Comment on Is there a list of important/key episodes – but not just the good episodes?
arjache@fedia.io 1 week ago
I think I’d struggle to come up with such a list in a way that it’d be a rewarding viewing experience.
Something to keep in mind is that almost all of Star Trek from before the streaming era was made with the assumption that people would tune in and not necessarily have seen any previous episodes. Especially with syndicated reruns, there was no real guarantee of even seeing the episodes in order. At most you would be expected to miss some details if you caught the second half of a two-parter, and those had recaps at the start.
Star Trek only really started to do big plot arcs with DS9 and even then it was still very episodic. The earliest they had a modern BSG-style serial plot was season 3 of Enterprise. So there’s really no need to watch “must-watch” episodes. The episodes were made with the intention that you could watch each one with minimal context and still have a good time.
UESPA_Sputnik@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I see your point. What I tried to assess is: which episodes enhance the viewing experience by rewarding the viewer for sticking around. For example, watching “Datalore” before “Brothers” is definitely not required. But it gives you some good backstory on Lore. Similarly, watching the various Maquis episodes on TNG and DS9 is not necessary to understand the Maquis characters on VOY but it’s a nice slow buildup that contextualizes a few things. Or TNG’s “The Price” and VOY’s “False Profits” – neither of them are really good episodes but it’s a “oh hey, they picked up that storyline from years ago” moment that I feel is very rewarding.
And of course my all-time favorite joke when Worf hears that Keiko is having another baby and he reacts with “Now!?!?”. It only really works when you’ve seen “Disaster” before.
arjache@fedia.io 1 week ago
I do love a sequel years later out of nowhere! Ship in a Bottle is also a good one for that.