Discussion on:

The five worst Star Trek episodes of all time

"Nuff said!

Sure it was silly and a bit stupid, but who can resist a little purring fuzzball?

...between the barkeeper and Cyrano Jones trying to scam free drinks--a bit that also asks why we even need barkeepers in a future with pattern replicators and food synthesizers!

Plus: "Then there's the Enterprise--a ship not even fit to haul away garbage!"

"Don't ye think ye might want to... rephrase that, laddie?"

"Oh, you're right. It shouldn't be hauling garbage...it should be hauled away AS garbage!"

*Fight*

Of the many ST episodes "inspired by" the work of other authors, I believe Tribbles are unique in having been "inspired by" a science fiction story rather than by classic literature.

Our credit union has an ongoing charitable promotion involving tribble-sized stuffed animals. Up close they're adorable all sorts of characters timed to peoples' interests and the holidays and seasons. But one branch manager tends to over do it. Every blasted time I go into the branch I an reminded of this horrible episode from StarTrek!

Loved tribbles. Didn't like the episode plot. Who can resist tribbles (and I'm very suspicious of cat-haters).

'Tribbles' is one of the all-time TOP five. Anyone who says otherwise is a Denebian slime devil who should be towed away AS garbage.

See subject.

Bad episodes aren't top, they're 'bottom': "Bottom five".

"The Trouble with Tribbles" and "A Piece of the Action" were clearly different from other episodes. I love both of them, not as great SciFi, but they are really very funny.

No list of "5 worst of Star Trek" can exclusively diss the original series and not find a fault with ENT; the last show was canceled for a reason: it was bad out of the gate and nothing they did to 'improve' it ever succeeded.

ENT made me realize that "The Way to Eden" is actually not only NOT one of the worst 5 of the franchise, it is frankly better written than ANY episode of ENT; sure, it LOOKS silly, but it is technically far superior to the poorly-plotted stories of ENT that haven't even a grasp of BASIC science, let alone any of the pseudoscience common to Trek and most other sci-fi (remember when they plugged a hole in a leaking spacecraft hull with MASHED POTATOES? )

You also completely ignored "Threshold" from "Voyager" .

Those emotional scars never heal...

I watched every episode, in the hopes that "this week they'll get their s*** together," and sadly, it never happened. I did not watch any of the episodes again, however .

They had a few good episodes. The Mirror Universe two parter (though part 1 was slow). The three part arc with the augments - yeah, a little overplayed, but not bad. And earlier, Carbon Creek was not too bad.

I work in Doylestown Pennsylvania, haven't seen a Vulcan hanging out around here, though.

I stopped watching after Nazi Space Lizards. Funnily enough, if Warehouse 13, Haven, Fringe, or Eureka were to do Nazi Space Lizards, I'd watch. But they have people who can write dialogue and plot. Also, none of the actors on those shows are...well, none of them are Jolene Blalock.

I'm a Scott Bakula fan. But he was better in Quantum Leap.

One of the good ones in MHO.

Actually I liked Enterprise and preferred it to Voyager. I stopped watching Voyager after about season 3, except for the occasional few minutes as I walked through the living room while my wife watched it, though I did watch the final episode to see how they ended it, I was sorry I did.

It's pretty obvious the list is only about the original series.

I don't know what it is with people, they viscerally hate this series. I didn't think it was near as bad as "voyager."

And stayed true to the series before it. Sure somehow their deflector could do everything except making popcorn and a movie. Apparently the doctor was so poorly programmed that simply leaving him running would degrade him (Windows???) and no matter how many people died, the ship always had 150 crew members.
But the plots were generally good, usually giving a good mix of crew personalization and spaceship fighting.
Enterprise was your typical sex sells garbage.

Nope Ios

The whole it-was-all-just-a-dream (or holodeck simulation) ploy. It retroactively "explained" a lot and allowed for a quick death, but was still full of fail and oh so facile. I believe the term is "phoning it in".

But you could pretty much see it coming over the horizon.

All TV shows get into "sex". Did you stop watching Voyager after Jerri Ryan came in as 7 of 9? I guess she was brought in to explore the culture of the Borg.

But aside from a brief moment when the Q strips her naked, she never openly had sex with crew members.

She tried to, but that implant problem saved her.

You mean those big pectoral implants got in the way?

That apparently controlled her heartbeat and such.

~oW~ my eye!

"7 of 9" is an insult, should be more like "11 of 10!" =O

Sex sells garbage are you forgetting 7 of 9?

And when she tried, her brain implant shut down.

Their minds turned back on, and as much as I hate to admit it, I started to like what they did with the character. Pity "Enterprise" didn't seem to do much with T'Pol other than have her scowl disapprovingly at things. (Exception: "Carbon Creek," which for my money is one of the best "Quantum Leap" episodes of all time.)

It was designed to be before the orignal Star Trek. So it had to seem backwards and outdated in comparison. Enterprise had to be a bridge type show filling in some gaps of how technology may have been developed and accepted. Plus it tried to attract some people by showing more bare body parts than would have been permitted back in the day.

Doesn't explain the writing, or Jolene Blalock's one facial expression.

Space Nazis

At least those episodes didn't have absurd levels of parallel social evolution (I mean really, another planet with a United States?!).

They were brought about by influence from humans and while the gangster one was pretty goofy it WAS fun. I can deal with a TV or movie being stupid if it's entertaining.

Now then there was "Bread and Circuses", the Roman Empire surviving into the 20th Century...

...with the Anton LeVay-type warlock-villain. As far-fetched(!) and dumb as the Nazi planet and Gangster planet to me.

I enjoyed that one. Right, Spocko?

Check!

I did too.... it was dumb but it was a lot of fun.

"Spock: Captain, must we?
Capt. Kirk: It's faster than walking.
Spock: Yes, but not as safe.
Capt. Kirk: Are you afraid of cars, Mr. Spock?
Spock: Not at all, Captain. It's your *driving* that alarms me. "

they had a device known as the clutch. Perhaps one of those pedals on the floor.

"I'd advise yous ta keep dialin'."

edit: Oops - Palmetto already said it.

I know I'm going to get comments, as there are certain "fans", that dislike anything that is not full of action and violence. I cite DS9 getting new life with addition of the Valiant, and subsequent change of venue and theme for the series. One of my Favorite episodes of DS9 starred Majel Barett as Ambassador Troi, in which Odo literally melts in her arms. We'll see if that makes the DS9 worst list.
Voyager which I think the creators tried to blend the exploration/social aspects with the action/conflict aspects. It didn't take long for it to become unbalanced.
I give Enterprise credit for being able to hold their own, if but for only a little while. As a last example/question, how many liked Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, but didn't like the first season of Enterprise?

Let's face it, that shot of the Klingon ship coming under the Golden Gate Bridge is just frickin' cool.

Hey, Jay, are you gonna do the movies?

But I suppose I could rank them from worst to first. May need to save that until we get a firm release date on the second JJ Abrams reboot film. Wrath of Khan would be best and Final Frontier would be worst, everyone else is playing for middle ground.

Maybe the first movie? As a former Navy man, I have always thought the director did it right when they were first returning Kirk to the Enterprise in "dry dock" and the crew member piloting the shuttle (Scotty?) took the scenic route and let Kirk have a good look at her from outside. Splendid touch!!

The first _is_ the worst. (I do seem to dimly recall something entitled "Star Trek V" that was worse, but it was clearly a parody.)

The episodes mentioned are all cheesy but sort of entertaining, and I'd watch them if they were on. The ones I skip are Cat's Paw (originally a non-Trek story that didn't really fit in when adapted as a Trek episode) and Assignment: Earth, which was a sort of pilot for another series and for Trek fans consists mostly of scenes with characters you don't know doing things you don't care about in an office building circa 1968.

Aww, come on! Robert Lansing? Teri Garr?

Yeah, I know. Roddenberry helped write that one. You can tell, can't you.

Yesit was the first motion picture and yes it was Scotty doing the piloting and I agree it was great Star Trek moment! ("My friends, we have come home!").

I had a brother that saw the movie before me and said that part of the movie was "slow and boring"...when I was watching that I was on the edge of my seat! I guess it is one of those scenes that only a true Trekkie could enjoy. I am glad you brought it up.