Back on September 14, 2017, I published my Star Trek Most Rewatched List in response to Netflix releasing a similar list on September 12th of that same year. While my previous picks on that list haven’t changed, I want to add a couple of episodes from some of the newer Star Trek series. The series I’m referring to are Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Yes, I know that series such as Discovery, Prodigy and Picard are out there, but they don’t peek my interest to re-watch them the way Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks do. I also know that Strange New Worlds only has 20 episodes to pick from and Lower Decks has just under 45 episodes. That may not seem like many to chose from, but it is because the chosen episodes are so well written.
My criteria for re-watching is the same as it was seven years ago. All of these episodes involve second chances – a theme common to all of the Star Trek series. There are spoilers in this post and you have been warned. A final note: All of the Star Trek series episodes mentioned here are available for streaming on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
1. A Quality of Mercy – The expression, “A man often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it,” is in play here. Captain Christopher Pike knows what his fate is, as do we. He not only knows what is to happen to him, but also how it happens. When he thinks he has figured out how to avoid his horrific fate, he is visited by his future self who shows him the consequences of his intended actions. There are two things that make this episode stand out. We see how Captain Pike would have handled the events from the original Star Trek episode, The Balance of Terror and we see why Spock takes the actions he does in the original Star Trek episode, The Menagerie. Pike learns the hard way that he can’t (and shouldn’t) run away from his fate. (Season 1, Episode 10)
2.. Ad Astra Per Aspera – With perhaps the exception of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, The Inner Light, this is the episode I rate as the best of all the episodes ever made. This is my hill and I am prepared to die on it. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Number One) faces court martial, imprisonment and dishonorable discharge from Starfleet – not because of what she has done but because of who she is. In the Star Trek pilot, The Cage, Number One had no real name, no background and little personality. This episode tells us who she is, why she joined Star Fleet and why she is fighting so hard to stay in. At her trial, when she is asked why she joined Starfleet, she replies, “Ad astra per aspera.” It was the Starfleet motto before the Federation. It means: “To the stars through hardship.” The end of this episode will have you smiling (and thinking). It will make you remember why you liked Star Trek in the first place. (Season 2, Episode 2)
3. Subspace Rhapsody – I like this episode for the same reasons that I liked Deep Space Nine’s episode, Trials and Tribble-ations. It is a brilliant piece of art. It is Star Trek: The Musical and it works perfectly. Because of an accident with an experimental quantum probability field, everyone on the Enterprise uncontrollably breaks into song whenever their emotions are stirred. However, the field (and its effects) is spreading. Whatever is happening, is not just happening on the Enterprise, it’s happening to other ships – enemies and allies alike. When you watch Captain Pike profess (sing) his love to the Captain of another ship in front of his bridge crew before his Security Officer mercifully kills the transmission; or watch Spock sing about how he is now the “ex” of Nurse Chapel, you realize how talented this cast is. I repeat this is Star Trek: The Musical and it is first class viewing. (Season 2, Episode 9)
4. Those Old Scientist – This episode is one of the most clever shows ever. If you hadn’t considered watching the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, this episode will make you reconsider. I’ve maintained for a long time that a professional voice actor is just as much an actor as a live action one. I’m pleased that the voice actors for Lower Decks, Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid, proved me right when they appeared as their animated characters Ensigns Mariner and Boimler in this episode. They had the mannerisms of their animated characters down pat. The plot is simple: An accident while investigating a time portal sends Ensigns Beckett Mariner and Bradward Boimler into the past where they meet Captain Pike and his crew. Pike has to figure out how to get them back to where they belong before they can alter the timeline. Ensigns Mariner and Boimler meet their personal heroes (Uhura and Spock, respectively) and realize meeting your heroes is not always a good thing. But this episode? This is a good thing. (Season 2, Episode 7)
Star Trek: Lower Decks
1. Crisis Point – Therapy works. That’s the bottom line of this episode. Ensign Mariner comes from a family of senior Star Fleet officers. Her mother is the captain of the ship she serves on and her father is an Admiral. She, too, would be a senior officer if she had not been demoted so many times for insubordination. During a mission, she violates the prime directive and is ordered to counseling by her mother, Captain Freeman. While venting to her friends, she repurposes Ensign Boimler’s holodeck program to cast herself as the villain in a Lower Decks style movie where her intent is to liberate herself from her mother’s control by violent means. By the end, she substantially changes her relationship with her mother after discovering more about herself than she ever knew was possible. (Season 1, Episode 9)
2. Grounded – Captain Freeman is put on trial for the destruction of Pakled Planet. The problem is, she didn’t do it and is being framed. Freeman’s crew is grounded and her ship is in space dock. Ensign Mariner enlists her friends on a rogue mission to find evidence to exonerate her mother. This episode is on the list because it points out something Star Trek viewers take for granted with every episode. On every series except Lower Deck, we are watching the bridge crew and senior staff make life and death decisions. When a problem arise, the bridge crew solves the problem. In this episode, Captain Freeman is exonerated, but by senior staff and actions performed off-screen. Mariner and her Lower Decks friends have no effect on Captain Freeman trial resolution despite their efforts. A highlight of this episode is Ensigns Rutherford and Tendi dining at Sisko’s restaurant (owned by Joseph Sisko, father of Captain Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space 9) (Season 3, Episode 1)
3. Dos Cerritos – A spatial anomaly forces the Cerritos crew to come face to face with their counterparts from another dimension. The only way for the Cerritos crew to get home is to work together with the other dimensional crew. Lieutenant (j.g.) Mariner is stunned to see that her counterpart is the Captain of the other ship and that in the other dimension her mother, Captain Freeman, has been reassigned to the worst Star Base in the Fleet. However, Lieutenant Mariner is not prepared for the way Captain Mariner runs her ship or the surprise the Captain has in store for her. Lieutenant Mariner sees what kind of officer she could become and decides based on meeting her other self what kind of officer she wants to be. (Season 5, Episode 1)
As I have said for decades, the Star Trek franchise is about hope and second chances. That’s why these episodes are on my list. What’s on yours?
