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cellioBold 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).
Re: Trek
Date: 2004-06-11 04:31 pm (UTC)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...