Star Trek @ 45

[Anthony Williams]

It was 45 years ago today that the first episode of Star Trek, The Man Trap, was broadcast. While it wasn't the first episode to be produced, it was never-the-less the first one broadcast.

So, in celebration, I thought I'd give a mini-review of my favourite episode of each Star Trek series that has aired so far.

The Original Series - The Trouble with Tribbles
This is perhaps the best known of The Original Series' episodes, and for good reason. This really is a classic. Above all, this is just so much fun. We have small, cuddly Tribbles. We have Klingons. This episode is ingrained in the psyche of every Star Trek fan, and most people who you'd ask to name an episode of The Original Series, would probably say "the one with the Tribbles!" In fact, this episode is so popular, that Deep Space Nine would revisit it for their 30th Anniversary celebrations.

The Next Generation - Chain of Command (Pts 1 & 2)
For me, this is when The Next Generation truly hit maturity, dealing with espionage and torture. It seems that I like my Star Trek dark. David Warner is superb as Gul Madred, ruthless as he tries to get the information he needs from Picard. Of course, Patrick Stewart is just perfect - defiant right up until the very end, refusing to buckle. He truly acts his socks off here. In addition, I love the shake-up to the Enterprise made by Picard's replacement with Jellico. Anyone who worked with one boss, who left and was replaced, can know the effect that this will have on some people - be it negative or positive. Here, we see Riker constantly clashing horns with Jellico, resulting in the unexpected promotion of Data to first officer. All in all, this is a wonderful, dark story line. Of course, it all ends well, but they really crank up the tension through these two episodes.

Deep Space Nine - In The Pale Moonlight
I said I like my Trek to be dark, and here's another one, dealing with espionage. By this stage of DS9, we're deep into the Dominion war. The Federation/Klingon alliance is losing. Sisko needs to bring the Romulans in on their side, but they're unwilling to do so. The only way is to weave a web of lies and intreague. In my opinion, Trek never gets darker than this episode. We watch as Sisko wrangles with his conscience as he recounts the events. In my opinion, this is Avery Brooks' crowning moment as a Star Trek Captain. Watching the underhanded deals that Sisko and Garak make in order to procure their forged information. And then, when it doesn't work, Garak goes under Sisko's nose - and Sisko's fury when he finds out what Garak has done is just superb. Sisko's final lines of the episode show the realities of war, and how he must do anything to ensure that his side wins:

"So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover up the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But most damning of all... I think I can live with it... And if I had to do it all over again... I would. Garak was right about one thing – a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it...Because I can live with it...I can live with it. Computer – erase that entire personal log."

This, in my opinion, is the finest moment in the whole of Star Trek.

Voyager - Flashback
Well, my disdain for Voyager is well known. It's the only Star Trek series that I haven't seen all of, and I've been really struggling with it. So, it's probably unsurprising that my favourite episode of the series is a crossover with one of The Original Series-era Movies. There's a great nostalgia factor in this episode. Getting to see Janeway and Tuvok in those gorgeous movie uniforms, the return of Sulu and the USS Excelsior crew - it all sends a shiver down my spine. While DS9's 30th Anniversary celebration, Trials and Tribbleations, was probably a better celebration, this is undoubtedly one of the best episodes of Voyager.

Enterprise - In a Mirror Darkly (Pts 1 & 2)
I did say I liked my Trek dark, right? I feel that this two-parter is where they finally mastered the whole mirror universe thing. It's the only mirror universe story where a member of the proper Star Trek universe doesn't cross over, and I think it's all the better for it. There's none of our moral code in it - all we see is deception and backstabbing. There's a wonderful feeling of nostalgia here, too - as we get to see Archer, T'Pol, Reed and Mayweather in TOS-era uniforms, once they've taken the USS Defiant from the Tholians. There's also the realisation of the Tholians and the Gorn on screen. This truly is a nostalgia-fest, and it was only once they'd realised the core audience of Enterprise and started targeting it at them, that they could've come up with something as fantastic as this. And it was a little too late, sadly...

[SiHart]

The Original Series films remain my favourite version of Trek ever. There's a lovely sense of character and progression within them that put the rest of Trek to shame.

I'll have a think about some other favourites, because my memories of the post next gen series are a bit scratchy now, it having been a long time since I sat down and watched them.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Let's hear it for the longest running sci-fi TV show! (ahem)

Truth be told I'm probably a bigger fan of Trek than Who. Original Trek that is. Next Gen always felt a paler reflection.

Actually not watched it in a long while though. I need Mrs Crow to work out I need the boxset for a future pressie. I think I'm waiting for them to figure out the ultimate edition for the DVDs - I'm not doing a Star Wars and rebuying the series again and again ...

Oh and the 2009 revamp sucked imo. I turn all Lawrence Miles over the recent series and film (Voyager onwards) ...

[Llordllama]

Ant you've gone and picked four of my all time favourites too (not the Voyager one)! I was raving on about In the Pale Moonlight only yesterday to the wife ("It's a FAAAAAKE!") I confess i've been watching S3/4 of Enterprise again recently and getting maudlin over the lack of decent new space-opera/adventure SciFi on right now. It's all sodding werewolves, ghosts, twinkly vampires and the like (yawn).

Back to S4 Blakes 7 I go...

*tries to think of favourite ST:Voyager episode*
Is there one where Neilix falls into his own mincer repeatedly? If so, that one! Failing that, Year of Hell pt 1 - a chance to make Voyager brilliant...all reconned away by the end...

[Darren]

Amazon have the slim box sets for about a tenner. I may go back and revisit TNG.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Why did everyone hate Neelix? Him and the Doctor were good, it was the rest of the cast who were bland, and felt like they walked out of a daytime soap opera!

[Alex]

Why did everyone hate Neelix? Him and the Doctor were good, it was the rest of the cast who were bland, and felt like they walked out of a daytime soap opera!

He was just a bit wet. Barable, but slightly irritating at times, and there was never really a point to his existence, it's not like he offered anything to the series. The Doctor was great though, I agree with you on that, but I like Janeaway too, she's a strong, feisty leader, and one who's prepared to do whatever it takes to save her crew. I'd much rather be trapped in the Delta Quadrant with her that crappy old Archer, that's for sure.

Plus 7 of 9. Mmmm.

[Dirk Gently]

Neelix was just there to facilitate the story, no need for information gathering if you can ask a "local" who the new alien is.

Agreed about 7 of 9 being 1 of the main reasons to watch...Jerry Ryan, mmmmmm.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

What Are Little Girls Made Of ...

Oh my - all things nice!



This is like a fanboys adolescent dream, until you've been at a cosplay convention and seen some 50 year old cougar try and pass herself off ...

We get to see Nurse Chapel for one of the first times ... or is it Deanna Troi's mother?



Anyway she's looking for her long lost fiancee - who they end up finding ...



Erm not him obviously, he's Ted Cassidy from the Addams Family.



Aw - don't they make a sweet couple? Well, the problem is her fiancee's only gone and turned himself into an android. Yeah even the writers of Eastenders didn't see that one coming!



Anyway being androids they're not programmed for love, so Kirk causes the female one to malfunction by getting it on with her ...



Course had RTD written this episode for Torchwood, we all know who'd have been smooched to malfunction ...



So all the androids get killed. Because they didn't have emotions, so deserved to die. Good job Kirk never made it to Next Generation ...




Having lost her heart to an unfeeling machine, Nurse Chapel eventually moves on in later episodes ...



That girl has issues. Ironically the woman who rejected her android fiancee would end up enslaved in all computers throughout the Fedaration ...

[Alex]

Ha, that's fantastic, I really enjoyed reading that Mike.

[Darren]

Seven of Nine was the only good thing about Voyager. Mmmmm, I'd oil her Borg implants.

[Llordllama]

After Neilix's lungs were stolen I hoped the Videans would week by week steal another part of him until he was utterly gone...

Worse than Adric IMHO