Whenever I see a conversation along the lines of “what episode should I show my friend/partner/etc. to get them hooked on Star Trek,” the suggestions are pretty predictable - your “best” episodes that are regarded to represent the franchise at its peak.
I like to take a different approach, trying to find episodes that I feel are most representative of the series - the “average” Star Trek episode. If you show someone the “best,” there’s nowhere to go but down, and it can set someone up for disappointment.
In the case of Star Trek, I actually find this pretty difficult, and I don’t think I’ve come up with any that I feel are really good answers, so I’m taking it to the crowd: what are the most representative episodes of Star Trek.
To me, these are the boxes that probably need to be ticked:
- Enjoyable (obviously).
- A conventional structure that doesn’t deviate from the norm too much - this is a flexible concept, but I think it excludes things like “Darmok,” or “Tapestry,” or “In the Pale Moonlight,” which are not really conventional.
- Any series is fair game.
What do you think? What are some “normal” Star Trek episodes that would serve as good representation of what the franchise usually is?
I think VOY - Counterpoint might fit the bill.
Reasons:
- It’s got a double double-cross plot with pretty high stakes.
- It’s traditional in the “alien of the week” format.
- Janeway and Inspector Kashyk have excellent chemistry
- Hefty abuse of the pattern buffer
- Basically a self-contained episode that’s largely confined to the ship
Oh wow, that’s probably my favorite VOY episode, it’s really great without being gimmicky - good pick!
Another good VOY episode might be “The Void” - a nice little diplomatic episode with a dash of action.
Yeah, same. I felt bad recommending it as “average” episode, but it checks all the other boxes. Still, it’s a fun, easy episode to just drop into without needing any background info besides “They’re on a long journey home, and then this happens”.
“The Void” is definitely a solid choice, too. Teamwork and Federation principles save the day, a little action, and a first contact.
My first thought whenever the topic of what episode a person should to introduce Trek to someone comes up is “The Measure of a Man”. Though perhaps a courtroom drama, while certainly something Trek dabbles with on multiple occasions, is not typical enough to fall under the umbrella of conventional.
Maybe something like “Children of the Comet” from season one of SNW. There’s a strange mystery that’s going to spell disaster for a pre-warp civilization, an alien of the week antagonist whom the Enterprise crew needs to figure out how to deal with without getting into a fight, and everything’s neatly wrapped up by the end. The biggest mark against it would be the subplot where Pike’s dealing with the knowledge that he’s going to end up in a beep chair.
I think a little serialization can be a good thing, especially in a series like SNW, where it’s baked into the premise.
I don’t disagree, but I do believe that when we think about what Star Trek is, what it boils down to is an episodic procedural, despite how serialized it can be at times.
This is a great question. I like to recommend Data’s Day for newbies because he sort of goes around and introduces every character, but it’s a pretty unconventional episode.
I think I would go with “Doomsday Machine”!
That said, I also think Darmok would be a good fit too, the concept itself is unique in that as far as I know it’s the first it was used in science fiction, but the manner in which the concept is presented “Enterprise crew encounters a problem that can’t be solved with guns or technology” is pretty darn representative.
Yeah, I called “Darmok” unconventional because of the two-actor stage play aspect of it, but it’s a borderline case. I’ll allow it.
I think I’d suggest a planet-of-the-week episode. From TOS, “This Side of Paradise” or “A Taste of Armageddon.” From TNG, maybe “Who Watches the Watchers” or “Up the Long Ladder.”
I absolutely love “who watches the watchers”
It’s such a great example of what Picard is about, what makes him a great man, as well as being a great commentary on that inner human struggle we experience on both a personal and social level.
I came here with exactly this episode in mind. I think it is representative in a few ways:
- It involves an alien of the week.
- The alien species is culturally similar to human societies we, as viewers, are familiar with.
- It demonstrates what the Federation is all about, including the Prime Directive, respectfully dealing with less developed civilizations, and solving problems without violence (especially when the problems are your own fault).
- It’s more or less self-contained. Whether this is “representative” is debatable, I guess. I think it’s a big part of Star Trek even though there’s a larger focus on season-long storylines in later series.
“Who Watches the Watchers” is self-contained but you can also show someone “The Drumhead” after they’ve seen it. Beyond that also being a good episode for newbies as suggested elsewhere in these threads, the callbacks to “Who Watches the Watchers” nicely illustrate how threads from one story can keep affecting and enriching the show’s universe.
Just don’t show them “Sub Rosa”, there’s no nudity at all.
Sometimes I think Star Trek did Sub Rosa just to prove they didn’t need to include their usual copius amounts of nudity in order to create something extremely erotic.
It’s like the story about how Hitchcock didn’t give “The Birds” a soundtrack after someone said his movies were only scary because of the music.