TOS' worst episode.
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
The episode Miri isn't so bad in and of itself. It's just the portrayal of evil children and their annoying-as-hell phrases like "Bonk bonk on the head!" and "Yah yah yah yah yah yah...", "Blah, blah blah" that makes me want to rip their prepubescent little heads off.
^ That's pretty much it. Take those out of the script and it's not a bad story. It would've been interesting to get a little deeper into the old civilization and have more adventures in the search for a cure, but I suppose there's only so much you can do with an hour of TV time. Still, an enjoyable story.
Mr Awe
Mr Awe
The two are not comparable. When aired, "Shades of Gray" was showing clips we had seen, in some cases, only a month or two before. It felt like a rip-off, as clip shows often do. In "The Menagerie," the episode the footage came from had not been aired, would never be aired as far as anyone knew, and indeed would not be aired for 20 years.
The fact that people can watch "The Cage" before "The Menagerie" now doesn't invalidate the concept of the episode. When I saw "The Menagerie" as a kid, it was almost mind-blowing. This futuristic show also had a past, where everything was still futuristic but somehow also retro! It was a great experience and added so much depth to the series. Whereas when "Shades of Gray" was broadcast, I basically said "clip show" and changed the channel.
As for the "meaningfulness," Spock putting his life on the line out of loyalty to his old friend seems like a whole different level than Crusher doing her job to save a patient with no risk to anyone else.
BTW I don't recommend anyone start with "The Cage" if they are new to TOS.
The episode Miri isn't so bad in and of itself. It's just the portrayal of evil children and their annoying-as-hell phrases like "Bonk bonk on the head!" and "Yah yah yah yah yah yah...", "Blah, blah blah" that makes me want to rip their prepubescent little heads off.
When I watch it my brain filters out the retarded dialogue from the kids when I apply the 1960's lameness filter in my mind. A lot of the acting and dialogue is a bit silly by today's standards. I considered "Miri" my 257th favorite episode out of 703 episodes. According to when I ranked all of them with this tool http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-rank-creator-best-to-worst.285802/ Better than average. But I have "Menagarie" as dead last right down there with "shades of grey"
If we were having this conversation in the 1960's or 1970's I would agree. I'm judging the episode based on the entertainment value of today. Menagerie is sitting on the back of the entertainment value of episode "The Cage". Whenever they asked Spock a question during the hearing he would keep telling them to watch more of episode "The Cage". It kind of got sickening after a while.
I'd rather watch "shades of grey" than "Menagerie"
Spock may have risked his life and career to help Pike. But in "Shades of Grey" didn't Geordie do that too when he went down to the planet to find a sample of what infected Ruler? Plus Deanna was crying a lot so there's some more emotion there. We got to see a medical procedure on the brain and explored a new virus that is killed by nightmares and flourishes off of good dreams.
I put today's entertainment completely out of mind when I watch TOS and other classic masterpieces.
I enjoy both The Menagerie and The Cage. And I would say that The Menagerie actually has the edge for me when it comes to being entertaining, as it is a longer viewing experience, and it involves our more familiar protagonists and the colorful world of the post-pilot series.
Kor
Lol - Unlike "Shades of Grey" - "The Menagerie" has IT'S OWN interesting story involving the actions of Mr. Spock toward his former Captain (Christopher Pike) and the situation he puts himself and Captain Kirk (the Captain is responsible for any/all actions on board) as a result of Spock violating General Order 4.
"Shades of Grey" has Riker llaying on a bed - surrounded by probably the two worst characters from TNG (Pulaski and Troi) reviving 30 second to two minute clips from previous episodes.
Hardly comparable as 'clip shows' - especially when you consider the original pilot of Star Trek wasn't added to the TOS syndication package until about 30 years after it was made. But again, "The Menagerie"'s overall additional story hold up way better then the story of 'Riker in bed' from "Shades of Grey".
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Assignment Earth might be the worst. It wasn't even star Trek. I was actually offended by it that they would make a pilot for a shitty show within star trek. Gary seven was boring. His girl assistant was ditzy and hard to watch. The plot is downright retarded. The enterprise is back in time for no real reason other than the fact that they wanted to sell their shit pilot. Why doesnt the enterprise crew know the history about what is going to happen on that day? Just look it up. You went back in time for a reason.
It really was just a shameless promotion of a crappy show that never got made.
It really was just a shameless promotion of a crappy show that never got made.
To me "worst" means bad acting, bad writing, incoherent plot, annoying characters.
People seem to have a certain dislike for certain types of episodes regardless if they are actually bad or not. Menagerie is well made, well written, well acted, coherent and adds to the characters depth -- but because it contains "clips" somebody saw before -- it is "worst." --??
Assignment isn't a great episode, but it tells a story about Gary 7 and his mission. Lansing is a good actor and the plot is ok. Simply being a pilot that wasn't picked up doesn't make it worse than a terrible show like Mark of Gideon. Every type of logic is throw to the wind in that episode.
I don't think a person's annoyance of a particular episode puts in the worst group. That's my thinking. I can't stand Casablanca. It does nothing for me. But I can't say it's in the group of worst movies of the 1940s because it's not to my taste. It is well made for what it intends to be. I don't think Gideon, or Alternative are "good" for what they intend to be.
People seem to have a certain dislike for certain types of episodes regardless if they are actually bad or not. Menagerie is well made, well written, well acted, coherent and adds to the characters depth -- but because it contains "clips" somebody saw before -- it is "worst." --??
Assignment isn't a great episode, but it tells a story about Gary 7 and his mission. Lansing is a good actor and the plot is ok. Simply being a pilot that wasn't picked up doesn't make it worse than a terrible show like Mark of Gideon. Every type of logic is throw to the wind in that episode.
I don't think a person's annoyance of a particular episode puts in the worst group. That's my thinking. I can't stand Casablanca. It does nothing for me. But I can't say it's in the group of worst movies of the 1940s because it's not to my taste. It is well made for what it intends to be. I don't think Gideon, or Alternative are "good" for what they intend to be.
Whatever people say about Miri, out of the four episodes banned by the BBC in the seventies and eighties, it's the best one of the four for me anyway, I quite liked it!
JB
JB
Spot on - that's why The Empath ranks so poorly for me - it's just BORING
I wondered if they modernized the characters a bit if it would make a good on the side series
Ironically I just had watched assignment earth the morning of this post. There were a couple of parts I liked in that episode.
This part where they were faced with the dilemma of the right thing to do:
SEVEN: Impossible for you, not for them. Captain Kirk, I am of this time period. You are not. You interfere with me with what I have to do there, and you'll change history. You'll destroy the Earth and probably yourselves, too.
SPOCK: If what he says is true, Captain, every second we delay him could be dangerous.
KIRK: And if he's lying?
SEVEN: This is the most critical period in Earth's history. The planet I'm from wants to help Earth survive.
KIRK: What if it turns out you're an invading alien from the future?
SPOCK: A most difficult decision, Captain.
KIRK: I can't beam you down without further proof one way or the other. Security confinement.
SECURITY: This way, please.
KIRK: Sickbay.
And this part where Kirk was forced to trust Seven:
COMPUTER: Altitude four hundred miles.
SEVEN: There are only seconds. I'll need time to set it.
ROBERTA: Please. He's telling the truth.
COMPUTER: Fifty five seconds to impact.
KIRK: Spock, if you can't handle it, I'm going to have to trust him.
SPOCK: It is difficult to know which is best, Captain.
COMPUTER: Forty seconds to impact.
SPOCK: Without facts, the decision cannot be made logically. You must rely on your human intuition.
COMPUTER: Altitude three hundred miles. Descending and accelerating.
KIRK: Go.
COMPUTER: Thirty seconds and accelerating.
Going back to "The Menagerie"... When I watch an episode I do it to watch that episode, not that episode. There's only so many clips from previous episodes I can tolerate. I would say voyager episode "Conspiracy" is slightly beyond my threshold of older footage I can tolerate in an episode.
Nah, it's Plato's Stepchildren which is the worst episode of not only season three but the whole of TOS in itself!
JB
JB
The TV spin-off series from assignment earth would have been silly and dumb. But except for star trek, what series from the 60's wasn't?
Plato's Stepchildren had some historic significance for having the first interracial kiss on TV ever.
It had a decent looking villain too I thought
I liked when she did bad things and smirked. Err naughty girl
Plato's Stepchildren had some historic significance for having the first interracial kiss on TV ever.
It had a decent looking villain too I thought
I liked when she did bad things and smirked. Err naughty girl
The Defenders, The Twilight Zone, The Loner, Route 66, East Side/West Side, Slattery's People, The Bold Ones...
It wasn't.
http://www.agonybooth.com/tvs-first-interracial-kiss-star-trek-27382
http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2014/11/tvs-first-interracial-kiss.html
(The second link is my blog, but the first is not).
Ah ok one of the first interracial kisses on television then. TV specials lied to me about that one. I was thinking twilight zone too but it tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Most shows back then were pie in the face, people acting dumb, and laughing in the background type stuff.
I need to go with Turnabout Intruder upon some further reflection. It's the series finale (even though such a concept wasn't really the same back in 69) and it really has very little "Star Trek" elements in it. But, the worst part is that in the FINAL episode...Kirk isn't even Kirk. Our hero and the star of the series has his body stolen by a lunatic ex-girlfriend.
Ugh....no....
Ugh....no....
I love it. Of all the episodes some people hate, I consider "Miri" the best one by far. [Except for "The Menagerie"; hating that one is a new thing I've never seen outside this thread, and it seems contained to one poster.]
Back to "Miri": I like Kim Darby and Michael J. Pollard a lot. Both went on to be movie stars, at least briefly. Darby with John Wayne and Pollard with Robert Redford. Pollard was also great on Lost in Space. "The Magic Mirror" is easily a top-ten episode of that series.
I like the weird challenge of this alien disease instead of another villain like Trelane or Garth of Izar. Add in outdoor shooting instead of Stage 10. And the ruins of modernity (in re-dressed Mayberry), like something out of The Omega Man or I Am Legend.
I also like the eerie developmental stasis the children have fallen into, and I even like their chants. If you froze real-life youth culture at any given point, the supreme stupidity of it would be obvious. And if prepubescent children were left to carry on, these idiotic catch phrases would calcify and encrust what little structure and social order they could come up with. As such, the chants are good science fiction. I also happen to find them hilarious.
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