Star Trek: 10 Greatest Genre Episodes Ever
1. Fantasy: Qpid
Though Star Trek may delight in science fiction, it owes a debt to fantasy as well. Fantasy is, per Britannica.com:
Imaginative fiction that relies on strangeness of setting (such as other worlds or times) and of characters (such as supernatural or unnatural beings).
There are many examples in recent years of Star Trek using this genre of storytelling. Strange New Worlds had its Elysian Kingdom, and Lower Decks was visited by the Hysperians in Where Pleasant Fountains Lie. Both of these examples owe a debt to Q, Vash, and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Worf may not have been a merry man in QPid, but many of us in the audience were merry watching him shatter Geordi's lute. Poor Data ended up with an arrow in his chest, but it barely dented him. To be fair, he could take a hail of bullets and reply with 'Greetings!', so we're not that shocked.
The trip to Sherwood Forest may have been an ill-advised gift from Q, but it was another example of Star Trek using comedy, and now fantasy, to break up the standard when it came to the series. The Next Generation could take giant swings when it needed to, and Little John Riker may very well have done so with that staff, but when they landed, they landed well.
It may not have come with an accompanying Bryan Adams tune, but this tale of Robin and his band of merry men was fantastic, and one for the ages.