Trek episode with most UNEXECUTED potential??

[Shawnster]

Seeing "Unification" brought up reminded me about "Relics". Not so much the Scotty arc, which is...
Ah, also the Cytherians from "The Nth Degree". A significantly advanced race we simply never hear from again.

Nor their tech knowledge. I mean, come on, didn't the holodeck and the Enterprise computer have a keystroke logger? If Barclay could build a spacefold drive using just what was available on the Enterprise, then it really wasn't that much beyond their current tech.

Even if they were afraid of not being able to use the tech safely, wouldn't the next logical step be build a few test ships?


You know, kinda like the Discovery and the spore drive.

Heck, Voyager has the Sulu era Excelsior logs, but doesn't have the computer data for Reg's fold drive?

 

[DonIago]

No doubt the first thing Reg did was turn off the logs, heh.

 

[Vger23]

"Conspiracy" should have been a mini arc. Could have been a lot of elements of "Homefront" in there. It's potential was wasted trying to cram it in to a 1-hour episode.

"Will You Take My Hand" had a massive amount of unexecuted potential.

"The Alternative Factor" was a cool, chilling idea that just fell absolutely apart in execution.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^But what of Lazarus? What of Lazarus?

 

[Paul Weaver]

A couple crewmembers died throughout the years who could have been an interesting choice to bring back.

Or those that vanished.

They could have had Samantha Wildman die in one episode (and all the grief of actually losing someone that matters, including how naiomi copes), then come back some time later with a Lindsay Ballad incident.

All of voyager was a lost potential. While DS9 cultivated a diverse and interesting support cast, voyager - who had a mere 150 people on board, barely showed the same guest twice.

They did do a better job early on, with loose arcs (seska, paris, kazon etc), but that all died off by season 3, with Pathfinder and the Torres/Paris relationship being the only real progress made.

Year of Hell was a reset, what a waste - by all means fix rthe ship at an alien shipyard (minor set changes), get Tuvok a visor and spend time showing him struggling to cope, make Janeway actually learn from the experience.

 

[bb-kneekey_pea]

Had this episode been done in Next Gen, it likely would have ended with the transporter merged character starting to suffer some kind of life threatening condition and the only way to "save" him would be trying to unmerge him. The merged character would make the ultimate sacrifice saying something along the lines of "I'm going to die anyway so if there's is any chance of getting the two others back, then do it".

As an aside, I would have taken Tuvix over either Neelix or Tuvok. You are getting rid of one highly annoying character and perhaps Tuvix would have actually been a competent security chief.

The hypothetical TNG episode you're describing actually kind of sounds like what happens in that episode of ENT called Similitude, where Trip is cloned in some way and is going to die anyhow so he's like reluctantly like "ok i guess i'll die to bring back the real trip" which I also had issues with as with Tuvix, but it wasn't quite as horrendous as what the VOY crew does IMO.

Also totally agree, Tuvix seemed far more competent and wayyyy more likeable, total missed opportunity!

 

[Valenti]

I actually thought Tuvix should have been more conflicted and took over the ship and forced the crew to separate him again like he would have wanted.
I thought Trip should have had that baby who we could have seen later on grown up to become an Ambassador or something.
I thought the Doctor should have given that race the cure in 'Dear Doctor'. Who is he to play God? Really..
I thought that old man who lived with that holographic society that disappeared should have been forced to leave his family there with appropriate repercussions somehow. They're not real. I don't care if they were real to him. He could have taken the program with him but not left there. Just wrong..
There's a lot more. Can't think of them right now.

 

[bb-kneekey_pea]

I actually thought Tuvix should have been more conflicted and took over the ship and forced the crew to separate him again like he would have wanted.
I thought Trip should have had that baby who we could have seen later on grown up to become an Ambassador or something.

I 100% agree, would have loved to see Trip as a single parent and watching him deal with the harsh realities of carrying a baby to term would have made a great plot.

 

[Sakonna]

I think I'd go with DS9 "Let He Who Is Without Sin." You can't really top that for unexecuted potential, in that the entire episode is supposed to be about sex, yet it's so chaste you can't even have a man shirtless at the beach. There's no point in doing a completely neutered sex episode.

"Birthright Part II" over on TNG would actually be my runner-up -- another shitty installment that totally trashes Worf! He is so awful and racist here, and it's not worth it because they fail to do anything dramatically interesting with his racism. And I loved where Data's story had left off and was DYING to see what happened next with his dream exploration, and nothing. Honestly I think I was 35 minutes into the hour before I finally admitted we weren't doing more with Data. AND they couldn't do another scene with James Cromwell's awesome Yridiian character because he injured himself! So many failures.

"Fury" on VOY is another good one. This is dead on:

Not so much that it was an episode I would re-write but more one I don't think enhanced the character of Kes. It was better she left the way she did OR had stayed actually.

I was no longer regularly watching Voyager in season 6, but was super excited when I heard Kes was doing another ep and made a point to watch. It really would have been better to not bring her back at all, "The Gift" was a perfect character exit, which "Fury" retroactively destroyed while adding nothing.

Minus Chain of Command, I can't think of a single TNG two parter where the second episode was as good as the first.

There's "Gambit", of which both halves are equally mediocre.

 

[at Quark's]

What about the opposite? Episodes without much of any potential, but that were still quite watchable because of almost perfect execution ?

 

[DonIago]

That's a different thread.

 

[Borg]

I always thought VOY's Relativity episode should have been a two-parter. I loved everything about that episode -- the design of the future Starfleet uniforms & the USS Relativity, Captain Braxton, Seven in a Starfleet uniform (*drools*).

So while I thought it was a great episode, it could have been better IMO.

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

I think Angel One could have been great if it wasn't for the ridiculous ending. There was probably more potential throughout as well. Show the male characters struggling even more to be taken seriously. Basically have almost everything ignored, until a female officer confirmed the same information. But the ending is the real problem.

 

[Brennyren]

I'm going to go with Voyager's "Alliances." I thought the concept potentially represented an interesting conflict for Janeway and her Starfleet ideals: do we risk affecting the balance of power in this quadrant for the sake of our own survival? But in the end, there was no real choice to be made. KJ and her crew showed remarkably little insight or skepticism, being taken in by a group of unctuous baddies so easily that I half-wondered if KJ was deliberately sabotaging any attempt at forming alliances. (Seriously? She actually proposed the notoriously untrustworthy Seska and Culluh as possible allies!) Everything falls through, surprise surprise, and the episode ends with a smug little speech about how Voyager will be much better off if they always stay exactly the same.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think Angel One could have been great if it wasn't for the ridiculous

a) plot.
b) costumes.
c) acting.
d) [insert additonal option here]
e) All of the above.

 

[Borg]

a) plot
b) costumes
c) acting
d) [insert additonal option here]
e) all of the above

 

[Hey Missy]

VOY Dragon's Teeth should've been a two-hour movie event as originally planned. I understand budget and whatnot, but then they go and make not one, but two of those offensive Fair Haven episodes to fill the 26-episode quota.

 

[Valenti]

I used to like Dragon's teeth 'till I read a synopsis of a book by Charles Shefield sp? with the exact same premise. How do they get away with it? I liked all the Fair Haven episodes. They were excellent sci-fi fare that I thought really made you think.

 

[DonIago]

"Spirit Folk" made me think, but not in a good way...

 

[Paul Weaver]

Spirit folk should have been the crew getting drunk while drinking various spirits