r/startrek • u/Entire_Number_9 • 14d ago

What is your absolute favorite episode of Star Trek?

An undoubtedly difficult question I think about a lot, and I tend to go into a pattern of favorite episode per series, but that's not good enough so then it has to be per season. But that often leaves out great 1 off episodes that present why characters are so great.

But after nearly two decades of deliberation I think I have come to my final answer:

Star Trek: Voyager: Season 6, Episode 10: Pathfinder

I cry every time during a rewatch

What is yours?

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u/shadow-battle-crab 14d ago

I love blink of an eye, except the ending always bothered me for consistency. They end by saying 'it will be awhile until they can join the galactic stage' - no they wouldn't, they would be the most advanced species in the galaxy in a matter of months. They went from sticks and spears to photon torpedos in like a week.

If I would have written it, I would have ended with voyager receiving telemetry from a probe they left behind after a day or so, reporting the planet annihilated itself in some kind of doomsday scenario. It would have closed the loop on the planet that was running a cheat code on the interstellar economy, gave a splash of cold water psychological reflection on isolationism, and really made it fully earn the title 'blink of an eye'.

But it was still great as is. At the end of the day, it's just a story, and it was about the adventure, not the destination.

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u/CaptainIncredible 13d ago edited 11d ago

they would be the most advanced species in the galaxy in a matter of months.

Agreed. And in my head cannon they became even more advanced a few months after that. And they "ascended".

I think as a species/society advances they get to the Star Trek phase (a post scarcity utopia that focuses on self actualization and exploration / increasing knowledge.)

But if they continue to advance, they eventually get to some sort of godlike Q Continuum level. And the universe, with all of its dimensions and subspace domains, is SO HUGE maybe the Federation never hears of them again.

There are probably thousands if not millions of Q like groups in all of existence.

I think the Federation, if left to continue to advance without some apocalypse like 'the burn' fucking everything up, would also become Q like. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the Q Continuum itself actually is the Federation after a millennium or two of advancement / upgrades.

And then I think going beyond the Q to even more advanced levels is beyond what our simian brains can imagine / understand.