Most Underrated Episode?
- Thread starter CrazyMatt
- Start date
I'm going with "Elaan of Troyius" as the most under-rated.
"A Taste of Armageddon" is my favorite episode of Star Trek. Any series.
I agree with everyone here about A Taste of Armageddon. This episode showed us that, in addition to being a great engineer, Scotty was also a great command officer, even better than Spock in many ways.
I’m gonna say “Bread and Circuses.” It’s never in anyone’s top ten lists (except Wingsley's 
) and it’s a great story, my favorite of the parallel-Earth tales. Roddenberry hated the “son of God” reveal (in later years he said the people involved were “cretins” which was damned harsh), but I didn’t mind it. I’m not religious by any means, but I know religion exists and people follow it. Why ignore it and the effects it played on society? And it truly would be amazing to see it “happen all over again.”
The characters were really well drawn; I loved Flavius. Captain Merik was the poor loser who got more than he bargained for but redeemed himself in the end, giving the Big Three their closest scrape as they get beamed up. While Claudius Marcus was easily one of the series’ most vile villains. Kirk gets to score, McCoy and Spock have their most revealing conversation to date and Scotty got to be bad-ass again instead of panicky. Not to mention there was some pretty sharp network satire. This episode was full of treasures.
It’s a really great episode that deserves more attention than it usually gets.
) and it’s a great story, my favorite of the parallel-Earth tales. Roddenberry hated the “son of God” reveal (in later years he said the people involved were “cretins” which was damned harsh), but I didn’t mind it. I’m not religious by any means, but I know religion exists and people follow it. Why ignore it and the effects it played on society? And it truly would be amazing to see it “happen all over again.” The characters were really well drawn; I loved Flavius. Captain Merik was the poor loser who got more than he bargained for but redeemed himself in the end, giving the Big Three their closest scrape as they get beamed up. While Claudius Marcus was easily one of the series’ most vile villains. Kirk gets to score, McCoy and Spock have their most revealing conversation to date and Scotty got to be bad-ass again instead of panicky. Not to mention there was some pretty sharp network satire. This episode was full of treasures.
It’s a really great episode that deserves more attention than it usually gets.
I’m gonna say “Bread and Circuses.” It’s never in anyone’s top ten lists (except Wingsley's
The characters were really well drawn; I loved Flavius. Captain Merik was the poor loser who got more than he bargained for but redeemed himself in the end, giving the Big Three their closest scrape as they get beamed up. While Claudius Marcus was easily one of the series’ most vile villains. Kirk gets to score, McCoy and Spock have their most revealing conversation to date and Scotty got to be bad-ass again instead of panicky. Not to mention there was some pretty sharp network satire. This episode was full of treasures.
It’s a really great episode that deserves more attention than it usually gets.
Not sure if it's in my top-10, but "Bread and Circuses" is definitely in my top-20.
I agree with everyone who mentioned "The Omega Glory". This episode had everything: suspense (the Exeter) action (the fight sequences) and a message (the constitution and the American flag). Also, third season episodes "Spock's Brain" and "Elaan of Troyus" had their good moments, as well as a good amount of humor for a season in which Fred Frieberger tended to shy away from comedy.
I think "Omega Glory" is a good show, but it all falls apart for me as soon as the flag makes its appearance. It pushed my suspension of disbelief too far, even when I first saw it in the late 60s. The ritual fight between Kirk and Tracey is well done, and looks to be entirely Shatner and Woodward with no stuntmen.
If they'd found something to do other than have Kirk sing Yankee Doodle, it would have been a great show.
If they'd found something to do other than have Kirk sing Yankee Doodle, it would have been a great show.
I think 'The Cloud Minders' has underrated- a society split into two parts with both rationalizing who is right and wrong. The ST-R version shows the city better IMO but the best parts are in dialog. I do wish there had been a more interesting solution than just gas filters, but having a simple cause is a must when you have a hour to tell the story.
"The Lights of Zetar" and "That Which Survives". Zetar is just so unusual, or at least i always felt it was. Survives has some interesting character moments. i also feel like Spock is purposefully being a bit of a jerk. plus, Lee Meriwether.
"The Omega Glory" is an episode that i saw too many reruns of to have any appreciation for.
"The Omega Glory" is an episode that i saw too many reruns of to have any appreciation for.
Why is the last a problem? They went to earth first from Sahndara. Although Philana doesn't say it, Kirk reveals in his log that "When their planet novaed, millennia ago, they transported themselves to Earth in the time of Socrates and Plato. After the death of the Greek civilization they idolized, they came to this planet and created for themselves a utopia patterned after it." So someone must have filled him in on the exact details, probably Alexander in privacy (Alexander says that ther philosopher-king at the time, who may or may not have been Parmen, liked Plato, but doesn't mention the initial escape to earth on screen).
Don't remember the name, but the one where the crew are in orbit around a planet whose atmosphere is alcohol. Great seeing Spock drunk!
Day of the Dove and Patterns of Force are two episodes I love that nobody seems to talk about.
The Corbomite Maneuver is one of my top 5 TOS episodes. A lot of people love it, but not many put it that high.
The Conscience of the King is really good. Maybe not quite an all time favorite, but everything about it is good.
The Corbomite Maneuver is one of my top 5 TOS episodes. A lot of people love it, but not many put it that high.
The Conscience of the King is really good. Maybe not quite an all time favorite, but everything about it is good.
That narrowly seconded for me. Despite being wrapped in cheesy corn puffs, the episode has three of the most powerful scenes in TOS: The Klingons torturing Chekov, Chekov about to rape Mara, and the climax of Kirk swaying Kang. I feel sorry that I have to ding the episode so much for the tedious stuff elsewhere that it didn't stand out as the most underrated.
The Corbomite Maneuver is my favourite episode.
It sums up to me what TOS is all about.
Of those four, I would cite two as underrated episodes I like a lot.
- "The Lights of Zetar"
I find Mira Romaine highly attractive. I think the eerie/spooky change of pace worked well-- much better for me than "Catspaw." And the re-use of "Where No Man" music really hits the spot.
- "Requiem for Methuselah"
Start with a cool sci-fi idea, that Leonardo da Vinci is still alive. Add in a gorgeous fembot and an on-set appearance of the 3-foot Enterprise model. Track the episode with a bunch of great music cues. You've already got a good show. When Kirk and Spock discover the fembot assembly room, that's an indelible scene you'll aways remember, like something out of The Twilight Zone. Sure, Kirk's emotional involvement with Rayna comes in for criticism, but I still love this outing.
I also think that "The Empath" is underrated because it is (obviously) less discussed. I think it has a very special, emotional atmosphere and I hereby liked the performance of the actress and her exceptional mimic works. Storywise, it felt a bit like "The Cage" but I like the idea of "lab testing a species to show being worth saving".
I agree with this 100%. There's so much good stuff in this episode, the ending just kills it for me. It's not "parallel" development anymore, it's identical development. With Miri or Bread and Circuses, there were parallels, but things were different in some ways. This is implying directly identical things on a seperate planet and it was just vaguely obscured by pig latin. Morgan Woodward was great, one of the greatest guest stars ever, both times. Finding the Exeter was really good, and I like how the Enterprise hung back behind it while they were still determining what happened to it. And Dr. McCoy has a great quote, " Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs unless good is very, very careful. "
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