Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Favourite 'Star Trek' episodes ??

another really good TNG episode that i liked was the one were Picard got injured and Q gave him a "it's a Wonderful Life"-esqe vision of his life if he had "played it safe" and not taken the actions and risks (ie not fighting the Norsicans in that bar which led to him getting the artifical heart, etc.)that had led him to where he was in life at that time. it showed the consiquences of what happend if he had played it safe. he became a low ranking crew member and when he asked Riker and Troi what were his chances for advancement Riker give him the harsh truth that he would never have a chance of advancing because he played it safe. then Picard realized that this was not how he wanted his life to turn out he begged Clerence-er-"Q" to send him back and he realized that he had no regrets for the things he'd done.
the name of the Episode escapes me right now does anyone know what the name of that episode was?

Patrick Macnee is English, born and raised. He was born in London and attended school there his whole life. He didn't leave the UK for Canada until he was almost 30.

As for Robert Vaughn, he was born and raised in New York to parents who were both in the New York show business scene.

As for the Star Trek cast both Shatner and Doohan were born in Canada. Shatner in Montreal and Doohan in Vancouver.

While I agree that THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES is an excellent episode, it is included in the Season 2 set and I recently rewatched it.

That ending kind-of bothered me. Was no one at all concerned that the tribbles were certainly condemned to death once they were beamed aboared that Klingon ship? No, everyone got a good "tee-hee" out of it.

"Patrick Macnee is English, born and raised. He was born in London and attended school there his whole life. He didn't leave the UK for Canada until he was almost 30."

Ah, good, I knew he spent SOME time in Canada! (As for Robert Vaughn, I must be thinking of some OTHER 60's tv star... I'm sure I haven't named ALL of them.)


On the other hand, SIDNEY NEWMAN, I'm very sure was Canadian, and met Macnee in Canada. Later, Newman moved to England, and was working for ATV (which I believe later became Thames TV). Newman seriously revised an existing show, POLICE SURGEON, and created a new show (not a spin-off) called THE AVENGERS. Macnee had been moving into the area of producing, and wasn't sure he wanted to go back to acting-- so he reportedly asked for a rediculous amount of money, and was surprised when he got it! That was the end of his career as a producer (which he reflected was probably a good thing).

Because of his achievements at the "commercial" network, Newman was hired by the BBC to completely revamp the aging dinosaur of an organization, which irked a LOT of "old school" types there, considering he was an outside to the company, AND a Canadian!!!

While he managed a LOT of changes, bringing the Beeb into the modern era, perhaps the single most famous thing he did was create the initial format for a brand-new show, which under an army of other hands (typical of BBC beauracracy) became DOCTOR WHO! Imagine finding out 2 of my favorite British TV shows were created BY THE SAME GUY!

Par for the Star Trek course.

A number of episodes where one or more of the actual crew get killed end the same way.

Okay... how about LEAST-favorite ST episodes? I have to limit myself only to the original show, because I've only seen the majority of the stories since once apiece. While that might qualify entire ST series for "least favorite" across-the-board, I'd rather get into those episodes that I've seen maybe DOZENS of times, and CONTINUE to hate each time I see them over the decades.

MIRI -- I just HATE those kids-- especially Michael J. Pollard. About the 4th time I saw this, it started to grow on me, but not by much. What surprised me recently was, I got really hooked on reruns of TRUE GRIT-- must have seen parts of it 3 times-- but didn't realize the place I'd seen Kim Darby before was this ST episode!

THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELLION -- my best friend dug the Amazon in the silver bikini, but the whole concept of this story just bugged me so much that this was one of the few episodes I SKIPPED entirely the last few times I watched every episode in sequence. (At least THE SIMPSONS got some mileage out of it!)

BREAD AND CIRCUSES -- for similar reasons, there's something about the "rat in a trap" plot that rubs me the wrong way. Worse than the above, perhaps, because the main villain in this one never gets his come-uppance. I can't see actor Logan Ramsey in anything without thinking of this and getting angry.

THE PARADISE SYNDROME -- one of the worst of all TV cleches must be "amnesia". This one's worse than most! The last time I watched it, I actually fast-forwarded over it, only watching the part of the story seen from Spock & McCoy's POV. I just couldn't bear the rest of it.

THE OMEGA GLORY -- what starts out as an interesting "plague of the week" story degenerates into a "Starfleet officer gone INSANE" tale when Ron Tracy (Morgan Woodward) disintegrates one of Kirk's men, then threatens to do the same to Spock & McCoy if Kirk doesn't cooperate. The Comms-Yangs plot had interesting parallels with Earth history-- UNTIL they had the UNBELIEVEABLE nerve to pull out the US flag AND Constitution, which was identical, word-for-word, to the one on Earth! (NO FREAKIN' WAY!!!) I was shocked to be reminded just this week that this one one of the 3 scripts originally submitted to NBC for ST's 2nd pilot-- the others being "Mudd's Women" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before". I think they picked the best one-- would this have been any different (or better) if Roddenberry had produced it himself early in the 1st season???

Prof,

I LOVE most of the early, 1st season Star Trek episodes, because they just feel brash, fresh and creative. Even if all the interesting continuity/backstory isn't there yet. Corbomite Maneuver, Where No Man Has Gone Before, Conscience of the King, Naked Time, Arena, Shore Leave, Balance of Terror, Menagerie, Court Martial, even Mudd's Women and Man Trap. These stories laid the foundations for the main characters, the ethos of Star Fleet and the Federation, and told gripping, humorous tales to boot. The writers and producers took typical sci-fi themes of the time and turned them into great TV drama (and, for Shatner, melodrama!) I increasingly find these episodes more fun than the "agreed-on" classics like Amok Time, City on the Edge of Forever, Tribbles, Babel, etc.

I agree with you on all your dislikes. Miri was alternately too creepy and too annoying. The alternate earth thing was done WAY to often -- it seems to be a Roddenberry obsession, or crutch. Paradise Syndrome could have been good -- a story about Kirk feeling burned out and seriously tempted to give up Starfleet for a simpler life -- but got turned into more hackneyed TV melodrama, something that happened a lot in the TOS third season.

I haven't read the whole thread, but I wanted to vote for a TNG episode "Darmok." While it vergese on preachy, this tale about using storytelling to communicate with aliens is to me the epitome of what Star Trek is all about.

Great points, Doublechinner! I was just discussing with a friend last weekend how ST had 4 different producers, and each gave the show a different "feel". Roddenberry produced the first dozen or so (I'd have to check exactly which ones and how many). His run is a lot less "comfortable" than what followed when Gene Coon (a veretan of THE WILD WILD WEST) took over and stayed for a whole year. Coon's era is when the characters became real "friends" and the show felt more "viewer-friendly". All the same, Roddenberry's era is a continual surprise. The episodes are dense in detail, the hallways crowded with crewmen, and quite a few of them have a dark, disturbing feel, and even downbeat endings. I like to describe Roddenberry's era as "THE OUTER LIMITS in color with regular characters". Considering the number of actors and behind-the-scenes people on ST who were TOL veterans, I guess this shouldn't be surprising. (I believe assistant producer Robert Justman worked on ST for all 3 years it was on-- and he'd been on THE OUTER LIMITS as well!)

"Creepy and annoying"-- great desciption of "Miri"! I was thrown a bit when I found out "The Omega Glory" had been in the running for the 2nd pilot. This means it could have been the 1st "alternate earth" story. It certainly would have been a lot FRESHER of a concept if it had been done that early, instead of coming after "A Piece of The Action", "Patterns Of Force", "Bread And Circuses"-- and "Miri", for that matter.

"Paradise Syndrome could have been good -- a story about Kirk feeling burned out and seriously tempted to give up Starfleet for a simpler life -- but got turned into more hackneyed TV melodrama, something that happened a lot in the TOS third season."

Also, great point. That's pretty much how I felt about "The Omega Glory"-- an idea with great potential gone horribly astray. I feel I was proved right about this when elements of both "The Omega Glory" AND "The Way To Eden" (another episode not thought well of) turned up in STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, one of my favorite of all the TNG stories.

Come to think of it-- the way you described "Paradise Syndrome" reminds me of what was going on with Christopher Pike in "The Cage"! (But it was done much better the first time, of course.)

Different, yes. Better, probably not.

Different because, in the original story, the guy who gets disintegrated is a Lt. Phil Raintree, who (at least in the James Blish adaptation) is none too brave. Had they done this early on, they may have decided to cast that part.

But I believe the budgets were getting tighter by the time they decided to go back and do this one, so they used one of their background regulars instead. Namely, the guy who played Security Lt. Galloway. Can't really make Galloway cowardly, since he'd been through too much already, so he just suddenly gets stupid instead. Funny thing is, likely thanks to episodes being shown out of order, the actor is back shortly afterwards - as Security Lt. Johnson, with the most dialogue he's ever had. And *then*, for the final broadcast episode, he shows up again - as Lt. Galloway!

I love those Trek background guys. I really do. I can think of one guy in particular - who I don't think ever had a line of dialogue - but he played a navigator, engineer, security guard, and medical technician in different episodes.

Geez! All these years, and that's something I NEVER really noticed. Although I did note the one actor who was a Commodore (or Captain, or something-- you can tell I never let picky "details" like this bother me, heh heh) in THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER had earlier been one of Kirk's crewmen.

Speaking of "out of sequence", one that always got me was how the 2nd Klingon episode, "Friday's Child", was actually aired FOURTH, because somehow, it got pre-empted (probably at the very last minute). The 2nd season of ST was the first time in my life I ever managed to watch EVERY episode of a season without missing one, and I always recall that being right near the end of the season. It was listed that way in the book THE MAKING OF STAR TREK, but years later other sources indicated it had been filmed MUCH earlier (one of the earliest 2nd-year stories filmed, in fact), and had apparently been scheduled for mid-December '67. Next thing you know, someone listed it under its intended airdate rather than its actual airdate, and fans too young to have been there when it was first-run take the mistake as "official". Mind you, I'd much rather watch the series in PRODUCTION order (as Philly's Channel 17 did in the early 80's)... but the Sci Fi Channel's been running it in the Network Broadcast order instead.

All the same, that's better than what Philly's Channel 48 (long gone) did when they FIRST got ahold of the show in the early 70's. I'd missed quite a few, and delighted in being able to finally see ALL of them for the first time. I'd gotten a complete list of stories from Lincoln Enterprises (Roddenberry's mail-order company) and was using it as an "episode guide". Imagine my astonishment-- downright dumbfoundedness-- when I saw Channel 48 running the show in EXACT-- REVERSE-- ORDER!!! I'm not making this up. They started with "Turnabout Intruder" and slowly worked their way back to "The Man Trap". It was like they'd gotten a stack of the film prints, in sequence-- but started at the WRONG end!! After, someone must have pointed out their error, and they began running it in a more rational order...

Hmm...so many episodes - the TNG ones were my fav, especially one with Wesley, the one where they eat Deanna Troi peptide cake, and ones with extended jaunts on the Holodecks...

Have to admit I was never a Wesley Crusher fan, though I felt the fault was always in the concept and writing, not in Wil Wheaton's portrayal.

One of the fantastic things about the Holodeck stories was the fact that it was clear that the crew were all Holodeck addicts. There's no way anyone with sense wouldn't shut that thing down after the first disaster.

Yeah, they spent too many eps in that damn room - whatever happened to "discovering new civilizations?" My biggest critique of "TNG" might be that they didn't do enough stories with their initial premise of Picard being the Captain on the bridge and Riker being the away team leader, doing the rough and tumble stuff planetside. Maybe they weren't able to keep up the expense of creating new worlds all the time or they figured out early on that Stewart is ten times a better actor than the rest of the cast...

i think i was big on wesley cause my friends and i always wanted to be in his place. anyone else wanted crusher and picard to just drop what they were doing and start making out on the bridge? that woulda be AWESOME!

I never understood the whole teen sidekick phenomena as a means of getting kids interested in a book. For me, I always found the kid sidekick annoying because they were in the way more than they were helpful (yeah, i'm thinking mostly of Robin). I always identified with the hero. If I tried to fantasize that I were in that world, I'd fantasize being a lot more effectual (maybe that was the appeal of the Legion - all teens as heroes rather than second fiddle to a grownup).

I forgot to mention one of my favorite TV episodes of anything ever--

1. "Far Beyond The Stars" (#137)

In a dramatic twist so subtle as nearly to be missed in the sea of almost-familiar faces (the regular cast, without uniforms or make-up), Sisko finds himself dreaming that he is a black writer in 1950s New York ... dreaming about being a black space station commander in the distant future. As he moves deeper into his vision, Sisko begins writing down his tales of science fiction and space opera, only to be told that any story featuring a black commanding officer is "unbelievable." Unusually, this is a story not only about the strength of the individual, but also about the fragility of the individual – an approach which underscores the essential importance of every human being more forcefully than a dozen grenade-lobbing Rambo figures ever could have done. This is an episode absolutely dedicated to courage, and it took courage to put it on the air.

I LOVED this episode--it's everything I really liked about DS9.

DS9, after a very shaky start, eventually proved to be my favorite of the ST spin-off series. It's the only one I've watched reruns of many episodes of, though unlike the original show, never enough to remember any of them by title.

That said, one of my favorites (which I did catch again by luck recently) was when Kira winds up going on a missing WITH Gul Ducat, who she HATES (and with good reason), trying to track down renegade Klingon ships attacking Federation ships. In a situation almost replaying the one in ST3, they find themselves outgunned and outmatched-- until Kira cleverly uses the transporter to BEAM BOTH CREWS to each other's ships. I was flabbergasted! Before this, I'd long thought Kirk had really SCREWED UP by blowing up the Enterprise (something, it's said, Gene Roddenbery would NEVER have had him do). Watching this first-run, my admiration for Kira skyrocketed-- I saw her as a BETTER commander than Kirk had been!

And then Ducat cold-bloodedly destroys the helpless Klingons.

"Was that really necessary?"

"You're the terrorist-- you tell me!"

I think it's a commentary on the series that I can't really remember one episode at all in particular as being a stand-out. They all blend into one for me, although I do recall liking DS9 a lot more than ST:TNG... The rest? Eh.

"The Conscience of the King" is mt long-timefavorite TOS episode.

TNG - almost too many ot choose from. "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "All Good Things" stand out - as does a 7th season episode focusing on Deanna and her mother's loss of D's older sister.

DS9- loved almost all of it. it's truly hard to decide. "Trials and Tribulations" and "Our Man Bashir" stand out for their quirkiness, as does "Far Beyond the Stara" to a lesser extent. But the regular storylines were also fantastic.

VOYAGER- It hurts mt brain to dwell on it too long.

ENETERPRISE - only saw a few. liked it, but not enough to overcome Voyager fatigue.

"The Conscience of the King"

Barbara Anderson gets my vote for one of the prettiest women to ever appear on ST. (Too bad her character was PSYCHO!!!)

I got ST: TOS Season 3 for Christmas, and have been watching episodes here and there...

it's been DULL, overall, so far. I'm actually surprised how boring these episodes are, for the most part. They don't hold a CANDLE to season 2.

I should have opted to get Season 1 instead (it's the only of the 3 seasons I lack).

I always said season 4 was better than season 3...


YES, I know, they were half-hour CARTOONS. That's besides the point!

Last time I watched the 3rd season, I remember thinking how MUCH "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" reminded me of an episode of ST:TNG. Characters board the Enterprise at the beginning of the story... lots of dull, low-key, talk talk talky scenes... some pretty bad drama, some pretty bad acting... and at story's end, characters are back in the transporter room, beaming off the ship. (YAWN!)


One funny thing came out of it (well, at least for ME). Back in the 70's my brother did a comic-book story wherein he drew a picture of Camden's City Hall. On one face of the building, he enscribed: "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" --WALT WHITMAN (when, in fact, the actual WW quote on the building says "In A Vision I Saw A City Invincible")