Episodes where the entire plot fundamentally doesn't work

[Farscape One]

It would have been nice to see him investigate, too. It was exceedingly rare for Worf, as opposed to Tuvok and Odo (who was the best in the franchise).

Rethinking now, I wonder if the writers at that point, realizing that Worf doing "Suspicions" was the least likely person for the job, would be the perfect choice for "Parallels". Ironically, the episode works great because he is the least likely of all the leads to figure things out there quickly.

 

[at Quark's]

Suppose it had been Data

'I thought that was chocolate cake! Accessing and diagnosing memory files... no problems detected, it WAS chocolate cake. Therefore I must be in an alternate reality.' Episode would have been cut short to 10 minutes or so.

 

[Farscape One]

I think it would taken Data a few more minutes to realize what was going on. Worf got dizzy pretty much every time he jumped realities. Since Data is not organic, that was one less clue to work with, and it was a pretty good clue because it's how they established the connection with Geordi and his visor.

 

[Oddish]

Sisko in "IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT"... while I agree there are spy elements involved, that was more Garak. Sisko was being more tactically minded.

But why is Sisko even doing this when we've just been introduced to a secret Federation organization that was made for stuff like this? Why didn't William Sadler walk into Garak's shop, order some loud plaid pants, and then say "let's go start a war already"?

O'Brien's case, he was conscripted by Starfleet Security. So it wasn't really his choice in doing this.

You missed the point. Someone asked why Dr. Crusher was hosting a conference about metaphasic shields. I reminded them that other characters did things that were out of their element, too.

Memory Alpha says it was originally a Worf story.

While I could see Worf gutting a Ferengi, I don't see him doing it if said Ferengi was already dead.

Suppose it had been Data

'I thought that was chocolate cake! Accessing and diagnosing memory files... no problems detected, it WAS chocolate cake. Therefore I must be in an alternate reality.' Episode would have been cut short to 10 minutes or so.

They'd just technobabble in a bit where Data has minor memory hiccups every time he shifts, so he thinks it... might have been chocolate cake? Not quite sure, though.

Can you imagine it as a Troi episode? She finds out she frickin' married Worf, and spends the rest of the episode in a fetal position on the floor, mumbling incomprehensibly.

 

[DonIago]

No no, Troi would have jumped into a warp nacelle's plasma stream. It happened before and it will happen again!

 

[Farscape One]

But why is Sisko even doing this when we've just been introduced to a secret Federation organization that was made for stuff like this? Why didn't William Sadler walk into Garak's shop, order some loud plaid pants, and then say "let's go start a war already"?



You missed the point. Someone asked why Dr. Crusher was hosting a conference about metaphasic shields. I reminded them that other characters did things that were out of their element, too.



While I could see Worf gutting a Ferengi, I don't see him doing it if said Ferengi was already dead.



They'd just technobabble in a bit where Data has minor memory hiccups every time he shifts, so he thinks it... might have been chocolate cake? Not quite sure, though.

Can you imagine it as a Troi episode? She finds out she frickin' married Worf, and spends the rest of the episode in a fetal position on the floor, mumbling incomprehensibly.

I got the point. I guess what I meant was Crusher was doing that on her own, while O'Brien had no choice in the matter. If Beverly was ordered or forced to be the 'scientific diplomat' during the episode, it might not have seemed as out of place. We never saw her having an interest in doing that kind of role, which is why it's so odd that she did it on her own time.

O'Brien, at least, was ordered by Starfleet Security and he didn't want to do it to begin with.

Big difference in motivation between the two.

 

[matthunter]

But why is Sisko even doing this when we've just been introduced to a secret Federation organization that was made for stuff like this? Why didn't William Sadler walk into Garak's shop, order some loud plaid pants, and then say "let's go start a war already"?

Because there's no story in "established asshole we've known for a episode does asshole stuff he'd probably do every Tuesday whether it was necessary or not", versus "extremely moral individual we've come to love over several seasons is beaten down by horrific circumstances to do asshole stuff".

 

[Oddish]

Maybe, but can you imagine Sloan and Garak working together? Within a week, they'd have unified the Federation and Cardassian alliance, and be secretly running the combined organization behind the scenes.

No no, Troi would have jumped into a warp nacelle's plasma stream. It happened before and it will happen again!

Arghhh... too true. Take my Like and never speak of this again.

 

[Body of Landru]

"A Private Little War." I know the Klingons have to act in secret and can't just overrun the planet as they'd tried at Organia, but I think the plan they developed here is far too contrived to be believable. While the plot doesn't completely fail under scrutiny, for me at least, it raises too many unintended questions.