Shades Of Grey - Worst TNG Episode Ever

[Pemmer Harge]

On topic, I can never get over Rascals as worst-ever episode for me personally. I just can't ever wrap my mind around why anyone ever thought we would want to watch child-versions of the characters run around for an hour

Oh come on! The bit with Riker confusing the Ferengi with technobabble was priceless. And any episode with Ro is all right by me, even if she was only really in it for about a minute! Not sure how their clothes ended up the same size as them though...

 

[Similitude]

I enjoyed Rascals. Hotel Royale didn't bother me much either.

 

[exodus]

For me, Shades of Gray is nowhere near the worst episode of TNG ever. More like

Code of Honor.

Bingo!

Now add "Up the Long Ladder".

 

[Bisz]

I voted yes.

Sub Rosa is bad but I think SoG is worse. I didn't even recall Code of Honor, had to look it up, so it can't be that bad :P I also have no problem with Up the Long Ladder and downright like Rascals.

 

[Praetor]

It's such a tough call. On the one hand, "Shades of Gray" is a clip show. That alone should make it the worst. However, we know that it was caused by the '88 writers strike, and, unlike some clip shows, at least it had something of a plot.

Despite my love of Beverly, I have to think "Sub Rosa" is a bit worse. "Interface," too. "Code of Honor" is also almost a given. There are probably a few others, not that many of them in season one.

 

[Eddie Roth]

I can't believe this thread has accumulated 5 pages already and no one has mentioned Force of Nature as an episode worse than Shades of Gray. I never got what was supposed to be so wrong about Sub Rosa, for example. It's one of those shows I would watch on Halloween. I love those gloomy gothic-horror sets in that one. Shades of Gray itself, well... It's a clip show, and clip shows are redundant for the fan. Someone who's missed much of Seasons 1 and 2 might disagree. The story itself isn't that special of course, but serviceable enough. I personally think 10 minutes of old footage is no worse than 10 minutes of newly-filmed scenes that are rehashed plots - and that happened often enough on Star Trek.

But Force of Nature? Can we please trash that one a little, too? You know, for the impenetrable technobabble, the boredom and the stupid subplots? Or the quickly forgotten warp-speed limit?

 

[EnsignRicky]

It's either the worst episode or the best clip show. Either way, I didn't like it.

 

[VDCNI]

SOG is ok - for a clip show it isn't that bad and I think there are worse episodes of TNG.

Force Of Nature is definitely close to the bottom for me - Emergence is another.

 

[Chimpy Chompy]

If asked on the spot i might have given Shades of Grey as my person worst ep. Reading this thread though reminds me of some other early-season crapness that I'd not seen in years and subsequently forgotten. There's probably more.

But for later eps... Beverly Crusher has sex with a candle. Good lord make it stop.

 

[Seven of Five]

'Shades of Grey' was a boring clip-show, full of clips from episodes that already greatly varied in quality. I hate clip shows personally; I find them cheap and lacking in creativity. This episode, however, was borne as a cost-cutting measure. I read recently somewhere how the Paramount execs wanted a cheap episode that would only take three days to shoot, so 'Shades' is the best the producers could do, especially with Maurice Hurley on his way out of the door.

So it's bad, yes, but not on the level of say 'Code of Honor,' 'Angel One,' 'Haven' and 'Sub Rosa.' It's somewhere in the bottom ten.

 

[Shazam!]

But for later eps... Beverly Crusher has sex with a candle. Good lord make it stop.

Sounds good to me.

 

[Eddie Roth]

Again, I'll defend Sub Rosa. According to the votes on GEOS (which gets fan favorites pretty right, I'd say), Sub Rosa isn't even in the Bottom 20. Episodes ranked below it are:

New Ground
Manhunt
We'll Always Have Paris
Home Soil
Man of the People
Up the Long Ladder
Lonely Among Us
The Dauphin
The Icarus Factor
When the Bough Breaks
Too Short A Season
The Outrageous Okona
Imaginary Friend
Haven
The Royale
Angel One
Code of Honor
Justice
Shades of Gray

http://www.geos.tv/index.php/list?sid=170;warn=tng&collection=all

Well, according to this, Shades of Gray would be the worst.