10 Greatest Battles In Star Trek History 

Even the battle half way to epsilon 9 is good. It’s the battle that took Kirk by surprise.

You said it brother, just rewatched that movie 2 days ago and was impressed anew by it's brilliance the battle of will and wit between Kirk and Khan plus the introduction of blood and fire to the franchise make it easily the best

Khannnnnn!!!!

Sauce for the goose me savek

I expected to see it in this list as well. It’s the Star Trek version of submarine warfare, complete with amazing ILM effects for the era.

"Doomsday Machine" was pretty good also!

Doomsday Machine had INCREDIBLE PATHOS. Still sends chills up my spine.

Thanks Nicholas Thomas. I couldn't remember the title of the show. Easily, number one batter. Even if it was a rip off of the Enemy Below WWII Destroyer versus Sub movie.

Agreed, those classic naval style battles of wit, experience, guile waged between a limited number of ships in the dark are the epitome of good Star Trek battles.

@@scottl9660 Well they were the protoypes and deserveth props for that alone!

Spock: Khan's attack pattern suggests two-dimensional thinking. It's been very effective because your strategy has also suggested two-dimensional thinking.

@@firstname9954 There are reasons why certain generals, admirals and sea captains become famous, and that is because the decisions they make matter. Further it was superbly shot, building tension in each battle in the movie until the moment that the tension is released in magnificent fashion.

@@firstname9954 because of the captains? WTF are you talking about?

I just assumed they'd be 1 and 2, and I watched the video just to see which order ... sigh

I actually liked the first battle more.

the first battle was more of a battle. The second was just a game of hide-n-seek.

Yeah what the heck? It manages to be more engaging than the dominion battles despite having clunky special effects.

This isn't a video about what makes the best "scene", its strictly about battle. in that, Wrath of Khan was just a skirmish between two ships, over the life of one man. Even if you include Genesis into the conversation (which barely got any mention on screen, and mostly just in a deleted scene), the stakes were far less than what SHOULD be on this list.... The battle at the Neutral Zone from "Balance of Terror". Its stakes were CLEARLY spelled out, a new war between the Federation and Romulan Empire, should the Enterprise fail. A war which would have taken far more lives than Khan ever could have with his singular device (if he even could have made it to anything but an outer colony anyway). Just because we love Wrath of Khan as a film, doesn't mean its battle fits in the context of this video.

@@BrianD0313 You don't know what ship battles are.

Seriously. And even the 1701’s final battle in STIII was better than most of what’s on this list. Janeway staring through a hole in the bridge seconds before the great reset button gets pushed is NOTHING compared to Kirk sacrificing THE Enterprise!

@@joshcochran2217 agreed. Even simply stealing the 1701 was more epic than Janeway smashing the Krenim.

the problem with both Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock's battles are.... the complete utter lack of stakes. In Wrath of Khan, the battle in the Mutara Nebula is literally just "Kill the bad guy before he kills us", and in Search for Spock... did that even really count as a battle?

What a dumb comment. What were the stakes in anything on the list besides killing the bad guy first? In TWOK, it was stopping Khan from escaping with a superweapon with Spock sacrificing himself in the process. It’s funny that Nemesis is on the list since its final battle was a ripoff of TWOK - bad guy with a superweapon, central character sacrificing himself to save the crew. No stakes. Give me a break.

@@joshcochran2217 Yeah, he has no idea what he is talking about. Now, that "battle" in Year of Hell, now that was a battle that had no stakes. The 1st part of the 2 part episode began with the crew of Voyager on the bridge. The end of the second episode ended with them on the bridge in the exact same moment as the beginning of the first episode. Basically, a full two episodes where literally nothing happened.

Yeah, I kept waiting for the climax of Wrath to show up on the list and then it didn't.

The Battle of the Mutara Nebula.

@@zqxzqxzqx1 that battle is awesome, but their first encounter with the Reliant is still a better battle than some on this list.

@@reidtyndall4953 True dat. Battle of the Genesis Moon? Battle of Regula 1?

When it got to No2 & still wasn't there, I wondered if Wrath of Khan or Balance of Terror would be no.1. I was surprised neither made the top 10.

Shaka! His eyes open!

Temba , at rest

Darmok and Jihlad at Tenagra!

Enough said

a.k.a. "Dharma and Jamal on Viagra" ;)

What puts it at number one? What makes it so special, in the context of "greatest battles" beyond just being in your favorite trek movie? What makes a "great battle"? This is not a list of greatest scenes or greatest villains. Context is important

@@k1productions87 Oof. Ok. 1. Most character weight and stakes for 2 arch enemies. 2. Most pivotal battle, as it literally shaped the entire arc of the original 6 movies. 3. Best music 4. Suspense 5. The only time when the odds were absolutely against the Enterprise, save for the reboot. Like I can go on, but you saying “context is everything “ is kinda funny, because I think you missed all the context. Read the comments. It’s the best battle

@@TheManoDestra we are conflating narrative and content. The list here is the greatest battles, not the greatest villains, movies, or scenes. 1. character weight has little to do with what makes a good battle. Good scene, yes. Sisko and Dukat in "Waltz" for example, GREAT scene of verbal (even physical) jousting between arch enemies... but that is for a different list. 2. Narratively it sets things in motion... but the battle itself has no impact upon what happened on Genesis, the whale probe, Sybok's appearance, or the Khitomer conference. The battle isn't even mentioned afterward. Spock's death is mentioned, but that was an aftermath event, not part of the battle itself. And even then, it was one man sacrificing himself to save the ship. Hardly pivotal in any kind of historical context. Hell, Matt Decker did the same thing, as did every Captain who ever stayed aboard while trying to save his crew. Narratively its great, but it does not a great battle make. 3. ... has NOTHING to do with the context of "greatest battle". Again, you are confusing it with "greatest scene"... and even in that I will disagree. The greater music was Genesis Countdown, and I'll even put "Stealing the Enterprise" as a scene above that one. 4. suspense was far stronger in "Balance of Terror" and it too is not on this list... and had far more to offer 5. the only time what? V'ger would like a word or two The Whale Probe could not even BE attacked Chang's Bird of Prey FAR outmatched Enterprise and Excelsior because of its advanced cloak And then of course there is the Scimitar... and that's only mentioning the movies. Enterprise-D had been outmatched in TNG several times, and not only by The Borg.

@@k1productions87 ​ @K1productions There’s a lot that we need to unpack here. I’m going to attempt to be as objective as possible on this, and maybe this is just a good way for me to solidify my thoughts and opinions. I appreciate your zeal, but as always with internet comments, you have your opinion, and I have mine. I doubt there is little I can do to change that. But still, I think you offer a weak and porous argument in opposition to mine, from a lack of precision and fundamental understanding of what the question is here. So, let’s break it down….. First, we have some imprecision in your last written comment that we need to address: “We” are not conflating anything. You are making an argument that "I" am conflating context and narrative. Even though that’s a common parlance of speech, it is imprecise. It doesn’t help you state your opinion. Rather it serves to poorly and passively-aggressively attempt to negate my argument. Next, saying “you are conflating” something is not an argument: It’s a way of framing things in your terms and opinions, as an attempt to, again, poorly negate my argument. It's your right to do so, but I think it's incorrect. I think this imprecision comes from a lack of definition on your (and I’d argue the OP's) opinion on what this video is actually about. This List is the “Top 10 Best Battles in Star Trek History.” Notice that it doesn’t say “Top 10 Space Battle conflicts in Star Trek History,” or “Top 10 Greatest a-massing of Fleets” or “Top 10 Greatest Space Maneuvers” Etc. In Movies/Theater, Battle Scenes serve as a vehicle for this basic premise: It signifies the key elements and conflict of a story, dynamically through action set-pieces. It’s about the struggle for power, the raising of stakes, and the dramatic progression of the tension element in a movie/TV show/story, etc. At the end of the day, it seeks to answer the question of what happens when the protagonist and the antagonist collide. In this case, the OP has framed this in light of battles between starships in the Star Trek universe. But the definition of Greatest Battle Scenes (I argue) still has to do with the characters in the story, and their conflict. The ships in the battles only have importance because of the crews that they carry, and the goals they are trying to accomplish. If this title was to suggest the most greatest amount of space maneuvers between starships, then it would probably be “The Charge of the Light Brigade” . It's a very fine battle (especially in the upscaled resolution in “What we left Behind. I hope you've seen it! It's on RU-vid for Free!) But, that’s not how this video is framed, and also explains why 90% of the comments section (correctly) says “Where’s Enterprise vs. Reliant?” The problem with many of these starship battles is that they lack resonance from an audience point of view. For example, even though The Charge of the Light Brigade is great as a space battle, it’s tough to feel anything other than “WOW EXPLOSIONS!” When a Galaxy-Class starship is annhilated on screen, we see the set piece, but we don’t “feel it.” There’s tension, but it’s kept at a distance. We see death, but don’t acknowledge it. In Reliant vs. Enterprise, each phaser blast HURT. No one had ever seen the Enterprise scarred, burned, wrecked, and ruined. The beautiful Enterprise had been attacked in the past, but never had we, as an audience, see her mangled. It was visceral, shocking, that our vehicle through the stars would take such a blow. There’s surprise and twists that (upon 1st watch) has you on the edge of your seat. It was magnified by the stakes, and the tension of all the scenes, the deception, the score, the lighting, cinematography, EVERYTHING. When Enterprise drops the shields of the Reliant, and fires back, as an audience, our blood races! When we realize that Scotty’s nephew DIED, we see the tears, we see the burnt body, and then we see the consequences of the battle. As humans, there comes a point where we can’t conceive the magnitude of a conflict. Some things are too big for us to comprehend. So great filmmakers ground us in a personal account (or personal story) so that we can feel the weight of the decisions that are made. (See Steven Spielberg's opening scene of Saving Private Ryan) Battles are more impactful and more important when they resonate with us at a personal level. I’d argue that the greatest battle in all of Star Trek was between Kirk and Khan. Not because one was immensely powerful, but because of Khan’s cunning in hurting Kirk, Khan’s skill at exposing Kirk’s weaknesses, and forcing Kirk into difficult choices. No one cried in the aftermath of The Battle of the Light Brigade. But, in the aftermath of the the Mutara Nebula, I KNOW that people wept, when Spock died to save the ship. The battle wasn’t over, until Spock sacrificed himself. That means something. Granted, it's not an explosion in space, but it is part of the battle.) Was Enterprise vs. Reliant the most showy? No. Did it have the most ships? No. Did it feature massive fleets battling in a head on collision? No. What it did have was one of the most personal and engaging battles of 2 opposing starships in Star Trek (And I’d argue in Sci-Fi) That is why it’s the best. Story matters. Context matters. Stakes Matters. Tension Matters.

​@@TheManoDestra I get all that. I just try to point out that nobody (in the broad sense. Few exceptions don't disprove the larger whole) takes any time to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, their die-hard defense of Wrath of Khan may be personal bias. They treat it like its the greatest battle they've ever seen... but IS it? Is it really? They act as if excluding it is some kind of deliberate insult... but IS it? Is it really? Worse, some people act as if not including Wrath of Khan means someone doesn't understand "true" Star Trek, and that DOES get under my skin. "Nobody cried when..." to be honest, I cried harder when the Enterprise self destructed in Search for Spock than I ever did for Spock himself... but NOBODY is going to claim the battle over Genesis was a better battle, not even me. Is the Battle of Pelennor Fields in Lord of the Rings the greatest battle in that franchise because of how emotional King Theoden's death was? No. The emotion of what FOLLOWS a battle should bear no influence on the battle itself. The emotion of the Charge of the Rohirrim DURING the battle however SHOULD bear influence upon how great that battle is. Because that happened DURING the battle. That had impact UPON the battle itself. If Wrath of Khan was on this list in any place other than #1, would the reaction have been any different? The die-hard obsession with Wrath of Khan from the fanbase at large borders on religion, because nobody even questions it anymore. THAT is the primary source of my own personal issue here. This die-hard obsession with keeping Wrath of Khan on the highest of pedestals. And why? Well lets be honest, Wrath of Khan is most people's favorite specifically because it has the cool space battle. And oftentimes these same people will bitch out everything post-Enterprise for being "nothing but pew-pew" even in cases where Wrath of Khan has MORE "pew-pew" So, yeah... I may have my own bias about NOT wanting to see Wrath of Khan topping every single Star Trek list ever made, because quite frankly, it SHOULDN'T. Hell, if only we had propped up Voyage Home instead, we wouldn't have gotten the whole Into Darkness controversy.

Seeing the Enterprise actually get hit and visibly damaged by enemy fire was jarring. David Gerrold called it "a gut-wrenching image", and he was right.

And who can forget the great lines delivered by Khan just before the first battle, like "let them eat static". Plus Montalban's performance reflected his being truly flattered and honored that he, first created the character in the show and that he made him an enduring one in the movie 15 years later.

That's how most Starfleet ships are: they have phaser strips that enable them to fire broadsides. Klingon ships have their weapons facing forward, so they always need to establish line of sight when firing.

Actually if i may, its kind of explained why the ships fight that way dispite it not making alot of sense in the movie...Khan himself. The man is from an era before fully decked out star ships and isnt experienced in space combat and instead draws upon his vast knowledge of historical naval combat and how they would fight. Hense why Kirk is actually able to best him in the end as the one attribute Krk has over Khan is experience, hense Spock's observation is Khan thinking in 2 dimensions and Kirk using the 3rd dimension of space to come up from under Reliant, something you obviously couldnt do in most naval situations.

Great scenes and great drama are different than great battles. Besides, the battle at the neutral zone in "Balance of Terror" is a far greater "battle" than what we saw in Wrath of Khan. Having a great scene doesn't mean it was a great battle. Conversely, having a great battle doesn't also mean it was a great scene. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Enterprise vs. Reliant was a skirmish. Balance of Terror had the broader implications of a war with the Romulan Empire, should the Enterprise fail. Also, Kirk seemed to care far more for Tomlinson than any of the cadets, like the two that burned alive in the torpedo bay, or the one Scotty seemed to care so much for (can't say his nephew, because that was a deleted scene, so it does not count. Either way, he still didn't seem too broken up about it).

This was clearly made by Next Gen fans. Next gen shouldn't even be on this list and it's all over it.

@@k1productions87 Skirmishes don't end with the biggest explosion in history and all hands lost. "Broad implications" are not relevant. Stakes aren't what defines being the best battle.

@@alphanerd7221 Except for a little thing called wolf 359, as well as the battle of sector 001

@@alphanerd7221 It was hardly the biggest explosion in history, and more hands were lost at the hands of Captain Benjamin Maxwell and the starship Phoenix then there were in this one encounter. being your favorite to look at and in your favorite film does not make it the greatest battle either. Nor does it matter who happens to die after the battle’s conclusion. i’m just trying to get people to realize their clear and deliberate bias toward this film just because in many cases it just happens to be their first. people are so emotionally invested in that one film that it obscures every other consideration. Yes it’s a great film, but this is not the greatest films list

I'VE GOT THE DVD!

That was my pick as well. It was not as action packed but more closely resembled a chess match.

Might even have two spots for the list- I'd lean towards the one in Countdown over the Battle of Azati Prime, personally.

Enterprise was fantastic. Given up on right when they picked up speed

@@yjwrangler7819 Strong disagreement. The first and fourth seasons were terrible.

Think it was the best episode of TOS and the effects for a 60's show were off the charts. Still my favorite episode today.

I was about six... I had nightmares for 2 weeks

My favorite episode of the original.

One of the greatest episodes ever. The doomsday machine, so tragic.

The balance of terror is missing.

I miss people saying 'twatted'. They don't say it in The Netherlands. If I say it, then I have to explain what it means. Oh... you are also 100% correct too.

@@toumbryth7862 Well, don't forget season 2, where Riker said 'combat skills are a minor province of a starship captain'... they were a good deal complacent, back then.

@@toumbryth7862 I agree. When I first saw it the battle didn't bother me too much but in subsequent viewings, and knowing their phaser modulations needed to penetrate Borg shields, I would think there would be a standard battle procedure to re-modulate their own shields in the event an enemy found a way to penetrate them.

@@toumbryth7862 Do you have the same complaint about The Undiscovered Country?

@@kwebb121765 the enterprise wasn't destroyed in that movie.

I was 9 when I saw it in theaters and loved it.

I am skeptical of all TOS-movie battles after ST2 because we never see the Enterprise-A fire its phasers on screen.

Amen brother! I was highly disappointed at the lack of Mutara Nebula! The greatest battle and sacrafice of them all!

So do i

That wasn't so much a battle as it was submarine vs submarine, whoever got the first solid hit wins. Tense, yes, battle no.

Kids these days. Philistines.

@@tremedar How is that not a battle?

Balance of Terror would belong higher

@@k1productions87 You are incessant.

It was a great scene, but hardly a great "battle" in proper context. It was a skirmish. That being said, replace Veridian III with the battle at the Neutral Zone from "Balance of Terror" (TOS) To make context clearer - imagine if you walked into the Federation Archive and asked to see a record of the greatest battles in Starfleet history. What would be on that list?

@@k1productions87 When using the word battle Im also referring to the sacrifice being made in order to win from Kahn, An Iconic character gave his life in order for the enterprise to survive and its crew, Battles to me arent always the most epic scenes or these days most CGI scenes, its the setup, the cat and mouse game between Kahn and Kirk and the conclusion that made this for me and no other battle has brought up the same emotions for me when I first saw this movie and fight

@@DarkDanjal1981 it isn't even about being the most epic, which is why I place Balance of Terror above it. Half of the time (in the original broadcast) you don't even see anything. But the tension is real, the strategy and tactics are clearly defined, and the stakes are broad and clearly spelled out. Interstellar war between the Federation and the Romulan Empire, should the Enterprise fail. Further, even the one life lost clearly hits Kirk hard,... whereas in Wrath of Khan, he didn't seem to care for anyone but Spock. Nary a mention of the two burned alive in the torpedo room. Also again, there is a difference between "greatest scene" and "greatest battle" and that context needs to be remembered. Many who push for Wrath of Khan to be on the list are missing that context. Emotion doesn't factor into the equation

@@k1productions87 You don't know what a skirmish is.

@@k1productions87 When a ship is utterly destroyed, that's not a skirmish even for someone with English as a second language!

Yes, the lack of sheilds, the view screen barely working and targeting being all hodgepodge. Plus the tactics used... It's almost straight from a submarine warfare book.

I was expecting the Mutara Nebula battle to be on this list too. For shame TrekCulture. 😕😕

What were the stakes of that battle? Its literally just "Kill the bad guy before he kills us"

@@k1productions87 I'd like to think it was more than that. A battle of wits, tactics, both ships are evenly matched at this point; and although Khan is a superior intellect, Kirk and crew have more experience. 🤔🤔

@@EyeInTheSky982 But do you see, .... you are outlining what makes a good SCENE. But we are confusing "scene" with "battle" As a SCENE, it was awesome, bordering on a perfect scene, and it deserves every bit of that assessment. But from the standpoint of a "battle"... it was hardly a battle at all. We must be sure to recognize the distinction. Conversely, the battle of Veridian III may have been much more of a "battle".... but as a scene, it was really quite poor. Only the core breach and crash saved it in that regard.

Agreed. There's no way a Galaxy-class ship could be destroyed that way by an old ship. Even after the first shot was fired, the Enterprise still could have easily destroyed the Bird of Prey.

OP I agree with you completely. The Battle of Veridian 3 is an epically bad choice. Battle of Mutura Nebula and Binary Star being left off is really criminal.

@@UltimateNeoHunter I agree. All they had to do was use the shield mutations they designed for fighting the Borg and then the Enterprise could have simply ripped the Bird of Prey apart with its tractor beam at that point. Rotate those shield frequencies and the battle is over.

@@pvb747 To be fair, when Generations came out rotating shield frequencies wasn't something that had been done in any episode or movie, but the bird of prey destroying a Galaxy class is still BS either way. What bothers me is that piloting a shuttle craft into the nexus and blowing it's hatch would have been way easier for Soran than destroying a star and killing everyone on the populated planet. That is how Kirk ended up in the Nexus, so the destruction of the star had been established as not being the 'only way' of getting into it.

Veridian 3 had the worst case of wimpy Enterprise syndrome in the franchise. Should have been in the list of weakest Star Trek battles.

The die is cast

Omarion Nebula was a awesome battle. I also thought it was weird we never saw the Dominion/Cardassia build a defiant killer. Given how many times that vessel completely own the dominion ships. That could have made a good episode, Sisko having to go hunting for a prototype ship equipped with stolen Klingon cloak that raiding Federation/Klingon supply, a vessel with equal firepower and manoeuvrability to the defiant.

you mean Balance of Terror, don't you? The fact so many place Wrath of Khan so high on the list makes me sick, because it shows nothing but bias for "my favorite Star Trek movie" The battle itself was little more than a skirmish, and the stakes were only spelled out in a deleted scene. Otherwise it was just about saving Kirk's life. Meanwhile, Balance of Terror clearly spells out that a war between the Federation and the Romulan Empire could erupt, should the Enterprise fail. This is not a list of your favorite scenes, your favorite villains, or your favorite movies/episodes. This is strictly about the battles. And so few people are capable of keeping that context clear.

Battle of Kitomer: The Undiscovered Country Battle of the Briar Patch: Inssurection Battle of the Bassen Rift: Nemesis Battle of Sector 001: First Contact (These were from the Star Trek Movies, not the tv shows as you stated)

Thank you for honoring true star trek I will have to look some of those on youtube

battle of klack klack klack!

@@nagash303 indeed many Klickitats were lost in the battle of klack klack klack. It shall forever be remberered by its Clawmorial monument on Beach of Crabs III.

The only time we even see the Battle of Wolf 359 is in the first episode of DS9. In TNG, they show up after the battle is over and it’s just a bunch of destroyed ships.

There is still quite a lot of cooperation with one-man fighter craft in both real-life and fiction though, with pilots flying in groups to accomplish objectives. Even in Star Wars, a lot of space battles had fighter craft working together to accomplish goals. Luke would not have made his objective without support of wingmates covering his back on Yavin 4. The only example of "one person makes the difference" I can think off hand in Star Wars films is the space battle over Naboo where a young Anakin blows a Trade Federation flagship solo without basically any support of Naboo pilots whom were incapable of harming the massive warship in any meaningful manner. And it was weakest space battle... of the George Lucas films, the Disney films got even worse (barring Rogue One, which also showcased fighter craft mostly working effectively in groups rather than solo).

Don't forget the fact that the Starships are capable of traveling 1000s of km/sec, there weapons are incredibly powerful, and ships targeting is often so precise they can pinpoint specific ships systems successfully while maneuvering at full speed.

@@Thomas-te2lg - I'm talking about the heroes of the story being basically knights on horseback, while all the others are relegated to spear-carriers. It's not a criticism of Star Wars, it's just saying that the two shows have a different emphasis: one is on the individual (with the notable exception of Rogue One), while the other is on the group. One is on overthrowing a regime, the other is on working within the system to fix it. The simplest demonstration of this is in the spaceships the show focuses on: Star Wars focuses heavily on the one-man fighter, whereas Star Trek focuses on a city in space. I'm not suggesting being a fighter pilot makes you a loner, but I'm pointing out that the other pilots only existed to get Luke to the thermal exhaust port, and most of them died doing so.

You can get an amen for that buddy.

The snobbery of demanding TOS should be included tells me everything i need to know about you.

@@FBobby considering if there wasn't any TOS all of this wouldn't exist and you can't recognize that tells me everything I need to know about you.

@@FBobby Well TOS had the best space battles so not including it is really dumb.

@@alphanerd7221 oh please. that's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Agreed, cant believe it was left out

That was an epic scene, I just rewatched recently and can't believe I forgot how awesome it is.

Yes especially when he ship gets hulled and crewmen go flying out into space! That was shocking!

While it was a great scene, the battle a few episodes later was more impressive. Enterprise, Arboreals, Primates and Aquatics vs. The Weapon, Reptilians and Insectoids.

Or the battle from Countdown; what? I love that Aquatic cruiser...

Picard quote alone makes it one of the best.

@@adamabbas1487 he gets a lot of great lines in that one 👍

Shooter McGavin in a starfleet uniform also a plus 😊

"Enterprise. Surrender and prepare to be boarded." Picard:"That'll be the day."

it was one of the best episodes in the entire series, and probably in the franchise.

This video is bullshit.

I didn't realize how truly epic that battle was until re-watching season 3. Gotta love starships being actual starships, rather than single-hit-kill fightercraft

@@k1productions87 Easily the most epic of Trek Battles.

And don't forget "The Ultimate Computer" - especially with the revised SFX

Enterprise had all the best battles of the spin offs.

Let's not forget Kirk's canny battle instincts showcased in "Journey to Babel." Also love how they punctuated it with a subtle line from Kirk. The phony Andorian says, "I seem to have miscalculated" and Kirk quietly remarks, "So did they" nodding to the viewscreen.

But we're already home? ;)

Enterprise never gets the credit it deserves. In a mirror darkly could have also made the list.

Definitely a highlight for that series.

Thank you my thoughts exactly

That scene was absolutely amazing and where season 3 finally found it's footing

I want to also make a case for the Xindi Arobrials, Primates, Aquatics, and Enterprise vs. the Xindi Insectoids, Reptilians and the Weapon. It wasn't just a hodgepodge of exploding ships, it had structure and placement, AND had definite stakes

Al the battle where Enterprise got into the middle of a fight between the Vulcans and Andorians was pretty cool.

Once the boarding began it seemed to me like the writers wanted to give every character a chance to show a kill or two. But the choreographers got bored, and so we see the same one, two, three, kill over and over again. And not a drop of blood.

That move always made me cringe. Dan Curry cane up with Mok'bara for Worf and some one cane up with the most terrible move they could use in hand to hand for the other races. Face palm!

To be fair Romulan ships have the same design.

Douglas Adams got there first: “We'll be saying a big hello to all intelligent lifeforms everywhere and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.”

DS9 certainly had plenty of combat.

@@jacksonheathen2092 and more cultural exploration than other Trek series as the station couldn't move around

@@anthonymonaghan4964 I'll give you that. 👍

Enterprise vs Reliant had a submarine cat and mouse feel to it.

Yep. The gaint ice cream cone. That was a great TOS episode.

Don't forget the music that was such an obvious inspiration for the Jaws theme.

Oh, I agree with those. Doomsday Machine especially. Oh, sure, we all know of Khan quoting the hell out of Moby Dick in TWoK, but this was THE Moby Dick metaphor

I rewatched Balance of Terror recently and it's become probably my favorite episode of TOS.

@@mythicaldakka It's one of the best ones, no doubt about that.

w/e... ST:TWoK is THE BEST battle, most of the star trek TV and movie battles show the "ships" moving around like fighter craft which causes the battles to lose a lot in terms of realism, not that many of them didnt look "good" they just didnt look REAL.

What the Battle in the Mutara Nebula lacked was stakes. Literally, the stakes were just "stop Khan from killing Kirk" The rest of the crew mattered little, it all centered around saving Kirk. Even Khan's possession of the Genesis Device was only paid lip-service, and any related stakes thereof only existed in deleted scenes.

@@k1productions87 you seem pretty short sighted... so a historically genocidal madman with a planet killing device isnt "high enough" stakes for you... hmmm.

@@tonyf8167 Oh it would be nice if the movie itself actually presented that. The only indication we get where that is even an issue is in the deleted scenes. Beyond that, the Genesis Device is only a bargaining chip between them. And Khan just detonates it to be a Kirk killer. Even in the extended versions, Khan himself made no reference what-so-ever to any importance of having Genesis other than just having it. Oh WE can theorize all we want, but that doesn't excuse it. That's us writing for the writers, when THEY should have been the ones doing that work. Besides, if Khan having the Genesis Device was so important, the battle in the Mutara Nebula shouldn't have even happened. Even Joachim tries to remind him of this... but even then, we only get an incomplete sentence. Just so much missed opportunity just to have some cool shots of starships superimposed with footage from the "cloud tank" and a few exchanges of weapons fire.

@@k1productions87 read the book, it addresses all your points and it is worth the read (Saavik was a totally gimped character in the movies)... movies dont have time and/or often cant fully actualize what is really happening... but none of this negates my initial premise; there is a difference between a SHIP and CRAFT, a point that is often ignored in the ST franchise to the detriment many space battle scenes.

Species 8472 vs the Borg, and their ships joining together to destroy an entire planet was amazing.

Character depths and growth is DS9's greatest feature.

DS9 isn't even real trek.

@@alphanerd7221 And that statement completely invalidates anything you say from here on

TOTALLY AGREE!!!! Out of all of the classic Trek series, Deep Space Nine has aged the best. A large part is the current state of TV. Now that people can binge episodes, the kaleidoscope of colors that is the DS9 storylines can now be viewed in their glory along with the fantastic character development.

@@k1productions87 - Absolutely!!! None of the primary or secondary characters are the same from the first episode to the last. Nog by himself has a much better character arc than most regular cast members of some of the other shows. And he got promoted!!

Actually... no, its not realistic at all. Firstly,... Nebula do not work that way. They would have to be in an actual ATMOSPHERE to get anything remotely like that. Secondly,... Photon Torpedoes (even in TOS) detonate with a massive explosion. They don't just scar the hull Thirdly, even Phasers are far more powerful than that. May I remind you, these ships have NO SHIELDS. TWO HITS rendered the USS Excalibur lifeless and adrift. .... and then we get no stakes what-so-ever. It is literally just "Kill the bad guy before he kills us"

Agreed. Battle in the Mutaran Neb should've replaced std's entry which just didn't feel like trek combat anymore and felt more like "how can we put more uneccesary flashy explosions in a trek battle" Imho they should've had the two ships play a more cat-and-mouse like game against the s31 fleet, more of a battle of wits rather than a straight up dog fight, something like what Axanar tried to pull off before they were shut down (and it was obvious whoever was behind axanar rly knew trek combat).

@@memorybeta787 Well... to be fair,... that was also what "Sacrifice of Angels" and the first Battle of Chintoka was. Starships being one-shotted like they were fightercraft. It is literally the one major complaint about DS9 I have. At least with Discovery, even at the Battle of the Binary Stars, starships had SHIELDS and tanked hits rather than maneuvering around them or blowing up from one shot. As for Axanar, I heard they were planning a whole different take on Trek combat, which is understandable as it was based off the FASA roleplaying game. But we shall soon see when Part IV and V of the Four Years War comes out.

Neither crew was fighting in three dimensions the entire fight? A veteran starship nor a ship crewed by super humans? It was a great movie scene, but failed in the actual battle department

@@k1productions87 Also, the scale seemed weird. It seemed like the battle took place out of the solar system. Yet the Enterprise's engines were mangled so they were just using maneuvering thrusters - so how did the get to the planet? Even with impulse taking them up to near light speed it would have taken several hours to get there. However, there's a big plus to the two-part battle: it saved Star Trek. The TV show had been gone for decades. The first movie didn't do much to revive it. Then Wrath of Khan showed up and the whole thing took off! I'm pretty sure that battle was a big part of it.

DS9 certainly had plenty of battles. One thing I've noticed after having watched every episode so many times in that they reused a lot the same scenes for different battles.

Disagree with #5; while it had its moments, too much footage was reused...

that part ALWAYS does it for me!

Hell yes. Watching that galor get carved up like a thanksgiving turkey is SO damn satisfying

Gave him the old right there Fred.

such a great arc! Voyager is constantly underrated.

@@LincolnFarquharson 👍🏻well put absolutely

I especially loved seeing how most of the Xindi ships were all about the same size and in the middle of all that comes the enormous Xindi Aquatics’ ships.

And the battle had structure, both physically and narratively. It wasn't just big mess of ships and weapons fire. And they didn't just blow up after one hit. After watching season 3 again, that battle between the Aquatics/Arboreals/Primates and Enterprise vs. the Insectoids/Reptilians and the Weapon was actually epic as all hell. Then throw in the Sphere Builders' interference.

Generations does not belong on this list, that is certain. But neither does Wrath of Khan "Balance of Terror" (TOS) should be however. If only for the larger implications of a war with the Romulan Empire, should the Enterprise fail.

Now that you mention it...

Definitely. The same colors and design style

@Dave Roche yes.........

Nah. The ship never got hit all that much. When it did it was crippled or killed.

That’s voyager

USS Voyager, registration number NCC IDDQD

@@AndrewD8Red 😉🤣

Correction: Ablative plot armor. =P

Voyager managed it, but just once. Why the auto-ejection system and even the backup manual ejection system always seemed to fail in tandem is beyond me! And I have always found the Galaxy Class ships to be amazing to look at on screen, they more than any other starship look like they were made for exploring deep space! They way they killed the Enterprise D, and the reason they killed Enterprise D, has always pissed me off! :-|

Actually Commander Riker and Lieutenant Commander LaForge ejected The Enterprise E Warp Core in Star Trek Insurrection in the Battle against Son'a In the Briar Patch.

It wasn't weak, it SUCKED! Have you noticed that they rebooted TOS, and they stopped making TNG movies? They were terrible! They used to say that TOS cast was getting too old???? Perhaps TNG cast should listen.... ST picard??? Should be renamed ST Geriatrics.

I would also watch Keeping up with the Cardassians.

I hope you have read a Stitch in Time by Andrew Robertson (the actor who plays Garak) - amazing book about Garaks life!!!

Balance of Terror I agree with, because the larger implications of a war with the Romulan Empire should the Enterprise fail. Everything else was just a skirmish. Just because its a good scene or in your favorite film doesn't make it the greatest battle.

and the larger implications of a war with the Romulan Empire, should the Enterprise fail

And unfortunately the unfair treatment he got from the fanbase afterward meant that Tom Hardy would have nothing to do with Star Trek ever again.

I don't get the hate behind nemesis, I think that it boils down to it not being what people had hoped for, and in movies people often hate what they weren't expecting even if they would have liked it otherwise.

The battle was also one of my favourites. Especially the triangulation of where the scimitar was using all the ships.

I think it’s just fans retaliating against losing a favorite character. Except it was Brent Spiner’s own wish to “retire” Data, as he was getting too old to play him. Sure, he ended up doing it again last year, but only episodically, and playing other Soongs (Arik and Altan) means he doesn’t need as much makeup

Me too, I don't get all the pearl clutching. I think some rabid ST:NG fan put forth a narrative and people latched onto it thinking that _everyone_ thought that way and they should too.

And yet that 20 year old Bird of Prey singlehandedly destroyed the Enterprise-D. You'd think they would have learned something from the Borg on how to modulate their shields once under attack especially after Worf says, "They've penetrated our shields". The Duras sisters should have only been able to get in one lucky shot, that's all. Poor writing.