The Emperor's New Cloak says hello.
What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?
- Thread starter Amasov
- Start date
That's the 4th worst episode of all of DS9.
"The Emperor's New Cloak" wastes everyone, even Andrew Robinson and Wallace Shawn.
And it's almost impossible to waste both.
And it's almost impossible to waste both.
I’d argue the only one worse is Profit and Lace.
That's the 2nd worst (and for a while, I did consider it the worst). 3rd is "PRODIGAL DAUGHTER"... by the Prophets, that was such a mess of an episode. Hardly even felt like DS9.
To me, "THE RECKONING" is the worst. It completely undermines Sisko as a good father, one of the primary, core aspects of the series. I despise that episode.
Oof, can't agree with this. Deep Space Nine Mirror Universe stories were awful.
The Mirror Universe episodes of DS9 definitely had diminishing returns. "CROSSOVER" was good. "THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS" was decent, as was "SHATTERED MIRROR". (Definitely had some superb action with the mirror Defiant fighting around it.)
"RESURRECTION" was boring. "THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK"... I think we might ALL agree is the worst Mirror Universe episode of DS9.
"RESURRECTION" was boring. "THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK"... I think we might ALL agree is the worst Mirror Universe episode of DS9.
I liked both of those episodes though I wouldn't call them great. I liked Ezri's family enough to spend time with them and as for the other I would argue the fact that we have seen just how much Sisko loves his son shows just how far he has come in his role as Emissary. He has developed a trust in him that goes far from where we first saw him on the show and he just saw them as wormwhole aliens like most Starfleet types do.
Hard disagree, but to each their own.
Sisko ready to let his be used as a vessel for that battle, and watching him actually bleeding from places and showing that the Prophet who took over Kira might very well kill Jake, is just abhorrent. It's hard to picture a decent parent would be fine with that, but a great dad like Sisko? It damages his character (and the show, since that's one of the fundamental cornerstones of DS9) so badly that I'd rather forget "THE RECKONING" existed at all.
This, to me, is why that episode can very easily be on the short list for worst episode in the franchise.
I just love the irony that while we're discussing bad Mirror Universe episodes, that no one has brought up the franchises most recent perennial punching bag, Section 31. 
Frankly, even that was better than The Emperor's New Cloak. In truth, S31 actually works much better as a Mirror Universe episode than it does as a Starfleet covert ops episode.
Frankly, even that was better than The Emperor's New Cloak. In truth, S31 actually works much better as a Mirror Universe episode than it does as a Starfleet covert ops episode.The fact no one has mentioned SECTION 31 just underscores how bad it really is... so bad that we all are collectively forgetting it.I just love the irony that while we're discussing bad Mirror Universe episodes, that no one has brought up the franchises most recent perennial punching bag, Section 31.
In defense of "THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK" (I can't believe I'm defending this episode), I will say it is better than SECTION 31 for one simple reason... it has one funny scene that works. The scene? Quark and Rom stealing the cloaked cloaking device. That was a genuinely good and funny scene.
SECTION 31 doesn't have a single scene that is genuinely good OR funny.
Having a single scene can truly help an episode. Take the ENT finale: I hate it more than ANY episode of that series, and more than A LOT of other terrible episodes in the entire franchise. (There's probably only 2 or 3 episodes/movies I hate more than that episode.) But is it the worst of ENT? No, it isn't. Why? Because it has a single scene that was good: the last seconds with the voiceovers of the captains. "PRECIOUS CARGO" is the worst episode of ENT because I can't find a single scene in it that was good.
That might seem like grasping at straws, but when you are trying to figure out the worst of the worst, a single scene can go a long way toward saving an episode or movie from winning the crown of "Worst".
Hard disagree. I have literally watched both in the last week for a project that I'm currently posting over in fanfiction forum, and the S31 rewatch went smoothly. It's certainly great as far as Star Trek was concerned, but this is the Mirror Universe we're talking about. One thing I can say is that after literally watching every single Mirror Universe for my project, ending the rewatch with New Cloak was just agonizing. Even Zeph was less cringey than Rom commenting on how everything was "alternate" and even Fuzz had more depth as a character than Gul Garak did.
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"Chaos is my friends with benefits."
Rachel Garrett, SECTION 31
So we are expected to see the future Enterprise-C captain have THAT kind of dialogue? Much more cringey than Rom.
Rachel Garrett, SECTION 31
So we are expected to see the future Enterprise-C captain have THAT kind of dialogue? Much more cringey than Rom.
To reach their own. That line got a chuckle out of me. If you had cited the "yo mama" joke they used at the end of the episode I would have agreed with you.
Yeah, that wasn't any better. That joke was better placed on IN LIVING COLOR. (I loved that show when it was on the air. I can sometimes catch an episode here or there randomly. Still damned funny.)To reach their own. That line got a chuckle out of me. If you had cited the "yo mama" joke they used at the end of the episode I would have agreed with you.
Only thing I can say about that line is that at least it was delivered by a character who actually lived in the 1990s. In Living Color might have been more recent for him than it is for us.
We try not to, because why stir the pot of feces?
Well, at least it's not the worst Trek out there. I think Scouts has that dubious honor locked up pretty tight.
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