Game The Most Disliked David Livingston Directed Episode

I'm glad we never saw that battle. But I can definitely see the Hirogen taking them over.

We saw multiple ships, I think it was 4 or 5. FAR more likely they succeed in taking Starfleet ship than a group of Ferengi in a pair of outdated Klingon Birds of Prey.

 

"Flesh And Blood" is a banger of an ep. Such fan-service excess, with every Star Trek alien in that lineup of holograms. I just really have a good time with this one.

I think it's such interesting trivia that the story credit on this was Livingston's only writing credit. It's kind of a random story for that.

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Rivals"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
DS9 Season 4: "The Muse"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Emanations"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 5: "Equinox, Part I"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "The Seventh"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 3: "The Council"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

I'm a bit stuck as only three or four of the remaining episodes have anything significant about them that I remember well enough to want to save them for - and I don't think they're particularly well regarded. However, I saved it once before, and so I'll save it again: DS9 "The Muse" - For Lwaxana, and Odo's heartfelt speech/vows to her in their Tavnian wedding.

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Rivals"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Emanations"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 5: "Equinox, Part I"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "The Seventh"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 3: "The Council"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

He was also there for the TNG pilot and worked his way up to Supervising Producer for several years of TNG, seasons 1-3 of DS9, and season 1 of VOYAGER.

If memory serves me, this little trivia is about him...

While being a producer, he was responsible for a lot of money crunching for episodes. How much can be spent on extras, for example. When he had his producer hat on, he was very conservative. But when he wore his directing hat, he was always trying to get more extras in shots and such. It always amused, and annoyed, various other producers. Obviously, a balance was created or he wouldn't have directed 2 and a half complete seasons worth of episodes.


I just realized a connection. I always knew his only writing credit was the story for "THE NAGUS", but it is such an interesting coincidence that he was responsible for a lot of episode finances and his only writing work dealt with a money centered species. Almost 30 years, and I never connected that until today.

 

Saving "EMANATIONS" next.

While the execution of the script is not perfect, it had a lot of great ideas there. A good high concept story... a hallmark of Brannon Braga.

(And just count the extreme closeups...)

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Rivals"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 5: "Equinox, Part I"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "The Seventh"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 3: "The Council"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

I think "Rivals" is shot in an interesting way, even though the episode is overall kind of a failure. It's one of those weird cases where I like the episode visually throughout, while also simultaneously thinking it is not good. The story is just very "why bother with this?" to me, but I still (sometimes ironically) enjoy things like the look of the aliens-of-the-week, the design of the rival casino, getting to see another El-Aurian, the hamminess of the guest performances...

A bad episode I somehow enjoy! Maybe it's because Bashir/O'Brien are always fun, even in their lousiest outings (probably this, "The Storyteller", and "Extreme Measures")

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 5: "Equinox, Part I"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "The Seventh"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 3: "The Council"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

I would have liked "The Seventh" much better if it had left the question of Menos's guilt or innocence ambiguous, especially since Bruce Davison did such a masterful job of playing the question. It was still a solid thriller, with good work by Jolene Blalock and a nice relationship between T'Pol and Archer. Worth a save.

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 5: "Equinox, Part I"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 3: "The Council"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

ENT's The Council was beginning to piece together the end of the Xindi arc, and also has the death of Degra in it.

I loved season three of ENT, it's a shame I'd lost interest in the show by season two, and caught up with it on DVD when I heard it had finallu turned a corner.

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 5: "Equinox, Part I"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

Why is one of the best loved Voyager episodes still on the list?

Saving Equinox part I

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

The last episode i want to save is "VOY, Season 1 - The Cloud". I like the episodes of Trek which feel more like a friendly (no storys involved greed) soap opera just in space and in the future This episode i watched some times in order to provide me with that kind of thing (watching people you like interacting with each each other in a caring way) and a main plot, which resolves in the answer: 'you are able and you have to help this big creature'. I can easily relate to this answer and to the way it was done/produced.

Concerning of 'space opera feeling': I like how Janeway decides in the end to give the crew a visit chez "Andrine" (at Andrine's). She handles the situation charming but nevertheless "captainjanewaylike". Janeway is always (for other too often) very aware of herself (for example: what she wants). And thus confident with her different 'roles'.

Again, fewer choices being left:

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "The Cloud"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

Sry again for posting a wrong 'elimination-list'. This one should be ok:

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 3: "Flashback"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

Btw ... does anyone know if its possible to make a post-correction afterwards?

 

^^^Yes, but you have to have made a certain number of posts before the system will let you do it. I'm guessing you're not there yet, but you should be before long.

"Flashback" didn't have the cachet of DS9's anniversary episode, "Trials and Tribble-ations," but it did have George Takei, who was great, and Grace Lee Whitney, who was -- there -- and a clever little retcon that made Tim Russ's Undiscovered Country crewman into Tuvok, in the process adding an extra scene or two to that movie. The resolution of the mystery was a disappointment, though; there would have been nothing wrong with giving Tuvok that childhood (? been a minute since I watched the episode) regret, and making it totally fake felt like a cheat.

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
DS9 Season 2: "Playing God"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

The scene where the vole breaks the containment field and releases the proto-universe I've always thought was notably messy -- those shots are not set up right, or maybe they didn't get the shots they needed, but the edit feels tortured, and the sequence does not work.

But aside from that, I think "Playing God" is another of those just-OK scripts that's elevated by really strong direction. Most of this ep attains a zip and an energy that I don't think is on the page. I like it, even though it's not "objectively" that good.

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "Night"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

"NIGHT" falls upon the day.

A really good season premiere. It was quite interesting to see the crew going through nothingness, and the psychological effect it has on some of them. And visually, quite different seeing the ship past by with no stars in the background. Dollars to donuts, that saved some... dollars.

(I just realized... this is another episode that can be watched as modt like the cyrrent pandemic. Not because of the circumstances, but the mood and feeling of isolation. Becalmed at sea, indeed.)

DS9 Season 1: "The Storyteller"
VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

I was going to eliminate that episode, simply because Jadzia is such fun in it. This is perhaps the exact moment they changed her characterisation to better reflect Terry Farrell’s personality, allowing her warmth, wit and playfulness to shine through.

But am I the only person who never understood how they resolved the proto-universe story? I loved the ethical dilemma surrounding it, but how does taking it through the wormhole solve anything? Isn’t that just displacing the problem? Or did I miss something?

Its hard for me to play this round because I’m not a huge VOY or ENT fan and it’s been too long since I’ve watched them to differentiate which is which. But before I disappear I think I’m going to eliminate the only one I feel I can—DS9’s “The Storyteller”. It’s dumb without a doubt, and it’s almost the exact same plot of “The Nagus” from a few episodes before. I also think it would have been better had it not been set on Bajor, but some other planet. However, the Bashir/O’Brien interaction is pure fun, and marks the start of their long journey toward becoming besties. The subplot is also slight, but worth it for the scene where Nog tips a fake bucket of ‘Odo’ over a horrified Jake.

VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Impulse"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

Impulse had great direction, setting the mood perfectly for the zombie Vulcans.

VOY Season 1: "Learning Curve"
VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

Regarding "PLAYING GOD", I think it was a matter of putting it back where they got it, likely it's natural spot where it won't be a threat to anyone in this universe.

Grading this next episode on a "LEARNING CURVE".

A horrible decision ending the season with this episode instead of the produced one, but as a regular one, it was good.

It was nice to see Tuvok as a teacher, and we got some good scenes with the Maquis and some understandable friction. Janeway made a great point in how they can't expect Starfleet behavior from people who were never at the Academy or trained aa such. And one of the best lines of the season.

"Get the cheese to Sickbay."

Oh, B'Elanna... you have such a way with words.

VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"
ENT Season 4: "Borderland"

 

"Borderland" has some moments that are notably poorly directed (Soong's attempted escape from the slave market is shot in a highly bizarre fashion), but mostly it's a fantastic episode which I really enjoy (everything else in that slave market is particularly awesome).

VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY, Season 6: "Equinox, Part II"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"

 

"Equinox, Part II" was one of Voyager's -- and Trek's -- best cliffhanger resolutions, and an ass-kicking season opener. Janeway is no-holds-barred scary (and Mulgrew is intense) in her pursuit of Ransom and what might or might not be justice. Livingston keeps the plot moving at a smart pace, and makes good use of close-ups to connect us with the characters.

VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
VOY Season 6: "The Haunting Of Deck Twelve"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"

 

Telling the story about "THE HAUNTING OF DECK TWELVE".

It was a fun episode, and it very much could have been a Halloween episode. (Halloween's my absolute favorite holiday.)

VOY Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY Season 5: "The Disease"
VOY Season 6: "Alice"
VOY Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
ENT Season 1: "Detained"
ENT Season 2: "Stigma"
ENT Season 2: "The Crossing"
ENT Season 3: "Harbinger"