10 Star Trek Episodes That Completely Ignored Convention 

This episode put him on number 1 - sorry for Kirk, but Sisko REPEATEDLY showed he has balls without resorting to physical fights.

@@iriswaldenburger2315 Well...except when Q showed up.

Tell to that the TNG era Picard fans who favor him over Sisko

I was really afraid for him. I was afraid he would lose himself and we would never get him back.

@@ArcaJ We never really did. He was never quite the same after that.

One of the all time greatest episodes of TV, period. Not just Star Trek.

The story was very sci fi at heart.

YEp DS9's City on the Edge of Forever

This episode made me cry...

@@Tiff-Toff It made everyone with a soul cry. 😢

The captain of that alien ship was played by Casey Biggs (aka. Damar)! 😃

Archer should have followed the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. Offer to sell the warp coil back for a profit.

That episode highlighted the decisions Archer had to face as Captain of Starfleet's first starship. There were no replicating of parts, no other starships to help and no deep space stations. He had to make the decision, his crew or their crew. To me it wasn't a surprise, because as Captain, he is going to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of his crew.

@@cassidystarchild7907 Archer was not "breaking conventions..." since his crew CREATED Starfleet precedents.

Brilliant shout. That scene when Archer talks with Phlox about ever doing anything unethical is a hairs up on back of neck one every time.

The best DS9 show ever!

@@nightwingnum1226 Yes. Yes it is.

It's the best star trek episode to this day. Still gives me shiver each time.

Are you sure about that buddy?

It was Alt Trek!

Definitely deserved a mention!

Best 2 episodes of trek EVER

@@torynnielsen5646 Nice bait troll

I guess i was so involved in the story that i totally missed the fourth wall break

For all time #1 it's a toss up. In the Pale Moonlight, or The Inner Light.

@@pizzedahff3127 Who says you can't have more than one at the top? I mean, it is a franchise of warp drive, transporters and technobabble. Why stick to reality now? 😉😎

It's a faaaaaakkkkkkkkeeeee!!!!!!!

@@alfredc.knight2737 "But the worst part is...I think I can live with it."

@@pizzedahff3127 Is the Inner Light was a good episode, I do agree. The Killing Game, Shattered and Regeneration are also at the top of my favorites.

Never understood why Picard refused to change their course or speed. If a disaster was coming, using a quantum fluctuation to pick a random course makes complete sense. Hate it when smart characters make bad decisions just to further the story.

@@Foolish188 They did explain that decision. When debating that option, Picard decides not to change course because he thinks it's possible that changing course could be precisely what causes the accident. Having incomplete info, he opts not to make the change.

@@crazypomp927 I know. His decision is just made for the plot. It isn't rational. A "Random" move was called for.

Pure randomness in that context doesn’t exist as (they believed) they’d get the same result in every (repeated) throw. Transmitting information back to change their path from the start was required, although arguably that happened at the card table the first time and that flap of a butterfly’s wings should have changed everything for a hypothetical pursuit of true randomness.

@@mstandenberg1421 Uh no. Doing the exact same thing again that caused the disaster the first time will be disastrous. It is possible using Chaos Theory to produce a nearly perfect Random result. Anyway, it does not matter if they make a random decision, they just have to do something different.

the Kzinti got a mention in Picard too so I guess if there was any doubt before they're really part of ST canon now! (plus they're in the Starfleet Battles boardgame too)

"Assignment Earth" was not anything like an "American Doctor Who". It was sci-fi variation of the TV Spy action/thriller popular going thorough that era, as the Cold War was going on strong in the 1960s through the 1970s. Gary Seven was NOT a time traveler, only very aware of time travelers if they ever showed up. Gary Seven was a human raised and trained by vastly more advanced aliens. Yes, he had a pen like magic multi-tool as well, but That type of device cropped up from time to time in Sci-Fi and was just excused as a scientific version of magic wand. "The Slayer Weapon"... Yeah it is kind of weird but is likely why the Caitan exist in Star Trek. The Caitan, or Cait, and the Kzinti are said to occupy a similar relationship as the Vulcans and Romulans. But until Star Trek actively develops this it is only face speculation. And until CBS/Paramount either buy or cut a deal with Larry Niven, writer of "The Man Kzinti War" series or buy the rights to it outright, fan speculation is all we are going to have. This is definitely one of those insatance it would be beneficial for CBS/Paramount to allow certified expanded universe material to become Alpha Canon, the lore and law of the franchise

Voyager's Tuvix belongs on the list too

assignment earth cant break star trek conventional methods, the show just barely started. the only thing they established at that point, is uniform color.

@@DocWolph Re: "Assignment: Earth", there's an indication that Seven had time traveled, since he understood that the Enterprise must be from Earth's future. Plus, Scotty said his transport beam could've brought him back through time. In any case, we have a mysterious traveler, with high-tech gadgetry, a knowledge of other worlds and times, connected with mysterious & powerful aliens, armed with a pen-like multi-purpose gadget, and accompanied by a normal, very attractive Earth woman. If that's not the "Doctor Who" blueprint, what is?

Mincing words is just politeness, so I can't fault Picard for that. Out of universe: Janeway had too many writers that didn't care about consistency. In Universe: She was bipolar? Kirk: ... Yep, you nailed it.

He’s a fighting’s captain. Hell yeah! 💪🏻✊🏻👊🏻 Commander Jay reporting for duty, assigned to U.S.S. Defiant, Sick Bay. (Blue shirt 🙋🏻‍♂️) What color are you?

@@wezul I don't fault Picard for that either. And yeah, I agree that Janeway was the result of too many cooks in the kitchen. Voyager was just a massive waste of potential.

@@matthewjay660 Haha. Master Chief Petty Officer, Starfleet security and special operations division. My dress uniform is gold, but you'll usually find me in a Hazard Suit or the black field jacket.

Nog lost his leg, Jadiza was killed, Bashir was abducted and replaced, he lost the station once, Odo got space aids, he had a Maquis serving under his nose...it could be argued Sisko was reckless, self centered annnnd not a very good Commanding officer, but a likeable one.

If they would have left the absence of the defiant linger for a couple more episodes, it would have hit a lot harder too

When I first saw that happen during DS9's first run, it hurt me. It still hurts me to watch it get blown up on every re-watch but not as bad as seeing it happen the first time.

@@mdwm1981 - The problem is, at the time the “Defiant” was destroyed, there were only 5 episodes left in the entire series. And each episode was stuffed to the gills, so they just didn’t have time to wait too long for the “Defiant” to be replaced. In reality, the last 10 episodes of DS9 is produced and executed as though it is a long movie. Not dissimilar to the way some 10 episode “seasons” are presented on streaming services today. Once again, Star Trek led the way!

That's because Avery Brooks is a great actor that had the luck of having great lines. He's really great at conveying the right emotions in those key moments. Patrick Stewart is also good but had less occasions to be as emotionally powerful as Brooks had. I also am of the same opinion as you, I'm more fond of TNG characters, possibly out of nostalgia, but I think Brooks is my favorite actor in the franchise and DS9 had overall the best stories

Don't forget the palm punches, the Vulcan neck pinches, and the Sisko pimp backhand.

Enterrprise also broke convention by actually having a theme song with actual words that were sung, instead of just a theme song.

@@ronin7997 Men's backhanded slaps are probably more painful than the slaps women do on other women or men. I don't think I've seen Ben Sisko's "pimp backhand"--who did he do to? Let's hope he did it to Dukat, Weyoun, and even Quark. But Vulcan neck pinches are among the best offensive and defensive hand-to-hand combat methods to appear on any sci-fi show.

@@shepwillner7507 Enterprise also broke convention by having a hero ship that was a kit-bash (of an Akira Class.)

@@shepwillner7507 'In the Pale Moonlight', when Sisko strikes Garak after realizing he blew up the Romulan shuttlecraft. Also in the 'One Little Ship' episode when Sisko and co. were fighting off the Jem'hadar who hijacked the ship in Engineering.

get.... out....

I disagree.

She'll find a way.

I liked the alternate first contact scene in the beginning the best, you thought they were showing a clip from First Contact, until Z Cochrane he pulls out the gun.

@@thesnare100 agreed 👍

Absolutely. I'm desperately hoping Strange New Worlds is the show I want from new Trek.

@@TheSpazzz83 Fully agreed. Mount did a really good job as Pike. Let's hope for the best, but be prepared for...Discovery.

I cannot stand Discovery as a whole, but I really like the parts about Pike.

They even used (almost) the same score as that infamous scene in TMP!

I can't watch that episode, it's great but the ending gets to me too much

I think Oblivion is easily top 10 in the franchise.

And he’ll continue to play him in the new show

But how many times did Data need to be rebooted after the poker scene?

The Lorca arc is under-rated.

Your suspicions about Lorca are raised quite early on with his sensitivity to light because you wonder why, with no already in-universe explanation to make it plausible. I did wonder if he was really a goodie after that (but didn't twig the Mirror Universe explanation until probably most viewers did) and was aware he could have a twist as he wasn't the show's star, but mainly having watching the twist re Grant Ward, one of the ensemble cast, in 'Agents of SHIELD' (aka 'Agents of SOMETHING') primed me for a Lorca twist.

That would be neat! Maybe play it off as dream sequences at first, and when a clip crops up for real Guinan tries to will the dream away but Q makes some quip about how she's already awake. Everybody else is confused or ignores him, and the events play out as predicted much to her horror. Guinan then tries to prevent the worst visions from coming to fruition, but Q does what he can to ensure that events occur "as intended" for the purity of the time stream. He can't do anything directly to her and vice versa, and everything goes on against a backdrop of free will versus predetermination. Hey, anything to make clip shows more than mere filler!

I actually hate how SG1 has one or two clipshows that are crucial to the plot. I want to be able to skip any clipshow without missing anything important.

Agreed, especially the episode Disclosure and the one where Thor beams in and essentially gives the Asgard version of flipping the bird to Senator Kinsey.

@@shepwillner7507 That was Discloure where Thor did that. Did you mean Inauguration in addition to that? That one introduced President Hayes and Woolsey

I'm not surprised about Kirk's feeling tired and giving up. Some battles or wars are unwinable, no matter what the Kobayashi Maru battle scenario says. I'm also not surprised that was probably the Nixon administration's attitude back in the mid-70s: after signing the Paris peace treaty in '73 formally ending the Vietnam War, and then Tricky Dick decided to throw in the towel when he and the Pentagon knew that we couldn't win against the North Vietnamese. Out side ended up evacuating Saigon in '75, airlifting our Embassy's staff from the rooftop, along with some Vietnamese along for the ride.

@@shepwillner7507 fyi it was NOT a way US never declared it was an INCURSION maybe same difference but we didnt just leave the "Afghanistan War"

I agree with you 1,000% ☺️ x

Maybe that was George Lucas directing the episode. Jk. Lucas is enchanted with the idea of a short character being the most powerful.

I doubt those Platonians would ever evolve, no more than High Planetary Advisor Plesus of Ardana.

Especially when Manny Coto wrote the script. He wrote great Trek Episodes before Trek in Odyssey5... Though since Coto didn't break convention but worked with it I guess I can let it slide

While I loved a Mirror Darkly, I truly hated Enterprise as a whole

Ahem DREKovery And yes there were more gems in both ENT and VOY than most people give those shows credit for.

@@sgtmyers88 amen. Twilight was so perfect. Enterprise had its issues but I liked it, even the theme song (but don't spread that around)

Yes. SG1 did clip shows well. And alot of them, only half the episode was the clips, the other half of the episode was all new stuff that pushed the overall story forward.

Quite well justified, too, what with all the backdoor politics.

CSI Had a good clip show, with the lower deck types reviewing the current serial killer crime scenes, allowing for slightly different takes on the events, refreshing the audience on the art, and also having them discovering an important clue in the end.

“Indeed”

I personally think yes it's a good episode I just dunno if I would call it the best episode.

"At 08:00 Station Time, The Romulan Empire formally declared war on The Dominion. They've already struck 15 bases along the Cardassian Border. So, this is a Huge *Victory* for the Good Guys! This may even be *the* turning point of the entire war. There is even a "Welcome to the fight" Party in the Wardroom. So.... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I'm an accessory to Murder. But the most *damning* thing of all.... I think I can live with it... and if I had to do it all over again, I Would. Garak was right about one thing. A Guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant, so I will learn...to live with it. Because I Can live with it. I *can* live with it. Computer. Erase that Entire Personal Log." What a monologue 🥶

@@killwalker I got honest to goodness chills just reading that 😂

One of my favourite moments from the episode was Dax roleplaying as Vreenak.

@@sarahscott5305 IT'S A FAKEE!

😆

Get out! :-D

😂

Reported for pun offenses.

@@bigneon_glitter 😁😬😁😁

Homage to D.C. Fontana.

True, but the original audience didn't know that -- i'd argue that "Shades of Gray" was the first official clip show

@@CGren123 and I’d argue the worst episode I’ve ever watched 🤣

The Menagerie Pts 1&2 was a clip show, but it was a clip show to progress the story forward, where in Captain Pike is acknowledged, and establishes the loyalty for Spock to his former Captain, and in a way establishes what his loyalty to Kirk is. Where as "Shades of Gray" did not forward any story, and really was just a clip show, cause they couldn't really write anything for a script, without the Writer's Guild getting involved in it.

@@eumario30 The Menagerie was a cost saving measure, pure and simple.

​@@edlapradeThat is true, and is mostly true of all clip shows, to help keep budget that the studio's give TV Shows. But Shades of Grey was also a product of funds running out, Writer's Strike, and Paramount shortening the shoot time for the episode as well. It was recommended for a 5 day shoot, 2 days shorter then a normal episode shoot, and Paramount said do it in 3, which is 4 days shorter. In all cases, it simply wasn't a good idea, and had no direction or consequences or point to make other then to show clips from Season 1 and 2.

Why should he? Whats not convention about that? There are plenty of episodes where the main ship of a series was taken over by some hostile force and then taken back. Nothing new about that. A main ship being actually destroyed and not brought back by the end of the episode cause of a time loop or something.....THAT was not to normal convention.

Being taken over and returned by episode end yes, DS9 was taken over at seasons end and held for several episodes, spanning substantial time in universe. That was definitely against convention.

It was a big deal, but the whole thing of setting a Star Trek show on a space station defied convention at the time. A whole load of things which happened in DS9 could be and were different just because of its setting. Quark was a huge one; a regular and important member of the cast who not only wasn't a member of Starfleet, he didn't even particularly like Federation principles. And Keira was far from Starfleet-normal. *Sisko* wasn't exactly what we expected from a Federation officer. There's no way Garak could have had a long-term presence on any Starship Enterprise. In so many ways, DS9 was just mindblowing.

Oh, they were!

Not only that, but they typically made them work. "Citizen Joe" was my favorite of that particular lot.

Yeah, the difference with that show is that they did actually work well due to the characters, the writing was superb but the characters made that show.

@@RobFalcon141 Citizen Joe is great. I loved the ending where Col O'Neill is asked if he had been seeing the life of Joe. Shows "clips" of Joe's life, including Joe bowling. O'Neill says "You've got game" cracks me up.

But Stargate was also serial, the events of the previous episode impacted the next. So a clip show is handy in that it helps keep the audience updated/reminded on the major plot points.

that always did this to save some extra money for the big 2 parters. according to the producers. Disclosure is my favourite Thor telling of Kinsey pure gold. but I wouldn't really call stargate a serial at least not more than DS9.

*Thinks back to STD's opener where everyone is an ass except Saru and Georgiu... Remembers how Georgiu was reported as eaten* I'm not convinced they swung to hit in the first place.

I can't see how anyone could consider the characters likeable at the end of the second episode. The only likable one was dead. Hell, I still didn't like any of the characters when I finally got to the end of the season (on my second or was it third attempt).

@@davfree9732 Preach DREKovery is more like it.

This was never a list of "from worst to best", it's just a list! Calm down!

Inhabitable only to humans!!! It was totally habitable to the indigenous life and Cardassians and other humanoids. Just not humans. Also doesn’t Kirk threaten to carpetbomb and entire planet into oblivion with photon torpedoes at some point? I feel like that happened in early TOS at some point 🤔

All through DS9, Sisko is shown to have a willingness to break rules or beliefs from the norm. From punching Q, to making a Planet uninhabitable to doing whatever it takes to win a War.

Trolls, poor long term memory, short attention span...I'm not sure which it is with you people criticizing Sisko on his torpedoing of that maquis colony, but there are clearly more people than not who fit into one of these. His choice of payload to go with the torpedo was *_SPECIFIC_* to humans. Nothing else would be affected, and this came in response to a similar attack on a Cardassian colony by the maquis. In the end, what happened was the two colonies swapped planets.

@@BirthquakeRecords which TOS episode are you talking about?

The episode with the O'Brien replacement is brilliant! Good call.

Season 2, Episode 14 'Whispers'

In Rules of Engagement, they have flashbacks to the events the witnesses describe, while having the dialogue from their testimony. There was no 4th wall breaking, which is talking to the audience. In every case, the person who is speaking is speaking to the court - answering questions.

@@rifter0x0000 In RoE Worf, Jadzia, and O'Brien all speak directly to the camera while giving their testimony, just as Sisko does while recording his log in Moonlight. If it counts in Moonlight, then it counts in RoE.

No. Each are talking to the court officials, not to the audience. You might want to watch that again.

Trials and Tribble-ations is definitely NOT a clip show, technically or otherwise. Merely using scenes from another episode does not make an episode a clip show; a clip show is a series of clips from multiple earlier episodes clumsily strung together by a framing device.

@@AaronLitz isn't Living Witness the same? It has been a while since I watched it, so I can't remember if it counts or not.

@@martyncurrill2766 Living Witness doesn't reference any other episode, The historical event The Doctor is recalling only features in that episode.

Correct.

Maybe to Nurse Chapel or Amanda Sarek? McCoy really loves Amanda!

@@shepwillner7507 Maybe, though it looked and felt as if he was addressing the audience.

Yes 11:59 is a great episode for this list.

And there's a new one coming.

Agreed. I mean Sisko's face-the-camera scenes are basically a more dramatic way of doing a Captain's Log. Which many many episodes already have. The only thing weird is having him look at the camera. A more interesting example I think is "Rules of Engagement" where the characters are acting out their testimonies and break mid-scene to explain things to the camera. Still not true 4th wall breaking since it's still within the context of the story, but interesting nonetheless. It's Star Trek's equivalent of acting out a stage play and giving characters asides.

@@apollovi That's true. Agreed. DS9 was ahead of it's time and did things no other Trek show did or has done.

I wish Assignment: Earth had become a real show...

I actually liked DS9 better than TNG

The Jem Hadar were shocking, yes, but I think you've forgotten most of TNG if you think the Galaxy class was anything other than a glass cannon - powerful but frighteningly fragile! The Enterprise got its computer hacked a thousand times more often than any sane organization would have put up with. One such hack on the Yamato, another Galaxy class ship, destroyed it altogether and the Enterprise very nearly suffered the same fate. Then there were times the warp core threatened to blow. It's just that none of these episodes were designed to shock in the way the Jem Hadar were. Lots of DS9 episodes went for shock, if I remember right.

Plus another playing his childish ankles in "Listen".

DS9 will always be the Standard of story telling for me

Is it truly a clipshow if it’s exclusively using previously unseen footage? The Cage wasn’t available for audiences to watch until the 80s, and even then it was partially in black and white. To those watching for the first time on Netflix (whose library opens with The Cage as episode 1), it feels a clipshow, but to those watching on TV in 1966 (67?) it was all new to them!

@@BirthquakeRecords So it's a Mind Blower?

Completely agree!!!

there were several episodes that were past the point where one would cringe and went outright to become painful to watch for many different reasons. Like, "Sub Rosa" is also right there fighting for the worst TNG episode ever. And it was the 7th season, at least in season 1 they could have some excuse, like everyone is new, we don't know what we are doing, it's the 80s, stuff like that. But having hot garbage like that after seven seasons is also quite disappointing.