What do you think is the best Star Trek Episode.

[Captain Taiga Aisaka]

Hey all.

I was just curious at which Star Trek Episode you all liked or which you thought was the best. This can be from any series, any season or one of the films. I'll start off by telling you my favorite episode and why.

My favorite episode and one of the best Star Trek Episodes they have ever made would be The Inner Light from Star Trek The Next Generation. I absolutely loved this episode because of what it meant and how ti showed it.

First Captain Picard has never had any children and its not until Star Trek Generations that we find out that he did want children (after his brother, sister in law and nephew died back on Earth in a fire). Therefore it showed a whole new side to his character. Within those minutes that he lived an entire life we saw him go from a Stranded Starfleet Captain to a family man. To me it showed him dive into the deep end of the pool and start again.

Another thing I loved about this episode was the situation of the people on the planet. They knew that their planet was doomed and the end was coming, but instead of mass panic that most disaster movies show the people were calm and built a probe to continue on their way of life. The probe does come in contact with the Enterprise and makes Picard re-live the final days of the planet. However it is peaceful and when it ends the people accept it and realise there is nothing they can do. Its sad at the end but it has a good ending, because its like Picard dies in this new world and goes back to his old life.

Also The Inner Light has probably one of the best pieces of music in I've ever heard - Picards Flute Song. This piece of music is amazing played on the piccalo, flute and even better when a full orchestra gets it going. I think that this theme is one of the best Star Trek Themes that they have ever written and should be known more.

Overall I think The Inner Light is a brilliant episode as it shows Captain Picard changing from a hardened Starfleet Captain to a peaceful Family Man and the moral implications are clear. No matter how bad a situation we are we can always turn it to what we truly want or make good out of it. That in itself is a lesson to be learned. Thats why this is my favorite Star Trek Episode to date.

Anyways, what's yours and why? :)

[MahoNTakahashi]

Almost a decade goes by and not a single response to this? Well, let's fix that, shall we? :)

It should be noted that this is my third attempt at this. The first two ended in the forums timing me out and me basically losing everything. Fortunately, I had the insight to make a separate word document and back my essay up to port over. Anyhow, without further ado; here's why I think DS9's "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is the best Star Trek Episode.

First and foremost; the episode brings baseball back to the 24th century, after it was explained that the sport died out in 2042, in an act to give back to Michael Piller, who was an avid baseball fan who for whatever reason decided to kill off the sport for the first Star Trek episode he wrote. Add on how close the episode's airing coincided with the 1998 World Series, and you can see from a production standpoint that this episode is something special.

But what about the actual episode itself? Well, one thing the episode does really well is depicting the cast of DS9 out of their element; playing a sport most of the characters have never even heard of, and having to learn to play in a week to face off against an all-Vulcan team. Sounds like quite the impossible challenge, doesn't it?

Another thing I love about the episode is that it shows the cast going through the hardships of learning the sport; something which would likely be omitted if it were made today: They're not Baseball Hall of Fame grade professionals after the first practice: In fact, they injure themselves quite badly in a very first timer way, but instead of giving up, they keep at it, and even begin implementing baseball practice into their daily routines. I don't know about you, but that's not something I feasibly see Michael Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery going through.

Also, we have to touch on how the episode provides character development for both Sisko and Rom. We'll start with Sisko first: For years, we had seen the baseball on Sisko's desk, which had become iconic; and here, we actually get to see Sisko and the rest of the cast playing baseball. In addition, we also learn that Sisko has a chip on his shoulder with Solok from their academy days, which is why he becomes obsessed with winning; to serve the arrogant Vulcan a slice of creole-style humble pie.

And for Rom; he ultimately becomes the hero of the episode: Unlike the rest of the cast, Rom doesn't improve with further practice, to the point where Sisko considers kicking him off the team, but relents in the face of having the rest of the team quit on him in protest. I'll go off on a bit of a tangent here, because, in the ultimate twist of irony, Max Grodenchik, the actor who played Rom, was actually the best baseball player among the cast, and he had actually contemplated going pro before going into acting instead, and playing wrong-handed was the only way Grodenchik could give a consistently poor performance, kind of in a similar vein to the issues the drift king, Keiichi Tsuchiya, faced when tasked with making his driving look amateur when filming Tokyo Drift. Anyway, tangent and analogy over, when game day comes, (surprise surprise) the Niners get absolutely annihilated by the Logicians, with the latter team running up the score to a whopping 14 runs by the ninth inning. With Nog on third base, Sisko takes a gamble and sends Rom out as a pinch hitter, and by sheer luck, as Rom is attempting to interpret his teammates' signal, he bunts the ball down the baseline, giving Nog just the time he needs to score the Niners' first (and only) run.

Oh, and let's not forget the episode's high level of accessibility: You don't need to watch the previous three episodes and the next two episodes in order to understand what's going on, and you can watch this episode out of context from the rest of the series and still understand what's going on, and I do love me a bite-sized snack I can enjoy whenever instead of an episode that's part of a multi-course meal, needing to watch other episodes to be satisfied.

Overall, I think "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is a brilliant episode which takes the cast of DS9 out of their comfort zones and brings baseball back to the 24th century, and it carries a message that no matter how highly or poorly skilled you are, anyone can be a hero; a great lesson to learn. But the reason this episode stands out to me as one of the best Star Trek episodes is the impact it has on me as a simmer, as I have a mission in the works for my sim which draws inspiration from this episode. Perhaps that's why, in my opinion, "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is one of the best Star Trek episodes.