Essential ENT episodes (for a full Trek experience)

[Elemental]

This is a follow-up on my General Trek thread (http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=77024) trying to determine the 100 essential Star Trek episodes by roughly proportionate representation from each series.

Note: "Essential episodes" are not the same as "the best" or "your personal favourite" episodes. So, please don't vote as such. By "essential" I mean: What episodes would a newbie Trekker need to see in order to get the fullest possible experience of the Star Trek franchise?

So, that would mean that any episodes with MAJOR plot or main character advancement would need to be included (this means including most series premieres/finales, many season premieres/finales, episodes containing main character introductions/deaths, episodes with developments which are pivotal to understanding most of what comes later). I think each season should also be represented by at least one episode.

Below, are all the ENT episodes that were nominated in my other thread. Proportinately, ENT represents about 14% of the total number of episodes so please choose the essential 14 from the list.

If you feel very strongly that an episode should be included that is not on this list, please mention it along with an explanation. Thanks!

 

[Elemental]

Seems there's been a good number of voters but no comments! Where are all the outspoken Enterprise fans??

So, only one person felt the end of the Temporal Cold War in Storm Front warranted its inclusion as being essential, eh? Personally, I'd have a very hard time not including 90% of season 4.

 

[ialfan]

I voted for:
Broken Bow
First Flight
Similitude
Observer Effect (best episode of Star Trek)
Babel One
United
The Aenar
Affliction
Divergence
In A Mirror, Darkly I
In A Mirror, Darkly II
Demons
Terra Prime

In retrospect I really really should have included The Andorian Incident somehow but it was hard enough making the list I made. Shuttlepod One, Carbon Creek and Vox Sola are other episodes I wish I could have included.

 

[Hoshi_Mayweather]

There are a probably a couple more I could add to the list, but these come to mind:

*Borderland
*Cold Station 12
*The Augments
*In a Mirror Darkly 1 & 2

 

[ChristopherPike]

The Expanse, Twilight, Azati Prime, Damage, Borderland, Cold Staion 12, The Augments, Babel One, United, The Aenar, Affliction, Divergence, Demons & Terra Prime.

Just outside my choice of 14 would be Season 4's Vulcan trilogy and of course, Broken Bow which kicked the 22nd Century off. So many brilliant character driven stories omitted, but my list sticks to the "big picture" episodes as requested.

 

[erinanderson]

I had a hard time just picking 14. I felt that all of season 3 and most of season 4 is pretty essential. In a Mirror Darkly 1 & 2 are my favorite ENT episodes. I also recommended Terra Prime and Demons, Broken Bow is important as well. As far as stand alones go I voted for Trip heavy episodes, Similtude, Shuttlepod One, Cogenitor. I also voted for First Flight and the Aenar, among others.

 

[Mach5]

Interesting, so the current standings are:

• Broken Bow, Part I - 17
• Broken Bow, Part II - 17
• Terra Prime - 17
• The Andorian Incident - 14
• Demons - 14
• The Expanse - 13
• The Xindi - 11
• Zero Hour - 11
• Shuttlepod One - 10
• Similitude - 10
• Azati Prime - 10
• Countdown - 10
• Awakening - 10
• Damage & The Forgotten - 9

So it seems for now that "Twilight" is not as essential as some people consider it to be...

 

[Nick Ryder]

Well Twilight, while a great episode, kinda 'unhappened' so beyond some fanwank name dropping, there wasn't a whole lot that added to the 'saga'. It worked in the context of Season 3 and it was a great episode, don't get me wrong... just not an 'essential' episode if you're going for the ones that really mean a lot in the grand scheme of Trekdom.

Honestly most of Season 4 and most of Season 3 are really great, which also start setting up more of the 'future' than either of the previous 2 seasons, although the first two were good, they had only a handful in each season of real 'saga building' stories. But some like the Andorian and Vulcan centric episodes really helped show the very beginnings of what would become the Federation and why those 2 races were so integral to the whole Star Trek story.

It's sad though, that we only really saw GOOD looking Andorians on Enterprise, despite them being such a 'big' race as TOS said they were.

 

[JiNX-01]

Broken Bow I
Broken Bow II
Andorian Incident

The Expanse

The Xindi
Azati Prime
Damage
Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

IaMD I
IaMD II
Demons
Terra Prime

I sacrificed stand alone episodes -- and arcs -- that I think were absolutely amazing stories including some top shelf favorites (e.g.: Shuttlepod One, Cogenitor, Twilight, Similitude, Observer Effect Vulcan arc) to provide episodes that were either a lot of fun (IaMD) or had some sense of continuity to other episodes.

ETA: Incidentally, I would have treated 2-parters as single episodes since they were separate episodes only because of the limitations of time. That would have given people more votes!

 

[dougkeenan]

^ "Yes" on joining two-parters ... it was hard having to knock some off my initial list. (I looked for "Dead Stop" but it's more a personal favorite anyway.) It's impressive how many quality eps are there!