DS9's Worst Episodes

[DS9 Gal AZ]

Since we have a best episode thread, I thought we should have a worst one as well. Now I love me some DS9 but even the best shows have episodes that are stinkers overall, even if there are some good elements in there. Here's some of my pics:

"Move Along Home" where the senior crew gets stuck playing that alien game ... "Ella Marane ..." Auuugh!

"The Muse": I actually enjoyed the B plot with Lwaxana and Odo, but Jake's stuff was laaaame.

Any episode with Vic Fontaine. I was rooting for Odo/Kira, and then in the ep where they finally get together, they had to totally ruin it for me by sticking the world's most annoying hologram in there! Auuugh!

That's all I can think of right now. Please add your own!

 

[Joeman]

I know both you listed are not very popular (especially Move Along Home), but I really didn't hate either one of those. Didn't love them, but didn't hate them.

When this topic is brought up, one ep always stands out for me; Valiant (2/10). Those Red Squad cadets might as well have taken that new Defiant ship to "ludicrous speed" (a la Spaceballs), because the whole thing was ludicrous to me. It was good right up until the point that the Valiant was revealed (I'd been wondering why they weren't making more of such a powerful ship, despite it's issues, which could obviously all be fixed by any scrappy and resourceful engineer), but went straight to suckville immediately after that. They could have done one million better story lines revolving around that ship. Wasted opportunity.

Lot's of people dislike Vic episodes, but I'm a huge fan of the character myself. I think he's as cool as a cucumber and the other side of the pillow combined. In fact, It's Only a Paper Moon is my favorite DS9 ep. I can understand though how anyone who does not appreciate that style of music, or the era he represents (i.e. the "Rat Pack") would not appreciate the character at all.

Others I'm not a huge fan of:

If Wishes Were Horses (4.5/10)
Past Tense (5/10 - 4.5/10)
The Darkness and The Light (4/10)
Extreme Measures (4.5/10)

Amazingly, those are the only DS9 eps I scored below a 5.

 

[Destructor]

Profit & Lace, now and forever, worst episode of DS9 and probably the worst Trek, to boot.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I'd say the worst are, in no particualar order....

Move Along Home
Profit and Lace
Meridian
Paradise
Valiant

But the hands-down, absolute, worst episode of the series is....

Let He Who Is Without Sin...

Profit & Lace, now and forever, worst episode of DS9 and probably the worst Trek, to boot.

Oh, it was bad, but as for it being the worst in the franchise, I doubt it. In that contest it still has to face episodes like Threshold, Spock's Brain, Let He Who Is Without Sin..., and TATV (the worst in the franchise, IMHO).

 

[flemm]

Season 1 has a few bottom-of-the-barrel type episodes: Move Along Home, Q-Less and If Wishes Were Horses, notably.

Season 2 never descends below mediocrity, with Rivals probably being the worst, an episode that lives on the brink of terribleness without really taking the full plunge into the depths of awful that a few episodes in later seasons take with abandon.

Beginning in season 3, DS9 establishes an unofficial "one god-awful clunker per season" law that states that, no matter how great everything else is, there must be one terrible episode that leaves fans scratching their heads and wondering WTF ?!?!?

S3: Fascination
S4: The Muse
S5: Let He Who is Without Sin...
S6: Profit and Lace
S7: The Emporer's New Cloak

It's almost liberating in a way, a sort of demonstration in favor of the right to suck. I mean, why be good all the time, when you can be great most of the time, and really, really awful every once in a while? It keeps fans on their toes and prevents them from getting spoiled by non-stop awesomeness

 

[Praxius]

Valiant just angered me that those cadets could really be that damn stupid and that Starfleet would condition these clowns into thinking they were somehow unstoppable.

I was glad when they all died except one to carry on the story of just how damn stupid they were.

But the worst episodes imo would be just about every Ferengi central episode..... though Little Green Men gave me a few laughs.

Move along home wasn't their best, but what saves it for me is how Quark and everybody else through the whole show thought it was a life/death situation and Quark killed a couple of them.... then at the very end buddy turns to them all puzzled and says it's just a game.... he he.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Oh God, I really love this show, but there are rather a lot of bad episodes!

My worst:

The Nagus
Q-Less
Rivals
The Sword of Kahless
The Muse
Let He Who is Without Sin... (overall "winner")
Ferengi Love Songs
Resurrection
Profit and Lace
Prodigal Daughter

Not Valiant though, that's an excellent episode!

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Meridian.

Really, that's all I need to say.

 

[startrekwatcher]

The Storyteller
Move Along Home
Family Business
The Muse
Ferengi Love Songs
Bar Association
Meridian
Fascination
Extreme Measures
His Way
Let He Who is Without Sin...
Melora
The House of Quark
Resurrection
House of Quark
The Search Part II

 

[DeepSpaceWine]

Why don't we make this like the thread in the TNG forum- worst ep per season and why.

_______________________________________________
S1: "The Passenger"
DS9's weakest season and packed with sub-par episodes. So many to choose from. The season sucks so much because they went with generic scripts for sci-fi shows set on a space station or generic scripts for a dramatic series period. It's easier to eliminate the decent to good episodes: "Emissary", "Captive Pursuit", "Dax" (still subject to S1's crappiness, but does a decent job exploring what a Trill is for the viewers), "Vortex", "Duet". "A Man Alone" isn't too bad either.

"The Passenger" is my vote for S1's worst. Take a cliched sci-fi story and really bad acting and you have a real winner, err, loser.

Close contenders, but no (George Burns) cigar (AKA dishonorable mentions):
- "Past Prologue" helped give Bajoran eps a crappy reputation, and the Duras sisters made it hard for DS9 to differentiate itself from TNG. But its just like a bland food that you spit out because it's so flavorless. "The Storyteller" and "Progess" are also Bajoran episodes at their worst. If we got The Circle 3-parter & Shakaar earlier, Bajoran eps would not have the reputation they did.
- "Babel", "Dramatis Personae" have such cliched stories.
- "Q-Less"'s only high points are Q being punched and some of the weird aliens.
- "The Forsaken" has a cliched story AND Lwaxana Troi. That puts it in close contention for worst.
- "If Wishes were Horses"- if only the episode granted most of the viewers' wish- that this episode was never made in the first place.

I actually think "Move Along Home" is a decent episode. The hopscotch scene is kind of stupid, but otherwise it's ok. The aliens were played rather well (part mysterious part borderline malevolent), the situation was ok, though the ending was lame (almost felt as if it should have a laugh track). It actually helped Quark's early development, showing he does have a conscience and isn't a stereotypical Ferengi all the time (as we would see periodically across the series).

_______________________________________________
S2: "Rivals"
A pretty strong season overall. I agree with what someone once said here, S2 was DS9 at its purest, minus the war and all the other elements that came to define DS9, this season was the show's style, pure and unadulterated. There are only 2 really bad episodes here, the afterschool special, "Melora" (it's so contrived how the A-plot & B-plot intersect and just the whole episode is weak) and "Rivals". "Sanctuary" has annoying aliens, but the premise is decent. I think "Rivals" is the worst because watching it, it feels like a Season 1 ep. There's nothing blatantly awful about it (one of the least bad worst eps), but it's just sub-subpar.

_______________________________________________
S3: "Fascination"
Others may love to hate "Meridian" but I think it's an ok episode. Jadzia falling so quickly head over heels for random man of the week was rather week, but she played the episode well and the situation was decent. The episode felt more DS9-esque than the generic style S1 scripts. I hate "Fascination" because it is so cartoonish. Cupid's arrows shoot all the wrong people, only they make it have a sci-fi-y (syfy really actually applies here) explanation. It's really inspired from the same spirit as "Profit and Lace", a cartoon. I like cartoons and all, but DS9 and cartoons don't mix.

Season 3 was also a very strong season that seemed to keep the crappy eps to a minimum. Hey, 24/26 ain't bad. Oh, "Destiny" felt like a Season 2 episode (and literally, it was script-wise). Kind of sucked S3 got jipped 1 ep.

_______________________________________________
S4: "The Muse"
Overall, a pretty strong season in terms of episode quality, but this ep collects all the worst. We have a Lwaxana Troi ep, and wherever she goes, bad episodes follow and toss in a pregnancy and we have a WTF were they thinking episode. The fact it took 6 days to iron out the script (longest in DS9's run. It's usually 2 days, 3 if there are problems) was a sign this one was going to be trouble. It strikes me as a sort of sequel to "Requiem for Methuselah" in historical name-dropping stupidity too. The Jake story is very stupid too. This ep is like a Season 1 ep in how utterly crappy it is. "The Sword of Kahless" has nothing on this piece of garbage.

_______________________________________________
S5: "Ferengi Love Songs"
"Let He Who is Without Sin..." is a close contender. Take Jadzia 2.0 (Klingon party girl), a "beach episode" [look it up if you're not familiar. Tv Tropes has a page], a celebrity guest star (Vanessa Williams), and some fundamentalists who want to take the fun out of Risa, and you got an episode making a respectable run towards one of the worst eps of a series, but "Ferengi Love Songs" is #-1 for me.

It was the only time I ever put DS9 on mute for a whole segment of the episode ("Profit and Lace" made me very close to walking away. Don't mean to go on a tangent here, but keeping in the subject of worst, "A Day in Sickbay" did make me walk away and it took away any desire to see most of the next eps. I only saw "The Seventh", "V. Point", "The Catwalk", but only resumed Trek viewing with "Dawn". Now that was a franchise low, and it devastated ENT's ratings. I'd seen over 95% of Trek episodes since the early '90s and for the 1st time since I found Star Trek, I had zero interest in it). It was just sooooo bad, and I don't mind Ferengi eps. There was nothing redeeming in it (well, the sets were kind of nice).

It seems from "Ferengi Love Songs" onwards, exception to "The Magnificent Ferengi", the Ferengi episodes just become terrible.

They botched the Bashir Changeling too. His tenure coincides with the most active part of Bashir's service on the station (Sisko brain surgery, delivering "Kira"'s baby). Then add in the baby changeling too and you kind of slap your head with how they kind of messed up such a cool idea (Bashir as changeling for a few eps, not being replaced off camera before the 2-parter). It was still cool, but not as utterly awesome as it could have been.

_______________________________________________
S6: "Profit and Lace"
There's a few contenders, but this is a pretty memorable low for DS9. Quark in drag. UGH! Awful. Taking a cartoon gag, and one usually from the 40s/50s, and making a whole show around it? It's such a cringe-inducing episode. Didn't they have some spare script lying around? How did this episode go up the entire episode creation process intact? Hmmm, I wonder if Futurama got the Bender gender-change idea from this one though.

"Will the show's reputation survive Quark's sex change subterfuge? On the next Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!"

S6's other strong contenders:
- "Sacrifice of Angels" is such a cop out (deus ex machina) and "The Reckoning" doesn't magically neutralize it. Wormhole fountain fairies magically make a whole Dominion fleet cease to exist? It didn't feel like a DS9-esque move, not even a TNG, VOY, ENT, TOS move.
- "Time's Orphan" is pretty crappy (I know it's based on something, but can't recall the source. Nellie? Something like that maybe?) but is more subpar than terrible. "The Sound of Her Voice" was an interesting idea (almost more of a radio episode), but fell flat and the BS Beta Quadrant time barrier stuff seemed stupid (esp. since they used that gimmick last season).
- "Valiant"- yeah, what everyone says about it is true. It really sucks. A bunch of moronic kids thinking they're invincible. Aren't cadets supposed to be college age? They were acting more like high schoolers. And war can make college age people get serious. Look at WWII. Can you picture that kind of behavior out of a whole group of WWII soldiers? But, Quark in drag trumps stupid kids. And I was a teen when the ep premiered and I thought it sucked, just like I thought "Imaginary Friend" and Wesley Crusher sucked, and my opinion wasn't alone at school (well, not sure about "Valiant" as Trek had a nerd stigma then).

_______________________________________________
S7: "The Emperor's New Cloak"
Few really bad episodes, but many subpar episodes. The 10 part final chapter devours much of the season and we get some character eps really shoehorned in rather hamhandedly, like "Chimera" (meeting another 1 of the 100 during the Dominion War) and Ezri being forced down our throats as the new darling of DS9. She gets 3 episodes while Quark is kind of tacked onto a few eps and the Ferengi goings-on are a very minor thread in the final chapter, and the Mirror Universe gets denegrated with a crappy finale. But, "The Emperor's New Cloak" is worse than TMOTTHolosuite.

Beyond being an indignant end for the Mirror Universe set (crossing a Ferengi episode, and the only one of the season no less, with the Mirror Universe was a terrible idea), it was awfully convenient both Ezri and Vic Fontaine are there. I remember watching it and thinking "UGH!" and I don't mind the occasional Ferengi ep. The Ferengi hostage plot totally overshadowed the MU politics and struggle. Then there's the glaring fact that Alliance ships had cloaking devices in the previous full-fledged MU ep. And in terms of the Ferengi being heroic, we saw that, to much better effect, in "The Magnificent Ferengi". This episode really never should have been made.
_______________________________________________

 

[Eyes]

Ok, I'm game for that.

S1: Progress
I have sat through this one several times, and I have to say, it was nothing but mind-numbingly boring every time.
I know it's often regarded as a fairly good episode, so I have watched it many times to make sure I wasn't just missing something. I still find it boring. Mullibok came across as a stubborn old man who just wouldn't move, and what Kira was doing should have had some impact, but it didn't for me. It really fits the damning stereotype of 'Bajoran stories are boring,' which I don't find in hardly any of the others. The only redeeming factor I find is the B-Story, which actually kept going when watching it.

Other honourable mentions go to (in order of season appearance):
Past Prologue - Fairly weak, nothing really doing aside from Garak.
A Man Alone - A generic plot, and a generic villain. This one was fairly boring too.
Q-Less - Could have been so much more. As much as I really like Q episodes, this one didn't work, Vash was annoying, and there could have been a better plot.
Move Along Home - Allamarain!

S2: Sanctuary
Season 2 was an ok season, but the bits in the middle gave us several sub-par episodes. The worst of these is Sanctuary. Translator scene was pointless garbage designed to give the episode more running time. The aliens were a) annoying as hell with their voices b) had makeup that was horrible to look at. The Promised Land thing came out of nowhere, and wasn't done very well.
Honourable mentions:
Rules of Acquisition - Aside from the Dominion mention, there is nothing redeeming this episode for me. Another horrible Ferengi episode.
Second Sight- Totally forgettable, aside from 'Let there be light', although not all that bad.

S3: Meridian
In one of DS9's best seasons, we have DS9's worst episode, in my opinion. Surrounded by great episodes, it takes the first and best prize for DS9's one bad episode a season. The plot is stupid, Jadzia's motives completely out of left field, she has absolutely no chemistry with her 'lover', and even Jeffrey Combs' B-Story fails to lift this episode out of the horrible depths that the A-Story takes it to.
The only other episode this season that even comes slightly close is Heart of Stone, and that's because of it reaching new levels of Contrived Plot.

S4: The Sword of Kahless
Hey, I, er.. liked The Muse, a bit. Season 4 doesn't really have any outstandingly bad episodes, but this one was boring, and Klingon. I think that says enough.

S5: Ferengi Love Songs
Again, I don't hate Let He... Ferengi Love Songs was terrible. Not really any plot, just the Nagus and Moogie getting together(One of the many reasons I'm glad we now have a vomit smiley).
Honourable mention goes to Soldiers of the Empire for also being boring and Klingon.

S6: Profit and Lace
I think that expresses my feelings on this episode perfectly.
This season's boring Klingon episode, Sons and Daughters, gets the honourable mention.
Oh, btw, I liked Valiant.

S7: Prodigal Daughter
You'll have noticed I tend to condemn episodes for being boring, rather than having a stupid plot (although it's often a bit of both). In that case, Prodigal Daughter easily wins this season. A half-hearted follow-up to a good episode was trumped by Ezri's family issues, and robbing O'Brien of about the most screen-time he got this season. I like Ezri, but this episode doesn't do a thing to me.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Valiant.

A high school drama club reenacts a episode of Star Trek. Really, who thought that was a good idea?

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Valiant.

A high school drama club reenacts a episode of Star Trek. Really, who thought that was a good idea?

Me

 

[Trek_princess]

Ok, I'm game for that.

S1: Progress
I have sat through this one several times, and I have to say, it was nothing but mind-numbingly boring every time.
I know it's often regarded as a fairly good episode, so I have watched it many times to make sure I wasn't just missing something. I still find it boring. Mullibok came across as a stubborn old man who just wouldn't move, and what Kira was doing should have had some impact, but it didn't for me. It really fits the damning stereotype of 'Bajoran stories are boring,' which I don't find in hardly any of the others. The only redeeming factor I find is the B-Story, which actually kept going when watching it.


S7: Prodigal Daughter
You'll have noticed I tend to condemn episodes for being boring, rather than having a stupid plot (although it's often a bit of both). In that case, Prodigal Daughter easily wins this season. A half-hearted follow-up to a good episode was trumped by Ezri's family issues, and robbing O'Brien of about the most screen-time he got this season. I like Ezri, but this episode doesn't do a thing to me.

Oooh, I hate Progress! I recently rewatched it and I skipped all the parts with Kira and Mullibok. The story with Jake and Nog is just too cute, and the only good thing about that episode. Mullibok is such a smug, arrogant old bastard - I find him offensive, and I don't understand why Kira becomes so attatched to him. Kira is OFC in this episode, IMO.

The Prodigal Daughter IS boring, you're right. And why is it called "Prodigal Daughter"? I get that Ezri comes home after a long absence, but she hasn't exactly been misbehaving. And her mom doesn't exactly welcome her with open arms. Calling it "Prodigal Daughter" suggests that Ezri leaves her family, indulges in an expensive, self destructive lifestyle, and then staggers back home as a ruined penitent, where she is welcomed back as if nothing had happened - this doesn't happen. Boring episode, dumb title.

 

[Cornholio]

But the worst episodes imo would be just about every Ferengi central episode

that pretty much covers it, although I'd agree with those who've mentioned 'Valiant', and I'll be the first to add 'Take Me Out to the Holosuite'.

 

[Lor'Vela]

Am I the only one who likes Move Along Home?

Top 5 disliked that immediately came to mind:

Sanctuary
A Simple Investigation
His Way
Profit and Lace
Chrysalis

 

[Destructor]

Oh, it was bad, but as for it being the worst in the franchise, I doubt it. In that contest it still has to face episodes like Threshold, Spock's Brain, Let He Who Is Without Sin..., and TATV (the worst in the franchise, IMHO).

Yeah, but they had a sort of campy so-bad-it's-good quality. P&L is just relentless suckitude. And that was AFTER Armin Shimmerman had refused to say some of the worse lines. Wrap your head around that: There were even worse lines.

Am I the only one who likes Move Along Home?

Yes.

 

[DeepSpaceWine]

Am I the only one who likes Move Along Home?

Yes.

I liked it too.

How bad would it be if the Allemaraine hopscotch scene wasn't in it?


Yes, "Spock's Brain" & "Threshold" are packed with campy qualities. There's a difference in B-movie bad (which is humorous) and just plain terrible. Some people can't perceive the difference. I guess it's like the difference between being tone deaf and not, or so.

And Profit and Lace with worse lines? Someone has to post the original script.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

I'll make this quick: "Move Along Home" from Season 1. Absolutely, dreadful!

 

[Photon]

As I have stated many times in threads of this nature, Move Along Home is the worst DS9 and borders on the worst ST of all time. Thankfully, Spock's Brain and numerous V'gers are ahead of it.

It is still an epic fail. The first species from the GQ to come in and they have mullets, stupid sticks, and like to gamble. Then there's the dreadful skip and chant that a SF commander is doing (now if Worf or Odo were in it, it might be funny), then there's the requisite cave scenes and cave quakes.

This episode made me stop watching on the original run b/c of its absolute stupidity....thanx to the Dominion War for bringing me back to DS9.