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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.
00:08How does one define a pilot episode?
00:11Does a Man Trap count, as it was broadcast first?
00:15Does Runway fit in, or do we count the Short Treks as part of their respective series?
00:20Arguably Q&A and Arse Not could be seen as pilots for Strange New Worlds.
00:24In the end though, this video focuses on the main televised series and their pilots.
00:30A future list may expand on, but for now, where no man has gone before will be the pilot in
00:36question for James R. Kirk.
00:38Although following that logic, perhaps a Man Trap is the pilot for James T. Kirk.
00:44Ranking the newest pilots against the older ones may seem somewhat unfair.
00:48There is no competition when one compares the stunning visuals of the Vulcan Hello against
00:54the less stunning visuals of the Cage.
00:56And yet, it's surprisingly easy to compare them all to each other.
01:00Because for all the arguing online, they are all Star Trek.
01:05With that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, ranking Star Trek pilots from every
01:09series from worst to best.
01:12Number 11, Encounter at Farpoint.
01:16With the success of the movies kicking Star Trek into warp speed, it was time for the franchise
01:22to return to its roots.
01:23Star Trek The Next Generation was conceived as a continuation of the show, and to say that
01:29it was met initially with lukewarm reactions is underselling it.
01:33The original cast were not entirely on board to begin with.
01:36George Takai, James Duhan and even DeForest Kelly, the seemingly nicest man who ever lived,
01:41were not thrilled to hear that they were being replaced in the eyes of Trekkies everywhere.
01:46Kelly was the first to come around, appearing in the pilot in one of the most heartwarming
01:50scenes of The Next Generation's seven-year run.
01:53The rest of the cast eventually came around, although Encounter at Farpoint is very rarely
01:58voted by fans as the best episode of the show.
02:01While there is a lot to like, the visuals and the introduction of Q serve as highlights
02:06for the premiere, it suffered from that common ailment of not quite knowing what it is as
02:10it came out the door.
02:12Although it's safe to say, as time went on, The Next Generation did okay.
02:18Number 10 – Beyond the Farthest Star This episode might come as a surprise to viewers
02:24who may not be overly familiar with Star Trek's first animated series.
02:29It has thrills and chills as the Enterprise is trapped in the gravity well of a dead star,
02:35where they encounter a ship that has been trapped there for 300 million years.
02:40Onboard this ship is a malevolent being, intent on escaping and using the Enterprise to do it.
02:46This episode has a lot going for it.
02:48The cast returns to play the characters they've originated, and the story itself is gripping
02:53and intriguing.
02:54The episode is let down by the animation and dialogue, which has a whiff of a studio that's
03:00still learning how to adapt to the medium.
03:03But these are small complaints.
03:05Star Trek was back and ready to keep on travelling to Strange New Worlds, keeping the show alive,
03:11while the convention circuit began to really take off.
03:14Number 9 – Where No Man Has Gone Before
03:18The second pilot of Star Trek acts as a spiritual sequel to The Cage, but it does reflect what
03:24Star Trek's first incarnation would embody best.
03:27It has action, it has mystery, and it has Kirk's shirt being almost completely torn off.
03:34If anything, where no man has gone before is the epitome of Star Trek's first 20 years, summed
03:40up in an hour.
03:41Spock was now the cold Vulcan that we could come to know and love, as opposed to the more
03:46emotional man of The Cage.
03:48He had also received a promotion, ousting Barrett's number one to the position of first officer.
03:54We 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
04:06the original series, Phaser Rifle.
04:09A very solid start to what would become Star Trek The Original Series.
04:14Number 8 – Lost and Found
04:17Lost and Found has the task of introducing not only established fans of the franchise to an entirely
04:23new frontier to boldly enter, but also has to extend that welcome to a new, younger audience.
04:30So, does it manage to quite do that?
04:33Well, arguably, yes.
04:35The visuals are a spectacular treat, and the voice acting is on point from all and sundry.
04:41Those hoping for an easter egg-heavy opening might leave a little disappointed, but that's
04:45effectively the point.
04:48Star Trek Prodigy makes a mission statement out of creating something new, yet managing to
04:52exist in the wider world.
04:54The inclusion of a solitary Kazon is enough for seasoned Trekkies to know that we're
04:58located in the Delta Quadrant, without anything else being overly telegraphed.
05:03The design of the USS Protostar is an absolute treat, while the rapidly cobbled together crews
05:09seem to have genuine chemistry.
05:11The main villain of the pilot, Dreadnought, may be Star Trek's take on General Grievous, but
05:16is effective nonetheless.
05:18That character's appearance in the pilot's closing moment pays off without being the
05:22sole point of the story.
05:24It may not have the gravitas of some of the other entries on this list, but it is a strong
05:29start for Star Trek Prodigy, and a whole new generation of fans.
05:34Number 7.
05:36The Cage.
05:37It is no secret that here at WhatCulture Towers, we are big fans of the very first pilot of Star
05:43Trek, named The Cage on release.
05:46It's an hour of what Star Trek would come to be known for.
05:49Cerebral exploration of their dealings with alien races, action, and equality across genders
05:56and species.
05:57Starring Geoffrey Hunter as Captain Pike, Leonard Nimoy, and Majel Barrett, with guest star Susan
06:03Oliver as Veena, 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.
06:13However, it failed to sufficiently impress the network.
06:16They felt that while there was a good idea and good imagination here, the episode itself
06:21was too cerebral, and that it would fail to grab viewers.
06:25They did however decide that there was something there worth saving.
06:29Roddenberry was given some notes and told to write a new pilot.
06:33The notes were to drop the woman from the bridge, lose the satanic looking fellow, and punch
06:38up the action a bit.
06:40At least one of those notes was ignored.
06:42And for the love of Spock, we thank him.
06:45Number 6.
06:46The Vulcan Hello.
06:48Star Trek Discovery has been dividing fans since the first news broke that another prequel
06:54was on the way.
06:55The first images of the show confused fans as to where and when it would be set.
07:00If, like the producers claimed, it was to be set before Kirk and Spock, why then did the
07:06technology look so modernised?
07:08What on earth were those demon looking creatures that seemed to be speaking Klingon, and Spock
07:13has a sister now?
07:15Discovery dared to do something new with the Vulcan Hello.
07:18It opened on the Klingons planning to unite to fight the Federation.
07:23Then focuses on Michael Burnham and her disastrous attempt to save the lives of her ship and crew.
07:29The episode is beautiful.
07:31The effects team took every dollar they were thrown and handed it back to the audience
07:35in every shot of the episode.
07:37Everything is rendered to look so realistic that the ho-hum graphics of some of Enterprise
07:42are immediately forgotten.
07:44The pilot does stumble though.
07:46It's told at a breakneck pace, screaming through the plot rather than offering the audience any
07:52time to swallow what's happening.
07:54We're given compelling characters with no time to be compelled.
07:58The second pilot comes two episodes later, though Discovery does ask a lot of its audiences
08:04in the first season.
08:06As pilots go, it's a tough one to follow.
08:09Number 5.
08:11Second Contact
08:13It might seem a bit mean to say this, but nobody expected Star Trek Lower Decks to be great.
08:18Good, certainly.
08:20It had some excellent talent lined up for behind the scenes, and the show was thankfully not
08:24hindered by the lockdown, with actors able to record remotely.
08:29At best, some hoped this would be a fun addition to the franchise.
08:33It has become so much more.
08:36While there are moments of comedy that seem more at place in Rick and Morty, the show is
08:41treating the franchise not just with respect, but with reverence.
08:45In the pilot we are greeted with a shot of Spacedock, followed by the surprisingly lovely USS Cerritos.
08:52The animation is superb and the voice talent nails it.
08:56The show is, to quote a famous Trek culture voice, piss funny.
09:00It absolutely smashes the comedy while honouring what came before.
09:04The pilot closes by name dropping not just Kirk and his crew, but also Gary Mitchell, who
09:10hasn't been heard from since 1966, yet none of it feels tacked on.
09:17And 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
09:26a good place for us to be.
09:29Number 4 Remembrance
09:31For that image alone, Star Trek Picard could have done nothing else and still made its
09:36way into the hearts of audiences.
09:39However, and thankfully, it did a lot more than that.
09:42The opening shot, similar to Discovery in its stunning use of visuals, becomes a scene
09:47between John Luke and Data, offering us a hint of what was to come in the first season of
09:52Star Trek Picard.
09:54This was not going to be a rehash of the next generation, and many people found that jarring.
10:00Captain Picard was always the most reasoned and calming force, yet here he is, fighting
10:05with a reporter, being blown backwards by explosions, and for all intents and purposes, showing
10:10his age.
10:11And that is exactly the point.
10:14Many of us would have loved The Next Generation Season 8, but that was never what was on the
10:20table.
10:21There is both action and moments of calm here, with enough to hook new viewers while offering
10:25tidbits to the returning viewers.
10:27The closing shot of the episode, revealing the immensity of the ball cube, stands out
10:32as one of the moments of the season, and in fact Trek in general, from the last 20 years.
10:38Remembrance was an excellent pilot for what would become a mixed bag of a season.
10:43Number 3.
10:44Broken Bow
10:46To be fair, the franchise was headed into the fatigue that would put it on ice for several
10:51years when Enterprise, later retconned to be named Star Trek Enterprise, was conceived.
10:57The idea of a prequel series had been bandied about for almost a decade, with the idea of
11:02doing 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
11:11about the first ship named Enterprise.
11:14It came out at entirely the wrong time.
11:17The pilot Broken Bow was quite an interesting episode, but suffered from a sense of the audience
11:22having seen it all before.
11:24The visuals, while very nice, were also still slightly jarring.
11:28Enterprise is the first series to rely entirely on CGI to depict the ship.
11:33There were canon and continuity issues from the start, a theme that is yet to go away from
11:38Star Trek, and this served to put audiences off.
11:42While the pilot does the necessaries of introducing the crew and the ship, the timing of it all,
11:47just after 9-11, was against it.
11:50It does seem to be having a second life in recent years, something that is very welcome
11:55to fans of the show.
11:57Number 2.
11:58Caretaker
11:59Star Trek's first series to be led by a female captain, Voyager broke the mould on its arrival.
12:06The ship, beautifully designed by Rick Sternbach, was hurled into the Delta Quadrant in a new-ish
12:12take on seeking out strange new worlds and civilizations.
12:17Caretaker is an excellent opener to the series.
12:20The action kicks off almost immediately with the Maquis on the run from the Cardassians,
12:24only to end up on the wrong side of the Badlands.
12:28After a welcome stop at Deep Space Nine, Voyager launches and finds itself thrown to the
12:32Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, a powerful being who is trying to save the Okampa, a people
12:38he inadvertently devastated.
12:40The series' villain, the Kazon, are introduced, as well as Neelix and Kes, the first friends
12:45that the crew makes on the far side of the galaxy.
12:48Caretaker is a strong opener for the show, and is up there with Emissary for Best Pilots
12:53of Star Trek.
12:55It knows when to hit, when to hold back, and when to show off some gorgeous visuals.
13:00Star Trek Voyager had arrived, and it looked like it was going to be a good one.
13:05Number 1.
13:06Emissary.
13:08Star Trek's Deep Space Nine burst onto screens in 1992, and although it started slow in the
13:15ratings, it's now enjoying its long-awaited status of some of the best Star Trek ever made.
13:21The pilot Emissary is quite possibly the most re-watchable of all the pilot episodes on
13:27this list.
13:28It, unlike many of the others, was instantly sure of what it was going to be.
13:33This was a story about a lonely facility out in the wilds of the Alpha Quadrant, with a
13:38crew who not only had conflict with each other, they outright disliked each other for the first
13:43year.
13:44Welcome characters returned like Chief O'Brien, while Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko offered
13:49what is potentially the best single performance of any leading cast member in a pilot of Star
13:55Trek.
13:56This was a new journey, albeit one where the adventures came to them.
13:59The greatest villain of Star Trek, Gol Dukat, was introduced in the pilot as well, meaning
14:05that in a single stroke we were offered some of the best characters to be created for Star
14:11Trek.
14:12There's no understating just how good Star Trek Deep Space Nine is, all wrapped up in
14:17its excellent pilot.
14:18And there you have it, every Star Trek pilot ranked from worst to best.
14:23If your ranking is different, then please let us know in the comments below, and while
14:27you're there, like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
14:31You can also head over to Twitter to follow us there, and I can be found across various social
14:35medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
14:37I've been Ellie with Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to boldly
14:42go where no one has gone before.
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