Game The Most Disliked 'Hey, This Planet Is Just Like Earth!' Episode

^ too late... it's over!

 

If any TOS episode deserves to be on a "least liked" list, it's probably "Plato's Stepchildren." Yes, it has some redeeming qualities (Alexander is really great)...but for the most part it's really cringe-worthy and terribly mean-spirited.

The only other TOS episodes that give it a run for its money in the "awful" category, at least for me, are "Mudd's Women" and "Turnabout Intruder."

 

Five hours and forty minutes from start to finish...

 

Ah, crumb. I was gonna save ENT's 'Strange New World'. Except it's not on the list!

The episode has some beautiful, naturalistic scenes on the planet's surface.

It has a nice focus on secondary characters (see my avatar).

The story shows us how awe-inspiring exploration can be, wherever we end up doing it. And adds a note of caution about how we shouldn't go blindly into the forest.

 

We play the game too well. Like Piranha stripping meat from a limb.

 

It's an addiction. Damn you all!

 

The games are really fun. Long may they continue!

 

Sakonna and Farscape One are so good to us. As is BlueStuff for the original contest where we whittle down the least disliked episode of the different series.

Tip the waiter!

 

Credit really goes to Blue Stuff and Sakonna. I simply took Blue's idea and inverted it, and I simply help Sakonna vet the lists according to the guidelines of each game.

 

Well I hope we get more. It would suck if I missed the last game completely...

 

I can assure you there are more games coming.

My brain, or what's left of it, can attest to that.

 

I noticed the thread and I meant to participate, but I waited too long and missed out.
The game is dead. Long live the game.

Kor

 

WHAT IS BRAIN??!

 

"Is it controller?"

At this point, I feel like I should remove my brain, stick it in a big glass jar full of liquid, and let it soak for a couple days. Sometimes a good brainwashing is what we all need...

 

Perhaps we should do a Hey, This Planet Is Just Like Earth .... Oh Wait, It IS Earth! contest next

 

Now that was fast, not unlike my ex...

So anyway, from best to least:

TOS, Season 2: “Who Mourns For Adonais?” My goodness, I would so get on my knees and worship Apollo as often as I could... Also, see the rare photo from the making-of at the end of this post...

TOS, Season 1: “The Squire Of Gothos” - the archetype for Q is born, huzzah!! It ends with a pastiche of noocular famiwy parents that's a bit cringe, but otherwise is a fun romp.

TNG, Season 2: “The Royale” - initial reaction wasn't great, but seeing it a couple years later brought out some impressively dark/morbid themes and the cringe stuff was intentionally meant to be that way. Rather underrated episode...

TOS, Season 2: “The Omega Glory” - rocks the house until the "parallel is so perfect they have not just the US Constitution and flag but everyone's also acting devolved". Being a recycled pilot script from 1964 helps explain it...

TOS, Season 3: “The Paradise Syndrome” - thank the Preservers and the second time TOS sells a love interest that feels authentic, buoyed by genuine screen chemistry. It's not a perfect episode, but the romance is believable, and the ending is one hell of a shock. I'll get back to Kirk's list of romances in another rare documentary photo later...

TOS, Season 2: “Bread And Circuses” - cheesy but the idea at the end about everyone trying to get along -- paraphrased after translating from 60sisms into something more modern and valid -- almost makes up for it. Very gritty ending, too. Also eschews convention by having interference instead of merely "Hey cap'n, it's a planet. Just like Earth. Again." Not to mention, the Spock/McCoy scene - despite its comparative brevity - is one of the series' absolute best. It's an oddball episode, but with much to actually like... even the heavy-handed allegories.

TOS, Season 3: “Plato’s Stepchildren” - take the high concept mental powers for what they are and this is a more chilling episode than how many give it credit for, and thank all the actors for playing it utterly straight or else this really would be the bottom of the barrel. Alexander is granted asylum after one of Kirk's better speeches. The much-vaunted kiss is done under Platonian mental assault, but most reviewers often take a lot of this episode out of context to make whatever points. Including the moment that can only be described as "giddyup"...

TOS, Season 2: “Patterns Of Force” - they're finally trying to put in a twist. This time the Earth parallels are due to accidental interference. The result is a bit forced, and a lazy way to get to borrow costumes from the wardrobe department, but is less cringey than one might think.

TOS, Season 2: “A Piece Of The Action” - Appreciation of the comedy helps and the cast is good. But it's another reason to go borrow from the wardrobe department.

TOS, Season 3: “Spectre Of The Gun” - fairly generic, buoyed by the surrealist approach to the sets and, of course, the ultimate mind meld.

TNG, Season 7: “Sub Rosa” - a mixed bag for sure... Sub Rosa isn't bad, mostly because it led to lots of YouTube reviews such as the one I'll re-post at the bottom...

TOS, Season 1: "Miri" -- bottom-tier for me, despite a suitably creepy atmosphere regarding the disease (not for the love interest of the week where, thanks to being early season 1 and not any time after, it's not Kirk making the moves...) The "bonk bonk" was a tad disturbing and not because my ex bonk bonked every liquor bottle in site... ditto for every willing bartender and/or barfly, too...

TOS, Season 2: “Catspaw” - It's barrel scrapingly bad. The one time Kirk should say "Bones" and he says "Doc" instead - it's oh-so-inappropriate for the kids in a Halloween episode, that... it's all ironic since this is the one episode where the fantasy genre could be most freely explored and they stick to overdone cliches...



And now for the bonus bits of goodness:

 

HEY!!! Mister Spock resembles that remark!!

 

What does it say about me that I id'd the episode just from that last picture

 

Awww, thanks for all the compliments on the games everyone! I'm glad people enjoy them, and I always love reading everyone's eliminations.

This seems like a perfect moment to run a list that my autistic brain loves, but I'm always very insecure about anyone else liking because it's one of the more random ideas -- "The Most Disliked Recycled Title Episode." That'll go up tomorrow, or super late tonight.

And then after that I promise a more accessible theme. Maybe a Majel Barrett list, in anticipation of two of her characters being resurrected on SNW next week.

This actually already exists! https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-most-disliked-visit-to-earths-present.303514/
It's one we played in 2020 and I thought I might retire, but maybe not...

Maybe I need to tweak the list name, I was seeing it more as fully developed Earth-like societies. But this makes me want to rewatch "Strange New World" right away, I do love that one and it's been FOREVER since the last time. It does such a good job of avoiding "The Naked Now" trap -- it's early in the series and the characters are in an altered state, but in a way that actually reveals character, instead of just being a lot of crazy weirdness.

"Plato's Stepchildren" is definitely a worthy winner. I find it fascinatingly weird, but it is NOT good. And TOS finally gets one on the board! Of course, with this list being overwhelmingly TOS, the odds were pretty stacked on this one.

The 2020 winner of this game was TOS: "Miri."

MOST DISLIKED WINNERS, 2022
'HEY, THIS PLANET IS JUST LIKE EARTH!': TOS, Season 3: "Plato's Stepchildren"
ROMANCE-OF-THE-WEEK: TNG, Season 6: "Aquiel"
KLINGON: TNG, Season 6: "Birthright, Part II"
HOLIDAY: DS9, Season 3: "Meridian"
CARDASSIAN: DS9, Season 6: "Sons & Daughters"
MIRROR UNIVERSE: DS9, Season 6: "Resurrection"
FERENGI: DS9, Season 6: "Profit & Lace"
COMEDIC/LIGHT-HEARTED: DS9, Season 6: "Profit & Lace"
HOLODECK: VOY, Season 6: "Spirit Folk"
MAQUIS: VOY, Season 7: "Repression"
BARCLAY: VOY, Season 7: "Inside Man"
2-PART/DOUBLE EPISODE: VOY, Season 7: "Flesh And Blood"
VISIT TO EARTH'S PAST: ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part II"
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S 100 BEST EPS: ENT, Season 4: "Home"
TIME TRAVEL/TRAVELER/LOOP/ANOMALY: DIS, Season 2: "Perpetual Infinity"
DIRECTOR JONATHAN FRAKES: DIS, Season 3: "There Is A Tide..."
TREK NOIR: PIC, "Broken Pieces"
CAST CROSSOVER: PIC, "Et In Arcardia Ego, Part 1"
COUPLE: LD, Carol Freeman/Admiral Husband
REGULAR CHARACTER: PRO, Drednok

TOTAL SHOW WINS
TAS, ST & Movies: 0
TOS, LD & PRO: 1 win each
TNG, ENT, DIS, & PIC: 2 wins each
VOY: 4 wins
DS9: 5 wins

 

That you're a good fan of the show?