The Best Underrated Star Trek Episodes

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Jessie Earl

I LOVE IT SO MUCH

Jessie Earl

Spocks Brain is so fun

Jessie Earl

Thank you KBDaxio

Jessie Earl

I was surprised to see The Thaw and Explorers on a list of underrated episodes. Both are all time favorites. Explorers is so understated but it manages to do incredible things with small moments. The Thaw takes an absolutely horrifying setting and tell a completely unexpected story with so much meaning to it. I guess it’s an unsung hero of Voyager episodes. Really surprised to hear these aren’t fan favorites. 😩

I can't say enough about "The Thaw". It is not just one of the best episodes of Trek, it is on a short list of best one-hours of TV, ever.

Robert Cooper

An episode that I feel doesn't get its due is TNG's s4e22 "Half a Life", in which Lwaxana falls in love with an alien scientist onboard the Enterprise to conduct an experiment, and it's later revealed that this is his last journey because when he gets home he will commit ritual suicide on his 60th birthday. So many people dismiss or outright loathe Lwaxana's obnoxiousness, and in earlier seasons... yeah, I get it. But here, her force of personality works fantastically as a foil for the scientist's stoicism, and we see that not only does she bring him out of his shell, but the time he spends with her also brings out the full courage of her convictions. We also get a wonderful debate about how societies should treat their aging population, what do the younger generations owe to the older ones (and vice versa), and when is the proper time to let a life end. And given how for four seasons the running punchline has been that Picard considers her to be an annoying nuisance, it's so satisfying at the end of the episode to see him give her a little smile of admiration and respect for beaming down with the scientist to support his wishes and be with him when he completes the ritual.

Rhiannon M

Here we go... I unironically like Spock's Brain. It's campy, cheesy, popcorn science fiction and it's more Flash Gordon (which I also like) than Star Trek tries to be, but I think it's a fun, silly episode and I do enjoy it.

Eric Willey

This was fantastic analysis Jessie. I’d love to see any one of these themes get a separate video, drawing from various episodes to go deeper. Really great.

KBDaxio