Best hi-concept science fiction ideas in Star Trek?

[sbk1234]

How about the Dyson Sphere?

 

[barnaclelapse]

One of my favorite episodes that first delved deeply into previously unexplored nuances of time travel is Yesterday's Enterprise. Upon my first viewing, I was left a little confused - I suppose because the story didn't hold my hand to explain why Prime Picard and crew had no knowledge of Altered Picard and crew - and vice versa. Even though I was a little puzzled, it instantly became a favorite episode of mine.

Subsequent viewings permitted me to fully understand what was going on. Maybe the fact that I was 16 at the time of the first viewing precluded my full understanding. I do maintain that teenagers are, by and large, are a fairly stupid segment of human population. But, I digress...

Thoughts on this episode?

I was actually thinking of that very episode. Time travel has always been a concept that's obsessed the hell out of me, and I think that episode nailed it really, really well.

Good call, man.

 

[HitechLolife]

All my picks have been listed so far (from TNG) Certainly Inner Light and Darmok. I, Borg in terms of concept is strong. Thine Own Self is a personal favorite as well

 

[SPOCKED]

huh? No one even mentioned Spock's Brain?

There was more scifi ideas squashed into that one hour than all other Star Treks combined!!

c'mon !!

 

[T'Girl]

"The Enemy" where Worf refuses to give tissue to help the romulan. He hands Picard his hat by taking the moral and ethical high ground. Very old school science fiction, good people don't help bad ones.

 

[M'Sharak]

Didn't VOY use that concept in two different stories. I forget the other title. It had Lori Singer.

You may be thinking of "Gravity" and of Lori Petty, rather than Lori Singer. Tuvok and Paris are stranded on a planet strongly resembling the Mojave Desert for what seems to be days, but when they finally get back to Voyager, only a few hours have elapsed, ship time. There's a nice sequence of scenes toward the end playing the two time-scales off of each other.

 

[T'Girl]

Yes Lori Petty, shows you don't alway need the universal translator to advance the show.

 

[Chrisisall]

"Mirror, Mirror' was cutting edge in its day, as was "The Enemy Within."

 

[I am not Spock]

TNG had the most 'science' of all the Treks. When it got it wrong, it got it very, VERY wrong (Genesis). But when it got it right (Yesterday's Enterprise, Timescape, Cause And Effect) it did it very well.

 

[alicelouise]

I liked "The City On The Edge of Forever". It had the concept of one person (Dr. McCoy) altering Earth history. Maybe the evil Mirror Universe is the one that McCoy/Edith Keeler brought about. Something to think on with the best of intentions leading to unintended consequences.

 

[WillsBabe]

What about the transporter. It was originally devised as a means of getting the characters into peril quickly each week without having to land the ship etc. I think it was a great invention and a great hi-concept that they've used in interesting ways (and generally with restraint, I think) over the years.

 

[M'Sharak]

Yes Lori Petty, shows you don't alway need the universal translator to advance the show.

VOY's "Nemesis" was another one where they played around with the idea of a non-functioning UT to good effect, I thought.

 

[Start Wreck]

TNG had the most 'science' of all the Treks. When it got it wrong, it got it very, VERY wrong (Genesis). But when it got it right (Yesterday's Enterprise, Timescape, Cause And Effect) it did it very well.

Timescape was a great concept, but it's faaaaaaaarrrrrr from being good science!


What was that episode where Doctor Crusher was trapped inside her own miniature universe for most of the duration, and people kept disappearing? 'Forget Me Not'? That was a great concept, particularly the way in which we don't realise the changeover has happened until the end. And the computer's description of what the 'Universe' is, before it all starts shrinking around her. It was always one of my favourites, that.

 

[M'Sharak]

What was that episode where Doctor Crusher was trapped inside her own miniature universe for most of the duration, and people kept disappearing? 'Forget Me Not'?

Close. It was called "Remember Me".

That was a great concept, particularly the way in which we don't realise the changeover has happened until the end. And the computer's description of what the 'Universe' is, before it all starts shrinking around her. It was always one of my favourites, that.

Yeah, that one was very nicely executed.

 

[Cyke101]

I know I'm going to get run up a flagpole for this, but there's something to be said for the entire Nomad/V'ger angle. All in all its an entire sub-genre of science fiction: a cosmic "return to sender" from an alien world.

Beat me to it!

I'm not sure if Frame of Mind was mentioned, but just the concept of something being so alien that you'd lose your mind is something I wish was explored more in Trek.

 

[Chrisisall]

What about the transporter.
I think it was a great invention and a great hi-concept that they've used in interesting ways (and generally with restraint, I think) over the years.

Scotty would't think so.

 

[sbk1234]

Actually, I liked the Voyager episode where time on that planet flowed faster than the rest of the universe. I don't know how that fits into any real time theory, but I thought it was pretty cool.

 

[BillJ]

One of my favorites is Voyager's season 4 "Scientific Method". I thought that episode ROCKED as far as Sci-fi goes. In it there are aliens that cannot be seen by Voyager's crew that are performing scientific experiments on them. The sight of Janeway with aliens sticking needles in her head!!! OMG! It was deeply disturbing and a great sci-fi show for me.

But isn't that pretty much the plot of TNG's 'Schisms'?

For me... it's Time's Arrow. A future event leading to a past event that is needed for said future to unfold!

 

[Cyke101]

I would have liked to have seen more hi-concept sci-fi ideas rather than trade disputes and territory standoffs. Real-world scientists have discovered a "suicidal" planet, for example, whose rotation around its sun is less than an Earth day and will lead it on a collision course with its sun in 1 million years. Could you imagine the kinds of pressures on that planet for it to move so quickly? Now, could you imagine the unique kinds of life you could find? CGI, here we come

Back to it, I loved the Sound of Her Voice. It wasn't hi-concept in terms of, say, a spatial anomaly (even though it had one), but rather I consider it hi-concept in terms of the human condition. It was almost Twilight Zone esque in that sense, ironic but not as tragic for our heroes

 

[xortex]

From Tos what made me think was 'Return of the Archons', 'The Menagerie' Things that questioned the nature of reality and what might be our place in it ultimately. 'The Royale' was one of my favorite sci-fi episodes. It's funny that the writer, Tracy Torme didn't like it at all. He also came up with the concept of the Borg unwittingly - a precautionary tale of technology taking over.