Hello everyone!
We ended up with 74 unique voters in the Prelude to March Madness, which is pretty great. I'm very happy with that turnout. Right now, we have forms being made for the people that wanted to help seed the cards and they are being proofread. If you indicated you were willing to help rate/seed the cards, you can expect an email tomorrow.
But, for now, I thought I would share the final results with you.
The Original Series
A total of 65 out of 74 participants wanted to vote on the OS episodes (87.8%). The top 3 episodes were:
"Amok Time" (33/65 votes, 50.8%)
"Let That Bet Your Last Battlefield" (30/65 votes, 46.2%)
"Catspaw" (20/65 votes, 30.8%)
All 12 episodes received at least some votes. The median number of votes was 14.5. "Turnabout Intruder" was the lowest ranked episode with only 9/65 votes (13.8%).
The 2021 bracket didn't include any TOS options, so 100% of these episodes are appearing in this year's bracket for the 1st time.
The Next Generation
A total of 70 out of 74 participants wanted to vote on the TNG episodes (94.6%). The top 3 episodes were:
"Second Chances" (36/70 votes, 51.4%)
"Thine Own Self" (25/70 votes, 35.7%)
"Genesis" (24/70 votes, 34.3%)
All 12 episodes received at least some votes. The median number of votes was 19.5. The runner-up episode was "The Outrageous Okona", just 1 vote shy of 3rd place. "Legacy" was the lowest ranked episode with only 12/70 votes (17.1%).
Several suggestions for cards from the 3 selected episodes were proposed and subsequently used for the card ideas in the bracket. Okona himself was the most requested card across the entire set of episodes. However, several suggestions for the selected episodes were made and have been included in the final bracket.
While TNG did appear in last year's bracket, there was no overlap between that contest and the choices in this year's bracket. Thus, for 2022, all of the TNG episodes will be appearing for the first time.
Deep Space Nine
A total of 73 out of 74 participants wanted to vote on the DS9 episodes (98.6%). The top 3 episodes were:
"Inquisition" (46/73 votes, 63%)
"Far Beyond the Stars" (37/73 votes, 50.7%)
"Soldiers of the Empire" (26/73, 35.6%)
All 12 episodes received at least some votes. The median number of votes was 18.5. The runner-up episode was "Waltz" with 22/73 votes. "Chimera" was the lowest ranked episode with only 6/73 votes (8.2%).
Out of all the series, the fewest applicable suggestions were from DS9. However, at least a few applicable suggestions were made and have been included in the bracket. One thing is clear from your suggestions: you want more Section 31 stuff and more Trill stuff!
2 of the 3 DS9 episodes in this year's bracket appeared in the 2021 contest, though "Far Beyond the Stars" only appeared a single time vs. "Inquisition's" 4 cards. One episode from last year, "Waltz," did not make the cut this year.
Voyager
A total of 71 out of 74 participants wanted to vote on the VOY episodes (95.9%). The top 3 episodes were:
"The Raven" (33/71 votes, 46.5%)
"Distant Origin" (29/71 votes, 40.8%)
"In the Flesh" (29/71 votes, 40.8%)
All 12 episodes received at least some votes. The median number of votes was 19.5. There was a tie between "Barge of the Dead" and "The 37's" for the runner-up episode with each getting 23/71 votes. Similarly, there was a 3-way tie for lowest ranked between "Day of Honor," "Ex Post Facto," and "One Small Step;" each received 11/73 (15.5%) votes.
There were a lot of good suggestions for card ideas based on the winning episodes. I think a lot of you mistook "The Raven" for "Dark Frontier," as the Hansens and the Raven itself were the most common suggestions. However, I used as many of the suggestions as I could.
"Distant Origin" is the only episode from 2021's bracket that is returning for 2022. "Heroes and Demons" appeared in last year's contest but did not make the cut for this year. The other episodes from Voyager are appearing for the 1st time.
Enterprise
A total of 61 out of 74 participants wanted to vote on the ENT episodes (82.4%). The top 3 episodes were:
"Terra Prime" (39/61 votes, 63.9%)
"Carbon Creek" (38/61 votes, 62.3%)
"North Star" (19/61 votes, 31.1%)
All 12 episodes received at least some votes. The median number of votes was 14. As with Voyager, was a tie between "E-Squared" and "Rajiin" for the runner-up episode with each getting 17/61 votes. For the lowest ranked episode, "Chosen Realm" and "Cogenitor" tied with 8/61 votes each.
In terms of suggestions, they were made for several cool episodes, but only for "Terra Prime" and "North Star" from the winning 3. I used all of the suggestions that applied in the final bracket.
"Carbon Creek" is returning from 2021 to fight again in this year's contest. "Rajiin" appeared last year, but didn't make the cut for 2022. "Terra Prime" and "North Star" are newcomers to this year's fight.
Other
Aside from the Top 3 episodes of each series, I also included the episode overall that had the most votes (and wasn't already included). It ended up in a 3-way tie between:
TNG's "The Outrageous Okona,"
Voy's "Barge of the Dead,"
and Voy's "The 37's."
I polled a small group of Trek volunteers to break the tie, and the 16th and final episode is "Barge of the Dead" from Voyager. This added several more suggestions from voters to the bracket, which is great to see.
You were also all asked about how many nouns and verbs you wanted to see in the final bracket. For those that might not know, a "noun" is an equipment, facility, personnel, ship, or mission. As you might expect, a "verb" is everything else, including dilemmas, events, interrupts, incidents, and objectives. One end of the scale was
all nouns, while the opposite end of the scale was
all verbs.
Unsurprisingly, the most popular option was #3, which would be a 50/50 split between the two. 16.2% of you (12/74) votes for all nouns, while only 5/74 (6.8%) voted for all verbs. I decided to do a weighted calculation to determine the final split to determine the final breakdown of the bracket. This ended up giving more weight to the options with more votes, without ignoring the other votes. That means the final split is going to be
37 nouns and
27 verbs, give or take 1 on each side.
I'm curious to hear your takes on what card ideas you're expecting and how you think things will shake out. Our panel will be seeding the cards over the next week ahead of the bracket officially kicking off on
Wednesday, March 2nd. I hope you'll join us for this adventure!
-crp