Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

Assembling a list for some new trekkies on the worst episodes they can, basically, skip and... yeah, need help. I know it might be a little heretical to say "skip this episode" but... hey, we want these people to like Trek, right? Forcing them to watch "Way to Eden" could put that in danger! :lol:

So, 10 or so worst episodes?

My list so far...

• "The Way to Eden"
• "Return of the Archons"
• "Catspaw"
• "And the Children Shall Lead"
• "The Empath"

Opinions? Additions?

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

My list of episodes to avoid, in approximate order:

"The Alternative Factor" ("What of Lazarus?" "And what of Lazarus?" etc.)

"The Omega Glory" (yes, I know it was one of the original Roddenberry story treatments for the second pilot, and I like Cloud William and his utterances, but anyone new to Trek ought to be spared the Yangs and Kohms)

"And the Children Shall Lead" (nice score by George Duning, though, largely unused in later episodes)

"The Paradise Syndrome" (worst actress in the entire series, bad enough to drag down an intriguing episode; sorry, Sabrina, but someone had to be)

"Whom Gods Destroy" (I really enjoyed Steve Ihnat and Yvonne Craig in this, but a novice shouldn't be exposed to dialogue such as "It is time I took command of the Enterprise")

"Plato's Stepchildren" (just plain stupid, despite the presence of Barbara Babcock and Michael Dunn, who both project intelligence as they usually do)

"The Mark of Gideon" [which depends on (1) the Gideons, not even Federation members, being able to build an "Enterprise" that could fool its captain AND learning of some obscure disease he once had, and (2) the bridge crew not at first recognizing that transporter coordinates were transposed]

"For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" (as David Gerrold wrote in The World of Star Trek, "[McCoy] gets to fall in love and almost die in the same episode - a plethora of devices to create artificial excitement.")

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

My list is:

1.The Way To Eden

2.The Omega Glory

3.Charlie X

4.CharlieX

5.Charlie X

6.Charlie X

7.Charlie X

8.Charlie X

9.Charlie X

10.Charlie X

So yeah I'm a big Charlie X hater.And in the same episode; seeing Kirk in those tights DID NOT help. And because of my intense hate for Charlie X I did not have room for And The Children Shall Lead or that episode witht he people with the black and white faces. Cna't remember the name of thaat episode.

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

From "best" to worst.....

10.) The Omega Glory
9.) Turnabout Intruder
8.) The Way to Eden
7.) Charlie X
6.) Catspaw
5.) Plato's Stepchildren
4.) Mudd's Women
3.) Spock's Brain
2.) The Alternative Factor
1.) And the Children Shall Lead

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

1) Metamorphosis (The end was terrible - loss of two personalities by joining them in one is so romantic! :evil:)
2) The Alternative Factor (pure, gold boredom)
3) Charlie X
4) The Omega Glory
5) Who Mourns for Adonais? (Is this Apollo? He could be exellent Stanley Kowalski. Besides, Pan wasn't boring! :lol:)
6) Assignment: Earth (Women and cat were great, but only they)
7) The Ultimate Computer
8) Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (Obvious simbolism is too obvious)
9) Mudd's Women (It's very happy end for woman who had been washing dishes for her father and brothers for the whole life - to marry wild miner and wash dishes for him)
10) Shore Leave (Too much craziness and too long fight scene. Poor Sturgeon's script, it might be good)

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

I'll give you original thinking for putting SHORE LEAVE in your worst ten, but I doubt it'll be on anyone else's. The Finnegan-Kirk fight WAS long, but I'm glad this episode set the record. Anyhow, it was long drawn out wish-fulfilment.......to beat the TAR out of Finnegan!!!!:cool:

I'll pick my ten after consdering it some more. CATSPAW and PLATO won't be on it.

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

I think it's wrong to cut out episodes because everyone's taste is different. I routinely put The Omega Glory and Bread and Circuses in my top 10. :techman:

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

For this reason I was surprised that I hadn't liked it so much. I had heared a lot of good things about this episode and I expected more. :rolleyes:

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

10. Spock's Brain
9. Elaan of Troyius
8. Patterns of Force
7. Wolf in the Fold
6. Turnabout Intruder
5. Spectre of the Gun
4. Plato's Stepchildren
3. The Way to Eden
2. Catspaw
1. And the Children Shall Lead

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

I actually like The Way to Eden and I am 100% with you on your hatred of Charlie X.

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

Episodes I can easily skip are...

The Alternative Factor
Catspaw
The Omega Glory
Spock's Brain
And The Children Shall Lead
Plato's Stepchildren
The Mark of Gideon
The Way To Eden

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

Seven of my top ten worst episodes are from the third season (surprise!)

The Alternative Factor
The Apple
The Gamesters of Triskelion
Spock's Brain
And The Children Shall Lead
Plato's Stepchildren
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Mark Of Gideon
The Cloud Minders
The Way To Eden

Sacrilege! "Metamorphosis" is a beautiful story. YMMV.
That ep was worse than boring. Muddled plot, incomprehensible science, script padded out with endless spinning starfields and stuntmen fighting in dry-ice fog.
It's not even symbolism -- just 52 minutes of preaching.
You're missing the entire point.

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

These are the episodes I ignore.

The Man Trap*
The Gamesters of Triskelion
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Alternative Factor
Catspaw
The Omega Glory
And The Children Shall Lead
Plato's Stepchildren
The Mark of Gideon
Charlie X


* The Man trap isn't too bad I just find it a bit boring now after so many viewings.

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

i feel the same way about certain episodes. i've seen The Enterprise Incident so many times that i try to avoid it.

Re: Top Ten Worst Episodes?
 

Here are my terrible ten. Nine of them are from the third season, I'm afraid.

10. WINK OF AN EYE: too conceptually similar to BY ANY OTHER NAME.

9. ALL OUR YESTERDAYS: no interior shots of the Enterprise.

8. LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD: Gorshin runs like Pee Wee Herman. He should be more intimidating.

7. IN TRUTH THERE IS NO BEAUTY: I'm not a fan of distorted nose cams, even if it's Diana Muldaur.

6.THE CLOUD MINDERS: Unexplained ventriloquism from Kirky.

5. THE MARK OF GIDEON: A strange message which I interpreted as pro-disease. The cramped nameless Gideonites can die, and best of all, Odona is saved from the very same disease. Couldn't the population be relocated by Starfleet?

4. AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD: Ultra-wussy Scotty.

3. METAMORPHOSIS: Even if you spell it right, it's really quite atrocious. Digitize James Cromwell into it....

2. REQUIEM FOR METHUSELAH: Out-borings METAMORPHOSIS, plus it thinks we won't recognize M-5 again.

1.THE EMPATH: Twelve minutes of Kirky and Spocko waiting impotently behind a pink force field. And forty seconds of Shatner's enema-commercial close-ups coupled with sensitive music more appropriate for an Ivory Soap advertisement.