Entertainment desk
< September 11	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

September 12

Star Trek episodes

Most episodes from TOS, TNG, voyager and DS9 seem to be very sci fi and obviously it's a scifi show but are there any episodes which are particularly emotional and have much more than sci fi? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.192.105.196 (talk) 19:00, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

From TNG, I'd recommend "The Inner Light" and "Chain of Command". From DS9, "Duet". --McDoob AU93 19:15, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I've seen the inner light. That's very good. I don't remember chain of command being much different from most other TNG episodes though and never seen duet. 90.192.105.196 (talk) 20:02, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I selected these as the core story, if you took the sci-fi elements away from it, could still be told and have the same impact. Definitely recommend "Duet", as it's one of my all-time fave DS9 episodes. --McDoob AU93 20:11, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I would recommend the TNG episode "Family". There is almost no sci-fi in it at all. Most of it centers around Jean-Luc Picard's recovery from the Borg attack. He returns to his family vineyard in France, and reconnects with his older brother who has taken over the wine-making business. Worf has a similar reconnection with his adoptive human parents, and Wesley Crusher is given a message left by his late father. → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 21:29, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The DS9 episode In the Pale Moonlight has always been one of my favorites for drama. Sisko, while dictating a personal log entry, wrestles with his conscience regarding decisions he made. There is sci-fi-ish story stuff in the flashbacks, but the turmoil Sisko is going through (and its resolution) is the central theme of the episode.--William Thweatt ^Talk^Contribs 00:08, 13 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Your premise is flawed, sci-fi and emotional quality drama are not mutually exclusive by any means. 82.21.7.184 (talk) 23:36, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed. "Science Fiction" is merely a setting. Any story can take place in any setting. There are Sci-Fi detective stories (The Caves of Steel, Blade Runner), Sci-Fi war stories (Old Man's War); Sci-Fi samurai stories (Star Wars), sci-fi political commentary (Foundation), sci-fi comedy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), etc, etc, etc. --Jayron32 00:17, 13 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The OP never stated that sci-fi and emotion were mutually exclusive, just that they aren't always combined in the same ratio. StuRat (talk) 12:36, 13 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In the original series, there were some rather emotional ones. We had the half-black, half-white races fighting each other to mutual destruction of their planet, at least 2 episodes where officers were on trial for murder, The Doomsday Machine, where Kirk felt useless at first, the episode where Kirk's brother was killed by those flying things that stuck on people's backs, the one where Kirk was split into two people, one violent and one gentle, etc.

BTW, if you like emotion with your Sci-fi, you might appreciate the original Outer Limits. I get the impression most of the scripts were meant for a half hour show, but when they got an hour-long slot instead, they reacted by tossing a romantic entanglement into each episode to take up the extra time. StuRat (talk) 12:36, 13 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

A few more emotional TNG episodes: Dark Page, where Lwaxana Troi comes to terms with the death of her first-born daughter, who drowned as a youngster, and Eye of the Beholder, which dealt with themes of murder and suicide. Matt Deres (talk) 17:19, 13 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"In the Hands of the Prophets" parallels the debate over whether creationism should be taught in schools. Dismas|^(talk) 00:09, 14 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]