When we first met, my wife was almost a geek virgin. She’d seen and liked ST:TOS, but that was about her total exposure to SciFi/SF/Comics/Fantasy outside of the Whedonverse. Since taking up with me, of course, she has changed. She’s been to Comic-Con 7 times, smiles tolerantly when I argue with people over comic books, and generally is learning to like the Geek Life. Which brings us to the point: BBCAmerica is running ST:TNG on a regular basis, and the wife is liking it. What’s more, they are running episodes out of order, so someone in Programming is picking and choosing what they show, and they are doing a pretty good job. Lately we’ve seen the Borg arc, the Klingon Civil War episodes, and the center Q episodes. She even teared up a bit at the end of “Darmok.”
Now I want to expose her to the best of the rest. What are, IYO, the best episodes/arcs of ST: DS9 and ST:TNG? There are no good episodes of Voyager or Enterprise, so don’t even bother with those.
Season 2:
The Homecoming/The Circle/The Siege
Necessary Evil
Whispers
Blood Oath
The Wire
Crossover
The Collaborator
Season 3
Destiny
Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast
The Adversary
Season 4:
Way Of The Warrior
The Visitor (just stunning!)
Little Green Men
Hard Time
Season 5
The Ship
Trials and Tribble-ations
Rapture
In Purgatory’s Shadow/By Inferno’s Light
Children Of Time
In The Cards
A Call To Arms
Season 6 - when things get REALLY arc-ey
A Time To Stand/Rocks and Shoals/Sons and Daughters/Behind The Lines/Favor The Bold/The Sacrifice Of Angels
Far Beyond The Stars
Inquisition
In The Pale Moonlight
The Reckoning
Tears Of The Prophets
Season 7
Image In The Sand/Shadows and Symbols
Take Me Out To The Holosuite
The Siege of AR-558
It’s Only A Paper Moon
Chimera
Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
…and then the 10-part final arc from Penumbra to What You Leave Behind.
I’ll second the Dominion arc in DS9. Just excellent. You’ll love Weyoun. But also don’t miss “The Visitor,” which is my favorite Trek episode of all-time. If she was crying during Darmok, she’ll permanently blow out her tear ducts at the end of “The Visitor.”
For TNG, I’d add “Tapestry” and “Relics” (the latter should be well-received by a fan of TOS).
I didn’t like the last season of DS9. The Dominion war got too dark. The Federation almost lost. Also they had a lot of Kai Winn stories in the last season. That woman made my skin crawl.
The best DS9 episode is the one where Sisco and Jake fly a homemade spaceship and recreate a famous Bajorian legend. I loved the father/son relationship.
For your wife, I would show her all the TNG Q episodes
It will give her a really nice book-ended look and perhaps encourage her to watch the entire series (which I have done often). You get the very first episode, a smattering in the middle (which will introduce other characters) and then a nice ending. From there, you can show her the Q episode from DS-9 (“Q-Less”) and the three from Voyager (under-rated on a second viewing): “Death Wish,” “The Q and the Grey,” and “Q2”
TNG:
* “Encounter at Farpoint”
* “Hide and Q”
* “Q Who?”
* “Déjà Q”
* “Qpid”
* “True Q”
* “Tapestry”
* “All Good Things…”
Good list. I’d add these episodes too.
Season 3
The House of Quark: I’m not big fan of the Ferengi centric episodes in general, but I thought the resolution to this episode was clever and unexpected.
Season 4:
Our Man Bashir: A fun Bond parody.
Hard Time: O’brien must suffer.
Homefront & Paradise Lost: That’s a bad Federation! Whacks with newspaper
Season 6:
Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night: Kira’s mom wasn’t all she was cracked up to be.
Valiant: Stupid kids think they’re so hot.
The Siege of AR-558: Nog’s leggy go bye bye.
Oops, you already had Hard Time and The Siege of AR-558 on your list.
If you are going to work through DS9, surely you have to start with “The Emissary”? Not the best episode, but needed just to set up the premise.
Been watching quite a few TNGs on youtube recentyly (seems they are all up there). I like the time paradoxy ones the best, like Timescape, Cause and Effect, and Parallels. Anything with Q is great, as others have said.
And, there are a couple of decent Voyager episodes. Scorpion and Year of Hell were pretty good. Voyager was such a waste. The premise was great, but utterly squandered over the course of its run.
Time’s Arrow is the best predestination paradox Trek ever did, IMHO. Mark Twain FTW.
Since the others have gotten a lot of good TNG and DS9 stuff out of the way, here’s a very short list of good Voyager episodes. (Yeah, there are a vanishingly small number.)
The Q war arc: Death Wish, The Q and the Grey, and Q2
The Braxton arc: Future’s End Parts I and II and Relativity (Bonus: Sarah Silverman)
And a few great comedy episodes: Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy; Author, Author; Bride of Chaotica!
Also Worst Case Scenario is fun.
I liked the TOS comedies. The one where Kirk visits a planet based on gangster Chicago is fun. Mudds Women is another great comedy.
TNG failed at most comedy. Picard always seemed too irritated and cranky. The Q episode where Picard and crew play Robin Hood was a great story idea. But, Patrick Stewart messed it up by playing it too serious. Shatner knew when to let Kirk seem silly.
A lot of people put this one on their Worst Of lists, but I have a soft spot for “Family”. Picard, following his enormously traumatizing experience with the Borg, returns to his family farm for a short rest, while he decides what he wants to do next. A sweet episode, with his gruff brother, beautiful sister-in-law, and eager young nephew.