A Season of Star Trek in 13 Episodes.

Because Voyager was the first Trek series that really pulled me in, I'm a shmuck really familiar with all the episodes, so I'll go ahead and volunteer to do the whole series.  I'll handle Seasons One and Two in this posts and do the others later.

 

I present the new-and-improved Abridged Season One of Star Trek: Voyager.

1x01 – Caretaker

1x03 – Parallax

1x05 – Phage

1x07 – Eye of the Needle

1x09 – Emanations

1x10 – Prime Factors

1x11 – State of Flux

1x12 – Heroes and Demons

1x14 – Faces

1x16 – Learning Curve

 

Because it was only 16 episodes long to begin with, I cut Season One down to only 10.  I focused on grabbing episodes tied heavily to the Starfleet-Maquis tension, episodes that dealt with the Vidiians, and ones that were important character development episodes.  It wasn't particularly hard to cut the fat in this season, mainly because most of the one-off episodes weren't particularly strong anyway.  My least favorite pick in this set is "Emanations", but it's the first time since "Parallax" we see Seska and I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw Harry Kim a bone.  I considered putting "Jetrel" (1x15) in there, as it's a pretty solid Neelix character episode, but I figured Seska's appearances were more important.  "Prime Factors" is a stand-out for the Starfleet-Maquis thing because of the issues with the Prime Directive and such.

 

Star Trek: Voyager - Abridged Season Two

2x03 – Projections

2x04 – Elogium

2x10 – Cold Fire

2x11 – Maneuvers

2x14 – Alliances

2x17 – Dreadnought

2x18 – Death Wish

2x19 – Lifesigns

2x20 – Investigations

2x16 – Meld

2x24 – Tuvix

2x25 – Resolutions

2x26 – Basics Pt. 1

 

Again, with this season, my primary focus was to bring out the Starfleet-Maquis (and now Kazon) plot threads.  Pretty much no one was happy at how the Maquis story was handled but when the "filler" episodes are removed, the conflict with the Kazon and Seska make it a tad more bearable, as it showed the conflict between the former Maquis and the ones who fell in line out of necessity.  I also left in the majority of the stuff with the Vidiians, as they were a good secondary conflict plot thread during the early seasons and "Lifesigns" was a good Doctor episode.  One will also notice I threw in one or two Kes centered episodes, mostly because of her connection with the Caretaker storyline and because her relationship with Paris, Neelix, and the Doctor.  She's crucial to the character development of those three in the early seasons (and I DO plan on cutting out the Kes episode in season 6 that ruins her arc as it's left at the end of season three/beginning of season four).  I also included good one-off episodes "Death Wish" and "Tuvix", both solid episodes that deal with heavy topics.  I was also pleased to be able to get rid of "The 37's" and "Threshold".

Star Trek: Voyager - Abridged Season Three

 

3x01 – Basics Pt. 2

3x04 – The Swarm

3x08 – Future’s End Pt. 1

3x09 – Future’s End Pt. 2

3x11 – The Q and the Grey

3x13 – Fair Trade

3x15 – Alter Ego

3x16 – Blood Fever

3x17 – Unity

3x21 – Before and After

3x23 – Distant Origin

3x25 – Worst Case Scenario

3x26 – Scorpion Pt. 1

 

Season Three of Voyager begins with the primary resolution of the Maquis/Kazon conflicts aboard Voyager, any lasting mentions of the Maquis being merely in passing or closer to the series resolution, mainly in the final episodes.  The one major exception to this is "Worst Case Scenario", which served as a good "what-if" about a Maquis rebellion holodeck program and provided some good discussion on whether it was appropriate, (as well as allowing Seska to make one of her two appearances in the show after the events of Basics, the other being in "Shattered" in the seventh season, though that might get cut by me later).

 

With the loss of this arc and the rarity of the Vidiians' appearances, the show's focus moved towards many more one-off character or story episodes, which makes it both easier to cut things out and harder to pick the right ones.  There were a few small arcs and character development moments in this season so I did my best to flesh out the more important ones, in particular those that would surface as more important later in the series.

 

"The Swarm" was chosen over the other good Doctor episode "Real Life" because it approaches not only The Doctor's growth as a person, but also the implications of memory loss on ones personality, which can occur similarly to a flesh an blood person.  (My mother had brain cancer and her personality was noticeably different for the last few years of her life, so this topic hits home.)  It also includes a representation on The Doctor's creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, who is featured in later episodes.

 

"Future's End" 1 and 2 are here because without them you don't have The Doctor's mobile emitter and the future references to the Temporal Prime Directive and 29th century ships wouldn't make as much sense.  Plus, Sarah Silverman and Ed Begley Jr!

 

"The Q and the Grey" has Q in it and I think it's a good fun episode.  I didn't think it was too much of a stretch that Q would find Janeway an interesting diversion, similar to the likes of Picard.  And it has enough Janeway to justify placing it in the running instead of "Coda", which I like to a point, but think gets a little heavy-handed (whenever people's "spirits" are running around without their body, I tend to question the technobabble a little more).  We'll see how well "Q2" can stand against the rest of Season Seven as to whether Q will make his final appearance on Voyager or not.

 

"Fair Trade" is a good Neelix episode which also emphasizes that they're getting beyond what even their "guide" knows about (boldly going where no one has gone before and all that jazz).  It also introduces Ensign Vorik, whose three season three episodes happen to line up back-to-back.  The second is "Alter Ego", an episode which gives some good Kim and Tuvok moments and begins to ship Paris and Torres pretty hard while Vorik competes.  This competition for Torres peaks in "Blood Fever", which gives Tom and B'Elanna some time together to work on their attraction and shames Vorik into becoming merely a recurring character who pops up whenever they might need a Vulcan who's not Tuvok.

 

"Unity" foreshadows the eventual appearance of Seven of Nine by bringing the Borg to the show (for better or worse) and showing some former Borg learning to not be quite-so Borg anymore.  The questionable motives of the "cooperative" lend to the slight difference in how Seven of Nine will perceive situations and moral judgments later on.  It also gives us some Chakotay, which is nice considering how little I think the show invests in his character, especially since most of the episodes tying to his Native American heritage are pretty weak..

 

"Before and After" is a good Kes episode, good "alternate future" episode (in retrospect to the events of the series), and directly foreshadows the great "Year of Hell" episodes in the next season.  It also brings up the Kes-Paris connection again, giving a decent 'resolution' to the Kes-Neelix arc explored in Season Two and providing contrast to Tom's current pursuit of B'Elanna.  No brainer on it's inclusion here as it's full of character development.

 

"Distant Origin" gets a lot of love and for good reasons.  An excellent hour of television, the execution and plot are tight.  And even as a Christian, I agree that the issues explored in this episode are important to discuss and it does well with the execution of the themes it presents.  Also, it's probably the best Chakotay episode in the series.

 

"Scorpion Pt. 1" is the last episode in the season, introduces what will be a new cast member, and ends on a cliffhanger, so you can't not include it.  Also, first major interaction with the Borg and I believe the intro to species 8472, which is important to the series as a whole.

 

Notable exclusions from the list include "Flashback" (the Tuvok-Captain Sulu episode), which I enjoy for the Tuvok back-story and ST6 connection, and "The Chute", which I think is actually a pretty strong Tom and Harry episode.

I'm going to keep going even though no one seems particularly interested in this thread.  Because I'm having fun, dammit.

 

Star Trek :Voyager - Abridged Season Four

 

4x01 – Scorpion Pt. 2

4x02 – The Gift

4x03 – Day of Honor

4x06 – The Raven

4x12 – Mortal Coil

4x14 – Message in a Bottle

4x15 – Hunters

4x16 – Prey

4x18 – The Killing Game Pt. 1

4x19 – The Killing Game Pt. 2

4x23 – Living Witness

4x25 – One

4x26 – Hope and Fear

 

4x08 & 4x09 – Year of Hell - TV Movie Presentation (in the vein of "Razor" from BSG or the Christmas specials of Doctor Who)

 

 

The choices were tougher for this season than the previous ones.  The first two episodes were necessary for continuity and plot purposes.  Enter Seven of Nine; exit Kes stage right.  They're also pretty strong episodes anyway.  "Day of Honor" is extremely important for the Tom/B'Elanna arc so it stays.  "The Raven" is the first big Seven of Nine episode and intros part of her backstory and origin.  "Mortal Coil" is an excellent mediation on the topic of death and religion and one of the strongest Neelix episodes in the series (people hated the guy but he had a good character arc overall, I think).

 

"Message in a Bottle" is important because it not only is a great Doctor episode (and the only thing aside from Newsradio I don't loathe Andy Dick in), but it also introduces us to the Hirogen, which give us a good 4 episode arc in the middle of the season.  "Hunters", "Prey", and "The Killing Game" parts one and two all deal with Voyager's interactions with the Hirogen, ending with a nice little resolution in the middle of the season.  I also believe we do not see this species again after these episodes so it ties up fairly well.  Each episode includes good plot developments as well.  "Hunters" gives the crew a small bit of interaction with the Alpha Quadrant and reminds us why they're trekking across space.  "Prey" deals with Seven of Nine and the species 8472 conflict.  And "The Killing Game" turns the Hirogen into literal Nazis that Harry Kim and The Doctor must defeat with the help of the rest of the crew, who believe they're the Allied forces in WWII.  Good times and a better than average use of the Holodeck in the plot.

 

"Living Witness" is a breath of fresh air after the Hirogen arc, in that it pulls away from the Voyager crew to the perspective of a race that encountered them 700 years prior during a war and viewed them as sadistic war profiteers.  A copy of The Doctor interacts with a museum curator to clarify the details.  It's a fun episode because of the alternate reality aspect of the recreation of Voyager but also serves as a commentary about how historical events are interpreted after the fact.

 

"One" is another good Seven of Nine episode and serves to further her character development.  Up to this point, she avoids social interactions with others on the ship (after being forcibly removed from the Borg Collective mind) and the experience of solitude for a month (excluding minimal interactions with The Doctor) pushes her towards developing those relationships at the end.

 

"Hope and Fear" isn't the best episode around, but being the finale for the season, it still manages to tie together several plot points.  The villain targets Voyager because their interaction in this area of space was indirectly responsible for a Borg attack on his people.  He uses the allure of getting home quickly and their communication with the Starfleet earlier in the season to attempt to deceive them.  And at the end, they get a good bit closer to Earth and another technology is deemed unable to do the job, leaving them stranded for at least another season.

 

I threw in a wild card for this season because there were a few too many episodes I wanted to include.  So "Year of Hell", an excellent two-art episode with a built in reset button, became a feature length stand-alone TV movie in my fictional season four.  As far as I can remember, it occupies no definite time period during the course of the season, so a move to the end, presumably during the show's hiatus between seasons, isn't a problem.

Star Trek: Voyager - Abridged Season Five

 

5x01 – Night

5x02 – Drone

5x03 – Extreme Risk

5x04 – In The Flesh

5x06 – Timeless

5x08 – Nothing Human

5x09 – Thirty Days

5x11 – Latent Image

5x13 – Gravity

5x15 – Dark Frontier Pt. 1

5x16 – Dark Frontier Pt. 2

5x24 – Relativity

5x26 – Equinox Pt. 1

 

Season Five started out strong with the first four episodes.  "Night" introduced the Malon, who were the primary alien species in season 5 aside from the already established Borg and Species 8472.  "Drone" is a good Seven of Nine character episode and reminds us of the constant Borg threat, despite being a good distance from Borg space.  "Extreme Risk" is a decent B'Elanna character episode, but more importantly introduces the Delta Flyer, so it warranted inclusion.  And "In The Flesh" is a good resolution for Voyager's conflicts with Species 8472 and a pretty good Chakotay episode at that.

 

"Timeless" follows up on the promise of the slipstream technology introduced in the last episode of Season Four.  Long story short, it can't be used safely but Harry Kim gets some confidence from Future Harry Kim.  Also, Geordi La Forge doesn't want you breaking the Temporal Prime Directive.

 

"Nothing Human" is a great Doctor episode that contemplates some heavy issues in medical ethics AND brings back some of that great and rare Maquis tension they could've used way more often on the show.  One of the best this season.

 

"Thirty Days" is Tom Paris' time to shine.  Another episode dealing with ethical issues, this time in conflict with the Prime Directive, it also explains why he's an Ensign until sometime next season, which would've been confusing if left out.

 

"Latent Image" again gives us some fantastic Robert Picardo.  It is one of the most important Doctor episodes in terms of character development, presenting The Doctor with a situation that has him question his ability to react objectively to a medical emergency due to his personal feelings about the patients.  One of the other best this season.

 

"Gravity" isn't the strongest episode by far, but I like it and it's one of the best (if not only) Tuvok episodes in the season.  Throughout the abridging of the seasons, I've tried to keep a good balance of episodes for each character so they all get a decent amount of development per season.  Obviously, the way the show was written, this isn't always possible, but Tuvok was interesting enough to me to throw him a bone here.  He's much more reserved than the Vulcan we're used to (Spock) but not quite as rigid or heartless as many Vulcans in Trek can be.

 

"Dark Frontier" is a two-parter that has Seven of Nine coping with her parent issues, both human and Borg.  It's here because it is important to Seven of Nine, fleshes out her backstory, and firmly establishes her allegiance to Voyager.  Also, it elaborates on the concept of Borg transwarp enough to where later uses of it will be more clear and gets the crew 15 years closer to home.  This is important to the eventually series finale, if nothing else.

 

"Relativity" brings back Captain Braxton from "Future's End" and addresses the fact that Voyager can't seem to stop changing the timelines...by changing the timelines.  It also calls back to the Kazon and such, so I thought it would tie it together more tightly with previous seasons, in a much cleaner way than "Shattered", which will most likely not be in my abridged Season Seven.

 

"Equinox Pt. 1" is the last episode of the season and a two-parter that begins Season Six.  IT deals with the crew of another Starfleet ship which had gotten pulled to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker.  They didn't follow the Prime Directive.  Janeway don't like that.  To be continued...

 

 

This abridgement forced me to cut several of my personal favorites.  While I admit it adds nothing to the show, I love "Bride of Chaotica!" for all of it's campy goodness.  "Someone to Watch Over Me" is a good Seven and Doctor episode and one that I loved back in the day, but there were better episodes for both characters and it ultimately couldn't fit.  I had dropped "Demon" from the previous season, so "Course: Oblivion" had to go.

 

But on the other hand, I got to abolish "Once Upon a Time" (one of my least favorite Neelix episodes and sadly the only major one of mention for him this season)  and "11:59" from the show's ranks, so at the end of the day, I'm happy about that.  It did upset me to notice how little of Neelix there was in this season overall.  While usually most people's least favorite character, I liked the difference and positivity he brings to the ensemble and think he's sometimes unfairly labelled the Jar-Jar of the group.

I am the only one who cares about this thread.  And that's...okay.

 

Star Trek: Voyager - Abridged Season Six

 

6x01 – Equinox Pt. 2

6x02 – Survival Instinct

6x03 – Barge of the Dead

6x04 – Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy

6x06 – Riddles

6x09 – The Voyager Conspiracy

6x10 – Pathfinder

6x11 – Fair Haven

6x16 – Collective

6x17 – Spirit Folk

6x19 – Child’s Play

6x24 – Life Line

6x26 – Unimatrix Zero Pt. 1

 

This is the season where, in hindsight, I begin to see the creeping decline of Voyager.  Looking back at the previous season's most "vital" episodes, one will notice a heavy leaning towards the first half of the season.  From the minimal research I have done, I would attribute this to the lessening involvement of series co-creator Jeri Taylor, who had previously served at different points as Executive Producer and head of the writing staff.  "Latent Image" was the last episode she wrote and was one of the best of Season Five.  Season Six lacked much of the depth found in Seasons Four and Five, and also lacked very much continuity at all.  There were no true recurring races, save the Borg (yawn) and not much in terms of episode-to-episode developments.  I did the best I could to grab a few recurring themes and tie it all together.

 

 

"Equinox Pt. 2" was a gimme as the second half of a season closing cliffhanger.  Even has a little bit of conflict between Chakotay and Janeway, though the sitcom reset button gets hit before the end of the episode.  Good episode overall.

 

"Survival Instinct" was the first of two episodes penned by Ronald D. Moore.  It's a good Seven of Nine development episode, as it shows how important her individuality has become to her.

 

"Barge of the Dead" is the other Ronald D. Moore episode, this time focusing on B'Elanna and her issues with the Klingon religion and afterlife, her mother, and her own temperament.  Moore likes it heavy.

 

"Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" is a hoot and the Emergency Command Hologram sequence is pretty awesome.  The Doctor is one of the things the show did best.  Also, it introduces The Hierarchy.  I believe they return in Season Seven sometime and the utter bureaucracy of their methods reminds me of a more bumbling and less harsh Vogon civilization.  Not the best aliens Voyager did but at least they were interesting.

 

"Riddles" is one of my favorite in this season because of the way it handles Tuvok and Neelix's relationship after Tuvok's "brain damage" situation.  It was always obvious throughout the show that Neelix's emotiveness bothered Tuvok and made the friendship fairly "one-sided."  To see Tuvok be able to emote himself (much in the same way as Neelix since Vulcan emotions are very strong) and bond with Neelix I always thought was a nice touch in this one.

 

"The Voyager Conspiracy" I threw in because of it's callbacks to previous parts of the series.  I try to include as much Maquis as possible, even when it's watered down.  I also think it's a good exploration of how conspiracy theories are developed (too much information leading to random connections).

 

"Pathfinder" is fun for fans of Reginald Barclay (from TNG and and necessary because of the work he does in getting Voyager communication with the Alpha Quadrant.  Also, his return after the "fake" Barclay in "Projections" would still make him familiar to those following these abridged seasons.

 

"Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk" were added to give the season the slightest bit of continuing storyline.  They're pretty good episodes and do some light exploration into the person-hood of holograms, which is important to The Doctor's overall arc in the show.  Also, it gives Janeway a little bit more character development, as they show her as a person with regular weaknesses (in addition to those she has with her command and her continually questioned ethical decisions).

 

Similarly, "Collective" and "Child's Play" are also part of a running storyline, and introduce the Borg kids, probably my least favorite Voyager plot point over the course of the show.  Icheb is obviously the most interesting of them and thus gets his own episode.  Not including any of the episodes directly related to the Borg kids would make their presence oddly more out-of-place in the long run.

 

"Life Line" gives us more of The Doctor, Barclay, and introduces the real Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, who created the Doctor and happens to also be played by Robert Picardo.  Another episode important to The Doctor's character development, you say?  Absolutely, because otherwise we'd have to watch "The Haunting of Deck 12."  Do you really want to watch an episode where Neelix tells the Borg kids a spooky story?  I didn't think so.

 

"Unimatrix Zero Pt. 1" is another cliffhanger season finale.  It's got lots of interesting stuff like the crew disagreeing on what they should do and action and all that.  I feel like I always enjoy it more while watching it than I remember when remembering the episode.  It's probably the magic happy planet that the Borg people go to that does it.  It always felt so sappy.  But it's important the overall series plot and ending and transitions into Season Seven, so it stays.

 

 

The dropped episodes from this season aren't all necessarily worse than the ones I chose.  I feel like it's one of the weakest seasons in retrospect.  I enjoy "Live Fast and Prosper" but it doesn't have any substance to it.  "Muse" is a snooze-fest.  "Alice" is creepy but pretty decent Tom Paris fare.  "Memorial" isn't bad, but I think Voyager's done "anti-war" sentiment better already.  "Fury" erased Kes' character development and good will from the last time she was seen and turned her into a hate-filled, vengeance machine without a good reason for wanting revenge in the first place.  And "Tsunkatse"?  The plot of that one is simple.  "Hey, it's The Rock!  Be sure to watch WWF Smackdown! Thursdays on UPN!"

I am following along, but I am looking forward to your cut downs for TNG as well as TOS. There was a lot of filler with the later series, but not as much with TNG. Cutting TOS episodes might be easier given the classic bad eps such as "Spock's Brain" but I am curious to see your rationale....

Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.

 

Unfortunately, for myself and everyone else, I'm not familiar enough with TOS or TNG to be able to do them right now.  I HAVE watched through DS9 completely but it was a few years ago.  When I said earlier that I'd do the rest of the series, I meant the rest of Voyager.  It does sound like a good challenge though and I've been slowly working my way through TNG recently since I've never watched it straight through, so I might attempt it at some point if no one picks it up.  I recently finished Season One and am working on Two right now.  I could just pick up the pace a bit.

 

As recompense for my lacking, I'll work on Season Seven of Voyager tonight and see if I can knock it out.  And I'd definitely be interested in knowing how actually watching through the seasons works with the episodes I've picked, if someone decided to do it. I don't think I missed any big plot points or events that are noticeable.  I haven't watched Voyager through in years and was going mostly on my incredible memory for useless information.

Star Trek: Voyager - Abridged Season Seven

 

7x01 – Unimatrix Zero Pt. 2

7x03 – Drive

7x02 – Imperfection

7x04 – Repression

7x08 – Nightingale

7x09 – Flesh and Blood Pt. 1

7x10 – Flesh and Blood Pt. 2

7x12 – Lineage

7x20 – Author, Author

7x18 – Human Error

7x24 – Renaissance Man

7x23 – Homestead

7x25 & 7x26 – Endgame

 

For this last season, I took the liberty of combining "Endgame" into a feature length finale and counting it as one episode.  Hope no one minds that.  Seemed only fair since I counted "Caretaker" as one.  The choices for this season were easier than the last because of the episodes with heavy series plot points were much more obvious.  One thing I didn't do with previous seasons that I chose to do here is some slight tweaking in episode order.  I'll explain them when I get to them.

 

I placed "Drive" before "Imperfection" because according to Wikipedia, "Imperfection" shows Tom Paris wearing his wedding ring and they didn't get married until "Drive."  Also, having the first regular episode of the season be the suspicious farewell to all but one of the Borg kids is a great way of saying "These kids were a bad idea.  Let's keep the teenage one."  Both episodes are important to the plots and character development of Tom, B'Elanna, Seven, and Icheb, so they both needed to be included regardless.

 

"Repression" brings back the Maquis yet again and also continues the development of how the crew is interacting with the Alpha Quadrant.  Plus, it gives us a lot of Tuvok playing detective, so that's fun.  And while the Maquis issue still isn't as prominent in the series as it could be, the tightening of the seasons allows it to push trough a little more and I like it.

 

"Nightingale" is here for the same reason it was in the show: to give Harry Kim some recognition.  His A-Story episodes were usually one-off alien episodes or not particularly important to the series as a whole.  This episode seemed like an apology for that.  Being an Ensign for seven years is tough; even Tom Paris got re-instated to Lieutenant before the Season Six ended, after being demoted the previous season.  Also, this episode gives a little more development for Icheb in the B-plot so he doesn't feel like such a random addition to the show.

 

"Flesh and Blood" brings back the Hirogen and the hologram technology that Voyager gave them, and then uses it to make more hologram rights stuff happen.  The Doctor loves this kind of episode.  Also, it's a good episode and uses one of the best excuses in the show for Alpha Quadrant stuff to show up in the Delta Quadrant (the Voyager database with Alpha Quadrant species used to make the holograms hunted by the Hirogen).  A good mid-season two-parter.

 

"Lineage" is the episode where B'Elanna starts being pregnant, so it has to be there, but it's also a good rumination on the medical ethics of deciding a child's fate before it is even born.  This show did medical topics well, probably because The Doctor was the best developed character in the bunch.  It also deals with B'Elanna's self-image and daddy issues.

 

"Author, Author" is the last of the big "is the Doctor a person" episodes.  It's funny, deals with implications of how fictionalizing real events can be disruptive if the subjects are close to the author, the rights of an author/artist, and the person-hood of artificial beings (Data yes, Doctor not yet...).  It also calls back directly to "Life Line" and the plight of The Doctor's EMH Mark-1 "brothers" as part of his motivation.  I placed it before "Human Error" because I can't remember (or find in plot summaries) anything that would definitely keep it from occurring beforehand and so there wouldn't be two Doctor focuses episodes in a row.

 

"Human Error" deals with Seven of Nine and her desire to be more human.  Then it backfires and she retreats.  Also, it is one of the first harbinger of the dreaded Seven-Chakotay relationship, know to fans of the show as "What?"  I'm not a shipper of any sort, but I felt that the show many times hinted at Chakotay and Janeway having a "What if they...?" type relationship, only for the writers to throw the hot, young blonde at him because there weren't any other handsome men available (who weren't bald and made of photons).  It wasn't as much of a surprise as that they never seemed to share any important moments together before this that is disorienting.  Regardless, it's a good Seven episode.

 

"Renaissance Man" probably shouldn't be here.  "Critical Care" might be a better episode and it deals with medical ethics and stuff like HMOs and prioritized health care.  But I really like "Renaissance Man" because it brings back the Hierarchy and pays off the "Emergency Command Hologram" setup from the previous season's "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy".  Also, it has much more varied primary cast interaction than "Critical Care" and isn't as heavy handed.

 

"Homestead" tells how Neelix leaves the ship, so when he shows up in "Endgame" on a screen, it wouldn't make sense otherwise.  It's not a bad episode and gives a good send-off to Neelix's character, including a moment with Tuvok.  Saccharine, but not the worst they could've done.  I moved it directly before "Endgame" because he wasn't in "Renaissance Man" anyway and I thought it made more sense to place his departure at the end if I'm trying to tighten stuff up.

 

"Endgame" was the series finale.  It could've been better, but lots of the stuff I left while cutting the seasons down gets paid off.  Temporal Prime Directive, Borg Transwarp, Tom and B'Elanna's baby, Seven and Chakotay's romance (seriously?), The Doctor's person-hood, Harry Kim's command ("Nightingale") and dedication to get the crew home, even by breaking the rules ("Timeless"), and even Reg Barclay are all present.  It's been a while since I've seen it but I think they even mention something about the Maquis crew members as well.  It's also a very Janeway filled episode, which is good because she didn't have much to do this season besides be Captain.  Not everyone can suddenly be in love with random people or leave the ship.

 

 

The notable cut episodes for this season aren't very notable.  "Critical Care" I've already mentioned.  "Inside Man" has Reg Barclay but it's not very important and it also has Ferengi (this and the other Ferengi episode "False Profits" weren't very good, as they don't have Quark, Rom, or Brunt in them).  I cut the "B'Elanna's baby is the Klingon Jesus" episode "Prophesy" because it's not very good.  "Shattered" would have tied in nicely with the rest of the seasons if the plot weren't completely insipid, so I skipped it.  The two-parter "Workforce" honestly kinda bores me.  "Everyone has amnesia and likes to work in a factory" isn't very gripping.  And unfortunately, "Q2" wasn't good enough to bring John De Lancie back to Voyager for his last trip.

 

 

I suppose I'm done for now.  I do okay?

 

Awesome.  Be sure to bring some updates to the thread so I can see what might've gotten lost in the mix.

 

And sadly, I've only ever seen the pilot of Enterprise.  Which is a shame because I love Scott Bakula.  Too bad there's no overtly running themes through Quantum Leap or I'd just do that next.  I was actually trying to think of other, non-Trek series this might work on, but Voyager seemed to be custom made for this kind of treatment.

Because two people were slightly interested, I present...

 

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Abridged Season One

 

1x01 & 1x02 – Encounter at Farpoint

1x03 – The Naked Now

1x05 – The Last Outpost

1x06 – Where No One Has Gone Before

1x09 – The Battle

1x10 – Hide and Q

1x11 – Haven

1x13 – Datalore

1x19 – Coming of Age

1x20 – Heart of Glory

1x23 – Skin of Evil

1x25 – Conspiracy

1x26 – The Neutral Zone

 

While I won't be shortening any other seasons any time soon, having never watched the series from start to finish, I recently watched Season One all the way through and felt comfortable knocking this one out.  My general knowledge of the series and the overall character development, plot developments, and themes will hopefully suffice.

 

"Encounter at Farpoint" is a gimmie.  Lays out the cast, setting, and overarching theme of the entire show: the potential of humanity for good.  Also, it introduces Q, the omnipotent judge of the human race and occasional annoyance to Picard.  I went ahead and counted it as one episode because I own this thread and will do whatever I damn well please.

 

"The Naked Now" isn't here because it's particularly good, but because it is an early glimpse at the some of the major traits and desires of the main cast.  Picard and Crusher's romantic attraction, Wesley's annoying child prodigy schtick, Data's android dexterity and processing power, and Yar's intimate relations with said android.  It's also a direct callback to "The Naked Time" episode of TOS, so there's that.

 

"The Last Outpost" gives us the first appearance of the Ferengi, so I included it because they return in "The Battle" a few episodes later.  There needed to be established traits and character for the Ferengi for the context of the later episode to work.  It also shows off Riker's away mission and moral dilemma skills.

 

"Where No One Has Gone Before" introduces The Traveler, who is vital to Wesley's arc and eventual permanent departure from the show (as long as we don't try to figure out why he's in Star Trek: Insurrection).  It's also a good episode for Wesley in general, his relationships with the bridge crew, and when he is designated an acting ensign.

 

"The Battle" brings the Ferengi back and fills out some back story on Captain Picard.  It also shows off the rest of the cast pretty equally when they're dealing with Picard.  Almost everyone gets a little moment where they're performing their primary functions.  Also, looking at the Wikipedia article (very useful for these breakdowns), I can see it ties in with two later series episodes, one of which is "The Measure of a Man" from Season Two.

 

"Hide and Q" obviously marks the first return of Q to the Enterprise and is an okay Riker development episode, if for nothing else than the decision he makes to not be a Q.  I always thought this one worked better in concept than practice (a morality play with redcoat warthog aliens?), but it gives us the first "trickster" type actions from Q, as before he was more menacing and cruel towards Picard and company.

 

"Haven" introduces Lwaxana Troi and gives Deanna some character development, as well as expanding on her and Riker's relationship.  Nothing remarkable here.

 

"Datalore" gives us some Data goodness and introduces his "brother" Lore, also known as "evil Data with emotions."  Lore will return, as will episodes that approach Data's person-hood in more depth, but there's not a good way (or reason) to skip this one.

 

"Coming of Age" serves several purposes.  It gives us a little more Wesley development, important because he's all over Season One and needs to become his own person before the kick his mom off the show for a season.  It also shows us two different views of Starfleet: that of the entrance exam and of the investigation of the Enterprise and it's crew.  The entrance exam concludes with a test designed to gauge how the taker responds to a difficult moral choice (saving one man while leaving another) but is only revealed to be a test after the fact.  The investigation of the senior staff on the Enterprise is, among other things, also a direct testing of the morality and decision making abilities of those in question.  It is interesting to note that both of these methods are initially hostile.  This episode also directly leads to the events of "Conspiracy" later in the season, helping give the illusion of a consistent arc.

 

"Heart of Glory" beat out "The Big Goodbye" for the last open place on this list, not because it's better, but because it was the only real Worf-centric episode in the bunch.  It gives unprecedented insight into Worf's own beliefs about honor and his Klingon heritage.  Until this point, he mostly growls and suggests violence.  And while his arc on TNG can't rival what he got on DS9, it still ends up pretty far from the beginning, so he needed this episode.

 

"Skin of Evil" kills off Tasha Yar, so it's important.  I agree with Denise Crosby that her character wasn't given much to do, so it didn't really hurt the show when she left.  This episode also gives us some decent Troi when she's in the crashed shuttle interacting with Armus (the black sludge entity) and a nice Data moment at Yar's memorial service.

 

"Conspiracy" follows up "Coming of Age" and gives some context for the earlier investigations (there were aliens pretending to be Starfleet people).  It gives us some good Picard and throws a little turmoil into dealings with Starfleet Headquarters, which usually makes for some good TNG.

 

"The Neutral Zone" gives us the Romulans and makes sure we know that they're a threat for later.  I can't remember how threatening they get and if it's any time soon, so if they don't, and this one is more or less disposable in the long run, I'll redact it and replace it with "The Long Goodbye", one of the first and best holodeck malfunction episodes.

 

 

I would discuss some of the episodes I cut but, as everyone knows, Season One just isn't all that great.  With the exception of "The Big Goodbye", there aren't really any episodes I cut that really stand out to me.  But feel free to disagree.  I'm not as much of a TNG expert as I am at Voyager.  Sadly.

Great picks.  My wife is watching TNG with me for the first time at the moment and your list has highlighted a lot of her favorite eppisodes.  The last one we watched was "Heart of Glory" and I will be interested to see what she makes of Skin of Evil when we get to it.

Are you going to continue on with TNG abridged season guides? This was very helpful for season one.

Any more DS9 recs, particularly seasons 2 and 3?

Just catching up here. Re: VOY, what's so awful about "11:59"?

 

I am.  Apologizes for my disappearance.  I have been working and moving and haven't had much time at all for good old TV watching.  I just finished watching Season 2 so I plan on working on it in the coming week.

 

 

11:59 adds absolutely nothing to the show in the long run.  Janeway looks up to her ancestor for doing this awesome thing but we see (and she finds out) that it didn't happen the way she thought it did.  It's really just kind of boring and unnecessary.  For all the goodness in season 5, this one sticks out like a sore thumb.

I think it's a sweet, unexpected standalone. Mulgrew clearly enjoys letting her hair down in her alternate role, and the point of the story isn't Janeway's disappointment that her family legend was untrue, but her realization that her ancestor lived a meaningful life even if it never made the history books. And if VOY was going to have to do a Y2K episode I'm glad they did it this way instead of, say, detailing some futuristic software crisis.

It's not a horrible episode necessarily.  I just didn't think it was all that great and it certainly didn't belong in the "let's make the show streamlined and plot driven" list of episodes.  I was much, much happier to get rid of "Once Upon a Time," which I think I dislike more than "Threshold."  I really just don't give a flip about Naomi Wildman and dislike the tone and production design of that episode anyway.  And even though I'm doing these abridged things, I'm the type of person who HAS to watch every episode when I watch through TV series.

That makes more sense. I certainly agree it wouldn't make the 13-ep cut.

 

Ah, Naomi Wildman. Now there was a lost opportunity. Unless I'm the only one who totally expected to see her as an adult officer, maybe even the acting captain, in the series finale.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Abridged Season Two

 

2x01 – The Child

2x03 – Elementary, Dear Data

2x04 – The Outrageous Okuna

2x08 – A Matter of Honor

2x09 – The Measure of a Man

2x11 – Contagion

2x14 – The Icarus Factor

2x15 – Pen Pals

2x16 – Q Who?

2x17 – Samaritan Snare

2x19 – Manhunt

2x20 – The Emissary

2x21 – Peak Performance

 

Despite what people generally say about the first two seasons of this show, I really liked the majority of Season Two.  Thankfully, it's the only season to only have 22 episodes and the superior episodes stood out pretty plainly.  Also, call me crazy, but comparing her to Season One Beverly Crusher, I like Dr. Pulaski much better.  I get why others might not but she's one of the stronger characters in this season.

 

One thing I couldn't get out of Season Two was an overall arc to follow, so it's similar to Season One in that manner but with even less continuing plot points.  I manage to pull the threads connected to Season One and overall character development out the best I can, though some good character episodes get lost along the way.  It's a pretty strange exercise to remove parts of a TV show to make it "more complete" anyway.

 

The season opens up with "The Child", which is probably my least favorite of the bunch I selected.  It's here because it alerts the viewer to Dr. Crusher's absence, introduces Dr. Pulaski, Guinan and Ten Forward, shows us that Geordi has been promoted to Chief Engineer and Worf to Security Chief, and has some decent character moments for Troi and Wesley, as well as the new doctor.  I really just hated the story.  I get the concept but if anyone were to be that attached to a weird alien pregnancy baby, it would be Troi.

 

"Elementary, Dear Data" gives us our first big taste of the true nature (and continuous eminent danger) of the Holodeck, at least in this abridgement version of TNG (I'm still mad I couldn't include "The Big Goodbye" in Season One).  It also gives us a heaping dose of Data hamming it up, begins to build his and Geordi's friendship, and throws Pulaski into the mix headfirst.  It also features our first truly sentient Holographic character, Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes novels, who appears again in Season Six.

 

"The Outrageous Okuna" is one that many people seem to really like.  It's kind of like Han Solo was a playboy and flew into Star Trek.  I included it more because of the exploration of Data's investigation into emotion.  That it used Joe Piscopo to play a pretty unfunny comedian, I thought that was an accurate portrayal of both how Data would try to understand humor and of Joe Piscopo's actual funniness.  It's a fun episode overall and I'm pretty sure that Pulaski and Guinan both show up to help Data, so their characters really get fleshed out over the first few episodes and they meld into the cast well as a result.

 

"A Matter of Honor" gives us Riker and oh so much of him.  It really showcases his loyalty, courage, insight, and resourcefulness.  I never really cared for Riker much growing up but his character is really growing on me watching through TNG.  It also gives us some of the first real fleshing out of the TNG-era Klingons and how they fit into the Federation.  One of the strongest of the season, in my opinion.

 

"The Measure of the Man" is arguably THE strongest of the season, however.  Not only do we examine Data's essential personhood, but we get Picard and Riker facing off as defense and prosecution in a trial to decide such.  Any fan of the show doesn't need any more explanation to know why this episode is here and any non fan should just go ahead and watch it already.

 

"Contagion" brings us back to the Neutral Zone and gives us our Romulan fix for the season (looks like "The Long Goodbye" is officially out).  It also explores more of Picard's character, including his interest in archeology and, according to Wikipedia, his first "Tea, Earl Grey, hot!"

 

"The Icarus Factor" almost gives Riker his own command and makes him deal with his father, who really kind of sucks.  It gives a good amount of insight though to why Riker stayed "Number One" for so long.  It also has a B-plot about Worf feeling alone as a Klingon out of his culture that includes much of the other crew and brings them all a little closer together for it.

 

"Pen Pals" is slightly more saccharine than I care for but brings home the ethical debate about the Prime Directive pretty hard.  I also think it's important that Data is the one to break it as you would suspect him more than most to be generally unwavering towards the Biggest Rule of the Federation.  It shows that he IS more than a simple machine who follows orders.  Subtle but significant.

 

"Q-Who?" has Q and introduces the Borg.  Those things are important to the show for a multitude of reasons.  Also, it teases that Guinan is much more interesting than she seems to be.

 

"Samaritan Snare" is great because it finally shows us WHY Geordi might have been appointed Chief Engineer.  He's really good at that kind of stuff.  The Pakleds are a great bunch of villains: at first very funny but they very effectively become menacing later on.  The B-plot featuring Picard and Wesley is also very strong, giving us even more Picard back-story (and introduces his artificial heart and its origin, essential to the later Q-episode "Tapestry") and greatly deepens the two's relationship.  And the ending gives Pulaski a little time to shine as she was the "best" person to perform his operation.

 

"Manhunt" brings back Lwaxana Troi.  Her episodes are never my favorites but seeing as how showing parents almost always helps develop characters, I thought it'd be good for Deanna's development, although there's not nearly as much here as there was last season.  Overall, Lwaxana's appearances are common enough to throw her in the mix, especially when the seasons are cut down and I'm trying to tie as much together as possible.

 

"The Emissary" gives us some Worf time and intro's his eventual baby momma.  It also shows off his Klingon side a little more and his devotion to his culture without downplaying his feelings towards K'Ehleyr.  And it gives us just a little more info on how the relationship between the Federation and the Klingons gets along by bringing in some Kilngons that don't know they're not fighting anymore.

 

"Peak Performance" sets Picard against Riker in a war game and has Data doubt himself for failing to beat a strategy expert in a strategy game.  Both plots are very clever and give most of the crew something to do and accents their individual strengths and weaknesses.  It also brings back the Ferengi in another attempt to make them a big, foreboding villain, so that ties it back to Season One again.  It's very well rounded and a good way to finish off the season, especially when the actual finale is one of (if not the only) clip shows in Star Trek history.  Although a friend of mine recently pointed out a pretty big plot hole in the episode, I still would rate it highly.

 

Honorable mentions for the season include "Unnatural Selection", the only Pulaski-centered episode and one that deals with the subject of genetic engineering fairly well, "The Dauphin", wherein Wesley Crusher falls in love for the first time and learns a valuable lesson about life, and "Up The Long Ladder", which addresses the issue of cloning and features a strong-willed and very attractive Irish lass who makes out with Riker.

 

Dishonorable mentions for "The Royale", a reasonably fun-filled romp with no real value at the end, and "Shades of Grey", for being a Riker-themed clip show where Troi looks worried and Pulaski "narrows the frequency" for 40-something minutes.

 

You DO see her as an adult officer in "Shattered" in late Season Seven, though that timeline ends up not existing and the plot behind the episode is a little contrived.
 

Edit: Double post.

 

But I'll go ahead and use this space to instead compliment MrTyres on his work so far.  As I said earlier in the thread, it's been a good bit since I've watched through DS9, but you've grabbed the essence of what the show is and have run with it swimmingly as far as I can tell.  I imagine that that task will be much more difficult as you tackle the last two seasons, especially Season Seven since it was so incredibly serialized towards the end.

Edited by Bill McNeal - 1/21/13 at 9:54pm

Just caught this thread and am finding the abridged versions offered pretty interesting. Condensing DS9 must be very tough, as there are many episodes that cannot be thrown away purely because of characters. It's a very character grounded show. But condensing VOY? Not all that difficult, I can't argue with that. I can't do my own abridge versions of that show, because I find it on the whole very disposable. So disposable, I suppose you could simply do an abridged version of the entire show :P .

I have just gone through the first three seasons of ENT. The third season to my surprise is pretty tight considering that it's 24 episodes. I can only think of maybe two or three episodes you could throw away all together but there's too much that can't be thrown away because they're important to the overall arc. I hate "Carpenter Street", but I can't deny that it serves a major point for the arc.

However, looking at the first two seasons, they could easily be condensed as a lot of them really are just alien of the week filler and I was kind of amazed how the only arc that was happening didn't really develop at all. The temporal cold war arc literally goes no where until the Xindi step in. So here's my abridged versions of S1 and S2.

1x01/02 – “Broken Bow”
1x03 – “Fight or Flight”
1x07 – “The Andorian Incident”
1x08 – “Breaking the Ice”
1x10 – “Fortunate Son”
1x11 – “Cold Front”
1x15 – “Shadows of P’Jem”
1x16 – “Shuttlepod One”
1x17 – “Fusion”
1x21 – “Detained”
1x23 – “Fallen Hero”
1x24 – “Desert Crossing”
1x26 – “Shockwave”

Pretty easy, as all I do is keep the Temporal Cold War arcs and pick out the awful episodes that really do nothing other than undermine the characters, such as "Strange New Worlds" where the crew come off as total unprofessional who have no idea what they're doing and nothing is thought through. NASA always plans their shit right, because they HAVE to. So should these pioneers of Starfleet. So the ones I left behind are for the most part pretty relevant. "Broken Bow", obviously being the pilot. "Fight or Flight" stays because it's the first time they're exploring. "The Andorian Incident" for the introduction of Jeffrey Comb's Shran. "Breaking the Ice" serves as a nice lightweight episode for the characters and has a few threads that will be picked up in later episodes, such as T'Pol's arranged marriage and her feelings about it. "Fortunate Son" just to really show how before there was a Federation there was no law preventing pirates from attacking cargo ships and that it actually gives Mayweather something to do, for better or worse. "Cold Front" because of the introduction of Daniels and the whole temporal cold war arc thing. "Shadows of P'Jem" because it carries the thread of the conflict between Vulcans and Andorians. "Shuttlepod One" for being a nice character grounded episode. "Fusion" because the events in this episode will effect T'Pol dealing with emotions in the future. "Detained" because it makes a nice slice of classic Trek with a story that's an allegory of real events. "Fallen Hero" for T'Pol and "Desert Crossing" because of consequences as the result of the events in "Detained". "Shockwave" because of the Temporal Cold War arc.

I'll get onto S2 later.