Star Trek

10610 readers

48 users here now

r/startrek: The Next Generation

Star Trek news and discussion. No slash fic...

Maybe a little slash fic.

New to Star Trek and wondering where to start?

Rules

1 Be constructive

All posts/comments must be thoughtful and balanced.

2 Be welcoming

It is important that everyone from newbies to OG Trekkers feel welcome, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, religion or race.

3 Be truthful

All posts/comments must be factually accurate and verifiable. We are not a place for gossip, rumors, or manipulative or misleading content.

4 Be nice

If a polite way cannot be found to phrase what it is you want to say, don't say anything at all. Insulting or disparaging remarks about any human being are expressly not allowed.

5 Spoilers

Utilize the spoiler system for any and all spoilers relating to the most recently-aired episodes, as well as previews for upcoming episodes. There is no formal spoiler protection for episodes/films after they have been available for approximately one week.

6 Keep on-topic

All submissions must be directly about the Star Trek franchise (the shows, movies, books etc.). Off-topic discussions are welcome at c/quarks.

7 Meta

Questions and concerns about moderator actions should be brought forward via DM.

Upcoming Episodes

Date	Episode	Title
11-14	LD 5x05	"Starbase 80?!"
11-21	LD 5x06	"Of Gods and Angles"
11-28	LD 5x07	"Fully Dilated"
12-05	LD 5x08	"Upper Decks"
12-12	LD 5x09	"Fissue Quest"

Episode Discussion Archive

In Production

Strange New Worlds (2025)

Section 31 (2025-01-24)

Starfleet Academy (TBA)

In Development

Untitled comedy series

Wondering where to stream a series? Check here.

Allied Discord Server

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Searching for the "most representative" Star Trek episode (startrek.website)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

36 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I wanna say “the corbomite maneuver” from TOS. I think it’s one of the best episodes of all, but most people don’t so i think it’s okay from the its all downhill perspective. It has everything: Kirk mentoring, an extremely powerful alien of the week, solving problems without fighting, but still tense situations. Such a great and representative episode.

From TNG maybe First Contact. Good intro episode as you get intro to the federation through the eyes of an alien of the week. The alien-chasing woman may be not a good thing to show depending on the person you’re showing it to, though.

For DS9, in the hands of the prophets. Doesn’t require much backstory unlike a lot of DS9, great ep, classic ethical debate/social commentary, and the majesty that is Vedek Winn.

For Voyager maybe distant origin. Great ep, doesn’t need much backstory, also great commentary on society

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Another bonus of showing them "Corbomite" first is that they won't be wondering what the hell the deal is with that freaky face thing at the end of the closing credits when watching other episodes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I picked "Doomsday Machine" but Corbomite Maneuver is also really good. Classic in multiple senses of the word.