Star Trek

I know it gets a lot of hate, but TNG: Masks. There's no adversary, just the crew working together to solve a problem. The solution is based in understanding. For similar reasons, I like Cause and Effect and Time Squared.

Many many episodes but I have a special place in my heart for VOY: Message In A Bottle.

"Stop breathing down my neck."

"My breathing is merely a simulation."

"So is my neck! Stop it anyway!"

I love the 'Darmok' episode from TNG.

I like a lot of the procedural legal ones.

Judgement - ENT

The Drumhead - TNG

Rules of Engagement - DS9

Author, Author - VOY

That being said I have a few others that are generally great.

Q2 - VOY - I just love the fact that Keegan DeLancie is actually John DeLancie's son and he does a great job being a little shit Q.

The Inner Light - TNG - self explanatory

(this is cheating but) The Aenar 3-parter - ENT - Goddamn season 4 was so good, and I really wish we could see the Romulan war. I'd even settle for them doing an animated series with the cast's voices to avoid age issues.

TNG: 'Q Who'

DS9: 'In The Pale Moonlight'

Voyager: 'Scorpion'

Enterprise: 'Carbon Creek'

Discovery: 'Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad' or 'Die Trying'

(I also have a soft spot for parts of Picard season 1)

DS9 - In the Pale Moonlight

Great acting and a very compelling story that's not action driven, relying on its story, dialogue and fantastic acting. I mean, with top Garak and Sisko, what can go wrong?

I'm partial to TNG's Relics. I can sympathise with Scotty, and it's a nice and fairly cozy episode, with some fun callbacks to TOS.

Got to be In the Pale Moonlight - DS9.

I feel like the recent SNW "Those Old Scientists" is quickly going to be joining my list.

Darmok. Always Darmok.

That's a tough one! Off the top of my head, I'd say the following:

TOS: The Doomsday Machine

TNG: The Offspring

DS9: Duet - Probably my favorite episode of any ST series.

LD: First First Contact

SNW: Memento Mori - I've only seen S1, hoping to watch S2 soon.

I've not watched much of TAS, VOY, ENT and PRO, so I didn't mark them down.

DIS: ???? - I've seen up to S3 so far, but no particular episode that really sticks out unfortunately. Probably something in S2.

PIC: ???? - I've only watched S1, unfortunately no favorites.

I've got a lot of favorites, but these are the ones I probably most enjoy. It can change depending on the day though! There's been a lot of really good episodes through the years.

DS9: The Visitor

"Computer, remove onions."

"Beep-beep There are no onions in your room."

"Dammit."

Balance of Terror from TOS is, without any doubt, my favorite Star Trek episode.

TOS - Honestly, probably one of the cheesy episodes like The Way to Eden

TNG - Remember Me, I like the premise and that it's a Crusher episode

DS9 - Bar Association, still as relevant as ever plus it's got the Ferengi in it which is always fun

VOY - Let's not kid ourselves, it's Threshold

LDS - I, Excretus, I really like Boimler not only passing a test designed to be impossible but refusing to accept anything less than a perfect score

Everything else I either haven't watched, watched too recently to have a comfort episode yet, or is too story driven for one episode to stand out over the rest

Any Romulan or Vulcan-centric episodes, especially TOS ones. I just like pointy ears, I guess? Edit: changed Romulan episodes to Romulan and Vulcan episodes.

A Fistful of Datas.

TNG: A Matter of Time. I like the schadenfreude at the end.

There’s many, but I will limit myself to one per series, and I’ll refrain from most of the super popular episodes which I also love.

TOS: Corbomite Maneuver: for me this is the blueprint for all of Star Trek. You have Kirk dealing with a young officer, tactics “Not chess, mr. spock, poker” , coming to an understanding with an alien culture, just an insanely fantastic episode.

TAS: i like the series fine, but don’t really go back to any eps

TNG: Peak Performance: one of the earlier strong TNG episodes, it has the great data strategema scenes, riker and Wesley being clever, just lots of fun.

DS9: In the Hands of the Prophets: what a great way to make explore the religious/secular divides in society, and especially the creationism / intelligent design in classrooms debates. The episode is sympathetic without shying away from offering a perspective, and Keiko is just fantastic in the episode. Of course Kai Winn is always amazing. I do not understand why this ep isn’t held in the same light as duet and the visitor

Voyager: parallax: I believe this is not even regarded as a good voyager episode, but I love it. I always thought Janeway and Torres had amazing screen chemistry, and I just love how janeway comes around to the idea of Torres as chief engineer. Plus it has the classic lines “Warp Particles” and Paris’s “It’s the Voyager”

Enterprise: The series has its moments but I’m not too big on it

Discovery: At its best, the show is like good fanfic, at its worst it’s unbearable. I don’t go back to anything.

Picard: don’t particularly like the show. There were some great nostalgia moments in season 3 (I definitely shed a tear for the old ships), but such aggravating decisions (everything about the changelings in that season makes no sense)

Lower Decks: I would almost say the entire series, I’ve watched every ep so many times, but I will pick out Crisis point, which for me is the show’s beard growing moment. It was already good, but became amazing during that ep. Much like with the motion picture, the starship porn is my favorite part.

Strange New Worlds: really solid show so far, even if I disagree with some of their choices. It’s still new and I’m not sure what consensus is on best eps, so I’m just gonna go with my favorite which I’ve already watched several times; “Those Old Scientists” what a powerhouse of an ep, and such great performances from boimler and mariner.

Prodigy: show is okay, nothing I go back to.

TOS - Balance Of Terror, 12 plays TAS - Mudd's Passion, 7 plays TNG - The Chase, 22 plays DS9 - The Ascent, 33 plays VOY - One, 27 plays ENT - The Catwalk, 11 plays (wtf?) DIS - The Wolf Inside, 19 plays LDS - No Small Parts, 20 plays PRO - Terror Firma, 5 plays PIC - All of season 1, 5 plays SNW - Ghosts of Illyria, 3 plays

TNG: Time's Arrow part 1 & 2

DS9: Past Tense part 1 & 2

VOY: Distant Origins, The Haunting of Deck 12, Resolutions, Coda, everything JC :P

ENT: Twilight, Carbon Creek

Trouble with Edward (short trek)

PIC: Absolute Candor, Season 3

SNW: Spock Amok, Those Old Scientists

PRO: Time Amok, The World's a Stage, Supernova part 1 & 2

I adore VOY: The 37s. Janeway and Earheart have a really great character arc.