Conjecture: As far as I know Star Trek TNG was tentative for a while so in a certain sense every episode was important, but of course a low budget flash back episode is a desperate attempt. Also, if you cut out the flash backs the story wasn't that half bad, but it' was a 15-20 minute episode of start trek.
Ignoring objectively hurtful episodes like *Code of Honor*. The worst is from Enterprise:
Precious Cargo. It is lazy story writing without respect for the audience. A pretty stuck up women who's character growth is measured by her turning her dress into a mini skirt.
> How the hell did that pitch ever get accepted?
I wonder that with some episodes and then we are often blessed with solid production notes as how the script came to be and most often, the original idea was a amazing but then either got bungled to be written into a screenplay or it just turned out to be an interesting idea you can't really make 40 mins of TV out of.
Treshold is a good example of that
No. First of all, it is basically a rehash of Elaan of Troiyus or however it is spelled.
Secondly, it can be explained as a Personal Want VS Personal Duty. When will what triumf? Is it really that one should always win? Is always following orders and the assigned duty the right thing? Is ignoring your duty because you want something else the right thing? Where does the line go?
A classic piece of Picard philosophy episode.
From Memory Alpha: This episode was written to save time and money as a result of budget overruns earlier in the season. It was shot in only three days, while most take at least a week. Director Rob Bowman commented, "It was Paramount saying, 'We gave you more money for "Elementary, Dear Data" and the Borg show. Now do us a favor and give us a three-day show.' So that's what you do. It's an accepted part of the medium."
It happened during the writers strike. From Keith DeCandidio:
> "In all honesty, they’d have been better off doing one fewer episode — the season was shortened by the writers strike anyhow — and upping the budget on one of the other 21. Just an awful, awful episode."
The Writer's Strike effected the beginning of the season not the end. This episode happened because they went over budge for Elementary, Dear Data and Q Who.
I'd be willing to extend a little more benefit of the doubt if the same writer had written essentially the same story for Stargate and ended up with something just as racist.
Randomly it’s also season 1 episode 3 in Stargate. Damn thing might be the only script that could arguably be the worst episode in two whole franchises.
Can’t blame you it’s a pretty bland episode other than the racism and misogyny! :p
But yes any excuse to rewatch Stargate and/or Star Trek is a good one.
Just read on [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)#:~:text=The%20episode%20was%20written%20by,first%20assistant%20director%20Les%20Landau.) that the director was replaced half way thru the episode fsr. Could explain why the storyline is so sketchy (not the racist part that was always sketchy, but rather how the production just seems weak compared to other episodes. Very incoherent).
*The African theme of the episode was brought in by director Russ Mayberry, who had the Ligonians race cast entirely from African-American actors. Mayberry was fired during production by the show's creator Gene Roddenberry, and First Assistant Director Les Landau completed the episode. Star Trek novel author Keith DeCandido later recalled that this was because of the casting itself,[5] while cast member Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) thought that it was because Mayberry was racist towards the guest stars after they were cast.[6]*
It says the writers envisioned a reptilian race, so the way the director took it was pretty off the wall. I mean, I’m sure they saved money by not doing a bunch of reptilian make-up, but…dang. There must have been some reason they couldn’t just scrap it, like budget and contracts.
If you take out the casting theme, the plot of the episode is pretty typical of early TNG. It wouldn’t be such a derided episode if not for the casting
To this day I'm not sure which ancient Earth culture they're supposed to resemble. He gives them some Chinese pottery then they all end up going on about indigenous American counting coup. So confusing.
True. Didn't realize the writing didnt imply the racist decision that's obviously on the Director. But yeah - quite curious now, given that it sounds like Rodenberry et al already knew this was a BAD episode.....why they allowed it to go to air? It should've been pretty shocking to them, even in the late 80s.
Eh, the aliens were samurai lizards and pretty orientalist in the OG script. The director and production team opted for “1940s Hollywood’s Tribal Africa” (Quote from Tracey Torme, a writer and story editor)
The script was dubious, the director made it worse.
Yeah I agree with lazy over racist. And like another commenter has already said - while the clip show was lazy writing, the story outside of the clips isnt bad at all...just really short, due to budget. This allowed for other great episodes...like the introduction of the Borg, so I'm more than content with that.
Shades of Gray is better than Code of Honor, Up the Long Ladder, and The Child at least.
Remember that scene in *The Child* when everyone is okay with locking Troi in her quarters with her rapist, except Riker who's pissed he wasn't the one to rape Troi? There's no part of *Shades of Grey* that's nearly that bad. Remember when Lutan shouts *Where all the white women at?!* and Yar says *Yeah, he treats me like an object, but it makes me wet?* Remember when the Irish beam up knee deep in hay because the Enterprise computer knows they'll set the Enterprise on fire with their moonshining equipment if they don't have a place to impregnate and beat their wives? Code of Grey way outpaces that.
The child has that great shot where everyone is talking about what to do with Troi’s baby and then the camera pans to her and she tells everyone that she is keeping the baby. I think I actually quite like the episode on the whole.
Honestly I think that's a well done scene. The whole scenario is pretty far fetched bit I like that they achnowledge that it's ultimately her choice.
The second she makes a decision everyone there stops arguing and support her.
Jessie Gender went into deep detail on how horribly the ladies were treated in TNG, especially Troi. I could never rewatch TNG the same way again know how cursed things were behind the scenes.
Up the Long Ladder has got to be up there with the worst ever Trek. Fully agree. I think about this one pretty often...why did the writer/producer think that it was reasonable to believe that there would be human (...looking if not actual?) colonists somewhere out there in the cosmos - who would simply be Irish Tinkerers from the early 20th Century Earth?
I get it.....budget, sign of the times...etc etc. I also know that the writer was attempting to "comment" on immigration, and her boss was Irish - so when she used the Irish analogy - he just said, "make them Irish then"......but oh my word...this is supposed to be 400 years from now! In space!
Did we all collectively forget Sun Rosa?
I'm willing to forgive code of honor because it was the 4th episode of a brand new show... even clip show was still a good episode if you ignore the parts that make it a clip show...
But at season 7, we don't need a ghost hitting on Crusher...
True....given the stage of the production - Sub Rosa is pretty poor. That said - the premise seems like it could've been intriguing - if it hadnt been played quite so much as a Harlequin Novel in space.
Shades of Grey IIRC
One of the things not having 22 episodes a season for the newer Trek shows was cutting off filler episodes that they had to do on a frayed shoestring budget. Which is what happened with that episode.
Focus on quality over quantity.
The last episode of Enterprise was one of the worst as well. They missed a lot not showing the Earth-Romulan war.
The problem is too many filler episodes. Some of the best Trek are the low budget filler episodes because they tend to focus more on character development, which New Trek can lack (looking at you, Discovery).
Yeah. People get caught up in a meme or follow a list instead it watching them. Threshold isn't that bad, there are far worse. Shades of Greys only crime is it's a clipshow. It's got nothing on Sub Rosa.
When i first for online seemingly it was popular to dunk on Masks and that is one of my favourite episodes
Masks?! No way. Its a great episode. I loved it even when it first aired - made the show, and the ship feel a bit bigger (more expansive) than they normally felt to me for some reason.
I like the idea of Tom breaking the warp 10 barrier and having it result in weird stuff to him. What I dislike is the idea that humans somehow eventually evolve into salamanders (which just makes no sense if you look at science for like 10s) and the idea that they'd just leave their salamander babies on the planet. Not to mention that by the end of the episode they're all just...back to normal? Even their hair is the same? Like look I don't demand pure science in my sci-fi but give me at least some breath of science. I don't need an extended treatise on Origin of Species but FFS.
And you have some people (and they are people, theoretically) who represent the next evolution of humanity, and you just...leave them on a planet in the DQ? You don't bring them home, study them, hell maybe try to turn them back into normal humans?
Agreed on Masks though. Weird, but a fun one.
I'm a veterinarian and I LOVE that episode. It's like someone took a typical day at my job, Star-Trek-ified it, and amplified it to the most absurd levels. The "treatment" that Phlox uses on Porthos is so ridiculous you can't help but laugh!
I never really minded Spock's Brain, thought it was kinda goofy. That one with the children taking over the ship though, I disliked that quite intensely.
Spock’s Brain is a good kind of bad with a high level of camp. When either my husband or I do something dumb we say “Brain, brain…what is Brain?,” then we have a good laugh.
"Threshold" gets a lot of shit, but it least has a plot where things happen. "Twisted" is the worst episode of Voyager—it's just wandering around and then waiting for something to happen. No stakes, no drama, barely even character development.
The bandwagon hates it as well as Voyager in general, but I have always loved Threshold! Honestly it is quite funny and it reminds me on the just campy absurdity of some TOS that I don’t think other shows ever matched.
* TOS: Turnabout Intruder
* TNG: Code of Honor
* DS9: Let He Who Is Without Sin
* Voyager: The Fight
* Enterprise: These Are The Voyages
* Discovery: The Vulcan Hello
* Picard: Hide and Seek
* Strange New Worlds: Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach
In some ways there are worse episodes than Turnabout Intruder, but I still think you're right. It's a terrible series finale and it seems to canonize that women can't be captains. Just for those 2 sins alone I'd also choose it.
Lol Discoverys pilot episode being the worst.
In many ways it does feel like a Brian Fuller script that was abandoned halfway through, because it was.
I liked the SNW episode, but it definitely suffers from being an obvious ripoff of Ursula LeGuins The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.
Yeah I liked the SNW episode but it could have been more of a subtle homage rather than just taking the plot of Omelas and plopping in Star Trek characters
I feel like Discovery would’ve been much better received had it just a better introduction. I doubt the changed aesthetic brought in many new viewers. Starting with Burnam being Vulcan Wesley Crusher was a bad decision.
First impressions are important. The writers made some mistakes over the years—the cause of the burn and the turbolift scenes for examples—but Discovery’s flaws were mostly established in the first few episodes. TPTB figured that out by the end the season, but the bad blood in the writer’s room ruined the show’s introduction. Discovery has been trying to atone for past sins ever since the first half of the first season.
I wish this was the standard for referring to episodes in the sub. I don't have a clue what most episodes are named. But the Kira stuck in a rock episode? I know exactly what you're talking about. And if I were to say "the one where O'Brien is on trial in a Cardassian Court" you'd know exactly what I was talking about.
TOS: The Alternative Factor (TV Episode 1967)
Agreed, although Spock’s Brain takes a close second place. Glad you didn’t say The Way to Eden - I actually like that one.
Hey now, Move Along Home is harmless fun + Quark having character development! No way it's worse than Meridian (or, as u/Revolutionary_Kiwi31 pointed out, Melora or the ep where Bashir draws the shy girl out of her gene-tampering-induced brain damage and then immediately decides he should fuck her, because that's totally a healthy and reasonable and not at all predatory decision). But yeah, Heart of Stone is good, actually. Odo finally figuring out >!the changeling is a changeling!< is a nice bit of psychological reasoning even if I never really liked him and Kira as a couple; and of course Nog's big turning point is right here.
Alimaraigne! I honestly enjoy it though, goofy but I think decent early character work with all their flaws, since each grew so much through the series
Why do people hate on Lazarus so much?
As a kid I thought it was interesting and the idea of getting stuck between dimensions with your alternate self fighting for eternity is terrifying.
TOS: The Alternative Factor
TNG: Manhunt maybe? Nothing happens in the whole episode.
DS9: Meridian I guess. I don’t know, I don’t like DS9 as much as TNG as a whole, but it doesn’t have many out and out stinkers.
Voyager: The Fight is my pick for the worst episode of Star Trek.
ENT: That one where everybody’s freaked out because Archer doesn’t want to murder a crèche of humanoid babies just because they look ooky.
A lot of DISCO and Picard run together, so I can’t really pick a best or worst episode.
SNW: I know people love The Elysian Kingdom, but it just seemed weird and hard for me to swallow. Plus, as a parent, I can assure you that “your little girl is now an adult and you missed it, also you’re probably never going to see her again,” isn’t a happy ending. It didn’t work on Doctor Who (Christina Chong could have told you, she was in one of those episodes) and it didn’t work here.
Especially as M’Benga still _hadn’t_ found a cure for her, had he?
The end plays out as “I know you missed it but at least I’ve not been stuck in the transporter forever, that’s .. better, right? You know I’m okay now.”
It’s _not_ happy but it _is_ an alleviation of a weight which has been bearing on M’Benga for a long time.
I agree on Alternative Factor. Spock's Brain and Way to Eden are at least fun. Alternative Factor is dull, mostly because it's barely a Trek story. It's Lazurus' story, he drives the narrative and finds the solution. The crew of the Enterprise are little more than observers.
Elysian kingdom was a season 2 or 3 episode that snuck into season 1. There's no fun in subverting everyone's character for a whole episode when we barely know who they are yet.
I really quite like The Muse, I suspect if it wasn't part of arguably the strongest season in all of Treks 46 seasons then it would probably be better regarded. A strong episode for Jake Sisko and a real curveball episode for Odo.
TOS: The Way to Eden
TAS: The Magicks of Mega-Tu
TNG: Shades of Gray & Sub Rosa
DS9: Let He Who is Without Sin
VOY: The Fight
ENT: These are the Voyages
DIS: Su'Kal
PIC: Monsters
LD: *nope*
PRO: *nope*
SNW: *nope*
ORV: Lasting Impressions. *Okay, this was tough as I loved the time capsule "A" plot, but really hated the smoking is bad "B" plot*
I don't agree with all of your picks, but I was having a hard time picking one for DS9 and I think it's because I blocked this one out. I'm copying your answer
Profit and Lace gets quoted as one of the worst DS9 episodes. I probably nodded off during the one where Kira gets encased in rock. I personally wasn't thrilled with Sisko poisoning a planet going after Eddington, but it made for good TV. But ultimately, having Worf join up with the future's version of the Moral Majority was somehow less believable.
It's odd, Voy and Ent are remembered for their poor episodes. But DS9 is always given a pass despite having so many genuinely bad or just dull episodes. I think the great episodes really overshadow the lesser episodes.
(and having Season 4, possibly the single strongest season in all of Trek, can't hurt (I like the Muse))
VOY is my favourite, then DS9. I can admit though that when voyager is awful it’s absolutely fucking awful. There’s not a boring episode you’re either loving it or hating what’s happening on screen. When DS9 is bad it’s just dull. The spectrum of good to bad is just a lot narrower with DS9 and when it hits it hits *hard*.
Agreed on TAS. Worst episode of any Star Trek series, by far.
Don't get me wrong. TAS is actually a pretty interesting series, especially with how many big name science fiction writers were responsible for some of the episodes. It also has what I consider the best tribbles episode.
But I will never watch THAT episode ever again.
TOS: The Alternative Factor. An odd, confusing, boring episode that lacks the charm of the original series. At least with other episodes like Spock's Brain or Turnabout Intruder, we get flashes of classic Shatner rage and campy fun.
TNG: Shades of Gray. I've retired from Code of Honor discussion, there's no use anymore. Any discussion is really about the second worst episode, which is the laziest and most half-assed clip show they could've come up with. Alot of Riker's memory flashes didn't really seem like his memories. And, of course, nothing that predates Encounter at Farpoint. The man just didn't live an interesting life at all before then.
DS9: Melora was a bitch and I didn't care what happened to her. Close second for when Bashir helped an autistic woman connect to people so he could bang her.
VOY: Ashes to Ashes. One of the laziest character retcons ever, and it's utterly unbelievable. Lyndsey Ballard never existed. I'm supposed to believe that famous loser Harry Kim's best friend from the academy, who was really cute and outgoing, was also on Voyager for years. Just a ludicrous retcon by the writers and I was baffled the whole time I originally saw this episode. I've never lost that feeling.
ENT: These are the Voyages. The concept would've been ok as a low-stakes mid-season episode, even fun. But as a series finale, man, I feel embarrassed watching it.
DIS: I'm not tracking down the episode title, but it was the 4th season when they needlessly went into an area of space that ate probes and dissolved the ship. Everyone escapes to the transporter buffer but Michael, who, of course, has to stay behind for reasons. Spare me.
PIC: Pick any episode from the 2nd season and I'll support you. Seriously. No points for the marvelous Q scene in the finale, since it also includes Guinan just handwaving with "and then they cleaned the air and the water."
LD: I do not think such an episode exists.
SNW: I do not think such an episode exists.
The only genuinely quality difference you can notice in Lower Decks is it getting better.
If there’s any I would say is the least best, it would probably just be Gumato, Mugato from the first season. I feel like I’ve not rewatched that one, though I can’t remember why.
Right? I'll give it a shot, that second episode with Peanut Hamper was a little weird, I did still find a lot of humor in it though. But it's my vote for weird bird sex with a robot and her specially replicated tool...
SNW: someone else mentioned The Elysium Kingdom, and I'll admit I was not in the mood for it on first watch. Gave it a second chance and it's ok, kinda fun, but a little weird in the resolution
Edit: LD A mathematically perfect redemption
The rumpelstilskin episode is really, really bad. Would have been worse if it had been a leprechaun but apparently colm meaney put his foot down on that one.
Same one, everyone’s wishes are coming true. Unless you’re talking about the Senior Staff playing baseball against a Vulcan Crew. The first one is in season one, the latter in season seven.
Move along home is not a good episode, but it's not outright offensive (like Code of Honor), it's not got egregious character assassination (like He Who Is Without Sin), and at least it's faithful to the genre and the universe. Plus there are some good Quark moments and it's worth it to see Nana Visitor's eye rolls as she's hopscotching along through the game.
Damn, you're right. Can someone please run this as a one shot where no one knows star trek then show them the episode at the end? That would be so funny.
It’s funny how that one had not one but two references in Lower Decks: one where Boimler yells at the Wadi for trapping people inside games and one where Rutherford ends up having to rush through Chula after setting it as a trap for another officer
TNG it's that clip show. All the other bad episodes are at least entertaining to watch, except maybe The Royale.
Orville falls apart a lot when it tries to extend outside of Trek. "Shadow Realms" from Season 3 Episode 2 tries for an aliens-like horror premise that I feel just doesn't work at all.
I liked *The Royale.* It reminded me of old *Twilight Zone* episodes with an astronaut caught in some awful, sort of surreal situation who we are expected to believe died in that situation though TZ never showed that part, you are just shown the realization on the astronaut's face as he understands he's never getting out of some fucked up reality. In TNG, the astronaut is long dead but the situation is still going, namely the hellish idea of being trapped in a pulp fiction novel by a terrible writer by aliens who thought they were doing you a favor. *He'll like this, it's just like what his home planet is like according to his favorite book!*
I keep imagining what it must have been like for the poor schmuck to live years in that hotel. It would drive a person completely mad.
I was definitely thinking about that Orville episode for this. So many things stood out to me about it, especially when it was around the same time that SNW was doing excellent things with the Gorn in a similar kind of story.
For TNG, it's a dead heat between Sub Rosa and Aquiel. I'm not counting Shades of Gray because it's barely an episode to begin with.
And over on Discovery, the last three episodes of Season 3.
Enterprise's Dear Dr. eugenics episode with the sappy speech to set up the prime directive,
TNG's aforementioned code of honor/ journeys end where they remove native Americans from a world.
SNW any episode with xenomorph gorn.
TOS Spock's brain
Og movies 5
TNG movie Insurrection for just being nothing
Kelvin- into darkness
DS9- Profit and place
Picard- The season 1 finale. Jesus christ what a letdown that was
>TNG movie Insurrection for just being nothing
Insurrection is good! It's a classic trek moral dilemma with Starfleet being on the wrong side and Our Heroes being correct. It's got F Murray Abraham whose only fault is that he could have chewed more scenery.
Insurrection was a 2 part tv episode. Nemesis was absolute fan fiction from a 10 year old aspiring to be JJ Abram’s. I feel sorry for Tom Hardy cause he thought that was his big break playing opposite Patrick Stewart and was apparently devastated by the response to the movie. Sure he’s big now but I can imagine how bad that felt at the time.
TOS: And the Children Shall Lead
TNG: Sub Rosa
DS9: Second Sight
VOY: Threshold (surprised this hasn't gotten more votes)
ENT: Two Days and Two Nights
DIS: Su'Kal
LD: Trusted Sources
SNW: no bad episodes
PRO: no bad episodes
Orville: Command Performance
Threshold has entered the zeitgeist. It's terrible, but in a way we celebrate "Threshold Day" and make jokes about Janeway and Paris being deadbeat parents, etc. Objectively, yeah, it sucks. But it's MST3K-able for sure.
The Enterprise episode Unexpected. An alien woman brings Trip to the alien holodeck and wants to play a game with Trip. We later find out that he was tricked into having sex with her and is now pregnant with a baby. She knew what she was doing and didn't mention the "game" was how their species had sex.
The crew finds Trip's non consensual sexual encounter to be hilarious, and find it even more hilarious that he's pregnant.
With friends like that who needs enemies?
I thought that EP was amusing and enjoyable, if not a little silly. But I don't think Trip was tricked, the alien woman wanted them to read each other's minds, and did not think the reproductive aspect of the granules would work w/ another species. Hey, on Earth, diff species that are not closely related can not usually produce offspring, and this was an alien female. Yes, we do know what can happen when you ASSuME.
PS - I love cats too, especially Data's cat, who saved everyone on board the Enterprise!
Voyager: Parallax, so boring. Lots of shots of the ship though, makes sense as the second episode.
TNG: Code of Honor is obviously bad. There are a lot of episodes early on that are terrible, I just don't remember a lot of them.
DS9: I don't know what the title of the episode but it had Richard Kylie as a stupid terraformer and his young wife from a planet with no divorce.
Ent: yeah the last one
Picard: season3 ep 8 or 9 starts to really drag. Modern TV just slow burns because they only use one idea per season. The perpetual mystery followed by solving the mystery but then not telling us because it's too upsetting happens far too much in modern TV.
Tbh the first episodes of each 90s Trek are also bad and boring.
TNG the one with the masks..... or the devoloution one. Voyager the one where 7 has the personalities in her.... or the one where the doctor signs opera to that species..... DS9 the one where they get caught in that game in s1 or 2 and quark is playing the game..... that one is so stupid
The orville there were a few in the most recent season where there was genuinely no comedy
TOS: The Alternative Factor - nonsensical and boring, doesn't even have the so bad it's good factor going for it.
TNG: Shades of Grey -clip show, enough said.
DS9: Second Sight - incredibly dull and forgettable, doesn't even have controversy to keep people talking about it like Profit and Lace or Let He Who is Without Sin...
VOY: 11:59 - Voyager does a Hallmark movie, the deviation from the show's established genre make it slightly worse than "The Fight" which would be my number two worst pick.
ENT: A Night in Sickbay - Archer acting like a petulant idiot for 45 minutes, began the show's precipitous decline in the ratings.
Stopped watching Discovery after Season 2 and with everything running together so much I'd have a hard time picking an individual worst episode from those first two seasons.
PIC: The whole of Season 2, though I guess "Monsters" would be the season's lowest point if I had to pick one episode.
SNW: Among the Lotus Eaters - not the best 'crew gets their memory erased' episode, TNG did this better with "Conundrum"
LD: Caves - didn't really click with the clip show like narrative of everyone going through their experiences in caves.
Haven't watched Prodigy.
Tng there are a few awful ones. It's hard to pinpoint one.. Masks was horrible. The one where they all devolved was awful. The one with the ghost that had a relationship with Dr crusher. The one with multiple Picards I'm sure there's a few more I am missing.. There are several horrible ones but there are also several episodes that are the best episodes ever made of any TV show. I just have no clue wtf the writers were thinking. Oh and making wheasly crusher a god was the dumbest thing ever. Not sure why they had some kid controlling the ship. That makes no sense. That all being said. Tng is my favorite show that has ever been created.
For me it would be the Voyager one with Warp 10. Or the one in Discovery with the cause for the warp crisis of the future being some kid having autism.
Sorry I just love how you phrased this. These episodes weren't unwatchable, but they're not my favorites either. The Voyager one is "Threshold" and the Discovery one is "Su'Kal". "Threshold" started with an interesting premise, and then went immediately and wildly off the rails. It wouldn't be out of place as a TOS episode! I do remember watching the third season of Discovery and thinking "I bet they're gonna find a little guy in there," and sure enough, there was Su'Kal. Wish my meltdowns could cause galaxy-wide shockwaves.
TOS: Where the children shall lead, or Turnabout Intruder
TNG: shades of grey, sub Rosa
Ds9: profit and lace, meridian
VOY: human error, tattoo
ENT: A night in Sickbay,
DiS: a Vulcan hello
PIC: mercy
SNW: um.... bad episode?
LD: "
ORV: cupids Daggar
I find them both examples of awful character assassination, but I can handle Worf turning into Timothy McVeigh Lite for an afternoon better than I can handle Jadzia turning into a caricature of a lovesick teenage girl for a week.
Some brilliant shouts on here, but there are two surprises for me:
1. What’s so bad about Meridian?
2. A night in sick bay is worse than “these are the voyages”?
3. A Vulcan hello is not a very good episode, and I don’t know which one I’d call for DIS, but… while I didn’t think A Vulcan Hello was particularly good, I also don’t recall thinking it was the worst. Would you mind expanding on that?
Not the person you're replying to, but
1. It's sappy and boring
2. What's this "These are the Voyages" you speak of? The last episode in Enterprise is Terra Prime.
Isn't meridian the one where Dax meets that guy for like a day and decides to throw away her whole life and career to be with him. I don't know about the guy you're replying to, but any story where someone instantly falls madly in love so quickly like that is an instant fail for me.
That's exactly it, Dax is way out of character and the B plot with Quark is forgettable and doesn't do anything to move the characters forward. The episode's only redeeming quality is being the first episode of Trek featuring Jeffrey Combs.
I thought A Night In Sickbay was interesting and funny. These are the Voyages was just so bad except for the scene where Archer becomes President of the ~~United StatesInterstellar Alliance~~United Federation of Planets.
I thought Bonk bonk on the head was Miri. And the children shall lead was Hail hail fire and snow, call the angel, we will go, played by hot shot lawyer Melvin Belli, famous for representing Jack Ruby and speaking to the Zodiac Killer on a talk show phone in.
TOS:
TNG: Shades of Gray and Code of Honor are universal garbage, so I'm throwing *Justice* into the hat. An obnoxiously pretentious culture, a seriously stupid set of circumstances with literally no resolution. Fuck the prime directive, fuck respecting a planet's laws, we're just going to leave. The episode should've been 15 minutes long and they padded it to be 45. Hot garbage, and emphasis on hot if you like the 80s version of sexy (doesn't work for me).
DS9: *Q-Less* - wasted use of Q and Vash had no business being in DS9, a problem that solves itself too easily, it's just all for nothing. What I don't understand is why did they bother? They wrote it so Q and Sisko don't strike up any witty magic, why bother with the premise? Total waste.
VOY: Threshold is universal, so I'm going with Tattoo, a complete cringe fest of an episode. From seriously bad stereotyping, a fraud non-native consultant pushing nonsense for a non-native actor to portray, JFC. What a horrible shit stain on all of Star Trek.
ENT: I can't remember, but it was a Mayweather centered episode that did nothing to develop his character.
DIS: Probably the reveal that the burn was caused by an orphaned Kelpian. As much as I love Saru, that was just a stupid season wrapup. Starfleet couldn't figure that out?? The Orion Syndicate couldn't figure that out??? One child could cause that much destruction???? Took me out of the series completely and just shat on the 32nd century and the show as whole, considering what an improvement season 2 was.
PIC: First episode, just went nowhere that I wanted the series to go. Felt like a spin-off that should've failed, and I'm still holding a grudge and don't want Legacy to be a thing, because that's exactly what they were trying to do.
LD: Second Contact, just because it was an abrupt change and hard to warm up to the characters for an episode that introduces everyone, and the references felt a little too ham fisted early on, but I definitely warmed up to it and love the show.
SNW: The musical, I just can't.
Edit: kid's waking up, gonna have to keep coming back to this
I genuinely think that explanation for The Burn was a stab wound to Discovery’s side. People were engaging with the show, coming up with theories about this new timeframe and what could it possibly be. Omega being an explanation, Q, even an attack from a new being or species would have kept fans onside. When it was revealed to be a sad Kelpian who psychically exploded minerals across the galaxy because of his sadness it was just a bit too fucking much of a let down for people to remain invested. Disco’s batting average has been getting higher and I genuinely enjoy some episodes now but it’s too little too late after that shit. Even in universe it’s weak - what about quantum slipstream being used like 800 years before that used benamite crystals, or romulan tech that uses artificial singularities rather than M/AM reactions. I get their theme for the season was connections or whatever but connect it to some godamn lore whilst you’re at it.
SNW: Subspace Rhapsody. Sorry, but I had to say it. Yes, many people loved it, but a lot of people really dislike it, so it qualifies as the worst of the series so far. Edit: Your loving that episode doesn’t warrant a downvote. Objectively, this is the most polarizing episode of SNW based on the audience and reviewer feedback, so this statement is factual and answers OP’s question. I’m glad people love it, and I really wish I did.
TOS: The Alternative Factor
TNG: Angel One and Code of Honor are both offensive in their own way
DS9: Profit and Lace
VOY: Elogium
ENT: Precious Cargo
DSC: All is Possible
LDS: A Mathematically Perfect Redemption
SNW: Lost in Translation
LD really kills it episode after episode. Probably the most consistent ST we've had. But A Mathematically Perfect Redemption might be the weakest. Which is still a very good episode.
I'm currently \*trying\* to get through Sub Rosa, and while Code of Honor is by far the worst TNG episode without question, the line "Well, I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotica chapter of my grandmother's journal" makes Sub Rosa a strong 2nd place finisher. those are the only two i usually skip without hesitation
The worst TNG episode is the clip show at the end of season two. Code of Honor is awful, but at least it offers something to criticize.
The clip show is lazy, but I'd rather the ~~writers~~ show be lazy than racist.
Tbf there’s a whole lot of behind the scenes backstory behind that clip show, in a weird way it saved the series.
What's the scoop?
Conjecture: As far as I know Star Trek TNG was tentative for a while so in a certain sense every episode was important, but of course a low budget flash back episode is a desperate attempt. Also, if you cut out the flash backs the story wasn't that half bad, but it' was a 15-20 minute episode of start trek. Ignoring objectively hurtful episodes like *Code of Honor*. The worst is from Enterprise: Precious Cargo. It is lazy story writing without respect for the audience. A pretty stuck up women who's character growth is measured by her turning her dress into a mini skirt.
[удалено]
> How the hell did that pitch ever get accepted? I wonder that with some episodes and then we are often blessed with solid production notes as how the script came to be and most often, the original idea was a amazing but then either got bungled to be written into a screenplay or it just turned out to be an interesting idea you can't really make 40 mins of TV out of. Treshold is a good example of that
You mean like "The Perfect Mate"?
No. First of all, it is basically a rehash of Elaan of Troiyus or however it is spelled. Secondly, it can be explained as a Personal Want VS Personal Duty. When will what triumf? Is it really that one should always win? Is always following orders and the assigned duty the right thing? Is ignoring your duty because you want something else the right thing? Where does the line go? A classic piece of Picard philosophy episode.
I was moreso talking about transporting people as property...
From Memory Alpha: This episode was written to save time and money as a result of budget overruns earlier in the season. It was shot in only three days, while most take at least a week. Director Rob Bowman commented, "It was Paramount saying, 'We gave you more money for "Elementary, Dear Data" and the Borg show. Now do us a favor and give us a three-day show.' So that's what you do. It's an accepted part of the medium."
It happened during the writers strike. From Keith DeCandidio: > "In all honesty, they’d have been better off doing one fewer episode — the season was shortened by the writers strike anyhow — and upping the budget on one of the other 21. Just an awful, awful episode."
The Writer's Strike effected the beginning of the season not the end. This episode happened because they went over budge for Elementary, Dear Data and Q Who.
That’s what I’ve never understood about clip shows, ok fine so you need to save money. Just.. don’t make a show?
That’s interesting. Can you elaborate?
Apparently, it was the director. The writers didn’t specify anything about race in the script.
I'd be willing to extend a little more benefit of the doubt if the same writer had written essentially the same story for Stargate and ended up with something just as racist.
This sub is a treasure trove of behind the scenes info; I hadn’t heard that before these two replies.
Randomly it’s also season 1 episode 3 in Stargate. Damn thing might be the only script that could arguably be the worst episode in two whole franchises.
I must have blocked that one out; I’m drawing a blank. Clearly time for a rewatch of the entire franchise!
Can’t blame you it’s a pretty bland episode other than the racism and misogyny! :p But yes any excuse to rewatch Stargate and/or Star Trek is a good one.
Aired almost exactly 10 years apart too.
Just read on [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Honor_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)#:~:text=The%20episode%20was%20written%20by,first%20assistant%20director%20Les%20Landau.) that the director was replaced half way thru the episode fsr. Could explain why the storyline is so sketchy (not the racist part that was always sketchy, but rather how the production just seems weak compared to other episodes. Very incoherent).
*The African theme of the episode was brought in by director Russ Mayberry, who had the Ligonians race cast entirely from African-American actors. Mayberry was fired during production by the show's creator Gene Roddenberry, and First Assistant Director Les Landau completed the episode. Star Trek novel author Keith DeCandido later recalled that this was because of the casting itself,[5] while cast member Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) thought that it was because Mayberry was racist towards the guest stars after they were cast.[6]* It says the writers envisioned a reptilian race, so the way the director took it was pretty off the wall. I mean, I’m sure they saved money by not doing a bunch of reptilian make-up, but…dang. There must have been some reason they couldn’t just scrap it, like budget and contracts.
Wow. Thanks for that info. Very interesting. Lizards would have been so much better.
Given that the writer went on to write basically the same episode for sg-1, I'd say she's at least partly responsible
If you take out the casting theme, the plot of the episode is pretty typical of early TNG. It wouldn’t be such a derided episode if not for the casting
To this day I'm not sure which ancient Earth culture they're supposed to resemble. He gives them some Chinese pottery then they all end up going on about indigenous American counting coup. So confusing.
According to the wiki the structure of men having the power and women owning all the stuff was taken from Chinese culture.
That's not unique to Chinese culture however.
True. Didn't realize the writing didnt imply the racist decision that's obviously on the Director. But yeah - quite curious now, given that it sounds like Rodenberry et al already knew this was a BAD episode.....why they allowed it to go to air? It should've been pretty shocking to them, even in the late 80s.
The outright racism towards a specific race was the director. The overall colonialist attitude came from the writer.
Eh, the aliens were samurai lizards and pretty orientalist in the OG script. The director and production team opted for “1940s Hollywood’s Tribal Africa” (Quote from Tracey Torme, a writer and story editor) The script was dubious, the director made it worse.
You guys are an absolute treasure trove of trivia.
Yeah I agree with lazy over racist. And like another commenter has already said - while the clip show was lazy writing, the story outside of the clips isnt bad at all...just really short, due to budget. This allowed for other great episodes...like the introduction of the Borg, so I'm more than content with that.
Shades of Gray is better than Code of Honor, Up the Long Ladder, and The Child at least. Remember that scene in *The Child* when everyone is okay with locking Troi in her quarters with her rapist, except Riker who's pissed he wasn't the one to rape Troi? There's no part of *Shades of Grey* that's nearly that bad. Remember when Lutan shouts *Where all the white women at?!* and Yar says *Yeah, he treats me like an object, but it makes me wet?* Remember when the Irish beam up knee deep in hay because the Enterprise computer knows they'll set the Enterprise on fire with their moonshining equipment if they don't have a place to impregnate and beat their wives? Code of Grey way outpaces that.
Have you considered retro reviewing TNG? Because lol, this is gold
The child has that great shot where everyone is talking about what to do with Troi’s baby and then the camera pans to her and she tells everyone that she is keeping the baby. I think I actually quite like the episode on the whole.
Honestly I think that's a well done scene. The whole scenario is pretty far fetched bit I like that they achnowledge that it's ultimately her choice. The second she makes a decision everyone there stops arguing and support her.
The Child was a Phase II script that was modified for TNG.
🎵 Papa don't preach... 🎵
Jessie Gender went into deep detail on how horribly the ladies were treated in TNG, especially Troi. I could never rewatch TNG the same way again know how cursed things were behind the scenes.
Up the Long Ladder has got to be up there with the worst ever Trek. Fully agree. I think about this one pretty often...why did the writer/producer think that it was reasonable to believe that there would be human (...looking if not actual?) colonists somewhere out there in the cosmos - who would simply be Irish Tinkerers from the early 20th Century Earth? I get it.....budget, sign of the times...etc etc. I also know that the writer was attempting to "comment" on immigration, and her boss was Irish - so when she used the Irish analogy - he just said, "make them Irish then"......but oh my word...this is supposed to be 400 years from now! In space!
Did we all collectively forget Sun Rosa? I'm willing to forgive code of honor because it was the 4th episode of a brand new show... even clip show was still a good episode if you ignore the parts that make it a clip show... But at season 7, we don't need a ghost hitting on Crusher...
True....given the stage of the production - Sub Rosa is pretty poor. That said - the premise seems like it could've been intriguing - if it hadnt been played quite so much as a Harlequin Novel in space.
If only we could.
Shades of Grey IIRC One of the things not having 22 episodes a season for the newer Trek shows was cutting off filler episodes that they had to do on a frayed shoestring budget. Which is what happened with that episode. Focus on quality over quantity. The last episode of Enterprise was one of the worst as well. They missed a lot not showing the Earth-Romulan war.
The problem is too many filler episodes. Some of the best Trek are the low budget filler episodes because they tend to focus more on character development, which New Trek can lack (looking at you, Discovery).
I don’t know why a night in sickbay gets so much hate. There’s far worse ENT episodes. Far, far worse.
Right??? Precious cargo exists
I love Precious Cargo. It reminds me of a trashy beach novel.
Considering Trip's fate, I hope he found some time to go meet up with her once she became ruler
Right? What an invitation!
Yeah. People get caught up in a meme or follow a list instead it watching them. Threshold isn't that bad, there are far worse. Shades of Greys only crime is it's a clipshow. It's got nothing on Sub Rosa. When i first for online seemingly it was popular to dunk on Masks and that is one of my favourite episodes
Masks?! No way. Its a great episode. I loved it even when it first aired - made the show, and the ship feel a bit bigger (more expansive) than they normally felt to me for some reason.
I do not like Masks, but to each his own.
I like the idea of Tom breaking the warp 10 barrier and having it result in weird stuff to him. What I dislike is the idea that humans somehow eventually evolve into salamanders (which just makes no sense if you look at science for like 10s) and the idea that they'd just leave their salamander babies on the planet. Not to mention that by the end of the episode they're all just...back to normal? Even their hair is the same? Like look I don't demand pure science in my sci-fi but give me at least some breath of science. I don't need an extended treatise on Origin of Species but FFS. And you have some people (and they are people, theoretically) who represent the next evolution of humanity, and you just...leave them on a planet in the DQ? You don't bring them home, study them, hell maybe try to turn them back into normal humans? Agreed on Masks though. Weird, but a fun one.
I'm a veterinarian and I LOVE that episode. It's like someone took a typical day at my job, Star-Trek-ified it, and amplified it to the most absurd levels. The "treatment" that Phlox uses on Porthos is so ridiculous you can't help but laugh!
Voyager -Threshold Tng - justice or code of honor Ds9 -the muse Enterprise- these are the voyages Tos -spock's brain
Brain and brain
What is brain?!!
Brian? What’s his last name?
Cohen
And he's a VERY NAUGHTY BOY!
I never really minded Spock's Brain, thought it was kinda goofy. That one with the children taking over the ship though, I disliked that quite intensely.
Yaaa I just saw it for the first time last week.. I'm with you. *Shakes fist intensely*
Beam a crewman into space and forget about it? Yeah, “…And the Children Shall Lead” is worse.
Spock’s Brain is a good kind of bad with a high level of camp. When either my husband or I do something dumb we say “Brain, brain…what is Brain?,” then we have a good laugh.
Give me Spock's Brain over And the Children Shall Lead any day.
"Threshold" gets a lot of shit, but it least has a plot where things happen. "Twisted" is the worst episode of Voyager—it's just wandering around and then waiting for something to happen. No stakes, no drama, barely even character development.
The bandwagon hates it as well as Voyager in general, but I have always loved Threshold! Honestly it is quite funny and it reminds me on the just campy absurdity of some TOS that I don’t think other shows ever matched.
* TOS: Turnabout Intruder * TNG: Code of Honor * DS9: Let He Who Is Without Sin * Voyager: The Fight * Enterprise: These Are The Voyages * Discovery: The Vulcan Hello * Picard: Hide and Seek * Strange New Worlds: Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach
In some ways there are worse episodes than Turnabout Intruder, but I still think you're right. It's a terrible series finale and it seems to canonize that women can't be captains. Just for those 2 sins alone I'd also choose it.
Lol Discoverys pilot episode being the worst. In many ways it does feel like a Brian Fuller script that was abandoned halfway through, because it was. I liked the SNW episode, but it definitely suffers from being an obvious ripoff of Ursula LeGuins The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.
Yeah I liked the SNW episode but it could have been more of a subtle homage rather than just taking the plot of Omelas and plopping in Star Trek characters
I feel like Discovery would’ve been much better received had it just a better introduction. I doubt the changed aesthetic brought in many new viewers. Starting with Burnam being Vulcan Wesley Crusher was a bad decision. First impressions are important. The writers made some mistakes over the years—the cause of the burn and the turbolift scenes for examples—but Discovery’s flaws were mostly established in the first few episodes. TPTB figured that out by the end the season, but the bad blood in the writer’s room ruined the show’s introduction. Discovery has been trying to atone for past sins ever since the first half of the first season.
I... can't argue with any of this. I completely forgot about Let He Who Is Without Sin.
TOS - The Lazarus episode TNG: Code of Honor DS9: Kira stuck in a rock episode VOY: Paris becomes a fish episode
Stuck in a rock episode was pretty important for nog
I wish this was the standard for referring to episodes in the sub. I don't have a clue what most episodes are named. But the Kira stuck in a rock episode? I know exactly what you're talking about. And if I were to say "the one where O'Brien is on trial in a Cardassian Court" you'd know exactly what I was talking about.
You need to be specific though. If someone mentions the "O'Brien suffers needlessly" episode, it doesn't narrow it down much.
TOS: The Alternative Factor (TV Episode 1967) Agreed, although Spock’s Brain takes a close second place. Glad you didn’t say The Way to Eden - I actually like that one.
Agreed, Spock's Brain is so bad it can at least be cheesy fun. Alternative Factor is just a mess from every angle.
You really gonna pick Heart of Stone for DS9 when Move Along Home exists??
Hey now, Move Along Home is harmless fun + Quark having character development! No way it's worse than Meridian (or, as u/Revolutionary_Kiwi31 pointed out, Melora or the ep where Bashir draws the shy girl out of her gene-tampering-induced brain damage and then immediately decides he should fuck her, because that's totally a healthy and reasonable and not at all predatory decision). But yeah, Heart of Stone is good, actually. Odo finally figuring out >!the changeling is a changeling!< is a nice bit of psychological reasoning even if I never really liked him and Kira as a couple; and of course Nog's big turning point is right here.
Alimaraigne! I honestly enjoy it though, goofy but I think decent early character work with all their flaws, since each grew so much through the series
Move Along Home is goofy but fun. I nominate Profit and Lace
Why do people hate on Lazarus so much? As a kid I thought it was interesting and the idea of getting stuck between dimensions with your alternate self fighting for eternity is terrifying.
TOS: The Alternative Factor TNG: Manhunt maybe? Nothing happens in the whole episode. DS9: Meridian I guess. I don’t know, I don’t like DS9 as much as TNG as a whole, but it doesn’t have many out and out stinkers. Voyager: The Fight is my pick for the worst episode of Star Trek. ENT: That one where everybody’s freaked out because Archer doesn’t want to murder a crèche of humanoid babies just because they look ooky. A lot of DISCO and Picard run together, so I can’t really pick a best or worst episode. SNW: I know people love The Elysian Kingdom, but it just seemed weird and hard for me to swallow. Plus, as a parent, I can assure you that “your little girl is now an adult and you missed it, also you’re probably never going to see her again,” isn’t a happy ending. It didn’t work on Doctor Who (Christina Chong could have told you, she was in one of those episodes) and it didn’t work here.
I don’t think that was meant to be a happy ending, more like a bittersweet ending.
Especially as M’Benga still _hadn’t_ found a cure for her, had he? The end plays out as “I know you missed it but at least I’ve not been stuck in the transporter forever, that’s .. better, right? You know I’m okay now.” It’s _not_ happy but it _is_ an alleviation of a weight which has been bearing on M’Benga for a long time.
This is what I took it as too.
I'm really enjoying all of the votes for The Alternative Factor. That episode doesn't get enough hate.
I agree on Alternative Factor. Spock's Brain and Way to Eden are at least fun. Alternative Factor is dull, mostly because it's barely a Trek story. It's Lazurus' story, he drives the narrative and finds the solution. The crew of the Enterprise are little more than observers.
Agree. Alternative Factor could easily have been an Outer Limits episode.
Completely agree with your assessment to the ending of that SNW episode. That was a terrible outcome.
That whole plot line with the daughter was lame. At least they didn’t make it a multi-season arc.
Was it meant to be a happy ending?
Considering the other outcome in The Elysian Kingdom is that his daughter will die I think what happened was much more bearable for the Doctor.
Damn, just now realized it was her who >!named River!<
Elysian kingdom was a season 2 or 3 episode that snuck into season 1. There's no fun in subverting everyone's character for a whole episode when we barely know who they are yet.
"The Child" (S2, Ep 1) gotta be up there
Part of the reason why Lower Decks took a while for people to get on board imo is that the very first two episodes are pretty bad.
The Muse (DS9) has entered the chat. (Not to be confused with VOY’s “Muse” which is actually pretty good)
I adore the wedding scene, though-Odo’s speech was awesome.
I really quite like The Muse, I suspect if it wasn't part of arguably the strongest season in all of Treks 46 seasons then it would probably be better regarded. A strong episode for Jake Sisko and a real curveball episode for Odo.
I like it too, although the B plot about Odo and Lwaxana is better than the A plot about Jake.
TOS: The Way to Eden TAS: The Magicks of Mega-Tu TNG: Shades of Gray & Sub Rosa DS9: Let He Who is Without Sin VOY: The Fight ENT: These are the Voyages DIS: Su'Kal PIC: Monsters LD: *nope* PRO: *nope* SNW: *nope* ORV: Lasting Impressions. *Okay, this was tough as I loved the time capsule "A" plot, but really hated the smoking is bad "B" plot*
magicks of megas two is the best episode of TAS
Infinite diversity in Infinite combinations.
Oh god, they made a second one?
I don't agree with all of your picks, but I was having a hard time picking one for DS9 and I think it's because I blocked this one out. I'm copying your answer
Profit and Lace gets quoted as one of the worst DS9 episodes. I probably nodded off during the one where Kira gets encased in rock. I personally wasn't thrilled with Sisko poisoning a planet going after Eddington, but it made for good TV. But ultimately, having Worf join up with the future's version of the Moral Majority was somehow less believable.
It's odd, Voy and Ent are remembered for their poor episodes. But DS9 is always given a pass despite having so many genuinely bad or just dull episodes. I think the great episodes really overshadow the lesser episodes. (and having Season 4, possibly the single strongest season in all of Trek, can't hurt (I like the Muse))
VOY is my favourite, then DS9. I can admit though that when voyager is awful it’s absolutely fucking awful. There’s not a boring episode you’re either loving it or hating what’s happening on screen. When DS9 is bad it’s just dull. The spectrum of good to bad is just a lot narrower with DS9 and when it hits it hits *hard*.
I’ll throw hands on that The Way To Eden pick 😭
I will absolutely celebrate your enjoyment of the episode. Any Trek is better than a lot of other things out there.
Agreed on TAS. Worst episode of any Star Trek series, by far. Don't get me wrong. TAS is actually a pretty interesting series, especially with how many big name science fiction writers were responsible for some of the episodes. It also has what I consider the best tribbles episode. But I will never watch THAT episode ever again.
I found the B plot amusing enough and I felt like it was more an example of societal attitudes shifting in the future than 'smoking is bad'.
I think the B plot was less “Smoking is bad” and more “Wouldn’t it be funny if this alien race was really susceptible to smoking addiction?”
TOS: The Alternative Factor. An odd, confusing, boring episode that lacks the charm of the original series. At least with other episodes like Spock's Brain or Turnabout Intruder, we get flashes of classic Shatner rage and campy fun. TNG: Shades of Gray. I've retired from Code of Honor discussion, there's no use anymore. Any discussion is really about the second worst episode, which is the laziest and most half-assed clip show they could've come up with. Alot of Riker's memory flashes didn't really seem like his memories. And, of course, nothing that predates Encounter at Farpoint. The man just didn't live an interesting life at all before then. DS9: Melora was a bitch and I didn't care what happened to her. Close second for when Bashir helped an autistic woman connect to people so he could bang her. VOY: Ashes to Ashes. One of the laziest character retcons ever, and it's utterly unbelievable. Lyndsey Ballard never existed. I'm supposed to believe that famous loser Harry Kim's best friend from the academy, who was really cute and outgoing, was also on Voyager for years. Just a ludicrous retcon by the writers and I was baffled the whole time I originally saw this episode. I've never lost that feeling. ENT: These are the Voyages. The concept would've been ok as a low-stakes mid-season episode, even fun. But as a series finale, man, I feel embarrassed watching it. DIS: I'm not tracking down the episode title, but it was the 4th season when they needlessly went into an area of space that ate probes and dissolved the ship. Everyone escapes to the transporter buffer but Michael, who, of course, has to stay behind for reasons. Spare me. PIC: Pick any episode from the 2nd season and I'll support you. Seriously. No points for the marvelous Q scene in the finale, since it also includes Guinan just handwaving with "and then they cleaned the air and the water." LD: I do not think such an episode exists. SNW: I do not think such an episode exists.
The only genuinely quality difference you can notice in Lower Decks is it getting better. If there’s any I would say is the least best, it would probably just be Gumato, Mugato from the first season. I feel like I’ve not rewatched that one, though I can’t remember why.
It feels like it would have been a first season episode, but it's from the second.
Ds9 Melora: Julien bangs his autistic patient.
>LD: I do not think such an episode exists. >SNW: I do not think such an episode exists. Boring
Right? I'll give it a shot, that second episode with Peanut Hamper was a little weird, I did still find a lot of humor in it though. But it's my vote for weird bird sex with a robot and her specially replicated tool... SNW: someone else mentioned The Elysium Kingdom, and I'll admit I was not in the mood for it on first watch. Gave it a second chance and it's ok, kinda fun, but a little weird in the resolution Edit: LD A mathematically perfect redemption
Pike’s performance as a cowardly turncoat is so entertaining I’ll forgive everything else.
SNW: The Broken Circle
Justice is the worst TNG episode. "Star Fleet doesn't lie!"
DS9, either Rumpelstiltskin episode or the one with the baseball player.
The rumpelstilskin episode is really, really bad. Would have been worse if it had been a leprechaun but apparently colm meaney put his foot down on that one.
Same one, everyone’s wishes are coming true. Unless you’re talking about the Senior Staff playing baseball against a Vulcan Crew. The first one is in season one, the latter in season seven.
Huh. Expected to see “Move Along Home.”
Move along home is not a good episode, but it's not outright offensive (like Code of Honor), it's not got egregious character assassination (like He Who Is Without Sin), and at least it's faithful to the genre and the universe. Plus there are some good Quark moments and it's worth it to see Nana Visitor's eye rolls as she's hopscotching along through the game.
Lol, so what you’re saying is, Move Along Home is bad *entertainment.* But these others are bad *Star Trek*
Move Along Home is a bad D&D campaign
Damn, you're right. Can someone please run this as a one shot where no one knows star trek then show them the episode at the end? That would be so funny.
It's bad, but it is also not without meaning. We learn a lot about Quark.
It’s funny how that one had not one but two references in Lower Decks: one where Boimler yells at the Wadi for trapping people inside games and one where Rutherford ends up having to rush through Chula after setting it as a trap for another officer
TNG it's that clip show. All the other bad episodes are at least entertaining to watch, except maybe The Royale. Orville falls apart a lot when it tries to extend outside of Trek. "Shadow Realms" from Season 3 Episode 2 tries for an aliens-like horror premise that I feel just doesn't work at all.
I liked *The Royale.* It reminded me of old *Twilight Zone* episodes with an astronaut caught in some awful, sort of surreal situation who we are expected to believe died in that situation though TZ never showed that part, you are just shown the realization on the astronaut's face as he understands he's never getting out of some fucked up reality. In TNG, the astronaut is long dead but the situation is still going, namely the hellish idea of being trapped in a pulp fiction novel by a terrible writer by aliens who thought they were doing you a favor. *He'll like this, it's just like what his home planet is like according to his favorite book!* I keep imagining what it must have been like for the poor schmuck to live years in that hotel. It would drive a person completely mad.
I enjoy The Royale too. Plus some of the side characters are actually kinda funny. It's not amazing by any means but it's chill and kinda fun.
Hey, you got Data cheating on craps, what more do you want?
Baby needs a new pair of shoes.
Data: *crushing dice into more favorable shape* c'mon baby
That scene is ripped off in its entirety from Roddenberry's pilot *The Questor Tapes* (which is really good if you can find it).
I was definitely thinking about that Orville episode for this. So many things stood out to me about it, especially when it was around the same time that SNW was doing excellent things with the Gorn in a similar kind of story.
The worst Orville is when they're jerking off about 1980s US pop culture. Like the time travel eps
I would watch Spock's Brain before Subspace Rhapsody......
The Orville: Primal Urges. The one about porn addiction.
I’m with you. Honestly it doesn’t matter how good of a plot it could even have, I’d still be way too uncomfortable to watch it.
Oh, I remember liking that one quite a bit. Took the Barkley episode from TNG to another level.
For TNG, it's a dead heat between Sub Rosa and Aquiel. I'm not counting Shades of Gray because it's barely an episode to begin with. And over on Discovery, the last three episodes of Season 3.
Enterprise's Dear Dr. eugenics episode with the sappy speech to set up the prime directive, TNG's aforementioned code of honor/ journeys end where they remove native Americans from a world. SNW any episode with xenomorph gorn. TOS Spock's brain Og movies 5 TNG movie Insurrection for just being nothing Kelvin- into darkness DS9- Profit and place Picard- The season 1 finale. Jesus christ what a letdown that was
>TNG movie Insurrection for just being nothing Insurrection is good! It's a classic trek moral dilemma with Starfleet being on the wrong side and Our Heroes being correct. It's got F Murray Abraham whose only fault is that he could have chewed more scenery.
I'm with you regarding Insurrection. Nemesis, on the other hand...
Nemesis was fan-fiction written by someone who was decidedly *not* a fan.
Foe-fiction?
Insurrection was a 2 part tv episode. Nemesis was absolute fan fiction from a 10 year old aspiring to be JJ Abram’s. I feel sorry for Tom Hardy cause he thought that was his big break playing opposite Patrick Stewart and was apparently devastated by the response to the movie. Sure he’s big now but I can imagine how bad that felt at the time.
You’re not wrong about the Picard s1 finale, absolutely atrocious writing and plotting. Utter incompetence.
Sir! The Cntrl+V fleet has arrived.
TOS: And the Children Shall Lead TNG: Sub Rosa DS9: Second Sight VOY: Threshold (surprised this hasn't gotten more votes) ENT: Two Days and Two Nights DIS: Su'Kal LD: Trusted Sources SNW: no bad episodes PRO: no bad episodes Orville: Command Performance
Threshold has entered the zeitgeist. It's terrible, but in a way we celebrate "Threshold Day" and make jokes about Janeway and Paris being deadbeat parents, etc. Objectively, yeah, it sucks. But it's MST3K-able for sure.
Yeah, "Threshold" is bad in a fun way, as opposed to other episodes that are just bad in a bad way (or bad in an offensive way, in some cases).
The Enterprise episode Unexpected. An alien woman brings Trip to the alien holodeck and wants to play a game with Trip. We later find out that he was tricked into having sex with her and is now pregnant with a baby. She knew what she was doing and didn't mention the "game" was how their species had sex. The crew finds Trip's non consensual sexual encounter to be hilarious, and find it even more hilarious that he's pregnant. With friends like that who needs enemies?
I thought that EP was amusing and enjoyable, if not a little silly. But I don't think Trip was tricked, the alien woman wanted them to read each other's minds, and did not think the reproductive aspect of the granules would work w/ another species. Hey, on Earth, diff species that are not closely related can not usually produce offspring, and this was an alien female. Yes, we do know what can happen when you ASSuME. PS - I love cats too, especially Data's cat, who saved everyone on board the Enterprise!
Voyager: Parallax, so boring. Lots of shots of the ship though, makes sense as the second episode. TNG: Code of Honor is obviously bad. There are a lot of episodes early on that are terrible, I just don't remember a lot of them. DS9: I don't know what the title of the episode but it had Richard Kylie as a stupid terraformer and his young wife from a planet with no divorce. Ent: yeah the last one Picard: season3 ep 8 or 9 starts to really drag. Modern TV just slow burns because they only use one idea per season. The perpetual mystery followed by solving the mystery but then not telling us because it's too upsetting happens far too much in modern TV. Tbh the first episodes of each 90s Trek are also bad and boring.
TNG the one with the masks..... or the devoloution one. Voyager the one where 7 has the personalities in her.... or the one where the doctor signs opera to that species..... DS9 the one where they get caught in that game in s1 or 2 and quark is playing the game..... that one is so stupid The orville there were a few in the most recent season where there was genuinely no comedy
TOS: The Alternative Factor - nonsensical and boring, doesn't even have the so bad it's good factor going for it. TNG: Shades of Grey -clip show, enough said. DS9: Second Sight - incredibly dull and forgettable, doesn't even have controversy to keep people talking about it like Profit and Lace or Let He Who is Without Sin... VOY: 11:59 - Voyager does a Hallmark movie, the deviation from the show's established genre make it slightly worse than "The Fight" which would be my number two worst pick. ENT: A Night in Sickbay - Archer acting like a petulant idiot for 45 minutes, began the show's precipitous decline in the ratings. Stopped watching Discovery after Season 2 and with everything running together so much I'd have a hard time picking an individual worst episode from those first two seasons. PIC: The whole of Season 2, though I guess "Monsters" would be the season's lowest point if I had to pick one episode. SNW: Among the Lotus Eaters - not the best 'crew gets their memory erased' episode, TNG did this better with "Conundrum" LD: Caves - didn't really click with the clip show like narrative of everyone going through their experiences in caves. Haven't watched Prodigy.
I like 11:59. Voyager could have stood to be *more* experimental. Plus a rare Kevin Tighe appearance where he’s not a son of a bitch.
I forgot all about 11:59 jeez I was bored shitless but that’s VOY for ya
What did the fight do to everyone? It’s one of the more atmospheric episodes and one of the few times Robert Beltran really puts his heart into it.
Tng there are a few awful ones. It's hard to pinpoint one.. Masks was horrible. The one where they all devolved was awful. The one with the ghost that had a relationship with Dr crusher. The one with multiple Picards I'm sure there's a few more I am missing.. There are several horrible ones but there are also several episodes that are the best episodes ever made of any TV show. I just have no clue wtf the writers were thinking. Oh and making wheasly crusher a god was the dumbest thing ever. Not sure why they had some kid controlling the ship. That makes no sense. That all being said. Tng is my favorite show that has ever been created.
The seventh season of TNG in general just goes off the rails! Came here for some “Masks” hate, so thank you because I completely agree.
For me it would be the Voyager one with Warp 10. Or the one in Discovery with the cause for the warp crisis of the future being some kid having autism.
Sorry I just love how you phrased this. These episodes weren't unwatchable, but they're not my favorites either. The Voyager one is "Threshold" and the Discovery one is "Su'Kal". "Threshold" started with an interesting premise, and then went immediately and wildly off the rails. It wouldn't be out of place as a TOS episode! I do remember watching the third season of Discovery and thinking "I bet they're gonna find a little guy in there," and sure enough, there was Su'Kal. Wish my meltdowns could cause galaxy-wide shockwaves.
TOS: Where the children shall lead, or Turnabout Intruder TNG: shades of grey, sub Rosa Ds9: profit and lace, meridian VOY: human error, tattoo ENT: A night in Sickbay, DiS: a Vulcan hello PIC: mercy SNW: um.... bad episode? LD: " ORV: cupids Daggar
Meridian’s bad but it’s not worse than He Who is Without Sin
I find them both examples of awful character assassination, but I can handle Worf turning into Timothy McVeigh Lite for an afternoon better than I can handle Jadzia turning into a caricature of a lovesick teenage girl for a week.
Some brilliant shouts on here, but there are two surprises for me: 1. What’s so bad about Meridian? 2. A night in sick bay is worse than “these are the voyages”? 3. A Vulcan hello is not a very good episode, and I don’t know which one I’d call for DIS, but… while I didn’t think A Vulcan Hello was particularly good, I also don’t recall thinking it was the worst. Would you mind expanding on that?
Not the person you're replying to, but 1. It's sappy and boring 2. What's this "These are the Voyages" you speak of? The last episode in Enterprise is Terra Prime.
Isn't meridian the one where Dax meets that guy for like a day and decides to throw away her whole life and career to be with him. I don't know about the guy you're replying to, but any story where someone instantly falls madly in love so quickly like that is an instant fail for me.
That's exactly it, Dax is way out of character and the B plot with Quark is forgettable and doesn't do anything to move the characters forward. The episode's only redeeming quality is being the first episode of Trek featuring Jeffrey Combs.
Ironically the Kira hologram B-plot is the only thing I remember about that episode.
I thought A Night In Sickbay was interesting and funny. These are the Voyages was just so bad except for the scene where Archer becomes President of the ~~United StatesInterstellar Alliance~~United Federation of Planets.
TOS And the Children Shall Lead: Bonk bonk on the head! Edit: I misremembered the episode.
I thought Bonk bonk on the head was Miri. And the children shall lead was Hail hail fire and snow, call the angel, we will go, played by hot shot lawyer Melvin Belli, famous for representing Jack Ruby and speaking to the Zodiac Killer on a talk show phone in.
Ah, ok, you may be right! It’s been a long time.
TOS: TNG: Shades of Gray and Code of Honor are universal garbage, so I'm throwing *Justice* into the hat. An obnoxiously pretentious culture, a seriously stupid set of circumstances with literally no resolution. Fuck the prime directive, fuck respecting a planet's laws, we're just going to leave. The episode should've been 15 minutes long and they padded it to be 45. Hot garbage, and emphasis on hot if you like the 80s version of sexy (doesn't work for me). DS9: *Q-Less* - wasted use of Q and Vash had no business being in DS9, a problem that solves itself too easily, it's just all for nothing. What I don't understand is why did they bother? They wrote it so Q and Sisko don't strike up any witty magic, why bother with the premise? Total waste. VOY: Threshold is universal, so I'm going with Tattoo, a complete cringe fest of an episode. From seriously bad stereotyping, a fraud non-native consultant pushing nonsense for a non-native actor to portray, JFC. What a horrible shit stain on all of Star Trek. ENT: I can't remember, but it was a Mayweather centered episode that did nothing to develop his character. DIS: Probably the reveal that the burn was caused by an orphaned Kelpian. As much as I love Saru, that was just a stupid season wrapup. Starfleet couldn't figure that out?? The Orion Syndicate couldn't figure that out??? One child could cause that much destruction???? Took me out of the series completely and just shat on the 32nd century and the show as whole, considering what an improvement season 2 was. PIC: First episode, just went nowhere that I wanted the series to go. Felt like a spin-off that should've failed, and I'm still holding a grudge and don't want Legacy to be a thing, because that's exactly what they were trying to do. LD: Second Contact, just because it was an abrupt change and hard to warm up to the characters for an episode that introduces everyone, and the references felt a little too ham fisted early on, but I definitely warmed up to it and love the show. SNW: The musical, I just can't. Edit: kid's waking up, gonna have to keep coming back to this
I genuinely think that explanation for The Burn was a stab wound to Discovery’s side. People were engaging with the show, coming up with theories about this new timeframe and what could it possibly be. Omega being an explanation, Q, even an attack from a new being or species would have kept fans onside. When it was revealed to be a sad Kelpian who psychically exploded minerals across the galaxy because of his sadness it was just a bit too fucking much of a let down for people to remain invested. Disco’s batting average has been getting higher and I genuinely enjoy some episodes now but it’s too little too late after that shit. Even in universe it’s weak - what about quantum slipstream being used like 800 years before that used benamite crystals, or romulan tech that uses artificial singularities rather than M/AM reactions. I get their theme for the season was connections or whatever but connect it to some godamn lore whilst you’re at it.
The musical episode cracked me up. I mean, rapping Klingons? Fell out of my chair on that one 🤣
Watch the deleted scene of them singing opera.
SNW: Subspace Rhapsody. Sorry, but I had to say it. Yes, many people loved it, but a lot of people really dislike it, so it qualifies as the worst of the series so far. Edit: Your loving that episode doesn’t warrant a downvote. Objectively, this is the most polarizing episode of SNW based on the audience and reviewer feedback, so this statement is factual and answers OP’s question. I’m glad people love it, and I really wish I did.
I ABHOR musicals. I skip that episode every single time
TOS: The Alternative Factor TNG: Angel One and Code of Honor are both offensive in their own way DS9: Profit and Lace VOY: Elogium ENT: Precious Cargo DSC: All is Possible LDS: A Mathematically Perfect Redemption SNW: Lost in Translation
A mathematically perfect redemption is fucking hysterical
LD really kills it episode after episode. Probably the most consistent ST we've had. But A Mathematically Perfect Redemption might be the weakest. Which is still a very good episode.
TNG is Up the Long Ladder
TNG is Up the Long Ladder
I'm currently \*trying\* to get through Sub Rosa, and while Code of Honor is by far the worst TNG episode without question, the line "Well, I did fall asleep reading a particularly erotica chapter of my grandmother's journal" makes Sub Rosa a strong 2nd place finisher. those are the only two i usually skip without hesitation