Best Episode of Season 3, Part 2
- Thread starter Michael
- Start date
This is really hard because all of these are outstanding episodes. In fact they each represent the best of their episode style but Twilight gets my vote.
The Forgotten
If Twilight wins--something interesting is that City on the Edge of Forever is so popular in TOS, and Yesterday's Enterprise with TNG, Timeless with Voyager, and the Visitor with DS9. What's up with people loving episodes that never happened? Loving them is o.k.--but putting them on all the top 10 lists? Actually, all are great and deserve to be on top 10s--but why do we do that, doesn't anyone have a guess?
If Twilight wins--something interesting is that City on the Edge of Forever is so popular in TOS, and Yesterday's Enterprise with TNG, Timeless with Voyager, and the Visitor with DS9. What's up with people loving episodes that never happened? Loving them is o.k.--but putting them on all the top 10 lists? Actually, all are great and deserve to be on top 10s--but why do we do that, doesn't anyone have a guess?
I think it is the what if...? idea especially with the Captains! I see most heroes as being passionate about all the committ to and in the case of Twilight to see something so tragic happen to Archer(not to mention the galaxy as we know it!) was an overwhelming tale. In City on the Edge of Forever you watch helplessly as the usual Super!Kirk is forced to make a horrific decision.Yesterday's Ent is a well crafted what if that I love but lacks the emotional impact of the other two IMO.
I think there's the same kind of appeal as for "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Carol" or "The Bishop's Wife" or "There but for the grace of God go I..." We get a peek at what might have been, but would never be in the established world of the series. If the characters are aware of the alternate setting, they (hopefully) learn something from having experienced it. If everything goes back to a starting point and the characters don't remember, as in Twilight, then the viewers are the ones who learn something about the characters, something that we wouldn't have found out, if not for that alternate setting and the different pressures the characters were put under.
^ Nice response. I think that's exactly right, HR.
In many respects, I think in Twilight we see the characters become their truest, best selves -- what people often become when given impossible circumstances.
In many respects, I think in Twilight we see the characters become their truest, best selves -- what people often become when given impossible circumstances.
Well, I also see a lot of tragedy and "cautionary tale" energy in the what-if scenarios of "Wonderful Life", "Christmas Carol", and Twilight. What if Trip never has the opportunity to work through his sister's death? He becomes a fine captain, but he still has that fury and bitterness inside him that we saw in The Xindi. He's lost something that he never got back. Archer's situation--all his potential left unrealized because of his illness--is heartwrenching to me. And while I totally understood why T'Pol chose to be his caregiver, it could not have been easy for her to tell him the story every day--to watch his suffering, and relive the horrors herself, over and over.
Yes, but it makes him successful. No cautionary tale there to me. I think of Trip as a stronger person in this version.
I think this is how I see their best truest selves unveil. Archer sacrificed his life for his friend and junior officer. It's no surprise she does the same for him.
To me the cautionary tale that evolves here is why Trip - oddly enough - gives his life in TATV and why T'Pol's decision to stay with Archer actually saves humanity: Archer is essential to the future.
Captain X
Rear Admiral
I've never understood it myself, but I did see an interesting theory once that people are unconsciously (or consciously) bored with the status quo, so these rest button episodes are the closest thing they get to the show doing anything brave that shakes things up, even if they end up going back to the status quo in the last five minutes. Another theory is that it gives them a chance to see main characters die and the ship destroyed without having to worry about it because they know everything will be back to normal in the last five minutes.
Personally I see it as a kind of cowardice and as a weak plot device that ultimately adds nothing to the overall story. I mean, instead of shaking things up only to completely reverse it, why not just do it? After all, they were always going on and on about how Season 3 was supposed to shake things up, right? You want to kill a main character? Kill them. Then show us what happens next - how does the rest of the crew react to it? Who has to step up and take their place? Here's a what if for you: what if instead of doing the stupid alien Nazi bit on the end of Zero Hour, they actually had killed Archer? How would Reed feel about that since he left instead of stubbornly insisting that he stay to watch Archer's back, orders or no orders? They never would've know that the delay was caused by Archer fighting with Dolum (or whatever his name was), so Hoshi would probably feel guilty too for not being there to make sure Archer got the sequence right. Maybe she'd question what she told him. The ship would need a new commander; how would the crew react to that new commander? what if T'Pol had died from a Trellium overdose or was killed by that weird crap that was around the sphere they took out? What if Trip was killed by some feedback or something when they destroyed it? What if he'd been killed in Similitude instead of having a handy clone made for spare parts? (Or how about showing the after effects of what actually did happen? What if Hoshi had been successful in committing suicide in the sphere rather than help the Reptilians figure out the launch code?
I mean, you could do all kinds of things that add significantly to the drama of the show by not resetting something. But to me, ENT's biggest mistake is that they kept making the threat all about Earth. We all knew that Earth would be fine. The only way to make us feel genuine dread would've been if they'd actually developed the characters enough to the point that we really cared about what happened to them, and put the focus completely on them. They don't know Earth will be fine, so there's drama in how they react to their home planet being in jeopardy. They also don't know if they'll live through the mission or not, and if there was any indication that one or more of them might die, we wouldn't know either, so it'd be even more dramatic for us as the audience. See what I mean?
As for the Trek variations I was not bored with the status quo though the fear of producers on many shows to go where no captain has gone is annoying. E2 was also interesting and though I enjoyed it---Archer and T'Pol are of the most interest to me so Twilight moved me more.Plus the acting by Bakula and Blalock in the scene on the patio where Archer hears the truth about the mission and Earth is very powerful.
Captain X
Rear Admiral
I'm not all that enamored with E^2 either. To begin with, it's a rip-off of a DS9 episode, and that episode had some pretty twisted logic in it too. Yeah, it had the whole TnT getting married thing that's supposed to appeal to my 'ship, but to be frank Lorian was insane and nothing he did made any sense. The only thing really gleaned from that is that apparently being insane is a qualification for command. 
But it wasn't a rest button, and it didn't completely assassinate anyone's character (aside from Lorian that is), so it has that going for it. Hell, Archer even managed to come off fairly decent in it, even if by comparison.
But it wasn't a rest button, and it didn't completely assassinate anyone's character (aside from Lorian that is), so it has that going for it. Hell, Archer even managed to come off fairly decent in it, even if by comparison.
For me its Damage.
The episode went where NO other Trek episode had gone before. From the revelation of T'Pol's addiction (and most notably, the reasons for the addiction), to the risque shower scene, to the ship NOT miraculously being fixed, to the deal with the devil decision by an otherwise "good man". The sheer dramatic content of this episode puts it head and shoulders above all the others.
The fact that the dramatic impact of Twilight was completely negated by the hard reset we knew was coming keeps it a step or two below Damage. Now imagine the dramatic impact if there had been no reset.
Same with Similitude. The too convienient death of Sim slightly under cuts the drama (though it remains one of the most superbly acted episodes of the series). What if Sim had lived? He would have instantly become Trip's rival for everything, including and especially, T'Pol.
Damage gets to the fracking point and keeps it's foot on the "neck" of the point throughout the episode. A truly wonderful un-Trek-like episode.
The episode went where NO other Trek episode had gone before. From the revelation of T'Pol's addiction (and most notably, the reasons for the addiction), to the risque shower scene, to the ship NOT miraculously being fixed, to the deal with the devil decision by an otherwise "good man". The sheer dramatic content of this episode puts it head and shoulders above all the others.
The fact that the dramatic impact of Twilight was completely negated by the hard reset we knew was coming keeps it a step or two below Damage. Now imagine the dramatic impact if there had been no reset.
Same with Similitude. The too convienient death of Sim slightly under cuts the drama (though it remains one of the most superbly acted episodes of the series). What if Sim had lived? He would have instantly become Trip's rival for everything, including and especially, T'Pol.
Damage gets to the fracking point and keeps it's foot on the "neck" of the point throughout the episode. A truly wonderful un-Trek-like episode.
Damage is probably my favorite episode of the entire series. Definitely the best of the first three seasons.
The Forgotten. It's the most complete and emotionally satisfying episode.
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