Television… the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise… and that other Enterprise. And Deep Space Nine. And Voyager. Oh, and even that other Enterprise.

With Star Trek Into Darkness now in theaters, we've been on a bit of a Starfleet bender of late (read our Ranking the Star Trek Movies story here ). And while undertaking the task of picking the greatest Star Trek TV episodes -- out of the 725 or so stories from all the different series -- is something of a fool's errand, we decided to give it a try anyway. It may not be logical, but hey, tell it to the Vulcans!

What Is the Best Star Trek Movie?

Of course, any such list is going to be highly controversial among fans… and admittedly arbitrary to a certain degree. How many Original Series episodes do you include? Does any Enterprise segment deserve to be ranked higher than a Next Generation tale? Does 7 of 9 get an honorable mention slot all to herself?!So with all that said, here are our picks for the top 25 Star Trek episodes ever. Beam into the comments once you're done reading and we will scan for life forms together -- and discuss!

25 "Timeless" (VOY)

Star Trek has a long history of seeing popular actors enter the director's chair. With this Voyager episode, LeVar Burton took a turn (though it was not his first time in the center seat). He also guest starred in the episode, reprising his role as engineering whiz Geordi La Forge, who was now promoted to captain. “Timeless” jumped forward 15 years, presenting Chakotay and Harry Kim as the sole survivors of a botched attempt to bring Voyager home. Theirs was a compelling struggle to defy the rest of the Federation, travel back through time and undo the accident, even though success meant destroying their comfortable new lives on Earth. Despite these tragic overtones, the episode solidified the notion that the end of the journey was finally in sight for our heroes.

24 "This Side of Paradise" (TOS)

A trip to Omicron Ceti III reveals plant spores that protect its inhabitants from the planet's deadly Berthold rays -- but also turn you into a bit of a pod person. Eventually the entire crew of the Enterprise is converted with Kirk the last man standing, which leads to a fistfight between the captain and a lovey-dovey Spock -- who's recently hooked up with his woulda-coulda-shoulda girlfriend from back in the day, Leila (Jill Ireland).The episode features one of Spock's best moments ever. After he's freed of the spores, a heartbroken Leila tells him that she doesn't even know if he has another name. The regretful Vulcan -- now back in control of his emotions -- responds, "You couldn't pronounce it." And a thousand Trekkies wept.

23 "Sacrifice of Angels" (DS9)

Season 5 of Deep Space Nine ended with Captain Sisko and his crew forced to abandon the station to the nigh-unstoppable forces of the Dominion. And Season 6 kicked off a multi-part story arc that culminated with Sisko leading a Federation assault to retake DS9. The resulting battle was about as epic as any we've seen in a Trek episode, with special effects that were surprisingly robust for a late '90s sci-fi TV show. “Sacrifice of Angels” offered a dramatic showdown that set the tone for the remainder of the much-beloved Dominion War storyline in Seasons 6 and 7.

22 "In a Mirror, Darkly" (ENT)

Who doesn't love the Mirror Universe? Even the cast of Enterprise got in on the action, relishing the chance to play cartoonishly evil versions of themselves in this two-parter. “In a Mirror, Darkly” made a number of fun adjustments to the usual Enterprise formula, not the least of which being the overhauled title sequence. Continuity buffs also got a kick out of the fact that this episode fit in between the events of two Original Series episodes (“The Tholian Web” and “Mirror, Mirror”). Perhaps the writers were guilty of exploiting the fan service angle, but with results this fun, who really cares?

21 "Broken Bow" (ENT)

Most of the Star Trek TV series started out with a few rough edges that were eventually smoothed out over time. Enterprise bucked the trend by starting off strongly and then nose-diving from there. Unfortunate, but at least the result was this memorable two-part pilot episode. Broken Bow started off in the early 22nd century, introducing us to a young Jonathan Archer and showcasing the evolution from the 21st century Earth of Star Trek: First Contact to the one Trek fans have grown familiar with. From there, the episode brought together the full crew of the very first USS Enterprise. These two episodes showed off the scope and potential of the new series and the stylistic elements that promised to set it apart. Sadly, it took the creators far too long to begin living up to that potential again.