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Here is the question we put before readers several weeks back:
J.W. in West Chester, PA, asks: What do you think is the best episode of any of the Star Trek series?
And here is one more round of answers we got in response:
(A): I agree with the handful of readers who feel that picking the best episode of Star Trek is an impossible task. I have no idea by which and how many criteria one would make such a choice. With that caveat, I decided to go with the episode that felt the most impactful and left the strongest impression on me. So, despite Lower Decks being my favorite series, I went with a Strange New Worlds episode as my "favorite": "Under the Cloak of War." I've never served in the military or been anywhere near a combat zone, but this episode's portrayal of medical staff trying to keep up with the results of a brutal war left me severely rattled and parts of it were echoing in my head for at least a week after I watched it. I considered rewatching it before writing this, but I decided not to do that to myself. I'm sure I'll watch it again... eventually.
(Z): I really should have answered last week, but I decided it was best to have the two staff answers together. My favorite series are DS9, TNG and TOS, in that order. And my favorite single episode is "In Purgatory's Shadow," because my favorite character is Garak. In this one, Garak tries to ride to the rescue of his (estranged) father, is taken prisoner himself, and pulls off a technical miracle, while battling severe claustrophobia, to effect his and his colleagues' escape. "In the Pale Moonlight" is also a Garak episode, so I like that one very much, as well. And also "The Wire," which has more Garak exposition than probably any other episode.
I.R. in Zurich, Switzerland: Strange New Worlds: "Those Old Scientists."
First of all, it pairs the best third generation series (Lower Decks, hands down) with the second best. While the story may not be outstanding on its own, it is very much up there in the top drawer. But what sets it apart: It shouldn't work! Star Trek does not have the best trek... er, sorry, track record of "gimmick" episodes. Pairing live action and animation is something that many shows (and movies) failed at before. This had no business of working out. When I first watched it, I held my breath, bracing for an epic shipwreck. But I didn't need to hold it for long... most amazingly, it works in both directions. Most entries in the history of crossover episodes are more "one show's cast guest starring in another show." But with this, I still have to look up every time whether it's an STW or an LD episode—it's both!
R.R. in Pasadena, CA: For the third generation, I'm going to go off to the side a bit. There are a lot of STW episodes that are very good, and Lower Decks was constantly great. But, for me I think the best new episode is the last one of Season 1 of Prodigy, "A Moral Star" (a two parter). A lot of Trek fans discount Prodigy; it's way outside of the usual shows, as well as animated, and aside from a hologram of Janeway there are hardly any actual Starfleet officers. It's a rag-tag group of kids who take over the USS Prodigy from where it was hidden in a cave and fly off for adventures, and that sounds awfully silly. And yet, the show is real Star Trek, because it's about the people on the ship and how they grow and change, and how they go from being slaves to outlaws on the run to proto-Starfleet cadets, and make that choice on their own by looking at the principles of Starfleet and deciding they want to be that kind of people. In the last episode, they save Starfleet from itself (literally), and make profound sacrifices to do so with no guarantee that they will get any benefit out of it. And, in the end, it's the most roguish character of all, the one who most wanted to cut and run, break the law, and take advantage of the ship they found, who turns out to be the leader of the team and pushes them all to live up to Starfleet principles.
In just ten episodes, the show makes great strides, and it's a half-hour kid's cartoon, which makes that even more impressive. It even makes Voyager into a better show somehow, because it's great to see old Voyager crew back in action. And the emotional impact at the end of the episode is also great, plus all the lessons about doing good and growing into a better person by choice are good for kids. People discount Prodigy for being animated, but it's really great, as a show and Star Trek, and it's too bad we only got two seasons of it.
T.W. in Centerville, OH: The truth these days is that my favorite episodes are the ones I haven't seen yet (i.e. The Undiscovered Episode) or the ones I've found a new appreciation for (i.e. The Rediscovered Episode). I absolutely love Strange New Worlds' "Subspace Rhapsody" and most any Lower Decks episode. I quite enjoyed Discovery's season one and I'm finding Starfleet Academy to be more satisfying than I expected. But I also love that YouTuber Steve Shives changed my opinion about Capt. Jellico in TNG's "Chain of Command" and that after I became a parent I found a new appreciation for TNG's "Dark Page".
I'm an all-of-the-above Star Trek fan. There is no such thing as a bad episode, only good and great. Even "bad" episodes add to the canon and give future writers something else to pull from. The freedom to make "bad" episodes also results in the achievement of making "great" episodes.
J.C. in Fez, Morocco: This is hard to answer. I've seen every episode of Star Trek (of the free series; still waiting for Picard and Strange New Worlds to come to us overseas). Thank you for TOS for starting it all, but you're not going to get it. ENT is there as a placeholder when we had nothing else. VOY... there were some okay episodes. DS9 was a much better series in retrospect than I gave it credit for at the time, but mostly as a whole, especially with the character development. It had fewer stand-out episodes.
If we're adding movies, then Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, as time travel always improves an "episode", it was the first one to really lean into humor, Nimoy was a great director, and I have no time for the
Lens FlareKelvin Timeline.
K.M. in Charleston, SC: Probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but the first of the movies for the Kelvin Timeline: Star Trek. It has two—count them, two—Spocks including Leonard Nimoy. But haters gonna hate.
S.J.M. in Austin, TX: I must object with all due respect that this is an unfair question. Best as in most thought provoking, true to cannon, special effects, dramatic? My choice will be the based on which episode I have re-watched countless times on Prime+ in spite of the fact that it enriches Jeff Bezos.
That would be "Subspace Rhapsody" from Strange New Worlds. Not only were the tunes incredibly catchy, but the lyrics matched the intellectual standards set in previous episodes (particularly the math double meanings of "X" and "ex" between Spock and Nurse Chapel).This episode was so compelling that I forced non-sci-fi family members who live in Midtown NYC to watch this under protest. At the end of the show their first question was "Are they doing more musical episodes" and then "Were the actors hired because of their singing abilities?" This is high praise from people who regularly attend musicals on Broadway.
This does not mean that the "Trouble with Tribbles" (TOS) or "Worse Case Scenario" (Voyager) are not as beloved, but this question forced a choice of just 1 out of 960 of the TV shows and movies.
R.A.G. in Seattle, WA: SNW "A Quality of Mercy." This goes to the top because it calls back to several TOS episodes (and arcs from Discovery and TNG) with a story that is built with classic science fiction mechanisms, primarily a ST favorite—time travel.
FWIW, the subject "Spock's Brain," as a funny reference to a universally panned TOS installment, but a fun part of Trek lore (!) includes all the ways the lexicon seeps into one's everyday language. Yes, in my weaker moments, I now and then refer to the fairer sex as "the givers of pain and delight."
R.B. in Pittsburgh, PA: Not sure how many people have seen this series, but I encourage readers to check out Star Trek Continues on YouTube. It completes the five-year journey of Kirk's first Enterprise tenure as captain, taking viewers right up to the point where Star Trek: The Motion Picture begins. It captures the essence of the original series and its characters, introduces new characters, and might end up being head-canon for many fans of the original series. Every episode is a standout, but "The White Iris" is my favorite.
J.A. in Monterey, CA: This is from The Orville, which I hope counts, as it's a Star Trek knock-off with officers who are funnier and significantly more flawed than those in the Star Trek series.
In "Twice in a Lifetime," Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes) goes back in time due to a temporal malfunction and gets stuck in 2015. After living in the woods for a few years (and actually eating animals!), he meets up with a woman whose cell phone he found in a time capsule in an earlier episode. He lives a full life. The captain (Seth McFarlane) attempts to heart-breakingly bring Malloy back to avoid any major timeline disturbances.
(Not far behind is the two-part season 2 finale, with a classic example of Chaos Theory, in which another time travel malfunction and subsequent refusal by Adrianne Palicki to go on a second date with McFarlane led to the end of the galaxy... that needed to be fixed).
Here is the question for next week:
J.B. in Radnor, PA, asks: How does one keep their sanity and avoid becoming depressed from getting so deep into all the demoralizing news in U.S. politics, and the country as a whole?
Submit your answers to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with subject line "Mental Dis-Ease"!