The Least Disliked "Alien Illusion" Episode

Next elimination game: "Alien Illusion's" Over the years, Star Trek has found MANY different ways to show us the characters experiencing altered realities -- most of which have become lists we played already. We have done Holodeck episodes, we have done Q episodes, we have done it's-happening-inside-my-mind episodes, and now @Farscape One and I have compiled a list of the other illusory realities aliens have created for our characters over the years.

THE RULES. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. Below is a list of episodes from TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT, in which the characters experience some form of physical or holographic altered reality manifested from an aliens powers or technology. 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.
Enjoy!

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 2: “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 1: “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG, Season 7: “Masks”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “The Storyteller”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 4: “Living Witness”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”
ENT, Season 1: “Unexpected”
ENT, Season 1: “Oasis”

 

So many to choose from! I think I'll start with TAS, Season 1: “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu”. That was a really bad episode (even for a cartoon) on so many levels.

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 2: “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG, Season 7: “Masks”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “The Storyteller”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 4: “Living Witness”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”
ENT, Season 1: “Unexpected”
ENT, Season 1: “Oasis”

 

Since none of the Talosian illusions ultimately have a physical dimension, they were already on the "It's Happening In My Mind!" list.

Maybe I settled on the wrong title for this one. I was sitting there like, "Alien Holodeck? Alien Physical Simulation?" Nothing felt quite right. This, the mind list, and the holodeck list initially all started as one huge list, too long to play as a single game, so we set about finding a logical way to break them up -- a tricky thing given how vague the explanation often is for what's behind a lot of these false realities. This split (Fed Holodeck/Inside Mind/Alien Physical Simulation) seemed like the way where we had the least overlap between categories, though there is still some of that...

I'm going to get rid of "The Storyteller." Ugh, so stupid. And annoyingly out-of-sync with everything else we see of Bajor. Those scenes confronting the Dal'Rok are so wince-inducing.

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 2: “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG, Season 7: “Masks”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 4: “Living Witness”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”
ENT, Season 1: “Unexpected”
ENT, Season 1: “Oasis”

 

Removing Unexpected.

We're doing a prequel Star Trek where they don't have all the technology in the later series yet!
(Literally episode four)
HOLODECKS!

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 2: “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG, Season 7: “Masks”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 4: “Living Witness”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”
ENT, Season 1: “Oasis”

 

So long "Living Witness". An episode that I missed during Voyager's first run, it never lived up to the hype or praise heaped on it.

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 2: “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG, Season 7: “Masks”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”
ENT, Season 1: “Unexpected”
ENT, Season 1: “Oasis”

 

"OASIS" goes. It's a pale shadow of the DS9 episode it derives itself from. (Pun intended.)

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 2: “Who Mourns For Adonais?”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG, Season 7: “Masks”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

That's rough! You can't just start eliminating the best episodes in this sad list, you maniac!

I'll cut "who mourns for Adonais" because I've never once heard a star trek fan pronounce this correctly. It aint hard.

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG, Season 7: “Masks”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”
ENT, Season 1: “Unexpected”
ENT, Season 1: “Oasis”

 

Reposting to remove "Unexpected" and "Oasis", which were mistakenly re-added...

And I guess I'll ax "Masks" while I'm at it. It seems like it should be so-bad-it's-good, but I don't think I've ever been able to get through it on a rewatch!

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 2: “The Royale”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

Eliminating "The Royale," which is just too boring to remain in the contest. It's another one that seems like it should at least be "so bad it's good," but is, in fact, just bad.

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

My bad. It was Bill's fault!

 

Why not "Sub Rosa", the ickiest episode of the entire 9000 episodes of the franchise? (A ghost creating a corporeal illusion?) I so need to rewatch that one, the dude who played Charles in "V" is always good for playing such horrendous dialogue with enough panache to make it all passable, if not less risible.

Anyhoo, TNG, Season 3: “The Bonding” is a surprisingly weak story from the Ronald D Moore, if not the weakest. Though on the flip side, Worf adopting that child instead of how Alexander was poorly thrown into the show (the actors did marvels with the scripts but the treatment of the character sucked and that's not the actors' fault) might have been better by the time they were searching for new ideas and format in season 4 onward.


What's left;

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 5: “In The Flesh”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

"IN THE FLESH" is skinned alive. While the conference room scene was very tense, the rest of the episode was not as good. The others on the list have more going for them.


TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TOS, Season 3: “The Savage Curtain”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

"The Savage Curtain" is gone. Cringe-worthy doesn't begin to explain what is wrong with this one.

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
DS9, Season 1: “Move Along Home”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

Move Along Home, I can't believe it made it this far. It was embarrassingly bad, the singing, the hopping, the fact that the senior staff was kidnapped by visitors and there where no consequences. The trauma from thinking you're in mortal danger is nothing, it's just a game after all.


TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
TNG, Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

I will still always defend "MOVE ALONG HOME".

"Future Imperfect" is gone. While a good enough episode, the rest stand out more to me.


TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

DS9, Season 1: “If Wishes Were Horses” doesn't do it for me. For one thing the story doesn't make much sense. And the fat baseball player!! Oh wait!

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”

 

Catspaw has been struck by the transmuter. I actually like this episode a lot, but it's super cheesy

TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood"

Sub-Rosa is awesome, but there's a trick to finding the jewel in it.

 

"Sub Rosa" is a favorite guilty pleasure ep of mine, but I don't think Ronin is manifesting any physical illusions, outside of himself. He's changing his own form, he's causing storms by using the weather system, he's possessing other bodies, he's filling a house with flowers through unclear means (but they could easily be just physical flowers he gathered). But I'm not sure he's actually creating anything false, beyond his own image (which we left off as a qualifier, so as not to pull in every shapeshifting alien).

Hmmm, maybe shapeshifting aliens is it's own list later...

 

The -- ah, lease -- of "Where Silence Has Lease" has expired. Nagilum is cheesy-looking, and his motivations don't make sense.

TOS, Season 1: “Shore Leave”
TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos”
TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun”
TAS, Season 2: “Once Upon A Planet”
TNG, Season 2: “Where Silence Has Lease”
TNG, Season 3: “The Survivors”
DS9, Season 2: “Shadowplay”
VOY, Season 7: “Flesh And Blood”