Best Star Trek standalone episodes
Listed in order of release, here is a list of some of the most critically praised episodes of Star Trek that can be watched in isolation with little to no knowledge of any larger story and/or character arcs.
This means that I've excluded excellent fan-favourite episodes such as TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" and DS9's "In the Pale Moonlight" since these are predicated on knowledge of previous episodes and several ongoing character arcs.
PS. Star Trek the Original Series (1966-1969) is, as was the case of most old TV series of the era, designed to be watchable without any knowledge of previous continuity, meaning you can technically watch any episode of this series in isolation. None-the-less, I have tried to hand-pick a set of episodes that focus on the "challenge of the week" rather than blatantly character driven ones.
This means that I've excluded excellent fan-favourite episodes such as TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" and DS9's "In the Pale Moonlight" since these are predicated on knowledge of previous episodes and several ongoing character arcs.
PS. Star Trek the Original Series (1966-1969) is, as was the case of most old TV series of the era, designed to be watchable without any knowledge of previous continuity, meaning you can technically watch any episode of this series in isolation. None-the-less, I have tried to hand-pick a set of episodes that focus on the "challenge of the week" rather than blatantly character driven ones.
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- DirectorJames GoldstoneStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyGary LockwoodThe flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy.
- DirectorVincent McEveetyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyMark LenardThe Enterprise must decide on its response when a Romulan ship makes a destructively hostile armed probe of Federation territory.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDavid OpatoshuKirk and Spock must save their ship's crew when they are all declared killed in action in a bizarre computer simulated war where the actual deaths must nevertheless occur.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyJoan CollinsWhen a temporarily insane Dr. McCoy accidentally changes history and destroys his time, Kirk and Spock follow him to prevent the disaster, but the price to do so is high.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyThe Enterprise encounters a gigantic energy draining space organism that threatens the galaxy.
- DirectorJohn ErmanStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyTrapped in an alien laboratory, Kirk, Spock and McCoy meet an empath and are involved in a series of experiments.
- DirectorRobert WiemerStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesLeVar BurtonA proto-Vulcan culture worships Captain Picard and prepares to offer Counselor Troi as a sacrifice.
- DirectorChip ChalmersStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesLeVar BurtonAfter being fired upon by a Cardassian vessel, Picard races against time to find out the facts behind the Cardassian commander's claim that the Federation attacked one of their outposts.
- DirectorLes LandauStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesLeVar BurtonEffects of passing through a wormhole give the Enterprise crew a sense that they were unconscious for more than the thirty seconds they've been led to believe.
- DirectorJonathan FrakesStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesLeVar BurtonThe Enterprise gets caught in a time loop which always has one result: total destruction of the ship itself.
- DirectorAdam NimoyStarsPatrick StewartJonathan FrakesLeVar BurtonAboard a shuttlecraft and en route back to the Enterprise, Picard, LaForge, Data, and Troi find themselves trapped in a time trap of some sort, where the Enterprise is being taken over by Romulans, and the ship, itself, on a course of destruction.
- DirectorJames L. ConwayStarsAvery BrooksRene AuberjonoisAlexander SiddigA Cardassian suffering from Kalla-Nohra, a disease that indicates he served in a labor camp, visits DS9. Kira is determined to convict him as a war criminal.
- DirectorAlexander SingerStarsAvery BrooksRene AuberjonoisMichael DornO'Brien tries to re-integrate to life on the station after serving 20 years in a virtual prison.
- DirectorAvery BrooksStarsAvery BrooksRene AuberjonoisMichael DornCaptain Sisko has a full sensory vision of himself as an under-appreciated science fiction magazine writer in 1950s America.
- DirectorDavid LivingstonStarsKate MulgrewRobert BeltranRoxann DawsonA schism duplicates everything in Voyager; except the antimatter, which both ships share. As one ship rips apart, the other comes under attack from organ-harvesting Vidiians.
- DirectorDavid LivingstonStarsKate MulgrewRobert BeltranRoxann DawsonA superior race, descended from Earth dinosaurs, discovers Voyager, but living proof of the controversial Distant Origin Theory goes against widespread doctrine.
- DirectorTim RussStarsKate MulgrewRobert BeltranRoxann DawsonThe Doctor awakens in the museum of an alien culture seven hundred years in the future, where Voyager is thought to have been a passing warship full of cold-blooded killers.
- DirectorGabrielle BeaumontStarsKate MulgrewRobert BeltranRoxann DawsonVoyager becomes trapped in orbit of a planet where time passes rapidly, days within seconds, and enters the mythos of its indigenous people.
- DirectorMichael VejarStarsKate MulgrewRobert BeltranRoxann DawsonVoyager slips into a pocket of subspace where many other ships are trapped and must steal from each other to survive. Only with the help of other star ships can they all escape the void.
- DirectorRoxann DawsonStarsScott BakulaJohn BillingsleyJolene BlalockArcher, Trip and T'Pol are captured by the Andorians at a Vulcan monastery on P'Jem. They believe that the monastery is being used to spy on Andoria.
- DirectorJames A. ContnerStarsScott BakulaJohn BillingsleyJolene BlalockOn the first anniversary of her assignment to Enterprise, T'Pol tells Archer and Trip about the first contact between humans and Vulcans, which involves three Vulcans becoming stranded in the town of Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania in 1957.
- DirectorRoxann DawsonStarsScott BakulaJohn BillingsleyJolene BlalockEnterprise seeks repairs from their encounters with the Romulans, where they stop at a desolate but idyllic repair station. But all is not what it seems when Mayweather is suddenly found dead.
