Let's compare the first nine episodes of each modern series

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by The Wormhole, Nov 18, 2017.

  1. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    So with everyone saying Discovery is one of the better first seasons, I decided let's examine if that is indeed the case, so let's examine each first season, episode by episode. Basically say which pilot episode, episode 3, 4, and so one was your favourite. We're going in airdate order, though for TOS in the pilot episodes, I'll include the two actual pilots plus the first two episodes of the series to actually air. This is going to mean Where No Man Has Gone Before will show up twice. So to review, these are the episodes we're comparing:

    Pilot Episodes:
    The Cage
    Where No Man Has Gone Before
    The Man Trap
    Charlie X
    Encounter at Farpoint
    Emissary
    Caretaker
    Broken Bow
    The Vulcan Hello/Battle at the Binary Stars

    Episode 3:
    Where No Man Has Gone Before
    The Naked Now
    Past Prologue
    Parallax
    Fight or Flight
    Context is for Kings

    Episode 4:
    The Naked Time
    Code of Honor
    A Man Alone
    Time and Again
    Strange New World
    The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry

    Episode 5:
    The Enemy Within
    The Last Outpost
    Babel
    Phage
    Unexpected
    Choose Your Pain

    Episode 6:
    Mudd's Women
    Where No One Has Gone Before
    Captive Pursuit
    The Cloud
    Terra Nova
    Lethe

    Episode 7:
    What Are Little Girls Made Of?
    Lonely Among Us
    Q-Less
    Eye of the Needle
    The Andorian Incident
    Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad

    Episode 8:
    Miri
    Justice
    Dax
    Ex Post Facto
    Breaking the Ice
    Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

    Episode 9:
    Dagger of the Mind
    The Battle
    The Passenger
    Emanations
    Civilization
    Into the Forest I Go

    My choices:
    Emissary
    Context is for Kings
    Butcher's Knife
    Choose Your Pain
    Captive Pursuit
    The Andorian Incident
    Latin title
    Forest.

    Huh, well what do you know, out of the first nine episodes it seems Discovery did come out on top for five of them, at least IMO.

    So how do the rest of you assess these episodes?
     
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  2. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I haven't seen Disco yet, but it would be pretty easy to beat S1 of TNG. TOS has some pretty decent episodes right out of the gate IMO. DS9 starts out fairly rocky except for "Emissary" (which in some ways is easier to appreciate in retrospect) and "Captive Pursuit". I can't even remember what happens in a couple of the ENT episodes based solely on title, sorry to say.
     
  3. Vger23

    Vger23 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Wow...this is hard. Let's see...

    I'll give my top 3 in each category.



    Pilot:
    1. The Cage
    2. Emissary
    3. Encounter at Farpoint

    Episode 3:
    1. Where No Man
    2. Context Is For Kings
    3. The Naked Now

    Episode 4:
    1. The Butchers Knife
    2. Naked Time
    3. Strange New World

    Episode 5:
    1. The Enemy Within
    2. Chose Your Pain
    3. The Last Outpost

    Episode 6:
    1. Lethe
    2. Where No One Has Gone Before
    3. Captive Pursuit

    Episode 7:
    1. Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad
    2. What Are Little Girls Made Of?
    3. Eye of the Needle

    Episode 8:
    1. Dax
    2. Miri
    3. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

    Episode 9:
    1. Into The Forrest I Go
    2. Dagger of the Mind
    3. The Battle

    Very interesting exercise. If you now assigned weighting (5 points for 1st choice, 3 for second, and 1 for third) my series rankings by episode 9 are:

    TOS 30
    DSC 27
    TNG 10
    DS9 9
    VOY 1
    ENT 1

    It's actually pretty amazing how lackluster the first seasons of DS9, VOY and ENT were. For all the heat it gets, TNG was far better.
     
  4. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well, I think the consensus is that DS9 doesn't really start to escape from under TNG's shadow until late S2 or later. I've always felt that both shows started off badly, but that DS9 improved at a faster rate.
     
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  5. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    JirinPanthosa
    Emissary
    Where No Man Has Gone Before
    Time and Again
    Choose Your Pain
    Captive Pursuit
    Eye of the Needle
    Miri
    Dagger of the Mind

    So I picked 3 TOS, 1 TNG, 1 DS9, 2 Voy, 1 DSC

    To me TOS first several episodes were weak and Miri is about when it picked up, I suspect if we continued this exercise, TOS would end season 2 with a huge lead, then TNG would catch up in season 3.

    If I extended this all the way to the end, I suspect TNG would win, DS9 would come a very respectable second, TOS next because it didn't play as long, Voyager would end up with maybe 10-15 points, Ent would only pick up a handful in season 3-4.
     
  6. Vger23

    Vger23 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    DS9 was a great series, but it's first season was almost unwatchable. Like TNGs worst seasons, but on a static location of a space station.

    DSCs first 9 blow DS9s first 9 away.
     
  7. BlueStuff

    BlueStuff Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Location:
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    I tried this idea on the Discovery board a few weeks ago and it bombed hard, so I'm a little jealous that people are responding here. ;)

    Emissary (DS9)
    Where No Man Has Gone Before (TOS)
    The Naked Time (TOS)
    Choose Your Pain (DIS)
    Where No One Has Gone Before (TNG)
    Eye of the Needle (VOY)
    Breaking the Ice (ENT)
    Into the Forest I Go (DIS)

    TOS - 2
    TNG - 1
    DS9 - 1
    VOY - 1
    ENT - 1
    DIS - 2
     
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  8. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Bad Thoughts
    Emissary
    Where No Man Has Gone Before
    Naked Time
    Phage
    Captive Pursuits
    Magic to Make the Most Insanely Contrived Title Ever
    Breaking the Ice
    Civilization
     
  9. Tim Thomason

    Tim Thomason Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Don't forget these nine episodes:

    Beyond the Farthest Star
    Yesteryear
    One of Our Planets is Missing
    The Lorelei Signal
    More Tribbles, More Troubles
    The Survivor
    The Infinite Vulcan
    The Magicks of Megas-tu
    Once Upon a Planet

    Yesteryear seems the clear winner in the Ep1/2 matchup. I also enjoyed More Tribbles slightly more than The Enemy Within or Unexpected.
     
  10. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ^^I debated including TAS I wasn't really sure it would properly match the set up, particularly with the pilot episode. But sure, anyone who wants to choose one of the first nine TAS is free to do so.
     
  11. Gul Sengosts

    Gul Sengosts Commander Red Shirt

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    Nov 18, 2017
    Emissary
    Past Prologue
    The Naked Time
    The Enemy Within
    Captive Pursuit
    What Are Little Girls Made Of?
    Dax
    Dagger of the Mind

    That's 4x TOS and 4x DS9, I'm kinda surprised. I'm not even a great fan of TOS, I much prefer TNG, but that of course had a very slow start. In some cases it was difficult to decide, especially 5-7 where I didn't really like any of them.