Relevant Star Trek Episodes

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STAR TREK: 

KEY EPISODES

A curated list of key Star Trek episodes

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

This is a curated list of episodes of Star Trek from all the various series and movies to help players better understand themes present in the Star Trek: Exodus campaign. 

Viewing is of course optional, but everyone is encouraged to become involved by adding titles to the list. If you do, please comment on why you feel the particular episode important, and how the themes and lore are relevant to the campaign, and sign off on your comment to attribute the source. Anything signed “ – Starfleet Command” will be assumed to be the opinions of me, Kev, the GM.  If you agree with an opinion or want to add stuff, feel free to “co-sign” an entry with your own or your character’s name. All I’ll insist on is for players to not argue here. There will be a dedicated discord thread in our game’s server where lively lore  debate is encouraged!  In this place it’s the old “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” idea. (The GM will sign entries as “ – Starfleet Command.”  Feel free to sign off in or out of character; this is your game, too.)

Speaking of theming, the themes present in Star Trek: Exodus are poised to be things like reaching out to a former enemy to aid them in a time of disastrous crisis, exploration and discovery, the examination of the human condition, and the unveiling of mysterious secrets that could upend one’s entire sense of what the true nature of their world is. And of course, courage, hope, curiosity, ethical morality, and boldly going where no one has gone before. 

*Pro tip: if you see a “THEME” listed that you want to add, feel free to copy/paste that from another entry so it can be easily found in this list!

 

Entry Template

Season [], Episode [], “[Episode Title]” – Description
THEMES: Coma, Separated, Words, Or Phrases

THE FILMS

  1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – The movie that firmly established not only the definitive tone of Star Trek, but also established literary themes, cemented the nature of actions (even if taken long ago) having consequences. Facing the human condition of mortality can be a real pisser – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Reaping What You Sow, Crew Cooperation, Legacy, The Human Condition, Literature
  2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – Time travel to the 20th century is a kind of “mandatory checkbox” that Trek seems to need to hit.  It is done almost always just for fun (and occasionally to get around budgetary constraints), and sometimes to give an “enlightened civilization’s referendum” on what modern day people (especially Americans) are doing.  Kirk is also “punished” for disobeying starfleet orders, as well as a host of other criminal charges by being busted down in rank back to Captain, and being given his very own ship that he has to go about the drudgery of commanding, the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-A.  When can Kirk ever catch a break, am I right?  It also contains the most humor of any of the feature films, which can be a refreshing relief if not done constantly.   – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Reaping What You Sow, Time Travel, Defying Orders For Ethical Reasons, Humor
  3. Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country  – This film does a fine job of illustrating the tension that can result between interstellar powers. It also does the best job in all of the films in establishing the Klingons as a culture.   – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Klingons, War, Negotiation, Treachery, Change, Conspiracy, Xenophobia
  4. Star Trek: Nemesis  – I’ll be honest, this film is kind of a turd.  But it does explain some relevant stuff about Romulus.  But really, get to it when you’re really out of other options.   – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Romulans, War, Creative Solutions to New Problems

THE ORIGINAL SERIES

    1. Season 1, Episode 14: “The Balance of Terror” – This one establishes the Romulans and gives seeds to their initial inception which are developed in later shows/films.  Also, the drama unfolds like a submarine movie. – Starfleet Command
      THEMES: Romulans, War, Creative Solutions to New Problems
  • Season 1, Episode 22: “Space Seed” – The episode that established Khan as what would become the first ongoing antagonist, and serves as a warning of what happens when you mess around with nature (in this case, it is Khan’s genetically engineered capabilities which caused earth’s Eugenics Wars of the early 1990’s (!).  In an ironic lapse of judgment, Captain Kirk decides to leave these genetically enhanced criminals to their own devices and not lock them down forever in a move that would prove to have the most disastrous of consequences for him later in the timeline.  – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Reaping What You Sow, Legacy, The Human Condition
  • Season 3, Episode 2, “The Enterprise Incident” – More romulan stuff. Further description forthcoming. – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Romulans

THE NEXT GENERATION

  • Season 3, Episode 7, “The Enemy” – Although The Next Generation reintroduced the Romulans in the Season 1 finale, “The Neutral Zone,” it’s not really until Season 3 when TNG starts to really get deep into the political problems between the Federation and the Romulans.  “The Enemy” is a great episode because it really gives you a sense of not only how much Picard distrusts Romulans at this point, but also why Klingons like Worf hate them with a crazy burning passion. Like all good Star Trek, this is an episode about poking at prejudices and talking about the long road to peace. – Starfleet Command
    THEMES:  Romulans, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, Xenophobia
  • Season 3, Episode 10, “The Defector” – Following the events of “The Enemy,” this episode doubles-down on the mistrust between the Federation and the Romulan Empire, while also giving us new insight into just how deceitful Romulans can be in order to get what they want. Just like with humans, there are good Romulans and bad ones. Also: Both “The Defector” and “The Enemy” feature Trek’s most famous — and arguably best — Romulan, Tomalak.  – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Romulans, Treachery, Conspiracy
  • Season 4 Episode 7, “Reunion” – Important to the beginning of truly understanding Klingon internal politics.  Ambassador K’Ehleyr (Worf’s occasional girlfriend) returns to the Enterprise to advise Captain Picard, who has been chosen as a neutral party to arbitrate the selection of the new Klingon leader from two candidates, Gowron and Duras, one of whom is suspected to be a traitor.  Also, the beginning of realizing why Worf is kind of terrible at being a father.  – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Klingons, Romulans, Treachery, Conspiracy, War, Doing the Wrong Thing For the Right Reasons
  • Season 4 Episode 26 & Season 5 Episode 1, “Redemption” – Three words… Klingon civil war.  [More to come on this one…] THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES TO SEE TO UNDERSTAND CERTAIN THEMES PRESENT IN EXODUS.   – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Klingons, Romulans, Treachery, Conspiracy, War, Doing the Wrong Thing For the Right Reasons
  1. Season 5, Episodes 7 and 8, “Unification Parts 1 and 2” – This one is focused on secret peace-loving Romulans who want to be more like their Vulcan cousins.  Spock is trying to make this happen, but Sela — the half-human/half-Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar (it involves time travel and an alternate timeline stemming from “Yesterday’s Enterprise”) — is trying to sabotage them.  – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Romulans, Negotiation, Treachery, Change, Conspiracy
  2. Season 6, Episode 20, “The Chase” – Though this episode isn’t about the Romulans specifically, it does concern a larger mystery about why all the aliens in Star Trek essentially look humanoid. When the Romulans learn that they might have something in common not just with Vulcans, but with humans, too, there’s an important moment where Picard realizes that maybe they won’t all be enemies forever.   – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Romulans, Negotiation, Crew Cooperation, Science Solutions
      
  3. Season 6, Episode 23, “Rightful Heir” – Lieutenant Worf suffers a crisis of faith which leads him to an encounter with the seemingly resurrected messiah of ancient Klingon religious and historical beliefs, Kahless. He soon finds himself caught between supporting the religious figure and the more secular leader of the conventional Klingon political power structure.   – Starfleet Command
    THEMES: Klingons, Science Solutions, Politics

DEEP SPACE NINE

  1. Season 6, Episode 19, “In the Pale Moonlight” – The most relevant Romulan episode from that series is one in which Captain Sisko has to try and outright lie to the Romulans in order to get them to do what Starfleet wants. It’s a brilliant study in ethics, and is considered one of the finest moments of Deep Space Nine for VERY good reasons.  And, like TOS’ “The Enterprise Incident,” this episode is all about the good guys trying to out-fox the Romulans, which is a tricky game to play because the Romulan government is really good at espionage and lying. “Computer – erase that entire personal log.”   – Starfleet Command


THEMES: Romulans, Negotiation, Treachery, Change, Conspiracy, Doing The Wrong Thing For The Right Reasons

VOYAGER 

  1. “Basics, I and II” – One of the better stories that should have been a larger part of a season, rather than a two-part episode.
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  2. “Eye of The Needle” – Description
    THEMES: Romulan, science, time travel
  3. “Prophecy” – Description
    THEMES: Klingon, relevant
  4. “Flashback” – Good fun
    THEMES: Time travel, Klingon, Sulu
  5. “False Profits” – Remember those Ferengi that accidentally went through that wormhole in that TNG episode?
  6. “Unity” – Clever use of the Borg
  7. “Scorpion, I and II” – Interesting new villain that wasn’t used enough and resolved poorly several episodes later.  Great Borg story.  
    1. Endorsed!  – Starfleet Command
  8. “Year of Hell, I and II” – One of the best stories.  Great villain.  Should have been a whole season.
  9. “Message in a Bottle” – Sneaky Romulans, contact with the Alpha Quadrant, and kickass Starfleet ships.  Also, fun EMH stuff.
  10. “The Omega Directive” – Interesting scientific addition to the canon and relevant for future storytelling.
  11. “Timeless” – One of the best Voyager and best time travel episodes in Trek.
  12. “Dreadnaught” – Cardassian superweapon and Maquis shenanigans. 
  13. “Equinox, I and II” – Another great two-part that could have been a whole season.  Voyager sees a dark version of itself and gets a surprising nemesis.
  14. “Barge of the Dead” – Deep dive into Klingon myth
  15. “Living Witness” – Clever ‘alternate’ Voyager ideas but a great examination of historical truth 
  16. “Dragon’s Teeth” – Plot and adversary that could have been a whole season or several episodes
  17.  “Dragon’s Teeth” – Plot and adversary that could have been a whole season or several episodes
  18. “Unimatrix Zero, I and II” – One of the more clever and interesting explorations of the Borg; relevant for possible future stories
  19. “The Void” – Great story where Janeway must forge a “Federation” amongst desperate allies to survive
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ENTERPRISE

  1. Season [], Episode [], “[Episode Title]” – Description
    THEMES: Coma, Separated, Words, Or Phrases

DISCOVERY

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PICARD

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LOWER DECKS

  1. Season [], Episode [], “[Episode Title]” – Description
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