+1

If not the best, still definitely one of my favorites.

On a somewhat related matter, if anyone is looking for some good "Star Trek" episodes to watch, check out any of this season's episodes of The Orville. What started out as a campy sendup of TOS & TNG has turned into some really good Star-Trekkian sci-fi in its own right. Definitely much better than that STD dreck streaming on CBS.

The one child actor playing the actor is legitimately good at being spooky, if they'd made this into something more like The Shining in space it might have worked, but instead there's too much touchy-feely parenting advice.


Orville is great. It's definitely a send-up but it also has a lot of love for the source material and legitimately has more of that classic Star Trek feel to it than any of the recent ST shows or reboots.

watched royale again inspired by thread.
needed more quark!

No spoilers, but the intro of Star Trek Discovery Episode 8 was a jaw dropper for an old trekker like me...


I kind of have a bit of a mancrush on Captain Pike, btw...

Nice! It's in my personal tier 1 favorite episode list.

I'm a self-proclaimed Ferengi sympathizer, so I think every episode would be better with more Quark.

wesley goes where the wind blows
much wesley love/hate in that episode.
wesleys motivations are a little unclear in the episode
but he simply copies the ethics of the person he spoke to last.
i guess thats why wes became this emo knowitall spiritualist and the other guy became a gritty pilot on voyager... his character was much better in comparison... lieutenant paris

wonder if I am too hard on Wes, but think of every episode whenever he speaks to a mentor he agrees with his mentor... like the most spongeable mind ever.

remember the traveler? the native american?

didn't follow Paris or Picard for any real reason other than just being spongeable

IMO (temp-ban for trolling Wes?)

It's an episode that will give me sweet casino dreams... though if you're nitty about the blackjack scenes and data commentary clearly ameatures. even I know you don't auto-hit 13 against a paint. and the 5-card chumly was a lock

mostly I liked how it was a surreal throwback to earth... I tend to think the writers of DS9 was inspired by the episdoe.

Quark is one of my favorite characters in the Star Trek world.

Having given up after watching all of S1 and 2-3 episodes of S2, I decided to give STD one last chance based on this post...

glad I skipped it... just wreaked of lameness (oh lets do star trek again gang, f-in execs)

I appreciate the spoiler tags guys, as I haven't watched the series yet but probably will at some point in the near future (I avoid the OOTV thread).

After Into Darkness, I thought 'If Memory Serves' felt like call backs to trek of old done right. Actually (unashamedly) enjoyed it, even if I am in the minority.

I think what I like about The Royale is that there is an actual plot going on in the background but the crew mostly ignores it and just chills out at the casino.

lol 1000x this

bump time

ST TNG S5E23: I, Borg

Now this is more like it, a solid story and drama, and with the added benefit of showing something other about the Borg than their unstoppable nature and drive to assimilate. This is something akin to Flowers For Algernon in Space, and reminded me a bit of the Doctor Who (Ecclestone) episode Dalek (which was made after this, and seems to be riffing on this episode). Picard and Guinan get some character development that really works, and we find out more about the enemy Borg - they aren't necessarily as machine-like as we've been shown to this point.

Very solid and well-made entry, top tied ST:TNG I'd say.

9/10

A+, 10/10 episode, if you ask me. Picard's commitment to the Federation's high-minded values is pushed to the breaking point as he wrestles with the decision to destroy the Borg in the name of self-preservation.

I never really noticed the Guinan character the first time I watched the series, but I've become really impressed with how Whoopi's understated handling of the role. There's an unexpected kinship they have as survivors of Borg attacks that clicks wonderfully.

It's smart, thought-provoking, and feels very true to Roddenberry's style of sci-fi storytelling.

I would not dispute that score

The one thing I would say about this episode is that on first viewing I was a little underwhelmed - this was not what I had come to expect from TNG Borg episodes.

However, on reflection this is probably the best Borg episode of the franchise. All of the main cast present a different argument on how to handle this and represent Picard's rational thought process.

However, the standout is Guinan - she is the only person to change her original opinion. Most importantly, this is not based on emotion and duty, which drives the crew's feelings, but on rationality - she is presented with new evidence that forces her to re-evaluate her whole perspective on the Borg. She is probably the only character capable of looking beyond her raw emotion and doing this, and it's ultimately enough to persuade Picard to re-evaluate his own position...

10/10

It's a Borg episode with no fight scenes or space battles, and it didn't bore me. Just great, thoughtful storytelling.

ST TNG S5E24: The Next Phase

Another very solid, bordering on great, episode. Geordie and Ro Laren get dimension-shifted or something and everyone thinks they died, and they get to watch everyone's reactions. Some very solid character writing and dialogue in this one, mixed up with a race-against-the-clock crisis moment precipitated by the sneaky Romulans. It unfortunately lost a little traction on the road to greatness by skipping some of the character stuff to focus on the deus ex machina resolution in the last act, and the slightly flat direction dissipated the tension rather than building it at the end.

Still, very good.

8/10

I enjoyed the foot chase through the various crew quarters.

And the science nit in me would like to know why they can stand/walk/run on the floor, or how they're able to breathe the air, but it doesn't stop me from liking this one.