The Q are second; what is your opinion ABGESCHLACHT?

Sorry your name evokes aggression on many levels :)

I don't really have a strong opinion on ST. I enjoyed TNG when I was young, but I'm really not a trekkie. I do love the Borg, though.

Well you must know the Q if you like TNG right? John DeLancie? "Hello Mon Capitan"

eh, I wasn't a huge fan of him. A bit over the top for my tastes.

My biggest problem with ST was I would get all excited as the plot built up and then it always seemed that in the last 5 minutes, they'd pull some deus ex machina BS like "Oh, if we reverse the di-lithium crystals we can travel back in time 5 minutes before the wales exploded" (I realize I mixing some TOS and TNG together) and then the episode would be over. I usually felt the show to ultimately be anti-climatic, which was a shame because the build-up was always so good.

1. Borg
2. Q
3. Data

Yep that's the problem of Star Trek... Plus the thing they come up with is usually lame if you know enough about engineering to be able to disqualify it :(

@red

Yeah, and it only got worse/more noticeable as I got older. Now I don't really even bother, because even though I enjoy 90% of the episode I just know the last 10% will just make me sad.

Although, unless I'm misremembering the new movie, I think they did a better job of properly resolving the plot.

Absolutely. They should have spiced it up like that ages ago.

@redhouse, I find that true of most "good" science fiction.

@abge, agreed on the excessive deus ex machina. Most of the really good episodes that I think of fondly though, particularly within TNG seasons 3-6, were less about the science and more about the relationships. For example, "Darmok," it's an episode about language (absolutely fascinating, if you don't recall the episode), and the solution is not technobabble. Another example, "The First Duty," when Wes is on trial for an accident at the Academy. The episode was more a framework for philosophy, and IIRC, there was no deus ex machina in that episode either. I think TOS was more victim to the deus ex machina than TNG.

Of course, DSN was plagued with deus ex machina throughout the first three seasons. For forty-five minutes, no plot would even try getting off the ground, and then the episode ended. WHOO! praise Athena Parthenos for that! (I kid, but DSN really was a bore until they build a starship.)

Voyager, damn. That whole show was a deus ex machina, but Kate Mulgrew was so watchable!

^I'll download these. Thanks.
DSN is boring.
I like the TNG episode about the Data trial, no deus ex machine there but a very interesting philosophical one as well.

Tribbles! Tribbles were the coolest!

Make that another vote for the Tribbles from me!

Uhh... Species 8472? Duh?

Tholians.

WHAT ABOUT THE FERENGI THAT SHIT WAS HILARIOUS

and then those dudes that spoke only in stories

"DARMOK AND JALAD AT TANAGRA"
"SHAKA, WHEN THE WALLS FELL"

oh damnit that already got referenced.

well, that's my favorite episode. along with "cause and effect" and "masks" because it is hilariously bad. you are right that the philosophical and social ones are what makes TNG the best sci-fi there is though. Grew up on that stuff and it made me much smarter.

Also:

http://fuckyeahdementia.com/post/17324278079/fire-at-will-via

Whats a Tholians Invictus

Live long and SUCK IT, BORG FANS...

VULCANS ALL THE WAY!

I love many of the races (and by love, I mean they made for great story fodder) - Vulcans, Klingons (the STNG version), the Borg, Data for sure, the Q, the Cardassians... many others - iconic races... but ultimately I don't think we can get out of ourselves enough to imagine a truly alien race that holds up to close scrutiny. Example: I grew up loving the Vulcans... wanted to be one... so cool, logical, controlled... Only later did I realize that TOS was set up in a very Freudian structure - with Spock playing SuperEgo, Bones being the Id most of the time - except when it came to women, and Kirk being the Ego - except when it came to women when he took on the Id role. So... together they create a full interplay that normally might only be internal - but by making them somewhat less rounded as individuals they play off each other... Vulcans and any of the races are really just story telling devices to get us to look harder at ourselves... Does power corrupt? Observe the Q. Does loneliness and destructive boredom also come from power? the Q. Does pure intellect bring happiness? (no) the Vulcans show that. etc.

OK - I got it. My all time favorite "species" was the transporter malfunction (Voyager) combining of Tuvok and Neelix (which was resolved in one episode entitled Tuvix)... that character, Tuvix, was fascinating and heartbreaking to watch. A very interesting thing - both to combine individuals so completely different... but also the conflict between wanting to be returned to themselves and, by the end, finding oneself and wanting to continue to live as Tuvix. (which set up a very interesting ethical dilemma for the Captain when it becomes possible to separate them)

Tholians are basically glass spiders that need tremendous heat and pressure to survive. They're not in many episodes at all, but they're a relatively realistic alien species, a welcome relief from what are basically humans with funny grooves on their heads.

I admittedly haven't seen every episode in the canon... were the Tholians in more than the one TOS episode?

I've only seen one TOS with them, and one Enterprise. I haven't seen anywhere near all the episodes of any series, though. And I have no real interest in diving deeper. The closest I got was when a local station played two episodes of DS9 every afternoon one summer in middle school.

TNG IS THE ONLY CANON RAWRR

#UnnecessarySciFiExtremeistGuy

TOS, TNG, DS9--Good Trek Canon
VOY, ENT--Bad Trek Canon
TMP--Interesting idea for a TV episode becomes an overlong 2001-wannabe
TWOK--Moby Dick+Paradise Lost+King Lear+Khan+Kirk+Spock=Best Trek Film
TSFS--We get Spock back--yay!--and lose the Enterprise--*sob*--in an average flick
TVH--A "Whale" of a Good, Fun Trek Film
TFF--An insult to theists, atheists, Trek fans, the whole cast, and really, the entire universe
TUC--A great last adventure for one of the most iconic bunch of the 20th/23rd centuries
GEN--Kills Kirk, destroys Picard's Enterprise...an embarrassment to BOTH generations
FC--Half action-adventure, half man-fights-inner-demons, a great film, albeit with a few flaws
INS--A lackluster, dull, bland, illogical, smug granola-fest, like a bad Season 1 TNG episode
NEM--Kudos for the Picard/Shinzon and Data/B-4 parts, but the rest...TNG deserved better
ST09--A flawed-but-fun way to reintroduce us to classic characters and a classic series...but can the sequel hurry up and get out already (and can we PLEASE have a TV series, soon, this decade?)

TKWOP = NSFW
TNPD = TMI
GHM = TIA
CIA = FBI

Filming of ST2, by the way, is in progress... about freakin time. Release in 2013.