Which Star Trek TV series is your favorite?

[nelms]

2) Cause and Effect (The episode where the enterprise is caught in a time loop where they are destroyed every 2 hours)

That was an awesome episode, where they send themselves a message through the time loop. I don't know if you remember, but Kelsey Grammar (Frasier and Cheers) was the captain of the Federation ship at the end of the show that was caught in that same time loop for 90 years.

One of my favorite episodes is the Inner Light. This is where Picard is knocked unconscious by a beam from an alien probe. He wakes up to find himself on another planet, where he ends up living out the rest of his life. He marries and has children and grandchildren. He then "wakes up" back on the Enterprise, having only been "unconscious" for only 25 minutes. Fascinating story.

[Tarhog]

I must say I am a bit surprised that TNG is currently holding a 2 to 1 lead over the original series. I know there a lot of Star Trek "purists" out there that would disagree.

I think this is purely related to viewer age. I'd be willing to bet that those that grew up watching the original show would almost universally rate it as best. I could never get into TNG or any of the other shows because I had such a strong loyalty to the original show. At the time it aired, it was THE groundbreaking sci-fi show. It set a standard for everything that followed. I agree with a lot of what Larry said as well.

Of course the show is dated and somewhat cliched now - 40 years after its original airtime. But its still the one I'm liable to stop and watch when I come across it channel surfing.

[england]

i have fond memories of the original and as tarhog states it was ground breaking and was part of my childhood

[MSJHWT]

1) In the Pale moonlight (Arguably the best episode of any star trek. Incredible acting chops displayed here and relevant to today's times. Sisko must decide to act immorally to help the war effort)

Man, what a great episode, I love how it opens:

"The road to hell is paved with 'Good Intentions'", then later the Romulan hissing "It's a FAKE!" and his ensuing fate....

[Ghost of]

I liked Skin of Evil where Yar dies. Not really even because she dies but because of the concept of Armus and the inherent creepiness of the Federation having to tell people to stay away from the planet because of ONE entity.

That DS9 list of mhd24 is good but I'd include the one where Jake comes back to save his father's life. That was just an emotional episode and Tony Todd makes yet ANOTHER ST appearance as an older Jake.

Other good TNG episodes were, "There are Four Lights!" (can't remember the episode name) and the one where they focus on junior officers and the one young Bajoran girl ends up being killed.

Best of Both Worlds I and II (hello? how is that not on your list, it should have been the first TNG movie, really.)

I liked the Pakled episode but there were so many eps, it's easy to forget some of the quality ones.

Oh, the one where Riker is trapped in a hologram with an alien whose mother left him there. Initially he thinks he has a son and he's married to "Minuet" but eventually he figures it out. The alien closes with "My name is Barash." Very sad when you contemplate that his entire race may be destroyed. At least he gets to go to the Federation.

[88Comrade2000]

I agree- older people would love TOS. Younger people would love TNG.

Here's how I rank the series:

1. Star Trek- without this one, there wouldn't have been the others

2. Next Generation- it took 3 years, but this is a good show also.

3. Deep Space Nine- a different kind of Trek

4. Enterprise- T'pol

5. Voyager- never lived up to it's promise

TNG the first season was basically a rehash of the original series. They finally got things right by the third season- which was probably when Gene Rodenberry wasn't able to contribute much as his health was failing.

[Larry]

Oh, the one where Riker is trapped in a hologram with an alien whose mother left him there. Initially he thinks he has a son and he's married to "Minuet" but eventually he figures it out. The alien closes with "My name is Barash." Very sad when you contemplate that his entire race may be destroyed. At least he gets to go to the Federation.

Future Imperfect

Now, that's another one of the episodes on my "I wish they'd . . . " list.

At the end of the episode, Ryker "adopts" the (alien) child.

I wanted Ryker to be a daddy for several episodes.

What did he do, bring the kid to Enterprise and stick him in day care?

I really liked the episode. But they spent that whole time setting up a new character, and then "redshirted" him at the end of the episode. (I felt the same way about Data's daughter. I know it costs more, but instead of bringing in a new character and killing it off 40 minutes later, make the character a "recurring guest star", who shows up for a few minutes, every other episode, for a year. (Then kill him off, if you want.))

[Ghost of]

I agree, Larry.

I mean, sure it lent emotional power to the conclusion of the show, but why did Lal Have to die?

That's the way it is with series, it seems. Barash was probably transported to Earth for his own protection or to help the Federation find the rest of his people.

Here's a little known fact--the girl on the doomed world that messages Data (whose planet they then save, going against the Prime Directive) was played by Nikki Cox!! lol

[FLRedskins]

DS9 Had great storylines.

[Blondie]

Give me the original.

Blondie

[Larry]

I mean, sure it lent emotional power to the conclusion of the show, but why did Lal Have to die?

Although I do think that The Offspring had my second favorite TNG scene:

Lal is "working part time" in 10-Foreward with Guinan, because she wants to learn about human emotions and personal interaction. She observes two crew kissing, asks Guinan about it. Guinan says that the emotional response to a kiss is hard to describe.

Lal walks up to Ryker (who has been on an away mission for the first half of the episode). She reaches accross the bar, grabs the front of his shirt, picks him up one-handed (she has Data's strength), drags him accross the bar, and kisses him. She holds the kiss for several seconds (while Ryker's hands flutter uselessly at his sides), than sets him back in his chair, says something like "Fascinating", and walks off. (Ryker looks like "WTF?")

Data walks up: "Commander, I must inquire as to your intentions regarding my daughter." (Ryker looks even more confused.)

[Bang]

My favorite Worf scene is from the TNG episode The Dauphin.

Wesley is in love, and he's going to various officers to ask for romantic advice. One scene opens with Worf, screaming at the ceiling of the bridge.

Wesley dooks dubious: I should scream at her?

Worf: No. Men do not roar. Women roar. (looks wistfull, distant) And they claw at you. And they hurl heavy objects.

Wesley (still dubious): What does the man do?

Worf (Still gazing into space, wistfully): They read love poetry. (Shakes his head, comes back to "reality") They duck a lot.

Wesley, still dubious: I don't think that would work for me.

Worf (looks dismissive): Then go to her. Beg, like a human.

:laugh:

My favorite thing about Worf is that an entity can go thru 52 minutes of show causing all kinds of havoc on board while Data and Picard try to figure out and deduce how to stop it, and in the end Worf steps thru the door and knocks it out in one chop. Crisis solved.

I also love, and i mean LOVE it every single time he thinks something is a trap. Which of course is all the time. He's always so damned annoyed with everything, terrific.

See, the thing I love about Star Trek is it is not at all afraid to say "OK, we're going to do an intelligent story here, and we're not going to explain everything to you. Follow along."

And they're equally unafraid to be unabashedly campy.

A great mix.

~Bang

[PCS]

Like them all, but the original will alway be my favorite.

[Thanos]

DS9 had a complete story arc for a series.The ending was truly a great send-off.

[Larry]

My favorite thing about Worf is that an entity can go thru 52 minutes of show causing all kinds of havoc on board while Data and Picard try to figure out and deduce how to stop it, and in the end Worf steps thru the door and knocks it out in one chop. Crisis solved.

I also love, and i mean LOVE it every single time he thinks something is a trap. Which of course is all the time. He's always so damned annoyed with everything, terrific.

I do remember one scene from Voyager:

Don't remember the episode title, but it's one of those evil invisable creatures that's taking over the crew one at a time. They figure it out, which of course leads to "Which one of us is posessed right now?" scenes. Everybody's convinced it's someone else, and they're all pointing fingers, and getting more and more paranoid. Someone suggests that the logical person for the alien to take over would be security chief Tuvok. They argue. A fight breaks out on the bridge.

And Tuvok punches his attacker (Paris?), jumps over the bridge railing, pulls out a phaser that's set for wide angle stun, and stuns everybody on the bridge with one shot.

If I'm not mistaken, it's the first time in the history of Star Trek that the security department has won a fight. (Not really, but it does seem that they lose a lot more fights than they win.)

-----

(One scene I kept wanting to see: Just once, in one of those firefight scenes where everybody's firing from behind a cargo container or some such, I'd like to see the Good Guys set for "disintegrate", and vaporise whatever the bad guy's hiding behind.)

-----

One of the first TNG books (written when the characters were still being developed) features an away mission consisting of Worf and Data. (One scene from the mission: They trying to solve some kind of mystery. Worf looks up and sees Data questioning two prostitutes. Worf moves quickly up to his commanding officer, puts his hand on Data's shoulder, and tells the prostitute "He's with me.")

At the end of the mission, when everybody's standing around the bridge, Picard asks Data if he'd learned anything after commanding his first away mission. Data responds with some platitude about understanding alien cultures and other PC things like that.

And Worf, without being asked, chimes in from the back of the bridge with "And I have learned, that if I had been allowed to shoot things when I asked, our mission would have had considerably less difficulty."

-----

I've been told by someone who met Michael Dorn at a convention, that as is common with series with many characters, the actors have a "wish list" they send to the writers, with things they'd like for their characters to do. (Every actor wants their character to grow in one way or another.)

Supposedly, Dorn only had one request of the writers.

He wanted a scene, most likely at the end of the episode, where everybody's standing around the bridge feeling smug, where Data tries to tell a joke.

And Worf is the only one who gets it.

[Woofer]

I had to go with TOS.

For all of the reasons mentioned in other posts, plus the TOS movies were far far better than any of the TNG movies. Except possibly ST: V. (What were they thinking?)

I really really liked almost every episode of TNG. Seasons 2 through 6 were grand.

DS9 never really caught on with me. Bashir was the only character I really liked.

I liked Voyager. Even before 7 of 9.

I tried really hard to like Enterprise. But it was just too boring.

The Animated series---I thought was pretty good, but a 30 minute Saturday morning cartoon was not enough.

I have a book that discusses in length, and has pictures and story ideas from the first 2nd Star Trek series called Star Trek:Phase II. I wish they had made that series, but it was not to be. When Star Wars came out in 1977, Paramount decided to change from a series to a Motion Picture.

Most of the original cast was to be back, with a revamped Enterprise. It was also to be the "cornerstone" for a new Paramount TV network.

For those TOS fans who don't know, there is a Star Trek New Voyages website that produces high quality new episodes based on the original series. They even have guest stars from the original series, William Windom (Doomsday Machine), Barbara Luna (Mirror Mirror), Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov) to name a few. The production values are awesome, with great special effects. The stories are a little amateurish, but not bad. You can download everything free, you don't even have to register:

http://www.5yearmission.com/

[Matt [Redskins Fan]]

Is it even a question? TNG.

[LT Smash]

the two ones i watched were TNG and voyager.

[Skeletor The Invincible]

Voted for The Next Generation. Grew up with it.

I liked DS9 alright as well. Loved the Dominion episodes.

Voyager - eh. I watched a lot of episodes. The Borg really took over the show late. They were nice.

[CurseReversed]

Alot of those TNG storylines are great even today 10-15 yrs later that is the mark of a great show. My favorite episode is the one where Q questions the potential and integrity of humanity in general. It ends with picard quoting hamlet "what a piece of work is man" (what a great line). The look on Q's face when picard says humanity might eventually become more powerful then Q one day is priceless. Shame on those who mock TNG for its blind optimism for the future, humanities future and potential is indeed great.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Apparently I'm the only one...but DS9 was definetly my favorite, with TNG being a close second, followed by TOS and Voyager vying for a third.

DS9 just captivated me, espically the two seasons of Dominion Wars.

I totally agree with you about DS9. The Jem'Hadar blew me away.

Babylon 5 was still better than all the Trek series IMO.

[Sarge]

The original, then Deep Space 9

Everything else sucked

[Henry]

My list is similar to most here. I LOVED the orignial show when I was a kid, and when TNG came out I scoffed, because nothing could match the greatness of the orignial. However, TNG was just such a damn good show in it's own right that by the third season it deserved to be a the top all by itself. I actually own TNG in it's entirety on tape. (Yes, I really do.)

I loved all the series'. The story arc of DS9 was just so epic, and the characters were REALLY good. Voyager had a great premise, and got us back to exploring strange new worlds. Enterprise was a great idea and I would have liked to see more, though I think the terrible second season killed it.

My list would probably be:

1. TNG

2. TOS

3. DS9

4. Enterprise

5. Voyager

But they were all great, and I'd watch any new series they came up with.

My favorite TNG episodes go:

1) The Best of Both Worlds - The Borg invade, kidnap Picard and destroy the fleet at Wolf 359 before Riker and the gang figure out how to beat them.

2) The Inner Light - A probe enters Picard's mind and makes him experience another life in order to preserve the memory of a dead culture.

3) Yesterday's Enterprise - History is altered. We are losing the war with the Klingons. Yar's still alive.

4) Lower Decks - An entire story seen through the eyes of some junior officers.

5) Darmok - Picard is forced to work with the captain of an alien ship whose language our translators cannot figure out.

[Thanos]

Enterprise last season was very very good with the founding of the Federation.The main problem is that Berman strecthed himself too thin with DS9, Voyager and working on ST movies, the writing went from average to bad real fast.

[The Evil Genius]

You know, I have always wondered why ST fans, especially, STNG fans didn't embrace Voyager. Myabe it was Janeway, but I always found the premise intriguing - about how they were forced to bend their rules, morals, etc. to survive with the notion that they may never return home.

Now the ending, don't get me started on that. I hated that Troi and Barclay got involved.

That said, there is a lot to nitpick about the other series. I loved most, but I hated:

1.) 1st season of STNG, crashing of every freaking Enterprise in the NG movies

2.) emissary part of DS9

3.) the last ST Enterprise show - snooze

4.) campiness of original ST - yeah, I know - its suppose to be campy

5.) ending of Voyager - I was hoping Q would send them home (or even better, further away in perfect vindictive Q style).