This past week Star Trek celebrated its 45th Anniversary. As I said in the Dork Trek post (which you can read by clicking here) I love some Star Trek, I also really like list, so in honor of the 45th anniversary I decided to post my Top 20 Episodes of the Star Trek Franchise. A few things before I start, first off, my favorite series is Deep Space Nine, and I think thats obvious when you look at the list. I love The Next Generation, and as far as The Original Series and Enterprise goes, Enterprise was really good, I felt like the show was at its best in Season 3 during the season long arch about the Xindi, however the one downside to a season long arch is none of the episodes really stand-out, Season 3 was like one long episode. Then there is The Original Series, which had some really great episodes, but at times was to campy, when the Original Series hit, it really hit, when it missed, It Missed big time, think "Spock's Brian" arguably the worst episode of any Star Trek series ever.
One oversight that may be very noticeable is there is not a single Voyager episode, that is mainly because as hard as I've tried to get into Voyager, and I've tried on several occasions, I finally realized I just don't like the show, I've seen many of the episodes people say are "stand-outs" and they are ok, but nothing special, certainly not Top 20 All-Time material.
It was the episode that introduced everyone to the Romulans, and one of the many highlights of Season 1. The episode is tense and intriguing, and was one of, if not the first episodes that had a great space battle in Star Trek. Also it featured Mark Lenard playing the Romulan commander, he would later go on to play Sarek, Spock's father.
19. "In A Mirror, Darkly" - Enterprise
This isn't a perfect episode by any means in terms of the Star Trek Universe, and leaves a lot of questions, for example, when Kirk goes to the Alternate Universe 100 years later why hasn't technology advanced, but even with the discontinuity its an outstanding episode, it ties to The Original Series so well, to both "The Tholain Web" and "Mirror, Mirror" episodes, and the theme song is so much better than the theme song for the rest of the series, if the theme song for these two episodes was the one they used for the entire series I would never have to skip it.
18. "Q Who?" - The Next Generation
It should make any list if for no other reason than it introduced the Borg, arguably the best villain in all of Star Trek. The episode has both the Borg and Q, both of whom were great parts of TNG.
17. "Children of Time" - Deep Space Nine
This is a really cool episode, it has time travel as the crew accidently travel back in time (its almost always an accident isn't it) and find that the inhabitants of the planet are their descendants. Its fun with the time travel and all, yet the end is very touching.
16. "Parallels" - The Next Generation
An often overlooked episode, this one is just fun, basically Worf just keeps traveling from one dimension to another as a result of a spacial anomaly, its fun to see the different changes in every dimension.
15. "Storm Front" - Enterprise
This episode has almost everything I like in one show, Nazi's and time travel, the crew travels back in time to World War II where now aliens are assisting Nazi's to try and defeat the US. It also brings to a close the temporal cold war which was a fun part of the series.
14. "The Visitor" - Deep Space Nine
This episode shows what would have happened if Captain Sisko would have died in an engineering accident. Things would have been very different, obviously. I liked the way this episode expanded on the relationship between Jake and Ben Sisko.
13. "Little Green Men" - Deep Space Nine
This could arguably be the funnest episode in Star Trek history. Quark and Odo travel back in time to Roswell, New Mexico and as it turns out they were the aliens that crash landed in the 40's. It has the perfect feel of a 40's science fiction movie. Futurama would go on to make a similar episode, which was funny, but this one is superior.
12. "Cause and Effect" - The Next Generation
Another fun episode, you know its going to be a fun episode when the Enterprise blows up in the first 2 minutes of the show. This episode was Groundhog Day, before that movie even came out. The crew relive the same day over and over without an knowledge that they were, all they have is a since of deja vu.
11. "Mirror, Mirror" - The Original Series
A classic Trek episode, the first of many Trek episodes that featured the Alternate Universe. Kirk and the crew accidently beam to an Alternate Universe where the federation is evil and ruthless, and most importantly, Spock has a goatee...a clear sign he's evil.
10. "Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast" - Deep Space Nine
This episode set the tone for all of the episodes of DS9 that would follow. It was a tense and thrilling episode, in which you learned so much more about the characters.
9. Image in the Sand/Shadows and Symbols - Deep Space Nine
This is the type of episode why DS9 is so great, it ties in to so many of the other episodes before it, like "Far Beyond the Stars" it gives a lot of answers of the series, and brings up even more questions, and continues telling the story of Dominion War. It was the season opener after a tragic season finale in season 6, and closes that story well while opening the season so well.
8. "Yesterday's Enterprise" - The Next Generation
The Enterprise travels through a space anomaly and is in an Alternate reality, instead of being at peace with the Klingons the Federation is still at war with them, and its not going well. None of the crew is aware of this, and Tasha Yar is back.
7. "The Search" - Deep Space Nine
A great DS9 episode, it introduces the Defiant, the first federation ship with a cloaking device, it also has the introduction of the Founders, a group of shape shifters to which security chief Odo belongs.
6. "In Purgatories Shadow/By Inferno's Light" - Deep Space Nine
Everything that had been building for the first 4 and a half seasons all came together in this two-parter. This episode answers a lot of questions, but builds more mysteries.
5. "Best of Both Worlds" - The Next Generation
The best cliffhanger I've personally ever seen, the end of the first episode is so intense, but the entire episode is brilliant, its so well structured and told, both parts. Michael Pillar wrote the episode with no resolution in mind, since he was leaving the series which created a tense situation, when he ended up coming back to write the second half the solution was a natural resolution to the story.
4. "The Inner Light" - The Next Generation
This might of been one of the more emotional episodes of Trek ever, but its a great one. Patrick Stewart is at the top of his game. The part at the end of the episode with Picard and his flute should have won him a slew of awards.
3. "Far Beyond The Stars" - Deep Space Nine
This episode walked a fine line between being great Science Fiction and an After-School Special, yet it was so well directed by Avery Brooks, who also delivers a top-notch performance, and so well written that it comes out as a classic Trek episode.
2. "All Good Things" - The Next Generation
I only wish every series finale could be this good, and I rank this as the best TNG episode. It brings the entire series full circle so you can actually see just how far these beloved characters have come in the 7 year run. The episode has caused some debate as a lot of people feel Q (who is featured heavily) is the reason for the anomaly in the first place, but in my mind there never was anything at stake, the episode was Q once again putting Captain Picard on trial to see just how much he'd grown in 7 years. The episode closes the series out so well in fact, that it almost makes you wish TNG ended on the note this episode sent them out on, instead of the way they went out in "Nemesis"
1. "City on the Edge of Forever" - The Original Series
I loved Star Trek when I was younger, rediscovered it in my teens, but for the most part got out of it for about 10 years or so, and then one night I was switching the TV around and saw this episode for the first time, and then, I was back in, I went on to watch every episode (with the exception of Voyager) over the span of a couple of years, it was the episode that got me back in to Star Trek, and for good reason, its the perfect Star Trek episode, everything thats great about Star Trek can be found in this one episode. Its a perfect cross between time travel, science fiction, and social commentary, and unlike some Trek episodes, the social commentary isn't heavy handed or overbearing, its the perfect episode.
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