Best Stand Alone 'Encounters' in Sci-Fi

[Husky_Khan]

So... with seven Star Trek TV series (the majority of which are good ), three or so Stargate series, Babylon 5, Dr. Who, Sliders, Star Wars Cartoon series and much, much more, there is an ample supply of mysterious encounters in science fiction. What are some of your favorites?

The main criteria is that these episodes or scenes be relatively' standalone' as in not necessarily part of a much larger story or narrative arc unless perhaps starting one. (ex Q Who in introducing the Borg as opposed to later Borg centric episodes in TNG or Voyager) Or like the first Aliens movie or Dead Space game.

The question is of your monsters of the week, random encounters and situations requiring technobabble solutions or fast talking, are your favorites?

 

[40thousandninjas]

ST TNG's first contact, the episode not the film.

We finally get to see what the Federation looks like from the perspective of a new species making it's first timid steps out into the greater galaxy.

Oh boy is it terrifying, not the least is the fact that their homeworld is within deep Federation space
They have agents on their homeworld that look and act enough to pass as Malcorians and technology to teleport anywhere on their world. The appearance of a galaxy class starship for a culture complerely unfamiliar would probably look like the scene in SG1 where Anubis' ship appears right above a Kelownan city.

But even as Riker was captured by the already xenophobic malcorians, Picard's diplomatic acumen managed to save the relationship. By providing the Malcorians total control over the diplomatic process, aside from the initial "first" contact and by indicating the Federation will respect Malcorian wishes first and foremost, even as they are in a position of total power, it shows the Malcorian leader that though they should pursue relations, they aren't ready.

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The Genii from Stargate Atlantis.

Here is a culture that managed to conceal itself from not just the Wraith but from the entire galaxy as a survival strategy.

And then...here shows up a brand new human culture with more advanced weapons and other advanced technology (radio by Pegasus standards is incredibly rare, and radios the size of what Earth has, basically non-existent) and then proceeds to demonstrate that they could detect who the genii really are underground. Ontop of that McKay deduces from an interrogation cell that the key to their whole plan is an atomic bomb. And then Sheppard reveals that they not only have the ancient gene but also access to Lantean technology.

Yeah, they were never going to react well. This fear as well as Earth's overconfidence sets the tone for their entire relationship to follow. Human enemy civilizations in Stargate didn't really exist as an arc aside from the Genii.

Teyla joining with Earth immediately set off alarm bells in the minds of the genii. They knew that Earth had to have something big for Teyla, like themselves will do anything for their people. She wore an Atlantean uniform, made of materials unknown to the genii, carrying a weapon beyond their technology. It looks like her people were conquered and she is happy about it.

Then there is Sheppard who was a friendly face. But this is the Pegasus galaxy, where if the Wraith don't feed on you, other humans will kill you for your trinkets. The galaxy is dark and full of terrors. Smiling while meeting a new people would mean you're hiding a knife behind it. Indeed when Sheppard lied about their invisible ships ...and proving they had if not access to but the ability to make nukes, basically meant they were doomed to be enemies.

As a resource based culture they also maintained indirect control of a large number of planets as a sort of vassal empire causing huge problems for Atlantis which had no trade footprint other than information, some diplomatic relations and food.

But yeah, fascinating culture the genii and a group I wish the writers did more with.

 

[Husky_Khan]

I never saw much Stargate Atlantis beyond the initial two seasons or so but I do remember the Genii introduction and loved their introduction and concept. I did watch lots of Stargate SG1 though. I do have a lot of favorite episodes... but ones that fit the criteria of my own thread are bit harder to come by. Some of the best are still tangentially connected to other storylines in a manner that might threaten them being considered 'standalone' such as 'Window of Opportunity' or the Season 2's 'Thor's Chariot' which I thought was a brilliant way of setting up an encounter with an advanced alien species... and they took their time to introduce over the period of seasons as well. Also I loved the puzzles involved.

So I guess my favorite episode atm would be 'Torment of Tantalus' which... while a story arc... was merely the beginning of many of Stargates story arcs and so I feel did work as a 'stand alone' encounter. Most of the first season was pretty Trekkish I noticed, and a bit derivative in some respects but Torment of Tantalus was what really established that there was something more to the Stargate Universe... a lot more. It started off with a lovely throwback to WW2 era testing and then their arrival on Tantalus and rescuing the very elderly explorer stranded their for literal decades in a structure that houses some ancient computer repository. It was the first episode of Stargate that really set out just how ambitious the TV series and franchise was willing to be but even outside of its legacy it did the important thing that good popular science fiction does, which is stoke my curiosity and leaving me wanting to learn more about the universe they are hinting at and just how careful they are in presenting it so it doesn't seem rushed or schlocky.

It was a very well done introduction to the Stargate universe which stood on its own when I first saw it.

 

[Vargas Fan]

One of my favourites is Dragons Domain from the series Space 1999. It's sometimes seen as an inspiration for Alien, but is basically in large part a flashback story. I don't know how many here are familiar with the series, but Dragons Domain tells the story of Tony Cellini, one of Alphas pilots. Formerly an up and coming astronaut, he captained the Ultra Probe, the premier mission of Earth. On the way they encounter a graveyard of spacecraft and dock with one of the derelicts. Almost instantly a creature appears and kills most of the crew. Tony manages to be the sole survivor and ejects his command module and return to Earth.

He is however, not believed. Blamed for killing the crew through incompetence he becomes an embittered and broken man. Stranded on Alpha at the time of Breakaway for some unexplained reason he suffers nightmares related to his previous encounter. There's some trailers that showcase the episode.