Favorite Star Trek episode

[matrixman]

Yes, sir, the one with Frank Gorshin was Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.

To answer Ylva's question: I like Q! Not at first, though. In his first appearance, he was a humorless villain that I didn't much care for. Kudos to TNG's writers and John de Lancie for saving Q from TV Villain Hell and turning him into one of the most interesting characters in all of Star Trek.

Hey, Fist, that TNG book sounds intriguing. But who are the Preservers? I honestly don't know half the stuff that goes on in the Trek universe.

How about a story that ties together the Borg and V'ger? Now THAT might have some fireworks! I'd like to see the Borg try to assimilate V'ger, heh heh. Mind you, this might throw Trek continuity out of whack, but from what I gather, continuity is an afterthought for Trek writers, anyway.

[Fist and Faith]

The Preservers are the long-gone race who put the Native American-ish folks and the asteroid deflector on that planet in The Paradise Syndrome. They're mentioned in other episodes too, where they're theorizing on how much the Preservers are responsible for.

Borg/V'ger would be good. Anything V'ger would be good. I can't believe it doesn't have any contact with humans again. Sheesh!

I'd also like to see a meeting of the Dowd, Organians, Q, Travellers, Metrons, ...

[Ylva Kresh]

Funny, I always thought about Vger as having encountered a pre-borg cilvilisation... (what I am trying to say is that Vger might already have met the borg or their ancestors).

[Fist and Faith]

It's been many years since I saw The Motion Picture, but I think the explanation was that V-ger ran into a planet of sentient machines. Their physical makeup was similar enough to the machinery/electronics of the Voyager probe for them to look upon it as a kindred spirit, largely understand it's programming, and fix it. It's certainly possible that these beings were one of the many that went into the makeup of the Borg.

My Borg-origin theory, which is based to some degree on the New Collective from Voyager, is that two or more beings from some planet found a way to fully meld their minds, and discovered incredible benefits/strengths from it. It may even have been a temporary meld at first, but they thought the benefits were so overwhelming that they figured out how to make it permanent. Many others probably volunteered, thinking it sounded pretty fun, and having been told of the benefits, and many of them probably remained.

At some point, this collective mind decided that, since they had so much to offer individuals, things the individuals couldn't even conceive of, and each individual who joined brought new life to the collective, they would force themselves onto anyone they could. It was a win/win, from their pov.

And, of course, eventually, the collective saw itself as the one perfect way of life. One that must be preserved and expanded, regardless of what anyone else wanted or believed.

I have no theory about when in this process species from other planets were brought in. Maybe the original folks were incapable of space-travel, and assimilated their entire planet before inventing space-travel and assimilating those from other planets. Or maybe they had lots of contact with other planets, and aliens were among the original members, or the early ones who were told about this incredible new meld and volunteered.

[Theo]

How does people around here feel about Q? I disliked him a lot when I saw him in the first seasons of TNG, but he grew on me: now I always look forward to when he will turn up and, always, turn everything upside down (I love the episode when he is stripped of his powers!).

Oh, yeah. That's the one where he brought in the mariachi band to celebrate, right?


To me, the Q are the embodiment of the fundamentally secular-humanist ethos of Star Trek. Humans (and humanoids) are intelligent, reasonable and noble, while the gods (well, the nigh-omnipotent Q's) are utter smegheads.

Or as Lord Melchett puts it in the final episode of Blackadder II: "Like private parts to the gods are we. They play with us for their sport."

[Fist and Faith]

I thought that the concept of the Q is pretty cool. But, for the most part, they were handled pretty horribly, imo. Freakin' Robin Hood!! And the way the Q came up with a brilliant solution to their civil war in Voyager, two Q having a baby together!! Except... hmmm... I think that already happened in TNG. Ah well, let's pretend it didn't, and call it genius.

**However**

The Voyager episode that I referred to a few posts above, the one with the suicidal Q, is as good as it gets!!! What a concept!! Plus the way the Continuum was represented, the arguments, even the hide & seek game! Fantastic stuff!

[aTOMiC]

I found Q to be a fairly interesting character in Encounter at Farpoint. I have enjoyed every appearance of John De Lancie as Q but I've had my problems with how his character was developed. Since I find it hard to believe that the flawed, human, multipotent mortals that write Star Trek are able to genuinely grasp the true nature of an omnipotent character. I alway thought that the best way to handle a being such as Q was to keep him shrouded in as much obscurity as possible. Kind of like shooting action scenes at night because you don't have much of a special effects budget. I felt like I was exposed to aspects of Q that damaged my respect for him. His place in the universe. He almost took on the aspect of a super powered circus clown. I really hope he doesn't pop up on Enterprise.

[Ylva Kresh]

Tom wrote:

I really hope he doesn't pop up on Enterprise.

You sincerely think they wont try every method possible to get up the number of viewers of that show? I gather it has been rather ill recieved (I frankly got a bit bored after watching the first episodes, but perhaps it improves)?

[Theo]

I found Q to be a fairly interesting character in Encounter at Farpoint. I have enjoyed every appearance of John De Lancie as Q but I've had my problems with how his character was developed. Since I find it hard to believe that the flawed, human, multipotent mortals that write Star Trek are able to genuinely grasp the true nature of an omnipotent character. I alway thought that the best way to handle a being such as Q was to keep him shrouded in as much obscurity as possible. Kind of like shooting action scenes at night because you don't have much of a special effects budget. I felt like I was exposed to aspects of Q that damaged my respect for him. His place in the universe. He almost took on the aspect of a super powered circus clown. I really hope he doesn't pop up on Enterprise.

Really?

I thought the original incarnation of Q was just a boring a**hole. Not in the slightest way interesting, just annoying. Then he got more fun the sillier he got. (I loved both the Robin Hood episode and the mariachi band. But then, I've never taken Star Trek that seriously.)

[Fist and Faith]

The mariachi band was awesome!

Hey, another great Q episode was when he gave Riker the power of the Q. Great ending, when they all turn down his gifts. Data was particularly good. And Geordi's "I don't like who I'd have to thank." (something like that)

[Sheol]

it may be just me but i dont think that Q was the best thing for Star Trek. i remember watching the old show then here comes the next generation and wham, there is Q. it didnt impress me very much at the time, but as the show progressed i noticed that they eventually did a good job of expanding off of that. and i was glad thet they didnt do to many episodes with Q in them, that would hae ruined it for me.

[aTOMiC]

Really?

I thought the original incarnation of Q was just a boring a**hole. Not in the slightest way interesting, just annoying. Then he got more fun the sillier he got. (I loved both the Robin Hood episode and the mariachi band. But then, I've never taken Star Trek that seriously.)

What I found most interesting about Q when we first encountered him was that he and his race were a mystery. I've been watching Star Trek since the early 70's and I've been exposed to my share of flamoyant characters. Q was a bit reserved in his first two outings but there was something about the conviction and intent of the character that entertained me. Why was he bothering with humans at all? There was an underlaying motive that took time to reveal. After that Q began to take on the "All powerful Jester" aspect that was fun but a bit off for me. I did like when Q had been stripped of his powers and he became distressed because he had never fallen asleep before.

[___]

Q was the last good thing that happened to Star Trek. I thought the original episode of the next generation was the best ever. Too bad that for the most part, it went downhill from there.

[TIC TAC]

I don't agree that STNG went down hill after the first episode. Seems to me there were at least a few outstanding and many very good episodes over its 7 year run. Granted there were more episodes featuring Deana's mother than I would have liked but they never asked me my opinion.

[Dragonlily]

I would say that STNG made a very shaky start -- with the exception of Encounter at Farpoint -- and gathered creative steam after the first half dozen episodes. At that point they seemed to have gathered enough courage to stop rehashing OS episodes.

[Fist and Faith]

Lwaxana was a bit of a pain. But they built some decent episodes around her. The one with Charles Emmerson Winchester was good. And the episode where we learned Deanna had an older sister was pretty powerful. But the best thing about Lwaxana was when Worf asked Deanna to be the Klingon equivalent of Alex's godmother. He said it would make her sort of his sister. And she said, "Well then that would make my mother your mother too." And the look of shocked horror on his face, followed by, "I had not considered that!!" was priceless!

[taraswizard]

Sometimes a pain. But a character who always said what was on her mind, and that will deflate any amount of pomposity present. Example, Capt. Picard is a such a better character than James T. Kirk. But the character was a bit full of himself some of the time, then enter Lawaxanna deflate Picard in seconds.

Probably wrong.

[dennisrwood]

1st series : the one with Abe Lincoln.

[Sheol]

i dont think she was trying to deflate anybody. i think she was just trying to annoy everybody, like Q. and picard got so frustrated with her. if anybody was pompas it waws kinda her.

[Guest]

One of the best episodes was Inner Light. Normally. I prefer the ones with more action (i.e. Borg, Romulans, etc.), but this one really got to me.