Best. Title. Ever?

[Katherine]

Voyager

"Live Fast and Prosper"
"The Haunting of Deck Twelve"
"Barge of the Dead"

 

[TheCoxinator]

A lot of TOS and DS9 episodes had brilliant names. Enterprise had some good ones as well.
City on the Edge of Forever is probably the best though.

 

[gblews]

Mojochi said:
These are my favorite titles in all of Trek

Is There in Truth No Beauty?
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Requiem for Methuselah
Where Silence Has lease
Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night
How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth

Titles are a little invitation to 'come on in and take a look'. If the title is uninteresting or dull, the viewer or reader is less inclined to see or read the story.

Titles should stand on their own. One should not have to view the story in order to 'get' the title. Irony in titles is fine but you shouldn't have to digest the story in order to see the irony. The irony should be present in the title.

I think the above titles fit the aforementioned criteria, along with some others, "Far Beyond the Stars", "City on the Edge of Forever", etc.

However:

Precious Cargo
Similitude
Countdown
Zero Hour
The Drumhead
Tapestry
Duet
Real Life
Broken Bow
These Are The Voyages (a pedestrian incomplete sentence that has no meaning)

...are all good examples of really bad titles, all are dull and hold no intrigue. As much as I loved ENT, the show represented a low point when it came to Trek titles. The trend was begun by TNG, skipped DS9 (different show runners), and picked up again with VOY.

IMO, the highest percentage of good titles are between TOS and DS9.

 

[SchwEnt]

Great eps and the titles I've always loved...

In Purgatory's Shadow / By Inferno's Light

 

[doubleohfive]

Who_Trek said:
For some reason, titles that begin with the article "The" just don't turn me on. Nothing againt "the", but it's ... so basic, I guess. "The Communicator." "The Defector." Coulnd't they have come up with better titles than tnose?

As a series of season titles, I like Enterprise's Xindi arc: most of the titles were just one or two words, and they flow very well together.

Wait wait wait ... maybe I'm all forgetful here, but was there ever REALLY an episode called "The Communicator"?

And if so, what was it about? Bill Clinton? The badge? The magazine?

 

[Smiley]

It was about Malcolm leaving his communicator on a primitive planet and the mission to recover it without interfering with the culture.

 

[doubleohfive]

Figures it would have been Enterprise.

 

[Loupjo]

DS9:
Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
Sacrife of Angels
Nor the battle to the strong
In Purgatory's shadow
By Inferno's light

TNG:
Elementary, Dear Data
Who whatches the whatchers
I, Borg
Journey's end

TOS:
Where No Man has gone before
The city on the edge of forever
For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky
Let that be your last battlefield
Whom Gods destroy

Voyager:
Live Fast and Prosper

I couldn't think of any Voyager ones so looked it up but all titles seem pretty short, just one or two words. Not bad but not very interesting titles either. Perhaps reflecting the usual not so interesting content

 

[JM1776]

"Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"

From where I sit, DS9's writers get zero credit for swiping from Cicero, other than that of the "Yer a talented thief, Kelso" type.

"For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" is one of the greatest titles in all of fiction literature, and unquestionably the best Trek has ever produced.

I'd add "Beyond the Farthest Star" from TAS—a nice homage to "Where No Man Has Gone Before"—but for the fact that it suffers from the same derivative taint as does "IAESL."

 

[Alyssa]

The paradise syndrome: TOS

E2: ENT

 

[Elder Knight]

City on the Edge of Forever

Whatever one thinks of Harlan Ellison, he's very good with titles (e.g., "Shatterday," "Paladin of the Lost Hour," "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" and many more.)

 

[Star Treks]

Elder Knight said:
"Shatterday,"

An entire day dedicated to the Shat! Awesome!

 

[Elder Knight]

I somehow doubt that was Harlan's intention!

 

[Gary Mitchell]

JM1776 said:

I'd add "Beyond the Farthest Star" from TAS—a nice homage to "Where No Man Has Gone Before"—but for the fact that it suffers from the same derivative taint as does "IAESL."

I don't mind a little taint. Where No Man Has Gone Before and Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges are 2 of my favorites.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

GreenBlood said:

AJBryant said:

GreenBlood said:
Bread and Circuses (sounds so whimsical)

If you thing "bread and circuses" sounds whimsical..., you clearly haven't studied history.

“The phrase is commonly used to refer to short-term government palliatives offered in place of a solution for significant, long-term problems.”

Yikes! Now that I've taken a brief history lesson, I find that "Bread and Circuses" is no bed of roses.

Yet, how much further along are we than the Romans. If you think about it our society still craves bread (food) and circus (mindless fluff in the form of celebrity "news). At least in Rome, you got blood instead of pop.

 

[Garth Rockett]

A Taste of Armageddon
Amok Time
The Deadly Years
Patterns of Force
A Call To Arms
A Time To Stand
Favor The Bold

 

[Theodore Jay Miller]

gblews said:

Mojochi said:
These are my favorite titles in all of Trek

Is There in Truth No Beauty?
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Requiem for Methuselah
Where Silence Has lease
Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night
How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth

Titles are a little invitation to 'come on in and take a look'. If the title is uninteresting or dull, the viewer or reader is less inclined to see or read the story.

Titles should stand on their own. One should not have to view the story in order to 'get' the title. Irony in titles is fine but you shouldn't have to digest the story in order to see the irony. The irony should be present in the title.

I think the above titles fit the aforementioned criteria, along with some others, "Far Beyond the Stars", "City on the Edge of Forever", etc.

However:

Precious Cargo
Similitude
Countdown
Zero Hour
The Drumhead
Tapestry
Duet
Real Life
Broken Bow
These Are The Voyages (a pedestrian incomplete sentence that has no meaning)

...are all good examples of really bad titles, all are dull and hold no intrigue. As much as I loved ENT, the show represented a low point when it came to Trek titles.

The Enterprise titles didn't do much to draw people in, but after seeing the episode I find they have interesting multiple references. Some examples:

"Unexpected" : a pregnant man is an unexpected event, but as a title it means more than 'surprising' or 'unusual' would, since 'expecting' is also a euphemism for pregnant.

"Oasis": what can an oasis turn out to be? A mirage, which fits with the crew being holograms.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I'm not a big fan of overly poetic or grandiose titles, or ones that you don't even know what they mean or how they relate to the episode. I'm a HUGE Babylon 5 fan, and this is in fact one of my few nits with that show - some of the titles sound almost pretentious and so are kind of...well...annoying. The Deconstruction of Falling Stars: what the hell does that mean? Or worse still: The Paragon of Animals.

However, that said, on the flip side, I don't like boring titles either.

I think the titles I like best seem to portray some sort of threat or impending doom. Or imply tremendous adventure...or at least high action.

I also lean toward catchy titles with a tie to popular culture for humorous episodes.

I'll only do DS9 because that is the series I know by heart and as I said, I place alot of importance on the title really relating to the episode in a unique way.

Favorite DS9 titles:

Treachery, Faith and the Great River - my personal favorite. I love the sound of it and every part of it totally fits the actual episode content.

The Changing Face of Evil
Tacking Into the Wind
In the Pale Moonlight
Far Beyond the Stars
Favor the Bold
Sacrifice of Angels
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Apocalypse Rising

^I love the sound of all of those. Lots and lots of impending doom or implied adventure.

The Siege of AR-558 - I love this one not because it sounds nice (because it doesn't) but because it sounds gritty, hard, and cold. And the episode itself is...well....gritty, hard, and cold.

And for the humorous episodes -
The Magnificent Ferengi - what a great title for this one!

House of Quark
Little Green Men

 

[Chris_Johnston]

Most of the obvious choices have already been mentioned, so here are mine from TOS...

Dagger of the Mind
Balance of Terror
A Taste of Armageddon
This Side of Paradise
Wolf in the Fold
A Private Little War
Return to Tomorrow
Patterns of Force
And the Children Shall Lead
Spectre of the Gun
Whom Gods Destroy
That Which Survives
All Our Yesterdays

But, as somebody mentioned up-topic, I hated that 6-episode "The (noun)" stretch in TNG S3...

55. The Enemy
56. The Price
57. The Vengeance Factor
58. The Defector
59. The Hunted
60. The High Ground

 

[cobalt1365]

My faves from TOS and VOY since those are the ones I know the best, whether they've been already posted or not:

TOS
City on the Edge of Forever
For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky
What are Little Girls Made Of?
The Apple
The Doomsday Machine
The Trouble with Tribbles
Bread and Circuses
The Omega Glory

VOY
Heroes and Demons
Sacred Ground
Scorpion
Year of Hell
Concerning Flight
The Killing Game
Timeless
Bride of Chaotica!
Someone to Watch Over Me
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Blink of an Eye
Ashes to Ashes
Body and Soul
Author, Author
Endgame

More for Voyager, because it ran over twice as long, however there are so many great episode titles in TOS that I decided to stop there.