Bob Wertz

I’m home sick today and was thinking about shows I watch when I’m just killing time. Episodes I love to just put on in the background when I’m working (or sick). Most of the time, I open Paramount+ and play Star Trek. I figured I’d share my favorite “comfort” episodes. Warning: A couple of mild spoilers below for really old episodes.¹

Star Trek: The Original Series

• S1 E15 Balance of Terror. A “submarine” battle between Kirk and the Romulan commander.
• S2 E6 The Doomsday Machine. The race to stop a machine before it destroys more planets.
• S2 E15 The Trouble with Tribbles. My parents loved this episode when I was growing up and it’s one of my favorites. Sometimes, I pair it with DS9’s Trials and Tribble-Ations.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

• S2 E10 The Defector. More Romulan manipulation.
• S4 E26 and E27 Redemption, Part 1 and 2. The Romulans try to destabilize the Klingon Empire.
• S6 E4 Relics. A Dyson Sphere, and a somewhat believable way to resurrect an old character.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

• S5 E6 Trials and Tribble-Ations. The DS9 crew goes back in time to the middle of The Trouble with Tribbles.
• S6 E6 Sacrifice of Angels. I love the action and pacing of this episode. The end of one of the arcs that dominate DS9.

Star Trek: Voyager

• S4 E14 Message in a Bottle. The Doctor is transmitted back into the Alpha Quadrant, and works with another Emergency Medical Hologram to liberate a Federation ship.
• S7 E25 Endgame Parts 1 and 2. The series finale. The Voyager makes it home… twice.

Star Trek: Discovery

• S1 E7 Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad. A great time loop episode, with some great performances.
• S2 E2 New Eden. Captain Pike. Mysterious Earth colony. Prime directive debates. Love it all.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

• S2 E7 Where Pleasant Fountains Lie. All about evil AI, but in the funniest possible way.
• S3 E5 Reflections. Starfleet Recruiting Booth. Rutherford’s implant malfunctions.
• S3 E6 Heal All, Trust Nothing. A visit to DS9, and Tendi goes full Orion to save the day.
• S4 E4 Something Borrowed, Something Green. Tendi goes home for her sister’s wedding, and chaos ensues.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

• S1 E2 Children of the Comet. A comet that’s worshipped as a live bringing god. Such an old school Star Trek story.
• S2 E7 Those Old Scientists. A Lower Decks/Strange New World crossover that works far better than it should.
• S2 E9 Subspace Rhapsody. The musical episode, that also works far better than it should.

Star Trek: Picard

• S3 E10 The Last Generation. A fan-service finale that’s full of fun.

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.