A Dedicated Thread For Talking About Star Trek Episodes

[BigJKO]

Hey, is the introduction of Seven Of Nine (right?) in your episode list? Looking forward to her, I remember her being fun?

[SecretAsianMan]

Yeah it's in there.  It's an important part of Voyager, I wouldn't leave it out.  I even included the episode after that shows what happens to

Kes

even though I didn't think it was a good episode.

[BigJKO]

Thanks for spoiler tagging that. Prefer to stay unspoiled as much as possible on this, as I am enjoying this oh so much.

And thanks for that most excellent list. This is truly the best way to experience Voyager.

[Ben X]

I'm making my way through the bolded DS9 and Voyager episodes, and am on S4/S2 respectively. DS9 is finally starting to get bearable (the changelings tend to perk everything up a bit, especially as they introduce the ever-reliable The Thing plot-mechanics, and Sisko definitely improves along with his hair stylings), while Voyager has been consistently entertaining.

[SecretAsianMan]

DS9 is a long term show.  It has a very slow windup to the big battle with the Dominion, something Star Trek hadn't really done before.  Because sci-fi shows tend to cost a lot of money due to the amount of computer generated effects required, they have to stretch things out over a long period of time.  Not to mention the fact that because DS9 takes place in the Alpha Quadrant, they still have to deal with the Star Trek regulars like Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, etc.

 

Voyager on the other hand doesn't have that limitation.  Because they're in a totally unexplored area, the writers are free to create a new race, anomaly, technology, or other crazy thing whenever and however they want.  While Voyager also has longer plots than TNG, they tend to be confined to a single season or only get a few mentions, with the exception of the Borg and the show's overall plot of getting home.

 

I think how much you like each series will be different depending on how you look at it.  For the individual episodes, I generally prefer Voyager because they're more entertaining.  As a long form thing, DS9 has a much better plot by sheer virtue of the fact that it has one.

[SecretAsianMan]

Watched Sons and Daughers last night.  I don't like Worf's kid.  I never have.  This episode did not change my opinion.  Also Worf is a bad dad.  He's basically Star Trek's deadbeat dad.

[Roderick]

In other news, Kirk and Spock visited a planet where a bunch of red shirts died by poisonous venomous (thanks Teg!) plants, then they fucked up a perfectly fine society of immortal savages because it didn't appeal to Bones' sensitivities.

 

The Original Series.

[SecretAsianMan]

Watched Sacrifice of Angels last night, aka the Big Space Battle.  I did not like the ending.  I know the writers' motivation for doing it but I still don't like it.  I don't know how far Ben and JKO are so I'll spoiler tag the rest.  Apologies in advance for the mess of an argument I'm about to make.

 

The massive deux ex machina did not sit well with me.  I hate when sci-fi resorts to the all powerful being as the solution to an impossible problem.  The executive producer of the series defended it by saying it was a natural evolution of the relationship between Sisko and the Prophets, which, fine, maybe it is.  But it's also part of the reason I don't like the whole Prophet idea to begin with.  I know that

Sisko is actually part Prophet himself which this episode was supposed to be hinting at, but honestly that just makes me like him less.  Plus the later concept of the Pah-wraiths seems undermined.  If the Prophets and those like them are so dang powerful that they can wipe out an entire fleet in the blink of an eye, how do you trap them?  What kind of thing is really a threat to them?

It just seemed like a cheap, easy out.

[SecretAsianMan]

I watched One Little Ship last night.  I think it may be the most ridiculous Star Trek episode I've seen.  It was Honey, I Shrunk The Kids in space.

[Roderick]

Okay, I arrived at the pinnacle of Star Trekitude: the first ever 'alternate universe' episode featuring Spock with a goatee: "Mirror, Mirror".

 

And you know what? It's fantastic.

 

First off, the crew is deliciously evil, with Chekhov staging a coup early on and Sulu boasting a massive evil scar along his face. He's just the evilest thing ever. Look at him.

 

 

Beyond these delicious trappings is also a deliberately philosophical look at how easy it is for people to choose different paths in life, shown by this mirror universe. It ends with Evil Spock being shown the possibility of a different, a better world. It's all fascinating and surprisingly thought-provoking. Really not the tropey goof that it's worked up to be in popular culture, going from all the japes and satire it inspires.

[SecretAsianMan]

Watched In the Pale Moonlight.  I really like Garak.  He's such a scoundrel in the best way.  Also watched The Reckoning, Star Trek's version of Dragon Ball Z.

[BigJKO]

Watched False Profits. It was goofy as hell, but a lot of fun was had. I really liked the callback to the wormhole negotiations in TNG. The Q and the Grey was also fun, but I wasn't too excited about it. I much preferred the earlier Q episode with the trial of whether or not to allow suicide. Loved Q's expression when female Q barged in on him and Janeway with the puppy. John De Lancie has mastered the art of the proper amount of hamminess.

 

And yes, Garak is the best character on DS9.

[SecretAsianMan]

Death Wish is one of my favorite Voyager episodes, even without the Riker cameo.  I like the Star Trek episodes with trials in them (The Measure of a Man; The Drumhead; Tribunal; Author, Author; and even Devil's Due which isn't about any kind of morality or philosophy).

[BigJKO]

Before and After was some good, temporal fun. Somehow temporal anomaly episodes remain some of the best episodes.

 

Except..

 

Kes has a daughter with Tom Paris. That daughter, being Ocampan, then grows old rapidly to then have a son with Ensign Kim?! That's.. a bit gross, somehow. But I guess when you're dealing with races that age rapidly, you can't think in terms of regular years.. But still, can of worms.. opening..

[BigJKO]

Just started Year of Hell. Is no one going to mention that Kes already told them about these guys and their temporal torpedoes??

[BigJKO]

So..they just completely ignored the fact that Kes warned of this entire.. wait.

Wait?!

Oh! She only warned them in the last time jump BEFORE going all the way back to current time?? Didn't Tuvok still say that they might still need to hear some more info on the Year of Hell, to be prepared?

[SecretAsianMan]

Year of Hell is a good 2 parter, but yeah it does unfortunately completely ignore Kes' warnings.  There is a little connection to it when

 

Seven of Nine is in the jeffries tube with the unexploded torpedo.  It mirrors the scene that Kes was in, even down to the frequency being the same.

[BigJKO]

Man, Pathfinder was an excellent, sweet little episode! Barclay is great. And it brings hope for a bit of change with the new communications possibilities. Hooray!

[SecretAsianMan]

I think my favorite moment in Voyager is when

.  I was afraid when I first saw him that it was just going to be a TNG cameo thing to try and get viewers because

, but it ended up being one of my favorite episodes and Barclay was excellent.

[BigJKO]

Yes! I was properly glued to the screen at that moment. It was excellent. Can't wait for the rest of the Barclay cameos I have now read about.

 

Now I'm at the start of Fury. Kes is maaaaaaad. (Mad that she got replaced by the excellent Seven of Nine?)

[BigJKO]

Life Line. That talking iguana.

[SecretAsianMan]

I'm at the beginning of the end.  I've started the multi-part series finale for DS9.  I knew a lot of this stuff was coming but it's still kinda surprising to see it happening.  Lots of people falling to the dark side.  That's in this franchise right?

[cyrix]

This thread is really weird for me, I have harbored a deep dislike of voyager since I first saw some of it back in high school when I tried to watch all of trek. 

I couldn't even make it through the first season, you people are making me second guess myself.

Then again I really enjoyed Enterprise and think it's highly underrated (it has bad episodes/arcs as all treks do) so maybe I'm just insane.

[SecretAsianMan]

It's perfectly fine to not like it, I know some people who don't.  Is there anything specific about it you didn't like or just a general dislike?

[cyrix]

I'ts hard to remember specifics, but at the time I remember thinking it was really cheesy.
One of the only specific things i remember is thinking Janeway should have died on that station thing in the first episode trying to send voyager home, and then Tuvok and Chipotle ;P should have like co-captained voyager or something.

I'll probably give it another try.

I do like some of the characters on voyager, always liked the doctor in particular. Actually I kinda always like the doctors in trek shows. hmm.