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Star Trek 'Favorites' Meme (part 3/4)
Once again attempting to just push these answers out so I can move onto a different meme. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew trying to answer all of these! These questions are generally episode/movie/acting centric.
26. Favorite time travel or holodeck episode
This one is hard. There's a lot of time travel and holodeck epsiodes I really like. Probably one of these:
- TNG 3x21 "Hollow Pursuits" (holodeck) -- All the actors in this episode seem like they are having SO MUCH fun doing the extremely campy holodeck scenarios. It's also just a heartwarming episode that demonstrates how Starfleet is able to accommodate a range of people including people who are quite neurodivergent. And Geordi gets a chance to sort of level up in his managerial role as the head of engineering. Just an episode that is fun AND features good worldbuilding AND good character development. Not a good episode, though, if you're highly sensitive to secondhand embarrassment/cringe type situations.
- DS9 5x06 "Trials and Tribble-ations" (time travel) -- What I like about this episode is that it doesn't take the time travel aspect seriously at all. From the opening/framing element of Sisko being grilled by the time anomaly division of Starfleet or whatever that handles time travel incidents, and whose members are just constantly dropping deadpan time travel jokes, to the fact that they introduce a whole new Orb of the Prophets just to justify the conceit of how the DS9 crew goes back in time. The whole episode exists (I think?) as just a fun episode to celebrate a Star Trek anniversary and the fact that technology now exists that allows splicing actors into old footage.
Not sure if they count, but TNG 3x19 "Captain's Holiday" technically has time travel elements and is quite good, and DS9 6x13 "Far Beyond the Stars" is great although is probably more like 1950s AU rather than time travel. I feel like there are other holodeck and time travel episodes I'm forgetting but ah well.
27. Favorite character-driven episode
I'm not sure what counts as a character-driven episode -- I'm guessing something that is focused on a single character and where their actions/personality drive most of the plot/conflict of the episode, and there's not much external plot outside of that. Under that understanding, here are some of my picks:
- As mentioned earlier, DS9 4x03 "The Visitor" is a great episode driven by Jake Sisko's character.
- DS9 5x18 "Business as Usual" is one of my favorite Quark episodes, where his moral dilemma drives the whole episode.
- VOY 7x12 "Lineage" stands out to me. It's a tearjerker episode that is a culmination of seven seasons' worth of B'Elanna's racial self-hatred, which she has managed to somewhat get over but they suddenly flare up (in a very believable way) when B'Elanna is confronted with the completely new situation of becoming a mother and having to face the very real possibility of her daughter going through the pain she went through. The most powerful/emotional part of the episode is that everyone around B'Elanna is looking at her behavior and reacting like, "OMG B'Elanna, this is UNHINGED, please don't do this" but B'Elanna's feelings are just SO deepset that having everyone tell her that doesn't really stop her from having those emotions and acting on them.
28. Favorite "bad" episode
Well, in terms of episode that is clearly a bad episode but is just such an Experience to watch, TNG 7x14 "Sub Rosa"! I will rewatch this episode anytime. It is truly sublime. I managed to watch this episode completely unspoiled, no idea what it was about or what would happen, and wow. Amazing. 10/10, would recommend.
In terms of episodes that are considered a "bad episode" by people generally but I actually legitimately like, it's DS9 5x07 "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." I was actually incredibly surprised that it's considered one of the worst episodes of DS9, up there with "Profit and Lace." It's a bit uncomfortable having one of the main cast characters being the villain in this episode and it does some weird things with Worf's character/backstory, but I enjoy seeing the flawed side to Worf. More importantly, it's the Beach Episode! I love beach episodes! I love that DS9 has a beach episode -- how very anime of it. The episode is also subtly very gay with Worf clearly being jealous at seeing one of Dax's exes who she still has a lot of chemistry with (it's not explicit but it's definitely subtext). This episode also gets a lot of points for teasing us with Worf's speedo, but loses some of those points by not actually having Worf wear it (boo!). Quark is also here! Ferengi wearing board shorts at Risa can be something that is so important.
I also like DS9 1x10 "Move Along Home," which is not seen as a straightforwardly bad episode but is a polarizing episode where it seems like there are equal-sized groups of people who say this is the first DS9 episode they felt was a stinker and who say this is the first DS9 episode that sold them on Quark as a character. Even the word "allamaraine" seems to simultaneously conjure two types of reactions: a "*cringe* WHY" type reaction and an "unironically, this is the Star Trek wacky time-wasting bullshit I signed up for!" type reaction. Similarly, it seems like people equally cringe at how much of a useless fuckboy twink Bashir is in this episode and being like, "heck yes, Bashir's ROOTS, never forget." This episode seems like right on the edge between "bad" and "just barely good but in a bad way."
Oh yeah, I also like ENT 2x05 "A Night in Sickbay." I mean, I remember it being a really frustrating episode to watch because there's like multiple urgent situations going on simultaneously, and you watch the characters spend a long time doing things that don't seem to have any hope of solving any of those situations and you're just sitting there the entire time going, "But that urgent situation??? Anyone on that??" ... but then everything works out at the end. But on the other hand, it's really funny, lol.
29. Favorite mirrorverse episode
My favorite mirrorverse episode might be the first one, TOS 2x04 "Mirror, Mirror." It holds up! It is so, so campy, including the rather bizarre aspect where people costume change when they get transported to the mirror universe. The agonizers! The fascist salutes! Baby-faced Mirror Chekov's shit-eating grins! Mirror Spock creating a more hopeful mirror universe by inheriting uh... (reads notes) a killing machine? Hm not sure about that. In any case, though, this episode just leans all in on its aesthetic and I respect that. I can understand why this episode is so memorable.
Uhura is such a badass in this episode too. I just love the part where Mirror Sulu (who inexplicably has a SCAR! see, I love this) says, "You take a lot of chances, Lieutenant," and Uhura just replies by drawing a dagger on him and saying cool as a cucumber, "So do you, Mister. So do you." Wonderful!
It ends with a classic TOS-style comic relief ending where Spock roasts humanity for their barbarism. There is a lot of shippiness to Kirk and Spock's interactions and ALSO Spock and McCoy's interactions. This episode has everything.
30. Favorite plot of the week episode
This one is hard, as I feel like most of the good episodes of Star Trek are the self-contained, "here is the sci-fi problem of the week to solve" type episodes. I think two of my favorite episodes I listed fall under this category (TOS 1x13 "The Conscience of the King" and TNG 5x02 "Darmok"). Let me try to pick out some more episodes where the plot is kind of random, doesn't have any long-term consequences, isn't part of any long-running plotline, and involves either sci-fi mystery or courtroom legal drama.
- There are a lot of good ones in TOS: TOS 1x01 "The Man Trap," 1x05 "The Enemy Within," 1x06 "Mudd's Women," 1x25 "The Devil in the Dark" (okay, the first and third probably aren't good, but I personally liked them)
- TNG 3x03 "The Survivors" -- Interesting sci-fi plot with a completely iconic Worf line.
- VOY 2x22 "Innocence" -- A memorable sci-fi one-off episode.
- LWD 1x08 "Veritas" -- In general, Lower Decks is great for plot of the week episodes. But I especially like this parody of the Star Trek trial episode, except the joke here is that NONE of the lower decks characters knows anything at all that is going on in the wider ship.
31. Favorite two-parter
I feel like Star Trek two-parters tend to be pretty meh, to be honest. There's usually some issue with pacing if not the plot itself. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for VOY 7x15/7x16 "Workforce." It features an amnesiac Janeway who, lacking the responsibilities and burden of being a captain and the guilt of having stranded her crew, is much more light-hearted, free-spirited, and a bit of a ditz, while still being recognizably Janeway. It's a very bittersweet episode because (from Chakotay's point of view) you/he can tell she is happier like that but that she still "belongs" on Voyager. It's an interesting case where two tender feelings (wanting someone you care about to be happy and wanting that person to be who they were meant to be, to rise to their "calling") come apart and Chakotay chooses the second.
32. Favorite season (of any show)
Hm... this one is hard because I tend to like episodes from all over a show and it's hard to pick out just one season. I will say, now that I'm doing a TNG rewatch, the third season has been by far the best we've seen (IMO) with a very high concentration of episodes that aren't just good but like GREAT, although we've only just finished up four. So TNG season 3 is my pick for this one.
33. Favorite pilot episode
Huh, this one is also difficult. If it counts, I'll say the original pilot episode for TOS featuring Captain Pike, which is included with TOS on Netflix. It has some interesting characters, which were cut when it was repackaged as the episode TOS 1x11/12 "The Menagerie." I like the interesting contrast between the very green yeoman character (the equivalent of Yeoman Rand) and the competent but unemotional right-hand man Number One character.
I feel like Star Trek pilots are generally not great. I do like DS9's opening two-parter, but it is admittedly not super entertaining and it's easy to get lost in all the background history/politics they drop very rapidly on you. But I enjoy seeing the cast getting introduced and they look so... scrungy? They -- Sisko, Jake, Kira, Quark, and Odo -- all look just a little bit rough and half-baked and young considering that they all will eventually settle into a very different look that you'll be accustomed to if you've been watching later episodes of DS9. It's fun going back to the beginning like that.
34. Favorite cast photo
This has got to be my favorite cast photo:
From: https://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/publicityphotos/castphotos/ds9_cast_casual.jpg
1) It's just so great to see the DS9 cast out of their makeup and uniforms.
2) I feel like I have to hand it to whoever set up this cast photo because... the outfits everyone is wearing look so great together? They look so comfy. The limited color palettes gives everyone some coherence even as they're wearing very different clothes and styles.
3) To add onto that, the posing is also great -- Kira/Nana Visitor's surprise and her arm wrapped around Quark/Armin Shimerman; Odo/Rene Auberjonois's sardonic-looking smile; the young'uns Julian and Jake in the back with their shoulders all hunched up. They look like a family.
4) All of that means that this photo feels like it's an imagining of if DS9 were some kind of sitcom / modern family dramedy or something like that. Which I'd love to watch.
35. Favorite behind-the-scenes fact
That this outtake exists? I don't know if that counts. I'm having a bit of difficulty answering this question so sure, let's go with that.
36. Favorite actor
I am having so much trouble answering this question too. Should I say Patrick Stewart? Armin Shimerman? Jeffrey Combs? Leonard Nimoy? Avery Brooks? Majel Barrett? There are too many options here! I can't really pick a favorite. I just appreciate every Star Trek actor for what they've brought to Star Trek even if it's just as a guest actor in a single episode.
RIP Nichelle Nichols. :(
37. Favorite novel
I haven't read any other than listening to The 34th Rule on audiobook. In general, I'm not particularly interested in novels other than maybe ones that people say have Quodo interactions and maybe A Stitch in Time since fandom relies on it so heavily for Garak backstory/characterization (but I never really write Garak, so), but I haven't read any of those so far.
38. Favorite movie
And... I haven't really seen any of the movies except for First Contact, which was overall a very solid film, although I didn't enjoy the ending segment featuring the Borg Queen being horny over Data. (In general, I find the Borg Queen an extremely boring character that breaks Borg worldbuilding.) I want to watch more of the movies especially for TOS and AOS as (from a fannish point of view) I get the feeling that a lot of the main cast's characterization happens in those movies? But they're not on any of the streaming services I subscribe to, so I haven't really gotten around to it.
Full list of questions
26. Favorite time travel or holodeck episode
This one is hard. There's a lot of time travel and holodeck epsiodes I really like. Probably one of these:
- TNG 3x21 "Hollow Pursuits" (holodeck) -- All the actors in this episode seem like they are having SO MUCH fun doing the extremely campy holodeck scenarios. It's also just a heartwarming episode that demonstrates how Starfleet is able to accommodate a range of people including people who are quite neurodivergent. And Geordi gets a chance to sort of level up in his managerial role as the head of engineering. Just an episode that is fun AND features good worldbuilding AND good character development. Not a good episode, though, if you're highly sensitive to secondhand embarrassment/cringe type situations.
- DS9 5x06 "Trials and Tribble-ations" (time travel) -- What I like about this episode is that it doesn't take the time travel aspect seriously at all. From the opening/framing element of Sisko being grilled by the time anomaly division of Starfleet or whatever that handles time travel incidents, and whose members are just constantly dropping deadpan time travel jokes, to the fact that they introduce a whole new Orb of the Prophets just to justify the conceit of how the DS9 crew goes back in time. The whole episode exists (I think?) as just a fun episode to celebrate a Star Trek anniversary and the fact that technology now exists that allows splicing actors into old footage.
Not sure if they count, but TNG 3x19 "Captain's Holiday" technically has time travel elements and is quite good, and DS9 6x13 "Far Beyond the Stars" is great although is probably more like 1950s AU rather than time travel. I feel like there are other holodeck and time travel episodes I'm forgetting but ah well.
27. Favorite character-driven episode
I'm not sure what counts as a character-driven episode -- I'm guessing something that is focused on a single character and where their actions/personality drive most of the plot/conflict of the episode, and there's not much external plot outside of that. Under that understanding, here are some of my picks:
- As mentioned earlier, DS9 4x03 "The Visitor" is a great episode driven by Jake Sisko's character.
- DS9 5x18 "Business as Usual" is one of my favorite Quark episodes, where his moral dilemma drives the whole episode.
- VOY 7x12 "Lineage" stands out to me. It's a tearjerker episode that is a culmination of seven seasons' worth of B'Elanna's racial self-hatred, which she has managed to somewhat get over but they suddenly flare up (in a very believable way) when B'Elanna is confronted with the completely new situation of becoming a mother and having to face the very real possibility of her daughter going through the pain she went through. The most powerful/emotional part of the episode is that everyone around B'Elanna is looking at her behavior and reacting like, "OMG B'Elanna, this is UNHINGED, please don't do this" but B'Elanna's feelings are just SO deepset that having everyone tell her that doesn't really stop her from having those emotions and acting on them.
28. Favorite "bad" episode
Well, in terms of episode that is clearly a bad episode but is just such an Experience to watch, TNG 7x14 "Sub Rosa"! I will rewatch this episode anytime. It is truly sublime. I managed to watch this episode completely unspoiled, no idea what it was about or what would happen, and wow. Amazing. 10/10, would recommend.
In terms of episodes that are considered a "bad episode" by people generally but I actually legitimately like, it's DS9 5x07 "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." I was actually incredibly surprised that it's considered one of the worst episodes of DS9, up there with "Profit and Lace." It's a bit uncomfortable having one of the main cast characters being the villain in this episode and it does some weird things with Worf's character/backstory, but I enjoy seeing the flawed side to Worf. More importantly, it's the Beach Episode! I love beach episodes! I love that DS9 has a beach episode -- how very anime of it. The episode is also subtly very gay with Worf clearly being jealous at seeing one of Dax's exes who she still has a lot of chemistry with (it's not explicit but it's definitely subtext). This episode also gets a lot of points for teasing us with Worf's speedo, but loses some of those points by not actually having Worf wear it (boo!). Quark is also here! Ferengi wearing board shorts at Risa can be something that is so important.
I also like DS9 1x10 "Move Along Home," which is not seen as a straightforwardly bad episode but is a polarizing episode where it seems like there are equal-sized groups of people who say this is the first DS9 episode they felt was a stinker and who say this is the first DS9 episode that sold them on Quark as a character. Even the word "allamaraine" seems to simultaneously conjure two types of reactions: a "*cringe* WHY" type reaction and an "unironically, this is the Star Trek wacky time-wasting bullshit I signed up for!" type reaction. Similarly, it seems like people equally cringe at how much of a useless fuckboy twink Bashir is in this episode and being like, "heck yes, Bashir's ROOTS, never forget." This episode seems like right on the edge between "bad" and "just barely good but in a bad way."
Oh yeah, I also like ENT 2x05 "A Night in Sickbay." I mean, I remember it being a really frustrating episode to watch because there's like multiple urgent situations going on simultaneously, and you watch the characters spend a long time doing things that don't seem to have any hope of solving any of those situations and you're just sitting there the entire time going, "But that urgent situation??? Anyone on that??" ... but then everything works out at the end. But on the other hand, it's really funny, lol.
29. Favorite mirrorverse episode
My favorite mirrorverse episode might be the first one, TOS 2x04 "Mirror, Mirror." It holds up! It is so, so campy, including the rather bizarre aspect where people costume change when they get transported to the mirror universe. The agonizers! The fascist salutes! Baby-faced Mirror Chekov's shit-eating grins! Mirror Spock creating a more hopeful mirror universe by inheriting uh... (reads notes) a killing machine? Hm not sure about that. In any case, though, this episode just leans all in on its aesthetic and I respect that. I can understand why this episode is so memorable.
Uhura is such a badass in this episode too. I just love the part where Mirror Sulu (who inexplicably has a SCAR! see, I love this) says, "You take a lot of chances, Lieutenant," and Uhura just replies by drawing a dagger on him and saying cool as a cucumber, "So do you, Mister. So do you." Wonderful!
It ends with a classic TOS-style comic relief ending where Spock roasts humanity for their barbarism. There is a lot of shippiness to Kirk and Spock's interactions and ALSO Spock and McCoy's interactions. This episode has everything.
30. Favorite plot of the week episode
This one is hard, as I feel like most of the good episodes of Star Trek are the self-contained, "here is the sci-fi problem of the week to solve" type episodes. I think two of my favorite episodes I listed fall under this category (TOS 1x13 "The Conscience of the King" and TNG 5x02 "Darmok"). Let me try to pick out some more episodes where the plot is kind of random, doesn't have any long-term consequences, isn't part of any long-running plotline, and involves either sci-fi mystery or courtroom legal drama.
- There are a lot of good ones in TOS: TOS 1x01 "The Man Trap," 1x05 "The Enemy Within," 1x06 "Mudd's Women," 1x25 "The Devil in the Dark" (okay, the first and third probably aren't good, but I personally liked them)
- TNG 3x03 "The Survivors" -- Interesting sci-fi plot with a completely iconic Worf line.
- VOY 2x22 "Innocence" -- A memorable sci-fi one-off episode.
- LWD 1x08 "Veritas" -- In general, Lower Decks is great for plot of the week episodes. But I especially like this parody of the Star Trek trial episode, except the joke here is that NONE of the lower decks characters knows anything at all that is going on in the wider ship.
31. Favorite two-parter
I feel like Star Trek two-parters tend to be pretty meh, to be honest. There's usually some issue with pacing if not the plot itself. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for VOY 7x15/7x16 "Workforce." It features an amnesiac Janeway who, lacking the responsibilities and burden of being a captain and the guilt of having stranded her crew, is much more light-hearted, free-spirited, and a bit of a ditz, while still being recognizably Janeway. It's a very bittersweet episode because (from Chakotay's point of view) you/he can tell she is happier like that but that she still "belongs" on Voyager. It's an interesting case where two tender feelings (wanting someone you care about to be happy and wanting that person to be who they were meant to be, to rise to their "calling") come apart and Chakotay chooses the second.
32. Favorite season (of any show)
Hm... this one is hard because I tend to like episodes from all over a show and it's hard to pick out just one season. I will say, now that I'm doing a TNG rewatch, the third season has been by far the best we've seen (IMO) with a very high concentration of episodes that aren't just good but like GREAT, although we've only just finished up four. So TNG season 3 is my pick for this one.
33. Favorite pilot episode
Huh, this one is also difficult. If it counts, I'll say the original pilot episode for TOS featuring Captain Pike, which is included with TOS on Netflix. It has some interesting characters, which were cut when it was repackaged as the episode TOS 1x11/12 "The Menagerie." I like the interesting contrast between the very green yeoman character (the equivalent of Yeoman Rand) and the competent but unemotional right-hand man Number One character.
I feel like Star Trek pilots are generally not great. I do like DS9's opening two-parter, but it is admittedly not super entertaining and it's easy to get lost in all the background history/politics they drop very rapidly on you. But I enjoy seeing the cast getting introduced and they look so... scrungy? They -- Sisko, Jake, Kira, Quark, and Odo -- all look just a little bit rough and half-baked and young considering that they all will eventually settle into a very different look that you'll be accustomed to if you've been watching later episodes of DS9. It's fun going back to the beginning like that.
34. Favorite cast photo
This has got to be my favorite cast photo:
From: https://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/publicityphotos/castphotos/ds9_cast_casual.jpg
1) It's just so great to see the DS9 cast out of their makeup and uniforms.
2) I feel like I have to hand it to whoever set up this cast photo because... the outfits everyone is wearing look so great together? They look so comfy. The limited color palettes gives everyone some coherence even as they're wearing very different clothes and styles.
3) To add onto that, the posing is also great -- Kira/Nana Visitor's surprise and her arm wrapped around Quark/Armin Shimerman; Odo/Rene Auberjonois's sardonic-looking smile; the young'uns Julian and Jake in the back with their shoulders all hunched up. They look like a family.
4) All of that means that this photo feels like it's an imagining of if DS9 were some kind of sitcom / modern family dramedy or something like that. Which I'd love to watch.
35. Favorite behind-the-scenes fact
That this outtake exists? I don't know if that counts. I'm having a bit of difficulty answering this question so sure, let's go with that.
36. Favorite actor
I am having so much trouble answering this question too. Should I say Patrick Stewart? Armin Shimerman? Jeffrey Combs? Leonard Nimoy? Avery Brooks? Majel Barrett? There are too many options here! I can't really pick a favorite. I just appreciate every Star Trek actor for what they've brought to Star Trek even if it's just as a guest actor in a single episode.
RIP Nichelle Nichols. :(
37. Favorite novel
I haven't read any other than listening to The 34th Rule on audiobook. In general, I'm not particularly interested in novels other than maybe ones that people say have Quodo interactions and maybe A Stitch in Time since fandom relies on it so heavily for Garak backstory/characterization (but I never really write Garak, so), but I haven't read any of those so far.
38. Favorite movie
And... I haven't really seen any of the movies except for First Contact, which was overall a very solid film, although I didn't enjoy the ending segment featuring the Borg Queen being horny over Data. (In general, I find the Borg Queen an extremely boring character that breaks Borg worldbuilding.) I want to watch more of the movies especially for TOS and AOS as (from a fannish point of view) I get the feeling that a lot of the main cast's characterization happens in those movies? But they're not on any of the streaming services I subscribe to, so I haven't really gotten around to it.
Full list of questions