The least disliked episode of TNG - Season Two

This is a game that was played here a couple of years ago, and it proved to be a lot of fun, spanning across each Trek series, as well as a great way 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. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Winners
Season One - Heart of Glory



Season Two

The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
The Dauphin
Contagion
The Royale
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up the Long Ladder
Manhunt
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Shades of Gray

 

I'll do everyone a service by removing Shades of Gray, because it's essentially nothing. A clip show that fails to remain consistent within the (remarkably poor) framing story in that some of the clips are of events Riker didn't even experience! I've seen the episode once and I believe that's enough for my lifetime. I wonder why they even bothered airing this one?


The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
The Dauphin
Contagion
The Royale
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up the Long Ladder
Manhunt
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Shades of Gray. Because erotic, BDSM clip shows have no place in Star Trek

The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
The Royale
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up the Long Ladder
Manhunt
The Emissary
Peak Performance

edit: GD. Fine. The Dauphin because I can think of nothing more boring than a 'Wesley Romance episode'...unless it has Ashley Judd in it.

 

The Outrageous Okona is gone ... Trek doesn´t need yet another womanizer

The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
The Royale
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up the Long Ladder
Manhunt
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

The Royale is a gone.

The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up the Long Ladder
Manhunt
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Manhunt gets the axe. 1. It's a Lwaxana episode. 2. It's one of the more pointless Lwaxana episodes, that only serves to be uncomfortable & barely amusing. 3. Does anything else happen in this episode besides Lwaxana running around annoyingly? Oh yeah, Dixon Hill. There's an episode saver

The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up the Long Ladder
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

The Child gets the axe. Let's have an episode about space tinkerbell raping Troi. Who thought that was a good idea again?

Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up the Long Ladder
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Samaritan Snare. I just can't stand the Pakleds. I caught the beginning of the episode yesterday, and as I have a soft spot for Seasons 1 & 2, was watching along until the Pakleds appeared, then had to switch it off.

Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Up the Long Ladder
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Icaraus Factor, you're going home. It's one of my least favorite of the entire series. It's a tedious episode centered on the interactions of completely unlikeable characters.

Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Up the Long Ladder
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Thank you...and I did not need the mental image of Riker's dad and Pulaski.

 

Say good by to "Up The Long Ladder". Awful, barely any redeming features, sterotypical potrayls.

Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Q Who?

 

"Unnatural Selection" for the second (the first being "Lonely Among Us" in S1) of what will become many "the transporter can save people by doing some neato cross circuiting stuff" BS storylines throughout the rest of the TNG-era franchise.

Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

You gave no reason, so your selection is invalid according to the rules of the thread. What's more, "Q Who" is clearly one of the better S2 episodes. It introduces The Borg and gives us a little bit more of Guinan's backstory in the process.

 

Loud as a Whisper. It's just a dull, forgettable episode. Not particularly bad, but most of the really bad ones have been eliminated already.

Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
The Schizoid Man
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Where Silence Has Lease

This episode can be creepy on the first viewing, but on the 10th, it can be a little slow and boring.

Elementary, Dear Data
The Schizoid Man
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

Hmm, I'll have to go with A Matter of Honor.

Elementary, Dear Data
The Schizoid Man
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance


Riker fucks some scientist's wife, he finds out and gets jealous, tries to kill him and blows up the station by accident.

Yeah, so enlightened

Both acted like shitheads, so off it goes!

 

Wtf, where is your PERSPECTIVE?

 

Ah, the list is getting down to the good episodes, so I'll remove the least good of the good from the list: Elementary, Dear Data. There are better holodeck episodes. Granted, they are scant on TNG.

What was the fascination with Sherlock Holmes circa 1988? I recall the cartoon Bravestarr did a 2-part pilot of Sherlock Holmes in the 24th Century (hmmm....), which eventually became a tv series a decade later (no one bit at it in 1988... or Filmation went under and the idea went with them). And I think there was something else, a movie perhaps? Hmmm... I might have an idea. Yep. Sherlock Holmes debuted in 1887, so the stuff in 1987/88 might've been trying to mark the 100th anniversary of the character.

Elementary, Dear Data
The Schizoid Man
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance

 

It IS getting more difficult to drop an episode now. I´ll go with "Time Squared", since I´ve never cared much for time travel related epsiodes or those with two Kirks in TOS - and having two Picards is only slightly better

PS: I also removed "Elementary, Dear Data" for DeepSpaceWine

The Schizoid Man
The Measure of a Man
Contagion
Pen Pals
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance