Life is hard enough as it is. I’m tired. I’m exhausted. Give me hope for a better tomorrow that I honestly can’t see. Gimme Star Trek.
That being said, what do you think is the funniest episode of TNG and the scariest episode? I can’t make up my damn mind on what to watch. I’m starting with Schisms because fuck that holodeck clicking scene.
Also after posting this and taking a look at the home screen, I feel like I’m dangerously close to spamming. If I haven’t already. If it becomes a problem please let me know. Gonna back off a bit today.
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The funniest moment for me is when Data is telling Worf how to care for Spot. He’s saying stuff like “You must provide her with feline supplement 39 twice per day. You must give her affection 3 times per day. You must tell her she’s a good cat, and a pretty cat”. Worf looks at Data with murder in his eyes and says “I will feed her”.
Yeah, I struggle to identify a full episode of TNG that stands out to me as “funny” the way Voyager had Bride of Chaotica or SNW has the LD crossover; but there are lots of little moments like this one across the whole series that the other shows have a good number of, but not of the same caliber, y’know?
Can’t remember the exact episode, but Picard has to personally reel off a long string of gibberish to the alien ambassador.
The reverse is the scene where Data is in command and he has to rein in Worf.
I love that scene. Data apologizes for ruining their friendship, and Worf takes ownership of his mistake and says he still wants to consider Data his friend. It just made my heart happy.
Data does not fuck around when he’s in command.
If you haven’t seen it, this is a great addition to the lore…
Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor by John Byrne. McCoy in the period between TOS and ST :TMP. A small ship patrolling the outskirts of the Federation, providing medical care.
The scariest for me is still Best of Both Worlds, Part 1. I was literally an infant when it first aired, but I remember seeing it in reruns when I was maybe five or six years old.
When I was a child, Captain Picard was almost a god to me — not in a hero worship kind of way, but almost a literal sense. He was firm but kind, intelligent but humble, and always did the right thing no matter what it meant for himself. And Patrick Stewart even sounds like what I thought God’s voice might be like.
The Borg had been looming in the background all episode, and then when they finally show up they stole Picard, corrupted him, made him into a monster that wanted to hurt everyone Picard cared for, and forced Riker (who I vaguely remember believing as a kid was Picard’s son) to kill him… it felt like the whole world was crashing down. And worst of all Captain Picard wasn’t going to be there to put it back together, because the Borg just took him.
ETA: and when the away team is trying to explain to Riker what they saw, Worf sounds so lost and angry when he just shouts “He is a Borg”. It was a terrifying, almost traumatic experience for me.
And then the episode just… stopped. I was so young I’d never experienced a cliffhanger before. And to this day I bet I could count on one hand the number of cliffhangers that hit me as hard.
It ended with Picard/Locutus saying:
“Resistance is futile … Number 1!”
I don’t know how long i stayed there, sitting with my jaw on the floor, glaring into the screen, completely taken hostage by that goddamn cliffhanger
I swear you’re right. I remember that very line. But on my last watch through and checking on YouTube now, it’s not there.
I don’t buy into the “Mandela effect” bullshit, but it’s a tough memory error to swallow.
Seriously? That line had such an impact on me. Did you watch it on Netflix, I’ll try to find it.
Apart from my YouTube searches in the last day, Netflix was where I watched it more recently yes.
I’ve done some Googling for quotes, and it looks like Locutus does refer to Riker as “Number One” a few times in Part 2:
“A futile manuever. Incorrect strategy, Number One, to risk your crew and ship to retrieve only one man. Picard would never have approved.”
“Preparation is irrelevant. Your people will be assimilated as easily as Picard has been. Your attempt at delay will not be successful, Number One.”
But I too remember Locutus giving his whole speech about how their lives as they had been were over, then closing with “Resistance is futile… Number One”. Gives me chills to this day, but apparently it didn’t happen.
The ones with data can be really funny. For example the one where he tries to understand humor.
Scary - I would say the double episode the best of both worlds. Just how unprepared they are for dealing with the borg, and just how entirely invulnerable they are.
Personally for me the borg are a metaphor for the corpos that have lost themselves entirely in the machine of civilization. Culture is irrelevant. It’s inefficient. Etc.
I am pretty sure the Borg (and before they were turned into the Borg, the bluegill) were originally conceived as a metaphor for totalitarian collectivism: the ultimate erasure of the individual and a sense of self, becoming a perfect cog in the machine that is the whole.
Makes sense especially considering the real world time period the show was made in, with the red scare being widespread.
We can all see something personal in it, whatever resonates.
For example from my perspective, look at how globalism has this very efficient architectural style that we see in every city. Or how counter cultures were capitalized upon. Everything is assimilated and turned into something efficient, regardless of the true meaning and identity behind it.
Yet there comes some kind of satisfaction from it for the people in the collective. For them it is unimaginable why you wouldn’t want the same thing. This can also be a metaphor for colonialism and civilizing peoples, which is part of the same thing I mentioned before.
Do you see something personal too?
That’s a fair point. Spiner does get to go ham a lot and boy is he good at it.
The Borg episodes almost feel like cheating sometimes. They’re genuinely one of the most terrifying species that I’ve seen in sci-fi, especially in TNG/First Contact.
What do you mean with cheating
It’s more of a turn of phrase. Just that the Borg are always terrifying no matter what.
Gonna back off a bit today.
Please don’t! The Fediverse needs content, and while I guess I can’t speak on behalf of the whole community I will say that I’ve really come to appreciate yours.
Not to get too real but I’m lonely and pretty depressed. Things aren’t going well for me. Honestly this instance has been the only thing that’s made me feel good in months. I’m just genuinely really worried that I’ll end up spamming and being a problem on the one place where I don’t hate myself.
You’ve got a pretty big fan club here. I hope you find some connection here, as well. This can be a great fandom, and I’m really enjoying this corner of it.
When I first started venturing about the internet in the early 2000s, I came across a definition of spam that has yet to fail me as either a user or a moderator: stupid, pointless, or annoying messages. You haven’t qualified as any of the above — except for those that are exactly the kind of stupid and pointless that Risa exists for.
Star Trek content is what we’re all here for, and IMO there’s precious little of it on the Fediverse. If posting here is the only way you’re getting that sweet sweet serotonin right now, then I say post away my friend. You’re helping yourself and providing much needed content.
Keep it up, man. For real.
Man, do I feel that. I’m pretty depressed right now, too. Your memes are a bright spot.
I’m glad that they help because honestly they’re a big thing that’s keeping me going right now too. Remember as the mighty Klingon therapist says, “Battle against a foe of such magnitude, who occupies your very mind… every moment you survive is a trumph against all odds. There is no more honorable combat.”
There’s only one possible response for that:
Godspeed
Shades of Grey is the funniest, because lol, they made a clip show, and they even came up with a plot reason for it to be a clip show, and it’s still somehow worse than if it was just like a regular “hey remember the time when” clip shows that sitcoms do.
It’s also the scariest because they keep switching between bearded and beardless Riker, and the emotional rollercoaster that it puts you on is really bad for your mental health.
Yeah. The switches between beardless and normal Riker should be alongside the “may contain flashing lights” safety warning before the episode.
Don’t forget, even in the Star Trek main timeline, Earth had to suffer through the Second American Civil War, the Eugenics Wars, World War III, and the post-atomic horror before her people were able to start building a utopia. We’re right on track! ☢ 👽 🐬 🛸
So you’re saying we were born at pretty much the worst possible point in time? Early enough to see the peak of post-WWII civilization, but late enough that we experience all of the horrors as it fades into dust?
In Trek we were lucky that our little corner had friendly/tolerable aliens and specifically that it was the Vulcan first contact.
Unfortunately in our reality we are 99.99999% for sure alone and the end result of all that suffering, if we manage to achieve near FTL travel we will just devolve into some nihilistic hyper capitalism, those stupid articles “this asteroid is worth 1 trillion USD in minerals” are already being published unironically.
Deja Q is one of the funniest episodes for me.
adds to list
A good number of Q episodes are luckily pretty funny. Who knew God had a sense of humor?
Have you seen a platypus?
I’ve stopped watching the news and instead started watching Trek for my mental health. My anxiety is better and honestly I think I’ve watched every episode at least three times by now.
Would rather hear the intro to Enterprise than some talking head explaining how the world is going to burn and no one really cares. We have lived in the garden of Eden and burnt it to the ground.
My favourite funny TNG episode is A Fistful of Datas. For non-TNG, I really like Bride of Chaotica from Voyager, which has a similar vibe.
Such a great episode!
I love the contrast between Marina Sitris and Brent Spiner hamming it up, and Michael Dorn giving a nuanced performance - yet it fits together perfectly.
For non-TNG, I really like Bride of Chaotica from Voyager, which has a similar vibe.
The Ferengi-centric episodes of DS9 are funny, if you’re into that sort of thing.
And a great sequel to a TNG episode. By the way, where is Queen Arachnia?
We just decided to rewatch DS9, but interrupted it, 2 episodes in, to watch TNG (s6e10/11) Chain of Command.
Enjoy your journey
Schisms is freaky indeed. I love that even in the 24th century humans are getting abducted.
How about “Frame of Mind” for another scary one?
That probe they send out the portal at the end creeps me out so much.
Frame of Mind
Another good example. A good ol’ mindfuck of an episode is always something to get the stomach turning and kill the appetite. Which happens to be useful at the moment.
Frame of Mind is the scariest!
I guess I have a low bar but TNG Q episodes were all very funny, Deja Q if I were to say #1.
I’m an atheist though so I wont get scared by ghosts/horror stuff, but I guess the “worst feeling” moment was actualy TNG Best of Both worlds. I think the realization that the doomsday scenario is actually coming, it is real and inevitable, our chances are extremely low, the very moody soundtrack made it a very sober experience for me the first few times I watched it.
Your post reminds me of an interaction I had in the train last week. This old guy sat next to me and asked me if there was a toilet on the train. I said there wasn’t on short tracks like these. That rubbed the old man the wrong way and he started complaining how there used to be toilets in his time and that train service used to be better. Eventually his rant turned to the government and how the train was a jew train and life as a whole was nothing but an annoyance to him. All I coudl keep say was that he was right, everything sucks, so that’s why I was on my way home to grab a beer and watch some netflix and maybe he should do the same. I told him to write a letter to the government as well. I hope he does, maybe they’ll put him on some list.
Anyways. Life is short and you’ve only got one as far as you know, so you’ve gotta make it the best life you can. You ain’t got time or energy to worry about things you can’t affect and things that don’t matter.
I haven’t actually finished TNG yet, but here are my picks for funniest and scariest so far.
Funniest: Deja Q
Scariest: Identity Crisis
