# Playboy has ranked every Trek episode. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211 "2014-12-14T16:25:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/1 "2014-12-14T16:25:01Z")
I haven’t read the article yet but a writer has put all of Televised Trek into a blender and ranked all the episodes from worst to best. The link seems SFW but I have ad blocker software so I can’t vouch for any ads that may be on the page. Link is [here](http://www.playboy.com/articles/star-trek-episode-guide-part-one). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/2 "2014-12-14T17:52:43Z")
I do not for a second believe that there are 421 episodes of Star Trek worse than “Spock’s Brain”, even if you consider it on a kitsch level. Admittedly, I stopped watching Voyager after the first season, so maybe it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/3 "2014-12-14T18:13:52Z")
Fascinating - that he made one list of all the incarnations. I also gave up on Voyager after the first season, was only occasional with DS9 and skipped Enterprise. It’s also been too long since seeing any of the animated. That said, the top 100 or so ranking of Classic and TNG seems about right. I’ll have to give some of those other incarnations in the top 100 a chance if I have time. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/4 "2014-12-14T19:53:05Z")
He ranked “Skin of Evil” #122. I would have put it somewhere in the 600s. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/5 "2014-12-14T21:07:57Z")
I don’t have time to go through the entire list right now, but I wonder if they included “The Cage,” the complete first pilot (as distinct from the two-parter “The Menagerie”). I’ve seen that episode, and I’m surprised it’s not at least in the Top 100 (if it is, I skipped over it). ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/6 "2014-12-14T21:12:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I don’t have time to go through the entire list right now, but I wonder if they included “The Cage,” the complete first pilot (as distinct from the two-parter “The Menagerie”). I’ve seen that episode, and I’m surprised it’s not at least in the Top 100 (if it is, I skipped over it). The “rules” - > [@](#): > > 1 – The movies don’t count. 2 – The original, unaired pilot “The Cage” doesn’t count. 3 – Two-part episodes count as one episode. This isn’t as much of a crutch as you might think. Many two-parters start off great, then whiff in the home stretch. 4 – The episodes part of larger arcs (Dominion War, Xindi Superweapon) are treated individually if they have their own title without “Part X” in it. > 5 – The Animated Series does count. You have an issue with that, send a telegram. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/7 "2014-12-14T21:52:14Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > He ranked “Skin of Evil” #122. I would have put it somewhere in the 600s. Great music. Nice camera-work. I enjoyed Picard’s sit-down with Armus. I liked the funeral scene. It gets an undeserved bad rap. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/8 "2014-12-14T22:00:12Z")
Without looking, I’m going to try and guess the top ten. In no particular order The Visitor City on the Edge of Forever Best of Both Worlds Balance of Terror The Inner Light In the Pale Moonlight Yesteryear Yesterday’s Enterprise Trials and Tribbleations What You Leave Behind As I go to check, I wonder if the list-makers felt compelled to include an Enterprise and Voyager ep in the top 10. Or if they included that one where Sisko thought he was in the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/9 "2014-12-14T22:12:17Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Without looking, I’m going to try and guess the top ten. In no particular order > > The Visitor > City on the Edge of Forever > Best of Both Worlds > Balance of Terror > The Inner Light > In the Pale Moonlight > Yesteryear > Yesterday’s Enterprise > Trials and Tribbleations > What You Leave Behind > > As I go to check, I wonder if the list-makers felt compelled to include an Enterprise and Voyager ep in the top 10. Or if they included that one where Sisko thought he was in the 1950s. In The Pale Moonlight is #54 ☹ My list would look more like yours, since I thought DS9 was the best of the series, but no accounting for taste. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/10 "2014-12-14T22:22:35Z")
> [@simster](#): > > The “rules” - Noted and logged! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/11 "2014-12-14T22:51:15Z")
How “The First Duty” got all the way up to #48 is bewildering to me. I thought that episode was all kinds of dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/12 "2014-12-14T23:06:24Z")
Just based on the subject line, my thought was, “Who in the frakk could possibly care?” What next, Road & Track’s ranking of every Simpsons episode? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/13 "2014-12-14T23:33:57Z")
“The Alternative Factor” is only 466? It should have been the first one listed. (i.e., worst) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/14 "2014-12-14T23:52:07Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Just based on the subject line, my thought was, “Who in the frakk could possibly care?” > > What next, Road & Track’s ranking of every Simpsons episode? Playboy has published a lot of SF over the years by folks like Asimov, Clarke, Pohl, etc. so I’m not completely surprised to see them publish an article about Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/15 "2014-12-15T00:34:46Z")
I don’t get it. How could they exclude “The Cage,” the one that basically set the pattern for everything to come? :dubious: 😕 :mad: ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/16 "2014-12-15T00:35:13Z")
It was never broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/17 "2014-12-15T00:44:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It was never broadcast. Fifty years ago it was never broadcast. Nowadays, I challenge you to find a Trek watcher who hasn’t seen it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/18 "2014-12-15T00:57:27Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Just based on the subject line, my thought was, “Who in the frakk could possibly care?” > > What next, Road & Track’s ranking of every Simpsons episode? I haven’t finished the list yet and I don’t agree with all his choices, but the writer clearly knows his Trek. Also, as someone else wrote, Playboy has always been a top shelf publisher of fiction. Especially Science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/19 "2014-12-15T00:59:41Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Just based on the subject line, my thought was, “Who in the frakk could possibly care?” > > What next, Road & Track’s ranking of every Simpsons episode? Yanno, I _could_ give you a third warning from me in about a month, but instead I’ll tell you to knock it the fuck off. Merry Christmas. If you don’t care about the topic of a thread, you should _not_ post in the thread to announce that fact. That is the textbook example of threadshitting. Don’t do it. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211/20 "2014-12-15T01:32:23Z")
I haven’t watched much beyond the first series but this list might make me watch more of the later series. Amazing that a low rated 60s TV show led to 695 episodes and 12 movies (so far). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-has-ranked-every-trek-episode/707211.md?page=2)