Oh, Deep Space 9 is the not just the best Trek (and Sisko the best Captain, though Kirk remains the most charismatic) it's the best TV drama series ever. Call me biased, but only Joss Whedon shows come close....and Doctor Who revived.

 

The Original series started it all and is now so old it's past that dated feel so it's the scripts, cast & characters that carry it (or not in about half the episodes). I saw it from it's first run and it was my all-time fave series until Next Gen.

 

Next Gen: seemed marvellous for a decade, then it's 80's holier than thou attitude started to grate. People are not perfect and never will be, and it's overt pretentiousness, preachiness & unwillingness to do the right thing when the rules were clearly wrong (like letting a planet of sentient beings die for no good reason, except "those are the rules") has left a good proportion of it looking quite silly these days. When it was great though it was very great.

 

DS9, great throughout, the best cast and characters of all the Trek's, and the most timeless in it's attitude towards humanity/conflict and the complex involved storylines really pay off.

 

Voyager, a bit TNG-lite, watchable but often repetetive until 7 of 9 joins, and silly aliens as ideas got rehashed over and over. Some good episodes along the way but rarely great.

 

Enterprise, suffered from Trek overload, but actually much better than it seemed at the time, it was just getting into it's stride when it was cancelled, early seasons being good but not special. The best episodes are in the last series, mostly.

 

 

Geek attack warning!

 

Just before Christmas I realised I hadn't seen all of Enterprise having given up after only a few episodes (surprised I got passed the theme music) so I decided I would watch all four series. Despite it's reputation I really enjoyed season 1 but 2 was a slog. 3 and 4 I loved.

 

And then it came to me. How about watching every Star Trek episode ever in stardate order. I found a website that had had the same idea and so began a long march through the whole saga.

 

I am currently on the 2nd season of DS9 and the final of TNG and in my opinion as good as it was at the time TNG is the most dated of the lot.

 

As for a Star Trek rate. Not captains but best characters would be more interesting. For me Garak is my all time favourite in both concept and execution.

I need to do that sometime. Just to make sure that I've seen all the episodes as there are loads of TNG episodes I haven't seen. And a full rewatch of DS9 to appreciate it all again. A show with Kai Winn, Garak, Dukat and Weyoun in it, and with none of them even regulars is something I can watch over and over again. Fantastic characters.

 

But not for a couple of years at least.

I've gone for Picard as favourite Captain and TNG as favourite of the shows primarily because its the show I watched from the beginning the first time it was on - the original I could only watch the first 5 minutes and last 10 minutes the first time around as it used to clash with Coronation Street on a Monday night and mum and dad thought that the telly was for adults not children!!!!! Really pissed me off because all my friends were talking about it at school the next day and I could only comment on the start and the finish! I did of course manage to watch whole episodes later on - which had (for me) the BEST episode ever - Space Seed which was the basis for my favourite of the Star Trek films (Wrath of Kahn) despite its awful faux pas of Chekov.

 

I'm actually now watching some of the old series on the evenings I'm in (on the Horror Channel unbelievably)

I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to watch all 700+ episodes again. I struggled greatly with TNG S1+2, Voyager S1+2, most of TOS, Enterprise S2 and about 30 episodes across the first 3/5 seasons of DS9. So yeah about 200 episodes I'd rather never see again.

 

Of course even among that list of horrors there are those which should been erased from history: Sub Rosa and Threshold being the 2 best examples.

Actually yeah, thinking about it, I'd probably skip TNG S1 and all the Voyager/Enterprise episodes I thought were dull (half of S2 VOY immediately springs to mind). Plus Meridian and Profit And Lace (even the title brings up horrible images) which are the only DS9 episodes I actually hate. I haven't seen most of TOS so in this hypothetical super-marathon that wouldn't be an option.

 

I think Sub Rosa is one of the TNG episodes I haven't seen and I'm keeping it that way, but Threshold was just amusing if incredibly dumb, off the top of my head Initiations, Elogium and Innocence from the same season would be lower on a 'rewatch list' than Threshold is.

Sub Rosa DOES feature some POWERHOUSE acting from rubbish old Gates, but sadly even that can't make it a source of ironic love. I mean it's not like Troi who literally almost destroys the ship each and every time she is in command. Though she outdoes herself when she uses PSYCHIC GPS in Nemesis *.*

My favourite episode from ST TNG was Cause and Effect.

I'd probably go for The Inner Light, which I know is a really cliche choice but it really does encapsulate all the very best aspects of Trek into 45 minutes. Though The Drumhead, Chain Of Command (both parts) and obviously Best Of Both World are also brilliant.

 

DS9 would probably be Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges or The Changing Face Of Evil.

 

Voyager would be Year Of Hell (both parts, though part 1 is better).

 

Enterprise would be In A Mirror Darkly (both parts).

TNG is either Cause And Effect or The Inner Light. Both incredible television.

 

DS9, very difficult for me, but it's either The Visitor, Nor The Battle To The Strong or In The Pale Moonlight. Inquisition, Far Beyond The Stars, In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light and Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast are also up there. I do love the final 10 episodes but I couldn't really pick a standout among them. Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges.. I have the impression that it's good but I can't remember much about it, which is strange because I love Bashir.

 

Voyager, easy. Living Witness. Fantastic episode all the way through, and the final closing scene gives me chills.

 

Enterprise, out of the ones I've seen: Minefield.

I'd probably go for The Inner Light, which I know is a really cliche choice but it really does encapsulate all the very best aspects of Trek into 45 minutes. Though The Drumhead, Chain Of Command (both parts) and obviously Best Of Both World are also brilliant.

 

I agree with most of them apart from Through The Drumhead, I would put Unification among my best as well the 2 parter with Spock

 

DS9 would probably be Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges or The Changing Face Of Evil.

 

Definitely, I love Garak's performance in Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, I must admit Andrew Robinson played Garak to a T, he was a perfection actor for a supporting cast.

 

And I love the character of Morn, the big guy in Quarks Bar who never says a word. Mark A Shepherd plays him, the guy in Supernatural and Battlestar Galactica.

I think the strongest DS9 episodes often involved Garak in some way (or Kai Winn). He really grew so much over the course of the show too, which is quite RARE for Trek. It's funny, I just watched it through again about 6 weeks ago yet I've already forgotten half the strongest episodes. I really need to start keeping a LIST as I go.

Voyager would be Year Of Hell (both parts, though part 1 is better).

This!! :wub: and Course Oblivion, timeless, the killing game, scientific method, before and after, persistence of vision ,deadlock and fury. Season 1 and season 7 of voyager are extremely hard to watch for me. In season 1, I don't think the director knew what the public wanted or what he was wanting to do, all the episodes just seemed so half arsed and season 7 I think, was similar, almost as if they Had run out of ideas. The whole seven chokotay thing for example, literally spanned like 5 episodes or something and it seemed as if the writer just decided to chuck it in randomly. There was no build up and as for endgame, I find it very unfullfilling.

Despite this, Voyager still remains my favourite and the only one I am willing to watch all the way through.

Edited August 10, 201312 yr by jsg2013

Threshold was just amusing if incredibly dumb,

This is the lowest rated episode amongst voyager fans, and the writer and director washed their hands off it after it was made.

I am quite versed in Trek fandom lore, ye I know that part. :lol: It's more akin to someone making a Voyager episode while under the influence of several narcotic substances (and a complete disregard for any form of science) than anything else.

 

S7 of Voyager I also found a real slog. Maybe it was just a huge comedown from a very good S6 but it felt incredibly tired by that point.

I am quite versed in Trek fandom lore, ye I know that part. :lol: It's more akin to someone making a Voyager episode while under the influence of several narcotic substances (and a complete disregard for any form of science) than anything else.

 

S7 of Voyager I also found a real slog. Maybe it was just a huge comedown from a very good S6 but it felt incredibly tired by that point.

I reckon they ran out of ideas tbh!! It just seemed like season 1 all over again.

My favourite episodess are Balance of Terror, Yesterday's Enterprise, In The Pale Moonlight, Scorpion and Carbon Creek. Best film is easily Wrath of Kahn.

Controversial opinion alert: I think The Undiscovered Country is marginally better than Khan.

I quite like the New film :)

Controversial opinion alert: I think The Undiscovered Country is marginally better than Khan.

It runs it close but it lacks the depth. It's 'fall of communism' allegory is much heavier handed than Khan's Captain Ahab/Kirk's 'over the hill' themes.