# Star Trek - best TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411 "2000-09-07T20:36:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/41 "2000-09-10T04:52:22Z")
Hey, Bosda, do you realize that your signature is in a Times Roman font starting with the word “BARRICADE”? (It only shows up like that on Netscape Navigator, though, so if you’re using MS Internet Explorer it will look “normal.”) My guess is you have an extra {/b} or {/i} directive just before the word “BARRICADE”. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/42 "2000-09-10T14:59:10Z")
> [@](#): > > the 2-part Borg cliff hanger where Picard is assimilated “The Best of Both Worlds” > [@](#): > > -ST: TNG where there’s an eldery couple (really super powerful beings) that are covering up the fact that they were involved in genocide. “The Survivors”. Actually, it was only the man; the woman was an illusion of his dead wife. > [@](#): > > Where the station is armed to the teeth. One of the best space battles ever shown. You probably mean “The Way of the Warrior”. > [@](#): > > The other was the one just after the two-parter where Picard was assimilated, where he goes back to Earth and stays with his brother. “Family”. Also the only TNG with no scenes on the bridge. > [@](#): > > The one where Picard is captured and interrogated by the Cardassians (“THERE…ARE…FOUR…LIGHTS!!!”) “Chain of Command” (a two-parter). > [@](#): > > The one where Riker jumps back and forth between a play on the Enterprise and a first contact mission where he’s disguised as a native then captured and imprisoned, and it turns out he’s a prisoner of the Romulans who are trying to find out the location of a secret base “Frame of Mind”. > [@](#): > > The one where the Enterprise explodes three times while it’s caught in a time loop (“All hands abandon ship! Repeat…ALL HANDS ABANDON… _KABLAM_”) “Cause and Effect”. > [@](#): > > Correction: I’ve seen one voyager episode I liked. They had found an intelligent bomb and it takes over the holograph doctor and the ship, they talk it out of carrying out its mission because the war is over, and it blows up its comrades. “Warhead”. > [@](#): > > When Q is exiled from the Continuum and becomes human. I love that one! “Déjà Q”. > [@](#): > > The one where most of the DS9 crew land on a planet, and discover their descendants. If they leave, everyone dies. “Children of Time”. > [@](#): > > The one where Jake, as an older man, tells the story of how his father got caught in some kind of energy field and can’t get out of it. “The Visitor”. Has been voted the best _Trek_ ever. > [@](#): > > The one where Quark has to assemble a team of Ferengi to negotiate to get his mother back from Dominion forces. “The Magnificent Ferengi.” > [@](#): > > I can’t remember the name, but it was TNG, the first time the Enterprise D meets the Romulans, there were two Warbirds against the enterprise and the Romulan commander is getting ready to blow away the enterprise. Picard makes a gesture to Worf, Worf hits a button and 3 Klingon Birds of Prey de-cloak surrounding the Romulans. Umm… Well, it wasn’t the first episode with the Romulans (“The Neutral Zone”), I don’t think. > [@](#): > > the episode where is Sisko is hallucinating that he is a science fiction writer in the late 40s. > [@](#): > > When Sisko becomes a struggling 1950’s sci-fi writer. “Far Beyond the Stars”. He reprised it in > [@](#): > > The one where Q introduces the Borg. “Q Who”. > [@](#): > > The first Barclay episode. “Hollow Pursuits”. > [@](#): > > The one where the Traveler soups up the Enterprise’s engines and they visit the edge of the universe. (The only good first season episode.) “Where No One Has Gone Before”. > [@](#): > > Quark, Rom, Nog and Odo crashland in Roswell, NM. “Little Green Men.” > [@](#): > > The one where Chief O’Brien thinks the rest of the crew are aliens and are out to get him. “Whispers”. > [@](#): > > they found the planet that was in a subspace field where time ran faster on the magnitude of one second=one year “Blink of an Eye”. Not to be confused with “Wink of an Eye” (TOS). > [@](#): > > The one great episode I saw featured a Pierrot-Lunaire-type clown. “The Thaw.” Also featured a pink guillotine. (trots humbly off to accept the geek award) Anyway. My fave series was DS9 - the only one to have a story that lasted more than two episodes. The only one where they could get away with doing things like ten-episode arcs. I liked most of DS9. Let me put my little plug in for “Rejoined” - the one where Jadzia is almost ostracized from Trill society for falling in love with the current host of Torias Dax’s wife. Although I am a little bit annoyed that every time they have something even the least little bit queer in the entire universe, it’s an alien. Feh. They’ve also had some excellent comedy episodes, including “Trials and Tribble-ations,” “In the Cards” (Jake hunts for a baseball card and gets embroiled in intrigue), and “Who Mourns for Morn?” Oh, and “Far Beyond the Stars” and “The Visitor” are the best Trek episodes ever released. Thank you. But I was rather disappointed with the finale (“What You Leave Behind”). They might have had fewer clips and more wrapping-up of actual storylines. (Who becomes Kai? What happens to Bajor after Winn’s treachery is discovered? Will we ever see a goddamn Breen? And… wasn’t the whole series just written by Benny Russell?) Of the generally lackluster Voyager, I would like to plug “Before and After,” the one where Kes gets younger as she moves backward in time. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/43 "2000-09-10T15:01:59Z")
Oh, goddamnit… > [@](#): > > “Far Beyond the Stars”. He reprised it in …“Shadows and Symbols”. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/44 "2000-09-10T16:09:38Z")
FYI The episode with the Enterprise and 2 warbirds and the Klingons to the rescue was “The Defector.” I had always liked DS9 the best at least it’s 4th and 5th. seasons, “Call to Arms” was just about the best season ending of all time. I feel starting with the 6th. season DS9 went way off track with the whole prophets as Gods stuff. Sisko should have regarded the prophets as Picard did with Q. Star Trek should have never fallen into mysticism what was the prophets. When the worm hole aliens became gods to Sisko, is where the series failed IMO. The entire premise of the series was Bajor joining the Federation and the series ended without that major event being mentioned. The deus-ex-machina ending of “Sacrifice of Angles” was another unforgivable sin. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/45 "2000-09-10T16:26:20Z")
TOS: The Doomsday Machine TNG: The Survivors Who Watches the Watchers **Starfleet observers are revealed to a primitive race** The Best of Both Worlds Remember Me _ **My favourite TNG** _ **the crew disappear from Beverly’s point of view** Silicon Avatar **Dr. Marr kills the Crystalline Entity to avenge her son’s death.** Starship Mine **Picard is trapped on the ship alone with hostile terrorists, as a deadly beam slowly sweeps the ship.** Frame of Mind DS9: Dramatis Personae **Divisions begin between members of the DS9 crew** Paradise **Sisko and O’Brien land on a world where no technology works, led by the fanatical Alixus** The Assignment **Keiko is possessed bya Pagh wraith, which orders O’Brien to make changes to the station** In The Pale Moonlight _ **My favourite DS9** _ VOY: Voyager is my preferred series, though few agree. I reckon the first 2 series are, in the main, deserving of a lot of the criticism, but that it improved vastly after that. State of Flux (S1) **Kazon steal Federation technology** Investigations (S2) **Neelix interfers with janeway’s plan to find a traitor by investigating the ‘mysterious’ departure of Tom Paris.** Deadlock (S2) **An all action episode. 2 Voyagers are created and attacked by Vidiians** Future’s End (S3) _ **My favourite VOY** _ **Voyager crew end up in 1996, after they are told they will cause a disaster in the 29th century. A fantastic 2 parter.** Displaced (S3) **Cliched but I like it anyway. Janeway and co. find themselves on a ship containing holographic biospheres with many other races, and escape.** Scorpion (S3/S4) Nemesis (S4) **Chakotay finds himself on a planet fightinf for one of 2 warring tribes. The universal translator malfunctions slightly!** Year of Hell (S4) Random Thoughts (S4) \*\*B’Elanna is arrested on a telepathic planet for thinking angry thoughts. \*\* Omega Directive (S4) **Janeway’s screen flashes up ‘OMEGA’, causing a dilemma. Omega Particles could cause a chain reaction which would prevent warp travel in the sector.** Latent Image (S5) **My favourite of Voyager’s less action-filled episodes. The Doctor discovers a gap in his memory, and a 1.5-year-old feedback loop is restarted.** Equinox (S5/S6) **Voyager meets another Federation ship, whose captain has been using less than ethical methods to travel across the quadrant.** ---
**Author:** ![bafaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/46 "2000-09-11T02:28:21Z")
Haven’t read all the posts yet but here are my favorites from each series. **TOS:** The one with Joan Collins. City on the Edge of Forever? **TNG:** The Inner Light. I always get choked up at the end when he realizes what’s going on. **DS9** : The one where Jake ages and saves his father as an old man. This one also gets me all choked up. Doesn’t the older Jake also play Worf’s brother and wasn’t he the Candyman? Don’t really have a favorite for Voyager. I do watch and enjoy the show. I’d be happy just watching Seven walk around the whole hour :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/47 "2000-09-11T15:00:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ura-Maru \* > **Even now, a horrible looking show called _Dark Horizon_ is lurking just beyond our borders, waiting for a moment of weakness to strike!** I know of another one, that is (potentially) the worst genre series EVER: _Sheena_, starring Gena Lee Nolin (formerly of _Baywatch._) I’m not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/48 "2000-09-11T15:21:54Z")
As for the Voyager series…I like the one were they run across the Borg battling Species 4536 (or whatever they called it). (title?) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/49 "2000-09-11T16:20:12Z")
Phobos: “Scorpion” (I and II). And it’s Species 8472. I would like to mention that I did all but two of the episode names above from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/50 "2000-09-11T22:43:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*Hey, Bosda, do you realize that your signature is in a Times Roman font starting with the word “BARRICADE”? (It only shows up like that on Netscape Navigator, though, so if you’re using MS Internet Explorer it will look “normal.”) > > My guess is you have an extra {/b} or {/i} directive just before the word “BARRICADE”. \*\* I don’t care. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/51 "2000-09-12T12:53:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Phobos: “Scorpion” (I and II). And it’s Species 8472. > \*\* thanks “Species 8472” would make a good username. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/52 "2000-09-12T14:24:42Z")
matt\_mcl wrote: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Correction: I’ve seen one voyager episode I liked. They had found an intelligent bomb and it takes over the holograph doctor and the ship, they talk it out of carrying out its mission because the war is over, and it blows up its comrades. > > “Warhead”. When I saw that episode, I couldn’t help thinking of the “Bomb number 20” scene in _Dark Star_. (Then again, the “THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!” episode of TNG was essentially the whole Ministry of Love section from Orwell’s _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ all over again.) ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/53 "2000-09-12T16:16:47Z")
Well, there was an episode of _DS9_ which had O’Brien on trial in Cardassia that was obviously inspired by Franz Kafka’s _The Trial._ Then there was the _DS9_ show inspired by _Brigadoon_, but I’d rather not talk about that one; it’s _DS9_’s equivalent to “Spock’s Brain.” ---
**Author:** ![niveous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@niveous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/niveous)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411/54 "2000-09-12T18:17:39Z")
ST fans who have something to say (or not) about Shatner’s acting should visit this wonderfully hilarious site: [http://www.hecklers.com/simshatner/](http://www.hecklers.com/simshatner/). I got a huge kick out of it. Sci-Fi Channel had a marathon on Labor Day for TOS, which reminded me of many episodes I liked. TOS: Mirror, Mirror TOS: Menagerie, 1-2 TOS: The Trouble with Tribbles TOS: The City on the Edge of Forever TNG: Best of Both Worlds, 1-2 Unfortunately, I missed pretty much all of DS9, though I’m trying to catch up. Can’t say I like Voyager all too much, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-best-tv-shows/32411.md?page=2)