Common episode titles

[retroenzo]

I was looking at the list of Star Trek episode titles recently and thinking about how commonly used some of the titles are.

For instance, I knew that the TNG episode 'Justice' shared its title with a Red Dwarf episode, as well as an episode each of Stargate Universe, Law and Order and Highlander. A quick look at IMDb shows countless other series with episodes titled 'Justice'.

So I got wondering what the most commonly used episode titles are. I'm not just talking about Trek, or even sci-fi/fantasy but across the board.

Without looking, I'm guessing that a lot of single word titles could be popular (eg 'Obsession', 'Revelations', 'Prey'), or titles based on book quotes or common phrases ('Eye of the Beholder', 'Coming of Age', 'No Place Like Home').

Any other suggestions?

 

[auntiehill]

The first one that comes to mind is Tabula Rasa ("Blank Slate). It's certainly not a common phrase but it seems to pop up frequently on shows I watch.

A quick Google-fu shows it being used by the following shows:
LOST
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Criminal Minds
Stargate: Atlantis
Heroes
Law & Order

Very common things and phrases would of course be common titles, like "Reunion, the Wedding, Finale," etc. But some more cliched phrases, like "Till Death Do Us Part," obviously will get used over and over again. If you search IMDB, you'll see "Till Death Do Us Part," has been the title for at least 177 TV show episodes.

 

[retroenzo]

The first one that comes to mind is Tabula Rasa ("Blank Slate). It's certainly not a common phrase but it seems to pop up frequently on shows I watch.

A quick Google-fu shows it being used by the following shows:
LOST
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Criminal Minds
Stargate: Atlantis
Heroes
Law & Order

Yeah I had wondered about the 'Tabula Rasa' thing as I remember it on Buffy and SG:A. I hadn't realised it was also used in LOST or Heroes though. Just out of interest, did they do it as an amnesia type episode in those episodes you mentioned?

Very common things and phrases would of course be common titles, like "Reunion, the Wedding, Finale," etc. But some more cliched phrases, like "Till Death Do Us Part," obviously will get used over and over again. If you search IMDB, you'll see "Till Death Do Us Part," has been the title for at least 177 TV show episodes.

...and a UK comedy TV series.

Oh I forgot to mention. I suppose the most commonly used episode title will be 'Pilot' but that doesn't count.

 

[dahj]

Oh I forgot to mention. I suppose the most commonly used episode title will be 'Pilot' but that doesn't count.

Would be interesting to know if there is an episode of some show that's called "Pilot" but that isn't a pilot?

 

[retroenzo]

Would be interesting to know if there is an episode of some show that's called "Pilot" but that isn't a pilot?

I think the closest we could have got was Quantum Leap's first episode where Sam lept into a pilot.

Ironically, that episode was called 'Genesis'.

 

[dahj]

Ironically, that episode was called 'Genesis'.

Now that's a fairly common episode name.

 

[The Wormhole]

Shades of Grey get used quite a bit.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

"The Schizoid Man" was used on both The Prisoner and ST:TNG.

 

[Orac]

I've got a couple..
"The Enemy Within" was used by Star Trek and Stargate SG1
and "The Immunity Syndrome" used by Star Trek and Space 1999.

 

[cultcross]

The Enemy Within was definitely what leapt to mind, IMDB shows 25 episodes with this exact title, and even more with subtle variations.

The Defector has 15 exact examples

 

[Greg Cox]

True story: I recently realized that I've used the same title, "Endangered Species," for two different stories, published 25 years apart.

Once for Batman, once for Planet of the Apes.

As God is my witness, I had completely forgotten about that old BATMAN title . ....

 

[stoneroses]

End Game - Star Trek Voyager and UK sitcom One Foot In The Grave

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I've seen a few uses of Chimera.
X Files
NCIS
DS9
SG1

 

[Enterprise1701]

Guesses off the top of my head from various shows I have watched:

"Ambush"
"The Enemy Within"
"Beginning"
"Flashback"
"Hunted"

 

[I am not Spock]

The Gift.

Used in Voyager, SG Atlantis, The X Files, and Buffy

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Lines from the Yeats poem The Second Coming have probably been used in episode titles from dozens of shows.