The least disliked episode 2021 - VOY Season Six

[BlueStuff]

Our addictive biyearly game of rapid elimination returns - now able to include Disco's third season as well as the debut years of Picard and Lower Decks. 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, 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 - Meld
2013 - Living Witness
2017 - Blink of an Eye
2019 - Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
2021 -

Season Six

Equinox II
Survival Instinct
Barge of the Dead
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Alice
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Fair Haven
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Spirit Folk
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Fury
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Claudia]

Equinox II
Survival Instinct
Barge of the Dead
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Alice
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Spirit Folk
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Fury
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

"Fair Haven" gets the boot - hate those completely irrelevant holodeck-episodes.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Removing Spirit Folk because of how utterly freaking stupid it is all the way through.

Equinox II
Survival Instinct
Barge of the Dead
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Alice
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Fury
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Orphalesion]

Fury, because it was a giant FU to everyone who was sad that Kes is gone.
"Hey guys, remember when we implied Kes ascended to a higher form of being at the end of the Gift? Well, screw that, she's an angry old lady in a shuttle now!"
Plus they put her into that crappy wig again.

Equinox II
Survival Instinct
Barge of the Dead
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Alice
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Qonundrum]

Fury - it's an interesting take on time travel and time loops, despite some big conveniences... but all for... um, well... Kes believing she was misled by Janeway?! Well, that part is refreshingly low key and not raving "epic"...but the story also glosses over so many issues that it's almost amazing they didn't pollute their own timeline. The themes are there, but a lot of it feels by-the-numbers. Just bring back Kes and her magical powers?

What's left:

Equinox II
Survival Instinct
Barge of the Dead
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Alice
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Orphalesion]

@Qonundrum hahaha, Oh man, we often think alike, eh?

 

[Qonundrum]

Dang. Ninjagolfed again.

Alice - way too high concept with the nutty computer gone wild. I think Futurama did a better job with the trope, or was inspired by it in the way they picked up on DS9's "I am my own grandpa" shtick...

What's left:

Equinox II
Survival Instinct
Barge of the Dead
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Qonundrum]

@Qonundrum hahaha, Oh man, we often think alike, eh?

 

[Claudia]

Survival Instinct
Barge of the Dead
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

Equinox II - because Janeway, you're supposed to be better than the captain of the Equinox, not threatening people with death.

 

[Orphalesion]

Barge of the Dead has so much to hate: More Klingon crap. Everybody shoving the Klingon crap at B'ellana in that typical Star Trek philosophy that everybody must love their heritage, more Religion/Afterlife (but maybe it was all in your mind!) nonsense, and the fact that this was originally a Worf script from DS9 that was just awkwardly rewritten for B'ellana.

Survival Instinct
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Tsunkatse
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Qonundrum]

It's silly wrestling and gladiator shows... in space!!

The effects of Tsunkatse are less exciting than the effect of a Tsetse fly. and yet it's somehow better than the first two episodes wrestled off this list in grandiose fashion...


What's left:
Survival Instinct
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Live Fast and Prosper
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Seven of Five]

The title is the best bit about Live Fast and Prosper. It's a very beige episode, so is an easy pick.

Survival Instinct
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Orphalesion]

Here I gotta confess...while he had some good episodes early on, I'm not at all a fan of the Doctor and think that he got worse at the seasons went by, especially once they had him singing opera (). I just don't enjoy arrogant characters all that much. So let's remove "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" for all those abominable power-fantasies.


Survival Instinct
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Collective
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Oddish]

Abstaining for now. I have only seen some S6 episodes (my rewatch hasn't gotten that far yet), and there are none that I really dislike. Even "Spirit Folk" had its mooooooo-ments.

 

[Qonundrum]

There's nothing "Valiant" about "Collective", a story where a bunch of Borg kiddies get to putter around in a big bad Borg ship and can't seem to do it right. Other Borg episodes this season show there's life left to squeeze out of these cybernetic turnips, but not this episode. Janeway holds a baby Borg - something the franchise pretended didn't exist since "Q WHO" when we saw Riker poking at one... never mind the first glimpse of it we see in the episode is shades of "2001"... the group of young Borg are way too individualistic and seem more like a combination of Backstreet Boys with Spice Girls, it's amazing they don't break out into a line dance - the look is silly enough, especially with the scale between the Delta Flyer and Borg cube being off... how they act is worse. All it did was make me think of the Ramones song "Beat on the Brat" and here we've got five of them and hardly acting Borgish... There's a youtube video just waiting to happen by someone snarky enough... A botched assimilation too? Questionable... but we're supposed to feel all icky and squeamish over it, I'd guess. Now add in how they never integrated replicator technology to make their own shiny metal deflector and how they never used the treknobabble to shroud themselves from attacks before - it's more Borg inconsistency and what could be coined "typical smorgasborg" that did more to whittle down their threat, as well as reminding how much a filler episode this one is. Season 6 did rather better with the Borg... and surprisingly worse too... the sad part is, even the worst Borg outing remained watchable. This one didn't. So maybe this one is the worst - if only because they squelched a better premise instead of riding a bad one all the way through...


What's left:

Survival Instinct
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
The Voyager Conspiracy
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Brennyren]

"The Voyager Conspiracy" goes next, because after all the time Janeway and Chakotay have been working together, for either of them to actually believe Seven's fantastical theories is just silly.

Survival Instinct
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Virtuoso
Memorial
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Orphalesion]

And Virtuoso is next. Stupid fangurling/fanboiing Hobbit aliens. Well, at least they dump him in the end.

Survival Instinct
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Memorial
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Muse
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Removing Muse. The whole setup of "Alien uses crashed crew member for literary inspiration" isn't interesting enough to be that much of a stretch.

Survival Instinct
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Memorial
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
Unimatrix Zero I

 

[Farscape One]

This was a VERY uneven season in terms of quality.

I can't believe "UNIMATRIX ZERO" is still here. Janeway plans to get on the cube and further the rebellion... by getting assimilated? Being assimilated was a horrible experience, and this just cheapens EVERYTHING Picard, Seven, and anyone else went through.


Survival Instinct
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Memorial
Ashes to Ashes
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve

 

[May 20]

I'm removing Ashes to Ashes. What a creepy premise! Reanimating the dead is just ... ugh. But I think I would have cared more if I had actually *known* Ballard before she died.

Survival Instinct
Riddles
Dragon's Teeth
One Small Step
Pathfinder
Blink of an Eye
Memorial
Child's Play
Good Shepherd
Life Line
The Haunting of Deck Twelve