- Joined
- Feb 4, 2013
If you had to pick one "best" episode of some of your favorite TV shows, what episode would it be? You can only choose one. Let's say it's a thought experiment, and aliens will explode your head if you list more than one, so none of this "I can't possibly choose" nonsense followed by three episodes. Spinoffs and revivals count as new shows because I like Doctor Who and am making the rules. Best means not personal favorite, but what you feel is objectively (or close to it) the best example of what is good about the show (since fans usually prefer weird episodes). The question might be phrased "what is the best episode of the show to watch to get a good sense of it's strengths?"
New Doctor Who - The Girl in the Fireplace. This episode has everything that makes the new series work (comedy, horror, sci-fi thought experiments, romance, action...), and is the only time that Micky Smith actually contributes positively to an episode. I used to show this to people to trick them into starting to watch the new series.
Old Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks. It's hard to make an argument for any other. Great story, great actor as the Doctor, and great companions all come together in just the perfect Doctor Who story. It also marks the start of the time war in the mythology of the new series.
Battlestar Galactica (2004) - Collaborators. This is the kind of episode that really brought out the human side of the series, and was exactly the tone that the finale decided to throw out the window in favor of vague platitudes about god and destiny and bullshit.
Galactica 1980 - The Return of Starbuck. I hate being reduced to using this term, but I can only describe this as an epic bromance between Star Buck and a Cylon, both of whom have crashed on an alien planet, until it's broken up by Magic Space Yoko Ono.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - In The Pale Moonlight. I talk about this more in-depth in the Star Trek thread, but this episode symbolizes why DS9 is my favorite Trek by leaps and bounds. If I was making a list of favorite Star Treks it would go Deep Space 9, then two blank spaces, then Next Generation. The blank spaces represent the gap between #1 and #4.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition. This is hysterical, beautifully evil, and proof that farce isn't just for stuffy comedy nerds.
Wonder Showzen - Patience. This episode absolutely is just for stuffy comedy nerds. I would recommend wholeheartedly any other episode of Wonder Showzen to anyone with a sense of humor, just not the best one Patience. Patience is a visual palindrome, which is exactly what it sounds like, and is only for people who are entertained by conceptual jokes taken to extremes. Patience is I think the essence of what I describe as "comedy nerd" humor, or comedian's comedy. Rather than write a text wall about that mess I'll move on.
Arrested Development - Development Arrested. Because of AR's mastery of the serial farce and the way jokes and plot threads weave skillfully in and out of episodes it is almost futile to try and isolate a specific episode of Arrested Development for particular greatness. But I like the way the original final episode both mirrors the first episode and crams an entire season's worth of major reveals into a single episode. I think it's the best you can do, since really it's more proper to look at Arrested Development in terms of seasons rather than episodes.
South Park - A Ladder to Heaven. Trey Parker and Matt Stone found a way to satirize the reaction of America to 9/11 in a way so steeped in allegory that they actually got away with it. This episode is really hard to understand without the context of the time it was from, but I think that's almost a necessity when choosing a "best" South Park episode because of how topical the show is.
Masters of Horror - Imprint. Okay, okay this is perfect, not just the episode itself (which it is) but even the story of the episode. Imprint was episode 13 of Master of Horror (and was directed by Takashi Miike no less) but was deemed too extreme for television (even the Master of Horror show, which was already pushing boundaries) so the network refused to air it. You could only get it on the DVD set of the complete season. That's how I learned about it, after reading an ad for it I got at a big multi-nerd-thing convention (where one of the nerd-things was horror). The actual episode is one of the most hauntingly beautiful things I've ever seen. It is at once bittersweet and horrific, and it creates so many images that are disturbing in ways that stick with you. It's about as extreme as you can get outside of the exploitation genres, but I can't recommend it enough to any serious horror fan. Especially if you already like Takashi Miike, I certainly do, I'd actually consider this some of his best work and more accessible to a wider horror audience than some of his more torture-porny stuff.
New Doctor Who - The Girl in the Fireplace. This episode has everything that makes the new series work (comedy, horror, sci-fi thought experiments, romance, action...), and is the only time that Micky Smith actually contributes positively to an episode. I used to show this to people to trick them into starting to watch the new series.
Old Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks. It's hard to make an argument for any other. Great story, great actor as the Doctor, and great companions all come together in just the perfect Doctor Who story. It also marks the start of the time war in the mythology of the new series.
Battlestar Galactica (2004) - Collaborators. This is the kind of episode that really brought out the human side of the series, and was exactly the tone that the finale decided to throw out the window in favor of vague platitudes about god and destiny and bullshit.
Galactica 1980 - The Return of Starbuck. I hate being reduced to using this term, but I can only describe this as an epic bromance between Star Buck and a Cylon, both of whom have crashed on an alien planet, until it's broken up by Magic Space Yoko Ono.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - In The Pale Moonlight. I talk about this more in-depth in the Star Trek thread, but this episode symbolizes why DS9 is my favorite Trek by leaps and bounds. If I was making a list of favorite Star Treks it would go Deep Space 9, then two blank spaces, then Next Generation. The blank spaces represent the gap between #1 and #4.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition. This is hysterical, beautifully evil, and proof that farce isn't just for stuffy comedy nerds.
Wonder Showzen - Patience. This episode absolutely is just for stuffy comedy nerds. I would recommend wholeheartedly any other episode of Wonder Showzen to anyone with a sense of humor, just not the best one Patience. Patience is a visual palindrome, which is exactly what it sounds like, and is only for people who are entertained by conceptual jokes taken to extremes. Patience is I think the essence of what I describe as "comedy nerd" humor, or comedian's comedy. Rather than write a text wall about that mess I'll move on.
Arrested Development - Development Arrested. Because of AR's mastery of the serial farce and the way jokes and plot threads weave skillfully in and out of episodes it is almost futile to try and isolate a specific episode of Arrested Development for particular greatness. But I like the way the original final episode both mirrors the first episode and crams an entire season's worth of major reveals into a single episode. I think it's the best you can do, since really it's more proper to look at Arrested Development in terms of seasons rather than episodes.
South Park - A Ladder to Heaven. Trey Parker and Matt Stone found a way to satirize the reaction of America to 9/11 in a way so steeped in allegory that they actually got away with it. This episode is really hard to understand without the context of the time it was from, but I think that's almost a necessity when choosing a "best" South Park episode because of how topical the show is.
Masters of Horror - Imprint. Okay, okay this is perfect, not just the episode itself (which it is) but even the story of the episode. Imprint was episode 13 of Master of Horror (and was directed by Takashi Miike no less) but was deemed too extreme for television (even the Master of Horror show, which was already pushing boundaries) so the network refused to air it. You could only get it on the DVD set of the complete season. That's how I learned about it, after reading an ad for it I got at a big multi-nerd-thing convention (where one of the nerd-things was horror). The actual episode is one of the most hauntingly beautiful things I've ever seen. It is at once bittersweet and horrific, and it creates so many images that are disturbing in ways that stick with you. It's about as extreme as you can get outside of the exploitation genres, but I can't recommend it enough to any serious horror fan. Especially if you already like Takashi Miike, I certainly do, I'd actually consider this some of his best work and more accessible to a wider horror audience than some of his more torture-porny stuff.
