If you could disallow one episode.....

[NathanielM]

OH no... Spock's brain was funny... and kinda humerous.

imoy, according to trek rumor and trivia hated that little silver hat and the writing on that one really was not great.. but unlike I mudd, Shore Leave, or This way to Eden, it had the comic bits...

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Red Ranger said:

cooleddie74 said:
^
At least it had Spock singing the words "bitter dregs." That's GOT to amount to something.

"Bitter Dregs" is the best ST song EVER! Beats "Beyond Antares" from "The Conscience of the King" and that punk rock song from ST:TVH on the bus.

I dunno... it's a little vague, you know? I mean, it's so subtle, I can't really understand what he's singing about. Is it about young girls who run a winery? Like, if Laverne and Shirley worked in a winery? And, like, Lenny and Squiggy keep coming over and drinking all their Chateau Cumberbund? I just don't get it.

 

[Smiley]

Disallowed episode: "And the Children Shall Lead"

Best TOS song: "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen"

 

[Red Ranger]

Brutal Strudel said:

Red Ranger said:

cooleddie74 said:
^
At least it had Spock singing the words "bitter dregs." That's GOT to amount to something.

"Bitter Dregs" is the best ST song EVER! Beats "Beyond Antares" from "The Conscience of the King" and that punk rock song from ST:TVH on the bus.

I dunno... it's a little vague, you know? I mean, it's so subtle, I can't really understand what he's singing about. Is it about young girls who run a winery? Like, if Laverne and Shirley worked in a winery? And, like, Lenny and Squiggy keep coming over and drinking all their Chateau Cumberbund? I just don't get it.

I don't get it, either. That's what's so brilliant about it! My brother and I sing the refrain, "Ohhh-ohhh, bitter dregs" whenever someone tells a sob story. -- RR

 

[Neopeius]

Red Ranger said:
People,

I don't recall this "Vulcan was conquered" line you all are talking about. Please explain.

From Conscience of the King:

McCoy: Would you care for a drink, Mr. Spock?
Spock: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol.
McCoy: Oh. Now I know why they were conquered.

 

[Noname Given]

Neopeius said:

Red Ranger said:
People,

I don't recall this "Vulcan was conquered" line you all are talking about. Please explain.

From Conscience of the King:

McCoy: Would you care for a drink, Mr. Spock?
Spock: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol.
McCoy: Oh. Now I know why they were conquered.

Yep - and it lead to YATI (Yet Another Trek Incosistency) when, in The Immunity Syndrome, Spock stated:

Spock: "Vulcan has never been conquered within it collective memory. The memory stretches back so far, that no Vulcan could conceive of a conquerer..."

That was part of his response to a question about what he nthought the Intrepid crew was thinking at the point they died.

 

[Finn]

Its a toss up between Turnabout Intruder and Spock's Brain.

 

[comsol]

Noname Given said:

Neopeius said:

Red Ranger said:
People,

I don't recall this "Vulcan was conquered" line you all are talking about. Please explain.

From Conscience of the King:

McCoy: Would you care for a drink, Mr. Spock?
Spock: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol.
McCoy: Oh. Now I know why they were conquered.

Yep - and it lead to YATI (Yet Another Trek Incosistency) when, in The Immunity Syndrome, Spock stated:

Spock: "Vulcan has never been conquered within it collective memory. The memory stretches back so far, that no Vulcan could conceive of a conquerer..."

That was part of his response to a question about what he nthought the Intrepid crew was thinking at the point they died.

I always assumed that McCoy was somewhat ironically talking about Vulcan being "conquered" by Surak's philosophy of logic - something that Spock and other Vulcans would not see as a conquest.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Almost certainly not what the episode intended but a good save nevertheless.

I find it intriguing to imagine what the Trek universe might have become had these YATIs from the early 1st season been canonized. What if Trek had been a 28th century show (as per "Squire of Gothos") in which earth had conquered the Vulcanians? That's why these types of iconsitenceis don't bug me.

Red Ranger said:

Brutal Strudel said:

Red Ranger said:

cooleddie74 said:
^
At least it had Spock singing the words "bitter dregs." That's GOT to amount to something.

"Bitter Dregs" is the best ST song EVER! Beats "Beyond Antares" from "The Conscience of the King" and that punk rock song from ST:TVH on the bus.

I dunno... it's a little vague, you know? I mean, it's so subtle, I can't really understand what he's singing about. Is it about young girls who run a winery? Like, if Laverne and Shirley worked in a winery? And, like, Lenny and Squiggy keep coming over and drinking all their Chateau Cumberbund? I just don't get it.

I don't get it, either. That's what's so brilliant about it! My brother and I sing the refrain, "Ohhh-ohhh, bitter dregs" whenever someone tells a sob story. -- RR

Actually, I was being a bit of the old smart ass there. The song is really telling young women not to put out to young rakes who will screw them and then leave them, damaged goods (bitter dregs) for potential husbands. Wine=virginity, if you will.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Good morning, Mr. Roddenberry. The photograph you are looking at is a picture of the cast of the space adventure series Star Trek, produced by you and Desilu (later Paramount). Your mission: Produce as many episodes as you can before the series is cancelled, turned into a major-motion picture and film series, not to mention spin-off shows. As always should you or your production team make a horrendous episode, the fans will disavow all knowledge of that episode 40 years later. This BBS will self-destruct in five-minutes. Good Luck, Gene!


All kidding aside, I have to say tossing out "Conscience of the King" just because of McCoy's one-line jab is silly. The rest of the episode is well-written and well-acted, especially by Shatner and the two guest stars.

If I were to disavow an episode it would have to be "All the Children Shall Lead" and "Plato's Stepchildren." I'd have to keep "Spock's Brain," only because it's camp at its best. Also, without it we wouldn't have gotten that parody play performed in Los Angeles that gave us Andy Bray for New Voyages.

 

[Neopeius]

middyseafort said:


All kidding aside, I have to say tossing out "Conscience of the King" just because of McCoy's one-line jab is silly. The rest of the episode is well-written and well-acted, especially by Shatner and the two guest stars.

Oh, I'd hardly toss it out for that. I'd toss it out for myriad other reasons I've expounded upon at length in other threads. I can't tell you how much I hate that episode.

 

[Sulu_Love_child]

The Empath was not too good...

 

[blueshirt]

"And the Children Shall Lead" combines "bad" and "boring" more severely than any other episode for me.
Though perhaps I merely caught that one in reruns as a kid more often than "The Lights of Zetar."

However, 2 other episodes produce derisive laughter from me in a way no others do.
The Yangs and Kohms paralleling the Cold War down to the U.S. flag and Constitution in "The Omega Glory" just makes me chortle. It's far worse than the Earth replica in "Miri," where that point is irrelevant to the rest of the episode and easily overlooked.
"The Paradise Syndrome" combines bad and boring quite effectively, but having "Kirk to Enterprise" translate into Preserverese as "Open, Sesame" just kills the suspension of disbelief right from the start.

And sure, "Spock's Brain" is exceedingly bad, but it's so campy you feel like you're in on the joke, so it's never boring.

 

[Silvermane]

Turnabout Intruder JUST edges out Let the Be Your Last Battlefield.

 

[cooleddie74]

"The Mark of Gideon" is about as useless and boring as a busted condom.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Fact is, at least (at least) of Star Trek could be burned up and no one but the insane would miss it.

TOS, classic though it is, was cursed with many turkeys.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
It had a few, to be sure. But at least the producers back then TRIED to do original, interesting stories that made you think. Can't say the same with newer shows like VOYAGER. Even with modern special effects and sets with millions of bucks behind them, a bad VOYAGER or TNG episode is even worse.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Dude, you don't gotta convince me of that. The only spin-off I truly like is DS9 and that doesn't approach the esteem I have for TOS.

You see, when Trek was bad it was very, very bad but when it was good it was sublime.

 

[Franklin]

"Assignment Earth". Bad story, and no excuse for it other than to try to launch a new show off of the dying one's back. If there hadn't been a season three of TOS, it would've been the last episode.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
Plus, since the fans loved the Air Force pilot and Guardian of Forever episodes in Season 1 they must have felt obliged to have another whiz-bang time travel/Earth episode in the second year, even if was the final show of that season and a pilot for a failed spinoff.