Your Top WORST Episodes!

It takes a lot for me to actually hate an episode, I think I'm pretty easy to entertain and my standards aren't high, but some of these episodes should never have seen the light of day, such as:

1. Too Short A Season
I've never been able to finish this in a single sitting in 30 years, I can only watch it in parts, (usually after I wake up). I'd say it's the most boring episode I can think of. And I'm somebody who actually likes most of the first season! But this.... this is just utterly awful. I'm amazed it was ever made, I mean, who thought it was a good idea? It looks the most low-budget from season 1 as well.

2. A Matter of Perspective
Not enjoyable in the slightest. Accusing Commander Riker of rape? Replaying the same assault about 5 times from different perspectives? Who thought this stupid idea would make for entertaining television? I'm not sure what point this episode was trying to make. Is it that All men can't be left alone with a woman? All men are cheats? Women are lying seducers? Scientists are egomaniacs? Women shouldn't marry hermit scientists? What? And as a detective story it just relies on some technobabble gimmick for the solution to the mystery. Well duh. Not only was this episode excruciating for Riker, it was also excruciating for the viewer. Just bad.

3. Half a Life.
A forced love episode, except this time it's between Lwaxna Troi and a boring scientist who has about as much charisma as my shoe. The 2nd most boring of all episode in my opinion. This is truly one of the all-time worst episodes, no doubt about it.

4. The Game
This episode really sucks, but it's saved by Ashley Judd who had to be the cutest Ensign ever. This one is both terrible and entertaining at the same time. I'm conflicted! Oh, I know why I'm conflicted, it's because the same show that came up with episodes like "Tin Man", "The Most Toys", and "Measure of a Man" comes up with drivel like this.

5. I, Borg
The only Borg plot lines I liked are from "Q Who?" on TNG, and from Voyager with 7 of 9 and her stories. I skip all the rest.

6. Frame of Mind
Total waste of an episode. I don't even know what's it's about. Riker was held captive or something. Meh. Poor story. Not much to work with.

7. Masks
Drivel, pure absolute drivel. Crap of the highest degree. Embarrassingly stupid. Boring, bland, awful.

8. Journey's End
Another episode to ruin Wesley's character, along with the terrible Academy episode where he and his classmates kill somebody in an illegal maneuver. So they follow up that crap fest with this crap fest. Now we learn that Picard's ancestors helped kill Native Americans, and now he's doing it again. Just how awful can they make an episode? There is nothing, NOTHING, good about this episode. Ruin two main characters for the price of ONE episode. What's the point?

 

Season 2, episode 22 - Shades of Gray.

Worst of the worst

 

I actually like that one..... I think I'm gonna go re-watch, just to make sure though :-)

 

Remove the clips, and "Shades of Gray" starts out as a terrific horror thriller of sorts. The 87/88 writers' strike clobbered season 2, hence digging up old "Star Trek Phase II" scripts, changing the Borg into what we know and love since they couldn't do the big insectoids (for which Battlestar Galactica 1978 did a good job with already), and utilizing the good ol' clip show to expedite the season's completion.

My list of cowpatties in the field known as TNG, and in no order thanks to the random number generator inside my head:

1. I, Borg. Seconded, your points. Okay, I appreciate they can't one-up the whiz-bang action of TBOBW and shouldn't try. (Even the 1996 flick does slight of hand on this since it's a retread, and VOY did something original with them, and even without a Queen for a while.) The problem is, Guinan's character change doesn't add up and the script also drives Beverly, not the other way around. Sheesh, even Chekov coming across as a disciplined officer in "The Way to Eden" is nowhere near as awful as changing characters to suit the plot. Which leads us to:
2. Ethics. The Worf subplot is pretty solid. But the script goes out of its way to make the guest doctor a caricature, solely for the sake of making Bev right. Now compare to season 1 gems where the adults are dumbed down to make Wesley look bright and, yup, not even "Datalore" is anywhere as crass and unwatchable as this garbage episode.
3. Silicon Avatar. It's one cliché after another, as Riker is upset that his object of lust went to save some old dude and dies. The story rattles on and then Data comes to interesting conclusions about Dr Marr, and for supposedly knowing Renny that detailed while also managing to say he doesn't have every nuance on file. But this is not atypical for seasons 5 and 6. If the Marr subplot wasn't about the family soap opera being forced, along with Riker's thwarted proverbial booty call, this might have worked better.
4. A Matter of Perspective. Corny to me at the time, it also proves Riker committing assault and the script just whizzes so far over that... (On top of your points, which nail it.) On the plus side, it's proof that the show did its characters bad long before season 5
5. Justice. Oh sheesh, the character assassination of Tasha (and Riker, by extension) is atrocious.
6. Journey's End. Same reasons.
7. The Host. Too many in-story inconsistencies that insult the audience almost as badly as it assassinates Crusher's character (and Riker's), topped off by the stupid shuttle scene. Riker (Excitedly) "We can't maneuver the craft and it's going to break up! Let's teleport out of here!" Odan: "I can't, my salamander inside me will die." Riker (Clamly) "I'm turning the ship around" as if there's nary a problem
8. The Outrageous Okona. Where to start... the comic Data leans from needed better material when the Data/Guinan scenes are genuinely funnier thanks to the acting chemistry. The Romeo/Juliet rehash, mixed with forward-thinking Jerry Springer cliches about the warring factions was naff, Okana was NOT cool nor was he mimicked by the kids on the playground - and it's really sad when more Daleks had kids screeching "exterminate" on the playground...
9. The Inner Light may be TNG's alternative to TOS's "The Paradise Syndrome" and "All Our Yesterdays" rolled into one, but is too myopic in scope with the flute-dispensing probe that seeks out only one (and only one, per dialogue!!) person to assault into their brain the entire history of the dripping pompous ego from a (doomed planet and for clichéd reasons), and I'd be cleanin' that flute with 91% rubbin' alcohol before putting it into my mouth. But it gets us in the feelz... Then again, it does set the stage for "Lessons", a rather better story, so this one is my least least-worst.)
10. Man of the People. The audience grows old watching Troi grow old. Usually the list of "worst" has to have something incredibly bad. I suppose the makers wanted to do a new way to utilize the ever-classic "premature aging" trope, but even "Unnatural Selection" is done (far) better (and feels more like sci-fi and not generic soap opera with an idea tacked on.)
11. The Quality of Life. They'd already done the "sentient technology" routine enough times, this one is just padding out the season and offers nothing even remotely new.
12. Inheritance. By now, between Data's fam and the "sentient technology" eppies, just do a spinoff called "Data's Day Off"

 

Some bad episodes are just so bad they're worst watching for giggles (looking at you, "Beverly gets seduced by a lamp" episode). Others have redemptive elements ("Code of Honor" has a wild fight scene, and "Menage a Troi" has Wes ROCK the red uniform). But some are just plain... well, I generally don't swear online, but if I did, all three of these would justify liberal use of the worst profanities available. Including more F-words than "White Men Can't Jump".

Hide and Q: Riker lets a kid die, then gives everyone exactly what they don't want, and this is supposed to make us all think it's WONDERFUL to be human. This episode is dog turds.

Symbiosis: I gag and hit Stop when Picard launches into his "isn't it nice that people are suffering" speech. Worried I might hurl a random heavy object through my TV screen if I don't.

Half a Life: A planet practicing global genocide... and this episode tries to be all gooey and sympathetic about Lwaxana's lover choosing to participate. This... effort is the worst of season 4, the worst of TNG, and IMO the worst of Trek period. If I had this episode, "Threshold", and "Profit and Lace" in front of me and a Delete From Canon gun with two shots in it... I'd shoot this one and "Threshold" because I don't waste ammo.

May put up more later...

 

Genesis. TNG trying to do horror. They tried...

 

Hey, nobody has listed Sub Rosa! I think it's a below average episode, but not near the worst. The set design was at least good.

Journey's End, to me, was an incredibly disappointing send-off for Wesley Crusher. That eager-beaver, happy kid full of optimism and passion in the first couple seasons.... turned out to become a depressed, moody, quitter! Maybe the producers listened to the vocal mob of Wesley-haters too much, but I never thought of Wesley as irritating. It was one of the great character assassination episodes, along with episodes like "A Matter of Perspective", "I, Borg" and some others you guys listed.

 

Sub Rosa might be bad, but it doesn't make me want to jump into the episode and smack Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, or Michelle Forbes upside the head.

 

One of the reasons I didn't care for it was because it was so out of place. It was weird to end a season with that episode.

 

Worse was to come, and only 16 years later...

 

Controversial take but I actually like "Masks".

I never understood why this episode is so popularly disliked but I thought it had an interesting concept. Data saved an entire village from a radioactive virus last episode and him getting possessed by alien archives from a rogue comet for his trouble is the thanks he gets. The android cannot catch a break!

It was really interesting seeing Brent Spiner playing Data taking on multiple personalities, one of whom actually thought Troi was Masaka. Now that I think about it, I'm thinking Masaka should've possessed Troi instead of Data. Well, I don't know about "should've" but it would've been interesting because I think if Masaka had a humanoid appearance she would probably have Troi's hair or a similar hairdo. I also like how the interior of the ship looks when the lights get turned off and replaced by the emergency lights. Picard wearing the Korgano mask kind of makes him looks like Zorro.

The only thing I don't like about it now is that I've seen it so many times it's getting tiring hearing the same dialogue being spoken over and over again. But I still think "Masks" gets way too much hate in my opinion.

Now that that's out of the way, I actually don't hate any episode of TNG so I can't really name any "worst" episodes but the episodes that come to mind for me are "Sub Rosa" which is just "meh" for me as well as the episodes featuring Barclay. I know Barclay is a fan favorite for a lot of people but I could never get behind him being so socially awkward and incompetent. I think the socially awkward thing was done better with DS9's Rom.

To the OP I agree with your disliking of "Frame of Mind". I couldn't stand Riker going crazy. I actually sympathized with him and the plot didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

 

I agree about "Masks" not deserving the hate it gets. I think it's actually a pretty decent effort, and Brent Spiner creates some interesting characters. But sorry, I loved "Frame of Mind".

 

"Up the Long Ladder" is pretty cringe all round with some dreadful paddywackery – still not as bad as Voyager's "Fair Haven" episodes though – but Worf and Pulaski's relationship is interesting, and Danilo Odell makes me laugh despite myself.

 

Not to mention Riker not getting the memo that killing your own clone is still murder.

In a sense, there's several types of bad...

1. Ridiculous bad. "Sub Rosa" is a classic example. So is "When the Bough Breaks", for ignoring a painfully obvious solution.

2. Boring bad. Snooze fest. It's not a bad concept or badly made, you just want to skip past it.

3. "Pisses you off" bad. Such as "Half a Life" and its sympathy for the early Nazi regime's "if it's not productive, kill it" philosophy.

Of course, an episode can be more than one of these things.

 

Home Soil?
Code of Honour?
QPid
Cost Of Living
Liaisons
Homeward

 

I just dislike most of Season 1 and most of Season 2 and that's about it.

 

"Home Soil" is hilarious, how dare you! You've got Walter Gotell's extraordinary scenery-chewing performance, Gerard Predergast's incomparable Aryan mullet, and that incredible scene at the end where Crusher's delivery of the line "LifE... fOrCe! Do... YoU... uNdErStAnD... uS!?" alone should have won awards.

 

I was 12 years old when I saw it when it aired. I didn't know anything about being the subjects, but I thought it was great. Hijackings had been in the news. I had heard about Iran taking hostages. I was excited by the preview to have an episode about "terrorism". I really loved it when I saw it.
I highly suspect if I saw it first now I wouldn't watch it. If I had been an adult who read the news in 1988 I probably wouldn't watch it either. But for a 12 y/o who barely understood the very basics of the Iran Contra hearings, Iran mining the Persian Gulf and Iraq being a US ally, and people hijaking planes, this episode was art. I loved it, and it's etched into brain cells that would probably better utilized with other things.

 

Agreed regarding that there are different tiers of being bad. I would humbly add my own barometer on what I consider a truly bad episode.

4. Severely or irreparably damages a character or characters. Also in the same line of thinking, making characters more incompetant than usual. Some examples...

"Rascals" - two outdated Klingon ships crewed by Ferengi take over a Galaxy class ship, the flagship of the Federation. This made Riker, Worf, and everyone else look so damned incompetant that they don't deserve to serve on a freighter, much less the flagship of the Federation.

"THE RECKONING" - Sisko was ready to sacrifice Jake for the Prophets. He was going to sacrifice his own son! This goes completely against who the man has been since the pilot... a wonderful father. Additionally, this relationship has been one of the core fundamental pieces of the series, so this episode not only betrays the character, but the series itself. (It's one of the few episodes in the franchise that genuinely gets worse with each rewatch. This used to be the 5th worst of DS9 for me... it has recently taken the worst spot from "PROFIT AND LACE".)



I don't know if I have a worst of the entire franchise (there are a number of current era ones that I could potentially put as this, but I won't yet because they haven't been around for very long, so in the interest of being fair, my picks will be from TOS to ENT), but I do have several candidates. I'll have to give it some further thought and post later on this.