Ride or Die: Defend Your Favorite "Bad" Episodes

[Oddish]

Agreed, but I don't put the person who inadvertently uses a stereotype (such as the "tribal" mentality seen in CoH) and the prick in the white nightie in the same class. One can have the error of his ways pointed out to him easily enough. The other either cannot, or will need a lot more convincing.

 

[Set Harth]

the prick in the white nightie

seeing this out of context definitely created the wrong image

 

[Oddish]

Apologies for any permanent trauma you may have suffered.

 

[ThankQ]

"Remember Me" is one I've always liked and can still rewatch. It seems like the general opinion has gone down as time goes on. Maybe it's not that great, but 12-year old me remembers () being glued to the screen the first night it aired. That's back when "kewl science alnomony" was far more important than that boring character stuff.

 

[Oddish]

I never heard of anyone calling "Remember me" a bad episode, but Ok. I loved it. Still get chills at that moment when the ship's company drops from two to one.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Remember Me typically lands in the high end of 'average' in most people's lists. But it's average for season 4, so they're usually giving it 8s.

 

[Some Sort of Lemur]

I think “Remember Me” is almost a great episode but it’s ruined by the inclusion of the Traveler, who just squicks me out (and having Wes and the Traveler explain what’s going on before the far-more-compelling Beverly-figures-it-out-herself parallel story doesn’t help either).

 

[Set Harth]

"kewl science alnomony"

???

 

[Qonundrum]

I think “Remember Me” is almost a great episode but it’s ruined by the inclusion of the Traveler, who just squicks me out (and having Wes and the Traveler explain what’s going on before the far-more-compelling Beverly-figures-it-out-herself parallel story doesn’t help either).

I'll second that.

"Remember Me" is definitely above average, and is a refreshing variation of "Which crew member gets kidnapped and/or emotional wringing from this week's guest star who had been kidnapped this time" that early season 4 reveled in because it worked great the first time for TBOBW. At least it's a kidnapping not in any literal sense by a biological being but a scientific experiment gone awry and keeping suspension of disbelief intact. (With some great camera direction and f/x, too!)

But it's also another early example of creating sequels out of nowhere, for characters that you'd think were one-offs. Lore already returned (thank Pakled for that), we'll eventually see Minuet (the reason being nicely done, though),

Was Wesley now so dumb that he couldn't figure it out without The Traveler appearing? The episode gives just enough away to suggest that the blip Wesley saw followed by Beverly's surreal surroundings were related. The direction actually handles all this pretty well, but all in all, The Traveler was not needed and nothing's done to build on him. Both Crushers were capable of figuring out the situation and The Traveler's expositioning does spare us the excitement from (a) trying to figure it out for us, and (b) saving the exposition until AFTER the rescue the way things are classically done in case someone missed the clues and cues. So, yep, I'm proud to say that Wesley didn't deserve the treatment in this one and that does peg this down a bit, but it's still not a bad episode by too much a measure. But, yeah, the peg down-taking does hamper it...

 

[Qonundrum]

I find it really strange the whole bridge officer test thing was Ron Moore’s idea, given that he was the one who tended to push Trek most towards military SF. It’s also kind of funny that the resolution to the bridge officer’s test is basically to follow Ro’s line of thinking in “Disaster” (really she should have been in command with the plot being her having to get over the lingering distrust of the bridge crew with Troi’s help).

***

"Disaster" was such a needless mess. They could have separated the saucer to deal with the most immediate threat, bypass some of that juicy and/or cod drama, and then use site-to-site transporters (most would still work, or just reroute power from the force fields they didn't need to a transporter) or use shuttle if need be. They instead overly-contrived the subplots (Beverly/Geordi being the worst), but my only real defense for it is that it gave DS9 the means to remake it in a far better way with "Starship Down". Well, Troi acknowledging Ro may have just as easily been right works as much in the story's favor as against, but you still need to get yourself into a position of safety and recognition before planning how to get everyone else out of danger. Had Ro and O'Brien been right, the episode would have ended too early... the series too for that matter... at least rekerjiggering the plot to separate the ship might keep suspense going instead of "Oh, we know they'll make it and these subplots are just filler, especially Beverly's & Geordi's" being the prevailing mindset for the next 39 minutes.

Anyway I am not really a fan of TNG’s early seasons but I’ll stand up for “Encounter of Farpoint.” What might come as arrogance from Picard in other context reads as resolve when he’s facing Q (and frankly I’m feeling like Q has a pretty good case in his prosecution of humanity lately), Troi’s big emoting makes sense given she’s conveying the feelings of beings three times the size of the Enterprise, and I am a sucker for all the ship operation play-by-play stuff.

EaF intelligently found a way to have the ship's local empath/telepath saving the day, in a non-contrived way, as nobody else would have been able to figure it out, not even the audience, and it's brilliant because it gets Picard to think (opposite to Q's claims.) Plus, it'd be cool if Worf did phaser the viewer as Q would blink himself over to Qo'Nos at that point to put the Klingons on trial, out of abject boredom if nothing else...

EaF is not the best premiere for any Trek series, but is nothing like the total stinker either. It's often quite engaging; its only "failings" IMHO being the use of TOS-esque space jellyfish, being the first premiere in totally uncharted territory of making a sequel decades later with no template to go on, and McCoy claiming Data is being precise when Data only cites a year with no months, weeks, days, hours, unless their scene together took precisely at the moment McCoy turned 137 (okey dokey then!), but the added content of months, weeks, days, et ak, would be more in tune with the detail-driven point attempted. .

 

[suarezguy]

I think most people look down at "Violations" as overly obvious with its creepiness/scary moments pretty cheap and otherwise just not worthwhile.

It does have some flaws, in particular it was not good idea but also at least not really big flaw to identify the real bad guy so early on, I still generally liked both the detective work-doing, the dream-flashbacks and the character relations and interactions generally, the story and themes weren't mind-blowing but still at least fine depiction of the villain and reactions to him.

 

[Oddish]

It's often quite engaging; its only "failings" IMHO being the use of TOS-esque space jellyfish...

I actually thought the two "jellyfish" reuniting was one of Trek's sweetest moments.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I've always liked Hotel Royale.

The idea of a man trapped in a bad novel is an amazing concept. The ridiculousness of it just kind of worked. Every flaw of the episode was by nature a feature.

 

[FlyingWave]

i dont remember what episode and i dont even know if its really considerd bad but i remember it was on season 3 and about some kind of diety character that looks like a human and hes reflecting on the fact that he killed milions. again. it was like 5 years ago so i dont remember exactly but i always loved those kind of themes where there is a "god" character.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

i dont remember what episode and i dont even know if its really considerd bad but i remember it was on season 3 and about some kind of diety character that looks like a human and hes reflecting on the fact that he killed milions.

The Survivors? That one actually gets pretty good scores and I don't recall anyone really criticising it. It's likely got a comfortable spot somewhere near the middle of people's rankings.

I liked it anyway.

 

[FlyingWave]

The Survivors? That one actually gets pretty good scores and I don't recall anyone really criticising it. It's likely got a comfortable spot somewhere near the middle of people's rankings.

I liked it anyway.

ho okay, so i guess it would be something from seasons 1 or 2 since they are the most hated. i think the episode with tasha yar death was pretty cool. nice monster of the week kind of gulti pleasure, very old trek-esque. alot of the episodes on season 1 are like that, even the offensive ones, if you set your mind into not taking it seriously and just enjoy the goofyness

 

[The Salt Umpire]

I never understood why "The Royale" got so much flack. It's one of those early-season TNG episodes that relishes it's own weirdness, and I think it does so really well.

It's an interesting concept, has some genuine creepiness and mystery, and Worf gets some amazing comedic gems ("We call it Theta 8," "Perhaps these turbolifts can take us there," and his interactions with the room service caller). The idea of being surrounded by a bunch of NPC's is really ahead of its time, actually.

This is the kind of episode where Trek either fails or nails the landing. I enjoy this one still. There are very few books I've read where I'd want to enter that book's world. Maybe The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress would be one. Heinlein gave the Moon it's own culture and it sounded interesting to visit.

I feel like there can be a general, unmerited disdain for episodes that feature what I call the "A Piece of The Action" factor, when instead of space or alien world themed settings, Star Trek uses the much more affordable period sets/costumes of Earth. It takes a special kind of plot to put our futuristic astronauts in those scenarios & have it play well to a sci-fi audience, who are eager for space fantasy. Time travel concepts help a lot. Holodeck stories pick up some of the slack (which The Royale flirts with being)

I'm always forgiving of this aspect, IF there's some kind of good concept behind it, especially since I understand that it's helpful budgetarily. I wouldn't rank The Royale as the best of those, but it's got something to go on, tying it to the dead astronaut, in an inventive way. It's a smarter premise than just "Oh, this world is inhabited by 20s gangsters, because cultural pollution" lol.

My only gripe with this episode is Picard so snobbishly finding the book to be crappy. My dude... You play a noir detective on the holodeck! How much better written can Dixon Hill possibly be? I've seen some of those programs, my guy.

Not every writer is Hammett or Chandler.

Maybe like Patrick Stewart himself. He made a teeny-bopper Die Hard clone called "Masterminds" that was completely awful, and it seemed obvious that he knew he was in a bad movie and had just decided to have fun with it.

"Eh, it's a cheque. No one knows who I am yet anyway. Lets sprinkle some flavor crystals on that scenery and gnaw away."

All the more reason why Riker should have taken his own command after "Best of Both Worlds". As if more reasons were needed.

Riker was a surviving commander with experience fighting Starfleet's most recent enemies at a time when a buncha new ships are going to need captains. There's no way (except in Star Trek) he wouldn't have been given a command and crew of his choice. Picard would definitely been promoted to a teaching position to pass on knowledge while he heals and Troi massages his neurons. And yet...Picard has a mudfight with his brother and then all is well. He's back in space before the Borg scars have stopped itching and the paint is dry on the ship repairs. PTSD doesn't work like that, I know - and Picard most definitely would have it.

Following the adventures of the bridge crew post BoBW as they recuperate would have been a fabulous opportunity to show the Earth Of Tomorrow long-term (as opposed to the sterile boring confines of a starship and the few times they happen to orbit Earth) as our crew moves about in it. We saw more of Earth, or at least the Bay Area anyways, in ST4 than we did in all of TNG. Give us a few eps on Earth and then go back to work by mid-season. That'd be a way to bring in new faces.

NO ONE IN THE MILITARY IS WITH THE SAME PEOPLE THE ENTIRE TIME THEY SERVE.

I've always liked Hotel Royale.

The idea of a man trapped in a bad novel is an amazing concept. The ridiculousness of it just kind of worked. Every flaw of the episode was by nature a feature.

It was wacky fun in a Trek way.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

NO ONE IN THE MILITARY IS WITH THE SAME PEOPLE THE ENTIRE TIME THEY SERVE.

You can't blame the series for taking an organisation that's been defined as 'not the military' and then having them do things differently to the military, even if you've decided that they are the military.