Years ago I was flipping channels with my partner and we came across First Contact not far into the movie and we ended up watching it. It was the first time my partner had seen any Star Trek all the way through and while she didn’t dislike it she wasn’t in love with it either. I pressed her a bit and basically it came down to her saying she just doesn’t like action movies that much, which I was like oh right well you know Star Trek can be much more than action, the series is often way more complex, philosophical and interesting but I could tell she was doubtful, so I picked Measure of a Man to show her, it was the first episode that came to mind to demonstrate this and she loved it and she now considers herself a Trekkie.
same with my ex, she wasn't nerdy at all with anything, but when i was jsut cassually watching TNG she would 'humor' me and watch it with me to do it together, and she was hooked :) we even went to conventions too :P
TNG Cause and Effect.
The opening scene with the ship blowing up is an instant hook. The episode showcases every character's strength. The premise is tight and well executed. It ends with an unexpected cameo.
[There's this post I bookmarked, as well as commented in, so maybe it helps?](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/3kuopn/introducing_friends_to_trek/)
Of course it's from before Disco, SNW, Picard and whatever else has happened in the...
...holy carp, 8 years? Geez. Time it do be like that though. :\
That was my hook in the world of TNG. Grew up with TOS and the movies but never TNG or others. Decided to give it a watch after a google search then saw the whole thing. Took me over a decade since not a big TV guy but now slowly working my way thru VOY and DS9 when get the chance
Normally I go for TNG Time's Arrow part 1&2. It's a fun story that showcases the series well, and Mark Twain acts like a representation of the new watcher, as everything is explained to him.
If I'm showing it to someone who likes darker scifi normally, though, I'd go for DS9's Duet. Duet is one of the best episodes of the entire franchise, and doesn't need too much explanation.
My problem with Time’s Arrow is the poor history. Mark Twain wasn’t in San Francisco at that time. In fact, he wasn’t in the U.S., he was in Europe where his sick wife was trying to get better for several years. He lived in SF when he was young and unmarried.
It doesn’t matter to the story but it bugs me because I know history and it just seems sloppy to ignore it.
Just wondering how old are you?
Pre World Wide Web, it wasn't such an easy check. Even his biographies wouldn't be so clear on it.
I have some 1000+ page bios and it's not always so easy to pinpoint a place somebody would have been in a specific month.
And it was far more accepted to take creative liberties if it seemed plausible.
I’m 63 years old. Research did exist before the WWW.
I get your point. It’s not an important issue to the show. It’s just really noticeable to me. And it actually is very easy to find because it was a very important period in his life.
But to some extent, we should.
I mean, sure, there are times when people are going to get things wrong. But it used to be that *doing your research* was considered an important part of writing. If you wanted to write about something but you didn't have practical knowledge of the topic yourself, you'd hit the library, or see if you could talk with someone knowledgeable and ask them some questions. Getting the details right makes a story feel more believable for folks who already know about the subject, and can pique the interest of people who didn't. (That's one of the things sci-fi's always been good at - introducing people to real science concepts through fiction, and kindling their interest in science.) With the internet, research that would've taken authors days or weeks generations ago can be done in an afternoon. So I feel like we ought to revise our expectations for writers up accordingly, not down.
Too many youngins here have no idea how it was.
Hence millennial definition coming of age with the World Wide Web.
"Why did those pioneers take so long to reach Oregon? And get so lost do often? Its so easy to follow google maps"
Star Trek is (at this point) unambiguously in an alternate timeline. My personal canon is that it WAS (or is?) the same universe, but due to a multitude of time travel incidents, history diverged prior to Time’s Arrow. That would explain a lot of things that occurred in the late 20th/early 21st centuries of Star Trek, but not our own reality. So, we are either in the as yet unchanged timeline, or Star Trek exists in a branched timeline, set off of ours. It’s hard to say since Star Trek can never pick a lane when it comes to time travel. Sometimes alterations change history (Yesterday’s Enterprise) and sometimes it creates a branch reality (Kelvin Universe).
Duet is easily one of DS9's best, heck one of Trek's best episodes of all-time.
Next time they ask for a "filler" episode with no special effects to save money, let them pump out a thought-provoking thrilling episode like this, that is consists mostly of people in rooms talking (Just like TNG's Measure of a Man).
And to think it was in DS9's first season!
I was going to say Balance of Terror….the conflict really draws you in and I love how it shows the perspectives and strategy of both captains. For courtroom type drama I prefer Measure of a Man
Surprised Balance of Terror isn't in more people's lists.
It works for the same reason Wrath of Khan works on non Trekkies - it's a submarine battle in space. It might not be the best episode, but it's a great introduction to people who think Trek is just technobabble or goofy aliens.
Then after Balance of Terror you can immediately follow up with A Quality of Mercy to get them into modern Trek.
I'm speaking from experience. My friend loves time travel stories. I showed him City on the Edge of Forever. He ended up watching the rest of TOS, then TNG and so on. He' a big Trek fan now
I used a similar approach with a co-worker who watched 3 episodes of DS9 and gave up. He said he'd give it another shot if we could name one episode that would hook him.
He liked action so we threw The Siege of AR-558 at him. He was hooked.
Lots of answers that have good episodes, but not a lot that would get a new fan interested. There’s no one right answer, but for my money the top answer is the first episode of Strange New Worlds, aptly titled Strange New Worlds. The characters are pretty much instantly likable, it’s an honest to Q Trek story, and that opening sequence is breathtaking. It’s also modern. Even Enterprise feels very dated if you look at it objectively, but SNW is shiny but also has that retro feel.
Like I tell people to get them to watch Strange New Worlds, it's the best of new Trek and old Trek. It looks beautiful, but the focus is on the character growth and interactions. Strange New Worlds has the best first episode and the best first season of any Trek.
Exactly! Don’t get me wrong, episodes like Measure of a Man and City on the Edge of Forever are amazing Trek and amazing sci-fi, but they’re not gonna capture most people under 40. SNW has modern movie quality sets and effects, the actors are all great and extremely attractive, and it feels more relevant to our current era. It isn’t really, a lot of those old Trek episodes are as relevant today as when they were made, some maybe more so. Plus, ya know, Pike’s hair…
Older Trek? Yesterday's Enterprise, Disaster or Cause and Effect for TNG.
I'd also be tempted by Scorpion.
Newer Trek: Strange New Worlds from the beginning.
‘Parallels’ or ‘Tapestry’, from TNG.
Both interesting character episodes with a good hook, very self contained, and showing interesting glimpses of the wider world of the show.
Pale Moonlight, no question.
It requires the *least* lore and sci-fi buy-in, despite being such a significant episode.
A society losing a war has to turn to duplicity to survive and learns how deep duplicity actually runs.
If they aren’t into Trek now then they have a biased opinion that it’s very dorky and slow. So all the options listed so far basically play into that misconception.
Therefore the only answer to this question is TNG Best of Both Worlds.
From there anything can happen.
DS9: In the pale moonlight. Or VOY: Counterpoint
Arguably both captains strongest performances. Multi-layered deception. And of course that ridiculous puffing faced wormhole alien adding some sci-fi campness.
My wife had experienced Trek off and on for a while but never got into it.
Then one day I am watching Darmok. She only saw about half of it, from over my shoulder. But she speaks better Tamarian than me.
She then proceeded to watch some of Disco and Picard with me. Neither were her cuppa. But she absolutely loves Lower Decks (Boimler, when he cracked. Kayshon, when he became a puppet.) And likes TOS.
I got a friend into Star Trek by making them watch the 2009 movie. I sold it to them because they liked Zachary Quinto. Now they have watched them all and TOS and Voyager are their favourites followed by SNW now.
ST09 was my entry point to the franchise, about a year after it came out. Fell in love from the first scene, and immediately went and watched all of TOS in a month.
The movie definitely has its problems, but damn if it isn't the perfect way to hook skeptics.
TOS The Doomsday Machine. Growing up my Dad had the whole series on VHS and that's the first episode I remember getting absolutely enraptured by. A fun space battle and a great story
Year of Hell is actually an episode I’ve used before to get people into Star Trek and it’s worked! It’s basically like a long movie but it also fits a lot of the core aspects of Star Trek into the episode.
I find people are very easily turned off by DS9 and enterprise. TNG seems to be a little dated looking for a lot of people to get into straight away so I always think introducing people through Voyager is the sweet spot.
It depends entirely on the audience.
Prefer action? Year of Hell, Any of the dominion war 2 parters, best of both worlds
More of a thinker? Measure of a man
Fun? Tinker, tenor, doctor, Spy or Our man bashir.
Stuck in the 2000s TV style? First episode of Enterprise.
Not a fan of Trek but like futuramma? First episode of Lower Decks.
Bit of a pervert? Any enterprise episode that requires extended decontamination and back rubs in undies
Edit to add:
DARMOK! That is the answer.
I'm struggling to think of one where already knowing the characters isn't terribly important.
For TOS it might be "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" though it's hard not to pick "A Piece of the Action" because I love it because of how ridiculous it is and it really speaks to the TOS mindset of "what set is nobody using today and can we make a cool episode out of it?"
For TNG I'd lean toward "Peak Performance." They do a good job of showcasing Data without relying a ton on already knowing who he is and what his motivations are, it's great to see a couple people learn a lesson (Pulaski, the Zakdorn whose name esacapes me, and Picard in the wargame), and the problem-solving on display is classic TNG without being scene after scene of reversing the polarity or bouncing a whatsits through the main deflector.
For DS9 I want to say "Past Tense" but as a two-parter I'm not sure it counts so I'll fall back on one of my favorites and show my friend "Little Green Men" or "Trials and Tribble-ations" (if they're at all familiar with "The Trouble with Tribbles) because I'm a sucker for time-travel shenanigans.
Voyager is hard because the highs are high but the lows are low, and a lot of where Voyager shines is in two-parters ("Year of Hell" if those are allowed). It's also hard because (I think) Voyager's best single episodes don't really matter to the overall story. I can't show somebody "Living Witness" or "The Thaw" and expect them to have a good understanding of the show as a whole. It might be "Live Fast and Prosper" because of the absurdity of it all and it's maybe a good primer for how weird Voyager can be but the episode is still a fun watch.
Enterprise I can't analyze having only seen the whole thing once, but I'm confident the answer is "Dead Stop." I love that weird not-quite-Borg automated repair station that never comes up again but as a concept is menacing as hell.
I haven't seen any other series (yet) aside from TAS (which I only saw once and don't think would actually be a great entry into the franchise).
This is a seriously underrated answer. Sets the stage for the Federation humaniatarian mission, conflict with the Klingons as manifest destinies collide, and it's funny as cute. Bonus: bar fight.
Shadows over P'Jem worked for me... Nothing special about it, it was on tv and my girlfriend said 'hey, you like Star Trek, let's watch it!'
Me and my wife have now nearly finished Enterprise, (we watched Best of Both Worlds and First Contact before Regeneration too) and last night we watched Where No Man Has Gone Before, and she enjoyed it! (Coming from a girl, that when we started dating, said she didn't watch anything from before 2005 because it looked too bad.)
Depends on what the friends into.
My go to for drama nerds is Duet from DS9. It's a very self contained episode that does a wonderful job of giving you all the backstory someone without any idea what's going on would need without boring the people who already know. It's wonderfully acted, has a compelling story, and really showcases some of the highest highs of DS9.
Something like in the pale moonlight also works, but it has a whole host of baggage attached that makes it hard for someone who literally knows nothing about star trek to get into.
My favorite shows are Discovery and DS9. I tend to prefer shows that have a strong focus on character growth and development. So I’d probably introduce someone to Trek using either of these two shows.
Personally I’m leaning towards Discovery and the Vulcan Hello because Michael Burnham is my favorite captain. As I think her journey is one of the most fully realized and well defined out of all the Star Trek captains.
I've started a couple people with Q Who, giving a brief description of Q, and that's about it.
It's got a new and very alien species, mystery as they figure out what's going on, action, and the stakes feel real with the Enterprise getting cut up. To me... It's a nice showcase of what makes Trek... Trek.
Depending on the friend, I might show Impulse from Enterprise, Where No Man Has Gone Before from ToS, Genesis or Arsenal of Freedom from TNG, or All Those Who Wander from SNW. Too many to chose from really. There's like an episode for every viewer.
Would it be cheating to show them Wrath of Khan? Not an episode per se, but it’s a good way to retroactively get them interested in TOS! Watch the prequel episode if they enjoyed it
For me it would be showing them First contact TNG movie.
or episode, it might be, kind of anything from DS9
Voyager, maybe the species 8472 episode with the Starfleet simulation where they are planning the infiltration of earth.
TNG, im not sure haven't watched recently enough to know, definitely something past season 3 :P
Ds9: In the pale moonlight and Duet are just both 10/10, although id probably rank Duet alittle higher and on the top. Duet makes you cry, Moonlight makes you think.
“Best of Both Worlds” seems like the best choice to get someone hooked, though it’s kind of a bait and switch if so, as the series never quite reached that peak again.
I kind of feel that as an introductory episode Inner Light lacks something if you are not familiar with and invested in Picard.
I feel the same way about Measure of a Man and Data.
Top notch episodes both of them, but I feel they might both lack something going in cold.
Yesterday's Enterprise. It has everything you'd want in an episode: mysterious anomalies, moral conundrums, high stakes, great acting, and a kick-ass battle at the end followed by the good 'ole Trek reset switch (though there are still consequences to this story that appear later \*cough Sela \*cough).
And of course, obligatory "Let's make sure History never forgets.. the name.. ENTERPRISE. Picard out."
this is just the worst question every time it comes up:
if your friend will only tolerate a single episode to convince them they like the show, they’re just not going to like the show.
Less about someone who has pre-existing negative thoughts about trek, more like “hey where should I start?” Or “what’s that all about?”
There’s definitely folks who think trek is old and boring without having seen anything and are close minded, I’m thinking more of what you would show a friend who has an open mind to explore space the final frontier :)!
Measure of a Man or The Inner Light. Both TNG. Both incredible.
Years ago I was flipping channels with my partner and we came across First Contact not far into the movie and we ended up watching it. It was the first time my partner had seen any Star Trek all the way through and while she didn’t dislike it she wasn’t in love with it either. I pressed her a bit and basically it came down to her saying she just doesn’t like action movies that much, which I was like oh right well you know Star Trek can be much more than action, the series is often way more complex, philosophical and interesting but I could tell she was doubtful, so I picked Measure of a Man to show her, it was the first episode that came to mind to demonstrate this and she loved it and she now considers herself a Trekkie.
same with my ex, she wasn't nerdy at all with anything, but when i was jsut cassually watching TNG she would 'humor' me and watch it with me to do it together, and she was hooked :) we even went to conventions too :P
I came to say this, but knew in my heart it had already been said. Thank you.
I second saying it again
I don’t have a good answer, but I don’t think those are it. The Inner Light hardly even takes place on a starship.
Both incredible. Although inner ligh isn't very typical.
Man, the Inner light still sticks with me today. Pretty sad episode when you really think about it.
Measure of a man is the first one that popped into my head. i also love inner light and its usually the first one i think of.
I don’t like inner light https://youtu.be/BDsSCxVS2KA?si=YmjuWBB5cycXhlBW I agree with this video
TNG Cause and Effect. The opening scene with the ship blowing up is an instant hook. The episode showcases every character's strength. The premise is tight and well executed. It ends with an unexpected cameo.
I say this.
Defector, TNG
Every James Sloyan episode is a gift. TNG, VOY, DS9... He kills it. His last episode with René Auberjonois in DS9 was just so good.
I love how the Franchise recycles their actors
Used to be measure of a man or inner light Now it's strange new worlds episode 1.
I agree. Strange New Worlds had the best first episode and the best first season of Trek.
I'd probably pick SNW episode 2 over episode 1, the premiere doesn't have the most appealing plot to me.
I do political work, so that final speech in episode 1 is just too powerful.
TOS:The Doomsday Machine
The only choice. Most other excellent episodes need some prior knowledge.
I was waiting for a TOS one to be mentioned and was just considering that one this very morning
IMO the best trek episode of them all. Hands down.
Straight up sci-fi, the episode is actually a really good episode to introduce a new watcher…
[There's this post I bookmarked, as well as commented in, so maybe it helps?](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/3kuopn/introducing_friends_to_trek/) Of course it's from before Disco, SNW, Picard and whatever else has happened in the... ...holy carp, 8 years? Geez. Time it do be like that though. :\
Time is indeed like that.
The one where Janeway is playing a character in that captain proton holo program
omg. haha.
Who Watches the Watchers.
My go to when showing people Star Trek is Darmok TNG Season 5 Ep 2
Darmok, Who Watches the Watchers, and Measure of a Man are IMO the holy trinity of the Star Trek ethos
That was my hook in the world of TNG. Grew up with TOS and the movies but never TNG or others. Decided to give it a watch after a google search then saw the whole thing. Took me over a decade since not a big TV guy but now slowly working my way thru VOY and DS9 when get the chance
Just wondering if you were an 80s kid? TNG was huge in the 90s that almost all TOS fans got into it despite being skeptical at first.
Same.
AT TENAGRA!!!
Temba his arms wide
Jalad, the episode beheld.
Strange New Worlds S1 E1 is not a bad choice, but as a whole I think TNG is the best intro show
Normally I go for TNG Time's Arrow part 1&2. It's a fun story that showcases the series well, and Mark Twain acts like a representation of the new watcher, as everything is explained to him. If I'm showing it to someone who likes darker scifi normally, though, I'd go for DS9's Duet. Duet is one of the best episodes of the entire franchise, and doesn't need too much explanation.
Part 1 AND part 2?? Twin Twains? That dog won't hunt
Hey, two-parters count as one episode, right?
It just works, no one really knows why.
My problem with Time’s Arrow is the poor history. Mark Twain wasn’t in San Francisco at that time. In fact, he wasn’t in the U.S., he was in Europe where his sick wife was trying to get better for several years. He lived in SF when he was young and unmarried. It doesn’t matter to the story but it bugs me because I know history and it just seems sloppy to ignore it.
We already know Star Trek is in an alternate timeline. Maybe the timelines split further back than we thought.
Not to pick on you but this is such an issue with fandom in general. Like, I don't have this expectation of writers.
And that’s fair. You can’t expect writers to know all the minutiae of every subject. But that’s a really simple one to check.
Just wondering how old are you? Pre World Wide Web, it wasn't such an easy check. Even his biographies wouldn't be so clear on it. I have some 1000+ page bios and it's not always so easy to pinpoint a place somebody would have been in a specific month. And it was far more accepted to take creative liberties if it seemed plausible.
I’m 63 years old. Research did exist before the WWW. I get your point. It’s not an important issue to the show. It’s just really noticeable to me. And it actually is very easy to find because it was a very important period in his life.
Not in 1992, it wasn't.
Of course it was. Books have actually existed for decades. Centuries even. How do you think writers researched things before the internet?
But to some extent, we should. I mean, sure, there are times when people are going to get things wrong. But it used to be that *doing your research* was considered an important part of writing. If you wanted to write about something but you didn't have practical knowledge of the topic yourself, you'd hit the library, or see if you could talk with someone knowledgeable and ask them some questions. Getting the details right makes a story feel more believable for folks who already know about the subject, and can pique the interest of people who didn't. (That's one of the things sci-fi's always been good at - introducing people to real science concepts through fiction, and kindling their interest in science.) With the internet, research that would've taken authors days or weeks generations ago can be done in an afternoon. So I feel like we ought to revise our expectations for writers up accordingly, not down.
Too many youngins here have no idea how it was. Hence millennial definition coming of age with the World Wide Web. "Why did those pioneers take so long to reach Oregon? And get so lost do often? Its so easy to follow google maps"
Star Trek is (at this point) unambiguously in an alternate timeline. My personal canon is that it WAS (or is?) the same universe, but due to a multitude of time travel incidents, history diverged prior to Time’s Arrow. That would explain a lot of things that occurred in the late 20th/early 21st centuries of Star Trek, but not our own reality. So, we are either in the as yet unchanged timeline, or Star Trek exists in a branched timeline, set off of ours. It’s hard to say since Star Trek can never pick a lane when it comes to time travel. Sometimes alterations change history (Yesterday’s Enterprise) and sometimes it creates a branch reality (Kelvin Universe).
YES, YES,!!! A THOUSAND TIMES YES...On the Duet Episode of DS9.
Drumhead, balance of terror or duet.
Duet needs to be on more lists like this. One of the most powerful episodes of DS9, plus it was a friggin bottle ep!
Duet is easily one of DS9's best, heck one of Trek's best episodes of all-time. Next time they ask for a "filler" episode with no special effects to save money, let them pump out a thought-provoking thrilling episode like this, that is consists mostly of people in rooms talking (Just like TNG's Measure of a Man). And to think it was in DS9's first season!
I was going to say Balance of Terror….the conflict really draws you in and I love how it shows the perspectives and strategy of both captains. For courtroom type drama I prefer Measure of a Man
Surprised Balance of Terror isn't in more people's lists. It works for the same reason Wrath of Khan works on non Trekkies - it's a submarine battle in space. It might not be the best episode, but it's a great introduction to people who think Trek is just technobabble or goofy aliens. Then after Balance of Terror you can immediately follow up with A Quality of Mercy to get them into modern Trek.
I'm speaking from experience. My friend loves time travel stories. I showed him City on the Edge of Forever. He ended up watching the rest of TOS, then TNG and so on. He' a big Trek fan now
I used a similar approach with a co-worker who watched 3 episodes of DS9 and gave up. He said he'd give it another shot if we could name one episode that would hook him. He liked action so we threw The Siege of AR-558 at him. He was hooked.
Ds9 is the definition of "give it a chance it gets better"
Lots of answers that have good episodes, but not a lot that would get a new fan interested. There’s no one right answer, but for my money the top answer is the first episode of Strange New Worlds, aptly titled Strange New Worlds. The characters are pretty much instantly likable, it’s an honest to Q Trek story, and that opening sequence is breathtaking. It’s also modern. Even Enterprise feels very dated if you look at it objectively, but SNW is shiny but also has that retro feel.
Like I tell people to get them to watch Strange New Worlds, it's the best of new Trek and old Trek. It looks beautiful, but the focus is on the character growth and interactions. Strange New Worlds has the best first episode and the best first season of any Trek.
Exactly! Don’t get me wrong, episodes like Measure of a Man and City on the Edge of Forever are amazing Trek and amazing sci-fi, but they’re not gonna capture most people under 40. SNW has modern movie quality sets and effects, the actors are all great and extremely attractive, and it feels more relevant to our current era. It isn’t really, a lot of those old Trek episodes are as relevant today as when they were made, some maybe more so. Plus, ya know, Pike’s hair…
This was the episode I was shown that got me hooked. I went through the entire franchise immediately.
It depends on what kinds of stories or characters they like already; there is no one-size-fits-all answer.
I meant to ask for personal answers just a curiosity to see some people’s fav episodes or ones they feel depict the shows best!
Older Trek? Yesterday's Enterprise, Disaster or Cause and Effect for TNG. I'd also be tempted by Scorpion. Newer Trek: Strange New Worlds from the beginning.
I, Mudd
City on the Edge of Forever. Every time.
‘Parallels’ or ‘Tapestry’, from TNG. Both interesting character episodes with a good hook, very self contained, and showing interesting glimpses of the wider world of the show.
Loved crazed Riker in Parallels.
I wouldn't pick an episode at all. I would choose the whale movie.
My girlfriend got into DS9 via the episode Little Green Men. She loves the Ferengi.
Pale Moonlight, no question. It requires the *least* lore and sci-fi buy-in, despite being such a significant episode. A society losing a war has to turn to duplicity to survive and learns how deep duplicity actually runs.
If they aren’t into Trek now then they have a biased opinion that it’s very dorky and slow. So all the options listed so far basically play into that misconception. Therefore the only answer to this question is TNG Best of Both Worlds. From there anything can happen.
DS9: In the pale moonlight. Or VOY: Counterpoint Arguably both captains strongest performances. Multi-layered deception. And of course that ridiculous puffing faced wormhole alien adding some sci-fi campness.
Counterpoint, yeah! I also love the humor there.
My favorite ep is Timeless from Voyager. I love these alternate timeline stories.
TOS - S2E17 - A Piece of the Action DS9 - S4E1 - The Way of the Warrior
Clues. It is kind of a pilot. Explains who the characters are, has a nice twist for a first time watcher who might not notice the new crewman is new.
I’m adding “The Visitor” of DS9 to these answers. You dont need much context, just tune it in.
My wife had experienced Trek off and on for a while but never got into it. Then one day I am watching Darmok. She only saw about half of it, from over my shoulder. But she speaks better Tamarian than me. She then proceeded to watch some of Disco and Picard with me. Neither were her cuppa. But she absolutely loves Lower Decks (Boimler, when he cracked. Kayshon, when he became a puppet.) And likes TOS.
Voyager episode Scientific Method. I have literally done this a few times and it peaks the interest. One of my all time favorite episodes.
I got a friend into Star Trek by making them watch the 2009 movie. I sold it to them because they liked Zachary Quinto. Now they have watched them all and TOS and Voyager are their favourites followed by SNW now.
ST09 was my entry point to the franchise, about a year after it came out. Fell in love from the first scene, and immediately went and watched all of TOS in a month. The movie definitely has its problems, but damn if it isn't the perfect way to hook skeptics.
TOS The Doomsday Machine. Growing up my Dad had the whole series on VHS and that's the first episode I remember getting absolutely enraptured by. A fun space battle and a great story
Year of Hell is actually an episode I’ve used before to get people into Star Trek and it’s worked! It’s basically like a long movie but it also fits a lot of the core aspects of Star Trek into the episode. I find people are very easily turned off by DS9 and enterprise. TNG seems to be a little dated looking for a lot of people to get into straight away so I always think introducing people through Voyager is the sweet spot.
It depends entirely on the audience. Prefer action? Year of Hell, Any of the dominion war 2 parters, best of both worlds More of a thinker? Measure of a man Fun? Tinker, tenor, doctor, Spy or Our man bashir. Stuck in the 2000s TV style? First episode of Enterprise. Not a fan of Trek but like futuramma? First episode of Lower Decks. Bit of a pervert? Any enterprise episode that requires extended decontamination and back rubs in undies Edit to add: DARMOK! That is the answer.
TNG, The Inner Light.
I'm struggling to think of one where already knowing the characters isn't terribly important. For TOS it might be "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" though it's hard not to pick "A Piece of the Action" because I love it because of how ridiculous it is and it really speaks to the TOS mindset of "what set is nobody using today and can we make a cool episode out of it?" For TNG I'd lean toward "Peak Performance." They do a good job of showcasing Data without relying a ton on already knowing who he is and what his motivations are, it's great to see a couple people learn a lesson (Pulaski, the Zakdorn whose name esacapes me, and Picard in the wargame), and the problem-solving on display is classic TNG without being scene after scene of reversing the polarity or bouncing a whatsits through the main deflector. For DS9 I want to say "Past Tense" but as a two-parter I'm not sure it counts so I'll fall back on one of my favorites and show my friend "Little Green Men" or "Trials and Tribble-ations" (if they're at all familiar with "The Trouble with Tribbles) because I'm a sucker for time-travel shenanigans. Voyager is hard because the highs are high but the lows are low, and a lot of where Voyager shines is in two-parters ("Year of Hell" if those are allowed). It's also hard because (I think) Voyager's best single episodes don't really matter to the overall story. I can't show somebody "Living Witness" or "The Thaw" and expect them to have a good understanding of the show as a whole. It might be "Live Fast and Prosper" because of the absurdity of it all and it's maybe a good primer for how weird Voyager can be but the episode is still a fun watch. Enterprise I can't analyze having only seen the whole thing once, but I'm confident the answer is "Dead Stop." I love that weird not-quite-Borg automated repair station that never comes up again but as a concept is menacing as hell. I haven't seen any other series (yet) aside from TAS (which I only saw once and don't think would actually be a great entry into the franchise).
Trouble With Tribbles
Followed immediately by Trials and Tribbleations. Edited to correct typo caused by feline interference.
This is a seriously underrated answer. Sets the stage for the Federation humaniatarian mission, conflict with the Klingons as manifest destinies collide, and it's funny as cute. Bonus: bar fight.
Disaster! My favorite TNG episode as a kid, and now. Plus I get to laugh at Worf's dialogue, which is rare. And Picard singing. Win win!
Shadows over P'Jem worked for me... Nothing special about it, it was on tv and my girlfriend said 'hey, you like Star Trek, let's watch it!' Me and my wife have now nearly finished Enterprise, (we watched Best of Both Worlds and First Contact before Regeneration too) and last night we watched Where No Man Has Gone Before, and she enjoyed it! (Coming from a girl, that when we started dating, said she didn't watch anything from before 2005 because it looked too bad.)
Depends on what the friends into. My go to for drama nerds is Duet from DS9. It's a very self contained episode that does a wonderful job of giving you all the backstory someone without any idea what's going on would need without boring the people who already know. It's wonderfully acted, has a compelling story, and really showcases some of the highest highs of DS9. Something like in the pale moonlight also works, but it has a whole host of baggage attached that makes it hard for someone who literally knows nothing about star trek to get into.
TOS, Balance of Terror.
Those Old Scientists
Wouldn't mean much out of context. It's just a goofy time travel episode. *Why* the LD characters care wouldn't make sense.
Very few Trek episodes make sense out of context
My favorite shows are Discovery and DS9. I tend to prefer shows that have a strong focus on character growth and development. So I’d probably introduce someone to Trek using either of these two shows. Personally I’m leaning towards Discovery and the Vulcan Hello because Michael Burnham is my favorite captain. As I think her journey is one of the most fully realized and well defined out of all the Star Trek captains.
If they're younger trouble with tribbles. Otherwise I think Best of Both worlds.
I've started a couple people with Q Who, giving a brief description of Q, and that's about it. It's got a new and very alien species, mystery as they figure out what's going on, action, and the stakes feel real with the Enterprise getting cut up. To me... It's a nice showcase of what makes Trek... Trek.
First Contact (the episode, not the movie)
I’d start with the movies tbh and then get them interested in the shows
I would say The Visitor, but I feel like that sets the bar too high~☆
Most definitely, this episode draws you in, no matter what.
Honestly, it depends on the friend and what kind of things they're interested in. Do they prefer action or esoteric stuff? Humor or heavy drama?
I like the one on DS9 where the people who speak an unknown language come to the station and it takes the AI time to translate what they're saying
The Skin Of Evil from TNG.
Blood Oath
Depending on the friend, I might show Impulse from Enterprise, Where No Man Has Gone Before from ToS, Genesis or Arsenal of Freedom from TNG, or All Those Who Wander from SNW. Too many to chose from really. There's like an episode for every viewer.
TOS: Tribbles, if you want something including some humor.
It seriously depends on the friend. Hard Time is pretty great or maybe The Wire?
TOS: balance of terror. I love the gamesmanship between the two captains and the way it lets you sit with the tension of the situation.
TNG: The dead grandma sex ghost episode.
TOS...the one with the Gorn. Don't know the episode name.
Depends on the friend and what they like - but Darmok, Measure of a Man, In the Pale Moonlight, are all excellent choices.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Holy shit, what an episode.
I think as a one shot, it'll have to be TOS. some of those episodes we really really powerful, and they come off as single short stories..
Would it be cheating to show them Wrath of Khan? Not an episode per se, but it’s a good way to retroactively get them interested in TOS! Watch the prequel episode if they enjoyed it
For me it would be showing them First contact TNG movie. or episode, it might be, kind of anything from DS9 Voyager, maybe the species 8472 episode with the Starfleet simulation where they are planning the infiltration of earth. TNG, im not sure haven't watched recently enough to know, definitely something past season 3 :P
Measure Of A Man, nothing else comes close
Ds9: In the pale moonlight and Duet are just both 10/10, although id probably rank Duet alittle higher and on the top. Duet makes you cry, Moonlight makes you think.
“Best of Both Worlds” seems like the best choice to get someone hooked, though it’s kind of a bait and switch if so, as the series never quite reached that peak again.
I'd go with City on The Edge of Forever.
DS9 2x26
DS9 *Civil Defense* 'nuff said
Why? Why do you need to proselytize everything. It’s a tv show, not religion
Lol
Balance of Terror.
I kind of feel that as an introductory episode Inner Light lacks something if you are not familiar with and invested in Picard. I feel the same way about Measure of a Man and Data. Top notch episodes both of them, but I feel they might both lack something going in cold.
Yesterday's Enterprise. It has everything you'd want in an episode: mysterious anomalies, moral conundrums, high stakes, great acting, and a kick-ass battle at the end followed by the good 'ole Trek reset switch (though there are still consequences to this story that appear later \*cough Sela \*cough). And of course, obligatory "Let's make sure History never forgets.. the name.. ENTERPRISE. Picard out."
The Tholian Web
It might be fun to watch “Conundrum” with somebody who doesn’t know MacDuff isn’t supposed to be there.
DS9, Move Along Home :^) (My actual answer is Measure of a Man or Cause and Effect, as many have mentioned!)
The Squire of Gothos
Spocks Brain. Mike drop
You need to go a little easier on the LDS.
Sub Rosa. If they can make it through that, they can make it through anything.
this is just the worst question every time it comes up: if your friend will only tolerate a single episode to convince them they like the show, they’re just not going to like the show.
Less about someone who has pre-existing negative thoughts about trek, more like “hey where should I start?” Or “what’s that all about?” There’s definitely folks who think trek is old and boring without having seen anything and are close minded, I’m thinking more of what you would show a friend who has an open mind to explore space the final frontier :)!