The least disliked episode of ENT - Season Three

This is a game that we play every few years, and it's generally a lot of fun, providing a chance to mentally revisit those episodes you may not have thought about in a while. With that in mind, why not play again?

So, here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your least favorite or the one you deem the 'worst.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, please leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode just because you feel they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Hall of Champions
2011 - United
2013 - Azati Prime
2017 - Azati Prime
2019 -

Season Three

The Xindi
Anomaly
Extinction
Rajiin
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Twilight
North Star
Similitude
Carpenter Street
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor's Orders
Hatchery
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

I am happy get rid of "NORTH STAR" first. I just never really liked the episode.


The Xindi
Anomaly
Extinction
Rajiin
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Carpenter Street
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor's Orders
Hatchery
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

Extinction is, in a word, embarrassing.

The Xindi
Anomaly
Rajiin
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Carpenter Street
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor's Orders
Hatchery
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

I really dislike Carpenter Street. I find it hard to pay attention during this one.

The Xindi
Anomaly
Rajiin
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor's Orders
Hatchery
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

I really dislike "Hatchery." It has such a promising Trek morality play set-up, and then just wastes it all with gimmicky plot devices. It's such a frustrating missed opportunity, it could have been so great.

The Xindi
Anomaly
Rajiin
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor's Orders
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

I am not crazy about Rajiin. PLus it doesn't make sense, the reptiles could have blown up the ship like it was nothing but they chose to get their "spy" back and leave.

The Xindi
Anomaly
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor's Orders
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

The Xindi
Anomaly
Impulse
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor's Orders
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

Exile - unlike a couple of S3 off-arc episodes I still like and enjoy (*cough* Carpenter St/North Star), I don't think I've watched this in any re-runs. Felt stilted and awkward back then (weird B&B stockholm syndrome thing with Hoshi and alien) and doubt has changed

 

Plus it's a rip off of Voyager's "Alter Ego" with Hoshi as Tuvok.

 

May I ask what would you rather like to see?

 

Maybe if Archer's efforts to preserve the Hatchery had been recognized by the insectoids and helped turn the tide among the Xindi. Something like that.

 

Doctor's Orders is a strange one. They basically did it better on VOY when it was called One.

The Xindi
Anomaly
Impulse
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E²
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

Sure! Something that involved the characters making actual choices about what to do re: the hatchery. The episode as presented tilts so extreme, and just becomes another Trek episode where one of our characters falls under alien mind control, and then must be freed from it somehow.

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE a Trek mind control/possession/etc episode. That's a favorite trope of mine. But it felt like a waste to open with such a compelling moral dilemma, and then resolve it with "NEVERMIND MIND CONTROL!" The setup of this one is just so tantalizing! I wanted the characters to authentically have conflicting views about what to do, and to struggle to decide on a course of action. By having Archer go soooooooooo crazy, they foreclosed those possibilities.

Oh god, so true. "One" is a Voyager favorite of mine and I hate seeing a lousy copy of it, "Doctor's Orders" was going to be my next elimination. But instead it'll be "E²." I think this ep is terribly placed within the larger arc, just stops the momentum dead for this temporal tangent.

Anomaly
Impulse
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

"Impulse" aka "Zombie Vulcans". I don't like Zombies, Vulcan or otherwise. It's become such a cliché!!!

The Xindi
Anomaly
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

Fair point! Nevertheless, they let him go more than once over his moral boundaries at the Expanse, he became murder, torturer, marauder. Would it be believable, if he protects the life of some insectoid eggs? Well, why not if it is good written..

The Xindi
Anomaly
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
Countdown
Zero Hour

I really like The Council, but they shouldn't kill Degra!

 

"HARBINGER" goes. The stuff with the Sphere Builder was okay, but everything else just felt wrong to me.

The Xindi
Anomaly
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

The Xindi was a stagnant way to start the season of the exciting new direction.

Anomaly
The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

"Anomaly" They really seemed to struggle with setting this all up initially, it felt a bit ridiculous just how many bizarre properties they gave the Expanse.

The Shipment
Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

Having got rid of some favourite solo/off-arc episodes, 'The Shipment' . Not terrible but a perfunctory 'we'll set up for future episodes' story. Not a huge fan of 'Similitude' either, but it definitely has more dramatic heft than this episode.

Twilight
Similitude
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

"Chosen Realm" because I can't believe that sensitive information on the Enterprise's computer is so badly protected than any backward alien hick can just hack it and delete it. You're in the middle of a war zone and you don't put copies of your important info on some 22nd century equivalent of a hard drive stored in a safe place? Oh, come on!! Plus the guy seems pretty handy with the computer but somehow he missed the fact that transporters are meant to transport people not to kill them?

Twilight
Similitude
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
Countdown
Zero Hour

 

Lots of strong episodes left now. I'll eliminate Zero Hour for the strange alien Nazi cliffhanger.

Twilight
Similitude
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
Countdown