Comment on Is there a list of important/key episodes – but not just the good episodes?
UESPA_Sputnik@lemmy.world 2 days agoSo it kind of depends on how strictly you define “important.”
You’re right. Your list makes it quite clear that when the bar for importance is too low, 90% of all episodes end up being important. From season 1 I’d include 5 episodes in the list of important episodes: Encounter at Farpoint (setting up Q and everything), Where No One Has Gone Before (introduces the Traveller), Datalore (introduces Lore), Skin of Evil (kills of Tasha), The Neutral Zone (Romulans and Borg implied). Those episodes are a good example of what I was going for: none of them is above average but they’re still important. “Where No One Has Gone Before” maybe comes the closest to being good.
Sidenote: I recently rewatched TNG season 1 and found it oddly charming. There are a lot of bad episodes but almost every episode had something going for it. You could see what they were aiming for but often couldn’t stick the landing. And the music was really great, unlike in the rest of the Berman era.
StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 2 days ago
I would add Heart of Glory because it gives a crucial introduction to where the Klingons are as a society in the 24th century much as The Neutral Zone introduces the state of the relationship with the Romulans (and sets up the Borg threat).