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Ranking Star Trek Pilots From Every Series Worst To Best
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00:00Ranking the various Star Trek pilots is tricky, and it's now something that has to be done
00:05with slightly more regularity. How does one define a pilot episode? Does a Man Trap count,
00:13as it was broadcast first? Does Runway fit in, or do we count the Short Treks as part
00:18of their respective series? Arguably, Q&A and Ask Not could be seen as pilots for Strange
00:23New Worlds. In the end though, this video focuses on the main televised series and
00:29their pilots. A future list may expand on, but for now, Where No Man Has Gone Before
00:35will be the pilot in question for James R. Kirk. Although, following that logic,
00:40perhaps A Man Trap is the pilot for James T. Kirk. Ranking the newest pilots against the older ones
00:47may seem somewhat unfair. There is no competition when one compares the stunning visuals of the
00:52Vulcan Hello against the less stunning visuals of the Cage. And yet, it's surprisingly easy to
00:58compare them all to each other. Because for all the arguing online, they are all Star Trek.
01:04With that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, ranking Star Trek pilots from every series,
01:10from worst to best. Number 11, Encounter at Farpoint.
01:16With the success of the movies kicking Star Trek into warp speed, it was time for the franchise to
01:22return to its roots. Star Trek The Next Generation was conceived as a continuation of the show.
01:28And to say that it was met initially with lukewarm reactions is underselling it.
01:33The original cast were not entirely on board to begin with. George Takei, James Duhan and even
01:38DeForest Kelly, the seemingly nicest man who ever lived, were not thrilled to hear that they were
01:43being replaced in the eyes of Trekkies everywhere. Kelly was the first to come around, appearing in the
01:48pilot in one of the most heartwarming scenes of The Next Generation's seven-year run. The rest of the
01:54cast eventually came around, although Encounter at Farpoint is very rarely voted by fans as the best
02:00episode of the show. While there is a lot to like, the visuals and the introduction of Q serve as
02:05highlights for the premiere, it suffered from that common ailment of not quite knowing what it is as it
02:11came out the door. Although it's safe to say, as time went on, The Next Generation did okay.
02:17Number 10, Beyond the Farthest Star. This episode might come as a surprise to viewers who may not
02:24be overly familiar with Star Trek's first animated series. It has thrills and chills as the Enterprise
02:32is trapped in the gravity well of a dead star, where they encounter a ship that has been trapped
02:37there for 300 million years. On board this ship is a malevolent being, intent on escaping and using
02:44the Enterprise to do it. This episode has a lot going for it. The cast returns to play the characters
02:50they've originated and the story itself is gripping and intriguing. The episode is let down by the
02:56animation and dialogue, which has a whiff of a studio that's still learning how to adapt to the medium.
03:03But these are small complaints. Star Trek was back and ready to keep on travelling to strange new worlds,
03:10keeping the show alive while the convention circuit began to really take off.
03:15Number 9, Where No Man Has Gone Before. The second pilot of Star Trek acts as a spiritual sequel to
03:22The Cage, but it does reflect what Star Trek's first incarnation would embody best. It has action,
03:29it has mystery, and it has Kirk's shirt being almost completely torn off. If anything, Where No Man Has
03:36Gone Before is the epitome of Star Trek's first 20 years, summed up in an hour.
03:41Spock was now the cold Vulcan that we could come to know and love, as opposed to the more emotional
03:47man of The Cage. He had also received a promotion, ousting Barrett's number one to the position of first
03:53officer. We got an iconic scene where James R Kirk faces off against the superhuman Gary Mitchell,
04:00who was recently name-dropped in Lower Decks, and it also features the only appearance of the
04:06original series, Phaser Rifle. A very solid start to what would become Star Trek The Original Series.
04:15Number 8, Lost and Found. Lost and Found has the task of introducing not only established fans of the
04:22franchise to an entirely new frontier to boldly enter, but also has to extend that welcome to a
04:28new, younger audience. So does it manage to quite do that? Well, arguably, yes. The visuals are a
04:36spectacular treat, and the voice acting is on point from all and sundry. Those hoping for an easter egg
04:43heavy opening might leave a little disappointed, but that's effectively the point. Star Trek Prodigy makes a
04:49mission statement out of creating something new, yet managing to exist in the wider world.
04:54The inclusion of a solitary Kazon is enough for seasoned Trekkies to know that we're located
04:59in the Delta Quadrant, without anything else being overly telegraphed. The design of the USS
05:04Protostar is an absolute treat, while the rapidly cobbled together crew seem to have genuine chemistry.
05:11The main villain of the pilot, Dreadnought, may be Star Trek's take on General Grievous,
05:15but is effective nonetheless. That character's appearance in the pilot's closing moments pays
05:21off without being the sole point of the story. It may not have the gravitas of some of the other
05:26entries on this list, but it is a strong start for Star Trek Prodigy, and a whole new generation of fans.
05:34Number 7. The Cage
05:36It is no secret that here at What Culture Towers, we are big fans of the very first pilot of Star Trek,
05:44named The Cage on release. It's an hour of what Star Trek would come to be known for. Cerebral
05:50exploration of their dealings with alien races, action, and equality across genders and species.
05:57Starring Geoffrey Hunter as Captain Pike, Leonard Nimoy, and Majel Barrett, with guest star Susan Oliver as
06:03Veena, this show would take viewers on a special journey into the heart of the unknown,
06:09serving as the perfect introduction as to what Star Trek would become. However, it failed to
06:14sufficiently impress the network. They felt that while there was a good idea and good imagination
06:20here, the episode itself was too cerebral, and that it would fail to grab viewers. They did however
06:26decide that there was something there worth saving. Roddenberry was given some notes and told to write a new
06:32pilot. The notes were to drop the woman from the bridge, lose the satanic-looking fellow, and punch
06:38up the action a bit. At least one of those notes was ignored. And for the love of Spock, we thank him.
06:45Number 6. The Vulcan Hello
06:48Star Trek Discovery has been dividing fans since the first news broke that another prequel was on
06:54the way. The first images of the show confused fans as to where and when it would be set. If,
07:01like the producers claimed, it was to be set before Kirk and Spock, why then did the technology look so
07:07modernised? What on earth were those demon-looking creatures that seemed to be speaking Klingon and
07:13Spock has a sister now? Discovery dared to do something new with the Vulcan Hello. It opened on the
07:19Klingons planning to unite to fight the Federation, then focuses on Michael Burnham and her disastrous
07:26attempt to save the lives of her ship and crew. The episode is beautiful. The effects team took
07:32every dollar they were thrown and handed it back to the audience in every shot of the episode.
07:37Everything is rendered to look so realistic that the ho-hum graphics of some of Enterprise are
07:42immediately forgotten. The pilot does stumble though. It's told at a breakneck pace, screaming through the
07:50plot rather than offering the audience any time to swallow what's happening. We're given compelling
07:55characters with no time to be compelled. The second pilot comes two episodes later, though Discovery does
08:02ask a lot of its audiences in the first season. As pilots go, it's a tough one to follow.
08:08Number five, Second Contact. It might seem a bit mean to say this, but nobody expected Star Trek Lower Decks to
08:17be great. Good, certainly. It had some excellent talent lined up for behind the scenes, and the show was
08:24thankfully not hindered by the lockdown, with actors able to record remotely. At best, some hoped this would be a
08:30fun addition to the franchise. It has become so much more. While there are moments of comedy that seem
08:38more at place in Rick and Morty, the show is treating the franchise not just with respect,
08:43but with reverence. In the pilot, we are greeted with a shot of space doc, followed by the surprisingly
08:49lovely USS Cerritos. The animation is superb, and the voice talent nails it. The show is, to quote a famous
08:57Trek culture voice, piss funny. It absolutely smashes the comedy while honouring what came before. The pilot
09:05closes by name dropping not just Kirk and his crew, but also Gary Mitchell, who hasn't been heard from since
09:121966. Yet none of it feels tacked on, and the relationships established seem as real as any we've seen before.
09:21The future of Star Trek seems to be in good hands at the moment, and as Trekkies, that's a good
09:27place for us to be. 4. Remembrance
09:31For that image alone, Star Trek Picard could have done nothing else and still made its way into the
09:37hearts of audiences. However, and thankfully, it did a lot more than that. The opening shot,
09:43similar to Discovery in its stunning use of visuals, becomes a scene between John Luke and Data,
09:49offering us a hint of what was to come in the first season of Star Trek Picard.
09:54This was not going to be a rehash of The Next Generation, and many people found that jarring.
09:59Captain Picard was always the most reasoned and calming force, yet here he is, fighting with a
10:05reporter, being blown backwards by explosions, and for all intents and purposes, showing his age.
10:11And that is exactly the point. Many of us would have loved The Next Generation Season 8, but that was
10:18never what was on the table. There is both action and moments of calm here, with enough to hook new
10:24viewers while offering tidbits to the returning viewers. The closing shot of the episode, revealing
10:29the immensity of the ball cube, stands out as one of the moments of the season, and in fact Trek in
10:36general, from the last 20 years. Remembrance was an excellent pilot for what would become a mixed bag
10:42of a season. Number 3, Broken Bow. To be fair, the franchise was headed into the fatigue that would
10:49put it on ice for several years when Enterprise, later retconned to be named Star Trek Enterprise,
10:56was conceived. The idea of a prequel series had been bandied about for almost a decade,
11:01with the idea of doing a movie on Kirk and Spock at the Academy doing the rounds for a while.
11:06With the completion of Voyager Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, created Enterprise, a series about
11:12the first ship named Enterprise. It came out at entirely the wrong time. The pilot, Broken Bow,
11:18was quite an interesting episode, but suffered from a sense of the audience having seen it all before.
11:24The visuals, while very nice, were also still slightly jarring. Enterprise is the first series
11:29to rely entirely on CGI to depict the ship. There were canon and continuity issues from the start,
11:36a theme that is yet to go away from Star Trek, and this served to put audiences off. While the pilot
11:43does the necessaries of introducing the crew and the ship, the timing of it all just...
11:48Star Trek's first series to be led by a female captain, Voyager broke the mould on its arrival.
11:54The ship, beautifully designed by Rick Sternbach, was hurled into the Delta Quadrant in a new-ish take
12:01on seeking out strange new worlds and civilizations.
12:05Caretaker is an excellent opener to the series. The action kicks off almost immediately with the
12:10Marquis on the run from the Cardassians, only to end up on the wrong side of the Badlands.
12:15After a welcome stop at Deep Space Nine, Voyager launches and finds itself thrown to the Delta
12:20Quadrant by the Caretaker, a powerful being who is trying to save the Acampa, a people he inadvertently
12:27devastated. The series villain the Kazon are introduced, as well as Neelix and Kes, the first
12:33friends that the crew makes on the far side of the galaxy. Caretaker is a strong opener for the show,
12:38and is up there with Emissary for Best Pilots of Star Trek. It knows when to hit,
12:44when to hold back and when to show off some gorgeous visuals. Star Trek Voyager had arrived
12:50and it looked like it was going to be a good one. Number one, Emissary.
12:56Star Trek's Deep Space Nine burst onto screens in 1992, and although it started slow in the ratings,
13:04it's now enjoying its long-awaited status of some of the best Star Trek ever made.
13:09The pilot Emissary is quite possibly the most re-watchable of all the pilot episodes on this
13:16list. It, unlike many of the others, was instantly sure of what it was going to be. This was a story
13:22about a lonely facility out in the wilds of the Alpha Quadrant, with a crew who not only had conflict
13:28with each other, they outright disliked each other for the first year. Welcome characters returned,
13:33like Chief O'Brien, while Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko offered what is potentially the best single
13:39performance of any leading cast member in a pilot of Star Trek. This was a new journey, albeit one
13:45where the adventures came to them. The greatest villain of Star Trek, Gol Dukat, was introduced in
13:51the pilot as well, meaning that in a single stroke, we were offered some of the best characters to be
13:57created for Star Trek. There is no understating just how good Star Trek Deep Space Nine is,
14:04all wrapped up in its excellent pilot. And there you have it, every Star Trek pilot
14:09ranked from worst to best. If your ranking is different, then please let us know in the comments
14:14below, and while you're there, like and subscribe, and tap that notification bell.
14:19You can also head over to Twitter to follow us at the pilot, ranked from worst to best.
14:23If your ranking is different, then please let us know in the comments below, and while you're there,
14:27like and subscribe, and tap that notification bell. You can also head over to Twitter to follow us there,
14:33and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
14:37I've been Ellie with Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day,
14:41and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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