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Episodes that are generally considered "bad" that you actually like

Which is why "Dear Doctor" always stood out o me as quite odd in light of the tenants of evolution.

Dear Doctor really never should have mentioned evolution. It was nothing but a blatant distraction from the actual crux of the episode, which was that the overclass were holding the underclass back and preventing them from living free lives.
 
"Spock's Brain" is hilarious, in a Plan 9 From Outer Space kind of way.

The core of it was a smart idea misunderstood by Braga. That is that evolution is not - despite how the word is used - about becoming more advanced. There are plenty of examples of creatures which have evolved to become more simple, like parasites.

That said, the part he didn't get was that evolution is about adaptation to the environment over, many, many generations. There's no way any sort of particles or radiation or whatever could cause you to mutate into exactly what your great great X10,000,000 grandchild would be like.

Exactly. Evolution is a process of adaptation through natural selection. It's not necessarily a continuous climb toward some predestined goal. We are not necessarily destined to become big-brained energy beings or whatever. It's about change, not advancement.
Agree with both of you, for exactly those reasons.

"Threshold" is nowhere near as dire as it's generally considered to be (I can think of several far worse episodes). The fact it falls in a heap toward the end with the "evolution"-into -salamanders twaddle shouldn't detract from that, but it's been built up into such a colossal train wreck that no one - even Braga and co - seems to remember it has positives as well. People have just decided it's crap and that's that, but really there are plenty of far worse episodes.
 
The Ferengi were presented as a joke from the very start when they were jumping around like a bunch of crazy monkeys.
Nope. They were presented as a potential threat. First we see their ship which is implied could stand against the Enterprise. Then we meet Tarr, who is hostile but also intelligent. The actions of the ones on the surface were admittedly bad. The Battle featured Bok who was eventually removed from command by a serious and intelligent Kazago. So they had laws. In Rascals, Lurin threatened to execute the crew, but he was a rogue. In Suspicions, Reyga was a smart and likable character. I could go on.

I think people are viewing TNG Ferengi through the DS9 filter, which turned them into space clowns.
 
Nope. They were presented as a potential threat. First we see their ship which is implied could stand against the Enterprise. Then we meet Tarr, who is hostile but also intelligent. The actions of the ones on the surface were admittedly bad. The Battle featured Bok who was eventually removed from command by a serious and intelligent Kazago. So they had laws. In Rascals, Lurin threatened to execute the crew, but he was a rogue. In Suspicions, Reyga was a smart and likable character. I could go on.

I think people are viewing TNG Ferengi through the DS9 filter, which turned them into space clowns.

You forgot to mention (on purpose?) the most ridiculous ones, like "The Perfect Mate" and "Menage a Troi" where the Ferengi are really played as a joke. I mean you can't find any redeeming qualities in the Ferengi in either of these episodes, can you? In Rascals, the Ferengi are stupid, like the one who listens for a very long time to Riker talking in gibberish. They apparently commandeer the ship very easily but then like all badly written villains all they do is farting around waiting for things to happen. As for the very first episode where we see them, it's marred by their stupid jumping around...
Bok is bizarre almost unfenregi like in his obsession with Picard and yes he may be the least ridiculous of the lot for the entire series. Reyga seems so unlike the other Ferengi that you could have made him of any other race and the story would have remained the same. He doesn't have any specific traits of the Ferengi, sort of like Leck from Ds9. But Leck was created for laughs.
 
I really love 'Move Along Home'. There's so much wrong with it, but it's fun seeing how each character reacts, and I find the touch of old school TOS silliness kinda refreshing. I also love thinking about what'll happen when the aliens pull that **** on the Romulans or Cardassians.

Always thought the Klingons would kinda get a kick out of it.
 
"Spock's Brain"! It's so bad that it's good!

Not to mention one of the funniest lines of TOS: "brain and brain what is brain?"
 
There are episodes that I think are bad, and that I like nonetheless. VOY's "threshold" for example. It's bad. And it breaks continuity like "Into Darkness" or the spore drive, and real science (evolution) even more. But it's fun all the way through, and way more memorable (in a good way!) than many of the "better", more mediocre episodes. Paris/Janeway baby-lizards all the way!
 
There are episodes that I think are bad, and that I like nonetheless. VOY's "threshold" for example. It's bad. And it breaks continuity like "Into Darkness" or the spore drive, and real science (evolution) even more. But it's fun all the way through, and way more memorable (in a good way!) than many of the "better", more mediocre episodes. Paris/Janeway baby-lizards all the way!

I've always thought of Threshold like the opposite of The Inner Light. Inner Light is one I don't really enjoy much; it's a great concept, but I find the bulk of the story pretty boring and think it only really comes together at the end. Threshold only gets really bad by the end, but it does at least stay entertaining throughout.
 
"Sub Rosa". Star Trek gets spooky. It makes for a good Halloween episode. It was weird seeing Data and Geordi at the gravesite with the reanimated corpse. But that added to the charm or bizarreness of the episode. The romance part might have been a bit cheesy, but overall, it was a good attempt at mixing scifi and a ghost story.
 
"Sub Rosa". Star Trek gets spooky. It makes for a good Halloween episode. It was weird seeing Data and Geordi at the gravesite with the reanimated corpse. But that added to the charm or bizarreness of the episode. The romance part might have been a bit cheesy, but overall, it was a good attempt at mixing scifi and a ghost story.
What's the one where the crew starts hallucinating, like Crusher sees dead bodies sitting up? I'll have to look it up but that's a good Halloween one too.
 
What's the one where the crew starts hallucinating, like Crusher sees dead bodies sitting up? I'll have to look it up but that's a good Halloween one too.

Yes, you're right it's only second to The Catspaw which in my opinion is the most Halloweeny of all episodes.
 
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