The very best episodes

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by lisa, Apr 21, 2012.

  1. Gojira

    Gojira Commodore Commodore

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    I always liked time travel episodes so the first season episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday" is a favorite of mine.
     
  2. Tina Lawton

    Tina Lawton Commander Red Shirt

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    "I Mudd" blows.
     
  3. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    The best.

    “Where No Man Has Gone Before"
    “The Corbomite Maneuver”
    “The Enemy Within”
    “The Naked Time”
    “Balance Of Terror”
    “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
    “Dagger Of The Mind”
    “The Galileo Seven”
    “Court Martial”
    “Shore Leave"
    “Arena”
    “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”
    “A Taste Of Armageddon”
    “Space Seed”
    “Errand Of Mercy”
    “The City On The Edge Of Forever”

    “Amok Time”
    “The Doomsday Machine”
    “Mirror, Mirror”
    “Journey To Babel”
    “Return To Tomorrow”
    “The Ultimate Computer”

    “Elaan Of Troyius”
    “The Enterprise Incident”
    “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”
    “The Tholian Web”

    Of course there are also quite a few Good episodes, but I think these are the creme.
     
  4. Ian Keldon

    Ian Keldon Fleet Captain

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    My list:

    Season 1
    The Cage
    Where No Man...
    Balance of Terror
    The Galileo Seven
    Arena
    Tomorrow is Yesterday
    Space Seed
    A Taste of Armageddon
    The Devil in the Dark
    Errand of Mercy
    City on the Edge of Forever

    Season 2
    Amok Time
    Mirror Mirror
    The Doomsday Machine
    Journey to Babel
    Trouble with Tribbles
    A Piece of the Action
    A Private Little War
    The Ultimate Computer
    Bread and Circuses

    Season 3
    The Enterprise Incident
    For the World is Hollow...
    Elaan of Troyius
    The Way to Eden

    Season 4 (TAS)
    Yesteryear
    The Survivor
    The Slaver Weapon

    I know I'm going to take flak for "The Way to Eden", but I don't care. For all it's seemingly simple "space hippy" plotline, I like that it shows that there's room in the Federation for people who don't want to be part of the "modern day rat race" as it were.

    It was a nice balance to too many episodes where "good" = "becoming like the Federation" (that is embracing technocratic progress) and people were not allowed to simply be content with their current situation.

    Don't get me wrong, for every situation where change was arguably needed ("A Taste of Armageddon", for example), there is a "This Side of Paradise", where happy, healthy people who had established an arguably good life for themselves were forced out of it because Kirk decided it "wasn't good for them".
     
  5. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

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    Wha'? I love it, not totally unreservedly but enough to place it among my most memorable. When the whole script leads up to Norman asking for help out of the final impossible logical puzzle they've presented to him ("I am lying") and Kirk's mocking reply, "I am not programmed to respond in that area" - that's golden. As is the coda with the Stellae.
     
  6. Ian Keldon

    Ian Keldon Fleet Captain

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    ^It's amusing enough, but Mudd just irritates the crap out of me. He's pretty much a slimeball with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, unlike Cyrano Jones who has at least some charm to him.
     
  7. JimZipCode

    JimZipCode Commander Red Shirt

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    What does anyone see in Tholian Web?

    I mean, seriously. The episode sucked. It was static, and with Kirk mostly absent it driven mostly by the character interaction between Spock & McCoy, and their interaction is TERRIBLE. Poorly written, not well thought out, over acted.

    If you want to see Spock & McCoy deal with issues of command, re-watch Obsession to catch the key conversation in Kirk's quarters. Don't bother with Tholian Web.
     
  8. JimZipCode

    JimZipCode Commander Red Shirt

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    Hear, hear. As I've said elsewhere, Way To Eden is much better than its rep among Star Trek fans.

    The space hippie costumes and speech and mannerisms and songs are all annoying. But the story is actually pretty solid.
     
  9. Mr_Homn

    Mr_Homn Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I think the real reasons most people like Tholian Web (I count myself among them) are the following :

    1. It introduces one of the most exotically alien ever seen in star trek, even to this day. Insectoid races seem very rare in star trek, and it's really cool that they are in TOS.

    2. The tholian strategy (while a little silly) of making a web is a very unique idea and seems cool for what seem like "space spiders"

    3. I REALLY like the viewscreen conversation scene between Loskene and the enterprise crew. The voice of loskene and the special effects are incredibly well executed IMO

    4. Less shatner. don't get me wrong, I love shatner and I love kirk, but it's refreshing to have an episode centered more on spock and mccoy.

    5. the idea of kirk phasing in and out of space seems ahead of it's time. It also resulted in the really cool and kinda spooky scene of Uhura seeing kirk in her mirror. I think that's one of the best Uhura scenes of all time. This idea was revisited in lonely among us, when Picard finds himself in a similar situation

    these are the reasons that come to mind first, but there are more i'm sure
     
  10. JimZipCode

    JimZipCode Commander Red Shirt

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    I suppose if I am going to slag off on other people's lists, I should step forward with a list of my own.

    Lisa, a lot depends on how big you want your list to be. If you pinned me down and asked me for the VERY BEST episodes, my list would only be 3:

    Doomsday Machine
    Amok Time
    City on the Edge of Forever

    That's probably in ascending order of quality, and coincidentally in inverse chrono order, but I'd suggest watching them in that order.

    If you want to take a leisurely tour thru the better stuff in season one, in order; then I would give you this list of 12:

    Charlie X
    Enemy Within *
    Mudd's Women
    Dagger of the Mind
    Corbomite Maneuver *
    Balance of Terror *
    Shore Leave
    Space Seed
    Taste of Armageddon *
    This Side of Paradise
    Devil in the Dark *
    City on the Edge of Forever ***

    The ones marked with a star are my top 5 of season one (plus City of course).

    I could also give a season 2 list, but one season would certainly get you started.

    One thing I especially like about Charlie X, Mudd's Women, Dagger, Devil, and I'll throw in Court Martial & Conscience of the King too: they are the episodes that give you the best sense of what the galaxy of the Federation is like. A lot of Trek has the crew out in unknown space, interacting with aliens and hostile environments; those episodes have the crew interacting with other earth ships or settlements or starbases. It's interesting seeing them among their peers.

    (Taste of Armageddon has really grown on me in the past few years. I used to dismiss it as kind of an unremarkable episode. Nowadays I tend to think it's almost THE perfect example of a basic "good" Trek episode. Not an awesome episode, nowhere near among the best ever: but a perfect example of what a "good" Trek episode is like. It does a lot of things well. Plus it has Barbara Babcock, and the "I will not kill – today" speech.)
     
  11. Ana

    Ana Cadet Newbie

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    Am I the only one who likes "Operation: Annihilate" a lot?
    Nobody ever mentions this episode.
     
  12. JimZipCode

    JimZipCode Commander Red Shirt

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    Yes. :cool:

    I remember liking the James Blish story version of that one. To me that episode's most important function is to let season one finish on a lighter note than City.
     
  13. Ana

    Ana Cadet Newbie

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    May 19, 2012
    Really?
    Well, it's not my favorite, but it's on my top 10 list.
     
  14. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    I wouldn't say "a lot," but I do like the episode.
     
  15. Captrek

    Captrek Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The [thread=148209]Schulze Method thread[/thread], which unfortunately got rather limited participation, produced these results:

    [​IMG]

    (clickable thumbnail)​
     
  16. JRoss

    JRoss Commodore Commodore

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    Not a whole lotta love for The Savage Curtain. I really liked that one, though.
     
  17. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    No one considers Day of the Dove as one of the best 3rd season shows?
     
  18. Gojira

    Gojira Commodore Commodore

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    I do! It is one of the better Klingon episodes.
     
  19. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Even though it kills off Kirk's brother and sister-in-law?
     
  20. JimZipCode

    JimZipCode Commander Red Shirt

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    Worth doing again, maybe.