Ten Favorite Star Trek TOS Episodes (1 Viewer)

No need to say why unless you want to.
1. City On The Edge of Forever
2. Balance of Terror
3. The Menagerie
4. Where No Man Has Gone Before
5. Shore Leave
6. Tomorrow Is Yesterday
7. The Galileo Seven
8. The Conscience Of The King
9. Court Martial
10. The Naked Time
Honorable Mention: Mirror, Mirror

First-season purist, I see!
The City on the Edge of Forever
Mirror, Mirror
The Tholian Web
The Devil in the Dark
Journey to Babel
Amok Time
Arena
Errand of Mercy
This Side of Paradise
The Immunity Syndrome
Honorable Mentions (one per year): The Galileo Seven, Return to Tomorrow, The Empath

1-The Doomsday Machine
2-The Trouble With Tribbles
3-All Our Yesterdays
4-Balance Of Terror
5-Mirror, Mirror
6-The Ultimate Computer
7-City On The Edge Of Forever
8-The Tholian Web
9-The Galileo Seven
10-Space Seed

I didn't # mine snce it's too hard for me to pick in order for 10 of these.
- City on the Edge of Forever
- Tomorrow is Yesterday
- The Doomsday Machine
- Elaan Of Troyius
- The Return of the Archons
- The Corbomite Maneuver
- Assignment: Earth
- Bread and Circuses
- The Enterprise Incident
- All Our Yesterdays
Favorite opening theme

Jeff....I didn't realize that you loved "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" so much.

Roy Wall said:

Jeff....I didn't realize that you loved "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" so much.

Click to expand...

Corrected

City on the Edge of Forever
Shore Leave
The Menagerie
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Bread and Circuses
A Piece of the Action
Where No Man Has Gone Before
The Enterprise Incident
Tomorrow is Yesterday
Too many honorable mentions for me to mention.

Some Season 3 shows made it onto my list!
1). The Doomsday Machine- this one has it all
2). Space Seed- loved this one long before 1982's "Wrath of Khan" came along
3). Mirror, Mirror- fantastic concept, well executed
4). The Ultimate Computer- the best "computer run amok" story
5). Tomorrow is Yesterday- favorite time travel adventure
6). Balance of Terror-the Romulans at their finest
7). Spectre of the Gun- sheer fun, Star Trek at the OK Corral
8). Shore Leave- lots of fun seeing new sides to the characters
9). The Paradise Syndrome- loved the scenery, the score and always thought this was the classic series' version of TNG's "Inner Light"
10). Metamorphosis- another great score, and the sad story of Zefram Cochrane
Tally: 4 season 1's, 4 season 2's and 2 season 3's.
For a runner up, I'd go with "Amok Time". For all-time worst, it would have to be "The Way to Eden".

I made a point to *not* look at anyone else's list before I did this. Picking only 10 was difficult and I had to cut a good half-dozen other episodes to get down to just 10. There were a few I knew would make the final cut from the start (the Romulan episodes in particular).
In no particular order these are my 10 most favorite episodes:
S1:
Balance of Terror
Shore Leave
Space Seed
The Devil in the Dark
S2:
Amok Time
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Doomsday Machine
S3:
The Enterprise Incident
The Tholian Web
All Our Yesterdays
All time worst? For me, it's The Empath. I know lots of people like this one and it typically ranks very high in view polls, but it just doesn't do anything for me. I didn't like this one when I saw it during first run. Following close on the heels of that one is: The Omega Glory, And the Children Shall Lead, and The Way to Eden. In spite of how many feel about Spock's Brain I'd rather watch it than any of those 4 (and a half dozen or so others for that matter).
And a special mention for the original pilot, The Cage. I like the stand-alone episode better than the integrated-into-a-2-parter The Menagerie. It *almost* made my top 10 episodes.

Worst episode for me is "Patterns Of Force". The premise is even dumber than anything Lost In Space did and is an example only of a studio trying to save on the budget by getting use out of Hogan's Heroes costumes that were available.

Howie, I'm curious about your view of the popular conception of The Empath. I like it a lot, but my impression was that most other viewers feel the way you do about it. There are at least a dozen episodes I like better, but I think of it as the most underrated episode, if not the best. Don't worry: you can still hate it! Just wondered where you saw it fare so well in polls...it will make me feel less eccentric.

FanCollector said:

Howie, I'm curious about your view of the popular conception of The Empath. I like it a lot, but my impression was that most other viewers feel the way you do about it. There are at least a dozen episodes I like better, but I think of it as the most underrated episode, if not the best. Don't worry: you can still hate it! Just wondered where you saw it fare so well in polls...it will make me feel less eccentric.

Click to expand...

Specifically it's highly ranked in Star Trek Magazine #36 - The Ultimate Guide Part 1. They ranked it as the 3rd best episode from Season 3. The ratings they assigned were done by a single writer who had been assigned a season and tasked with ranking the top 5 episodes as well as selecting the worst of the season. It also has a 6.8/10 at IMDB. While not stellar, it's more than respectable. The Space Seed, and City on the Edge of Forever, 2 episides that are *always* at the top of lists, received 8.9 and 9.2 respectively. It seems like everywhere I see episodes discussed The Empath gets high marks with many supporters making comments like yours that it's "the most underrated episode".

First ten that come to mind:
The Doomsday Machine
The Corbomite Maneuver
City on the Edge of Forever
Amok Time
The Devil In The Dark
Balance of Terror
Tomorrow is Yesterday
Mirror, Mirror
Journey to Babel
Arena
Favorite: The Doomsday Machine
Worst: The Empath

In no particular order:
The Cage - I like the roughness about it, seemed more like the military than it did later, the early scene between Pike and the Doctor is one of my favorite Star Trek moments
Journey to Babel - strong story with lots of personal and Star Fleet info and great guest stars
The Galileo Seven - love seeing Spock in the hot seat, his interactions with McCoy, and his final gambit, this is also one where I really love the new CGI on the blu-ray version
Court Martial - great mystery, legal and physical peril, intense acting, and the sets and lighting are so colorful
The Devil in the Dark - a very human story, which Star Trek is so good at, and the kind of social commentary Roddenberry wanted to do (and in 1966 yet)
The Enterprise Incident - great twists in the story, Kirk in pointed ears and the sexiest Vulcan commander ever
Tomorrow is Yesterday - action, time travel, ethical dilemmas - Star Trek at its best
City of The Edge of Forever - great romance and great sci-fi all in one - like Casablanca they just aren't meant to be together.
The Ultimate Computer - interesting story (Skynet anyone?) and important to me personally - I was just a little kid when this was first shown but I remember seeing it in prime time and being fascinated by the Trek universe
Amok Time - so important in Spock and Kirk's relationship and in depicting Vulcan culture
Hard to choose, so many are so compelling. There are only a few that I avoid: Patterns of Force, This Way to Eden, Omega Glory

Kind of difficult to rank them, but something like this:
The City on the Edge of Forever
Where No Man Has Gone Before
The Omega Glory
Mirror, Mirror
Arena
The Changeling
The Enterprise Incident
The Naked Time
Balance of Terror
The Ultimate Computer
All Our Yesterdays
- Walter.

Thanks, Howie. I am pleased and amused at the thought of millions of us harboring the illusion that it is underrated. I'll have to go try to find that magazine issue. In any case, I may not have the pulse of fandom, as I would not have expected some of the most frequent titles listed in this thread.

Balance of Terror
The City on the Edge of Forever
The Doomsday Machine
Amok Time
Space Seed
Mirror, Mirror
The Naked Time
Errand of Mercy
The Mark of Gideon
The Changeling

With 11 lists posted I thought it might be interesting to see what's received the most votes. Here are the combined totals so far:
9 - The City On The Edge of Forever
7 - Balance of Terror
7 - Mirror, Mirror
7 - The Doomsday Machine
6 - Tomorrow Is Yesterday
5 - Amok Time
5 - The Enterprise Incident
4 - Shore Leave
4 - Space Seed
4 - The Devil in the Dark
4 - The Ultimate Computer
3 - All Our Yesterdays
3 - Arena
3 - Journey to Babel
3 - The Galileo Seven
3 - The Naked Time
3 - The Tholian Web
3 - Where No Man Has Gone Before
2 - Bread and Circuses
2 - Court Martial
2 - Errand of Mercy
2 - The Changeling
2 - The Corbomite Maneuver
2 - The Menagerie
2 - The Trouble With Tribbles
1 - A Piece of the Action
1 - Assignment: Earth
1 - Elaan Of Troyius
1 - Metamorphosis
1 - Spectre of the Gun
1 - The Cage
1 - The Conscience Of The King
1 - The Immunity Syndrome
1 - The Mark of Gideon
1 - The Omega Glory
1 - The Paradise Syndrome
1 - The Return of the Archons
1 - This Side of Paradise
It came as no surprise that The City On The Edge of Forever received the most votes. I was one of 2 people who did not include this episode. Like The Cage, it *almost* made my top 10.

My top 10 would be the following:
1. Space Seed
2. Doomsday Machine
3. Bread and Circus
4. Shoreleave
5. Enterprise Incident
6. Spectre of the Gun
7, Balance of Terror
8. The Trouble with Tribbles
9. A Piece of the Action
10. Arena.
There were some amazing episodes. I like the digitally re-mastered doomsday as my favorite!

Thank you for compiling that list, Howie. It was the high frequency of The Enterprise Incident and, especially, Tomorrow is Yesterday that surprised me. I enjoy both shows, but don't often see them in top 10 lists.