Episodes
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Relics (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), S6 E4) was recommended by Kyyanno (Kyy for short, rhymes with Sky), he/him, who said: I've always loved the engineering side of Trek, from the designs of the ships to the entirely fictional but awesome systems that make them tick. I've read "Mr Scott's guide to the Enterprise" and the TNG "Technical Manual" from cover to cover many a time. Scotty was my favourite character from TOS, and Geordi from TNG, both making me want to pursue a career in engineering while growing up (which indeed I did!). To have both characters appearing *and* working together in the same episode of TNG was an absolute dream for me when it originally aired!
Now that I'm older though, I watch the episode with more experienced eyes. Scotty's just trying to help and feel useful as he would have been, and yet just gets in the way, at least that's the impression he gets from Geordi, who is genuinely just trying to get his job done but doesn't quite realise his impact on Captain Scott's feelings. It's Picard's words to Scott in the holodeck, and then to Geordi later on that all a person wants is to be useful and feel wanted that *REALLY* hit home, 3 decades on.
Sure, this episode pushes the fanboy buttons, but deep down it also makes us take a look at how we treat those around us who we feel might be past their prime (or how those of us approaching that age might feel). I did always find the "oh no, we're falling into the sun" part of the episode.... hang on.... *I SAY WE EJECT THE WARP CORE*.... don't they miraculously seem to fix everything amazingly in time to turn around and then get out of there once the doors open? Regardless, both Geordi and Scotty save the day, and the engineer in me squees with glee at it.
Relics first aired on October 12, 1992, written by Ronald D. Moore, and directed by Alexander Singer
The Enterprise investigates a vessel that crashed on the surface of a Dyson sphere 75 years ago. A pattern is found in the transporter buffer that turns out to be Montgomery Scott. He is released from the buffer and later agrees to return to the vessel with Geordi to help restore the logs. They become the only hope when the Enterprise is accidentally pulled inside the sphere. Guest Star: James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
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"T'Ana Takes Command" by Wooster, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/25284367
"The USS Cerritos is under fire. With Captain Freeman and Commander Ransom out of commission, that leaves Dr. T'Ana in command of the California class ship… even if she has other things to do."
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Episodes manquant?
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Darmok (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), S5 E2) was recommended by Toledo (he), who said: Yes, this is one of the most famous episodes of The Next Generation. That's because it's darn good. There's so many wonderful moments: the rarity of the depiction of aliens initiating a first contact with the Federation, the humor of the Enterprise crew's incomprehension, the exploration of cultural misunderstandings beyond the linguistic (Dathon casts lots, what's the knife for), Picard telling the 4,000-year-old story of Gilgamesh right as Dathon dies, and the centrality of the term "Darmok," leading us to wonder: who in this story *is* Darmok?
But one thing I love about it is akin to why I recommended "Distant Origin." Just like that Voyager episode catastrophically misrepresents evolution, "Darmok" butchers linguistics: there is no way that a culture could communicate solely via memes and references. There has to be some linguistic substrate in which the foundational stories could be communicated, after all. The premise of the episode would fall apart under the slightest examination. But it doesn't matter: it serves the story, the story is good, and the story of two strangers willing to risk life for the opportunity to share stories is the heart of Star Trek.
Darmok first aired on September 30, 1991, written by story by Philip LaZebnik & Joe Menosky, teleplay by Joe Menosky, and directed by Winrich Kolbe
Picard must learn to communicate with an alien captain who speaks in metaphors before a dangerous beast kills them both. Guest star Paul Winfield as Dathon.
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"The Debriefing Incident" by Veri_II, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/52588381
"When he got back to the Cerritos, they’d say, hey, Boimler, what kind of kickass stuff did you get to do when you visited the golden age of exploration? And he’d have to respond, I stripped Mr. Spock!"
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The Wire (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), S2 E22) was recommended by Obiwanjabroni (he/him) pronounced like obi wan kenobi from star wars but the last part is..ja-BRO-nee? I guess lol just listen to the ROCK when he was a wrestler , who said: I know most people would choose this episode as a favorite because it supposedly gives us Garak's "origin story" but to someone who is in recovery and falls off the wagon every other weekend, it's actually kind of a beautiful display of what we go through. The self loathing.. the hatred of those who are trying to help us through it.. the feeling the next morning when they've been so kind to us even though we didn't deserve it.
Definitely not something I expected from Star Trek with the whole utopian awesomeness and all. Another reason ds9 was and will always be my favorite of all the series even though I've been watching since TNG with my dad who watched TOS.
The Wire first aired on May 8, 1994, written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and directed by Kim Friedman
In order to save Garak's life, Bashir must unravel some of the secrets in the Cardassian's past.
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"Musical Alert" by AxeMeAboutAxinomancy, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/57099433
""This is the Captain speaking. Musical Alert. I repeat: Musical Alert. This is not a rehearsal.""
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Those Old Scientists (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, S2 E7) was recommended by Bryan Love(Blackrain), who said: Time travel, cross over, animate, live action, fan boying or girling over your historical idols. What more can you ask for in a Star Trek episode? When on routine away mission to scan an ancient time portal, Ensign Boimier is sucked in into the portal and sent to the past just at the right time when Enterprise was making it's first discovery of that strange portal. Boimier tries his best not to contaminate the time line, but it's Boimier we're talking about. He's going to mess things up or his bestie Mariner will. Just when the crew of Enterprise has the one and only chance to get Boimier home through the ancient time portal, Mariner jumps through from her side thinking she's saving Boimier, but only stranding both of them in the past. Both Boimier and Mariner fan boy out on different Enterprise crew members.
This is a great episode over all. Mixing the humor of Lower Decks with the hard hitting stories of Strange New Worlds. It was also perfect that both the voice actors for Boimier and Mariner both look closely like their cartoon characters. This episode always brings up that question of how would you react if you got to meet with you hero? Someone you never thought you would, ether living or dead.
Those Old Scientists first aired on July 22, 2023, written by Kathryn Lyn & Bill Wolkoff, and directed by Jonathan Frakes
In the 24th century, ensign Brad Boimler of the USS Cerritos is assigned to investigate an ancient portal. The portal, which is powered by the rare substance horonium, sends him back in time 120 years where he is taken aboard the Enterprise. Boimler struggles to contain his excitement at meeting his heroes and also to prevent polluting the timeline with his knowledge of the future. The portal is stolen by an Orion ship and Pike trades grain supplies to retrieve it. They attempt to return Boimler to the future with the last remaining horonium, but ensign Beckett Mariner comes through the portal instead in a rescue attempt. Spock and Boimler unsuccessfully try to synthesize horonium so they can use the portal again while Mariner and Uhura work to translate engravings on the portal. Boimler realizes that horonium from the hull of the previous starship Enterprise was incorporated into Pike's Enterprise. They use this to send Boimler and Mariner back to their own time, while the Orions agree to accept credit for discovering the portal in exchange for allowing the Enterprise to continue peacefully.
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"Our Man Paris (Of Troy)" by SocialPermaDeath, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/41789019
"A holodeck malfunction leaves Tom Paris in an "Our Man Bashir" of his own playing the part of Paris of Troy in the 3rd Book of the Iliad and visions of his crew mates as various parts of the Greek epic."
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Tuvix (Star Trek: Voyager, S2 E24) was recommended by Alex Russet , who said: I'm honestly shocked that this hasn't shown up in the podcast yet. It's the perfect fit for what you're doing.
This Episode is fascinating to me. At It's very core is a trolly problem. Save the lives of two for the cost of one, or preserve the one at the cost of two. Both sides have valid points, but equally are both flawed responses to a situation with no truly correct response. But respond Janeway must. And while it was fairly obvious which option would be chosen, (Tim Russ and Ethan Phillips had bills to pay), it still hit hard.
Not every option is black and white. How much is a life worth? Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? I think the fandom as a whole settled on Team Tuvix, myself included, but I think this episode is captivating from a series famous for it's moralizing.
Tuvix first aired on May 6, 1996, written by story by Andrew Shepard Price and Mark Gaberman, teleplay by Kenneth Biller, and directed by Cliff Bole
A transporter accident merges Tuvok and Neelix into a new person.
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"Hunting Hound" by Leah [archived by Warp5Complex_Archivist], can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/8080225
"Tucker and Reed hunt for a hound."
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Devil's Due (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), S4 E13) was recommended by IronBoomer, and he/him, who said: This episode is pure Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner at their best, and our guest actress of Marta Dubois is so much fun. While it ends up just being a legal drama and half-bottle episode, everyone is bringing their A-Game to this episode.
Devil's Due first aired on February 4, 1991, written by story by Philip LaZebnik & William Douglas Lansford, teleplay by Philip LaZebnik, and directed by Tom Benko
A powerful mythic figure from a millennium ago returns to enslave a planet in accordance with a contract. However, Picard is convinced she is an opportunistic charlatan. Guest star Marta DuBois as Ardra.
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"Faith and Begorrah" by Bruce (PKSP), can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/34170499
"Tom Paris and Harry Kim try to repair the Fair Haven holoprogram in time for St. Patrick's Day."
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Move Along Home (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), S1 E10) was recommended by nazzy (she/her), who said: I cannot believe nobody has asked for this one yet!
One of the earliest criticisms of DS9 was that it didn't "boldly go", and in its first two seasons in particular, there were a lot of episodes whose basic synopses read "Weird alien(s) come to the station, hijinks occur." And being a DS9 fan as always meant knowing that criticism is always just around the corner, which meant that for episodes like "Move Along Home", the standard response was an embarrassed shrug and a 'yeah...it hadn't found its feet yet. It got better!'
And "Move Along Home" is the ur-example of this type of story. Weird aliens come to DS9, and introduce Quark to a strange board game of chance that traps members of the senior staff in a bizarre game world??? And that's the episode?!
But then I read a review of "Move Along Home" that reframed the episode for me in a very meaningful way. "Move Along Home", it said, is basically a TOS episode. And that made so much sense! Is Commander Sisko having to play hopscotch and sing a children's song that different from the crew of the TOS Enterprise being forced to fight in "Plato's Stepchildren"? Or acting strangely to break the brains of the androids in "I, Mudd"? Suddenly, it made perfect sense, and "Move Along Home" is no longer embarrassing.
Move Along Home first aired on March 14, 1993, written by story by Michael Piller, teleplay by Frederick Rappaport, Lisa Rich and Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci, and directed by David Carson
Quark plays a board game with the Wadi, a newly encountered species from the Gamma Quadrant, and the lives of the crew seemingly depend on the outcome.
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"I Just Might Say it Tonight" by orcamermaid, can be found at https://archiveofourown.org/works/30425253
"Five times Garak and Julian didn't voice their feelings, and one time they finally did."
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The Cloud Minders (Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS), S3 E19) was recommended by Kaleb, he/him, who said: No war but class war baby! I love this episode for being that classic campy trek, while also being a rather good simplification of how environment- particularly an environment caused by oppression in the first place- shapes the way that oppression is justified and continued. Not specifically class related, but that's the medium this episode evokes, and many marginalized identities can be viewed through class structures as well.
I can't deny a good “I won't be the bigger man, I'm dragging you down to my level” type story, especially when it's our protagonist doing the dragging.
I can't help but love Droxine flirting w/ Spock, bc it just registers to me as the relatable experience of “ma’am please, I'm here w/ my boyfriend, who you clearly haven't clocked as such, so I'm gonna try and find the most non-scene causing way to stop this”. It kills me, I don't think this scene is supposed to reduce you to giggles.
Hope you also enjoy!
The Cloud Minders first aired on February 28, 1969, written by Jerome Bixby, and directed by Murray Golden
Kirk races against time to acquire plague-fighting minerals from a world in the midst of a civil uprising.
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Spock explores human romantic traditions, and works on a surprise for Kirk. Meanwhile, Kirk gets back at him for overuse of a title they now share.
First published on February 15th, 2023 on Archive of our Own by VallesMarineris.
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Repentance (Star Trek: Voyager, S7 E13) was recommended by Rugger (They/them), who said: A lot of Voyager's preachy episodes fall flat, but this one always makes me pause. When I first watched this episode as a child, it shaped how I see justice. And, plot-wise, Repentance does a great job of combining a dialogue-heavy, philosophical discussion with real pathos for the murderer, Iko, and linking that pathos to an ongoing character arc with Seven.
While Trek is expectedly against the death penalty, this episode keeps from being one-sided by the sub-plot with Neelix and Joleg.
Repentance first aired on January 31, 2001, written by story by Mike Sussman and Robert Doherty, teleplay by Robert Doherty, and directed by Mike Vejar
Prisoners are brought onto Voyager from a damaged alien vessel, and the crew must deliver them to their destination – for execution. Seven's nanoprobes are used to help heal a prisoner.
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Dr Katherine Pulaski is set to leave the Enterprise, and a farewell party is being held in her honour. All of her closest friends have been invited, but she notices a big absence; a certain yellow-eyed android who inexplicitly has not shown up. When she goes to confront him about it, however, she finds out something quite horrible:
Data believes that Kate does not consider him a friend of hers.
First published July 30th, 2022 on Archive of our Own by Superfloxes.
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Peak Performance (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), S2 E21) was recommended by Kayodé Lycaon / Kay·o·deh Lie·kay·on, who said: I picked this episode for one line from Picard to Wesley: “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
That quote was life changing for me. I had spent my entire life struggling with being bipolar. Parts of my brain just do not work. I was one of the brilliant kids in school but my grades never showed that. I couldn’t focus on homework no matter how hard I tried. Later in my life I had manic episodes that took control over me and I couldn’t stop myself from saying things I shouldn’t have. I’ve lost jobs and friends to episodes.
Captain Picard made me realize I was trying my best and it was not my fault that my best wasn’t enough to meet anyone’s expectations.
The other parts of the episode also resonate with me because I’m always trying to find ways around my own limitations. I don’t need to do things the way people say I should. I can what works instead, even if it means breaking a few rules.
Peak Performance first aired on July 10, 1989, written by David Kemper, and directed by Robert Scheerer
The Enterprise and USS Hathaway face off in simulated combat maneuvers. Data fails to beat a humanoid at a game of Strategema and exhibits self-doubt.
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The events of the episode The Naked Time from the perspective of the one department guaranteed to have been the busiest during the chaos. When the entire ship is going mad around them, it is up to the Redshirts to keep their crewmates safe. POV of Security Chief Giotto. Some implied slash for Kirk and Spock.
First Published on October 3rd, 2021 on Archive of our Own by queenofroses12.
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