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TV meme
Bold means I've seen it a whole lot/watched it religiously/etc.
Underline means I've seen every episode at least once.
30. Northern Exposure
29. Highlander
28. Wonderfalls
27. The Daily Show
26. Firefly
25. Freaks and Geeks
24. Absolutely Fabulous
23. Forever Knight
22. H. R. Pufnstuf
21. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (In someone else's home.)
20. Twin Peaks
19. Dark Shadows
18. Doctor Who
17. The Avengers
16. My So-Called Life
15. Quantum Leap
14. Beauty and the Beast
13. Babylon 5
12. Family Guy
11. Mystery Science Theatre 3000
10. Pee-Wee's Playhouse
9. Xena: Warrior Princess
8. The Twilight Zone (see note)
7. The Prisoner
6. The Simpsons
5. Monty Python's Flying Circus
4. Farscape
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. The X-Files
1. Star Trek (see note)
(Aside: I would welcome exposure to Firefly and Farscape, if any of my local friends would care to evangelize in my direction.)
Twilight Zone: There are are few episodes that were not syndicated (mostly from the season of one-hour episodes), and I haven't seen them as a result. I have seen the half-hour episode that was pulled from syndication for reasons of offensiveness. There was a revival that aired about 10 years ago that I've only seen a few episodes of because local stations didn't carry it. I've seen every episode of the recent (UPN) revival.
Star Trek: a few episodes of the original series, but all episodes of all the modern series (TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise).
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(Farscape has a very distinctly dark, slightly surreal tone that some people love and some hate; it is also pretty continuity-rich, so needs to be watched more or less in order. Firefly is more conventional writing, but often quite witty and *somewhat* less bound to episode order.)
Trek: fascinating -- you're actually one of the very few people I know who knows the modern series very well but *not* the original. Have you at least seen all the *good* episodes of the original? (ST:TOS was far more variable than any of the modern versions, ranging from absolute brilliance to utter wretchedness.)
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I guess I know them fairly well. I've seen every episode at least once, but not that many more than once. Some of the TNG details have faded by now. :-) (When Dani first moved into my house he wanted to know what TNG was like but didn't want to watch it all, and I compiled a set of a dozen episodes that I considered to be the best, and showed him those. Sadly, I no longer have that list. It was an interesting exercise.) DS9 was in many ways better than TNG, but also in some ways worse -- better in that they had something resemvling arc stories, but their fits of inanity sunk much lower than TNG's (for example, almost any episode with Ferengi in the 'A' plot). Voyager never reached the TNG level, and Enterprise has been very spotty. This season was better than the previous ones, but if it doesn't have consequences my opinion will change.
Have you at least seen all the *good* episodes of the original?
I don't know -- which are the good ones? Seriously -- I just never got plugged into that fandom at all. I've seen Trouble with Tribbles, and the old-west one, and IIRC TOS had a mirror-universe story, and I'm not sure what else. The very first episode of TOS I saw was horrible and no one warned me at the time that it was atypical, so I thought it was all like that and didn't go back. I only watched the others after getting hooked on TNG, and those came by people pushing specific episodes at me.
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My feeling was that it built. I really didn't care for the first couple of seasons (I thought the cast just didn't gel well), but by the end I was very consistently enjoying it. This is closely related to the rise of the story arc.
which are the good ones?
Oh, let's see. Here are the ones that don't suck, anyway, with subjective A-F grades. Mind, the standards for writing have changed over the years, and only the A and A- episodes are on my personal "must-see" list.
Season 1 to start with:
The Naked Time: B-. fascinating exploration of the characters. TNG had a fairly bad remake of this.
The Enemy Within: C. Kirk gets split into "good" and "bad" Kirk. Medium-grade episode, with Shatner chewing scenery violently, but has some interesting things to say.
Mudd's Women: B-. a rather good exploration of the notion that beauty is only skin deep.
The Corbomite Maneuver: B. notable mainly as the introduction of Poker to Star Trek, as Kirk pulls one of the most brazen bluffs in history. This pretty much defines his character, and indeed remains a persistent metaphor throughout Trek.
The Menagerie: B-. The key story of Kirk's predecessor, Christopher Pike. Slightly overwrought, but classic-style SF.
The Conscience of the King: B+. Inspired strongly by Shakespeare, a story of revenge with some interesting things to say about forgiveness and whether it is possible.
Balance of Terror: A-. A classic submarine-battle story, in space. The introduction of the Romulans.
Shore Leave: B+. A light story about wish fulfillment.
The Squire of Gothos: B. One of the many stories with the plot "the Enterprise encounters a Godlike being"; IMO, this is the best of the bunch. Q has *nothing* on Trelayne.
Arena: C. The classic scenario of Kirk forced to fight an alien against his will.
Tomorrow Is Yesterday: C+. The very first Star Trek time travel story. Not the best, but has some interesting ideas.
Court Martial: B. A reasonably good courtroom drama.
Space Seed: B. The introduction of Khan, from Star Trek II. This lays a bunch of historical groundwork for Trek.
This Side of Paradise:
Devil in the Dark: B-. A seminal if somewhat overwrought ecological parable.
Errand of Mercy: B. Possibly the introduction of the Klingons. The two sides compete for the affections of a neutral planet, and find that they don't entirely understand what's going on.
The Alternative Factor: B-. I have a lot of affection for this episode, as the first alternate-universe story I encountered. The science doesn't hold up, but a good tale of obsession.
The City on the Edge of Forever: A. In many people's books the best episode of Trek ever; certainly one of the best time travel stories. Very human-level examination of the implications of time travel, with some of the best acting and writing the series ever had.
Season two later...
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Amok Time: A-. The definitive Spock episode, as that stereotypical Vulcan cool finally succumbs to hormones. Much of what we know about Vulcans comes from this story.
The Changeling: C. Not a *good* episode, IMO, but a somewhat important one. Star Trek: The Motionless Picture is sort of vaguely adapted from this episode. And it has the definitive "kill the computer with logic" scene.
Mirror, Mirror: A. The introduction of the Mirror Universe, and an all-around fun episode. This one resounds through ST fanfic to this day.
The Doomsday Machine: B-. Rather melodramatic, but an interesting Moby Dick story, as the Enterprise goes up against the universe's largest ice cream cone. Inspired by Saberhagen, IIRC.
I, Mudd: B. Harcourt Fenton Mudd gets his own planet. Not at all deep, but a fun episode of the ups and downs of having an unlimited number of androids at your disposal.
Metamorphosis: C. Weird Romance story, interesting mostly because it introduces Zephram Cochrane, who becomes a critical character in the Trek backstory. (However, this version and the one in the movie bear no resemblance to each other.)
Journey to Babel: A-. *Hugely* important story, that defines much of the Trek universe's geopolitics. Low-grade thriller in style.
The Trouble With Tribbles: A-. You've seen it.
The Gamesters of Triskelion: C+. Another "aliens force our heroes to do battle" story. Interesting mainly for introducing the quatloo, the favorite pseudo-currency of fanfic jokes.
A Piece of the Action: A. I love this one -- pure silliness, but fun. Our heroes wind up in a perfect simulation of gangland Chicago, and we finally get proof that James T. Kirk is, at heart, a gang boss. Very much like Star Trek IV in tone.
The Immunity Syndrome: B according to
Return to Tomorrow: B-. Rich in pathos, as our heroes find themselves embroiled in millenia-old loves and rivalries.
The Omega Glory: F. Notable mainly as a reminder that nothing in TNG was quite this awful. A mind-blowingly ham-handed metaphor for the Cold War, apparently ghost-written by propagandists in the State Department.
Assignment: Earth: A. Pilot for a spinoff series that sadly never happened except in fanfic. My personal favorite time-travel episode, as the Enterprise finds itself in the distant past (that is, today), confronted by a man who is not at all what he seems. Gary 7 is perhaps the greatest enigma in the Trek continuity.
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The Enterprise Incident: B. A confusing but fun espionage story of betrayal, counter-betrayal and hidden agendas. The other major Romulan episode.
And the Children Shall Lead: F-. The only episode worse than The Omega Glory. Melvin Belli as an evil alien. This episode is mind-bendingly awful, the absolute nadir of Star Trek. It features the most annoying earworm in the history of the human race.
Spectre of the Gun: D. Mentioned only because it's "the old-west one". Not a good episode.
All Our Yesterdays: C. The weakest of the time-travel episodes, but not as painful as most of Season 3.
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Re: Trek
Not overwhelming at all. Thanks for the data! At some point I will use it to increase my Trek education. :-)
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i also got all of Farscape on videotape during an obsessive taping episode. i didn't actually watch it while i was taping it (too much other stuff going on) but have been watching it now as it airs on Sci Fi (i'm a little ways into the 2nd season). i'm pretty happy with it so far. you're welcome to borrow the tapes.
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