"Precious Cargo(ENT)" isn't just bottom tier, it's so low even the Mole People are complaining how much the episode sucks. 
What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?
- Thread starter Amasov
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Makes my list a little more fun to figure out, eh?
I mean, some have posted that the first two didn't land well for the comedy and it only improves from there.
"Hey, Landru shouldn't still look like the 1967 set prop! That's cheesy!"
It's also canon, Nerds. Get over it. Try to enjoy the show and if it's not for you then fine.
It's also canon, Nerds. Get over it. Try to enjoy the show and if it's not for you then fine.
Well, heck...I'll play.
Some examples...
"The Inner Light" vs "THE VISITOR"
UGGGHHH This is a really tough one. I love them both wholeheartedly. But, I think I have to give "The Visitor" a slight nod, because I really resonate with father/son stories, and the actors all just blow this one away.
"THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER" vs "IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT"
COTEOF gets the nod on this one. I really like "Pale Moonlight," but I don't hold it in as high regard as others. "City" is just a flat-out masterpiece that has gotten less-and-less attention through the years because time travel stories are now so cliche and obvious.
"BALANCE OF TERROR" vs "LIVING WITNESS"
"Balance of Terror" by a mile on this one. "Living Witness" frustrated me because it falls into the category of "major stuff that ends up not mattering"....kind of a "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing" story. Good episode, no doubt, but the GNDN Star Trek outings never really do much for me (see also: classics like "Yesterday's Enterprise" etc)
"Yesterday's Enterprise" vs "YEAR OF HELL"
Well....given what I just wrote...I'm grateful that two GNDN episodes are against each other. I'd have to go "Yesterday's Enterprise" on this one, mainly on the strength of the return of Yar and the choices and sacrifices that needed to be made. "Year of Hell" is very entertaining, but also massively frustrating in that all the substance and grit that should have been the entire VOY series is present in this concentrated format of a 2-parter, and then promptly vanishes.
"ERRAND OF MERCY" vs "UNITED"
"Errand of Mercy" introduced the Klingons, and is one of my all-time favorite TOS episodes. I had it on VHS when I was a kid and I swear I watched it every week. The odds of me picking "United" here are approximately 7,824.7 to 1.
Or perhaps a more interesting experiment... the worst against the worst.
"AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD" vs "PROFIT AND LACE"
ATCSL is a much more enjoyable episode than "Profit and Lace." I can't even watch the latter. It's atrocious.
"Sub Rosa" vs "FALSE PROFITS"
"False Profits" sucks, but at least it has some fun / silliness in it. "Sub Rosa" is an embarrassment not just to TNG, but to the entire franchise.
"SPOCK'S BRAIN" vs "ACQUISITION"
"Spock's Brain" by a lightyear. There's some really great, memorable stuff in that episode, despite it being pretty bad otherwise. "Acquisition" is just crap with very little redeeming quality whatsoever.
"Rascals" vs "TWISTED"
I actually LIKE "Rascals" quite a bit, so this is a no-brainer.
"Aquiel" vs "THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK"
It's hard for me not to call "Aquiel" the worst Star Trek episode ever made. Not because it's as bad as "ATCSL" or because it's as backward as "Code of Honor"...but it sucks like those episodes do...and it's also dreadfully boring. That's unforgiveable for me, so it's "Emperor's New Cloak" for sure on this one.
"Sub Rosa" is kinda like the "Spock's Brain" of TNG. I love it for its stupid dumbfuckery (I love them both).
'The Inner Light' best and 'Aquiel' worst?
Neither is the best or the worst but (at least so far) I've found 'The Inner Light' little bit boring and 'Aquiel' is an entertaining one. Maybe I'll revisit 'The Inner Light' pretty soon and check out what happens. 'Aquiel' on the other hand has some sentimental thing going on, it was the first of two episodes I got on VHS back in the 90s.
However, 'The Inner Light' has Stewart's son in it and 'Aquiel' has Querns from Oz. =)
Oh I hate the Inner Light.
There's a whole video on that. Even though I love the episode myself, it makes valid points.
My controversial thought (and you should hear the ones O keep to myself) is that "A Night in Sickbay" wasn't bad, it was just ahead of it's time. That episode would have been perfect for "Lower Decks".
In my opinion "The Inner Light" is just OK. It doesn't really do much aside explore Picard in a much different scenario than most. I appreciate the flute recurrence but that's about it.
As for "A Night In Sickbay" it would work better maybe on Lower Decks, but that's only because the gross incompetence put on display by Archer is something that I would expect from that crew than the captain of Earth's first Warp 5 vessel.
As for "A Night In Sickbay" it would work better maybe on Lower Decks, but that's only because the gross incompetence put on display by Archer is something that I would expect from that crew than the captain of Earth's first Warp 5 vessel.
Yeah I know and love Allison's videos about Star Trek, and yes her reasons to dislike the Inner Light are similar to mine.
Don't insult the crew of the Doritos like that, they are way more competent than Archer's bunch
In my humble opinion (yeah, I spelled it out), the biggest problem with Aquiel is that it was an attempt to retell a classic film noir by a writer that, as far as I could tell from the episode, had no idea what made the classic film a film noir in the first place. Or a classic, for that matter.
"The Inner Light" is overrated. It's B-level TNG at best. It starts with a mind rape, by the way. I enjoy "Masks" better, and it's about how to stop a rape of the ship.
There's not going gently into that good night, and on the other hand there's assaulting and threatening people unless they read your autobiography.
rape noun
2: an outrageous violation
3: an act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape
2: an outrageous violation
3: an act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape
There's not going gently into that good night, and on the other hand there's assaulting and threatening people unless they read your autobiography.
True. And, honestly, I think that they would have handled that situation far better!Don't insult the crew of the Doritos like that, they are way more competent than Archer's bunch
I take DS9 over TNG any day. But I've honestly never liked the Visitor that much. The writing is good, the actor doesn't sell me. Inner Light wins.
City is an incredible episode. But Garak and Sisko dealing with the weight of the world is better.
Living Witness is one of the most memorable episodes in Voyager's entire run, and if I'm being 100% objective Balance of Terror has some pretty massive plot holes. But I still love BoT more.
I don't care that much about Year of Hell. I don't dislike it. But I don't think it works as well as most people say. That story needed to be longer than 2 episodes. Yesterday's Enterprise wins by default, though it more than deserves victory.
This is really hard. I've honestly never thought of Errand of Mercy as an amazing episode (it's a fine episode), but I honestly don't remember much about United. I checked my Trek rewatch file I've been building and I rated it 4 out of 5, which makes sense since I remember the whole Andorian/Vulcan storyline always being the best part of ENT. But as far as the specific episode goes, even reading the synopsis doesn't really ring a bell for me. So I guess Errand of Mercy wins by default.
Children is less offensive, but also incredibly lame. Profit actually has a decent story at its core, but it's buried under too much intentional stupidity to be fun. What's worse? Boring or cringey? I generally hate cringiness so I guess I have to say Profit and Lace loses.
False profits was emblematic of Voyager's lack of imagination. But it was watchable. Sub Rosa loses easily.
I didn't mind Acquisition. Like False Profits, it was watchable (Acquisition is probably a bit better, even, with a better story and better actors). Spock's Brain is too dumb to watch.
I didn't dislike either of these. I guess I'll say Twisted was worse since I remember Rascals better and the young Ro and Guinan were adorable.
Again, I thought Aquiel was fine. Emperor's New Cloak is one I haven't seen in a very long time, but I guess I'll say Emperor loses since I do remember that the Mirror universe concept got less interesting the more they went back to it.
While 'Aquiel' is a special episode for me because of the history with it mentioned above, I think the biggest problem is that apparently no one thought that maybe the dog has that transmorphing thingy inside it.
My point exactly.
Regarding the episode comparison...
Children vs. Lace: Have to give the "less awful" ruling to Lace. Yes it was stupid, but there was IRL reason for the stupidity (the perceived need to bring female equality to Ferenginar).
Rosa vs. Profits: Rosa gets the win because of the annoying "Voyager sees a way home and doesn't take it" trope.
Brain vs. Acquisition: Kirk sentences a culture to probable self destruction because of his need to impose Federation norms on cultures. Brain loses.
Rascals vs. Twisted: Picard getting effectively relieved of command reminded me of a kid being sent to time-out. Besides, I liked Twisted.
Aquiel vs. Cloak: Maybe I would care more about the Terran rebellion if I really thought they weren't going to reestablish the Terran Empire if they win. Aquiel, by comparison, was an unexceptional but inoffensive offering.
TFF is a better film than NEM or STID.
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