The Most Disliked TNG Episode - Season 5...

[Farscape One]

This is a twist on a game that is played here, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

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 most favorite or the one you deem the 'best.' 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, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

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

Hall of Champions (or Failures?)
2011 - "Shades Of Gray"
2018 - "The Outrageous Okona"
2019 - "Code of Honor"

Season Five -

Redemption II
Darmok
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cause And Effect
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

[Farscape One]

I will get the ball rolling by saving "Darmok". I have always loved this episode. Great performances by Stewart and Winfield, and a superb way of making the Universal Translater useless. I always love episodes rooted in mythology, and the Tamarian use of it is quite clever... a hallmark of Joe Menosky, one of my favorite writers of the franchise.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cause And Effect
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

[Armus]

Conundrum utilizes the cast better than any other episode in season 5. It has mystery, a clever premise, some humor and a little romance. My hands down favorite season 5 episode. "Perhaps we should not jump to conclusions, I am decorated as well!"

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society

Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cause And Effect
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

[Seven of Five]

I love Cause and Effect so that's an easy save. I love how each time we see the characters repeat everything again, is shot just differently enough to keep in visually interesting. The mystery is a joy to watch unfold, and poor Enterprise gets blowed-up-good over and over.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

[swanjun]

"The Inner Light" is lovely, with a moving performance by Patrick Stewart. I especially love that, unlike some standalone episodes where a character's experience does not stick with them, Picard holds onto that flute and we see it again several times.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[BigDaveX]

The First Duty, regardless of what you might think about Wesley, is a very well-crafted character piece that illustrates just how powerful peer pressure can be.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[Sakonna]

First I must save "The Game" -- the first Star Trek episode I ever saw! I still love it. It was weirdly ahead of it's time, too. The knock against it used to be "the game design and graphics are so stupid, who could ever get addicted to something this simplistic?" Then, iPhone games were invented.

It is a bit weird that I initially thought the leads of this series were Wesley and Robin Lefler, though.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[swanjun]

I'm saving "Ensign Ro" 'cos I just really like her, dangit. I like her coming clean to Picard and the relationship that forms between them, as well as learning more about the Bajoran/Cardassian situation.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[Seven of Five]

I love I, Borg so much that I think the rest of the world heard me shout in excitement at the Picard trailer. I just like that Picard and even Guinan can't hurt Hugh, and they decide to send him back. I love his friendship with Geordi as well.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[BigDaveX]

A Matter of Time, which may be a pretty stock story as time-travel episodes go, but is really elevated by Matt Frewer's work as Rasmussen.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[Armus]

Violations was a striking episode in its execution. Arguably the best directed episode of season 5. And it was a good mystery and a unique take on rape.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship

The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[swanjun]

"Disaster" has a lot for everyone to do, including a stint at command for Troi, which was much appreciated. Too, the fact that Worf ends up delivering Molly O'Brien forms the basis for a great callback in the DS9 ep "Accession."

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
Time's Arrow

 

[DonIago]

"The Next Phase" will proceed no further. Great chemistry between Geordi and Ro (it's a shame we never got to see more of this), a fairly interesting tech situation (and not the last time we'd see phasing cloak tech), a lovely remembrance party for them and I love that they get to crash it. Overall, my only real concern is that there's not really a good explanation for why they don't fall through the floors.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
Time's Arrow

 

[BigDaveX]

Much like Best of Both Worlds II, Redemption II may not be up to the standards set by the first half, but it's still a pretty solid story overall, and Data's subplot stands out in particular.

Silicon Avatar
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
Time's Arrow

 

[Armus]

Power Play has a cool sci-fi premise, a great score, and some memorable action scenes.

Silicon Avatar
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society

Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
Time's Arrow

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll save Time's Arrow. It's a fun enough episode, even with an average cliffhanger.

Silicon Avatar
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I’ll save Ethics. I like the discussion on medical testing without consent and the exploration of Worf’s character.

Silicon Avatar
Unification I
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend

 

[Sakonna]

I love "Unification I"! The quest vibe of it, the world-building on Romulus, that cliffhanger! I find it super satisfying. Saving that.

I love I, Borg so much that I think the rest of the world heard me shout in excitement at the Picard trailer. I just like that Picard and even Guinan can't hurt Hugh, and they decide to send him back. I love his friendship with Geordi as well.

I think early exposure to "I, Borg" was essential to my moral development as a human. Not many episodes of TV that I can say that of! And not even to necessarily endorse all the decisions made in this... decades later and I'm still contemplating the counter-argument...

Overall, my only real concern is that there's not really a good explanation for why they don't fall through the floors.

In my head I'm always fanwanking something about unique properties of the gravity plating that affects them even in their phased state.

Silicon Avatar
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend

 

[Armus]

I thought Cost of Living was an entertaining hour of television. Could have done without the mudbath though.

Silicon Avatar
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Outcast
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend

 

[Vger23]

Silicon Avatar
Unification II
New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Outcast
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend

I will save Unification II. While it failed to live up to the promise of the first half, it still is lightyears ahead of some of the dross left on this list.