Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.
We’re here every Sunday night at 7 pm.
So, do you have a favorite Star Trek series? Why?
Star Trek (1966–1969)
The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)
Voyager (1995–2001)
Enterprise (2001–2005)
Discovery (2017–present)
Lower Decks animated (2020 – present)
Star Trek: Prodigy animated (2021 – present)
Strange New Worlds (2022 – present)
Favorite episode? Smartest episode? Best captain?
Better yet, let’s argue, not about which is your favorite series… but which series is the BEST?
Just kidding, here’s your chance to talk all things Star Trek.
Programming note: Since so many of us seem to have been influenced by The Autobiography of Malcolm X, let’s plan to talk about the book on Feb 12. That gives us about a month, in case anyone wants to re-read the book, read it for the first time, or listen to the audio version. For audio book peeps, The Autobiography of Malcom X is available on YouTube for free. The narrator seems good, too, which is always important to me!
Kent
Babylon 5…
But if I had to pick a Star Trek series, Deep Space 9
Something about a series set in one location where people pass through makes for more interesting and long-standing plot threads (especially political ones) than one in which a starship drifts from place to place
Another reason why I liked the more recent series, The Expanse, centered in the Asteroid Belt.
FooDonFah
Very much hated Voyager. It was the worst written and directed of all the shows until Discovery, but there were two of the best episodes of any of the shows, both happening in season 2, I believe: Tuvix and the one where Q wants to commit suicide.
MomSense
It’s Next Generation for me. It was on every evening after dinner. I loved watching it while my oldest (then a toddler) played with his toys.
Ihop
I cannot, will not say what is the best, a silly word, but my favorite is the original series.
‘Amok time’, ‘the trouble with tribbles’, and (cheating) ‘star trek 2: the wrath of khan’.
jame
TNG, always
Antonius
I have to say that “The Orville” may be the best Star Trek series. Goes places no Star Trek writer ever did, and often not for the yuks. Also, “Strange New Worlds” seems to out-original TOS on many fronts.
However, best TNG episode: “The Inner Light”. Picard lives an alternate lifetime in half an hour and experiences the wonder and loss of an entire alien culture, becoming their living cenotaph.
Skippy-san
Deep Space 9. In the Pale Moonlight Season 6. It’s the one where Sisco brings the Romulans into the Dominion War.
sab
I want to say “Seriously…” but I actually loved Star Trek (original series) at a very impressionable age. It changed my thinking and my life.
Omnes Omnibus
The original series. Optimistic and ground breaking. None of the others could have existed without Kirk, Spock, et al.
WaterGirl
@Antonius: The Orville?
sab
@Antonius: Yes. I love it.
kalakal
Hah! I’m with Babylon 5 too!
From Star Trek I have a soft spot for the episode “The Devil in the Dark” from the original series. That’s the one with a mining colony being terrorised by a monster that turns out to be a highly intelligent silicon based life form protecting its eggs from being destroyed by the miners. Features the Vulcan Mind Meld
Cheat – I enjoyed Galaxy Quest as an affectionate parody
sab
@WaterGirl: Seth McFarlane being thoughtful instead of crass. It is really an amazing series.
swiftfox
Tie between TNG and Star Trek. ST came out of gate with great episodes while TNG took awhile to get going and faltered at the end with garbage that rivaled the third season of ST. DS9 had a great run the last 4-5 seasons but the first two years were quite tough to watch. Bashir was almost unwatchable.
Devore
Yep. Trouble with Tribbles.
BruceFromOhio
Favorite eps:
City on the Edge of Forever, original series
Best of Both Worlds, Next Generation
Best series, depends. Best storytelling was DS9. Best sci-fi, Voyager. Best overall, little tops the 7? 8? Seasons of Next Generation.
@Kent: I worked nights on weekends, and would set the vcr to record TNG and then B5. I’d get home at 2am and stay up until 4 watching them back to back. The shadow war and then the liberation of Earth are great stories, and as corny as B5 was sometimes it was great television.
Chris Johnson
I doubt it would surprise anybody, but I have an immediate answer. DS9, ‘The Wire’, in which Garack gets into his backstory just a bit, with Bashir, when his brain implant goes awry.
Such scenery chewing, such drama, and such a complicated and emotional tale of villainy and failed villainy! So many devastating scenes. And the truth of it (especially the lies!), I think, is this: the guy’s terrible sin was that he DID let some refugee children go. Not out of kindness, but for his stated reasons, and then he got caught somehow (I don’t think he really did tattle on himself, he got found out). And all the rest is his insane rationalizations and twists and turns… and the weird part is, contrary to what his boss thinks, Garack’s life as a top villain was SO bitter and empty and cold and cruel that he does in fact get more satisfaction from simple kindness shared with a Starfleet friend… than he got from all his doomed power and evilness.
Something his boss will never, ever understand.
Love this episode. Love it soooo much :)
sab
@WaterGirl: Orville is amazing.
dmsilev
@Kent: I was there, at the dawn of the Internet, for the great B5 vs DS9 flame wars. Maybe not quite as vitriolic as Mac vs PC vs Amiga, but getting there.
B5 was my preferred show, but they were both quite good.
gwangung
How many of the jackalariat are actual Trademarked (Paramount) Trek characters?
I had the honor of having one the prose spinoff authors use my name for one the characters in one of his novel. Hard to beat that for geek credit….
Deep Space 9 is a favorite. I actually think Discovery is underrated (particularly in the later seasons). I unfortunately despise season 2 of Picard, even though it came up with one peachy keen idea. And Strange New Worlds may the series that comes closest to reaching its potential.
dlwchico
Strange New Worlds has been fun so far!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Antonius: a couple of weeks ago, somebody tweeted something like, I started watching The Orville, and I thought I’d hate it, but I love it, and Seth McFarlane replied, We get that a lot.
Erin in Flagstaff
@sab: It’s the same with me. I remember watching the original series with my dad when it was still on weekly TV. Then I became enamored with the series when it went into syndication. Every day I could watch or re-watch episodes. Shoot, my diary entries in middle school would include a rundown of that day’s episode.
I’ve seen episodes from the other series, but Star Trek TOS is my first love. Captain Kirk is my captain.
Kirk
The Orville, I agree, though I think Below Decks is a contender.
Pharniel
@dmsilev:
It seems quaint now, doesn’t it?
Of the mainline Star Treks, my long running favorite is DS9, and I’ll second In the Pale Moonlight even though it is very divisive, but I feel it pays off the moral conflict cut from The Enterprise Incident. Having re-watched it with the Spouse for her first runthrough, I’m reminded how much the executives loathed the very idea of DS9 and you can see their grubby hands keeping it from hitting B5’s heights on a regular basis.
We could have had two masterpieces, but thanks to executive meddling we got one really good show and an almost masterpiece.
Currently I really enjoy both Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks, though Lower Decks has the stronger episodes – Wej Duj just being a masterpiece.
Strange New Worlds continues to be hobbled by low-episode counts – It’s a show that really needs those 24 episodes to breathe and bring in the ensemble cast.
Kent
I think it also depends on your age. I was there too. I was essentially a young single adult with limitless time to engage and watch those shows when they were happening, so they were important to me. Now I am much older and there is endless streaming opportunities so I don’t ever engage with any one show like I did back then
The other series either came out when I was younger in HS or college and didn’t have the time or flexibility to binge watch. Or later when I was less obsessively engaged in TV.
Salty Sam
“Strange New Worlds”, hands down.
I’m old enough to remember watching TOS on network TV, then in college, we’d gather in Paul’s dorm room, stuff a towel under the door, twist up a few and watch in syndication. Every day.
TNG was a favorite too- my eldest boy would clamor to “watch spaceships” w/ Daddy. He and I still argue which was best- he went on to adore DS9, and while I liked it enough, it didn’t have enough Jean Luc Picard.
But we both have agreed that “Strange New Worlds” has topped them all. Much of my admiration of a Star Trek show is “would I enjoy serving under this Captain?” Christopher Pike is the best starship captain the franchise has ever put up. I’ll fight about that…
steppy
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah. Roddenberry’s original vision is still powerful and none of the other visions are possible without it.
Also, we don’t have George Takei’s feed otherwise.
gwangung
Oh, and the biggest surprise, for me, from Strange New Worlds, is Nurse Chapel.
Not only is she staggeringly hot (and Majel Barrett was no slouch there), but the emerging backstory of her one sided attraction to Spock turns the character from a somewhat sexist joke into a tragedy (oh man, been there, done that).
Ken
“It was called Balloon Juice. It was an online community, we had our little differences, but we were all friends and supported one another. Then one day someone asked The Question….”
MisterForkbeard
DS9 is my favorite series overall, and has two of my favorite episodes:
1) DS9: “In the Pale Moonlight”. I loved this showed what happens when the idealism of starfleet runs into the cynical and destructive world. Rather than fail honorably, Sisko and Starfleet get into some underhanded actions but not TOO underhanded. But as things get progressively worse, Sisko keeps compromising more and more… and while he’s angry and upset about it, Garak shows that Sisko knew all along what would probably happen and did it anyway. But Sisko and Garak keep everyone else’s innocence in place.
2) DS9: “Trials and Tribble-ations”: DS9 at it’s respectful (and whimsical) end: One of my favorite pieces of Trek because it so clearly loves the Trek history and fandom. Lots of great references to the original series, lots of jokes about it, and my favorite bit of star trek ever: When Bashir and O’Brien see a TOS Klingon with their terrible old makeup and ask Worf “What happened?”
And Worf just says “We don’t talk about it” and then they drop it and NEVER return to the conversation. Love it.
Percysowner
I’m with Babylon 5, a series that didn’t get the credit it deserved at the time. It’s still relevant today. Favorite episode of B5, can I do top 5? If I have to The Long Twilight Struggle is one fine hour of TV and the 3 episode run of Messages From Earth, Point of No Return and Severed Dreams are pretty spectacular.
DS9 is my pure Star Trek choice. They tried to go as deep as B5, but the suits couldn’t really let that happen, but the writers did hit it out of the park a few times. In the Pale Moonlight is a great example.
I will say that I saw the original Star Trek as it aired back in the 60s and it will always have a place in my heart. The other shows owe a lot to it just existing and being ambitious.
Chris T.
DS9 is the best of the ST series overall, but I have a big soft spot for numerous TOS episodes. I think having actual SF writers write them (even if they got madly rewritten, mostly by Fontana) was huge. We had Sturgeon (Amok Time and whatever the title was for the one with the White Rabbit etc), Ellison (City on the Edge of Forever, even if he hated the way they rewrote it), and of course Gerrold (Tribbles) and so on.
WaterGirl
@Ken: oops!
Whichonespink
Deep Space Nine – blazed a trail for serialized drama even though it was ratings suicide in the “before (Netflix) days”.
Balance of Terror – Shatner matches wits with Mark Lenard. Top of the heap.
JeffH
@swiftfox: I’m the opposite. I loved the politics and issues involving a post colonization society in the first couple years of DS9, but found the Dominion War much less interesting. Plus the occasional wacky misadventures of Quark got tiresome after a while.
Leto
For me it’s DS9. Yes the first two seasons are a bit tough, but it’s the best told story of the all the series, as well as the most developed characters. They’re not jumping from world to world to world, so you have time to develop themes and stories that the other series can’t. Favorite episode? It’s Only a Paper Moon, where Nog is recovering from PTSD, and the loss of his leg, in the holosuite.
GregMulka
DS9 is the best. TNG is my favorite. Strange New Worlds is rapidly climbing. Lower Decks is currently the best of the new Treks but like I said, Strange New Worlds is climbing.
In the Pale Moonlight is my favorite of DS9. Cause and Effect or The Inner Light for TNG. I haven’t fully memorized Lower Decks or Strange New Worlds yet so I’m not sure.
West of the Rockies
Despite what are nowadays week dated production values, TOS is my favorite. I think Picard has stunning moments. I have not been able to get into Discovery (aka, The Ensign Tilly is Quirky/Michael Burnham Is Great at Everything Show).
Leto
Also Louise Fletcher’s character, Kai Winn Adami, is the best Trek villain.
Edit: while we were visiting my parents over the holidays, we used their Paramount+ subscription to check out Strange New Worlds. We really enjoyed it!
WaterGirl
@sab:
I didn’t even know about a couple of the Star Trek series you guys mentioned.
So The Orville is a space show, but not Star Trek, right? Just trying to get it straight.
Scout211
I have no idea what any of you are talking about, but I must say, I am enjoying this discussion.
So many strong opinions but so much love for Star Trek.
Carry on.
Kim Walker
I loved the original Star Trek. I was in elementary schools when it came out and I was allowed to stay up well past my bed-time to watch it. Such a privilege added to the enjoyment.
But I also loved Next Generation. My kids and I watched it every Sunday, which was a nice throwback to when my parents and siblings and I would gather around the flickering light of the RCA (in color!) on Sunday nights. Tradition!
JoyceH
TOS – The City On The Edge Of Forever. TNG – The Measure Of A Man. Didn’t watch a lot of DS9, but got a kick out of Our Man Bashir. Voyager – well, I always said that if you wanted to start a never-ending debate, venture into a Voyager board and say the word “Tuvix”, so I guess it was thought-provoking, but not exactly comfortable.
Brachiator
Currently my favorite Trek series, with reservations, is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I immediately fell in love with the new crew of the Enterprise, especially Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Celia Rose Gooding as cadet Uhura, and Melissa Navia as navigator/helmsman Ortega. I was surprised that I also liked Jess Bush as Christine Chapel, since I never cared much for this character in the original series. One thing that puzzles me about the series is that Rebecca Romijn is great as Number One, the ship’s First Officer, but she has often been underused in the first season, despite the fact that she has been good in all the episodes in which she has appeared, including season two of Discovery.
Ethan Peck is wonderful as a young Mr Spock. Other characters that I have not mentioned are also fun. All this matters because I look forward to seeing new adventures with these characters. By contrast, I actively dislike some of the characters in Star Trek Picard and was indifferent to most of the characters in Discovery, even though I tried to give it a fair shot.
My only reservation about this series is that the show’s creators don’t seem to fully realize how much viewers want to see this show do well. They may have stepped wrong in casting an actor as a young James Kirk, which immediately makes some fans want to skip ahead to adventures of Kirk and Spock on board the Enterprise.
Pound for pound, I think that Deep Space Nine was the best Trek series. They built on the optimism of the original series, and gave us a complex, and at times dangerous universe. The series rescued the Ferengi from being cheap comic relief, and gave us some seriously powerful adversaries in the Dominion. And yeah, Sisko is probably my favorite captain.
I also think that the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, is a great series. That it is aimed at children should not be held against it.
Chris
DS9. Hard to single out a single episode of that show. The whole thing is that it’s more consistently good than most any other Trek show, even if it doesn’t have as many standout individual episodes.
I still like TOS, though. The movies are what introduced me to Trek in the first place.
SFBayAreaGal
Deep Space Nine is the one. In the Pale Moonlight best Star Trek episode in the Star Trek World.
Deep Space Nine was ground breaking in so many ways. The portrayal of a healthy relationship between a Black father and his Black son. Religion and politics, what war does to people, the characters growth in the series.
Sisko best captain
I too am a Babylon 5 fan. Also a big fan of the remake of Battlestar Galactica.
Right now Andor is starting to edge out Deep Space Nine.
NWO Joe
I am old. That means my conception of Star Trek was shaped by first edition. Nevertheless i have never seen a bad episode of any of them. But i have my favorites. Tribbles. Nazis. The time Kirk broke an AI robot with cognitive dissonance. But I still have my softest spot for Harcooooourt! Harcourt Fenton Mudd (we kids giggled maniacally at that one). Of course i do see Stella’s side of things much clearer now… and Mudd looks a lot like a lighter hearted version of Trump.
MisterDancer
As someone who remembers not only the DEEP SPACE NINE vs BABYLON FIVE “wars,” but even when THE NEXT GENERATION got a hell of a lot of hate from the Fandom…look, yeah, DS9 is amazing, but wasn’t seen as such at that point by a lot of people. The idea of this kind of serialized storytelling being a way to deepen a work was kind of new for TV, and was also a point of contention for B5 as well.
So DS9 is my favorite, because it was well ahead of its time and good at it. I’m going to pass on a fave episode because frankly, the entire franchise has so many, for so many reasons. Part of why I enjoy it is that show growth of people and events, and I hesitate to pull out even standout episodes from that beating heart of DS9.
I’ll also say this since this comes up in these discussions – – I honestly enjoy DISCOVERY. I’m very much not a “all Trek all the time” fan, but that show has moved me more than once, and that means a lot to me. I generally want stories that try something new, even if the outcome is a bit shaky, and given the horrible behind the scenes chaos that the first couple of seasons of DISCOVERY endured, I’m impressed by what they have pulled off.
Jinchi
“City on the Edge of Forever” and “The Doomsday Machine” from TOS.
TNG started pretty cringy but got much better over time. I haven’t seen the Paramount streaming series, yet, and I didn’t have much interest in DS9, but the others all had some solid episodes.
PaulWartenberg
Trekkie here, it’s kind of hard to narrow it down to one series. I mean, you can’t have anything without the Original, but there were episodes where Next Gen and DS9 and even Voyager exceeded the quality of the first.
I haven’t seen Discovery yet, nor Strange New Worlds, but I’ve gotten to be a huge fan of Lower Decks which for all it’s satire and deconstruction is respectful of the mythos.
These are my BEST EPISODE of each series:
Star Trek – Devil In the Dark: Introduction of the Horta, an episode that made a serious attempt to debate how humans would react to intelligent non-humanoids.
The Next Generation (1987–1994) – Yesterday’s Enterprise: after two seasons of relative frivolity and living under the TOS shadow, this was the episode that broke ground, giving Picard much-needed character development.
Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) – Improbable Cause / The Die Is Cast: A jaw-dropping two parter that opened the Dominion War on the Alpha Quadrant. An incredible set of performances by Andrew Robinson (Garak) and René Auberjonois (Odo) as their duet of spy / investigator plays off of each other to expose their characters’ depth. The plot twists were genuinely surprising, and it ended on arguably one of the most subtle confessions a character could make. “Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? I’m a very good tailor.”
Voyager (1995–2001) – A Year In Hell (parts 1 and 2): A deceptively good time-travel storyline that – while it gives us the good old Reset Button to undo the whole story – is surprisingly well-acted, with Kate Mulgrew’s Janeway going through one hell of a PTSD.
Lower Decks (2020-current) – wej Duj: A thought-provoking examination of not only Starfleet’s lower deck behaviors, but also that of the Vulcans, Klingons, even the Pakleds (and just wait for the Stinger). Especially brilliant are the cultural takes on Vulcans (breaking down the flaws of their stringent system of Logic) and Klingons (exposing the hypocrisies of a warrior culture).
Pharniel
@WaterGirl:
<B>Strange New Worlds</b> Is the <B>Discovery</b> spin-off featuring the (slightly pre-)OG Enterprise which represents the crew the rotation before Kirk took over.
It’s based on a redux of the original pilot & information in <i>The Menagerie</I>. It has some challenges, but overall it’s pure distilled TOS Trek with modern production values.
<p><B>Lower Decks</b> is a sit-com love letter to Trek, written by people who know the Trek lore inside out, and who are not afraid to ask hard questions and then explore the answers to get a show that’s outwardly comedic but actually a very deep & critical look at Star Trek. As much as <b>Strange New Worlds</b> feels like a love letter to <b>The Original Series</b>, <B>Lower Decks</b> is a love letter to <B>TNG, DS9 & Voyager</b>. Hell, it even has guest appearances by TNG cast, surviving DS9 cast, and even Voyager cast.
<b>Star Trek: Prodigy</b> is Nickelodeon’s ‘youth’ oriented show that’s got Kate Mulgrew back and better than ever, and is still asking hard questions, even if in a kid-friendly fashion. It’s pretty solid.
<b>Babylon 5</b> was a show about the same time as DS9, envisioned as a five-season serial adventure about the titular station, and is still very good. It’s heavily focused on the fall to fascism that societies face as things get worse. Can’t imagine why that’s still relevant today.
<B>The Orville</b> is indeed Seth McFarland’s “I can’t believe it’s not Star Trek” that started off kinda gross and hamfisted, but around S3 figured its self the fuck out and got pretty good.
Miss Bianca
@Chris Johnson:
GARAK!! GARAK GARAK GARAK GARAK GARAK!!
I’m only deeply familiar with TNG, am due for a rewatch on TOS, and have lately gone through and *adored* DS9, mostly because of the richness of the characterizations. Can I tell I fangirl Andrew G. Robinson’s Garak to the max? Oh yes I do, I really really do.
The Wire is great, In the Pale Moonlight is great…hell, any episode featuring Garak was, if not a classic, at least redeemed by his presence.
In fact, I’d call DS9 the best I’ve seen in the Trek ‘verse so far for richly-drawn secondary characters who were all *aliens*.
But if I had to go for favorite individual episodes, I’d have to put the Borg two-parter from TNG, and City on the Edge of Forever and Trouble with Tribbles from TOS up there too.
MisterDancer
The Orville is Seth McFarland’s love letter to THE NEXT GENERATION. It starts as kind of a parody, including some…unwise approaches to how the female lead is treated.
I’m informed it got much, much better as the seasons go on. Basically, it gets more focused and thoughtful about the plots and characters, from what I’ve gathered.
James E Powell
I liked the original series. I was 11-14 years old when it was on. I was never a trekkie, but I ended up seeing a lot of episodes when I was in college and the re-runs were everywhere. Same with Hogan’s Heroes.
I never really watched TNG or DS9. They were on during the long stretch in my life when I did not own a TV.
I liked Voyager in re-runs, though I’d say I liked the idea of it – trying to get home – more than the actual execution.
I only saw two or three episodes of Discovery & it did not catch hold.
Never saw Lower Decks. My brother says it’s great, so I suppose I will see it some day.
I really liked Strange New Worlds & felt like it was the closest to the original or TOS as we say. The actor played Pike as a smarter, less sanctimonious Kirk.
Peej01
TNG is my favorite. I did see TOS when it was originally on, but I was really ready for the new show when it came on. And Captain Picard is my favorite. I was originally a fan of Kirk, but got sick of him after many reruns. He didn’t wear well .
Miss Bianca
@MisterForkbeard:
Totally seconded on “Trials and Tribble-lations”. SO well done, and SO much fun!
Leto
@SFBayAreaGal:
Andor was very good. Can’t wait for the next season!
@MisterDancer: the episode where Basir revels his past, and at the end of it O’Brien makes him shoot darts from halfway across the galaxy! “You could do that the entire time?” haha!
A Good Woman
TOS – City on the Edge of Forever. Balance of Terror was good. Loved Mark Lenard in that.
TNG – The Inner Light
DS9 – In the Pale Moonlight for reasons given elsewhere. The producers went to Majel Barrett, Roddenberry’s widow to discuss the episode and get her support to do it.
I will add that in the first season of DS9 the episode Battle Lines gave me pause. Sisko, Kira and Kai Opaka are stranded on a moon in the Delta Quadrant, which is engaged in continuous war, but the combatants who are killed will spontaneously resurrect due to the physical properties of the moon. The Kai is killed, resurrects and we learn she can’t leave the moon or she will die for certain. In the midst of all the carnage, Kira reflects on her own complicity in the violence on Bajor against the Cardassians and the evil she participated in. She wonders aloud if she can ever be forgiven, and the Kai tells her that she has to begin by forgiving herself. I thought it was a very good episode.
PaulWartenberg
@PaulWartenberg:
Augh, I forgot about the Enterprise series, I did watch bits of that (I hated the theme song so much I avoided watching the show from time to time).
The three-parter episode in Season Four – Babel One, United, and The Anear – where the Romulan plot to divide the quadrant only ended up uniting the four Starfleet races – Human, Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellerite – was pretty good, and satisfying as a Trekkie to watch the original show’s ideals (IDIC) win out.
schrodingers_cat
DS9
Episode: Far Beyond the Stars.
Any episode with Nurse Ratched and/or the Scorpio Killer
I also the love BSG reboot. Great female characters, Laura Rosslyn, Kara Thrace and Six.
nc lurker
ireland.
1980.
tv started for the day at 4 pm.
tos till five.followed at five by sheep dog trials.
the pub had the tv,and the pints.
very civilized.
sab
@WaterGirl: Tribute to Star Trek,
Miss Bianca
Any love for Star Trek: The Animated Series around here? I remember it being on TV when I was a kid and that was probably my original viewing experience before the movies (I was a wee tad when the original TOS was on, and it freaked three-year-old me out waaayy too much!)
Checked it out on DVD from the library a couple years ago and I must say, it really holds up!
piratedan
still a TOS fanboi, the SF content was much more profound and story subjects that have either been prophetic or guided scientific development over the last half a century. Sure you had Shatner being Shatner and playing to a type, but the writing when it was on, was thought provoking and challenging for its time, considering the 60’s and the messages of hope that we as a species will figure this shit out, painfully but eventually.
I’ll mention an episode that rarely gets chosen from Season 2 – The Ultimate Computer – regarding an AI that goes off the rails due to the ethical imprint it received from its creator.
Jinchi
That happened more than once.
dm
In Flow my tears, the policeman said, by Philip K Dick, set in some indeterminate future time, the main character contemplates killing time by ducking into a movie theater to see “the latest ‘Captain Kirk’ movie”. When I read it in the 1970s, I didn’t take it seriously. Now….
Tehanu
DS9 was the best series, and my favorite episodes from it are “The Ascent,” where Quark & Odo are stranded and have to climb a mountain to get to the help beacon, and “Trials and Tribble-ations,” and “Blood Oath,” where Jadzia Dax goes off with her Klingon buddies Kang (played by the great Michael Ansara), Kor (John Colicos) and Koloth (William Campbell). My favorite Star Trek episodes in general, however, are actually three from TNG: “Data’s Day,” “The Inner Light,” and “Qpid.”
And having said that: what made me a Trekkie was none of the shows or movies but a book, Ishmael, by Barbara Hambly — a wonderful mash-up of TOS and the old TV series Here Come the Brides, in which an amnesiac Spock, escaping Klingon captivity & torture, is rescued by the character Aaron Stemple, who was played in Brides by none other than Mark Lenard — Sarek. I re-read it every year and it never gets old.
James E Powell
I binged the entire Babylon 5 series in a week over the summer about ten years ago. Recommended by the same brother who likes Lower Decks. It’s a really good show. There is a credible claim that DS9 was a rip off of the show since the writer/creator Michael Straczynski pitched the show to Paramount who turned it down then made DS9. But (reportedly) Straczynski said he didn’t feel like suing them, so he did not.
David Wetzel
I’m old. The original series will always be my favorite. I must say however Strange New Worlds is very, very good.
btw, if you’re a star trek fan you should check out the Rachel Watches Star Trek podcast. Chris (a longtime ST fan) has gotten his wife Rachel (who has never seen ST) to watch and review each ep. We’re up to Season 5 of Next Gen. It’s just a good time…
Tony Jay
I couldn’t abide TNG, all that serial soap opera in space garbage was really not my bag at all. But then you take the same characters and put them in First Contact and Boom! goes the dilithium. It just takes writers who like the characters and a good enemy.
DS9 became the best ST for me, but it took a long time getting there and needed a major war to drag the ST Universe out of cosy 90s sci-fi tropes and into a genuine saga of really, really good people faced with unsolvable ethical challenges and foes who didn’t play by their rules. The optimistic nicely-niceness of the Federation didn’t magically make the galaxy a fairytale, but if you had the idealism and the brains and the ability to rock a two-colour jumpsuit – welcome to Starfleet.
I loved Voyager. Obviously it had many weaknesses, but it was a totally new slant on Starfleet and in Janeway, Seven and The Doctor it had some great characters. Everything wrong with it can be laid at the feet of the same people who stifled DS9, so I’ll just remember the good times.
Enterprise happened.
Discovery’s first season was great. Reinvent the Klingons, making them actually scary. Jump feet first into the Mirror Universe. Sold. It’s kind of lost its way since then, but it’s trying to do something different and I commend it for that.
SNW feels to me like an update of TOS (duh, of course it is) that needs room to breathe. I was just getting into the swing of things when the season ended and I want more. Pike is a great example of why Starfleet Captains are not military officers. Buff nerds in uniform, much better.
Picard pleases me. Really, just give me an ensemble cast with defined personalities who have adventures that don’t always go to plan and the occasional canon resetting kick in the balls and I’m there. And, if at some point the venerable Admiral delivers the line “But it was too late, I’d already seen everything!” It will have achieved greatness.
Below Decks, though, with an honourable mention for Legacy. Two shows that LOVE the universe they’re set in and make it shine. My lad was never into ST, but they grabbed him and now he’s quite happy to discuss the proper configuration and design of Starfleet officer pips. Winner!
I’m off to watch the ‘disguise yourself as a Terran warship’ episode of Discovery again right now.
MisterForkbeard
@Miss Bianca: I was surprised no one else had mentioned it! It’s such a great piece of television and it loves its own source material so much.
A Good Woman
@A Good Woman:
One more thing — I did an Internet survey about fan preferences just before Enterprise debuted. DS9 was universally the 2nd favorite of anyone who picked TOS, TNG or VOY as their favorite. Unsurprisingly, most male respondents started their Trek viewing with TOS or TNG whereas most femaile respondents started with VOY. I got about 900 responses overall. I sent them to Paramount (Berman and Braga were the producers) and predicted that Enterprise would not have a long run if the concerns voiced by the fans were ignored. TOS ran 3 seasons, TNG, DS9 and VOY each ran for 7. Enterprise ended at 4. I watched 2 episodes of ENT and walked away. I haven’t seen the latest iterations, aside from the movies.
Jinchi
@WaterGirl: The Orville is a love letter to Star Trek. It was supposed to be a parody, but apparently turned into a good approximation of the target of it’s humor.
Frankensteinbeck
Lower Decks, definitely. Lower Decks fixes the thing that has chafed me through all of Star Trek: It knows that the lore is insane and the science is ‘stick fancy word here’* and doesn’t pretend it’s being hard science fiction. But, crucially, it loves Trek, loves that insanity, and drags out every crazy thing for you to share how cool it all is, with great characters living the kinds of things that happen in Star Trek while building their own life stories. I’d have to go back through it in depth to pick a favorite episode. There’s very little I didn’t adore.
Dr. T’ana rocks and steals every scene she’s in, even if it’s just for a few seconds.
*I don’t remember the exact phrasing they use, but that’s literally how the scripts are written.
suilebhan
I’ve loved all of the live action Star Treks, but being of a certain age, the original Star Trek is my favorite. It had such a profound effect on my 10-year-old self. It’s hard to whittle things down to just three, but my favorite episodes (probably) are: City on the Edge of Forever, Amok Time and The Trouble with Tribbles. An honorable mention goes to The Menagerie. Also, I think Strange New Worlds is wonderful.
As with some others, I’m also a big fan of Babylon 5.
CaseyL
Oh, choosing a favorite just isn’t possible.
I was in 5th grade when TOS originally aired, and it was Absolutely Must Watch TV. It shaped me, the way I see … well, everything. I cannot imagine a world, nor myself, without TOS. I did also read a lot of SciFi, so TOS wasn’t my only entry to the mindspace of infinite possibility… but, strangely enough, now looking back on all that, I think TOS was MORE progressive than most printed SciFi at the time. The sexism in TOS was nothing compared to the sexism in mid-60s science fiction.
Of the non-TOS Star Treks, DS9 is far and away my favorite. I liked that the characters and story arcs allowed for moral ambiguity, and some conflict between the regular characters. I liked the fact that there were multi-episode arcs, even entire-season arcs. I was deeply upset when DS9 was cancelled – and, as much as I do enjoy ST: Discovery and Strange New Worlds, they just don’t engage me the way DS9 did.
ETA: Two Trek series I disliked: Voyager and Enterprise. They both bored the hell out of me, had characters I actively disliked, and storylines which did nothing for me.
prostratedragon
Have enjoyed something in all of them, but I like the labyrinthine Next Generation best. Favorite episode: “Cause and Effect.”
Empress of the Known Lute World
I love both TNG and DS9. My favorite TNG episode is probably “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” for the moral conflict and the stark decisions forced on people by war. I also loved “Rascals,” in which Picard, Guinan, Ro and Keiko O’Brien are accidentally changed into children by the transporter. Then the Ferenghi take over the ship and the “children” engineer a mutiny. The young man who played Picard as a youth was wonderful. “Menage a Troi”–Picard has to rescue Troi, Lwaxana and Riker frome a lovestruck Ferenghi. The scene in which Stewart plays gruff Capt. Picard playing a Shakespearean star-crossed lover, with actual Shakespearean poetry, is to die for.
I loved what DS9 did with the Ferenghi. “Family Business” was brilliant and hilarious. The revelation of the family dynamics of Quark’s family was so, so right. Ishka and the Grand Negus added an enormous amount to the depiction of the Ferenghi, who were mere cartoon villains on TNG. Then there was the female “passing” as male to have a career and use her lobes. Quark confronting the Klingon High Council–priceless. More seriously, “Duet” in season one, in which Kira comes to a reckoning with a supposed Cardassian war criminal, explored the issue of what people do, or more or less are compelled to do, during wars.
Both series improved with age, the ensemble casts grew stronger and grew together, and formed characters with relationships that the viewers cared about even when the writers and show-runners gave them a bum steer.
p.a.
DS9. (StarTrek Spacemall😉)
Far Beyond the Stars. “Experiencing a vision from the Prophets, Sisko sees himself as Benny Russell, a science-fiction writer in the 1950s, who struggles with civil rights and inequality when he writes the story of Captain Benjamin Sisko, a black commander of a futuristic space station.” (MemoryAlpha)
In the Pale Moonlight, or anything with Garak in a more-than-cameo appearance.
ETA I liked 7of9 and the Ferengi for their questioning of The Federation’s ‘goodness’.
MisterDancer
That’s in no small part due to the work of Ronald D. Moore, arguably the best writer to come out of 90s Era Trek. Most people know him from his later show running stints – – the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA reboot (which took his frustrations from VOYAGER and mined them for plots), OUTLANDER, and the (suspiciously like a Trek Prequel) FOR ALL MANKIND.
Aaron
What, no love for Star Trek Prodigy? I wanted to hate it as ‘childish’ but hate watched through the first couple of episodes and it did get quite good.
Star Trek The Animated Series? anyone? bueller? voiced by the original cast. declared ‘non-canon’ by Rodenberry, but many of the ideas in it are in Lower Decks including the Kzinti, Caitians, that drill instructor who breaks into pieces, the aviary bird men, as well as the green roach looking guy who says ‘your not on the list’ and many more. the episode with the bird men and roach guy is one of the best with really great pacing.
Top non-cannon Star Trek Movie: “Master and Commander”
Frankensteinbeck
After some thought, I couldn’t give you a favorite episode, but I can give you my three favorite Lower Decks moments:
T’ana and Shax’s holodeck date. How did she lose her tail?
Boimler wins a huge pile of latinum in Quark’s casino, and trades it all for a gift certificate. He had no use for the latinum. The Federation is a post-money society.
Tendi going hardcore dominant Orion pirate queen on her cousin for, like, five seconds.
Honorable mention to the trial clearing the captain of the crime she was framed for. The Federation is supposed to be that fair, and its bureaucracy actually work.
Jinchi
Wow that was quite the earworm! The mere mention of it has it ringing in my ears now.
Yutsano
@Frankensteinbeck: D’vana Tendi is probably my favourite character on that show. The episode where she beat up her cousin then later in another episode takes over an actual ship! She has a HUGE back story that is begging to be told and I will be forever disappoint if they never tell it.
MisterForkbeard
@Aaron: Honestly, I started watching because I hoped I could watch Star Trek with my young kids.
My problem is that I just hate the main character so much. I didn’t get more than 3 episodes in so maybe he gets better, but it was like watching a headstrong, stubborn idiot set himself up as leader with no qualifications. Just very much irritated me.
Maybe he gets better.
EDIT: You’re right though – Master and Commander really does feel kind of like Star Trek, now that I think on it. It’s one of my more favorite movies.
Matt McIrvin
Objectively, Deep Space Nine was probably the best Star Trek series of the ones I’ve actually seen.* I was prejudiced against it as a Babylon 5 fan who initially saw it as the inferior knockoff of B5, but it was a technically better show than B5 and did great things with its setup. DS9’s “Far Beyond The Stars” may be the best episode of any Star Trek, though it spends most of its running time in another reality entirely doing what amounts to an anthology episode.
The one closest to my heart, though, is the original series. For all the elements of it that have aged badly, the best dozen or so episodes are among the best TV of the era, in some cases maybe the best TV ever. And even the terrible ones often have something to like in them. Some favorite episodes? Oh, “The Doomsday Machine”, “The Devil in the Dark”, “A Taste of Armageddon”, “Balance of Terror”, “The City on the Edge of Forever”. In no particular order.
*I’ve heard great things about Strange New Worlds, also for that matter Lower Decks and Prodigy, but have not re-subscribed to Paramount+ or whatever it is currently called to see them. Of NuTrek Ive seen, I thought Discovery was promising but uneven, Picard was (sadly) mostly bad, and some of the Short Treks were brilliant.
Frankensteinbeck
@Yutsano:
While none can supplant Cranky Lab Coat Cat in my heart, Tendi is pretty swank, and like you, I hunger to find out what is up with her past. She clearly was someone important.
Also, have you noticed that since the first episode there hasn’t been a chief science officer? As near as I can tell, when she gets out of training, Tendi may have the job by default. Will her friendships survive becoming bridge crew???
theturtlemoves
TNG for me just because it hit right during my high school to college years. Favorite episode, for reasons I can’t entirely define, is Tin Man. It may be because it is a blatant ripoff of Ursula K LeGuin’s short story “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow” and I really, really love LeGuin. Strange New Worlds is by far the best series subsequent to TNG. I like the nostalgia service on Picard but SNW is just a great, fun ride without the heavy-handed soap opera that can be the bane of sci-fi for me (See BSG reboot, or, as I call it “Days of our Lives in Space”.
Matt McIrvin
@Miss Bianca: The Animated Series was my first Star Trek. It’s not the best Star Trek, but I’ll give it this: it was real Star Trek. The writers weren’t phoning in a kiddie show; they were just writing another season of Star Trek, with the storytelling constrained somewhat by the shorter format. And animation did mean they could do things that live action couldn’t, though it was very very cheap limited animation.
“Yesteryear”, the one where they use the Guardian of Forever to visit Spock’s childhood, is excellent Star Trek.
Mike in NC
Only watched the original, which was fine.
azlib
My overall favorite ST series is TNG. It finally hit its stride with the 3rd season episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. 2nd favorite has to be DS9. One of the really good early episodes was “Duet”. Oddly, “Prodigy” is quite good. It is supposedly geared towards kids, but it is enjoyable to watch as an adult.
As for non ST shows, Babylon 5 is quite good. It is too bad it got cut short at the end of its run. One of the best B5 characters was Bester.
SFBayAreaGal
@Ken:
My favorite TOS episode, and my favorite scene from “The City on the Edge of Forever”.
KIRK: Then what is it?
GUARDIAN: (The doughnut pulses bright in time with the words) A question. Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question.
KIRK: What are you?
GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever.
KIRK: Are you machine or being?
GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.
SPOCK: I see no reason for answers to be couched in riddles.
GUARDIAN: I answer as simply as your level of understanding makes possible.
SPOCK: A time portal, Captain. A gateway to other times and dimensions, if I’m correct.
GUARDIAN: As correct as possible for you. Your science knowledge is obviously primitive.
SPOCK: Really.
KIRK: Annoyed, Spock?
GUARDIAN: Behold. A gateway to your own past, if you wish.
HumboldtBlue
I don’t think I’ever watched a Star Trek episode from start to finish. Had a neighbor who was a serious Trekkie, but we rarely hung out.
Matt McIrvin
@MisterForkbeard:
But… then Enterprise had to go and explore what that was all about. And I’m afraid their answer wasn’t as interesting as the mystery was.
YY_Sima Qian
DS9 “In Pale Moonlight”, but loved the series overall.
TNG from the 3rd season on.
B5 better than any of the ST series (I am somewhat pained to say), though the climaxing Season 4 was far too rushed. The Shadow War should have a been a full season, as should have the Earth Civil War.
Brachiator
@A Good Woman:
Interesting. I initially had problems with Voyager because it was Gilligan’s Island in space. You knew that no matter what happened in an episode, the crew had to remain lost at the end. Fortunately, plotting got better.
However, not only was Janeway one of my favorite captains, I liked how Janeway, Seven of Nine and B’Elanna Torres often became the main team who solved whatever problem an episode was all about. The were like the holy trinity of Kirk, Spock and McCoy in the original series.
SFBayAreaGal
The picture of Kirk, McCoy, and Spock is from the episode “A Piece of the Action”. The ending dialog to the episode was hilarious
YY_Sima Qian
Best TNG Episodes: “Yesterday’s Enterprise” & “the Inner Light”.
WaterGirl
@SFBayAreaGal: Thanks for that!
2liberal
like the GOS and the “pie fights/wars”
MisterDancer
He gets, honestly, one of the most compelling arcs in all of Trek, just in this first season. Surprising to me, too, but he’s deliberately difficult to make the character arc work.
I genuinely love PRODIGY overall, and consider this 1st season the single best introduction to Trek of any show, bar none.
Matt McIrvin
@SFBayAreaGal: “A Piece of the Action” is my favorite of original Star Trek’s intentionally goofy episodes. You have a half-fizzbin already!
dopealope
@Miss Bianca:Garak is one of the all time great Star Trek characters.
Tim C.
Add me in on Both DS9 and “In the pale Moonlight” Sisko had to make a choice, a hard choice, not really much different than Luthen in the recently released Andor series. Both had sacrifice their ideals and yes, honor because the need was great enough.
Also, if I had to serve under any Captain in the Star Trek Universe, it would be Sisko, period.
Brachiator
@Antonius:
I agree that The Orville is a wonderful series. I think that some of the writers and definitely some of the directors worked on Trek shows.
The only problem with The Orville is that Seth McFarlane is a profoundly uninteresting actor. He has no screen presence and drains the life out of every scene in which he appears. The other actors have to modulate their performances to give him cover.
BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️
Late to the thread, just made it home from traveling…
Deep Space Nine, “Far Beyond The Stars.”
Tremendous episode, later referenced in the Strange New Worlds episode “The Elysian Kingdom,” “Far Beyond The Stars” is an absolute tour de force by Avery Brooks, who also directed.
I absolutely love the show, and the character (obvs). This episode is only one reason why.
phein63
@Kim Walker: Like you, I grew up with the original. One of my fondest memories is watching the episode with the Gorn — “Arena” — on a color television through the window of a local department store, and then seeing my dad buy that color television! That was a huge day for my family. But I think “Shore Leave,” written by the great Ted Sturgeon, may be my favorite.
Like Bill Murray, I didn’t see the other series, so they can’t be any good.
Yutsano
Best episode-TOS: “City on the Edge of Forever”
Best TNG: “Best of Both Worlds pt 1 & 2”
Best DS:9: “Rejoined”
Best Voyager: “Year of Hell”
Best Enterprise: “Dawn”
Best Discovery: “Species 10-C”
Best Lower Decks: “wej Duj”
Best Prodigy: “Time Amok”
I haven’t watched nor do I have interest in “Picard” Which hurts because he was my first original run captain.
Wil
The original series is, was, and will always be the best.
That’s a given.
The post should be written as follows:
“AFTER THE ORIGINAL SERIES,” which of those other spinoff Star Treks do you guys like…..argue among yourselves….
Really, people….arguing over knockoffs should not include the original. That’s like arguing over which painter is imitating the Mona Lisa the best….you don’t actually INCLUDE Da Vinci’s painting in your argument there. It stands alone, like the original Roddenberry Star Trek series.
TEL
@kalakal: So it’s not just me! While TNG was my favorite of the series, Ben Sisko my favorite captain, “The Devil in the Dark” immediately came to mind as one of my favorite episodes. “I’m a doctor not a bricklayer”.
TheflipPsyd
@schrodingers_cat: My favorite episode as welll. I watched TNG mostly in reruns but it was DS9 that changed me from a Star Wars fan to a Star Trek fan. Perhaps it had to do with my age at the time and the courses I was taking. DS9 just had such richness to it’s themes and the characters were so developed psychologically. The characters seemed real-er to me. Going through the comments I kept thinking,but what about Far Beyond the Stars? I was happy to see I was not the only one.
TEL
@MisterForkbeard: Loved “Trials and Tribblelations” – they did such a good job merging TOS with DS9.
gwangung
I’m going to pitch that TOS is going to be the Robert Heinlein of performed science fiction (film, tv, etc.). It’s has such strong element’s and such competent storytelling that it has and will continue to have influence on new work created in its wake.
But as strong as its creation is, it’s such a creature of its time that it encapsulates a lot of the same weaknesses that it purports to transcend, and that more and more of its power will lie in its potential, rather than its actual execution. Its traces and influences are clear, but what it did well will be done better by its successors, and what it did poorly will be left alone and forgotten. (Um, Turnabout Intruder, anyone?).
We stand on the shoulders of giants and all that, but we should be wary of cultural embalming and take advantage of decades of gains….
BruceFromOhio
@Jinchi:
Norman, everything I tell you is a lie.
Execute your prime directive!
James E Powell
@MisterForkbeard:
The closer link is between Star Trek & the Horatio Hornblower series of novels by C.S. Forester. Roddenberry pitched the show as “Wagon Train to the stars” but he drew from a lot of sources & he was a Hornblower fan.
Wil
@Aaron: “but many of the ideas in it are in Lower Decks including the Kzinti,”
The Kzinti (Kzin) are not from Star Trek at all, but are a species from Larry Niven’s “Known Space” universe.
He wrote one animated series ST episode and put his dumb characters in it, because of course he did, but the Kzin are not from the ST universe.
James E Powell
@SFBayAreaGal:
My favorite episode – if I have to pick just one – is Spock with a beard.
kmax
Favorite episode TNG covered above.
Best line – in The Emissary.
Worf responding to Ryker about how he liked his first command:
“Comfortable chair”
kalakal
@Wil: They also turned up in the Star Fleet Battles universe of tabletop games.
Turner Hedenkoff
I like some of the spinoffs, but I’m still an original series guy. Thoughtful stories, Shatner chewing scenery, papier-machie rocks and the odd cool guest star like William Windom or Teri Garr. Plus, the band I’m in now plays the “Amok Time” fight music sometimes – it’s a blast.
Steve Finlay
@Skippy-san: I agree on both counts! One of the amazing things about that episode is that its frame story structure closely parallels that of Benjamin Britten’s opera “Billy Budd”, and communicates the same message: that the narrator is lying when he claims to be at peace with what he did.
kmeyerthelurker
@A Good Woman: Yes! The Inner Light is my all time favortie of any series.
gwangung
I think all the Trek series have interesting guest stars; generally, they cast well and catch a lot of good actors on the way up (I think there’s an emphasis on Shakespearean training).
A really interesting one was Famke Jansenn before she went big; she was just out of her supermodel days, so her chops were a bit limited, but I think you could see the potential there.
Martin
I liked the original – it did the most Scifi heavy lifting. I also liked the extended story arc in DS9, something that was still pretty rare to do. I should say – there aren’t any series that I don’t like, though I haven’t seen a ton of Enterprise and haven’t seen any since then, mostly because I don’t really watch much TV any more.
City on the Edge of Forever is the best episode IMO. I don’t remember how old I was when I first saw it – I’m just young enough to have to have seen it in reruns – but I remember being pretty affected by it.
I remember being really smitten with Teri Garr in Assignment: Earth.
williamC
All this love for DS9 and her crew and no love for their finest 2 hours, Favor the Bold & Sacrifice of Angels?
I knew that I liked DS9 before these two, but those two poetically named episodes made it forever my favorite Trek series. They had everything, from Sisko being all swaggering captain with the calls to arms, one of the largest Starfleet battle scenes ever, and the stakes (the Dominion conquering the Alpha Quadrant) higher than ever before, all while Kira & the crew on Terrok Nor (occupied DS9) fight their fascist occupiers, and even the Prophets make an appearance!
Downpuppy
ESM
The Original, nothing even close.
Top episodes:
1- The Enterprise incident
2- Amok Time
3- City On The Eddge Of Forever
4 – Balance Of Terror
5 – Mirror, Mirror
cliosfanboy
DS9 and In the Pale Moonlight. Loving Strange New Worlds. Would like Discovery more if it were less huggy.
NotMax
Wowzers. Right up my alley (excepting any of the post-Enterprise stuff) so of course came in very late. After reading through the thread shall venture a quote, slightly altered, rather than attempt cobbling together a what is bound to be anyway an imprecise rundown at this juncture.
“I am pleased to see that we have differences. May we together become greater than the sum of
botheach of us.”— Surak
;)
Antonius
@Brachiator: I think that’s a fair criticism, but I also see his character as the surrogate for the audience.
JML
If I had to pick, I’d go TNG; it really mastered the “mindfuck” episode (like the one where everyone is vanishing off the ship and only Crusher notices, or the one where Riker thinks he’s going insane, or where crew members vanish and have horrible experiments performed on them, or…) and was probably the most consistent.
It’s interesting how many of the later iterations needed a season to figure out what it was doing (TNG, Enterprise, DS9 all got stronger I think). Voyager was the biggest disappointment, overall; Janeway was a great character and they had a lot of compelling and interesting characters in the crew but they kept re-setting character development and seemed unable to allow anyone in the crew really change (except for Seven). And of course, Seven somewhat ate the show in later seasons (and Kate Mulgrew’s behavior on set was unacceptable).
I was a huge B5 fan as well, and while the visual effects haven’t aged all that well, the show wasn’t dependent on them. I look at an episode like “And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place” and I’m still blown away. Peter Jurasik was amazing on that show, especially when he was going head-to-head with Andreas Katsulas. The “cancelled/renewed” cycle they went through messed up the end a bit, which is a shame, but it’s still a great show.
I’m really liking Strange New Worlds. Anson Mount is fantastic as Pike, and I really like how he captains. It’s different than really any of the other Trek captains and I’m there for it. He’s not a yeller, he calls the crew by their first names, he’s funny, but at the same time he has the force of personality and command authority that there’s never any question that he’s in charge. A longer season would have been great, and the more we explore who the crew is the happier I’ll be. I want to know more about Ortegas & Number One! The storytelling has been very good and very fun.
lee
@NotMax: Same. This is my wheelhouse and I’m late as well.
I’m a TNG fan. I’ll also say that DS9 is probably an overall better series.
Most folks agree that for topped ranked episodes there is ‘Inner Light’ and then eveything else. I still remember watching it the first time. My wife & I both had tears at the end.
I enjoy Discovery but Strange New Worlds is much better. Pike is quickly becoming my favorite Captain.
Then there is Lower Decks. What a surprisingly great show that doesn’t take itself (or the canon) too seriously.
NWO Joe
@Jinchi: Have to wonder what they would have managed to break with a Tesla. Or Elon for that matter.
Ol_Froth
I was a kid when ToS came out, so it was a big influence on me. It was also on in the afternoons in syndication so I could watch when I came home from school. Polar Lights recently came out with a scale model of the shuttlecraft Galileo from the ToS episode. I put it on a diorama complete with a redshirt getting killed by a giant spear. (Yes, I know the crewman who gets speared was wearing a gold shirt, but the dead redshirt is such a Trek touchpoint that I had to make his shirt red).
Aaron
@Wil: they absolutely have a Kzinti on board the Cerritos in ST:LD. Ensign Taylor.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Taylor_(Ensign)
Ixnay
@BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️: tagging you because of your nymsake, the show where all the leads are characters in 50s NYC putting out a sci fi mag. My all time fav. Everyone out of their DS9 drag and makeup, snapping gum, dressed like Lois Lane. Cool beans.
Ixnay
@BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️: tagging you because of your nymsake, the show where all the leads are characters in 50s NYC putting out a sci fi mag. My all time fav. Everyone out of their DS9 drag and makeup, snapping gum, dressed like Lois Lane. Cool beans.