Best and worst bottle shows

[Tiberius]

Shades of Gray is perhaps more precisely called a clip show, I think is the point, yes?

Most precisely, it's both.

But the opening scene in Shades' is of Riker off the ship, down on a planet, where he gets stung/bitten. So not a bottle show at all.

Maybe not, but given that the new set was little more than a bunch of greens on a soundstage, it's not like it would have cost much.

 

[Maurice]

Bottle show means standing sets. TNG's Planet Hell was a standing set they redressed as needed.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Bottle show means standing sets. TNG's Planet Hell was a standing set they redressed as needed.

I think with STAR TREK, we can slightly liberalize that to include shows with one extra indoor set that was thrown together fast and simple. "The Mark of Gideon" with it's tiny council chamber, and "Is There in Truth No Beauty" with it's Arboritum, still qualify as I see it. These were low budget episodes.

 

[CoveTom]

I would suggest "The Drumhead" as perhaps one of the best bottle shows across all the series. And although I don't think it fits in the same category as that, I'd cite "Where Silence Has Lease" as one that's always been a favorite of mine. And, man, that's a true bottle show. Only one guest star, and the only scenes off the Enterprise on an identical sister ship!

And I agree with categorizing "Shades of Grey" as a bottle show, and with its label as the worst.

 

[Loskene]

Best = In the Pale Moonlight.

 

[JiNX-01]

TOS:

Like:
Mirror, Mirror
The Ultimate Computer

Dislike:
Charlie X
Turnabout Intruder
The Way to Eden

TNG:

Like:
The Measure of a Man
Deja Q
The Offspring
The Drumhead
Cause and Effect
Ship in A Bottle

Dislike:
The Naked Now
The Child
Imaginary Friend


DS9: I haven't seen DS9 since
the finale so I won't have
many entries on this one.

Like
Duet
The Visitor
Our Man Bashir

Dislike
Q-Less
His Way

VOY:

Like
Death Wish
Worst Case Scenario
Latent Image
Bride of Chaotica
Real Life

Dislike
Tuvix
Once Upon a Time
Bliss
One


ENT:

Like
Shuttlepod One
Silent Enemy
Vox Sola
Fallen Hero
Minefield
Singularity
The Catwalk
Cogenitor
Similitude

Disllike
Doctor's Orders
Stratagem

 

[Lance]

Bottle shows are awesome.
The Doomsday Machine.
The Ultimate Computer.
The Offspring.
The Drumhead.
The Immunity Syndrome.
The Corbomite Maneuver.
Duet.
Charlie X.
The Changeling.



Lots more.

Totally agreed. I think the reason bottle shows are awesome is precisely because they do have limits imposed on them: there's something about being told "you can only use the regular standing sets, and don't go employing too many guest stars" which forces everybody to come up with a much tighter, less flabby final product. Whereas productions with a bit more freedom in those areas can sometimes over-indulge to the point of losing traction somewhat.

In my opinion, bottle shows have proven to be among some of Star Trek's most successful formats.

 

[SchwEnt]

Right on. With bottle shows, many times it falls to the actors to carry the eps in lieu of location shooting or lots of guest stars or extra visuals. And ST actors and characters are the hallmarks of the greatest eps.

Plus, I like eps aboard the Enterprise. Strange new worlds are great, but for me personally, my favorite ST location will always be TOS Enterprise. I never get tired of being shipbound in the eps.

 

[EnsignRedshirt]

Doomsday Machine from TOS is one of my favorite Trek episodes; the tension packed into that episode is brilliantly thrilling, even today.

TNG:
Where Silence Has Lease holds a special place in my heart. One, for a more frank exploration of death that Trek sometimes lacked and, two, for the fact that Nagilum freaked me out as a kid (still does a bit).

I like A Matter of Perspective, courtroom dramas are fun and I thought this one was rather well done.

Clues is another fun, "What the heck is going on?", episode that invited multiple viewings. Conundrum follows in its footsteps.

DS9

Duet. One of the best of the early DS9 episodes. Great character building for Kira. Same goes for "The Wire" for Bashir and Garak.

Civil Defense (seeing Dukat so flustered is great) and Our Man Bashir (I'm a big Bond fan) are fun episodes as well.


Haven't watched much Voyager or Enterprise lately. Looking at the Memory Alpha lists aren't jogging my memories sufficiently.

 

[Captain McBain]

"Family" would probably be considered a bottle show. It's not horrible.

 

[R. Star]

Best = In the Pale Moonlight.

You know, I never thought of this one as a bottle show, but I guess it -could- vaguely qualifty. Though they brought in a lot of guest stars and designed a new Romulan shuttle just for Vreenak.

Duet still sets the high water mark for what a bottle show should be for me though. That was the crowning moment of season 1 and really not only told a powerful story but set the theme for DS9 as a whole.

The worst? ANIS takes the cake for me. Bad writing, bad acting = bad episode. Go figure.

 

[Mojochi]

I'm quite fond of TNG's "Clues"

 

[CoveTom]

"Family" would probably be considered a bottle show. It's not horrible.

How could "Family" be considered a bottle show? It has a significant number of guest stars, it uses never-before-seen sets, and parts of it are even filmed on location.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

No love for Data's Day?