Star Trek Abridged & Non Filler List

[M.A.C.O.]

For all fans and newcombers who want to take part in the epic of Star Trek but don't have time to sit through the 726 episodes spread across the 6 series and the 11 movies. I have prepared a list for what I consider the must see to grasp each show. I cut out as many bad episodes, filler and pointless episodes as i can for each. This is all based on my opinion of what's necessary of course. For long arcs like the Dominion and Xindi conflicts i left much of the material in even though some might be filler. I've seen everything to completion except Voyager so that list will be coming in the future.

For TOS i rearranged some of the episodes to reflect their Production Number instead of their air date. Mostly because it works better thematically.

Star Trek TOS 1966-1969

Season 1
Ep. 1 Where No Man Has Gone Before
Ep. 2 The Corbomite Manuver
Ep. 6 The Naked Time
Ep. 8 Balance of Terror
Ep. 10 Dagger of the Mind
Ep. 13 The Galileo Seven
Ep. 15-16 The Menagerie Part 1-2
Ep. 18 Squire of Gothos
Ep. 19 Arena
Ep. 21 Tomorrow is Yesterday
Ep. 22The Return of the Archons
Ep. 23 A Taste ofArmageddon
Ep. 24 Space Seed
Ep. 25 This Side of Paradise
Ep. 26The Devil in the Dark
Ep. 27 Errand of Mercy
Ep. 28 City on the Edge of Forever
Ep. 29 Operation Annihilate

Season 2
Ep. 4 Who Mourns for Adonis
Ep. 5 Amok Time
Ep. 6The Doomsday Machine
Ep. 8The Changeling
Ep. 10 Mirror, Mirror
Ep. 13Troubles With Tribbles
Ep. 14 Bread and Circuses
Ep. 15 Journey to Babel
Ep. 16 Gamesters of Triskelion
Ep. 18 Obsession
Ep. 20 A Piece of the Action
Ep. 21 By Any Other Name
Ep. 23 Patterns of Force
Ep. 24 The Ultimate Computer
Ep. 26 Assignment Earth

Season 3
Ep. 4 The Enterprise Incident
Ep. 9 Tholian Web
Ep. 10 For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Ep. 11 Day of the Dove
Ep. 15 Let That Be Your Battlefield
Ep. 23 All of our Yesterdays


Cheating Here But I do have a soft spot in my heart for The Animated Series. Since it's potential Season 4 Material for TOS I'll post the list here.

TAS 1973-1974

Ep. 1 Beyond the Farthest Star
Ep. 2 Yesteryear
Ep. 5 More Tribbles, More Troubles
Ep. 7 The Infinite Vulcan
Ep. 12 The Time Trap

Edit: Updated to reflect suggestions by erastus25

Movies 1979-1991 & 2009
Star Trek The Motion Picture
Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III:The Search For Spock
Star Trek IV:The Voyage Home
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek (2009) Techinically XI

 

[erastus25]

What exactly were your criteria for TOS? I think this exercise is useful for the serialized style of DS9, but due to the episodic nature of TOS it becomes somewhat pointless. For instance how is a hackneyed racism plot like Battlefield, or a "Nazis in Space" episode, any more representative of the themes or characters of the series than random episodes like The Enemy Within or Charlie X? And how can something like Conscience of the King or Obsession be excluded when they provide valuable insight into Kirk's character, while Operation Annihilate!, which is only notable for establishing Spock's ridiculous inner eye lid and Kirk's trivial dead brother, is included?

And The Infinite Vulcan?!

 

[Grey]

How did More Tribbles, More Troubles make it onto the list? That episode was just a shameless, albeit animated, rehashing of the last one!

I'm making my way through a number of different series, and while we might all come up with subjective lists of the strongest and best representatives of the series (which is an admirable goal to help people who want to get a feel for it but don't want to sit through episodes like Shore Leave), I think there's something to be said for taking the bad with the good. That's certainly what I've been doing, and the worse episodes really make the good ones stand out.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

What exactly were your criteria for TOS? I think this exercise is useful for the serialized style of DS9, but due to the episodic nature of TOS it becomes somewhat pointless. For instance how is a hackneyed racism plot like Battlefield, or a "Nazis in Space" episode, any more representative of the themes or characters of the series than random episodes like The Enemy Within or Charlie X? And how can something like Conscience of the King or Obsession be excluded when they provide valuable insight into Kirk's character, while Operation Annihilate!, which is only notable for establishing Spock's ridiculous inner eye lid and Kirk's trivial dead brother, is included?

And The Infinite Vulcan?!

How did More Tribbles, More Troubles make it onto the list? That episode was just a shameless, albeit animated, rehashing of the last one!

I'm making my way through a number of different series, and while we might all come up with subjective lists of the strongest and best representatives of the series (which is an admirable goal to help people who want to get a feel for it but don't want to sit through episodes like Shore Leave), I think there's something to be said for taking the bad with the good. That's certainly what I've been doing, and the worse episodes really make the good ones stand out.

@erastus25
My criteria was episodes I found enjoyable, fun and necessary to get a grasp of the kind of show Star Trek was. Cringe worthy episodes like Charlie X, Miri, Catspaw, Spock's Brain, Children Shall Lead, Plato's Stepchildren and those like it didn't factor in to my list because they aren't Trek's brightest moments. While episodes like What are little girls made of, Metamorphis, Requiem for Methuselah, Return to Tomorrow have more going for them and I would recommend seeing them they distract from better episodes. There are more episodes I haven't named that have their own charm to them but I didn't feel it necessary to include them as well.

As for Infinite Vulcan it was Walter Koenig's only contribution to the animated series. That and it's a fun episode. Although the Eugenics War and giant thing was a bit of a stretch.

@Grey
More Tribbles, More Troubles I added because it's a follow up to Trouble With Tribbles and if the events of Trial's and Tribblations is taken as full canon then it makes Worf's statements about the Klingon destruction of tribbles more tangible in the sense that the great Klingon Empire did pursue the extermination of tribbles.

 

[R. Star]

Ask ten different people what is and isn't worth watching and you'll get at least eleven different answers.

I found episodes on that list that I didn't much care for and ones I liked that were overlooked. As it's subjective to opinion, my advice to anyone is watch it yourself and formulate your own opinion rather than accepting someone else's.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

The Next Generation

Season 1
Ep: 1-2 Encounter at Farpoint part 1-2
Ep: 3 The Naked Now
Ep: 6 Where No One Has Gone Before
Ep: 7 Lonely Among Us
Ep: 9 The Battle
Ep: 11 Haven
Ep: 12 The Big Goodbye
Ep: 13 Datalore
Ep: 15 11001001
Ep: 16 Too Short a Season
Ep: 18 Home Soil
Ep: 19 Coming Of Age
Ep: 20 Heart Of Glory
Ep: 22 Symbiosis
Ep: 23 Skin of Evil
Ep: 25 Conspiracy
Ep: 26The Neutral Zone

Season 2

Ep: 1 The Child
Ep: 7 Unnatural Selection
Ep: 9 A Matter of Honor
Ep: 9 The Measure of a Man
Ep: 11 Contagion
Ep: 13 Time Squared
Ep: 14 The Icarus Factor
Ep: 15 Pen Pals
Ep: 16 Q Who
Ep: 19 Manhunt
Ep: 20 Emissary

Season 3

Ep: 1 Evolution
Ep: 2 The Ensigns of Command
Ep: 3 The Survivors
Ep: 7 The Enemy
Ep: 10 The Defector
Ep: 12 The High Ground
Ep: 13 Deja Q
Ep: 15 Yesterday's Enterprise
Ep: 16 The Offspring
Ep: 17 Sins of the Father
Ep: 22 The Most Toys
Ep: 23 Sarek
Ep: 24 Menage a Troi
Ep: 26 Best Of Both Worlds Part 1

Season 4

Ep: 1 Best Of Both Worlds Part 2
Ep: 2 Family
Ep: 3 Brothers
Ep: 7 Reunion
Ep: 9 Final Mission
Ep: 10 The Loss
Ep: 11 Data's day
Ep: 12 The Wounded
Ep: 14 Clues
Ep: 15 First Contact
Ep: 16 Galaxy's Child
Ep: 17 Night Terrors
Ep: 21 The Drumhead
Ep: 22 Half a Life
Ep: 23 The Host
Ep: 24 The Mind's Eye
Ep: 25 In Theory
Ep: 26 Redemption Part 1

Season 5
Ep: 1 Redemption Part 2
Ep: 2 Darmok
Ep: 3 Ensign Ro
Ep: 5 Disaster
Ep: 7-8 Unification Part 1 and 2
Ep: 10 New Ground
Ep: 11 Hero Worship
Ep: 14 Conundrum
Ep: 16 Ethics
Ep: 18 Cause and Effect
Ep: 19 First Duty
Ep: 21 Perfect Mate
Ep: 23 I Borg
Ep: 24 The Next Phase
Ep: 25 Inner Light
Ep: 26 Time Arrow part 1

Season 6

Ep: 1 Time Arrow part 2
Ep: 4 Relics
Ep: 5 Schisms
Ep: 10-11 Chain of Command Part 1-2
Ep: 14 Face of the Enemy
Ep: 15 Tapestry
Ep: 16-17 Birthright Part 1-2
Ep: 18 Starship Mine
Ep: 19 Lessons
Ep: 20 The Chase
Ep: 21 Frame of Mind
Ep: 23 Rightful Heir
Ep: 24 Second Chances
Ep: 25 Timescape
Ep: 26 Descent Part 1

Season 7

Ep: 1 Descent Part 2
Ep: 4-5 Gambit Part 1-2
Ep: 6 Phantasms
Ep: 7 Dark Page
Ep: 8 Attached
Ep: 10 Inheritance
Ep: 11 Parallels
Ep: 12 Pegasus
Ep: 15 Lower Decks
Ep: 16 Thine Own Self
Ep: 20 Journey's End
Ep: 21 Firstborn
Ep: 24 Preemptive Strike
Ep: 25-26 All Good Things Part 1-2

178 episodes trimmed down to a healthy 110
Not bad considering 180 episodes across 7 seasons is overindulgent IMO.


Movies 1994-2002

Star Trek VII: Generations
Star Trek VIII: First Contact
Star Trek IX: Insurrection
Star Trek X: Nemesis

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Deep Space Nine 1993-1999

Season 1

Emissary Part 1-2
Past Prologue
Captive Pursuit
Dax
The Nagus
Battle Lines
The Forsaken
Duet
In the Hands of the Propherts

Season 2

The Homecoming
The Circle
The Siege
Cardassians
Rules of Acquisition
Necessary Evil
Sanctuary
The Alternate
Profit and Loss
The Maquis Part 1-2
The Wire
The Collaborator
Tribunal
The Jem'Hadar

Season 3

The Search part 1-2
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense Part 1-2
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
The Adversary

Season 4

The Way of the Warrior 1-2
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Indiscretion
Rejoined
Little Green Men
Homefront
Paradise Lost
Crossfire
Return to Grace
Sons of Mogh
Bar Association
Accession
Rules of Engagement
For the Cause
Body Parts
Broken Link

Season 5

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
Rapture
The Darkness and the Light
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume
Business as Usual
Ties of Blood and Water
Ferengi Love Songs
Soldiers of the Empire
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Empok Nor
Call to Arms

Season 6

A Time to Stand
Rocks and Shoals
Sons and Daughters
Behind the Lines
Favor the Bold
Sacrifice of Angels
You Are Cordially Invited
The Magnificent Ferengi
Statistical Probabilities
Waltz
Far Beyond the Stars
Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night
Inquisition
In the Pale Moonlight
His Way
The Reckoning
Valiant
Tears of the Prophets

Season 7
Image in the Sand
Shadows and Symbols
Afterimage
Treachery, Faith and the Great River
Once More Unto the Breach
The Siege of AR-558
Covenant
It's Only a Paper Moon
Chimera
Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
Penumbra
'Til Death Do Us Part
Strange Bedfellows
The Changing Face of Evil
When It Rains...
Tacking Into the Wind
Extreme Measures
The Dogs of War
What You Leave Behind 1-2


176 episodes trimmed down to 118.

I cut out all the Mirror Universe episodes because they are all terrible IMO and thematically ruined the Mirror Universe by contorting it to fit DS9's story and characters. Enterprise's "In a Mirror Darkly" was closer to what the Mirror Universe should be IMO.

While not a fan of "Trials and Tribblations" I added it to the list because a lot of people like it. The Bajoran mystic items and prophets are stupid and Deus Ex Machina IMO. Plus Trials and Tribbleations comes off as a very big apology to Kirk and the fans for the lackluster way they killed him off in Generations. Leagues better than Voyager's Flashback however.

 

[Genesis]

If you have time to watch 110 TNG episodes, surely you have time to watch all 178 and decide for yourself . . .

ETA: If someone *needed* a really short list for some reason, I have a list of 20-odd episodes that follow the progression of the most interesting ideas TO ME in TNG (Data, Q, the Borg, time travel). But it's really best for people to watch it all and decide on their own.

I do have to ask, how is Menage A Troi at all helpful in understanding Star Trek? It was boring and pretty much pointless, as I recall.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Enterprise 2001-2005

Broken Bow 1-2
The Andorian Incident
Breaking the Ice
Cold Front
Silent Enemy
Sleeping Dogs
Shadows of P'Jem
Shuttlepod One
Fusion
Acquisition *Good episode despite it's blatant canonicty breaking
Detained
Fallen Hero
Shockwave

Season 2

Shockwave, Part II
Minefield
The Communicator
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Judgment
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

Season 3

The Xindi
Anomaly
Rajiin
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Similitude
Carpenter Street
Chosen Realm
Priving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

Season 4

Storm Front 1-2
Home
Borderland
Cold Station 12
The Augments
The Forge
Awakening
Kir'Shara
Babel One
United
The Aenar
Affliction
Divergence
Bound
In a Mirror, Darkly 1-2
Demons
Terra Prime


61 episodes out of 98 is what I deem what the most essential to viewing ENT. If you've never watched Enterprise follow this list and it might changed you opinion on this show.


I took the honest time to rewatch all of Enterprise last week after dropping out during the second season way back when. It left me plesantly surprised. While season 1 and 2 aren't much to speak of as is. I feel this abridged episode list will make it more than tolerable by cutting out the pointless BS. I'll always remain dumbfounded how Berman and Braga could have worked on so many episodes of VOY, DS9 and TNG and not have a working formula for this show. ENT should've been the crown jewel of Trek by it's debut with all the bugs worked out.

Season 3 kept me watching but the 9/11 and American wars in the Middle East theme's did grind my gears. The Xindi Conflict is comparable to the Dominion War although ENT used brevity in it's delivery of the conflict.

Season 4 without question has some of the best Trek episodes across the franchises. Manny Coto really redeemed the show and it's a shame they never a 5th season to continue with the direction many was steering it.
"These are the Voyages" only confirmed that Brannon and Berman had lost all sense of how to connect with the audience they were producing episodes.





P.S. I haven't completed Voyager so I won't have a list for you guy yet.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

ETA: If someone *needed* a really short list for some reason, I have a list of 20-odd episodes that follow the progression of the most interesting ideas TO ME in TNG (Data, Q, the Borg, time travel). But it's really best for people to watch it all and decide on their own.

I thought of doing what you suggested and realized it wouldn't be fair. TOS and TNG have the benefit of not having long arcing stories and generally being episode of the week serials. DS9 has the entire Dominon Conflict, Bajoran-Cardassian conflict post Occupation and the Bajoran faith and Prophets woven in to its storyline. You couldn't pick out 20 episodes of DS9 show them to a non fan and expect them to get it. IMO one of the weakness of DS9. So much of it's story surrounds the Dominion War. From the season finale of season 2 to the series finale of Season 7, the Dominion War takes precedence. You also wouldn't be able to explain Sisko's journey as broken Starfleet Officer, to religious figure, to Captain and key figure in the Dominion Conflict, to embraced Emissary to the Prophets, to the revelation that Sisko himself is half prophet, and that Sisko will return after Messianic quest with the prophets is completed. None of that can be done in just 20 episodes. DS9 is a complete piece. You have to watch from season 1 to 7 to fully understand and appreciate it. TOS and TNG you can cherry pick 2 dozen episodes or so and people would get the idea of what each is about. So to be fair to all series' i made a complete list of what I feel is necessary for viewing.

I do have to ask, how is Menage A Troi at all helpful in understanding Star Trek? It was boring and pretty much pointless, as I recall.

Their filter lists honestly. I added Menage A Troi only because Majel Roddenberry was in it. I think I recommended all the Luxana Troi episodes because Majel was the First Lady of Star Trek and continued the role even after her husband's death. In my list they are homages really.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Well i finally did it. After 167 hours of misery and wanting to punch a hole through my TV. I finally completed Voyager. Here is my Non-Filler List...


Voyager 1995-2001

Season 1

1-2. Caretaker 1-2
3. Parallax
5. Phage
9. Emanations
10. Prime Factors
11. State of Flux
13. Cathexis
14. Faces
15. Jetrel
16. Learning Curve

Season 2

2. Initiations
3. Projections
7. Parturition
8. Persistence of Vision
10. Cold Fire
11. Maneuvers
14. Alliances
15. Meld
17. Dreadnought
19. Lifesigns
20. Investigations
21. Deadlock
23. Thaw
24. Tuvix
26. Basic Part 1

Season 3

1. Basics Part 2
4. The Swarm
8-9. Futures End I-II
13. Fair Trade
14. Alter Ego
16. Blood Fever
17. Unity
19. Rise
21. Before and After
26. Scorpion Part 1

Season 4

1. Scorpion Part 2
2. The Gift
3. Day of Honor
5. Revulsion
6. The Raven
7. Scientific Method
8-9. Year of Hell Part I-II
14. Message in a Bottle
15. Hunters
16. Prey
18-19. The Killing Game Part I-II
23. Living Witness
25. The One
26.Hope and Fear

Season 5

1. Night
2. Drone
3. Extreme Risk
6. Timeless
7. Infinite Regress
8. Nothing Human
9. Thirty Days
11. Latent Image
12. Bride of Chaotica
15-16. Dark Frontier Part I-II
24. Relativity
26. Equinox Part I

Season 6

1. Equinox part 2
2. Survival Instinct
4. Tinker Tailor Doctor Spy
7. Dragon's Teeth
10. Pathfinder
16. Collective
19. Child's Play
23. Fury *Optional* If you are a Kes fan.
24. Life Line
26. Unimatrix Zero Part 1

Season 7

1. Unimatrix Zero Part 2
2. Imperfection
3. Drive
4. Repression
6. Inside Man
7. Body and Soul
9-10. Flesh and Blood
12. Lineage
14. Prophecy
15. The Void
16-17. Work Force I-II *optional*
18. Human Error
20. Author Author *optional but funny and amusing*
23. Homestead
25-26. Endgame I-II

93 episodes out of 167. Not bad not bad