It can be from any series, and if you want to pick a favorite from each show go ahead.
Picture very much related.
It’s not necessarily my favorite episode but it pops up always when I think of ST
It’s voyagers episode where they observe the planet which is in its own time pocket, so the whole evolution of the society happens in days from voys perspective
That’s a good one, and I can’t wait to see it again since I’m going through the shows with my wife (her first viewing of any of them)
The doctor beaming down for “just a minute” and being there for some ridiculous amount of time, I can’t remember exactly how long.
Great episode.
3 years. He was down there long enough to become a fan of a local sports team and chats up the astronaut about it when he gets back.
When I think of TNG, the first episode I think of is Yesterday’s Enterprise.
Imagine having Guinan look at you and say “your entire existence is just… wrong”
The first time I saw it, I came in a couple of minutes late, so I missed everything changing into an alternate timeline. I saw Tasha and thought, “is this a repeat?” And I thought, “no, the uniform is wrong.” I still think it would work better that way. Start it with the Enterprise C coming through the rift and the timeline already changed.
That would have been great! Just dump us in the action, let us figure it out with the crew.
Voyager did that for an episode, starts off feeling like normal but slightly off feeling, then it all starts unraveling.
Your comment would please the Ground Shaker
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Writers write what they know.
In the pale moonlight.
It humanizes Starfleet like no other episode.
"I can live with it. "
Good choice!
DS9 Q-Less. Sisko punches Q.
Always a classic.
Why bother debating, look where that gets Picard on the regular.
It’s on par with flat out saying “NO, WE ARE DONE WITH YOUR BULLSHIT, GO AWAY” And refusing to engage
And he never came back to bother him, either. All Picard had to do was punch him, apparently.
YOU HIT ME! Picard never hit me!
It’s a really good episode in terms of a basic story and really good acting, but if you think about it, its both a really bad way of memorializing a civilization and a horrible thing to do to a person. They could have put the entire library of their civilization into that probe, but instead they decided to make a device to make a person live an imaginary life and then have to live with the loss of a family that he never actually met in the real world and it all felt far more real than anything the holodeck could do.
Okay but… life is pain, and they all died, every single last one of them, so they gave him the “gift” of their particular pain, I guess? :-P And speaking of pain, that other image (shudder), I’m going to have nightmares tonight I suppose:-P.
I always feel so sorry for Picard after this episode. He literally gets convinced that his life is not real, to the point that he buys the fantasy, embraces and loves the fantasy. Then when he sees some fulfillment it gets taken away and he gets told that it was not real. He may have never wanted a family in his real life, but he got one he loved them so much…
It was a great episode but boy it cut really deep when you started thinking about it.
But on top of that, he gets to experience the loss of his entire family along with every single other person on his planet. But he’s never actually met any of them and never will.
I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I think it’s the kind of technology that would change a civilization. They probably had games where you could spend weeks in a fantasy world in only the blink of an eye. It would be awesome. And probably normal enough eventually that they wouldn’t think it weird to chronicle the end of the world that way
They did not make that clear in the episode and I am a firm believer that if you have to spend time thinking about an explanation for why something is the way it is in a TV episode when the writers didn’t seem to come up with a reason shows the episode is flawed.
Oh, I strongly disagree. I think half the fun of watching a sci-fi show is thinking about the rest of the world, and what it would be like based on the little snapshot we get as viewers
That’s not the same thing though. That’s imagining more worldbuilding. That is not the sign of a flaw. It’s when you have to use that imagination to explain something crucial to the episode that is left unexplained where the problem lies for me.
Also, my all-time favorite episode of Star Trek would have to be-
Star Trek: Jersey Shore Leave
The Real Housewives of Deep Space 9
You make good points, and even bring up a point I hadn’t really considered fully. But did they not put their knowledge base and other things into the probe? I vaguely remember the people in the Memory World saying they did, and the flute was a personal touch added near the end.
If they had the means to, they could have sent out dozensof probes (not likely, resources didn’t seem to be abundant) in all directions, some broadcasting low signals with their story, some just deep storage info crypts. That way they maximized their potential for discovery.
It’s also possible the only reason Picard had physical issues with the exchange due to incompatible biology, but without that being stated in the show directly… Its a reach.
Still my favorite though.
I liked the ds9 episode where they were playing baseball. “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”
It would have to be “Chain of Command”. there are FOUR lights
Also up there for me. Easily top “handful” since I can’t pick an actual order.
When he admits he really did think he saw five… I’m not crying, you’re crying.
To people who think the Orville is better : it doesn’t have nearly the amount of memes or dedicated subs. Checkmate.
Deep Space 9, Season 1, Episode 19. Duet.
The acting, the plot, the character development. The ethical struggle in the episode and its resolution and the clear parallels to real world problems. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, because it unfurls in such a wonderful way that needs to be seen rather than summarized.
“He’s Cardassian. That’s reason enough.”
“No!.. It’s not…”
Good choice.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be a coward.” So much packed into that line: filled with self-hatred and shame, and also respect and admiration for the person in front of him and the people she sacrificed so much for.
I would pay a lot of money to see a political series focused on a sort of Cardassian Reconstruction era. I really ought to read some of the books.
Knowing you could have done something but were too afraid for your own life will eat you up for a very long time.
And the knowledge that it would ultimately accomplish nothing except killing yourself and a few bajorans while trying to escape doesn’t help.
Everyone likes to think they’d fight the good fight, resist at all costs, oppose all force… But ultimately until you’re in that situation, you won’t know for sure. And you don’t want to find out for sure.
Hard to pick just one but probably TNG 4x19 “The Nth Degree”. Love a good Barclay episode.
I love when Sci fi shows do the “person gets super duper smart” episodes.
Star trek and Stargate are my two favorites with this trope.
“No problem. Here’s how you build one…” always makes me chuckle.
I think my all time favourite line from Stargate is when Carter explains the Uncertainty Principle to an advanced alien who replies “oh yes, one of the misconceptions of simple physics”.
The Tollan
They BUILT their own fancy STARGATE since their new planet didn’t have one.
I believe Carter was explaining why she named the cat “Schrodinger”, and started bringing up the whole “quantum superposition” and “string theory” and that’s when he gives the little chuckle and says the line.
The Tollan didn’t deserve what they got but holy shit were they arrogant AF
Voyager Counterpoint, where Janeway and the Inspector flirt tactically, and she beats him with science in the end. It very narrowly beats of Year of Hell.
I also really like Old Friends, New Planets, the season finale of the most recent season of Lower Decks. I don’t think it beats the other two, but it came damn close
This seems like a cliché answer, but my favorite overall is The Measure of a Man. Granted, there is a lot I haven’t seen (only pieces of DS9 and Voy, and none of the new stuff other than Lower Decks).
I just really like how it raises one specific issue without trying to skirt around it while dealing with it directly.
The Measure of a Man
DATA IS NOT PROPERTY
He is a fully living sentient being. Full stop.
Why couldn’t they leave Data alone? He just wanted to feel!
I don’t think that’s cliche at all. It’s an amazing episode and a great example of how science fiction is a mirror on humanity.
That episode has aged like the finest of wines, it’s only gotten more prescient.
One of my absolute favorites of all time is S5E18 [I think] of Voyager where the Doctor has to make a Sophie’s choice and has a logic breakdown every time he tries to rationalize his decision and how his only course is to just push through to the next issue and not dwell on the past.
They loved their ethical dilemmas.
In my opinion, such information should be brutally opposed in the “planning to do bad thing for science” stages, but once the deed is done, the perpetrators are dealt with, and the information is just sitting there, destroying the information at that point feels wrong.
The people who were harmed or died should never have been in that situation in the first place, but personally if it were me, I would rather the information be used to help whoever it can, and the person who tortured or killed me to obtain the information is disrupted. slowly.
Torres is within her rights to not want the treatment.
Doctor is within his rights to use the information he himself ethically obtained, since he had no knowledge of the crimes of a cardassian.
Captain is within her rights to order the life of her crew be saved.
Torres is still right to be extremely pissed at everyone involved for going against her wishes.
Stand amongst the ashes of a trillion dead if honor matters.
The silence is your answer
I think you’re thinking of a different episode, but that’s also a good one.
I thought OP was talking about the one where the Doctor saved Ensign Kim and not the woman, though both were equally wounded and had an equal chance of surviving - he had to pick one, he picked Kim, and couldn’t stand the guilt of the decision. They tried to delete the memory, but that failed, so he spent weeks working through it.
Possibly, I was basing off the stated episode number and it is an ethical and moral dilemma, but as stated, they loved ethical dilemmas in the original shows.
Honestly it’s been long enough since I’ve gotten to s5 of Voyager I’m fuzzy on things, but I vaguely remember that episode?
Edit: I looked it up and was definitely thinking of episode 8 op was talking about episode 11, maybe? The doctor figures out he operated on Kim but doesn’t remember why or when.
Yep, those are the two I was thinking of. Nothing Human and Latent Image (I had to look up those titles).
Get out of here Javik, you’re drunk
You would be too if burp your whole galaxy spanning civilization were burned to the ground around you, and several million soldiers under your charge were slaughtered!
If you need me, I’ll be at Afterlife on Omega. Your synthehol is too weak.
I should go.
nods Shepard.
Wrex.
That is definitely one of those “I’m not crying, you’re crying!” episodes.
I really enjoyed the memed episode, but A Fistful of Datas was S Tier.
TOS S02 E14 - Wolf in the Fold
Scotty’s been drinking and kills a hooker, but it’s totally not his fault.
It’s great how much they really leaned into that feeling of “modern navy” for a lot of things.
Stories you’d expect to hear from sailors… when they shot certain scenes they tried to capture the feeling of submarine life…
Also
ratstribblesI used to go “Redjac! Redjac! Redjac! Rejac! Hahahahahahahaha!” when I was a kid and no one at school knew what the hell I was doing.
