1 Code of Honor (So many to choose from. Justice is one of the most cringe-inducing, "Angel One" is dated [though I actually find that B-plot on the ship more cringe-inducing than the A-plot, except for some of the costumes], "Haven" for introducing Lwaxana Troi [since she was married to Star Trek's creator, she was imposed on the viewers, most egregiously in DS9. 3 of the worst episodes ever]... not to mention that singing box, "Symbosis" for almost coming off blatantly as the government-mandated "Just Say No" episode, but "Code of Honor" takes it for having a plot 40 years old even by 1987 standards and the backstory we all know about)
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2 The Outrageous Okona ("Shades of Gray" is easy to beat up on. Clip shows have become the bane of viewers, though it was a common strategy back then for a cheap show. But, despite that, the writers know how to make bottle shows so they should have come up with something. Or use edited scenes and alternate possibilities. That would make a great clip show. Alas, it takes advance planning to film alternate scenes every few eps.
- And "The Royale", I actually find decent, if a little dated [maybe back to the '50s, Mr. Lucky, Untouchables, etc].
- "Manhunt" had crummy, long treaded and retreaded A & B stories... and the mandatory "I want to see my wife on tv and I'm the producer so what I say goes!".
UTLL is half decent [the cloning story], half utter garbage. The 19th century Irish villagers were horrible. And worse yet, they would revisit the stereotype in Voyager. The sum of its parts are still worse than "Shades of Gray", which is only bad in that it is a mediocre plot [some points for the killer vine] that is 60, 70, whatever % recycled ["Star Trek is going green next week! We're saving the environment by recycling some of our footage"]. But, the sum of UTLL is still greater than "The Outrageous Okona".
Star Trek meets Jerry Springer. Awful. What were they thinking? I read they wanted Harry Mudd in stasis for the original The "Neutral Zone" cryostasis story, but sadly, Roger Carmel died in 1986, but this dirtbag lacks any of the personality or style Mudd had [Why was there no Season 3 Mudd episode in TOS?]. His story is awful and you wish the moment he appeared in the episode, Okona would be given the Remmick a la "Conspiracy" treatment or maybe blown out the airlock if they couldn't pull that trick twice. The B-story was equally bad. A + B =/= Zzzzz, instead equals a sound of a stomach heaving that could not be replicated by one letter)
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3 torn between Menage a Troi and Hollow Pursuits (I didn't care much for "The Bonding" and "Transfigurations" was kind of a generic, lame story that fell flat, but these 2 were bad.
A Lwaxana episode + TNG Ferengi. "The Price", "Rascals", "The Battle", even "Last Outpost" handled them better [DS9 should have still fleshed out why they had Marauders and how they fit into their purely mercantile culture. Did the show even reference those ships?]. "Menage a Troi" is another pretentious story that seems like its plot could have been molded to fit any show on the air in 1990.
"Hollow Pursuits". The crew treating Barclay like they were kids [broccoli, ugh]. He came off as an anachronism, clearly a very mentally ill man, beyond socially inept [Asbergers? Definately hints of rain man]. Also a holodeck episode and we are subject to his uncomfortable fantasies [though "Pathfinder" was worse. His only appearance on VOY should have been "Projections"]. If the episode were commentary on the lack of quality of fanfiction, of fanfic writers' obsession with shipping and Mary Suing characters and inserting them/their favorite character into the show, it would have been decent, if hard to pull off, but we are left with VOY "Muse" being *the* episode about writing. Barclay was a good supporting character for TNG, basically an amplified Geordi [see below], but this was a terrible introduction.)
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4 Galaxy's Child (Qpid is a close 2nd for me but I have to choose this episode. The whole Geordi- Leah Brahms story was downright uncomfortable. Geordi came off as kind of a weirdo between the S3 ep, this ep, and "Aquiel". He seemed to be a cold person that was a great engineer, but totally sucked with interpersonal skills. Basically, he comes close to playing a stalker in this episode. I wonder how women/girls interpreted this episode back then.
- "Clues" is actually a really nice episode. The Host's concept was rather uncomfortable.
- "Suddenly Human" is close with a Saved by the Bell Zack knockoff being raised by space wolves. Were teenage stories supposed to appeal to kids/teens? They never did to me or my peers ("Hero Worship" is better than "Suddenly Human" though). And we all hated Wesley too, finding him an obnoxious dork imposed on everyone. Oh yeah, the "Dauphin" sucked too as a kid [though "The Arsenal of Freedom" was cool])
One comment here...
"Final Mission". Did anyone else wonder what the heck Riker was doing and think he should have been court martialed for putting over 1000 lives in danger. "Let's see, 2 pressing situations at once... if only we could be in two places. No, we can't split the ship. Hey wait a minute, we can!". The saucer could have gone after Picard while the stardrive could have dealt with the freighter seeing as it had the engines & tractor beam. Yeah, the writers and script fact-checkers really messed up that one.
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5 Imaginary Friend (I was in grade school when it aired and even I found it lame. For a show aimed at kids, like Free Willy, it was seen as lame and aimed at a much younger audience, like maybe 6 or 7 and under. The powerful force incarnating as a child that just doesn't understand the culture... ugh. Suspiria was a better concept.
- "The Masterpiece Society" is a decent story on its own, actually one of the tighter scripts in Season 5.
- "The Game" was a fun episode when it came out, Lefler was a cool character, and the premise was handled well, the everyone is taken over [DS9 did it better with "Whispers" though].
- "The Inner Light" was a beautiful episode, but I will admit, it could come off as another series' script being shoehorned into TNG.
- "The Perfect Mate"'s story is a bit crappy, but "Cost of Living" is a close 2nd for worst episode of the season)
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6 A Fistful of Datas (Hey, let's xerox Data and put him in an old Wild West setting! Who thought this would be a good idea? Maybe people who were kids who grew up watching Westerns. Westerns were on their way out in the '70s, this was 20 years after Bonanza ended, 17 after Gunsmoke ended. TOS could do it with "Spectre of the Gun" because the '60s had many Westerns. And it was a holodeck malfunction episode too, the first big one. "The Big Goodbye" can get a pass, Data vs. Moriarty was ok, but should have been left to Masterpiece Theatre. Holodeck episodes would become the bane of Voyager [well, "Projections" & "Worst Case Scenario" were decent to good].
- "Rascals" I didn't care for, even as a kid, but it wasn't as cringeworthy as "Imaginary Child" and some of the writing for it was decent [individual story, Ferengis with Klingon birds of prey], and it was interesting to use 3/4 as supporting characters, but O'Brien- kid Keiko was downright creepy.
- "Ship in the Bottle" is a nice puzzle episode, the nesting doll sort of situation.
- "Aquiel" wasn't bad, though the murder mystery on some outpost investigation was a little strange [Murder She Wrote in space and the murderer is a coalescent metamorph]. It being the dog was kind of cool)
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7 Sub Rosa (Let me pass through the array of the usual suspects first.
- "Masks" was actually a kind of cool episode. The idea of the ancient civilization relic inside the comet, recreating it on the ship, all the long gone people being manifest through Data. VOY "Infinite Regress" managed to do some decent stuff with the recycled story [but it still would have been nice to have a non-recycled story, but it was not even a fraction as bad as ENT "Shadow Play" "Oasis" and "One" Doctor's Orders"].
- "Genesis" was a fun episode. Yeah, anything touching evolution they screw up [hello "Threshold", which would have been much better received had they subtituted every use of evolution with transformation. It came off as VOY's "Identity Crisis", only the Doctor glitched up and somehow thought it was evolution. Nice concept though, I liked that he didn't evolve into some big brained, 6 fingered intellectual dressing in white robes and using telepathy and condescension. Transwarp salamanders, ha ha ha, awesome].
As for some of other people's hated episodes...
- "Dark Page" was decent, probably the most bearable of Lwaxana's TNG appearances. Nothing cringeworthy about it.
- "Force of Nature" has all the subtlety of a club though back then, it came off as environmentally conscious... before everyone forgot what green was and started driving SUVs and blew exhaust in Captain Planet's face and before NBC did its big go green push to sell GE's new lightbulbs [PSA: "Every time you buy an energy efficient lightbulb, you help GE's bottom line. Remember, look for the GE symbol." Cue 4 note sound and flying star with The More You Know].
- Oh yeah, "Emergence", damn, 3 episodes from the end, we almost made it without another holodeck episode. Crappy story, but a few decent events.
"Lower Decks" is overrated. It's a nice episode, but people treat it like it's the best Trek episode ever. It's basically a gimmick concept, the ensign's/redshirt's POV but it's built into be something profound that people demand more of. It's like the people that shouted darker, no darker and still want things darker than new BSG and the like.
Onto, "Sub Rosa". Ok, a Beverly episode and a romantic story, there's nothing wrong there, but once again, comes off like another series' script. I like the old Gothic genre, but it doesn't mix well with Star Trek, particularly post TOS (on TOS, it would have been a succubus and Kirk). It's also so cringeworthy. All it needs is that "Secret Lover" song playing throughout it. The candle, some of those scenes... ugh. Memory Alpha says it was written for the female audience and many women who worked on the cast/production really liked it. How did female viewers think of it?
It makes no bloody sense.
