see what else is there first" lot, which were about six or so...

1. The Man Trap
   
2. Charlie X
3. The Corbomite Maneuver
4. The Squire of Gothos
5. Tomorrow is Yesterday
   
6. Who Mourns for Adonis
7. The Omega Glory
   
8. Whom Gods Destroy
9. Turnabout Intruder

...oh, it's more than six. That's a good thing.

The rest I don't even remember, or there's so little that I remembered was good, or so much that was "wut?" or "Yougottabekidding"... And the best of what's left is "Wolf in the Fold"... ("Wink of an Eye" has its problems, but it lacks the casual and heavy-handed sexism that clobbers "Wolf" incessantly.)

 

Here are the 30 episodes I watch the most, which makes them the most enjoyable 30 (in airdate order). There are a lot more that I really like and some are legitimately good but I don't go back to them often.

*= legit good/great episode
** = guilty pleasure

1. The Man Trap **
2. Where No Man Has Gone Before *
3. The Naked Time *
4. The Enemy Within *
5. The Corbomite Maneuver *
6. The Menagerie *
7. Balance of Terror *
8. The Galileo Seven *
9. Arena *
10. A Taste of Armageddon *
11. The City on the Edge of Forever *
12. The Changeling *
13. Mirror, Mirror *
14. The Doomsday Machine *
15. Journey to Babel *
16. Obsession *
17. The Gamesters of Triskelion
18. The Immunity Syndrome *
19. A Private Little War *
20. The Ultimate Computer *
21. Bread and Circuses *
22. The Paradise Syndrome *
23. Is There in Truth No Beauty? *
24. Spectre of the Gun *
25. Day of the Dove *
26. The Tholian Web *
27. The Empath *
28. Elaan of Troyius *
29. That Which Survives **
30. The Savage Curtain **

 

I haven’t gone through them each, but this sounds like about my ratio.
There are just a couple I won’t watch. Both Mudds, in fact. There are a bunch I’m just not likely to, but could certainly stand them. All the rest good to great, in my usage of those terms.

 

Futurama is ridiculous and certainly not something to take seriously as a critique of anything.

I'd say there's easily 10 amazing ones, 40 good ones, 15 okay ones, 13 meh, and Spock's Brain.

 

Who said I'm taking it seriously? I just thought it was a fun idea for a thread.

 

Fun thread! I followed Ssosmcin's example: while I think something like "The Changeling" is a pretty good episode, it's not one that I really enjoy a whole lot, and on the other hand, there are a lot of just-fun episodes that I had a hard time eliminating (goodbye, most of middle Season 2).

1. The Cage
2. The Man Trap
3. Charlie X
4. Where No Man Has Gone Before
5. The Naked Time
6. The Corbomite Maneuver
7. The Conscience of the King
8. Balance of Terror
9. Shore Leave
10. The Galileo Seven
11. The Squire of Gothos
12. Arena
13. Tomorrow Is Yesterday
14. Space Seed
15. A Taste of Armageddon
16. This Side of Paradise
17. The Devil in the Dark
18. Errand of Mercy
19. The City on the Edge of Forever
20. Amok Time
21. Who Mourns for Adonais?
22. Mirror, Mirror
23. The Doomsday Machine
24. Journey to Babel
25. The Trouble with Tribbles
26. A Piece of the Action
27. Spectre of the Gun
28. Day of the Dove
29. The Tholian Web
30. All Our Yesterdays

 

Yes Zetar is one of my few go-to episodes. Despite no real dynamic between our heroes in this one (in that they are all on the same side, and that's that), Shatner is at his least hammy in this episode compared with other third season counterparts. And the whole body possession concept is realised with psychological horror. The colourful photography lends itself well to the trippy feel of the piece.

 

I think the "30 good ones" argument is bullshit. It comes from the type of person who wants to like the show and trash it at the same time. I can go with my Top 30, but beneath that is about 40 episodes that I'd still consider to be good. There are less than 10 episodes that I'd think of as either "not good" or "outright bad". Bad episodes were the exception, not the rule. Otherwise, we wouldn't even be here talking about it today.

Off the top of my head, in production order (though I might be mixing up the order of some)...

1. "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
2. "The Enemy Within"
3. "The Naked Time"
4. "Balance of Terror"
5. "The Conscience of the King"
6. "Dagger of the Mind"
7. "The Galileo Seven"
8. "Court Martial"
9. "Shore Leave"
10. "A Taste of Armageddon"
11. "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"
12. "The City on the Edge of Forever"
13. "Amok Time"
14. "The Doomsday Machine"
15. "Mirror, Mirror"
16. "Journey to Babel"
17. "I, Mudd"
18. "A Piece of the Action"
19. "The Trouble With Tribbles"
20. "Return to Tomorrow"
21. "A Private Little War"
22. "The Ultimate Computer"
23. "By Any Other Name"
24. "Assignment: Earth"
25. "The Enterprise Incident"
26. "The Empath"
27. "Day of the Dove"
28. "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky"
29. "The Tholian Web"
30. "The Cloudminders"

I'm leaving out a ton.

They're not on my list (unfortunately) but "That Which Survives" and "The Gamesters of Triskelion" are two of my Guilty Pleasures.

 

It’s true that there are more than 30 good episodes.

It’s just that ‘79 episodes, 30 good ones’ makes a better joke than ‘79 episodes, about 30 of which are excellent, 30 are middling to good, 10 are average and 9 range from misfire to shit’.

 

I know they were going for a joke. But it summed a lot of the thinking back in the '90s (or early-'00s?) when the episode was made. This was in the days of "TNG Rules, TOS Drools!" Then it flipped to the opposite for a little while after Nemesis bombed ("TOS Rules, TNG Drools!") before people finally decided, "The Hell with it! As long as it's Pre-2009, anything goes!" Which it still looks like things are at right now.

 

@Lord Garth

I dunno. I'm aware that the sentiment existed at the time, but one thing that's clear from Futurama is the writers were fans of SF generally. The 50s/60s 'Jetson's' aesthetic is the whole basis of the shows look and feel. I sincerely doubt they were joining the Berman crew in sticking the boot into TOS.

As with many gags in Futurama, it's a sharp dig (that's a little overblown) but ultimately is meant to be taken as affectionate.

 

I should've figured that some people here would take a simple joke WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY too seriously.

Exactly. The episode was written by David A. Goodman, who later wrote The Autobiography of James T. Kirk and The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard for Titan Books, and it's peppered with the sort of deep cut jokes that only a true fan could make. The guy is one of us. The "about 30 good ones" joke is probably no more an expression of Goodman's true feelings about Star Trek than Shatner's "Get a Life!" sketch on SNL was of his.

 

Better yet, he went on to write four episodes of Enterprise - starting with Precious Cargo, an episode which is worse than pretty much anything TOS ever did.