WhatCulture's 20 worst Star Trek episodes

[Melakon]

"Everyone is stupid except us"

TNG did that nearly every week.

 

[Terok Nor]

20. Spock's Brain - TOS - So bad it's good.
19. These are the Voyages... - ENT - Awful.
18. Threshold - VOY - So bad it's good.
17. A Night in Sickbay - ENT - Dreadful.
16. Justice - TNG - Meh. It's okay.
15. The Omega Glory - TOS - Huh?
14. Meridian - DS9 - Terrible.
13. Time's Orphan - DS9 - What the fuh?
12. Zero Hour - ENT - Don't remember it.
11. Fury - VOY - I loved this episode.
10. Unexpected - ENT - Don't remember it.
9. Shades of Gray - TNG - Worthless clip show.
8. And the Children Shall Lead - TOS - Blah.
7. Precious Cargo - ENT - Don't remember it.
6. Fair Haven - VOY - Horrendous.
5. Spirit Folk - VOY - Horrendous Part 2 - The Sequel No One Wanted!
4. Profit and Lace - DS9 - I kinda loved it.
3. The Alternative Factor - TOS - It was okay.
2. Code of Honor - TNG - Shitty.
1. The Way to Eden - TOS - This probably is the worst episode to be fair.

 

[martok2112]

Have to say, I still don't see the problem with These Are The Voyages other than yes, Marina Sirtis may have put on a few more pounds.

 

[Melakon]

1. The Way to Eden - TOS - This probably is the worst episode to be fair.

Herbert.

 

[BillJ]

1. The Way to Eden - TOS - This probably is the worst episode to be fair.

Herbert.

I thought "And the Children Shall Lead" was far and away the worst episode of TOS.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

"Everyone is stupid except us"

TNG did that nearly every week.

Yeah, but not usually to self-parody level extremes. WINGS OF FIRE! WINGS OF FIRE! TNG characters, the majority of time, weren't any stupider than the non-main characters in any crime procedural, medical drama or scifi adventure show. "Everyone is stupid except the main characters" is true of almost all television. But not to the point where they seem like six year olds.

False Profits contains of exaggeration of everything bad about Voyager.

Out of all the TOS episodes I've seen the worst is Turnabout Intruder, the last episode. Yeah, you can't use the 'Grandpa defense' to excuse its ideas about femininity. I don't care if it was 1969. Even excusing that it's pretty awfully written.

 

[eyeresist]

ENT episodes:

TATV - a bizarre and wrongheaded concept. Not completely unwatchable, but a terrible series finale.
A Night in Sickbay - Archer pisses people off in this ep, but I love the Phlox stuff, and Porthos is always cute.
Zero Hour - First time I've ever seen this listed as a "worst". The Space Nazi twist after the climax is a real WTF moment, but the rest of the ep is pretty good.
Unexpected - This is actually a fairly popular ep among ENT fans.
Precious Cargo - Correct.
No mention of Extinction?

I must be the only man on Earth who adored Profit and Lace.

I enjoy every DS9 Ferengi episode, and I don't apologise for it.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I'd like to add:

Miri (TOS) - very disturbing
Plato's Stepchildren (TOS) - very stupid
Nemesis (VOY) - beyond boring

 

[Melakon]

1. The Way to Eden - TOS - This probably is the worst episode to be fair.

Herbert.

I thought "And the Children Shall Lead" was far and away the worst episode of TOS.

We reach.

Out of all the TOS episodes I've seen the worst is Turnabout Intruder, the last episode. Yeah, you can't use the 'Grandpa defense' to excuse its ideas about femininity. I don't care if it was 1969. Even excusing that it's pretty awfully written.

I was 18 then. That attitude was pretty common in tv shows, as well as commercials and print advertising. It was horrible watching the third season just fall to pieces.

 

[Terok Nor]

"The Outrageous Okona" from TNG should have been high on this list. Both the A story and the B story were complete and utter crap.

 

[JTShanks]

The Alternative Factor is one of the Worst of Trek?

No.... It may have been over the top and weird, but you know what, I found it very well done.

 

[The Wormhole]

@The Wormhole,
I largely agree with you, though I feel inclined to comment on two of your remarks:

My assessment of that list:

TATV is pretty bad and should be higher on the list.

Had it been a regular episode, I actually could have liked it (except for Trip's death), though I still would have considered the idea of inserting two TNG characters as somewhat doubtful. As a series finale though, it really sucks.

My primary grumble with TATV is that it was used as the series finale, but even if it were a regular episode there are still some serious flaws. It was a mistake trying to hamfist this story around the events of another episode, especially The Pegasus since there is no room in that episode for this stuff to happen. Seriously, Riker's pretty busy throughout the episode, and when he does have free time, that's covered in the episode too. But also, it was a mistake trying to make the audience ignore the fact that Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis had aged eleven years since the episode aired. Why they just didn't set the episode post-Nemesis on board the Titan with Riker watching the NX-01's final mission to help him deal with being separated from crewmates he'd served with for the past fifteen years will never have a satisfactory explanation.

 

[JoeCabby]

I liked Time's Orphan. I think it's only rated so low because of the stupid decision by the parents near the end. I don't think any sane parent would have made the same decision they did.

 

[Nightdiamond]

How about the 'Photons be Free!" episode? It's wrong to knock civil rights, but that was just too silly.

That's "Author, Author". It's slighty redeemed by the Doctor's conception of the crew, and Paris making his own "improvements" on the manuscript. The ownership rights plotline sucks because it's a poor rehash with lower stakes of Data's struggle for his own life.

The biggest problem is it's a topic that writers and artists actually care about, though the general audience could care less. Trek sometimes had this problem of episodes on issues that only creative types care about.

Yes, it tried to make a comparison with Measure of a Man, but it felt so over the top that it was hard to care or take it seriously.

It is SO wrong not to care about the idea of a possibly sentient hologram not being treated fairly, but in this episode, it's just hard to.

The ending scene with the holograms who are programmed to mine ore, just seems silly-- theyre also programmed to watch holo novels too? Lol

It's not among the worst episodes, I found it kind of funny, just among the silliest.

My primary grumble with TATV is that it was used as the series finale, but even if it were a regular episode there are still some serious flaws. It was a mistake trying to hamfist this story around the events of another episode, especially The Pegasus since there is no room in that episode for this stuff to happen. Seriously, Riker's pretty busy throughout the episode, and when he does have free time, that's covered in the episode too. But also, it was a mistake trying to make the audience ignore the fact that Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis had aged eleven years since the episode aired. Why they just didn't set the episode post-Nemesis on board the Titan with Riker watching the NX-01's final mission to help him deal with being separated from crewmates he'd served with for the past fifteen years will never have a satisfactory explanation.

When watching it, you think, "if Riker is facing this huge dilemma, and (assuming he has the time) he just has to watch a holodeck program, why would he choose this particular crew at that particular point?"

Out of all the possibilities to choose from to get advice and insight, why the Enterprise crew? It just seemed like a weird choice.

Also, if it was a holodeck recreation, then they didn't actually say and do all those things, since it was a --- recreation. The words, conversations, actions and expressions didn't happen, the computer just filled in a lot of parts.

 

[DS9forever]

I never had a problem with Time's Orphan. Not the best episode but not in the 'Worst ever' category. Maybe 30th percentile among all Trek.

Neither did I. The actress who played the older Molly was excellent. I think because the story was from an TNG story pitch and it seems very like TNG some people have a weird aversion to it.

 

[DS9forever]

ENT episodes:

TATV - a bizarre and wrongheaded concept. Not completely unwatchable, but a terrible series finale.
A Night in Sickbay - Archer pisses people off in this ep, but I love the Phlox stuff, and Porthos is always cute.
Zero Hour - First time I've ever seen this listed as a "worst". The Space Nazi twist after the climax is a real WTF moment, but the rest of the ep is pretty good.
Unexpected - This is actually a fairly popular ep among ENT fans.
Precious Cargo - Correct.
No mention of Extinction?

I must be the only man on Earth who adored Profit and Lace.

I enjoy every DS9 Ferengi episode, and I don't apologise for it.

Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik, Aron Eisenberg et al always gave good performances so I like Ferengi episodes too.

 

[eyeresist]

I must be the only man on Earth who adored Profit and Lace.

I enjoy every DS9 Ferengi episode, and I don't apologise for it.

Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik, Aron Eisenberg et al always gave good performances so I like Ferengi episodes too.

Exactly. It's some of the greatest comedy actors in the business having a ball. Shimerman is tops, of course!