Best Star Trek episodes where no one is gonna die

[urbandk]

Let me amend that title... best Star Trek episodes where the central conflict does not concern imminent destruction of the ship or a planet (including but not limited to Earth) and also not the life or death of a main cast member.

I just watched back to back Dramatis Personae, an unbelievably weak DS9 episode where an alien artifact possesses the crew so they're all at each others throats. Everyone's gonna die, but I couldn't care less.

This episode was followed by Duet, IMO one of the strongest episodes of any Star Trek series. The Cardassian's life is threatened, albeit indirectly, but that fact is of only ancillary significance to the plot's thrust.

This disjunction got me thinking along the lines of something I observed when I saw the new ST movie: the best, most moving drama often involves one on one relationships, life and death writ small. Some of the most pompous, ineffective schlock concerns ultimate weapons or mass death and destruction.

There are of course many significant, excellent exceptions to this observation. BOBW comes to mind, as does TWOK. but even in BOBW, the most important part was not the possible loss of Earth, but the loss of Picard. that's when the lump in your throat happened, or at least for me, seeing picard as borg for the first time to end the season.

likewise in TWOK, the most poignant moment was Spock's death. that's what lasts.

what do you think? what were the most effective episodes that had little or nothing to do with death/destruction? if you disagree with my conclusions, let me know why.

 

[Red Ranger]

Well, first off, some of the strongest eps did have lots of death and destruction, like The Doomsday Machine (TOS), The Best of Both Worlds (TNG), In the Pale Moonlight (DSN), and Scorpion, Pts. I & II (VOY).

However, there are some good eps that, according to your premise, don't involve death and destruction. In that category are TOS eps The Trouble With Tribbles and A Piece of the Action (well, some deaths were involved in the hits on the streets). Also, TNG's Family comes to mind (character studies of Picard, Worf, and Wesley's family ties -- I esp. like Jean-Luc and his brother Robert's verbal sniping at one another, as it reminded me of my verbal battles with my obstinate younger brother).

Red Ranger