Desert Island Trek

[Stoek]

The Trekmate podcast Ten Forward has a really neat recurring feature called Desert Island Trek. I thought it would be fun to borrow it for a thread here.

Basically you are allowed five episodes from any of the series to have with you to watch on a desert island. I'm not sure if they allow the movies but for this version I'm going to.

Also there is a "gimme" list that are episodes that are generally so universally acclaimed that everyone is likely to want them.

The gimme's are...

TOS The City On The Edge Of Forever
TOS The Trouble With Tribbles
TAS Yesteryear
TNG Yesterday’s Enterprise
TNG The Best Of Both Worlds
DS9 Trials And Tribble-ations
DS9 The Visitor
Voyager Message In A Bottle
Voyager Scorpion
Enterprise E2
Enterprise In A Mirror Darkly

So now I'm curious to hear people's five non gimme choices. Obviously you are free to just post a list and run but what I'd really love is if people will talk about why they've chosen what they've chosen.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Also there is a "gimme" list that are episodes that are generally so universally acclaimed that everyone is likely to want them.

Given the prospect of long-term isolation, I don't know if I'd want to be reminded that death may serve a greater purpose (City on the Edge) or that some absences are too difficult to get over (The Visitor), whatever the respective merits of the episode may be. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't choose, as the things I had with me, five hours of television. I would prefer several long, complex works of literature (like Musil's The Man Without Qualities or Jabès' Book of Questions), a telescope and a music instrument.

However, if it must be five Trek episodes, I wouldn't pick my most favorite, but those that would occupy me best in that situation:

The Omega Glory
Chains of Command 1 & 2
The Way of the Warrior
The Forge (I'll have to use my imagination on the continuing episodes)

 

[Greg Cox]

Off the top of my head:

Wrath of Khan
The Voyage Home
Star Trek (2009)
First Contact
The Undiscovered Country

Chosen for rewatchability and entertainment value--and the fact that a two-hour feature film will pass more time than a forty-five minute long episode.

If we're limiting ourselves to episodes, maybe:


TOS: Journey to Babel
TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise
DS9: Little Green Men
VOY: Future's End (can I cheat and choose both parts?)
TOS: Amok Time

A decent variety, I think.

 

[1001001]

Five total episodes? That's almost impossible!

Balance of Terror
Tapestry
All Good Things...
The Year of Hell
Shockwave

 

[CaptPapa]

You're not kidding five-only would be nearly impossible .

But, what the heck - I'll give it a shot . . .

The Corbomite Maneuver
Balance of Terror
The Enterprise Incident
Yesteryear
The Voyage Home

 

[OBXTrekkie]

Hmm, interesting. Had to think about this one.

TOS A Piece of the Action
TOS Balance of Terror
TOS This Side of Paradise
TNG The Inner Light
TNG Tin Man

If movies were allowed, then I'd also include:

Star Trek 2009
Star Trek Into Darkness
The Wrath of Kahn
The Voyage Home

 

[BillJ]

A Taste of Armageddon
The Omega Glory
Bread and Circuses
Where No Man Has Gone Before
The Corbomite Maneuver

 

[Third Nacelle]

Narrowing it down to five really is difficult!

TOS: The Devil in the Dark
TNG: First Contact (the episode)
TNG: The Inner Light
DS9: Call to Arms
DS9: Sacrifice of Angels

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

V, VI, VII, VIII, XI.

 

[Gov Kodos]

A Piece of the Action, Spocks Brain, Balance of Terror, Galileo Seven, Court Martial

 

[Sector 7]

TOS- Balance of Terror -Mark Lenard makes the show, love the tension of not knowing what will happen
TOS- Mirror, Mirror -it was such a novel concept, a classic
TAS- Yesteryear -Spock's homeworld, Spock as a child, favorite Trek episode of all
TNG: The Inner Light -this episode never gets old IMO, that haunting melody at the end
DS9: Little Green Men -love the Roswell concept, no more crazy than current theories

Star Trek (2009) -Trek Reborn!
Star Trek: Into Darkness -gotta have the sequel
Star Trek: The Voyage Home -the most fun Trek movie made, felt like the old TOS
Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country -good story, worth rewatching
Star Trek: First Contact -only good TNG movie, Cochrane & origin of warp drive