MAKE IT POLL: ILX Star Trek nominations thread at last! VOTING ENDS 2016/09/09

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8f/88/03/8f88036cacc9b304598c83605f343e58.jpg

THE RULES
Vote for 20 episodes from all four five of the canonical Star Trek TV series, yes that includes The Animated Series Enterprise (if you're that kind of Trekkie).

Multipart episodes bearing the same episode title like "The Best of Both Worlds" will count as a single entry (TNG's' ensusing "Family", however, will be considered separately). DS9's Final Arc, though connected, will be treated as discrete individuals.

I'm giving everyone a month, which probably isn't enough time to fully familiarize yourselves with a whole series outside of TOS, but I assume that we'll want to wrap this up sooner than later. With sufficient outcry, I am willing to extend the deadline, of course.

Scoring
1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12

NOTE: Any Enterprise entries will count for double points, just to make things more competitive. (No, not really.)

Optional Side Polls
Rank the 5 Captains
5 favorite non-captain characters
5 favorite movies
5 favorite aliens
Ryker: Beard or No Beard?

Submit to:
All ballots sent to leeeee [at] gmail [dot] com (with "ILX Star Trek Poll" in the main subject if you please) will be assimilated into the collective results.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series_episodes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_episodes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine_episodes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_Voyager_episodes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_Enterprise_episodes
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Main

I probably don't know all the series well enough to make a ballot, but looking forward to seeing the results!

http://www.startrek.com/uploads/assets/articles/ae41b5b95847b66970db2f91f8d01a9e294c1d7a.jpg

Ignorance is irrelevant, you will vote.

lol @ top image. can I vote if my ballot will be 90% tng?

This would be my question, as well. I've watched the shit out of some TNG and all of the OG movies (and I've seen a smattering of everything else save Enterprise) but I'm otherwise largely Trekgnorant.

'Other Media' would be a cool side poll. I have read a couple of the novels, and everyone seems to rave about How Much For Just The Planet? as one of the best Trek-related things ever. But you're runnin' the poll so I trust your judgment.

I'd be pleased as punch if the results were dominated by TNG!

I've only read a couple novels, neither of which were the one OL mentioned. I could certainly add that as a side poll, but I wouldn't be able to vote in it myself!

TOS only here

5 fave aliens: species or individuals?

i.e. am i putting ferengi or quark at the top

Did they ever name the alien race that was trying to infiltrate Starfleet during s1 of TNG?

I think I need to submit a TOS-only ballot to help balance skewing by mistaken younger voters

5 fave aliens: species or individuals?

Species. If you like Quark, you can vote for him individually.

Did they ever name the alien race that was trying to infiltrate Starfleet during s1 of TNG?

Looks like they're referred to as neural parasites: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Neural_parasite_(24th_century)

Mine's gonna be TOS- and DS9-dominated probably.

xpost thanks leee! that's what I figured just making sure

do you have a format preference for the episodes?

gonna take me a while to reacquaint w/ some of the eps

By all means stan for your favourite TOS (or other) episodes. I had a binge a couple of months ago, watched 17 of them. Better than I was expecting, less corny! Still pretty corny though. Brawl ratio currently 10:17.

By my count, there are three categories that the Tribbles could take here.

i will only be voting for one tribble episode tyvm

Did Kirk ever boink a tribble or was that where he drew the line

I realise that it is an objectively bad film, but I hope that Star Trek V gets some votes. when I was seven years old the idea of them flying a spaceship to the centre of the universe and meeting god seemed like the most amazing thing. I watched it again as an adult a few years ago and the whole script seems like it was made up by a seven year old, which is maybe why it spoke to me so much at that age

Star Trek V is easily the worst ST thing I've been exposed to.

do you have a format preference for the episodes?

Do you mean something like "Episode Title" (series name) (in the event multiple series have episodes with the same title)?

Yeah, or did you want like S05E08 or whatever

I like some post TOS stuff but for the purposes of this poll my ballot's gonna be all TOS for sure

Will, episode title (and optionally the series name) will be fine -- I'd probably ignore the production number.

In case anyone needs any help deciding riker beard v no beard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck-VIA1GUCY&list=PL67ABF0793ACF3B87

points off for not ending with a trombone solo

so hyped for this, thanks leee! my ballot will have some token tng and ds9 but otherwise trek to me is tos -- don't think anyone should worry about the diversity of their selection.

will get hi and choke up this and subsequent threads at some point but for now here's a block of advocacy from somewhere else:

"balance of terror" a big one for me despite its leaving out most of the usual star trek stuff in favor of what's basically a naval-combat drama. but its empathy for the romulans is very trek.

the diptych of s2's "a private little war" (allegory not for vietnam but for the self-exculpating american fantasy of vietnam; comes down on the side of the war but allows bones a furious dissent) and whatever that s3 one's called where the gas is making everybody hate each other (first line on return from commercial: "we must stop this war now") is pretty central

i love the colors and the kirk pauses in "the gamesters of triskelion" but the drag queen jokes are a drag

"the squire of gothos" a #1 contender imo -- weird, funny, has a nice after-school point to make about power and maturity, lots of fuck yeah kirk stuff. some people prob find the squire unwatchable tho.

spock character episodes always good: "amok time", "journey to babel", the one where he defects to the romulans.

"mirror mirror" the absolute peak of Goofy Trek, partly because it's not all goofy. evil spock -- so totally similar to good spock -- the scariest villain in the whole show. evil kirk on the other hand a hilarious idiot. spock's reply to "what is it you want, spock? power? i can get that for you, spock! I CAN GET THAT FOR YOU!" is nimoy's single best "fascinating."

― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Thursday, March 3, 2016 1:12 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

whatever that s3 one's called where the gas is making everybody hate each other

(this is "day of the dove" btw and it's not really very interesting but i do still recommend "a private little war" which is a very vivid artifact. a piece of simplistic self-regarding propaganda with the weird decency to end in doubt.)

I wanna rep for Plato's Stepchildren

genuinely creepy one

"devil in the dark" is often and rightly cited as an excellent one but it can prob be pretty boring for an initiate -- no crew outside of the main three, no enterprise stuff to speak of or possibly iirc at all, dramatic climax a scene where leonard nimoy presses dramatic claw-hands to a shuffling carpet draped over some stagehands and howls "PAIN!!!!". still v empathetic, v trek.

it has a lot of my favorite Trek elements - classical allusions, characters being forced to act ridiculous, a couple genuinely moving monologues, a progressive groundbreaking TV moment, great supporting characters and of course it looks fantastic

xp

my favorite Trek elements - classical allusions

otm. soft spot for "who mourns for adonais?" (the One With The Hand) for this reason. whole premise of show obv pretty odyssey tho not i guess as odyssey as voyager.

yeah that one's great, although Adonais is not quite as engaging a character as Alexander the Dwarf.

I'm somewhere in the middle of TOS season 1 and it's gotten a lot more interesting than the first third of episodes. I like the Trelane one, and the one where "The Galileo Seven" are really fun!

i'm gonna take some time and sit down w/ it but at this moment were i forced to choose, i'd be hard pressed to put anything above balance of terror. what a great episode.

no. no. he's shrewd, this starship commander. he tries to make us waste energy.

Kinda wish this poll came out after the hella mega TOS+TAS+OG movies bluray set was available because that's when I was planning to properly dive into the old stuff.

OH YES "Balance of Terror"! Love Romulans.

OL I might extend the voting deadline just so I can finish TOS off myself.

I'll be voting. I've seen the first two seasons of TOS, all of TNG, a few random DS9 episodes and most of the first two seasons of Voyager. Is there anything in TOS season 3 I should watch before voting?

i'm gonna be that guy who has multiple Voyager eps on their ballot

good-to-great TOS S3 episodes:

Spock's Brain
And the Children Shall Lead
Is There In Truth No Beauty?
Plato's Stepchildren (as discussed)
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Way to Eden (SPACE HIPPIES!)
The Cloud Minders
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

TOS had the best episode titles that's for sure

last battlefield will prob make my list. it gets a lot of flak for being heavy-handed, but i think it's great!

Frank Gorshin at his hammy best

Spock's Brain is the Showgirls of ST

(garbage, it is)

And the Children Shall Lead also krap

Belli is rolling in his grave

I have seen Spock's Brain and it is indeed crap. The Enterprise Incident is the highest rated S3 episode on IMDB -- I just watched it, and won't be voting for it.

Graph TV:
TOS http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0060028
TNG http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0092455
DS9 http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0106145
VOY http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0112178
ENT http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0244365

I don't think the language-composed-entirely-of-analogies thing actually makes much sense (seeing as how the analogies were all still composed of conventional grammatical tools - verbs, nouns, etc.) but whatever.

the grammatical sentences we hear are meant to be an artifact of the struggling universal translator, right? so there's some unheard ~stream of images~ -- shaka, the walls, a certain time -- expressed according to who knows what rules, which the translator is grasping as images/ideas if not as metaphors and rendering in something like english. it just doesn't know who shaka is.

i could be wrong tho cuz i'm always confused about how the translator works. i mean their lips are always recognizably saying the english words, it never makes any sense. plus i mean that is Quite A Feat for a piece of software to be always performing on the fly w zero data to start with. really everyone should sound like darmok for the first few days.

iirc darmok is one of the first episodes featuring the rad captain jacket picard starts wearing in s5, love that jacket.

i'm a bad egg and did not make the deadline. working on it tho.

I'll do it, promise!

Anyone got any more good TOS/DS9/Voyager (or even Enterprise!) recommendations? Especially anything from DS9 that doesn't spoil the ongoing story.

Star Trek 101's Essential Episodes is a good news pace to start. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek_101#.22Ten_Essential_Episodes.22_feature

Some of the DS9 ones are part of the main arc though.

I suggest DS9's The Visitor and Far Beyond the Stars. Total one-offs, no arc.

DS9 Past Tense is a fun 2 parter that's not part of the main arc. Also all the 'let's torture O'Brien' episodes (Whispers, Visionary, Hard Time)

for VOY I particularly liked:
Distant Origin
Living Witness
The Thaw

I forget if Bride of Chaotica is fun or not. Second The Thaw though.

Weird fun DS9 that I liked:
The House of Quark / Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
The Lwaxana episodes
Visionary
Body Parts

The Magnificent Ferengi is the best DS9 ferengi comic relief episode imo (feat. Iggy Pop as a Vorta!). the ferengi episodes have a pretty low hit rate but that one is fantastic.

i also like the one with the scene where Quark attempts to explain capitalism to the Prophets

That comes kind of late in the series when the war stuff gets hot and heavy, which is why I didn't include In the Cards.

For such a lightweight episode, In the Cards has got some of my favourite character moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx5I7uEEEYo

watched TNG "Frame of Mind" last night, that's a real good one as has been mentioned

also watched VOY "Latent Image" which was a pretty strong Doctor episode

Remember, the deadline was extended to the end of the month! Two more weeks to comply submit!

MAKE IT SO

I watched "Darmok" last night and the weird thing was that when Ensign Lefler showed up, I faintly remembered that she was significant in some way; only after I looked her up did I realize that she's Ashley Judd!

Watched the first half of All Good Things last night, never seen it before. Stoked for part two. Then it's ballot time.

bit distracted in part two by the miniature penis beverley has had installed in her neck

http://imgur.com/a/LLSEf

http://i.imgur.com/msFBohV.jpg

It's more beautiful than I remember.

GET YOUR BALLOTS IN! 9/30 11:59pm PST.

Got mine in yesterday. Already thought of several oversights, but no regrets! This is going to be great.

just sent a ballot

10 ballots so far (not counting mine).

Couple options. I'm swamped at work, and won't be able to tabulate results for the indefinite future. So, either I extend the deadline again and hope to collect more ballots, or someone can tab the results for me and roll out the results more quickly.

10?!

get it together people, what kind of nerds do we have around here

i'm on this i swear, mostly made, side polls done, just needs tweaking, might watch some episodes today.

I've got a poll set ready to send, but it's verrry heavy on TNG, so I might readjust if you extend the deadline. If not, it'll be with you soonish today!

I'm likewise swamped at work, happy to help tab at a later date, tho

sent! 13 TOS, 7 TNG. definitely gonna regret not re-onscreening the animated series.

eh the animated series really doesn't hold up imo

I mean it's fun in a campy Adult Swim way but the animation is terrible and the stories are uniformly sloppy/dopey

the thing i like about it is it's the only series that can have actual alien-looking aliens in it, like that yellow insectoid bird thing that's just hanging out w them at one point

haha yeah that's true it does go places the live action show couldn't

the episode where all the male crew get sirened and uhura takes command of the ship is really cheesy but on the other hand UHURA TAKES COMMAND OF THE SHIP

anyway it was admittedly hard enough making the last few cuts as it was.

Did you get my ballot?

the thing i like about it is it's the only series that can have actual alien-looking aliens in it, like that yellow insectoid bird thing that's just hanging out w them at one point

The unicorn dog in 'enemy within' not good enough for you?

i did think of "devil in the dark"'s snuffling carpet while posting that

Ledge, yes, got your ballot. We have all of 11 now! (May have miscounted earlier.)

Make that 12!

When's the reveal?

If people are OK with only 13 ballots, I'll work something out with Chuck Tatum for the reveal.

I'm always bummed when a poll doesn't break 20 ballots but that's just me

7 more may be asking a lot. I tried to get Carl to submit one but she never had the time.

Considering how many times I've extended the deadline, that's a lot of time!

I know, priorities, man.

can't make people vote whadayagonnado

Bumping to let you all know I'm collating the ballots now! Remember Me You are not forgotten!

Thank you sir.

And if anyone were to slip a ballot in the meantime, well, golly, I haven't been keeping track of datestamps or anything...

:D

Did morbz vote before he was banned

No. :(

Goddammit