What's your most hated ST:TNG episode?

[Rabrrrrrr]

I'm having a tough choice, though it probably has to go to:

Shades of Gray (Riker gets brain disease, and it turns into a "flashback of old episodes" montage abomination) - this one has no redeeming quality at all. It doesn't start off strong and go downhill; it doesn't have a good idea with bad execution; it's just bad idea, bad story, weak storytelling, and never should have been made. it totally comes off as the filler it is ("Ah! We need a show but we don't have our actors - let's throw together a montage like so many bad sitcoms used to do!")

Though one also has to give credit to these two losers:

Descent, Pts. 1 and 2 (Lore takes over the Borg, then Data) - just God awful

Birthright, Pts. 1 and 2 (Worf goes looking for his father, finds planet of Klingons married to Romulan, and Klingon children know nothing of Klingon culture) - it's also just bad, and a stupid Bermer-driven tie-in to Deep Space 9 nonsense.

But we also have to acknlowedge the rancidity of

Code of Honor (Yar fights some other-world woman in a cage match straight out of old balding men's lesbian-prison-movie fantasies)

Best of Both Words, Pt. 2 only - the second "war with the borg" episode turned what had been a compelling, exciting, and promising first half into a cheesy, unpalatable, and unbelievable second half.

Unification, Pt. 2 only - like best of both worlds, this second episode really went to implausability hell, though it has a couple compelling moments, esp. the Picard/Spock mind-meld. That was amazing.

Aquiel (Geordi falls in love with a woman through her journals, then meets her, then . . . well, he doesn't get her) - very compelling to begin with, very human story, then it just goes out of whack, as though a simple love story isn't good enough unless we throw in evil shapeshifting murderers at the end.



There are others I don't care much for, but these are the ones that really make my skin crawl because they just aren't good storytelling (that is, maybe good ideas, but not well executed) or are just awful in every direction that one tries to approach them.

[solinvictus]

1. Wesley Crusher

The entire season of "Wesley Crusher: Boy Genius" in which he saved the crew every week.

[Rowdyboy]

2. I particularly agree on Shades of Gray and

and Descent I and II. I've only recently (last year) discovered the show in syndication and I have to say, the worst episode I've seen is better than many of the original series (which I alos loved as a middle-schooler).

[Paragon]

3. "Rascals"

The bridge crew turns into pre-teens. Could never bear to watch it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Oh, man, that's one of my favorites!

I love that episode. it's cheesy, and has a problematically convenient last-minute solution, but it has a wonderful charm to it.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. Yeah, it's dumb but I like that one.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. The one where Beverly has a ghost lover on a 'Scottish' planet

wow that was bad.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. I can live without that one, too

But it's not on my despise list.

I also don't like the episode with the deaf negotiator guy who has the chorus of three people who speak for him. It's a good story, but the deaf guy also reminds me of that idiot from Fleetwood Mac, so when I watch the show, all I can think about is that stupid music, and I see the guy and his three hite-clothed chorus as Fleetwood Mac.

So, it's painful to watch.

But a really cool story and well done.

[Liberal Veteran]

26. That one was called Sub Rosa

Bleh!

[Terwilliger]

29. yeah, but Duncan Regehr reminds me of Mike Malloy

;-)

[thermodynamic]

8. Ethics, The Outcast, Masterpiece Society, Quality of Life, Descent

Even the godawful clip show (Shades of Gray) is better than those I'd mentioned...

Code of Honor isn't entirely bad, but Picard is a real ass-wipe in his attitudes toward the caste-based society, acting no better than those he's spitting on...

Seasons 5 and 6 are generally the worst, though season 5 had more redeeming episodes (Powerplay, Imaginary Friend, The First Duty, The Game, Darmok, Ensign Ro...)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

9. Agree on Masterpiece society also

what's the one where Deanna falls for the half-betazoid negotiator? I hate that one. That guy looks like a mannequin.

[thermodynamic]

10. That was "The Price"

Masterpiece Society is where Picard answers a distress call to a domed planet; they help the colony prepare for a gravity wave or asteroid collision. Of course, they screw up by having Enterprise crew mingle with the 'genetically perfect' colony and as a result, some colonists want to leave. Captain Pick-Nose at the end ponders whether if it was better just to let the catastrophy destroy the whole civilization.

There's another bad one with Matt Frewer. His subplot was good, but the CO2 subplot with the planet was ridiculous. Trek TNG occasionally screws up with science as well, as they did in "The Enemy" where a Romulan dying needs KLINGON blood because it's more compatible than VULCAN blood. (uh, Romulans and Vulcans are the same species; Klingons are waaaaaaaaaaay different... Making it a Worf story ruins an otherwise spectacular story.)

[Terwilliger]

12. ummm

didn't she say she tested everyone on board and Worf had the only compatible blood?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

16. well it wasn't exactly blood

some 23rd century biotechspeak substance I think.. but yeah, it had to be Worf to drive the plot, but it didn't make much sense in terms of what we know about Klingons and Romulans.

[Terwilliger]

18. so, what vulcans were you thinking of

Ent-D only ever had one Vulcan, and that was Selaar

If you're talking plot problem only, there were a lot of those.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

20. Well with 1000+ people

I always figured there were Vulcans we didn't know about.

[thermodynamic]

21. Cop out

We all know that Romulans and Vulcans are the same species. It's highly unlikely that no Vulcan would be compatible yet a Klingon would.

That's like saying "Nobody on board the ship has O- blood, not even any of your blood relatives, but my pet gerbil does so let's drain his blood and put it into you."

Sorry, it's way too big of a stretch to be taken credibilty.

Now that nitpick aside, the race hatred bit was a good idea. They just had to use a cheap copout in order to use that. For season 3, where the high quality plotlines started showing up, this is a bit of a throwback...

[Terwilliger]

28. like I said...what vulcans?

That didn't deter from the rest of the episode, with Geordi and the other Romulan, nor the standoff with Picard and that Babylon 5 guy

[Liberal Veteran]

24. I actually liked Ethics...

I thought it was one of the better Beverly episodes. And it did have an important message even though it beat us over the head with the fact that scientific/medical research without ethics is not a good thing.

[Demeter]

11. Sorry, I couldn't stand to watch any of it

the only sequel I could tolerate was Voyager--never did see any Deep Space 9 as it conflicted with my schedule. And as for Enterprise---Please!

[PDittie]

13. Some episodes with Troi's mom and Worf's son

as the leads were pretty unwatchable.

[Terwilliger]

15. The only good episode with Deanna's mom was "Dark Page"

where her repressed memories of her lost daughter came out

[Terwilliger]

14. Man of the People

Where Deanna gets taken over and turns into a bitter old hag was pretty damned bad.

Also, the episode where the mind-readers were there, and the one guy was going around mind-raping everybody.

I didn't dislike Descent, but it wasn't great. There were many episodes that were less than stellar, but I hated only few.

Shades of Gray was a writer's strike product...don't have a story? Have a flashback episode!

Aquiel wasn't that bad, but I cringed when that girl said "I'm scared Geordi!"

Unification 2, like most two-part episodes in Trek history, fails at living up to the promise of the first episode. Read the companion book to the teleplay of Unification...its a much tighter story.

Code of Honor was the SECOND epsiode! It was goofy, but it was early on.

Another highly disliked episode was season 7 when Picard is trapped on the planet with the crazy woman who turns out to be some alien testing him. BLECH!

[thermodynamic]

17. "LOVE ME!!!!"

The advertisement for that season 7 episode with the crazy women was hilarious. The actual episode seemed to be a retread of the typical TOS theme of advanced aliens testing humanity...

[Feanorcurufinwe]

19. That last one is 'Liasons'

"Love me, Jean-Luc!" uggh but I like that one because I have a pendant that is the prop he used to change shape with. ST got it from the jewelry company I worked for at the time.

[Liberal Veteran]

25. Oh gosh! How could I have forgotten Skin of Evil?

Nothing is scarier than being trapped by a belligerent hefty bag sprayed with glitter.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

27. Yeah that one sucked

The only thing I liked is that they killed off Tasha Yar -- not that I didn't like her, but I just love the idea of a series surprising you like that by killing one of the cast unexpectedly.

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. Yeah, that was also abominable

But I didn't include it in my list because at least they killed Yar.

So maybe I'm a heretic for saying this, but I hated the character of Yar, and I think Denise Crosby is an absolutely shitty actor. Had she stayed on the show, I don't think I could have watched it any more.

Even when she showed up in later episodes, her acting is so abysmal, I cringe at it.

Good riddance to her. And thus, Skin of Evil, even though it would otherwise get my nod as a really, really bad bit of Trek, gets a pass from me. :-)

[SOteric]

22. The Vertiform City atrocity.

There was a whole series of Holodeck aberrations that seemed to signal a lack of imagination in the writing team. But that little abomination where the entity took over the Holodeck and booted them off a train every 10 minutes until they got the message was just tedious.

[Rabrrrrrr]

31. I'm going to risk the wrath of SOteric, but...

I liked that one - I thought it was cool that the Enterprise became sentient. Though it isn't one of the higher-level episodes, I thought it was fairly well done and kinda neato.

Unless this lowers me in your estimation, in which case, I think it sucked and I'd rather kill myself than watch it, or even remember it.

:-)

[SOteric]

32. How poorly you must think of me, Rabrrrrrr

to believe I'd unleash anything like wrath on someone just for disagreeing about the desirability of a defunct television program.

You liked it, I didn't. I still don't. :shrug: Go figure.

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. No, not at all!

Sorry - just teasing.

:bounce:


p.s. - made psuedo-pot au feu yesterday. Yum!

[SOteric]

35. Mmm.... Lovely winter dish.

What was 'pseudo' about it?

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. I used echallions instead of small onions

I forgot the celery, and instead of brisket and marrow, I used veal bones, lamb bones, and lamb shank. I did use the beef shank, though. I also tossed in a bunch of good sized crimini mushrooms - I'm really into mushroom broth as of late, having just discovered the beautiful potential of crimini mushrooms to make a death-defying broth. Made a bitchin' cream of mushroom soup the other day with them and some sirloin cubes.

I was also going to add some seared sirloin chunks and a half organic chicken, but the pot was already full to brim. Sadly, I don't have a really large nice sized pot.

But on the other hand, it's just two of us, so if I did have a big pot, we'd be eating it for a 6 days instead of 3. :-)

So tonight I warmed some up, added an italian sausage, and some fresh made angel hair pasta and did kind of a psuedo-Cantonese noodle soup thing. yum!!

[Liberal Veteran]

23. Masks...

Where they come across this artifact and things start changing on the ship and Data turns into this personification of some incomprehensible story that made no sense at all.

The other one was Genesis, where Crusher gives Broccoli an injection and it causes the entire crew to devolve.

[kodi]

33. any one with warf's little kid sux

just call those "the family circle in outer space"

[Selwynn]

37. I completely disagree on Best of Both Worlds Part 2

Best of Both Worlds Part 2 was probably the best epidose of the series, and the combined two parter reflected ST:TNG at its best. I also liked Unification 1 and 2.

But I'm with you on everything else.

[Endangered Specie]

38. Being the guy with the 1701-D in his sig line Id have to say...

Shades of Gray... cmon, is that how you close out a season???

Just about any other "Boy Genios saves the day" or "Yar gets more than 15 minutes" episode goes too.