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June 3, 2025: “The Best Episode Of…” Top 30!

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As I mentioned in a previous blog post (I think) I’d like to do a “Best Episode Of…” watch after completing season 7 of Columbo.  Basically, I would like to watch what is considered to be The Best Episode of each of 30 different science fiction shows.

After much thought and back and forth, these are the 30 shows I’d like to feature…

Andor

Babylon 5

Battlestar Galactica

Black Mirror

Blake’s 7

Dark Matter

Dr. Who

Eureka

The Expanse

Farscape

Firefly

For All Mankind

Fringe

The Mandalorian

The Orville

The Outer Limits (1995)

Quantum Leap

Red Dwarf

Space: 1999

Space: Above and Beyond

Stargate: Atlantis

Stargate: SG-1

Stargate: Universe

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: The New Generation

Star Trek: The Original Series

Travelers

The Twilight Zone (Original)

The X-Files

Now, over to you.  What were your favorite episodes of each show?

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12 responses

  1. baterista9 AKA gildermcc Avatar
    baterista9 AKA gildermcc

    First, which iterations /years of “Dr. Who”, “Quantum Leap” and “Battlestar Galactica”?

    Reply
    1. Joseph Mallozzi Avatar
      Joseph Mallozzi

      Early Quantum Leap. Late Battlestar. And take your pick of Dr. Who.

      Reply
      1. baterista9 AKA gildermcc Avatar
        baterista9 AKA gildermcc

        Check.

        Reply
  2. Line Noise Avatar
    Line Noise

    Hoo boy! I’m gonna have to think about this one. There are so many good episodes that don’t make much sense if you watch them without context.

    Reply
  3. Michael Bond Avatar
    Michael Bond

    The only one that immediately jumped to my mind from the more recent series of Dr Who, was “Dalek” that brought the monsters back from the brink in such a tragic fashion and introduced us to the “Bad Wolf”.
    And I’m never really sure if Bad Wolf meant the Daleks or Rose Tyler after what she did to them, but that’s another episode. 🙂

    Reply
  4. James Avatar
    James

    Great list.

    Deep Space 9 – In the Pale Moonlight
    Battlestar Galactica – 33
    Dr. Who – Blink

    Enjoy

    Reply
    1. Donna Avatar
      Donna

      STTNG has 2 great episodes: Frame of Mind and Dark Page.

      Reply
  5. Line Noise Avatar
    Line Noise

    OK, here goes. Some of my picks are two-parters. I’ve realised I’m a sucker for time travel stories!

    Andor – Not seen it all yet.
    Babylon 5 – War Without End (Part 1 + 2) or Severed Dreams
    Battlestar Galactica – Haven’t watched it since it first aired. Can’t remember.
    Black Mirror – USS Calister
    Blake’s 7 – Haven’t seen it. I really should, though.
    Dark Matter – Isn’t That a Paradox?
    Dr. Who – Old Who: Genesis of the Daleks. New Who: Blink
    Eureka – I can’t remember any episodes. Something with time travel, probably.
    The Expanse – Home
    Farscape – I can’t remember. If in doubt, I watch the pilot.
    Firefly – Out of Gas
    For All Mankind – I stopped two episodes into the second season.
    Fringe – Haven’t seen it.
    The Mandalorian – Nothing stands out.
    The Orville – Twice in a Lifetime
    The Outer Limits (1995) – Haven’t seen it.
    Quantum Leap – The Leap Home (Part 1 + 2)
    Red Dwarf – Back To Reality
    Space: 1999 – Haven’t seen it.
    Space: Above and Beyond – Haven’t seen it.
    Stargate: Atlantis – Sunday
    Stargate: SG-1 – Window Of Opportunity (of course)
    Stargate: Universe – Time
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Trials and Tribble-ations
    Star Trek: Enterprise – Carbon Creek
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – A Quality of Mercy
    Star Trek: The Next Generation – Time’s Arrow (Part 1 + 2) or Cause and Effect
    Star Trek: The Original Series – The City on the Edge of Forever
    Travelers – Never continued after the first season.
    The Twilight Zone (Original) – I never made it to the end during your rewatch.
    The X-Files – Bad Blood

    Reply
    1. Jane Woollestone Avatar
      Jane Woollestone

      Wow you’ve done well! Off the top of my head the one that really sticks in my head is X Files Squeeze. I agree with Dr Who Blink. I’m a total Trekkie but can’t choose one! And obviously SG1, Atlantis and SGU but I can’t choose one from each either! I loved Fringe – you’ll have to give it a go

      Reply
  6. Wesley Morrison Avatar
    Wesley Morrison

    For Space: Above and Beyond? Definitely “Who Monitors the Birds?”

    Reply
  7. gforce Avatar
    gforce

    I’ll have to give some of these some thought. It’s hard to pick for Andor since that series is such a high bar for quality all the way through, but I would say S2E8 “Who Are You?” might have been the best TV that have seen in a long time. Pure art, if brutal. The Narkina 5 prison arc was also brilliant.

    ST:TNG, probably “The Inner Light” but there are a few I always go back to. “Tapestry” was also great.

    ST:DS9 “Far Beyond the Stars” with “In the Pale Moonlight a close second”

    ST:Voyager – The evil clown episode (I think it S2). Just so freaking weird, I loved it.

    For All Mankind – I immediately think of S2E10 “The Grey” where Tracy and Gordo save the day but at a terrible cost. Great season ender.

    SG:SG1 – probably the two-parter “Heroes”. I’m a sucker for a tragic twist.
    SG:Atlantis – “Rising”, loved the feel of that new galaxy and pretty much enjoyed every episode of the series.
    SGU – “Time”. Great concept.

    Space: 1999 – probably the pilot episode from what I can remember. Definitely not any episode from S2.

    I’d have to really search my memory for a lot of the other ones that I’ve seen but not for a long time.

    Reply
    1. Joseph Mallozzi Avatar
      Joseph Mallozzi

      Thanks for these.

      It’s funny how Space:1999 became a completely different show in its second season.

      Reply

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