User:Oshah/Most Hated Episodesedit this page

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

These hated episodes may not necessarily be the worst of all episodes. For example, "Extreme Measures" isn't necessarily the worst episode -- There were poorer episodes of DS9. However, those other episodes were simply too forgetful (or were surrounded by eps just as bad, so didn't seem so poor). The episodes listed here, however, really make my blood boil at their mention.

[edit] ENT: These Are The Voyages

ENT: "These Are the Voyages..." should need no explanation. When Manny Coto came into the ENT team, the show was beginning its renaissance. All of a sudden, the Xindi arc was becoming quite interesting. We had episodes like "The Council", "Storm Front", "Kir'Shara", "Affliction", "In a Mirror, Darkly", "United". These episodes had character development, ongoing relationships, a Trek-verse (as opposed to those new aliens nobody heard of and never heard again), but above all, it had real continuity. Thanks to continuity, the writers didn't have to waste HALF AN HOUR [caps intended] establishing scenery or fleshing out characters. For half an episode, it felt that nothing was going on in the episode, and it was nearly impossible to watch through the first half of an episode to find out what's going on (and in fact, I did end up missing 1 or 2 eps because of this). That all changed when Manny (and to a lesser extent the Reeves-Stevens) came in. And from what the ep summaries say, Manny had some decent stories lined up for S5.

So why did I choose this episode. Well Manny and the Reeves-Stevens's had written "Terra Prime", a decent episode, and a worthy sendoff for the series. Had these been chosen as the series finale, who knows, Paramount could have reversed their decision and produce a fifth season. They could have removed the benign Johanna Watts/Josh Holt roles, add in some more time for the constitution, and you would have the ingredients for a perfect sendoff for a series taking off too late.

Then came Rick and Brannon. They Had to make a "better" episode, a better sendoff that "linked" well with the other Star Treks. And to make sure that we know where it belongs in the context, let's set it in the 24th century, (just so Jon and Marina could have something to do). All of the hard work of the new writing teams had been eliminated in 44 minutes of atrocity. We had this episode, a throw back to the excruciating 2nd/3rd seasons. There was no plot at all, there was no character development, nobody had any decent scenes (not even Riker, the central character in the ep), and worst of all, we were expected to believe that a Great Big Red Reset Button(tm) had been pressed between the 6 year-gap. Even the post production was substandard (Is Tucker dead or not?). And there is almost no hope for a ENT relaunch novel, since a) the enterprise is decommissioned after this and b) the authors are severely restricted as to what happens between 2155 and 2161.

When I first saw the episode, I felt it was a bad send off for the sci-fi show, but didn't think much of it. These things happen: you have good eps and bad eps. It wasn't until I heard the background to this episode that I got really mad. And I haven't calmed down since. All in all, a regressively poor episode that killed the series and All of Star Trek.

[edit] TNG: Lessons (and Darmok)

Now I know I've fanned the flames by listing these two episodes, which quite a number of fans feel are their favourites. But that's precisely why I've chosen these episodes.

"Lessons" was the first episode of TNG I ever watched. I got into TNG at around 1994. Impressed by the TOS run that had recently finished on BBC2, I flicked on to Star Trek TNG. The episode that was being broadcast was Lessons, and I have to say, it was the biggest pile of trash I have ever seen. How could a chick flick (and that's a compliment, my sister hates this episode too) like this possibly be worth watching? Why would I want to be watching two people practicing music for half an hour, and playing it for the other half? To this day (maybe because it was the first bad TNG I saw) I use TNG:Lessons as a way to mock an episode ("This episode is so poor, it makes Lessons look good.")

But what really, really makes my blood boil about this episode is that everybody seems to like it!?!!???!!!!? What in the BFH?? Have you seen the episode? Even if you ignored its slow storyline, its gaiety, the lack of tension in the last act (or anywhere), the lack of an adversary, the ickyness, you still have to admit that it's a forgetful episode. Yet, why is it on everyone's good list. Did they like "Justice" too? I know what you're thinking, I needed to see "The Inner Light" to enjoy this episode. Well, even after seeing the inner light, my opinions on Lessons has not changed one bit.

Lessons came in between a string of high quality episodes from Season 6, (starting pretty much from "Chain of Command, Part I"). There was "Ship in a Bottle", "Face of the Enemy", "Tapestry", "The Chase", "Frame of Mind" (!), "Rightful Heir", even "Starship Mine", ... and of all the episodes I could to flick on, I had to choose this episode! I don't know how I went on to become a TNG fan after watching this episode.

I watched again a week later, there was nothing else on, so I gave TNG another chance: "Timescape". Not the greatest episode, but faaar better than "Lessons".

Now why have I put in "Darmok"? A week ago (29 Aug 2005), I found a list of the 20 greatest TNG episodes, and guess what was on the top of the list? (Darmok)

Excuse me??!?!? How in the world could you have voted Darmok the greatest episode of all time? Granted, it was a decent episode. That I am not criticising. My gripe is the fact that is soooo forgetful. There is almost nothing that I can pick out from the story, and almost nothing memorable. The only thing I can pick out from the episode is Picard's new gear. We've never seen or heard from these aliens before, and we'll never hear from them again. The breaking of the language barrier is arduously boring. And the adversary seems to be some kind of Predator ripoff. the only redeeming quality to the episode is its moral on friendship. I hardly think that's enough to make it better than "Chain of Command, Part II" or "Frame of Mind" or "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II".

I suppose when I calm down (I did only see the list a week ago), I may see why Darmok is up there. But right now, I'm still in anger mode.

[edit] VOY: Threshold

What can I say about "Threshold"? Where this episode falls apart is the fact that it relies on way too much science and technobabble. As is already well documented (and admitted by the writer), the science is way too inaccurate to be correct, so the ep is slaughtered on that end. So what about the drama side? On that end, we have far too many wooden characters overwhelmed through the science-side of things having no opportunity to act (apart from Paris, and he has performed better than that).

As to why it's below TNG's worst (ie. meaning i hate lessons more), this episode is of the more forgetful category (rather than the hated category). However, there is a Lessons quality to it :p.

[edit] Star Trek Nemesis

For the movie category, I've chosen this new entry to the scene. There is a kind of rule in Star trek folklore that the even numbered movies are good, and the odd ones are poor. This law seemed to work like clockwork until we hit Star Trek Nemesis. I was willing to forgive Paramount for releasing number 9 (which was poor as well, but it has an excuse). But I'm not going to forgive this episode (yes Ep, not film). Apparently the movie was going to begin an arc that would have culminated in the end of the Romulan conflict (way to rehash ST2-6!). However, there was none of the character development present in previous STs, and the Romulans had few character traits. Only the Troi/Riker relationship developed (rehashed what was in 9).

But the worst part, the space battles seem so 20th century. Granted I have been spoiled by movie epics like LOTR, but Star Trek is more than capable of creating brilliant battles (remember the battles of the Dominion War?) However, the battles here feel quite empty, like a rehash of ST2. And am I the only person who hates B-4?

[edit] DS9: Extreme Measures

You may be wondering why I chose "Extreme Measures" for DS9's entry, even though there were some pretty lame episodes in S1 or S2. This is a perfect example of an episode which isn't poor, but one which I hate. If you don't know, this was one of the episodes of the 9 part finale.

I've chosen this episode because it an episode that the writers had almost no time for. It's one of those low-cost eps that you tend to get toward the end of the season to cut budget. This episode came at a time when Ira had created over 50 unfinished plots (eg. what happened to Kurn? What about Leyton and Benteen? What about Sito? Is Mila Garak's mum? What about the Gamma Quadrant? Where's that Dominion fleet from sacrifice of angels? etc. etc.) Somehow, all 50 of these plotlines needed to be told within the timeframe of 9 hours. But they weren't. Granted, it's impossible to tell 50 decent stories within 9 hours, so some had to be dropped. This is where Extreme measures comes in. They wasted one of those precious hours having a cheap "It's all a dream" episode, an hour which could have been spent finishing one of those 50 unfinished plots. There was just no room for an episode like this in the 9-parter. That's why this episode is listed.

To be fair, at least it ended the section 31 / changeling antidote plot (2 storylines it finished).

[edit] TOS: The Way to Eden

TOS's entry is "The Way to Eden". This is in here for one simple reason: Star trek is a series that spans multiple generations (it has that timeless feel). This episode feels like it's locked in a 1960s timewarp. Hippies either embody the best of the 60s or the worst of the 60s. This episode portrays them in the latter. The songs of the episode (which should have been renamed Spock's gig) are only there to fill time on a storyline that's tepidly short and predictable. A distinctively Lessons [:p] episode with a Best Before: 31st December 1969.

However, this episode was surrounded by a string of poor episodes, and is only symptomatic of the show's downfall (unlike the eps above, which were poor eps surrounded by good ones).

Where's TAS? I've only seen one episode of TAS: "Yesteryear", so I'm not qualified to criticise it.

Oshah 180 edits since July 21, 2005