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Game The Most Disliked Of The Least Disliked Champions, 2025 Edition

Sakonna

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
THE OBJECTIVE: A sudden-death elimination game in which we remove our personal favorite episodes/movies from a themed list, until we arrive at the episode that is, if not the worst, at least the most disliked.

It's a framework to say positive things about episodes from across the franchise.

THE RULES: Below is a list of all the final winners of @BlueStuff's Least Disliked games from the show forums, all the way back to 2011 - TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DIS, PIC, LD, SNW, PRO, and the movies. Thanks @BlueStuff for running those! You've maintained a much more regular schedule than I have with these spin-off games. :bolian::hugegrin:

Eliminate/save your favorite, or the one you deem the ‘best' of what currently remains.
Post something you enjoy about the episode you are saving, and copy-and-paste the list with your choice removed.

You can use any standard you like to judge which option is "best." You can save episodes for being widely recognized “best Trek” classics, or for idiosyncratic qualities that no one appreciates but you.

As you get down the list, you might have to reach more and more for something to enjoy about an episode, and it's OK to eventually save episodes for being "less bad."

But -- no tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode because you don’t think anyone else will, or because you feel it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to “win.”

You can take multiple turns.

Leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

New players are always welcome. You do not have to already be a "most disliked game" regular to dive in.

Enjoy!


TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "Beyond The Farthest Star" (2021)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (2019)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "In The Pale Moonlight" (2011, 2013, 2025)
DS9: "Duet" (2021)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Call To Arms" (2023)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
LD: "wej Duj" (2023, 2025)
LD: "No Small Parts" (2021)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
Lots of heavy hitters on this one. I'll start with three-time champion "In The Pale Moonlight." This one never gets less riveting no matter how many times I rewatch it.

I thought it was interesting to see which episodes were three time winners - "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I", "Yesteryear", and "In The Pale Moonlight."

It is always funny to me that Voyager is the show with no repeat winners.

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "Beyond The Farthest Star" (2021)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (2019)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Duet" (2021)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Call To Arms" (2023)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
LD: "wej Duj" (2023, 2025)
LD: "No Small Parts" (2021)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
An easy first save from me - LDS: "wej Duj"! Lower Decks is my favourite Trek series, and "wej Duj" is one of my favourite episodes. I'm saving it one, because it's awesome
TdgteYJ.gif
; two, because it introduces my favourite Klingon, Ma'ah :klingon: :adore: (even though he is "smaller and slower and weaker and smaller than other Klingons"); and three, T'Lyn!!!
mzRv643.gif


TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "Beyond The Farthest Star" (2021)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (2019)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Duet" (2021)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Call To Arms" (2023)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
LD: "No Small Parts" (2021)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
I am going to save TAS: "Beyond The Farthest Star" (2021) for being the very first episode of Trek in any form that I ever watched. Being animated freed Trek from the expensive pre-digital special effects technology of the day and allowed for much more imaginative visual planet/ship design and routine ship crew with alien physiology, like Lts Arex and M'Ress.*

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (2019)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Duet" (2021)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Call To Arms" (2023)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
LD: "No Small Parts" (2021)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)

*would it kill someone to have a Horta as crew? We got Cetacean Ops for water planets, how about Geology/Silicon Ops for toxic to humans planets?
 
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Duet is still as compelling no matter how many times I watch it.


TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (2019)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Call To Arms" (2023)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
LD: "No Small Parts" (2021)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
Some goliaths in this list. A Call to Arms is saved, an exciting dramatic finale that shook up the status quo.

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (2019)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
LD: "No Small Parts" (2021)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
"Yesterday's Enterprise" I've rewatched almost as much as "In The Pale Moonlight."

Outside of "The Visitor", YE must be Trek's most powerful "alternate timeline" gut-punch.

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
LD: "No Small Parts" (2021)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
LDS: "No Small Parts" showed that this seemingly irreverant Trek comedy wasn't always a barrel of laughs - the loss of the Solvang was shocking and powerful. "No Small Parts" showed that this Trek could hold its own with any of the live action series.

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "The Devil In The Dark" (2025)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
"Devil In The Dark" is my favourite episode in all Star Trek. I can feel now how gut-wrenching that mind-meld between Spock and the Horta Mother was on first watching.


TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Improbable Cause" (2017)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
Improbable Cause is still as tense to watch as the first time I watched.

I love Garak and Odo so much.


TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "Dead Stop" (2023)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023
 
ENT: "Dead Stop" is all fun and games until it isn't. I find it quite tense and rather chilling - certainly helped by Roxann Dawson's inflectionless turn as the voice of the repair station (and her directing, of course).

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Living Witness" (2013)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
Still so many choices. Living Witness is such a great episode, beautiful drama and the divine warship voyager.

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "Yesteryear" (2018, 2023, 2025)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
Since my favourite series overall is DS9, I thought my first choices would be from that but, here is my second choice and still not DS9!

I watched TAS in "first run" and it was a worthy successor to TOS. "Yesteryear" gives us back story to Spock that was used throughout later Star Trek. It's a sound ST story with a sound message (Spock chooses to allow I-Chaya to die rather than prolong a life in agony).

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
PIC: "The Bounty" (2025)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
"The Bounty" is one of the great episodes of the modern era. It's thrilling just by virtue of being the first ep of Picard season 3 to have every TNG castmember appear, but also everything else delivers too. An exceptionally well-crafted hour of televison.

And that cliffhanger! "Mr. Worf, fire" and "He's letting me know, he'll be back" have nothing on this one.

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
My favorite of what's left in this list is.

TNG: "All Good Things..." (2015)

While a handful of other stories have their own strengths, to bookend TNG with the most legitimately and deservedly epic Q story is a tremendous high, especially with the twist that it's Picard who caused the potential destruction of the galaxy and proof that experiments can lead to disastrous effects - even in Startrekland.

Any nitpicks I had fall to the side as far more of the story works and is brilliant. One needn't look up the credits list to notice Brannon Braga was involved as he digs the high concept stuff and knows how to make it work. Add in Ronald D Moore for the perfect double act, with his having a knack for characterizations depth as much as Braga's plotting depth, only ensures TNG went out with a bang on all fronts and not a mere pallid belch, and one needn't be a fan of season one to appreciate both Yar's return and attention to set detail where possible and practical. Kudos to those who rescued the polystyrene molds of the Enterprise ships, which were thrown into a dumpster when they redid the meeting room after TUC was filmed to look more updated/generic as a result.

Then came the TNG films, which often didn't live up to TNG, especially given Q's promise to Picard about what awaited him...

...then came PIC season 3, which feels like it turned the theatrical lemons into lemonade, proving even unliked or bad stories can surely seed something stronger, satisfyingly. Sorry for the syrupy staccato, but that's another story unrelated to the previous unrelated stories related to the unrelated story. Feeling dizzy yet? Cuz I sure am... 🤪

What's left:
TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
DS9: "Tacking Into The Wind" (2019)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
Tacking Into The Wind is perhaps the last great episode of DS9 before the finale.

So much good stuff was on the episode, particularly Worf going full circle with Gowron.


TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II" (2025)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
Love Love
 
There's a little bit of recency bias when I opt for "Ouroboros Part II". Prodigy was the only one of the more recent Trek that I really liked. This episode is a wonderful winding-up episode. We see Our Heroes have grown, the series is linked into the wider Star Trek world by referencing the Mars attack and Our Heroes have achieved what they most wanted (I am a sucker for happy endings). On top of that there's an opening ending with Our Heroes still out there, exploring the Universe and having adventures.



TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" (2019)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
I was going to save the second part first, but you can't have one without the other, so ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" goes first.
I admit that I love this two-parter for the style rather than the substance (despite all the chewed scenery littering the place) - the asteroid dry-dock, seeing a whole Tholian for the first time, the crew in TOS uniforms, and the Defiant!! Substance-wise, I do like Trip and T'Pol's twisted relationship :adore:

TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
You. will. be. like. us.

TNG: "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (2011, 2017, 2025)

I can't dislike this one either as the nitpicks don't drop it down very far at all. This episode is one of the best belters out there, a proper classic. It takes the seeds sewn in "Q Who", lampshades the hamfisted dialogue from that episode of (paraphrased) "The Borg only take technology that they find useful, just like Pakleds but don't say their name out loud" in favor of some of the most convincing universe-building ever seen on screen to create a big bad with.

The story's buildup percolates and while the moment the Borg contact the big-D to call collect for Jean-Luc Picard is the moment you know they're going to cybertize him, and confirmed the nanosecond they find his halfway-folded uniform in a big drawer that shows the Borg have more to fill or they're being wasteful but I digress, it's HOW they show the reveal of Picard that - boom - hits home the scenario far more effectively than anything done before or since. It's legitimately impressive. True, another $50 worth of pus-hued make-up can help elevate any old script, but without the story's flow underneath it's all for little, and this story knows how to make the flow pay off, even when planting a giveaway in the smack middle of it. That's how cool this story was, is, and will always be.

A multipart story, part two rarely eclipses part one. This one comes very close and cleverly reverses the same tropes part one built on. Finding a "David vs Goliath" solution via a neat metaphor for "sleep mode"* is nothing short of genius. The future trick is to find other weaknesses that, when implemented, don't dilute the traits that made the Borg great in the first place. No worries, you know I'll be nitpicking on all that eventually...

Now, here's something that was more of its time, but I'll dig it up because it's not noon o'clock yet: Detractors of the time (remember kids, this is 1990) were whining "THEY RIPPED OFF THE CYBERMEN, WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Now, while TNG could be hit or miss for me at the time, objectively speaking, the most the Cybermen could be was an influence for the Borg as they come across far more innovative and new. The Cybermen never quite acted like this, partly because of budget reasons and being stuck on small sets**. And with more budget as well, as even if the TNG budget was small, it was still larger than Doctor Who's. Indeed, the only Doctor Who stories using their cybernetic creations in terms of converting people to them in any tangible and meaningful way to the story were "The Tenth Planet", "The Tomb of the Cybermen", and "Attack of the Cybermen" - and only that last one dared to show the process, in a way more gruesome than what TNG put out six years later. Either which way, TNG took this all to a new, clarified level and made the idea of cyborgs even more horrifying threat as a result and that is undeniable.


* Hey cool, the Borg use UNIX, the best platform to be inspired to make Treknobabble from, who knew!
**apart from that time they did location filming in London in 1968, to parrot a similar scene roughly years earlier but with the Daleks instead.

True, the story goes into soap opera territory with Riker vs Shelby, and most of it is reasonably solid - though a couple of scenes are laid on a tad too thick. Especially a particularly melodramatic one before a commercial break about making those big decisions or step aside.

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Now that's a good setup. The big bad is coming and we're boned.

Speaking of boned as the scene is missing the by-far-the-best part (not) for some reason, the scene continues via this transcript:

HANSON: Another time, Commander. Your captain and I have a lot to cover. But rumor has it Commander Shelby's played a hand or two.
HANSON: Keep your eye on her, Jean Luc. She's one very impressive young lady.
PICARD: You seem rather taken with her, JP.
HANSON: Just an old man's fantasies. When Shelby came into Tactical, every admiral's uncle had a take on this Borg business. She cut through it. She put us on track.

Among other issues that almost had me saving another story first but barely not enough, it's also unintentionally amusing that Admiral Hanson decides to waste some time on an irrelevancy regarding having the hots for Shelby. Really, nothing better to talk about regarding "having a lot to cover"?!! Sheesh, no wonder the fleet got turned into puréed pâte, this is truly ridiculous and on the verge of being "camp played straight"***. But I digress****.


*** Rather they play it straight than to mug the camera and pantomime it out with conscious camera-mugging and other issues you'd expect from self-aware comedic corny camp that makes "nails on a chalkboard" soothing by comparison, not that I have any editorializing on this or anything cuz I don't****, honest...​
**** Noooooooooooooo, really? :guffaw:

So nitpicky stuff out of the way, this one's an easy recommendation and remains a very high point of the Trek franchise. Hell, all of TNG's Borg stories, in order, tell a compelling arc. Even the season 5 and 6 stories that dared to do something other than a repeat of big whiz-bang battles, even if they were misfires at times. Just overlook the fact that their hairstyles seem to change a tad roughly 45 minutes into the story because it's a shiny new season and they did not film these back-to-back...

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Gotta have a compilation.


What's left:
TOS: "Balance Of Terror" (2013, 2023)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
Balance of Terror is my favourite episode of TOS so is an easy save.

Love everything about it.

TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" (2011, 2015)
TOS: "The Doomsday Machine" (2019, 2021)
TOS: "Journey To Babel" (2017)
TAS: "The Pirates Of Orion" (2019)
TNG: "Q Who" (2021, 2023)
TNG: "The Measure Of A Man" (2013)
VOY: "Meld" (2011)
VOY: "Scorpion, Part I" (2021)
VOY: "Year Of Hell, Part I" (2025)
VOY: "Timeless" (2023)
VOY: "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy (2019)
VOY: "Blink Of An Eye" (2017)
ENT: "Azati Prime" (2013, 2017)
ENT: "United" (2011, 2021)
ENT: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II" (2025)
DIS: "If Memory Serves" (2021, 2023)
DIS: "Project Daedalus" (2019)
DIS: "Species Ten-C" (2025)
PIC: "Remembrance" (2021)
PIC: "Imposters" (2023)
SNW: "Children Of The Comet" (2023)
SNW: "Memento Mori" (2025)
PRO: "Kobayashi" (2023)
Feature: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" (2023)
 
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