TOS, third season, episode 8: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
I also love The Cloud Minders from the same season (episode 21), but that first one gets me every time, I have no idea why.
EDITED TO ADD: I also really like most of the SNW episodes, but haven’t seen them enough times to have a clear favorite. Possibly Ad Astra Per Aspera, or Charades, lol.
I don’t have a favorite from DS9. It’s a toss up between the one where Jake is an old writer trying to find his dad, and the few episodes where Sisko is in the 40’s with the rest of the crew working as writers. I guess DS9 really liked writing themed episodes.
The issue with Voyager was that you could pretty much give any characters lines at the end of the show to any other character and it would still work. There was no real character arc, none of them grew. They were still basically the same people from the first episode.
Don’t get me wrong, they did have some phenomenal characters (The Doctor), but overall, it was just… meh.
But hey, if you like it, you like it. It got seven seasons, so plenty of folks did.
Yeah, I’m slowly making my way through DS9 at the moment and haven’t thought about Voyager at all. Now maybe I’ll give it a second chance (only saw it when it was on TV).
I do remember people mocking DS9 and Voyager rather harshly, I wonder how my parent’s old Official ^TM^star trek fan club group would weigh in? They used to discuss/debate the episodes while playing random games.
That episode always made me feel bad for the other crew. They didn’t ask to be there, they had no way to know about their origin, but it didn’t matter even a little. The ending is a bit of a gut punch.
The acting, the plot, the character development. The ethical struggle in the episode and its resolution and the clear parallels to real world problems. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, because it unfurls in such a wonderful way that needs to be seen rather than summarized.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be a coward.” So much packed into that line: filled with self-hatred and shame, and also respect and admiration for the person in front of him and the people she sacrificed so much for.
I would pay a lot of money to see a political series focused on a sort of Cardassian Reconstruction era. I really ought to read some of the books.
Knowing you could have done something but were too afraid for your own life will eat you up for a very long time.
And the knowledge that it would ultimately accomplish nothing except killing yourself and a few bajorans while trying to escape doesn’t help.
Everyone likes to think they’d fight the good fight, resist at all costs, oppose all force… But ultimately until you’re in that situation, you won’t know for sure. And you don’t want to find out for sure.
There are so many, it’s hard to say. Can I pick a favorite season?
DS9 Season 4:
E2 - The Visitor
E8 - Little Green Men
E10 - Our Man Bashir
E11 - Homefront
E12 - Paradise Lost
E16 - Bar Association
E18 - Rules of Engagement
E25 - Body Parts
Is “our man Bashir” the one where we meet the genetically modified people? I love that one, and the one where the come back “that’s a stupid question” kills me.
So hard to choose. I can tell you what isn't my favorite is Darmok. I didn't mind the episode..but when you think about it, it makes no logical sense. A lot of people like to hype that episode up, but the reality is society could never function that way.
But but, if I post a meme gif everyone understands it! Sure, but try to explain to someone how to make a semiconductor using only memes. It doesn't work. A species could communicate on a casual level like that, but they'd all still have to understand normal language.
Now I kind of want to try, start with an “I hate sand” then a … I don’t know how to make the wafer, heat? “This is fine”. Then shadow puppets? with a laser light show?
There’s no way you could possibly develop advanced science and technology with a language based entirely on metaphor. Also, how do you have a language based on metaphorical references to old stories when you can only tell those stories metaphorically too?
You would need an ancient society with perfect memories to even be able to get to the point of “language of metaphors” and a metaphor for everything you could need.
Languages evolve over time, so I like to think that’s what happened here.
but then how do new babies learn this language and what anything means? The language is also super imprecise and just conveys basic feelings or acknowledgments of situations. Even if you developed a meme for every single word and thought everyone would have to be on board, and I don't know if you've noticed on not, it's pretty hard to get a room full of people on board with something let alone an entire species.
Voyager Counterpoint, where Janeway and the Inspector flirt tactically, and she beats him with science in the end. It very narrowly beats out Year of Hell.
I also really like Old Friends, New Planets, the season finale of the most recent season of Lower Decks. I don’t think it beats the other two, but it came damn close
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