Top Ten Episodes According to TV Guide

[Aike]

Didn´t TV Guide list the best episodes of TOS in 1991? I think I saw the list on You Tube last year, but I can´t find it now.

Does anyone have the list or a link to it?

 

[WendellM]

Looking around, I found this at Memory Alpha for what it might be worth:

For Star Trek's 25th anniversary [in 1991], two months before his death, Roddenberry gave TV Guide a list of his top ten favorite episodes. One might assume that these most clearly represented his vision of what Star Trek should be:

• "Amok Time"
• "Balance of Terror"
• "The City on the Edge of Forever"
• "The Devil in the Dark"
• "The Enemy Within"
• "The Menagerie, Part I" and "The Menagerie, Part II"
• "The Naked Time"
• "The Return of the Archons"
• "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
• "The Trouble with Tribbles"

 

[Aike]

Thanks, it may be it. I just thought A Piece of The Action was on that list, and that it was the readers of the magazine that had voted. But I may be wrong

 

[Michael]

Return of the Archons? Erm, no, that's not on my list.

Substitute it for Space Seed, squeeze Journey to Babel in there and this list at least looks legit.

EDIT: Looking at it again (and paying attention this time ), I just noticed that this is actually Roddenberry's Top Ten. But still, I don't think this list is complete.

 

[WendellM]

Thanks, it may be it. I just thought A Piece of The Action was on that list, and that it was the readers of the magazine that had voted. But I may be wrong

There might have been a list of reader favorites in that issue, or perhaps it was another issue (Trek has been in a lot). Checking Google Groups' archive of Usenet (no WWW back in 1991 ), turned up this info on what the '91 issue contained:

Next weeks TV Guide (Aug. 31-Sept. 6) features ST and
ST-TNG on the cover and in several articles.

The cover has a picture of Kirk and Picard with the title:
It's Kirk vs. Picard
Experts and Fans Debate
Who's the Best

There are also several subtitles:
25 Years of Star Trek:
Where it's been; where it's going.
Trek's creator picks his favorite episodes.
Sneak peek of ST VI, the next movie.
Remember these stars' treks?
Plus a trivia quiz for Trekbuffs.

There is about 7 pages of stuff, plus a 900 number you can
call and vote for who is the best captain, Kirk or Picard.

and this:

GET NEXT WEEK'S TV GUIDE!!! (week of Aug. 31 - Sept. 6)
Included:

COVER: ``It's Kirk vs. Picard" (picture included).

INSIDE: SEVEN PAGES ABOUT STAR TREK !!
Including:
- Star Trek VI: A Sneak Preview (including a picture)
- Trektrivia: test your I.Q. (13 questions)
- Article about 25th anniversary
- Article: "Comparing the captains"
- My Favorite Voyages (by Gene Roddenberry)
- Pictures of: Kirk with Joan Collins
Kirk with Ricardo Montalban (from Space Seed)
Kirk alone
Picard alone
Spock with Mariette Hartley
Spock with Diana Muldaur
Spock and T'Pring
and of course: Kirk with the Tribbles!

 

[Neopeius]

Return of the Archons? Erm, no, that's not on my list.

Took the words out of my mouth!

 

[M'Sharak]

Return of the Archons? Erm, no, that's not on my list.

Took the words out of my mouth!

Roddenberry wrote the story, though, which may have had something to do with its appearance on the list.

 

[Gary7]

Yikes... "Amok Time"? "The Enemy Within"? "Return of the Archons"?

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

Hey, "Amok Time" is my favorite Classic Trek episode. Kirk versus Spock to the death. And the solution: McCoy. This was the episode that was playing all the time in the college dorm. I asked one of the people watching it what was happening. "Sit down and watch it," she said. I thought, "It's not gonna change my life or anything."

 

[Zachary Smith]

No top ten is complete without "The Doomsday Machine".

 

[MANT!]

No top ten is complete without "The Doomsday Machine".

Agreed..
Sorry but Doomsday machine has always been my personal #1..period

 

[Gary7]

Hey, "Amok Time" is my favorite Classic Trek episode. Kirk versus Spock to the death. And the solution: McCoy. This was the episode that was playing all the time in the college dorm. I asked one of the people watching it what was happening. "Sit down and watch it," she said. I thought, "It's not gonna change my life or anything."

Don't get me wrong--it's a good episode... It's an important one that furthers the bond between Kirk and Spock, but I just wouldn't rank it in the top 10. There are so many moments where the pace is slow... I found it boring, although the ending wasn't what I expected. That kind of made up for the rest.

 

[Michael]

Hey, "Amok Time" is my favorite Classic Trek episode. Kirk versus Spock to the death. And the solution: McCoy. This was the episode that was playing all the time in the college dorm. I asked one of the people watching it what was happening. "Sit down and watch it," she said. I thought, "It's not gonna change my life or anything."

Don't get me wrong--it's a good episode... It's an important one that furthers the bond between Kirk and Spock, but I just wouldn't rank it in the top 10. There are so many moments where the pace is slow... I found it boring, although the ending wasn't what I expected. That kind of made up for the rest.

Yeah, I agree with that. Amok Time is good (especially for the last few scenes and the great music), but it was never one of my favorite episodes.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I feel the same way about "Amok Time". I enjoy the unforgettable music (although it was overused in future episodes) and if there was a list of the best Star Trek endings, I believe its ending would belong towards the top, but I find a lot of it either boring or painfully lame. I really don't like how the Vulcan culture was depicted or the fight scenes. I'd think such supposedly "logical" people would have a culture with traditions, fashions, and rituals that look a lot more dignified and a lot less hokey and silly.

 

[T'Bonz]

My top ten, in no particular order:

- Operation: Annihilate
- The Tholian Web
- Amok Time
- The Doomsday Machine
- Journey to Babel
- Obsession
- The Devil in the Dark
- The Trouble with Tribbles
- Balance of Terror
- The Naked Time

 

[ToddPence]

TV Guide did a list of the Top 100 episodes in television history in 1997. The lone TOS entry in the list was "The City on the Edge of Forever". Lost in Space's "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" was actually ranked higher on the list!

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

Hey, "Amok Time" is my favorite Classic Trek episode. Kirk versus Spock to the death. And the solution: McCoy. This was the episode that was playing all the time in the college dorm. I asked one of the people watching it what was happening. "Sit down and watch it," she said. I thought, "It's not gonna change my life or anything."

Don't get me wrong--it's a good episode... It's an important one that furthers the bond between Kirk and Spock, but I just wouldn't rank it in the top 10. There are so many moments where the pace is slow... I found it boring, although the ending wasn't what I expected. That kind of made up for the rest.

Yeah, I agree with that. Amok Time is good (especially for the last few scenes and the great music), but it was never one of my favorite episodes.

All of which is cool except that we're discussing MY favorite episode of Classic Trek. It's the one on which I based all of my devotion to Trek.

 

[Michael]

Don't get me wrong--it's a good episode... It's an important one that furthers the bond between Kirk and Spock, but I just wouldn't rank it in the top 10. There are so many moments where the pace is slow... I found it boring, although the ending wasn't what I expected. That kind of made up for the rest.

Yeah, I agree with that. Amok Time is good (especially for the last few scenes and the great music), but it was never one of my favorite episodes.

All of which is cool except that we're discussing MY favorite episode of Classic Trek. It's the one on which I based all of my devotion to Trek.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Am I not allowed to voice my opinion about this episode?

 

[Red Ranger]

Notice there are no third season eps in Rodenberry's list! I would add from that season The Tholian Web, The Enterprise Incident, and Day of the Dove. Then I'd take off Return of the Archons, then add Mirror, Mirror, A Private Little War, and The Doomsday Machine to make it my top 15. I refuse to make a top 10! -- RR

 

[Trekwatcher]

Return of the Archons? Erm, no, that's not on my list.

Substitute it for Space Seed, squeeze Journey to Babel in there and this list at least looks legit.

EDIT: Looking at it again (and paying attention this time ), I just noticed that this is actually Roddenberry's Top Ten. But still, I don't think this list is complete.

My thoughts exactly. Archons? Hunh?