Best Star Trek Episodes From Every Series, According To The Fans
By Michileen Martin | Updated
The Best Star Trek Episodes From Every Series
It was only about a week ago that we covered the worst episodes from every Star Trek series, according to the fans’ user ratings on IMDb. We thought it wasn’t fair to just look at the negative, and figured it was about time to reveal the best. Here, according to the fans, are the best episodes from every Star Trek show ever.
Star Trek: The Original Series - "The City On The Edge Of Forever"
It’s probably no surprise to fans that “The City on the Edge of Forever” — written by the late Harlan Ellison — has the highest IMDb user rating of any other Original Series episode (9.2). The episode finds Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) pursuing Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) to the twentieth century in order to repair damage to the timeline that wipes out the Federation. Joan Collins guest stars as Sister Edith Keeler, and Kirk is forced to make a horrific decision to save the Federation.
Star Trek: The Animated Series - "Yesteryear"
For Star Trek: The Animated Series, the bad news is that judging by fans’ favorite episode, Trek’s first experiment with animation jumped the proverbial shark pretty early. It’s “Yesteryear,” the show’s second episode, that has the top rating of 8.1. In the story, Spock goes into the past to the save the life of his childhood counterpart.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - "The Inner Light"
Only four episodes in the entire franchise have earned a 9.4 IMDb user rating, and one of them is Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “The Inner Light.” Easily one of the most emotionally powerful episodes in the franchise, “The Inner Light” sees Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) living an entire lifetime in a quarter of an hour. The episode ends with a reveal guaranteed to elicit bittersweet tears.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - "In the Pale Moonlight"
With a rating of 9.4, “In the Pale Moonlight” is another of the episodes that make up the four-way tie of highest rated episode in the franchise, and it’s doubtful that many Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans are surprised. Told from Captain Benjamin Sisko’s (Avery Brooks) point of view as he records a log, “In the Pale Moonlight” reveals how Sisko betrays his ideals in a plot hatched with Garak (Andrew Robinson) to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War on the Federation’s side.
Star Trek: Voyager - "Blink of an Eye"
Most of the highest-rated Trek episodes involve time travel, but in the case of Star Trek: Voyager‘s “Blink of an Eye,” it’s time travel of a different sort. The eponymous ship orbits a planet on which time moves much more quickly than it does on Voyager. As a result, the ship becomes the civilization’s greatest mystery, with its people living thousands of years while Voyager orbits the world.
Star Trek: Enterprise - "Twilight"
Fans of Star Trek: Enterprise proved most impressed with the Season 3 episode “Twilight,” in which Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) experiences a dark future. In “Twilight” Archer wakes up to learn twelve years have passed and that his efforts to make peace the Xindi have failed. Earth has fallen victim to the aliens, and humanity is almost extinct.
Star Trek: Discovery - "If Memory Serves"
The highest rated episode of Star Trek: Discovery is back when the show was still a prequel series. In Season 2’s “If Memory Serves,” we revisit the veiny-headed residents of Talos IV from The Original Series‘ unaired pilot “The Cage.” Through them, Spock (Ethan Peck) and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) are able to sort out their shared past.
Star Trek: Picard - "Vox"
According to fans, Star Trek: Picard saved the best for last: or, more accurately, last and second-to-last. The penultimate episode in the series, “Vox,” sees the dormant Borg assimilation activated just in time for the Frontier Day celebrations. It sets up the explosive events of the series finale.
Star Trek: Picard - "The Last Generation"
With a 9.4, “Vox” and the series finale “The Last Generation” are both the last two episodes in the Star Trek franchise to share the four-way tie of highest rated episodes. The Picard finale gives us the triumphant return of the Enterprise-D, and (perhaps?) the final battle with the Borg.
Star Trek: Lower Decks - "No Small Parts"
“No Small Parts,” the Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks, is tied with an 8.7 for the highest rated episode in the series. The story plants a number of seeds when it comes to future villains. Along with introducing the exocomp Peanut Hamper (Kether Donohue), the episode also features a desperate battle with the Pakleds, who become recurring bad guys.
Star Trek: Lower Decks - "wej Duj"
The penultimate episode of Season 2, “wej Duj,” is the other Lower Decks episode blessed with an 8.7 rating. Along with following the crew of the Cerritos on the their misadventures, “wej Duj” takes the unusual and interesting route of simultaneously following similarly “minor” crew members on a Klingon ship as well as a Vulcan one.
Star Trek: Prodigy - "Supernova"
With each enjoying a rating of 8.8, Parts One and Two of Star Trek: Prodigy‘s “Supernova” share the highest marks from fans of the series. The two-parter brings the events of the first season to a conclusion, with the heroes finally making their way to Starfleet, only to be forced to stop the virus waiting aboard the Protostar from destroying the Federation.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - "A Quality of Mercy"
It’s still a young show, and so far fans’ favorite episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seems to be the Season 1 finale, “A Quality of Mercy.” The story is essentially the opposite of the classic It’s a Wonderful Life, with a future version of Captain Pike (Anson Mount) arriving on board the Enterprise to show his younger self the bad that will come from the captain trying to avoid the accident fated to cripple him. Most of the story unfolds during the events of the classic Original Series episode “Balance of Terror,” but with Pike in the captain’s chair rather than Kirk, things don’t turn out as well for the Federation.
