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My Top 10 Episodes of Star Trek

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The time has come for me to unveil my top 10 favorite of all Star Trek! Well, all minus the animated series and Discovery. While I do have some fan favorites on my list, I know this isn’t a typical top 10 of Star Trek, and you see my deep personal bias towards DS9. But this is about my personal favorites and I believe all these episodes are truly great, so I stand by my choices.

I quickly came up with a top 12 so it felt proper to share my two honorable mentions that I sadly had to cut from the final top 10 list.

Honorable Mentions: Yesterday’s Enterprise (TNG) and Similitude (ENT)

Both of these episodes are fabulous and easily belong among the best of Star Trek. Yesterday’s Enterprise is a fantastic alternate timeline story, and Similitude explores ethics in a way that makes you squirm a little, but also makes you really think. Now, on to my top 10!

10. Bride of Chaotica! (Voyager)

This episode is a pure fun homage to classic science fiction, perfectly saluting the campy, black-and-white melodrama that paved the way for Star Trek.

9. Stratagem (Enterprise)

There’s just something about this episode for me. It almost has shades of DS9’s Pale Moonlight, but explores the question of what we would do to save our people from war in a different way. This episode has even affected my own writing.

8. Best of Both Worlds (The Next Generation)

The first time I saw Best of Both Worlds Part One I was completely stunned. They went there! They turned Picard into a freaking Borg! How could things ever go back and it still be a satisfying story? Well, all I can say is they delivered. This two-parter is still quite epic in my mind.

7. Chain of Command (The Next Generation)

I’ve said before that this is a very dark horse choice for me as my favorite of all TNG, but the psychology of this episode has truly impacted me. I think exploring the psyche of a person is one of the, if not the, most powerful tool of storytelling, and these two episodes certainly utilize it.

6. Far Beyond the Stars (Deep Space Nine)

This episode is so freaking important that I think every human being should probably watch it. It covers racism but also talks about ideas and storytelling, all in a very poignant way. Even though this isn’t my top episode, I think if an individual was to only watch one episode of Star Trek, this should be the one.

5. The City on the Edge of Forever (The Original Series)

This is one of the most beloved and heralded episodes of Star Trek, and for good reason. I feel this episode really sets up a lot of the reoccurring themes we find in Star Trek and science fiction, like allowing things to happen as they should of the betterment of humanity.

4. It’s Only a Paper Moon (Deep Space Nine)

This episode is the culmination of a character arc that I absolutely adore, exploring the loss of dreams and what could have been. It’s a tear-jerker for sure and it holds a very special place in my heart.

3. The Trouble With Tribbles (The Original Series)

This episode is just so stinking fun. I love it. And it’s made even better by…

2. Trials and Tribble-ations (Deep Space Nine)

This episode is a perfect homage to the previous episode, and seriously, can we ever have enough Tribbles?

1. Pale Moonlight (Deep Space Nine) 

As brilliant as every episode on this list is, this one, in my opinion, is the most powerful exploration of what mankind is capable of. “So… I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all… I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again – I would.”

I’m curious what would be on your top 10 list of Star Trek episodes! So please tell me what yours are and how many we have in common. Or, if you still haven’t watched Star Trek yet, what are you waiting for? Check out this post I did several years ago about how to get started! 

My Top 10 Episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise

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Last year, my husband and I were talking about startrek.com’s poll results of fans’ favorite top 10 episodes of all of Star Trek. I disagreed with some of the episodes and definitely the order, so my husband suggested I create a top 10 list favorite of each series, and then at the end of our current rewatch do my own top 10 of all the series. We did skip the animated series and have not watched all of the new series Discovery yet, but this is the last top 10 series list for me and soon I’ll be sharing my personal top 10 of all Star Trek! I’m so excited! On to my top 10 of Enterprise…

10. The Expanse (Season Two)

This finale for season two is really what kicks off the rest of Enterprise.

9. Storm Front Parts One and Two (Season Four)

Just when Enterprise thinks Earth is saved from the Xinidi, something has gone terribly wrong in Earth’s past.

8. Affliction/Divergence (Season Four)

In which Enterprise explains the Klingons to us.

7. The Forgotten (Season Three)

An important character development episode for both Trip and T’Pol.

6. Demons/Terra Prime (Season Four)

The ending of this one made me want to cry but it’s still way better than the series finale…

5. E^2 (Season Three)

When the Enterprise crew meets another Enterprise crew, they work together to ensure the Xindi are defeated.

4. Borderland/Cold Station 12/Augments (Season Four)

Genetic engineering arc, need I say more?

3. Carbon Creek (Season Two)

A fun episode were T’Pol tells a story about Vulcans that Trip and Archer enjoy but doubt.

2. Similitude (Season Three)

Man this episode is hard, but it sticks with you. It definitely made me question what I would do in such a situation.

1. Stratagem (Season Three) 

This episode, along with an episode of Deep Space Nine, is actually part of the inspiration of one of my shelved books that I hope to go back to one day. It also has some shades of DS9’s Pale Moonlight with the question: how far would you go to end a war?

 

What are your top episodes of Star Trek Enterprise? I can’t wait to share my top episodes of all Star Trek soon! 

MY TOP 5(ish) EPISODES OF ENTERPRISE SEASON FOUR

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As my husband and I are going through our second full watch of Star Trek as a couple, I thought it would be fun to report on the highlights along the way, so I decided to copy the same format as Charlene as she posted her journey with Star Trek.

I’m sad I’m finished with Enterprise and this Star Trek rewatch! However, I’m also excited to move on to something new after dedicating so much time to this endeavor! And I’m also excited that soon I will be sharing my top ten of all episodes of Star Trek! Spoiler alert: it’s going to be a lot of DS9.

A note about this list: this season was a lot of two and three episode arcs that are really hard to separate, and I didn’t like the standalone episodes from this season nearly as much, so I stopped at four, but it’s technically more than five. I just wanted to do it this way in order to best reflect my faves of the season. Now, without further ado, season four!

4. Storm Front Parts One and Two

I had really forgotten that the season three finale actually opened a new door in the Xindi story line to be resolved in this two-parter. The intensity of season three continues through these two episodes.

3. Affliction/Divergence

This is the arc in which Enterprise retcons the discrepancy between the Klingons’ appearance from the original series to the other series. I wasn’t as captivated with this arc as I was the first time, but they’re still a solid couple of episodes.

2. Demons/Terra Prime

A group of radical xenophobists create a bispecies baby from two Enterprise crew members to hold as an abomination and further their cause to rid Earth and its territories of aliens. Many consider Terra Prime the true finale of Enterprise and I concur whole-heartedly.

1. Borderland/Cold Station 12/The Augments

This arc explores what happened to some of the other genetically engineered augments from Khan’s time and their attempts to conquer other aliens as well as humans.

What are your thoughts on Enterprise season four? Did you feel the show was too short-lived? On a scale of 1 to 10, how enraged are you by the finale? (10 billion is my answer)

My Top 5 Episodes of Enterprise Season Three

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As my husband and I are going through our second full watch of Star Trek as a couple, I thought it would be fun to report on the highlights along the way, so I decided to copy the same format as Charlene as she posted her journey with Star Trek.

This is the Enterprise I have been waiting for. From the word go, this season really delivered episode after episode (well, minus a couple of duds). I thought it would be really hard to narrow down my top five because there was so much good, but the hard part was actually remembering the specifics of some of these episodes that served the overall story arc more than an individual episode arc. As a result, most of my picks are episodes that have strong stories that still went with this season’s arc, but stood out a little more on their own as well.

5. Doctor’s Orders

It’s a common Star Trek trope: the ship is traveling through a part of space that will interfere with most everyone’s *insert medical technobabble here*, and only one or two of the aliens aboard can stay awake and take care of the ship. Despite the fact that the episode isn’t totally unique in concept, I really appreciated the insight we got on Dr. Phlox.

4. The Forgotten

Much like the previous episode, I chose this one for its character development, this time though, for Trip as he continues to struggle with the senseless loss of his sister.We also see T’Pol continue to struggle as she weans herself from her trellium addiction. While it’s terrible she has to go through it, it really opens up a new side of her that changes her character.

3. E^2

Star Trek loves doing alternate timeline episodes, and this is one of the good ones. When Enterprise discovers another Enterprise in the Expanse, they come to find out that their ship had been flung into the past and turned into a generational ship, giving the second Enterprise decades to figure out how they can still accomplish their mission to stop the Xinidi from destroying Earth.

2. Similitude

When Trip is gravely injured in an accident, Captain Archer and Dr. Phlox are faced with some very hard decisions. This episode is kind of uncomfortable, but it’s because it really makes you think about the ethics of the situation.

1. Stratagem

I don’t know how to talk about this episode without spoilers, so let me just say that it’s a very interesting exploration on a theme that intrigues me and gets into some interesting psychology.

What are your favorite episodes from Enterprise season three?

My Top 5 Episodes of Enterprise Season Two

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As my husband and I are going through our second full watch of Star Trek as a couple, I thought it would be fun to report on the highlights along the way, so I decided to copy the same format as Charlene as she posted her journey with Star Trek.

OK, I knew Enterprise really hits its stride in season three, but I expected season two to be a little more interesting. There were a lot of decent episodes, but only a couple of stand-outs for me. Here’s how it came down for me for my top five…

5. Regeneration

Another Star Trek episode, another Borg episode. This one finds a way to connect itself with First Contact (aka my personal favorite Star Trek movie).

4. Dawn

This one has some strong shades of the TNG episode Darmok, but I thought it was a well-done depiction of two people who were trying to shoot at each other and who can’t communicate coming to eventually trust one another.

3. Singularity 

Because of some space anomaly or something, everyone on board Enterprise, save T’Pol (of course), becomes utterly obsessed with a single task they feel they must complete. T’Pol has to find the answer and save the day before everyone’s obsession gets even more carried away.

2. The Expanse

The season finale sets up for the upcoming Xindi arc for season three. They tried to pack a lot in this episode so it probably could have been done in two (or leave out the Klingons), but it was still a pretty good prelude for what’s to come.

1. Carbon Creek

At dinner one evening, T’Pol entertains Trip and Archer with a story about the first time Vulcans actually visited Earth, though Trip and Archer are skeptical of it. This episode does such a good job of getting us to connect with a Vulcan character we don’t even know and root for him when he decides that he wants to make a life for himself on Earth with people he has come to care for. Definitely the strongest of the season, in my opinion!

What are your favorite episodes of Enterprise season two?

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