Favorite and Least Favorite

[2takesfrakes]

Daren plays a portable piano as Picard performs on his Ressikan flute in "Lessons." I'm pretty sure the flute made an appearance in the deleted scenes from NEMESIS. I honestly don't remember there being dialogue about where it came from and what it meant to him. I haven't looked at it in a long time.

 

[Long Syntax]

I think I have a least favorite episode now: The Inner Light.

I was reading through this tread and was hard pressed to think of a least favorite, although I'm sure I have one, when I came across your post CaptJaneway. It shocked me because I consider Inner Light to be one of my favorite episodes because it dealt with a limitation in Picard's character - namely a long term relationship and children. When this show aired I was in my 20's I believe and it was immediately one of my favorites. As years past and I've had children of my own I think this episode has an even deeper meaning to me.

Having said that I certainly respect your opinion... we all see things in a different "light" I suppose ;-)

 

[CaptJaneway]

I think I have a least favorite episode now: The Inner Light.

I was reading through this tread and was hard pressed to think of a least favorite, although I'm sure I have one, when I came across your post CaptJaneway. It shocked me because I consider Inner Light to be one of my favorite episodes because it dealt with a limitation in Picard's character - namely a long term relationship and children. When this show aired I was in my 20's I believe and it was immediately one of my favorites. As years past and I've had children of my own I think this episode has an even deeper meaning to me.

Having said that I certainly respect your opinion... we all see things in a different "light" I suppose ;-)

I didn't think about it that way, and I think my opinion of the episode was more reactionary than anything; it's scary to think of living somewhere for 20 years and then being sucked back to a completely different life where no time has passed. I was glad he brought up the experience with Daren (so at least I know it affected him long term). Plus, the flute came up a few different times. I guess the episode isn't so horrifying after seeing how he coped with it in little ways in the seasons after the experience.

Now that I've finished the series, I do find it hard to look back and find an episode I hated. I didn't like when Yar died, but the alien that episode was creepy, so that was a plus. Originally I didn't like Q, but then I began to think he was kind of funny. I don't know; mostly I didn't like certain episodes immediately after I watched them, and then my opinion changed.

The one where Riker is practicing for the play (I think it's called "Frame of Mind") is not a favorite of mine, but that's mostly because it featured Riker--who is the worst--so heavily. I also didn't like the parts of episodes where Deanna got so brutally hurt (she was stabbed by Data with that huge knife and then had a huge chunk of her face bitten off by Worf). No one else got that horrifyingly injured, right? Those are just individual scenes that bothered me versus entire episodes, though. I guess each story has its positives and negatives.

 

[Long Syntax]

I don't know; mostly I didn't like certain episodes immediately after I watched them, and then my opinion changed.

I think a lot of folks, myself included change opinions of episodes after they've had time to "soak" for a while.

Good insight!

 

[Long Syntax]

...
I didn't like when Yar died, but the alien that episode was creepy, so that was a plus.
...

I forgot to add that my daughter and I are finishing season 7 of TNG. When Tasha died my daughter was very upset -- she's still one of her favorite characters!

 

[Kor]

Least favorite: Riker

He's such a lech! I get so grossed out every time he gives some random beautiful alien that "I want to do you" look. He even tried it on the J'naii! I originally thought I'd like him since the first time I saw him was when Q brought him onto the Voyager. In those few seconds, I saw a big, attractive, bearded guy, but damn was I wrong about him.

There are at least two episodes where false memories show Riker as being overly aggressive when trying to court women (3x14 and 5x12), and really I never have found these depictions of Riker to be too hard to believe. I don't know why he has this effect on me, but I think maybe it's just the overall thin layer of sexism that coats TNG that makes his personality hard to take. Why does sex seem to be the only thing on his mind ever?

I think part of Gene Roddenberry's "utopian vision" was that far in the future, people would be much more, um... open about this aspect of the human condition. It's a more common theme in literary science fiction, I would say.

Favourite characters: Worf and Data
Least favourite: Dr. Pulaski

Episodes: Too hard to decide.

Kor

 

[CaptJaneway]

Least favorite: Riker

He's such a lech! I get so grossed out every time he gives some random beautiful alien that "I want to do you" look. He even tried it on the J'naii! I originally thought I'd like him since the first time I saw him was when Q brought him onto the Voyager. In those few seconds, I saw a big, attractive, bearded guy, but damn was I wrong about him.

There are at least two episodes where false memories show Riker as being overly aggressive when trying to court women (3x14 and 5x12), and really I never have found these depictions of Riker to be too hard to believe. I don't know why he has this effect on me, but I think maybe it's just the overall thin layer of sexism that coats TNG that makes his personality hard to take. Why does sex seem to be the only thing on his mind ever?

I think part of Gene Roddenberry's "utopian vision" was that far in the future, people would be much more, um... open about this aspect of the human condition. It's a more common theme in literary science fiction, I would say.

Favourite characters: Worf and Data
Least favourite: Dr. Pulaski

Episodes: Too hard to decide.

Kor

I kind of like Pulaski in that I felt she was brought in to cast doubt on--and later accept--two characters that viewers might have had the most trouble with when the show initially aired: Worf and Data. In a way, she was able to act as the "devil's advocate," and in doing so, she proved Data's and Worf's humanity for all that might have questioned it.

It might not seem like a big deal for Worf to have trusted her, but by that time it had only been a little over a half a season since a Klingon held the position of Security Chief and Third Commander on the Enterprise. After all of TNG, DS9, and VOY, this might not seem like a big deal, but maybe to audiences experiencing the new Klingons after TOS, this was a turning point for their opinions.

Data didn't have the same issue of audience prejudices, but the fact that someone like Pulaski, who was so skeptical of technology that she wouldn't even use the transporter, eventually began to see an android as a real person made Data seem that much more likable.

I think her purpose was to develop these characters in the crucial second season. If it were for more than that, she would've definitely lasted longer. I guess I just like how she didn't immediately accept everything as others at that point in the series often did.

 

[CaptJaneway]

Least favorite: Riker

He's such a lech! I get so grossed out every time he gives some random beautiful alien that "I want to do you" look. He even tried it on the J'naii! I originally thought I'd like him since the first time I saw him was when Q brought him onto the Voyager. In those few seconds, I saw a big, attractive, bearded guy, but damn was I wrong about him.

There are at least two episodes where false memories show Riker as being overly aggressive when trying to court women (3x14 and 5x12), and really I never have found these depictions of Riker to be too hard to believe. I don't know why he has this effect on me, but I think maybe it's just the overall thin layer of sexism that coats TNG that makes his personality hard to take. Why does sex seem to be the only thing on his mind ever?

I think part of Gene Roddenberry's "utopian vision" was that far in the future, people would be much more, um... open about this aspect of the human condition.

Kor

They had gotten over so many of the things currently associated with the "human condition": war, violence, conquering, etc. Why was this not overcome as well?

It's especially confusing when considering how quickly Riker killed his clone. The planet that made it was just satisfying the same "human condition" that Riker was seemingly attempting to satisfy all over the galaxy, so how could he not see this in that colony? Sure, Riker was just always going for sex without procreation (as opposed to procreation without sex, like on the clone planet), but he wouldn't even have such urges if it weren't for the primal urge to procreate. Why can he easily accept his skeezy behavior but so quickly kill his clone, which was the result of comparable behavior from a different culture? Isn't the Starfleet Academy supposed to prepare one to think in these different ways? If so, how was someone so ignorant given so many opportunities to become captain of starships? I just will never understand how Riker can be considered so likable when he is constantly proving he is not. I guess I just should've started watching TNG when it came out; maybe I wouldn't be so critical of the characters' antiquated behavior.

 

[Kor]

^ That's not what I meant... The idea in much of SF is the opposite: that hundreds of years from now, people will have "overcome" the taboos surrounding sexuality, and the moral or institutional pressures to suppress it, and so it would be expressed much more openly, as no big deal. That would certainly be utopia to Gene Roddenberry.

Kor

 

[Admiral2]

Favorite Character: Tasha Yar, even after she died. Data's a close second.
Least Favorite Character: Wesley Crusher. No explanation needed.
Favorite Episode: Chain of Command two-parter, because Jellico is THE MAN. Because he's traditional military, because that's what the situation demanded. Because the crew of E-D was a bunch of whiners. Because he told Troi to put on a uniform. (They shoulda let him keep the ship and make Picard ambassador somewhere...)
Least Favorite Episode: The Lower Decks, because there isn't much I hate more than "midshipman drama." I prefer watching grownups in uniform.

 

[Granola Gwen]

Data has this child like curiosity that just brings me in every time. When I first started watch this series, he was the one I automatically connected to. Though sometimes his character is cast aside as "humor does not compute", he feels like such a strong character to me even without emotions.

As for favorite episode, I haven't completed the series so I can't make a correct assumption. But I am pulled in by episodes such as The Survivors, Where No One Has Gone Before and etc.

 

[Mojochi]

I now think my least favorite will always be Shades of Gray, not because it is necessarily the worst they ever did, but because it was systematically the cheapest outing for a tv show they ever did, & that was a big disappointment for me, & remains so. That said, I do understand what unfortunate circumstances transpired to bring that situation around, but it's just so lackluster, that it hurts, because I always want to feel like Star Trek is not just any other show, & that episode shines a huge spotlight on its weak underbelly. Tv & especially Star Trek is like magic. If you can see the inner workings creeping out into the show, it ruins the magic, & this episode was the one time I felt like the machine ruined the magic. At least all those other crappy episodes were done with someone at the helm trying to make something they believed in to some degree, instead of just churning out a product for product's sake

My favorite is still probably Chain of Command, because it really was one of the bigger risks they pulled. They challenge the audience with a new captain, one vastly different, one that you get tempted to hate because the conflict is so realistic & well played that you develop bias without ever really noticing it. That the debate goes on decades later, that the subject creeps back constantly, is a real sign of something potent happening in there. You can love the acting and writing of any episode like The Drumhead or The Wounded, but with CoC you love the struggle it makes you endure more than that

 

[RAMA]

Fav character: Picard/Data
Least: Troi

STNG:

1. Best of Both Worlds I and II
2. Yesterday's Enterprise
3. Darmok
4. The Chase
5. The Inner Light
6. The Measure of a Man (Extended)
7. The Survivors
8. The Wounded
9. Q Who
10. Where No One Has Gone Before

1. Shades of Gray-Kind of useless except for budgetary reasons.
2. Emergence-Single most pointless episode of STNG. Nothing redeems it.
3. Man of the People-Almost unwatchable.
4. Manhunt-Needless, less charming retread of Haven.
5. The Loss-The Betazoid pms episode...this was not ST. Even a fairly cool 2D alien couldn't save this episode.
6. The Royale-Had about 15 good minutes in it about Colonel Ritchie, but ultimately not very good.
7. Samaritan Snare-It wasn't only the Pakleds who were dumb in this episode. Nominated for worst aliens ever in a Trek series.
8. Haven-A few good character moments, not much else.
9. Rascals-Silly
10. Laisons-Non-sensical

Honorable mention: Realm of fear. Horrible ending and technobabble.

 

[Memory Alpha]

Favorite Character: Data
Favorite Episode: Inheritance (this episode is gold, IMO)
Least Fave Character: Wesley or Troi (which has nothing to do with Wheaton or Sirtis)
Least Fave Episode: Angel One or Code of Honor (Both are almost unwatchable)

It's a shame that Wesley did not become interesting until after he left, and indeed I feel that "Journey's End" is probably the best Wesley episode. It's like they sat down with this character and said, "let's invent a young-ish character who has not the slightest trace of an edge," and they came up with him. Troi also does not manage to become interesting until seasons 6-7 and tends to elicit a lot of eye-rolls from me, especially during those early seasons.

 

[ToddPence]

Least Fave Character: Wesley or Troi (which has nothing to do with Wheaton or Sirtis)

Actually, I kind of like the character of Wesley. It's the real-life Wheaton that I consider a douchebag.

 

[Louigi Verona]

Favorite Character: Riker, Geordi La Forge
Favorite Episode: Schisms, Quality of Life, Relics
Least Favorite Character: Troi
Least Favorite Episode: Journey's End

Riker
I enjoy the character of Riker as a vibrant and at times very focused and serious guy. I did not like at all that, actually pretty early on, they decided to tell Riker that he should move on and then Riker would stay and that would have a feeling of him being weak and soft.

I think he made a very wise move. If Enterprise is the flagship, then being 2nd in command is better than being a captain on a smaller vessel. It makes sense and Enterprise is certainly much more challenging. All the rethoric towards him becoming captain seemed flawed to me. It's like - would you rather be a VP in Apple - or be Managing Director (President) in an unknown small company? Well, I'd rather be a VP in Apple. It is silly to leave for a smaller company to just say you've been a President. It makes no sense from a career point of view.

Geordi
I really enjoy him. Although in the earlier episodes he had problems with dating, in all other respects he is laid back, passionate, driven engineer, real professional. And I love to see him work, think, research weird stuff. I would love to work in engineering too!

People here mention Data and Picard relationship. I must say seeing Data and Geordi work together is great. While Picard treats Data as his son, in a way, or his student, Geordi and Data are friends and colleagues.

Quality of Life
I like a lot of episodes, but I chose this one because it is what Star Trek is for me - exploring complicated issues and also - sciency issues, running experiments in engineering. I probably can say more about this episode, but I love how it shows a lot of everyday life on the ship as well.

Schisms
This has been my favourite for years. I have no idea why. I guess because it shows everyday life on the ship as well. I just love watching it. I also love the idea of infinite worlds and that you can randomly tap into one of them. Again, seeing Riker and Geordi and Data figure out stuff is wonderful. The scene in the holodeck, when they try to figure out how the table looks is fascinating. Gives me chills!

Relics
Relics is a very special episode. I can connect to Scotty. To a man who looks at his life and who sees that his time has passed and he finds it difficult to connect with the modern world, but wants to. This is a profound episode. This is something that says so much about us, humans, about growing old, about the value of one's achievements, about generations... Very sad episode, in a way. Bittersweet.

Troi
Never liked her character. She would rarely bring anything special to the table. Her observations were superficial and obvious to anyone who is an average observant of human character. I also disliked her in general, I just do not enjoy people like her that much - moody, unpredictable, obnoxious even. I liked her growth in the later seasons when she was given command. But other than that - I do not care that much for her.

Incidentally, I do enjoy Lwaxanna. I get people who do not like her, but I think she was funny. And underneath this funny there sometimes was a position of lifelong beliefs.

Journey's End
Many people list Shades of Gray as their least favourite, to me this is not even an episode, but rather a way to save budget, so I do not even comment on it.

Journey's End is probably something that comes to mind. I did not like Wesley as an irritated guy who did not want to help Geordy and who was not able to explain himself. That happens to people, but I did not understand why last appearance of Wesley was made in such a manner. I also did not enjoy him leaving Starfleet. In my view, this is a very weird way to close the character plot and it sort of undermines everything the character stood for during the series. Granted, many people dislike Wesley, but I definitely liked him more like a passionate cheerful kid who loves technology and stuff.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Favorite episode: "The Best of Both Worlds (part one)"
Runners up: "The Offspring," "Sins of the Father," "Darmok"

Least favorite episode: "Gambit, Part II"
Runners down: "Lonely Among Us," "Hide ad Q, "Journey's End"

Favorite character: Data
Least favorite character: First-season Yar

With respect to Yar in the first season, the blame falls mostly on the writing, and therefore ultimately on Roddenberry. "Yesterday's Enterprise" demonstrated that Crosby was not the problem.

 

[Louigi Verona]

Btw, I generally did not like Yar. And Yesterday's Enterprise still does not make sense to me. I can't even name this episode least favorite, I generally just skip it.

 

[Granola Gwen]

I'm actually considering Too Short a Season as my least favorite episode so far from what I've seen. Anytime a really young guy has on make up to make himself look elderly it usually turns out awful looking. Especially in this case and the guy's voice was not convincing either. Besides that, I just found it pretty dull and it dragged on. Then again, I find some Worf/Klingon episodes to be repetitive with its' message of honor and being a warrior.

 

[suarezguy]

I did not like Wesley as an irritated guy who did not want to help Geordy and who was not able to explain himself. That happens to people, but I did not understand why last appearance of Wesley was made in such a manner. I also did not enjoy him leaving Starfleet. In my view, this is a very weird way to close the character plot and it sort of undermines everything the character stood for during the series.

It was definitely weird and I felt didn't work that Moore wanted to show that Wesley had just been following in his father's footsteps - and then had him change by, after seeing a (new) vision of his father, deciding to follow another father figure .