Game The Most Disliked Wedding Episode/Movie

[Sakonna]

Next up in these themed elimination games: WEDDING (or alien wedding-equivalent-ceremony) EPISODES.

THE RULES. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. Below are a list of Star Trek episodes featuring weddings (or attempted weddings, or alien-ceremony equivalent). Eliminate your 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.

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 it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win.

Much thanks to @Farscape One for vetting the list with me.
Enjoy!

TOS, Season 1: “Balance Of Terror”
TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 5: “Call To Arms”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Blood Fever”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Oof: House of Quark.

 

[Sakonna]

Oof: House of Quark.

Oh yeah, added! I really spaced on that one, I had even randomly checked “Par’Mach” at the last minute...

 

[Tenacity]

Star Trek Nemesis, we unfortunately never saw the wedding, just the reception.

Similar with Amok Time, unless Spock's interupted striking of the gong was going to be the conclusion of the wedding ceremony.

From the list, I choose VOY, Season 3: “Blood Fever”

 

[Sakonna]

Yeah, interrupted weddings or partial celebrations seemed to fit.

I'll save "Call To Arms", Trek's best finale cliffhanger. Even better than BOBW to my eyes!

It's funny, the wedding element was actually the one thing I didn't like, upon first viewing, but I've really embraced it over the years. I'm gotten on board with the copying of "Casablanca" somehow, it totally works on me these days!

TOS, Season 1: “Balance Of Terror”
TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Thank you, @Sakonna

I'm saving Home. Looking at the ceremony itself, it is perhaps the one "Star Trek" wedding I would have liked to have had for myself. Not too stagey, not too oriental, and it managed to worked the drama in very well. All the clothing was wonderful.

TOS, Season 1: “Balance Of Terror”
TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Star Trek Nemesis, we unfortunately never saw the wedding, just the reception.

Arguably aren't receptions part of the wedding ritual?

 

[Farscape One]

I think everyone by now knows I will save a Data episode, so "Data's Day" is my first save of this game.

A lot went on here... the O'Briens' wedding, the Romulan situation, Data trying to find a gift and learning to dance. Even a birth occured. And it all worked! Having it told from the perspective of the only person who can be awake and alert every minute of every day was fitting.


TOS, Season 1: “Balance Of Terror”
TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Qonundrum]

TOS, Season 1: “Balance Of Terror”

Let's see... there's a nice narrative subtext discussing racism... or rather two, noting when Spock advocates to attack because it involves his own species and the different social tract it took... these alone make the episode a must-see. There's also a Romulan commander who would see Kirk as a friend in another time and place because they're similar (even down to the same brand of beer they guzzle)... and John Hoyt as the Centurion for Mark Lenard's commander to bounce ideas off of (they're a great double act).

Not to mention a series of great cat and mouse chases that are gripping, phenomenally so for 1966 and still holds up well today...

Romulans who, for their first appearance, are given a nice sense of poetry, some depth, and even a sense of chess playing that would not be revisited in any major level until TNG... (they're good in "The Enterprise Incident" but "Balance of Terror" just does them a bit better.)

...Oh, and of course, a cliched tacky cornball (tackball?) wedding trope where, go fig, it's the hubby-to-be that snuffs it and leaving the widow to bawl at the end because that's to be expected. Plot-by-numbers. A hubby-to-be that's also her CO, leading to yet another awkward situation. But the hokey marriage subplot definitely just would not have been made any other way., which is sad because regardless of how they could have played it out it would have been equally cod and/or insulting. For 1966, having a female as CO was already shown but they wouldn't show her over a man... or keeping that separate and as an aside, showing a man whose life-partner-to-be was killed would also not be allowed because men are supposed to be robots with no emotions. And being season 1 Desilu didn't want to lose out. (Lucy was angry at "All in the Family" for upending "norms" too... but before I get into a 20 paragraph degree thesis...)

On the flip side, the marriage in play was to show how significantly lives could be impacted, even in the dangers of outer space. Being 1966, even showing this bog standard subplot would still sell a wider scale and in ways that just wouldn't feel authentic today. But it did feel authentic back then. Still, was it really all that needed when the rest of the episode is a taut masterpiece and covering so many points of view and with some depth to its characterizations, with the time from the marriage subplot devoted to more on racism and chess topics? Perhaps... or perhaps not, the risk of padding would be there - if not diluting these topics. The marriage one is arguably one that was deftly handled when all is considered.

Lastly, I apologize for the lack of silly jokes. I'll make up for it later...

What's left waiting at the altar:

TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Sakonna]

I'm feeling pretty charmed by the Sisko/Kasidy "the gods be damned!" wedding right now (and by their whole relationship really), so will save "'Til Death Do Us Part." Using the Emissary's wedding to bring Winn onto the station was clever.

TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Saving Course: Oblivion.

The only time Voyager dared to be dark.

TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Seven of Five]

Amok Time is one of my favourite episodes, with our first look at Vulcan, and its customs.

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Farscape One]

My next save going to be each of the ones just done. And for a lot of the same reasons!

So now I go to my next, next, next, next, next one, which is "THE HOUSE OF QUARK".

A great Quark adventure, with priceless scenes such as him explaining finance to the High Council.

But my real reason is O'Brien. He just wanted to make his wife happy. He did all sorts of things to make this happen, ultimately going with Bashir's advice. And THAT was a great dialogue exchange.

How can anyone not love Miles O'Brien? A good man, through and through.


TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Star Trek has only one awesome party: Jadzia's shower. Belly bumping Morn, Nog's Where the Wild Things Are Dance, married Leeta lusting after a Polynesian fire danceer, etc. Sirella was awesome. Bashir and O'Brien dreaming of killing Worf. Lots of priceless moments.

Saving You Are Cordially Invited

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Farscape One]

I was actually torn between that and my save. Also for the same reasons... plus it was one of those rare episodes that places EXACTLY where it should be in a season.

And of course, Martok the wise.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I was actually torn between that and my save. Also for the same reasons... plus it was one of those rare episodes that places EXACTLY where it should be in a season.

And of course, Martok the wise.

You Are Cordially Invited is a very low stakes episode. OK, there's the tension between Sirella and Jadzia, which we know will be resolved in the end. Does it have a lot of artistic merit? Probably not. Is it fun? Fuck yeah! After you've binged A Call to Arms ---> Sacrifice of Angels, it's the perfect capper.

 

[Sakonna]

Star Trek has only one awesome party

I don't know, some of those TNG classical music recitals looked pretty epic...

I'll next save "The Muse" for it's lovely resolution of Lwaxana's story. I feel like the general fandom opinion of the Lwaxana/Odo story in this ep has been rising in recent years, and that's nice to see!

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Xhiandra]

I'll save "The Perfect Mate". It tackles quite weighty matters and whatever the resolution (Beverly is quite correct), the dialogue is really sharp.

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "Cost Of Living".

The holodeck creatures were inventive. Lwaxana and Alexander bonding was really nice. And Majel doing this so shortly after Gene's death, especially the way she delivers her dialogue about loneliness and old age... I give her a lot of kudos. An underrated episode.

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”

 

[Seven of Five]

Drive is a pretty good episode, with the best parts being about Tom and B'Elanna. It was lovely seeing them married finally, I just wish we'd seen a little more of the ceremony.

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”