Ken Ishii/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures J.J. Abrams, Simon Pegg, and Justin Lin attend the premiere of "Star Trek Beyond" at TOHO Cinemas on October 19, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan.
The question of “Which episode of Star Trek is the best?” is almost impossible to answer. After all, it’s a matter of subjective taste. For some, the “best” episode is a personal favorite for plot or character reasons, while others try to be more objective in scoring their favorite episodes. A Star Trek director has spoken up about which episode of the original series is his absolute favorite, and why. Here’s what you need to know…
Director Justin Lin’s Favorite Episode is ‘The Enterprise Incident’
In their round-up of the 100 best Star Trek episodes, the Hollywood Reporter revealed the favorite episode of Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin. For Lin, nothing beats the Romulan caper in The Enterprise Incident .The plot of The Enterprise Incident revolves around Captain Kirk entering the Neutral Zone to steal a cloaking device from the Romulans, a mission made more complicated when the Romulan commander takes a romantic interest in Spock.
“A good old-fashioned spy thriller set in the Neutral Zone. What’s not to love?” Lin gushed to the Hollywood Reporter about his favorite episode. “We get to see my favorite version of Kirk: the tactician. His ruse is brilliant and daring, but it’s Spock who steals the show in his interaction with the female Romulan commander.”
Lin went on to explain what makes the episode “great” to him: “Spock derides the fleeting nature of such military victories and says to the female commander something emblematic of everything great about Star Trek: ‘I hope that you and I have exchanged something more permanent.'”
It is well-known that The Enterprise Incident‘s plot was inspired by current events of the 1960s. The episode took inspiration from the seizure of the American ship U.S.S. Pueblo by the North Koreans. The ship was in international waters off the coast of the Korean Peninsula when it was attacked, and its crew taken prisoner for nearly a year. An agreement was reached after 11 months to return the crew back to America, but the ship itself remains in North Korea to this day, though some former crew members have attempted to convince the President of the United States to arrange for the ship’s return.
Justin Lin Also Directed a Fan Favorite Episode of ‘Community’
Just finished watching Community, I loved it when it first came out, cried when Abed and Jeff hugged good bye… we need that movie please!#sixseasonsandamovie
In addition to contributing to the Star Trek franchise, Lin has also directed for television. Perhaps most famously, he directed the Community season 1 episode Modern Warfare, known more colloquially among fans as “the paintball episode”. The “paintball episodes” became a recurring feature on the series, thanks to positive response from the fans. In fact, series creator Dan Harmon reportedly met with Lin to direct a Community feature film. According to ScreenCrush, Harmon has spoken with both Lin and the Russo brothers, themselves also former directors on the series. However, as of this writing, there are no plans for a Community feature film. Actor Joel McHale, who played the lead on Community, spoke with The Wrap in late 2020, confirming there were no plans to make a movie that would conclude the series, despite fans of the show calling for “#sixseasonsandamovie” for years after the series concluded.
Justin Lin directed the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond, along with several installments in the long-running Fast & Furious franchise. It is not clear whether Lin would be amenable to directing another Star Trek film, should one be greenlit. According to SlashFilm, Lin’s position on directing another Star Trek film is maybe. Lin told the outlet, “I’ll never say never, but I’ve had a great time. I’m also getting older and there’s a lot of stuff I wanna do.” More recently, director Quentin Tarantino has been rumored to be involved the the next Star Trek film.
Star Trek Beyond was something of a troubled production, involving both reshoots and rewrites. In a video interview with Build, Pegg spoke about working with the Beyond director, saying: “Justin Lin is a fantastic guy, but at first I didn’t know what he wanted…We all had to learn each other’s processes, and that was, at times, maddening.” Pegg also told Empire that, at one point during production, the two men engaged in a “proper shouty row with each other” over the fate of the Enterprise.
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