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29 Days of Star Trek Meme: Day 9
Feb. 14th, 2012 09:52 pm9 - What's your favourite episode?
Ooh, tough one. I’m going to exclude two-part episodes to keep things fair, so that puts Best of Both Worlds, Scorpion, and Year of Hell out of the running. That really doesn’t narrow things down much, so my answer’s going to be less ‘my single favourite episode’ and more ‘a random array of episodes that came to mind while trying to answer this’…
In no particular order:
- Darmok. Sure, it makes very little sense once you actually think about it – if the Tamarians speak entirely in metaphors, how do they tell their legends in the first place? But the concept’s great, doing an entire episode about trying to communicate with an alien is a wonderfully Trek idea, and I love the scene where Picard tells the dying alien captain the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
- Balance of Terror. It’s a submarine film… in space! Complete with the first appearance of my favourite aliens, the Romulans, and the first appearance of Mark Lenard in Trek. The f irst Romulan Commander is one of the few TOS antagonists that really comes across as an equal to Kirk and the Enterprise crew.
- The House of Quark. The Ferengi episodes were always hit or miss, but this one works, mainly because it gives us Gowron and the Klingon High Council as straight men to Quark – and vice versa. We don’t really see different aliens interact with each other much in Trek without any humans around, and this episode really takes advantage of the opportunity. It’s nice to see someone finally stand up to the Klingons and not play by their bullying when it comes to ‘honour’.
- Tapestry. A lot of good Q episodes, but this one’s really a cut above the rest, being focused on Picard and his character rather than just what wacky things Q is doing.
- Unity. One of the most interesting Borg episodes Trek has done, it’s almost an origin story for the Collective, offering an explanation for how and why people might find the hive mind appealing. The Borg elsewhere are pure villains, but here we get a focus on the potential benefits of a collective consciousness. Nicely, the episode ends with the new ‘cooperative’s motivations kept ambigious.
Ooh, tough one. I’m going to exclude two-part episodes to keep things fair, so that puts Best of Both Worlds, Scorpion, and Year of Hell out of the running. That really doesn’t narrow things down much, so my answer’s going to be less ‘my single favourite episode’ and more ‘a random array of episodes that came to mind while trying to answer this’…
In no particular order:
- Darmok. Sure, it makes very little sense once you actually think about it – if the Tamarians speak entirely in metaphors, how do they tell their legends in the first place? But the concept’s great, doing an entire episode about trying to communicate with an alien is a wonderfully Trek idea, and I love the scene where Picard tells the dying alien captain the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
- Balance of Terror. It’s a submarine film… in space! Complete with the first appearance of my favourite aliens, the Romulans, and the first appearance of Mark Lenard in Trek. The f irst Romulan Commander is one of the few TOS antagonists that really comes across as an equal to Kirk and the Enterprise crew.
- The House of Quark. The Ferengi episodes were always hit or miss, but this one works, mainly because it gives us Gowron and the Klingon High Council as straight men to Quark – and vice versa. We don’t really see different aliens interact with each other much in Trek without any humans around, and this episode really takes advantage of the opportunity. It’s nice to see someone finally stand up to the Klingons and not play by their bullying when it comes to ‘honour’.
- Tapestry. A lot of good Q episodes, but this one’s really a cut above the rest, being focused on Picard and his character rather than just what wacky things Q is doing.
- Unity. One of the most interesting Borg episodes Trek has done, it’s almost an origin story for the Collective, offering an explanation for how and why people might find the hive mind appealing. The Borg elsewhere are pure villains, but here we get a focus on the potential benefits of a collective consciousness. Nicely, the episode ends with the new ‘cooperative’s motivations kept ambigious.