I feel like TNG season 5 is just classic episode after classic episode
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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Yeah season 5 are all bangers.
DS9 is my favorite series, and my favorite TNG episode ("Tapestry") is in season 6. But man, I just can't disagree with the overall supremacy of TNG's season 5.
Gotta go for VOY season 4. Lotta great episodes in that season.
DS9, VOY, ENT and arguably even TNG, all helped establish the "rule" that it takes Star Trek shows (after TOS) three seasons to get good. As much as I personally liked Kes as a character, there's no denying the show took a step up after Seven of Nine was introduced. "Scorpion", "Year of Hell" and "Living Witness" are all really good episodes.
I think Strange New Worlds season 1 is a strong contender for best Star Trek season. Though it has the advantage that it is a shorter season than most.
Personally I thought season 2 was stronger. I found only two episodes in season 1 to be especially memorable: "Spock Amok" and particularly "A Quality of Mercy" (which I do think has been the finest episode of the Kurtzman era). Season 2 had four strong episodes IMO - "Charades", "Those Old Scientists", "Under the Cloak of War" and "Subspace Rhapsody". 4 out of 10 is a good percentage, but - as you point out - it should be easier to produce a higher proportion of strong episodes in a 10-episode season as opposed to a 24-29 episode season.
SNW wins brownie points for doing a live action / animation cross-over episode and a musical, but loses some for playing it safe in all other respects. It's the most overtly "conventionally Trek" modern show (after maybe PIC season 3 which was pure fan service with little interesting about it). Granted, what SNW does, it does with confidence and some measure of flair.
My vote goes to DS9 season 2 which is severely underrated. Althouth I like the latter half of DS9 more -- mainly because it had Worf in it, and Worf is the best {{:-) -- season 2 lay the foundation for DS9's later success.
The whole season is a huge step up from season 1 which often felt like TNG on a space station. In season 2 the writers began to really try out new things. It starts with a never-before-done 3-part episode, then does some more great world-building in "Cardassians" and "Necessary Evil", then slowly builds up a mysterious force in the Gamma Quadrant by the name of "the Dominion", then achieves the feat of making Bashir likeable in "Armageddon Game" upon which his friendship with O'Brien is built, then does a couple of standalone highlights like "Whispers" and "Blood Oath" (in which Kor, Koloth and Kang return! which in today's crossover-ridden landscape would be just a footnote but back then it was a huge deal), then lays the foundation for the Maquis on Voyager and also does more with the Maquis then Voyager ever will do, oh and in the same episode spells out the show's leitmotif "it's easy to be a saint in paradise", ...
... and we're still not done yet because the rest of the season is a total banger: "The Wire" is a trip into Garak's psyche, "Crossover" brings back the mirror universe, "The Collaborator" is a big step in making Kai Winn one of the show's main antagonists, "Tribunal" is the OG O'Brien-must-suffer episode, and "The Jem'Hadar" introduces the Dominion literally with a huge bang by blowing up a Galaxy Class ship. You know, the ship class that we just spend 7 years with and which escaped countless foes unscathed.
Seriously, never skip season 2 on your re-watch. Don't listen to anyone who says that "DS9 only gets good once the Defiant shows up". No no no. This is the real deal.
I always have skipped the first two seasons of DS9 on rewatches to the point that i dont even remember most of the episodes in these seasons. I guess Ill have to give them another go
That’s funny because I’ve always considered season one better than season 2. I feel like after the opening of seasons 2 it’s a slog for a bit (though honestly right now I can’t think of what eps those are). Season 1 has its bad eps. But it opens on a favorite and the last two eps are also both favorites of mine.
Babylon 5: Season 5....oh, whoops 😏
Voyager season 4
B5 season 5? An interesting choice. It's been quite a few years since I've seen Babylon 5, but as I recall season 5 suffered from JMS having to write a lot of his season 5 material into season 4, as he didn't know if the show would be renewed. As a result season 5 ended up being quite lopsided, with storylines like the telepath arc dragging out longer than they should have been. I think B5 was at its peak somewhere in seasons 2, 3 and 4.
Without giving it too much thought, I'd say DS9 season 6 or TOS season 1, with DS9 season 4 also being a contender.
DS9 season 6 opened with the franchise's first example of long-form storytelling, with "Rocks and Shoals" being a standout episode in that arc. It also gave us classics like "Far Beyond the Stars" and "In the Pale Moonlight". Overall the episodes were solid with few duds.
Similarly season 4 also opened strongly, with four of the first five episodes all being strong, with "The Visitor" among the franchise's best ever instalments and "Rejoined" also being very very good. ("Indiscretion" isn't as good as the first three or fifth episode.) It also features "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost". Granted, the second half of season 4 probably isn't quite as strong as the first half.
TOS season 1 established so much of the template of what Star Trek is, and many of the episodes still hold up very well even close to 60 years later, including "The Cage"/"The Menagerie", "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Balance of Terror", "The Galileo Seven", "Space Seed", "The Devil in the Dark" and, of course, "City on the Edge of Forever".
ENT season 4 definitely gets the prize for "most improved" season. (Yes, I have seen PIC season 3, but don't rate it as highly as most people.)
PRO season 1 gets the prize for best debut season after TOS. I think it did a great job in putting a new spin on the franchise while telling good, family-friendly stories that developed both plot and characters.
Just rewatched "The Visitor". Can't believe I forgot about that one. I'm definitely not crying right now, no no. Thank you.
Voyager: Year of Hell.
Oh wait, that wasn’t an entire season? Well it should have been.
Im pretty sure it was the basis for the Xindi arc which I really liked
I'm currently watching Deep Space 9 for the first time and The Visitor is the best 45 minutes of television I've ever watched, so I guess DS9 season 4 even though I've only watched a few episodes from it at this point.