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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 with
00:06slightly more regularity. How does one define a pilot episode? Does a man trap count as it was
00:13broadcast first? Does 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. In the end though this
00:25video focuses on the main televised series and their pilots. A future list may expand on but for
00:32now where no man has gone before will be the pilot in question for James R Kirk. Although following
00:39that logic perhaps a man trap is the pilot for James T Kirk. Ranking the newest pilots against the
00:46older ones may seem somewhat unfair. There is no competition when one compares the stunning visuals
00:52of the Vulcan hello against the less stunning visuals of the cage. And yet it's surprisingly
00:57easy to compare 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 from
01:10worst to best. Number 11, Encounter at Farpoint. With the success of the movies kicking Star Trek
01:19in two warp speed, it was time for the franchise to return to its roots. Star Trek The Next Generation
01:25was conceived as a continuation of the show. And to say that it was met initially with lukewarm reactions
01:31is underselling it. The original cast were not entirely on board to begin with. George Takai,
01:37James Doohan and even DeForest Kelly, the seemingly nicest man who ever lived, were not thrilled to hear
01:42that they were being replaced in the eyes of Trekkies everywhere. Kelly was the first to come around,
01:47appearing in the pilot in one of the most heartwarming scenes 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. While there is a lot to like, the visuals and
02:04the
02:04introduction of Q serve as highlights for the premiere, it suffered from that common ailment of
02:09not quite knowing what it is as it came out the door. Although it's safe to say, as time went
02:14on,
02:15The Next Generation did okay. Number 10, Beyond the Farthest Star.
02:21This episode might come as a surprise to viewers who may not be overly familiar with Star Trek's first
02:27animated series. It has thrills and chills as the Enterprise is trapped in the gravity well of a dead
02:34star, where they encounter a ship that has been trapped there for 300 million years. On board this
02:40ship is a malevolent being, intent on escaping and using the Enterprise to do it. This episode has a lot
02:47going for it. The cast returns to play the characters they've originated and the story itself is gripping
02:53and intriguing. The episode is let down by the animation and dialogue, which has a whiff of a studio
03:00that's still learning how to adapt to the medium. But these are small complaints. Star Trek was back
03:06and ready to keep on travelling to strange new worlds, keeping the show alive while the convention
03:12circuit began to really take off. Number 9, Where No Man Has Gone Before. The second pilot of Star Trek
03:20acts as a spiritual sequel to The Cage, but it does reflect what Star Trek's first incarnation would embody
03:27best. It has action, it has mystery, and it has Kurt's shirt being almost completely torn off. If anything,
03:35Where No Man Has Gone 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 original
04:07series, 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
04:49a mission 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 in
04:59the Delta Quadrant, without anything else being overly telegraphed. The design of the USS Protostar
05:05is 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
05:33fans.
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
05:43Star Trek,
05:44named The Cage on release. It'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 and species.
05:57Starring Geoffrey Hunter as Captain Pike, Leonard Nimoy, and Madjell Barrett, with guest star Susan Oliver as Veena,
06:04this 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,
06:20the episode itself was 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 up the action
06:39a bit.
06:40At least one of those notes was ignored.
06:42And 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 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,
07:05why then did the technology look so modernised?
07:08What on earth were those demon-looking creatures that seemed to be speaking Klingon, and...
07:13Spock has 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.
07:28The episode is beautiful.
07:30The effects team took every dollar they were thrown and handed it back to the audience in every shot of
07:36the episode.
07:37Everything is rendered to look so realistic that the ho-hum graphics of some of Enterprise are 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 time to swallow what's
07:54happening.
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 in the first season.
08:05As pilots go, it's a tough one to follow.
08:09Number 5, Second Contact
08:12It 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,
08:23and the show was thankfully not hindered by the lockdown, with actors able to record remotely.
08:28At 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,
08:40the show is treating the franchise not just with respect, but with reverence.
08:45In the pilot, we are greeted with a shot of Space Doc,
08:48followed 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,
09:08but also Gary Mitchell, who hasn't been heard from since 1966.
09:14Yet, 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,
09:25and as Trekkies, that's a good place for us to be.
09:28Number 4. Remembrance
09:31For that image alone, Star Trek Picard could have done nothing else
09:35and still made its way into the hearts of audiences.
09:38However, and thankfully, it did a lot more than that.
09:42The opening shot, similar to Discovery in its stunning use of visuals,
09:46becomes 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.
09:53This was not going to be a rehash of The Next Generation,
09:57and many people found that jarring.
10:00Captain Picard was always the most reasoned and calming force.
10:03Yet, here he is, fighting with a reporter,
10:06being blown backwards by explosions,
10:08and, for all intents and purposes, showing his age.
10:11And that is exactly the point.
10:13Many of us would have loved The Next Generation Season 8,
10:17but that was never what was on the table.
10:20There is both action and moments of calm here,
10:23with enough to hook new viewers while offering tidbits to the returning viewers.
10:27The closing shot of the episode, revealing the immensity of the ball cube,
10:31stands out as one of the moments of the season,
10:35and 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. Broken Bow
10:45To be fair, the franchise was headed into the fatigue that would put it on ice for several years,
10:52when 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,
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,
11:11a series about the first ship named Enterprise. It came out at entirely the wrong time.
11:17The pilot, Broken Bow, was quite an interesting episode,
11:20but suffered from a sense of the audience having 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,
11:36a theme that is yet to go away from Star Trek, and this served to put audiences off.
11:42While the pilot does the necessaries of introducing the crew and the ship,
11:46the timing of it all, just after 9-11, was against it.
11:50It does seem to be having a second life in recent years,
11:53something that is very welcome to fans of the show.
11:57Number 2. Caretaker
11:59Star Trek's first series to be led by a female captain,
12:03Voyager broke the mould on its arrival.
12:06The ship, beautifully designed by Rick Sternbach,
12:09was hurled into the Delta Quadrant in a new-ish take
12:13on seeking out strange new worlds and civilisations.
12:17Caretaker is an excellent opener to the series.
12:20The action kicks off almost immediately with the Marquis on the run from the Cardassians,
12:25only to end up on the wrong side of the Badlands.
12:27After a welcome stop at Deep Space Nine,
12:29Voyager launches and finds itself thrown to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker,
12:34a powerful being who is trying to save the Acampa,
12:37a people he inadvertently devastated.
12:40The series villain, the Kazon, are introduced, as well as Neelix and Kess,
12:44the first friends that the crew makes on the far side of the galaxy.
12:48Caretaker is a strong opener for the show,
12:50and is up there with Emissary for Best Pilots of Star Trek.
12:54It 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. Emissary
13:08Star Trek's Deep Space Nine burst onto screens in 1992,
13:13and although it started slow in the ratings,
13:16it'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 this
13:27list. It, 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,
13:38with a crew who not only had conflict with each other,
13:41they outright disliked each other for the first year.
13:44Welcome characters returned like Chief O'Brien,
13:46while Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko offered what is potentially the best single performance
13:52of any leading cast member in a pilot of Star Trek.
13:55This 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,
14:05meaning that in a single stroke,
14:07we were offered some of the best characters to be created for Star Trek.
14:11There is no understating just how good Star Trek Deep Space Nine is,
14:16all wrapped up in its excellent pilot.
14:19And 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,
14:27and while you're there, like and subscribe, and tap that notification bell.
14:30You 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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