The least disliked episode 2021 - TOS Final Round

Here we have the winners and runners up of each season:

Season One: The Devil in the Dark
Wild Card: Balance of Terror
Season Two: The Doomsday Machine
Wild Card: The Trouble With Tribbles
Season Three: The Tholian Web
Wild Card: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

So now it is time for the final part.

*RULES*

Give what you consider to be the worst/your least favourite episode ONE point, and briefly explain WHY. Be sure to copy and paste the list with your point added. When an episode reaches 4 points, it is eliminated. Then a NEW round begins (in this thread) with the numbers restored to 0. Vote ONCE per round. If 48 hours without a vote passes, the episode currently leading in points will be eliminated, and a new round will begin. And enjoy!

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky - 0

 

For the... gets the first vote to be eliminated. It doesn't belong here - no idea how it made it this far.

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky - 1

 

Yes indeed, "For The World Is Hollow..." is the odd man out. It may be a fine episode, but it's outclassed by the competition.

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky - 1

 

I mean... this lineup is great! Except for For the world is Hollow and I have touched the sky, which is merely good. Even if it did go on to inform the great Ex Machina novel.

Sorry Natira.

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky - 3

 

I like Kate Woodville in the priestess role, but McCoy has some lines that are wildly out of character, the "sky" that the asteroid-dwellers see (with stars at night, yet) is never shown or explained so we have no idea how they are convinced that it's a real sky, nor how the old guy climbed up to touch it and learn it's a fake; the stentorian voice of the computer that runs the joint quickly becomes tiresome; Spock knowing how to read Fabrini is even more preposterous than his recognizing Brahms' handwritten music notation.

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky - 4 and out!

 

New round:

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 0

 

Now the hard part starts.

Someone made a point in the Season 3 thread, I think, that not much happens in the Tholian Web. As much as I love the aliens, the defiant, and much about the episode... I think that's enough to disqualify it. It's that or Tribbles, considering everything else is pretty awesome and dramatic, but Tribbles has more going for it over Tholian Web.

Loskene is not going to be very happy with me, but then, Tholians are rarely pleased with anyone.

ROUND 2:
The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 1

 

The Tholian Web gets my vote for this round. It's far from bad but the others are better.

ROUND 2:
The Devil in the Dark - 0
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 2

 

Devil in the Dark, it never appealed that much to me, the mystery is way too simple, it's obvious from the start that there's more to it than a monster killing people.

ROUND 2:
The Devil in the Dark - 1
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 2

 

Was there ever a star trek mystery that wasn't too simple?

 

Devil in the Dark gets kicked up a notch from me as well. It's not a bad story by any measure and it's got a nice twist of how the baddie is just doing things out of defense - almost the opposite compared to a number of Twilight Zone episodes where the twist is the aliens are the baddie, if not the humans... but compared to the other episodes remaining, it's just an undercooked noodle. Now if Lower Decks would show Mariner using a Horta to fry some eggs on, or for those who want it, to give a Horgon too - Horgon on a Horta - that'd be cool...

ROUND 2:
The Devil in the Dark - 2
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 2

 

The over-zealous arguing between Spock and McCoy was too much cringe for me in The Tholian Web.

ROUND 2:
The Devil in the Dark - 2
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 3

 

Yes, there are plenty of Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits eps where the benevolent aliens turn out to have a sinister agenda.

Like a book titled "To serve man" that turns out to be a cookbook.

 

I'll eliminate Devil - it's my least favourite of the (terrific) episodes remaining. New round -

Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 0

 

Yours appears to be the third vote for Devil in the Dark pitting it currently with The Tholian Web.

 

ditto. The list should be:

ROUND 2:
The Devil in the Dark - 3
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 3

 

My mistake - fixed.

The Devil in the Dark - 3
Balance of Terror - 0
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 3

 

I agree.

 

The Devil in the Dark - 3
Balance of Terror - 1
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 3

Balance of Terror gets closer to being sunk. I like the introduction of the Romulans, but it’s just a remake of the submarine movie The Enemy Below. Stand by to surface! Depth charge attack!!

 

The Tholian Web is good, it's just not as good as these other four episodes.

The Devil in the Dark - 3
Balance of Terror - 1
The Doomsday Machine - 0
The Trouble With Tribbles - 0
The Tholian Web - 4