# What should I watch? The best Treks. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773 "2016-09-12T18:30:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/1 "2016-09-12T18:30:38Z")
I don’t think I can watch each and every one of the series that are on Netflix right now so I want to cherry pick the best episodes from all the series. TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. I think I’ve seen every episode of TOS, but I saw some clips I didn’t recognize when I was watching the “Building Star Trek” special that was on last week. There were some extras dressed up in red ninja pyjamas with silver eye goggle things. What was that from? I think I’ve seen every episode of TNG but I may have missed a few in the later seasons. Hmm, same goes for DS9 and I bet I missed more than a few of Voyager. I stopped watching Enterprise a few episodes into season two. The ones with the Vulcans on earth in the 1950s(?) was the last one I saw. I’ve only seen a few of The Animated Series including the first and second episodes yesterday. I’ll probably watch the whole of TAS. So which episodes in each of the series should I put on high priority? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/2 "2016-09-12T19:20:59Z")
This is a good sampling that will give you a feeling for what the series is like and examples of some of their best work: TOS: The Man Trap City on the Edge of Forever Balance of Terror TNG The Measure of a Man Q Who The Defector The Inner Light DS9 Emissary (the pilot episode) Duet Necessary Evil The Jem’Hadar The Visitor Voyager Projections Deadlock Tuvix Distant Origin The Voyager Conspiracy Blink of an Eye Enterprise Broken Bow (the pilot) Congenitor Similtude Twilight If you watch a few of these, it will give you a good idea if you want to watch more. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/3 "2016-09-12T20:07:02Z")
**TOS** The Doomsday Machine Devil In The Dark The Ultimate Computer Skip at all costs: The Alternative Factor **TNG** A Matter of Honor Darmok (yes many people hate it - I love it. MMV) The Emissary Skip at all costs: Masks, Genesis **Voyager** Skip at all costs: all of them 🙂 **Enterprise** In A Mirror Darkly ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/4 "2016-09-12T20:21:03Z")
Since the OP mentioned TAS: Yesteryear The Survivor Albatross There are some sequels to TOS episodes, too. Yesteryear is one of them, but was excellently scripted by Dorothy Fontana. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/5 "2016-09-12T20:41:43Z")
To **TOS** I will add Shore Leave The Squire of Gothos Mirror, Mirror The Trouble with Tribbles To **TAS** More Tribbles, More Troubles To **TNG** The Drumhead To **DS9** Trials and Tribble-ations To **Voyager** The 37s. ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/6 "2016-09-13T16:09:11Z")
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve seen some of those suggested already but am certainly open to revisiting them. And there are a few I missed the first time around. I had only just watched Trials and Tribble-ations last weekend followed shortly by The Trouble with Tribbles. What a fun viewing experience. The animation in TAS! Oh boy! Well I guess the story’s the thing. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/7 "2016-09-13T16:17:15Z")
The best ds9 episode is in the pale moonlight, however if you aren’t familiar with the dominion war arc it might lose some context. The siege of ar-558 would probably give some good context. I’d also recommend the website [www.sfdebris.com](http://www.sfdebris.com) which does reviews of most of the star trek episodes as well as other sf items, warning the reviews do contain spoilers. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/8 "2016-09-13T16:23:04Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > The animation in TAS! Oh boy! Well I guess the story’s the thing. In terms of animation, it was pretty much standard Saturday-morning fare back in 1973: Crank it out as fast as you can as cheaply as you can, and the kids will never notice. But yeah, the quality of the writing was at least as good as in _ **TOS** _, and in some cases better. It helped a lot that most of the original cast signed on to voice it. Poor Walter Koenig, however, was left out. (Most of the additional voices were supplied by James Doohan and Majel Barrett.) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/9 "2016-09-13T17:40:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In terms of animation, it was pretty much standard Saturday-morning fare back in 1973: Crank it out as fast as you can as cheaply as you can, and the kids will never notice. But yeah, the quality of the writing was at least as good as in _ **TOS** _, and in some cases better. > > It helped a lot that most of the original cast signed on to voice it. Poor Walter Koenig, however, was left out. (Most of the additional voices were supplied by James Doohan and Majel Barrett.) Koenig did write the story for “The Infinite Vulcan.” The name of the Retlaw plant is a play on his first name. Also, Collation wanted to leave George Takei and Michelle Nichols out of the show for budgetary reasons. Doohan would have played Sulu and Majel Barrett would have played Uhura. However, Leonard Nimoy threatened to boycott the show unless Takei and Nichols were hired, since they represented Star Trek’s ideal of racial diversity in the 2393rd century. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-watch-the-best-treks/765773/10 "2016-09-13T17:47:18Z")
Edit window ran out before I could correct some errors. Also, Filmation wanted to leave George Takei and Nichelle Nichols out of the show for budgetary reasons. Doohan would have played Sulu and Majel Barrett would have played Uhura. However, Leonard Nimoy threatened to boycott the show unless Takei and Nichols were hired, since they represented Star Trek’s ideal of racial diversity in the 23rd century.