Top 3 episodes (all shows) for a newbie

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨TotallyNotSpezUpload@startrek.website⁩ to ⁨startrek@startrek.website⁩

Hi there. A friend of mine wants to get into Star Trek (finally, yay). She asked me which show would be a good start since she loves binge watching. I honestly couldn’t say. My favourites are VOY, ENT S1/S2 & SNW, but I’m a big fan of all shows and watched them so many times back to back (with the exception of DIS & PIC - only once and never again. So, instead I thought we could watch the top 3 episodes of each show and then she can pick one to start watching the entire thing. So, let me hear your top 3 episodes of one or several shows. Just keep in mind she doesn’t know any of the lore yet. I’m really looking forward to see your takes.

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aeronmelon@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
In no particular order, two-parters count as one episode.

TOS:

Balance of Terror

The Trouble with Tribbles

The Doomsday Machine

TAS:

Spock Amok

The Slaver Weapon

The Lorelai Signal

TNG:

Measure of a Man

The Inner Light

Cause & Effect

DS9:

Pale Moonlight

Past Tense

Far Beyond the Stars

VGR:

The Killing Game

Latent Image

Scorpion

ENT:

Regeneration

A Night in Sickbay

A Mirror Darkly

Those are the only series I’ve seen in their entirety, so I’ll leave it at that.
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- kaitco@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  For Voyager, where is Year of Hell??
  
  I’m with you on all the others, but Year of Hell is probably my favorite episode of all the Treks.
  
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  - aeronmelon@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I understand.
    
    There are so many episodes to choose from, it’s almost cruel to make a Trekkie pick just three. There are, like, ten more episodes I could have picked for TNG alone.
    
    Year of Hell is amazing, especially since it was a prophecy from earlier in the series. But I think Killing Game and Scorpion make better two-parters because they had a lasting effect on the ship and the show. Killing Game was huge in scale and necessary to address the power balance with the Hirogen. And Scorpion gave us Seven. Year of Hell, for all it did, fell victim to the big red reset button. And to pour salt on the wound, no one even remembered what happened.
    
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- danhab99@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  DS9 Pale Moonlight: is my second favorite startrek episode. This is like the deepest exploration into a starfleet captain and how easy it is to lose yourself to corruption and operate outside of your government even when you’re working towards the same goal.
  
  VOY The Thaw: an unironic cathartic watch. I’m ready invested in the characters and I get to see A1 star trek grade acting actually brings me back to that episode.
  
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- USSBurritoTruck@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Did you mean “Yesteryear” for TAS? “Spock Amok” is an SNW episode.
  
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  - aeronmelon@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    No, I actually meant The Infinite Vulcan. Not sure how I got those titles mixed up. Thanks for pointing that out.
    
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- MalikMuaddibSoong@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  As an ENT fan, excellent choices 👌
  
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Corgana@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
“Data’s Day” is actually a pretty great one to get someone into TNG, it’s fun, but most importantly, Data is essentially walking around introducing all of the main characters to the audience.

I typically recommend starting with TNG in general (I used to say because it was “modern” 😭) as it naturally leads into DS9 and VOY. That said if your friend doesn’t typically watch older shows but is open to them, then just starting with SNW or ENT is an excellent intro to the rest of Trek.

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- JWBananas@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Data is essentially walking around introducing all of the main characters to the audience.
  
  Sounds a lot like DS9’s In the Cards (525).
  
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- TotallyNotSpezUpload@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  My friend is absolutely open to older shows. I somehow forgot about “Data’s Day”. I don’t know how that one slipped past me, but it’s truly great for beginners of Star Trek. I appreciate it!
  
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  - Corgana@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Happy to help! I would love it if you report back, we used to get 100 “How do I get a friend into Trek” posts/day on /r/StarTrek but very few follow ups on if it stuck!
    
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Cephalotrocity@biglemmowski.win ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
TOS: Balance of Terror, The Doomsday Machine, City on the Edge of Forever

TNG: The Measure of a Man, Yesterday’s Enterprise, Deja Q

DS9: Progress, Duet, Trials and Tribbleations

VOY: Body and Soul, Year of Hell, Tuvix

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- TotallyNotSpezUpload@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Thanks, Body and Soul is so goofy, I love it! ^^
  
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  - Cephalotrocity@biglemmowski.win ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    When Jeri Ryan eats cheesecake for the ‘first time’ it gives me the giggles for the rest of the day.
    
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- Maven@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Trials and Tribblestions isn’t a good newbie episode because without context from the original series it doesn’t make any sense.
  
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- reddig33@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  “City on the edge of forever” is amazing in so many ways.
  
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Lemmchen@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
If I only had one chance eto introduce someone to Star Trek, I’d chose the TNG double feature Chain of Command.

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- data1701d@startrek.website ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The other good thing about Chain of Command is it gives important context for DS9 without having to stare at scrolling text.
  
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CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
TNG: Drumhead, I, Borg, and Chain of command (or if you don’t want a two parter, take your pick of Q who, Measure of a Man, or Yesterday’s Enterprise)

DS9: In the Pale Moonlight, Inquisition, and It’s Only a Paper Moon.

VOY: Living Witness, Tuvix, and Year of Hell (or again, if you don’t want a two parter, go for Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy)

TOS: The Devil in the Dark, The City on the Edge of Forever, and Mirror Mirror.

ENT: Similitude, Regeneration, In a Mirror Darkly (don’t really have a good non-two parter to suggeat over In a Mirror, Enterprise doesn’t have a lot of great standalone episodes IMO)

Movies: if you want to use these as examples, The Wrath of Khan for TOS and First Contact for TNG.

And I don’t really have a list for LD, PIC, DIS, SNW, or PRO.

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jerakor@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Specifically for a new viewer who wants 3 shows that would be different and enjoyable:

TNG:

The Inner Light Cause and Effect Lower Decks

DS9:

Duet The Visitor Trials and Tribbleations

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- DrainKikoLake@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The Inner Light
  
  The Visitor
  
  Welcome to Star Trek! We cry here.
  
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- TotallyNotSpezUpload@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I love those suggestions. And yes, I think they are very suitable for someone new to the franchise. Thank you.
  
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lunsjentilanette@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Both me and my gf started with entire lower decks, then snw and now ive started tng (from start, currently in s2 snd enjoying more than i thought based on all the recs to go straight to s3)… That has been a great entry for us at lesst

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- TotallyNotSpezUpload@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I think SNW is a good start for someone enterily new to Star Trek. However, I would advise against starting with Lower Decks. Maybe it’s just not my cup of tea in general and the only reason I did enjoy LD quite a lot is due to tightly knitted references (i.e. Giant Spock’s skeleton, prank calling Armus, and so on). It’s basically like how someone here recommending TNG before DS9 because it sets the stage. It’s also why I’d recommend skipping SNW’s S2E7 (Those old scientists) until you are familiar with LD in general.
  
  May I ask about your favourites of TNG S2? There are some strong standalone episodes. :)
  
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  - data1701d@startrek.website ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I still enjoyed Those Old Scientists when I hadn’t yet watched Lower Decks, granted, I had watched TNG already and so just enjoyed it as TNG-era characters goofing around in the 23rd century.
    
    In fact, after having watched Lower Decks, I don’t necessarily like how Boimler and Mariner are written in this episode - they feel a bit like their basic archetypes than the developed characters they were in the series.
    
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  - lunsjentilanette@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Without getting all the references we at least found lower decks to stand very well on its own. Will rewatch once ive seen all of the tng-era shows as i think you obviously get more out of it if you also get the references, but my point was just that its not a prerequisite to enjoy it.
    
    Im only about 4 episodes into s02 of tng so far. I was just expecting s01 and s02 to really suck based on discussions and recommendations to skip straight to s03. But ive had a good time so far and now i am really looking forward to s03 if it is so much better.
    
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1SimpleTailor@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
TNG and DS9 are the only two series that I really know well enough to make these recommendations for.

I would highly recommend watching TNG before DS9, even if she likes DS9 better. TNG and DS9 work best as companion shows, with TNG building up a lot of DS9 plot-lines in its latter seasons. I would also highly recommend against starting with any episodes involving Q or the Borg, or any of the series “highlights”. Let those plots build, and you don’t want to spoil some of the best episodes in a sampler. My go-to TNG introduction picks are:

-Cause and Effect

-Darmok

-Measure of a Man

DS9 can be harder to pick introductory episodes for. Its more serialized nature means that a lot of later episodes have a lot of spoilers. I would highly recommend against picking any episodes that highly involve the Dominion or the Dominion War, let that plot build itself up. That does however, leave us with a lot fewer options. My DS9 introduction picks are:

-Duet

-Past Tense

-Bar Association

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- TotallyNotSpezUpload@startrek.website ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Great picks and I fully agree with the TNG before DS9 recommendation which I will share with my friend soon. Thank you.
  
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