Best Star Trek Episodes
#15 The Measure of a Man - Next Generation
A more cerebral episode in which Lt. Commander Data refuses to let a scientist dismantle him. To resist the claim that he is property of Star Fleet, he is given a trial in which his rights as an artificial life form are debated.
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16:
A Piece of the Action - Original Series
The crew of the enterprise searches for the crashed federation ship Horizon, and find a culture that sprang up after finding a book "Chicago Mobs of the Twenties". A fun episode that features Captain Kirk playing rival gangs off against each other.
15:
The Measure of a Man - Next Generation
A more cerebral episode in which Lt. Commander Data refuses to let a scientist dismantle him. To resist the claim that he is property of Star Fleet, he is given a trial in which his rights as an artificial life form are debated.
14:
Our Man Bashir - Deep Space Nine
Combining two favorite Star Trek tropes, a transporter accident and getting trapped in the holodeck, this episode gives the crew of Deep Space Nine a chance to play around in a Bond like spy adventure.
13:
Omega Directive - Voyager
In this Voyager episode, the ship's screens are locked down with an ominous omega symbol, and Captain Janeway has to deal with an alien race experimenting with the Omega particle - so dangerous one molecule can cripple a large area of space. Wiping out the particle overrides Star Fleets prime directive, although Seven of Nine sees it as the most perfect object in the universe.
12:
Carbon Creek - Enterprise
Over dinner, the Vulcan T'pol tells a story about her great-grandmother T'Mir, who crash landed on earth in the 1950's - decades before the Vulcan's officially made first contact. They hide for months among the residents of a struggling Pennsylvania coal mining town, and one of her crew finds happiness and stays behind after the others are rescued.
11:
Mirror, Mirror - Original Series
Captain Kirk and his landing team switch places with their doppelganger from a parallel universe where the United Federation of Planets exists as the evil Terran Empire, where crew members extort and assassinate one another for gain. The evil version of Spock discovers the switch, but allows the crew to return home after seeing the logic of a more cooperative society.
10:
In a Mirror, Darkly part I and II - Enterprise
This two part episode revisits the Mirror universe, where Archer takes over the Enterprise to seek out and claim the advanced ship The Defiant, from the original series episode "The Tholian Web". Using this ship, which slipped back in time and between universes, Archer declares himself Emperor of Earth, but still has to deal with conspiracies among his crew to resist or replace him.
9:
Sins of the Father - Next Generation
Lt. Worf discovers that he has a younger brother, who tells him their dead father is charged with treason to the Klingon high council. Worf takes a leave of absence to defend his family's honor on the Klingon home world, and partially succeeds in uncovering the truth.
8:
Trials and Tribble-ations - Deep Space Nine
A great cross-over episode made possible with new video effects technology, the crew of DS9 travels back in time to enter the original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", meeting the crew of the Enterprise-C and foiling an assassination attempt against Kirk.
7:
The Void - Voyager
The Voyager is trapped with many different alien ships in an area of space known as the void. The many ships trapped there are constantly raiding each other for food and basic supplies, and Captain Janeway has to form difficult alliances to survive and make the repairs needed to escape.
6:
Tapestry - The Next Generation
A Star Trek version of "It's a Wonderful Life" - Captain Picard is shot in his artificial heart, and encounters the omnipotent Q telling him that he has died. He gets a chance to go back to his youth before he was stabbed in a bar fight, and finds out that avoiding the risk changes his future to one of routine science work.
5:
Space Seed - Original Series
This episode introduces Khan Noonien Singh, the genetically enhanced warlord from the 1990's, who escaped justice on Earth at the end of the Eugenics War. This dangerous foe seduces a crew member and takes over the Enterprise. Although Kirk does overcome the odds and retake his ship, he exiles Khan allowing him to return in the fan favorite 1982 movie.
4:
These are the Voyages - Enterprise
This series finale, and the last Trek episode to air after 18 consecutive TV seasons, disappointed Enterprise fans but was meant as a valentine to Next Generation fans. It takes place at the same time as TNG episode "The Pegasus". Riker, seeking inspiration, visits the holodeck and studies the last mission of the Enterprise before the signing of the treaty creating the United Federation of Planets.
3:
Far Beyond the Stars
Another episode featuring social issues from the 1950's, Benjamin Sisko has a vision that he is really sci-fi writer Benny Russel working at Incredible Tales magazine. Benny writes stories about a black commander of a space station. After struggling with his editors to get his stories published, the owner trashes the entire print run of the magazine.
2:
Best of Both Worlds Part I and II - Next Generation
Beginning with the third season finale, the crew faces the the ultimate Borg confrontation. Part one ends with a classic cliffhanger, Captain Picard assimilated, now calling himself Lucutus of Borg, and threatening the Enterprise and Earth. In the fourth season premiere, a large fleet is assembled to stop the Borg from reaching Earth, and they desperatly battle to save their friend.
1:
Balance of Terror - Original Series
This episode introduces the Romulans and their cloaking device, and gives Captain kirk a capable enemy commander to match wits with. Inspired by WWII submarine films, this story of two ships playing cat-and-mouse shows Kirk as a tactical genius and offers some cold war paranoia in its subplot.
