I saw this asked of Cenk tonight. It’s a good way to get a fix on where one is coming from (even not showing any interest in Trek says something about your interests…)
Specify series and episode name.
I will say: Original Series; The Ultimate Computer:
My favorite series is definitely Next Generation, I grew up with it and think it still stands up 30+ years later.
Which episode(s) would be harder since I haven’t seen many of them for at least 15-20 years. Darmok (where Picard is trapped on a planet with the captain of an alien ship whose language is unknown) is definitely one of my favorites. “Who Watches the Watchers” (where they accidentally break the Prime Director and Picard is seen as a god) is also a great one.
Almost any episode where they dealt with a deep social or philosophical issue, even when I was a teen, were always my favorites. One exception where that wasn’t the case was “Cause and Effect”, where they get caught in a time loop and have to figure a way out. Unless I’m misremembering, no big life questions in that one, just a puzzle for them to figure out (over and over again!).
“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. Favorite episodes: Season 3’s “Improbable Cause”, Season 4’s “Cross fire”, “Bar Association” (about forming a union), and “Body Parts,” Season 5’s “Call to Arms”, Season 6’s “A Time To Stand”, “Sacrifice of Angels”, “In the Pale Moonlight”, and “His Way”. Season 7’s “Take me Out to the Holosuite”, “Treachery, Faith, and the Great River,” “It’s Only a Paper Moon”, “The Changing Face of Evil”, and “Tacking into the Wind.”
My great sadness is the show runner Ira Steven Behr, who tried to create so much understanding for the causes of terrorism in his writing, signed that evil letter condemning Jonathan Glazer and denying that there ever was an occupation of the Palestinian people.