The least disliked episode of TNG - Season Three

This is a game that we play every few years or so, and 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 because you feel they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Hall of Champions
2011 - The Best of Both Worlds (I)
2013 - The Measure of a Man
2015 - All Good Things...
2017 -

Season Three

Evolution
The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
The Bonding
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Price
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
The High Ground
Deja Q
A Matter of Perspective
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Captain's Holiday
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Menage a Troi
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds (I)

 

This is a really terrific season - the most obvious odd one out is The Price. I hate that smarmy empath guy. Also, I always remember that scene between him and Riker in Ten Forward where Riker tries to make a cool exit after swigging his drink, but leaves his PADD on the table. Smooth!

Evolution
The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
The Bonding
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
The High Ground
Deja Q
A Matter of Perspective
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Captain's Holiday
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Menage a Troi
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds (I)

 

I'll get rid of Menage a Troi, Lwaxana Troi was a pest in this one.

Evolution
The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
The Bonding
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
The High Ground
Deja Q
A Matter of Perspective
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Captain's Holiday
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds (I)

 

I'll get rid of The High Ground because it's the only episode left that is not at least okay. It's the go to example in Trek for simplistic takes on complex issues.

Evolution
The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
The Bonding
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
Deja Q
A Matter of Perspective
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Captain's Holiday
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds (I)

 

I'm gonna get rid of A Matter of Perspective. Some neat visuals, but it doesn't really go anywhere with the concept.

Evolution
The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
The Bonding
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Captain's Holiday
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds (I)

 

I think it's not smart for me to take part in season 3 & 4 "episode survivor" contest, there are just too many gems on these two seasons.

Although, there are some episodes I don't enjoy.

 

The Bonding bores me. It can go.

Evolution
The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Captain's Holiday
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds (I)

 

Captain's Holiday can take a permanent sabbatical. I'm not a Vash fan and TNG Ferengi stories were never good.

Evolution
The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds (I)

 

Im going to ax Evolution, the season premiere. I liked the shared experience between Stubbs and Wesley, and Stubbs was a very human, believable character but the nanites were silly, and I found the malfunctioning replicators, and Dr. Crusher's prattling on and on about Wesley, very boring.

The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
The Hunted
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

Dang, some of the ones I wanted to relish in the experience of nitpicking are now removed so I therefore must turn to...

insert drumroll...

The Hunted.

So many plot conveniences and contrivances, particularly breaking out a transporter beam. There are a couple of good scenes, but they don't make up for the shallow handling of the overall story. (The volunteers were told upfront about the chemicals used, which were part of the psychological conditioning.) A few minor tweaks would have helped the story immensely.

And the story's ending is typically inconsistent with TNG - if the people on the planet can sort themselves out then the Federation will break the Prime Directive to help them, though either way not a syllable is said afterward so they were left behind. I doubt Danar is too happy over that, and he would have made a better nemesis than, say, Shinzon. And keeping in mind previous stories like "Pen Pals" and "Who Watches the Watchers" had cleverer (and/or flawed) takes on the same issue, and the less said about "Attached"'s problems is all the better... no, "The Hunted" is just too glossed over with plot points (as with "The High Ground" and others, oversimplification of a big issue), and rendered better mostly by season 3's production style. A missed opportunity. Or two.


Stories remaining:

The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
Transfigurations
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

I have never cared for "Transfigurations." There's nothing exactly wrong with it -- it's fine, but that's it. Just a bit bland & uninspired. Every other episode in this season (excluding "The Price"), I understand why they wanted to tell that story. All I get from "Transfigurations" is "we have one more hour before the finale, and we have to fill it with something..."

Also, how cheap does the energy-being-version of John Doe looks at the end. You can so clearly see the Green Man body-stocking, the mouth moving, the bunched up fabric, the seams... not good!

(One thing I do like about this episode: Worf giving Geordi advice on women. Those scenes are fun, and suggest there was more mileage to be had in the Worf/Geordi pairing. It's too bad they never did a Worf/Geordi episode, where the two of them have to go on some mission together...)

The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Tin Man
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

I'm ditching Tin Man. My reason is I have fewer good memories of it on first viewing than most of the others. This season really was a high point... I can't see many that I don't love.

The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Allegiance
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

"Allegiance" is not something I feel toward the episode of that name. What spoiled it for me was the whole "nonverbal communication" thing Picard was claiming enabled his crew to bag the baddie on the bridge. Sorry, dude, that was a very complex communication they would have to have managed, and without so much as a hand signal. My suspension of disbelief, she canna stand the strain....

The Ensigns of Command
The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

If I can vote twice I'll eradicate The Ensigns of Command. It's a competent episode, and from I've read, Melinda Snodgrass's original draft would have made a more bolder episode. While I enjoyed the Sheliak legal insanity, I find the scenes on the planet with Goshevan quite unmemorable.

The Survivors
Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

I'll eliminate The Survivors. All the episodes left are at least good, this one is good but has the most problems out of what's left.

Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Vengeance Factor
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

The Vengeance Factor - decent I guess but nothing special.

Who Watchers the Watchers?
Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

Can get rid of "Who Watches the Watchers?". I thought it was alright but I know some people didn't like it because of religious controversies.

Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Hollow Pursuits
The Most Toys
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

Already getting really difficult, but I'm going to get rid of probably the final "obvious" candidate, The Most Toys. A very solid episode, but all the other episodes on the list do something to develop the show's ongoing mythos, whereas The Most Toys is pretty much a stand-alone outing.

Booby Trap
The Enemy
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Hollow Pursuits
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

I'll get rid of "Booby Trap". Surprised it lasted this long. It's OK, but definitely doesn't deserve to be in a list with the likes of "Deja Q", "The Offspring" and the others still in!

The Enemy
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Hollow Pursuits
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

I guess I'll ding... Sins Of The Father? I feel like I'm almost picking at random, these are all so good, it's hard to find complaints. But, when they were first airing, I wasn't into the Klingon thing. DS9 subsequently made me fall for Worf, and then retroactively I developed an appreciation for his TNG showcase eps, and now I think it's as good as any of these. But I did not originally.

The Enemy
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Hollow Pursuits
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I

 

Out of the entire list, "The Enemy" is the only one I feel I can eliminate. Given what was at stake, Picard would have been well with his prerogatives to order Worf to donate his ribosomes -- and he should have.

The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Hollow Pursuits
Sarek
The Best of Both Worlds Part I