The Least Disliked Episode 2023: ENT Season 2

[BlueStuff]

Our addictive biyearly game of rapid elimination returns - now with more shows than ever. It's generally a lot of fun, providing a chance to mentally revisit those episodes you may not have thought about in a while. With that in mind, why not play again?

So, here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your least favourite or the one you deem the 'worst.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode just because you feel it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Star Trek: Enterprise
Hall of Champions
2011 - United
2013 - Azati Prime
2017 - Azati Prime
2019 - In a Mirror, Darkly (I)
2021 - United
2023 -

Season 2

Shockwave (II)
Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
A Night in Sickbay
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Precious Cargo
The Catwalk
Dawn
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
The Crossing
Judgement
Horizon
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[ReddishAlert]

Since I get the honor of the first vote I’m taking out Catwalk. One of the very few episodes of any Star Trek I simply dislike every part of from beginning to end. A pointless, tedious, ship take over story that serves no purpose.

Shockwave (II)
Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
A Night in Sickbay
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Precious Cargo
Dawn
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
The Crossing
Judgement
Horizon
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Farscape One]

Taking out "PRECIOUS CARGO".

The worst episode of ENTERPRISE. Yes, even worse than "THESE ARE THE VOYAGES...".


Shockwave (II)
Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
A Night in Sickbay
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Dawn
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
The Crossing
Judgement
Horizon
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Summer Solstice]

Eliminating "Dawn". It's a story that's been done before and this episode doesn't really add anything extra. I think it's directed and produced very well and I will happily watch it to relax and try to fall asleep. There's nothing wrong with it but it's not particularly memorable or interesting.


Shockwave (II)
Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
A Night in Sickbay
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
The Crossing
Judgement
Horizon
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Seven of Five]

Shockwave II for continuing the boring Temporal Cold War story, and for the stupid speech about gazelles that Archer makes at the end of the episode to the Vulcans.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
A Night in Sickbay
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
The Crossing
Judgement
Horizon
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Farscape One]

I might be in the minority, but I never had a problem with the gazelle speech.

Taking out "HORIZON".

I'm glad they tried to give Mayweather something to do, but Anthony Montgomery just isn't a compelling actor. He was really the weakest actor of any of the leads of a ST series. He made the episode boring.



Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
A Night in Sickbay
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
The Crossing
Judgement
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Summer Solstice]

"A Night in Sickbay" - it's a pretty terrible, cringe-worthy episode. The Hoshi-bat-catching sequence is excellent, but otherwise it's not that great.


Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
The Crossing
Judgement
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[ReddishAlert]

I’m taking out The Crossing because a bunch of non-corporeal wisps flying around in a giant ship they can’t repair (and when and how did they build it in the first place?) Possessing bodies slowly one at a time instead of all at once (why again?) and who can’t get through certain substances except when they can…

Even Phlox being awesome isn’t quite enough to save it for me.

I like it enough when it comes up but not enough of a story/motive/plot to distinguish it from other possess the character stories.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Future Tense
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Farscape One]

Taking out "FUTURE TENSE".

Despite the nod to DOCTOR WHO and the Tholians appearing, it was still part of the Temporal Cold War. Therefore, it goes.



Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
Cogenitor
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Sumire]

I’m taking out Cogenitor. It’s got an extremely depressing ending and the reaction I have seen from multiple people who do not identify as cisgendered? I don’t think I will ever fully understand how deeply disturbing that lecture Archer gives to Trip is to hear for anyone who sees themselves in Charles.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
Regeneration
First Flight
Bounty
The Expanse

 

[Seven of Five]

Bounty is a shameful ratings grab showing T'Pol in pon farr, having her all sweaty and agitated.

Also, they could also have made a drinking game for when Archer gets captured.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Vanishing Point
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
Regeneration
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[Farscape One]

Taking out "VANISHING POINT".

While I love the fact they gave Hoshi more to do, a better version of this episode was TNG's "Realm Of Fear".



Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
Regeneration
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[Summer Solstice]

Also, they could also have made a drinking game for when Archer gets captured.

That's a good idea!

This list is now a few that I would be happy to have win, a few that I was very pleasantly surprised by on re-watching and a few that I'm struggling to remember. "Regeneration" because of Phlox being assimilated and then recovering - it was a bit too unrealistic for me, but everything else like the Borg who were on Earth after First Contact was fine.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Singularity
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[at Quark's]

Removing singularity at first impulse.

Because of two main sins:
1) very contrived and implausible (how in the world would a black hole (or its radiation) cause such an oddly specific effect (obsession spiraling out of control, and finally unconsciousness) without showing any other effects?)
2) very formulaic (little creativity in how the plot unfolds at all, we just see different and separate examples of people deteriorating, that's basically it) or in its resolution.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
Marauders
The Seventh
The Communicator
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[Seven of Five]

Mauraders is a very mediocre episode with no redeeming qualities. An easy loss from the list.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
The Seventh
The Communicator
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
The Breach
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[ReddishAlert]

I’m removing the Breach. If they had focused on the Phlox story they could have delved deeper into that. Or if the rescue were an episode on its own more could happen along the way. But it’s like the A and B plot are both too little story and too much potential story.

I like it alright but mostly I just remember Trip sliding around in caves.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
The Seventh
The Communicator
Stigma
Cease Fire
Canamar
Judgement
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[Farscape One]

Taking out "CANAMAR".

Breaking out of a prison (or prison ship, in this case) is a tired well to dip into, particularly when the episode isn't that interesting to begin with.

(And we didn't even get to see the place the episode title is named after.)


Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
The Seventh
The Communicator
Stigma
Cease Fire
Judgement
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[Seven of Five]

Good on you, Canamar was going to be my next vote.

Stigma is a well-intentioned but botched AIDS allegory, so it's gone. It might also have been better being produced during TNG's era when AIDS was more of an issue.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
The Seventh
The Communicator
Cease Fire
Judgement
First Flight
The Expanse

 

[Summer Solstice]

First Flight - it was nice to get the backstory about Archer and Trip, but it wasn't as gripping as others left on this list.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
The Seventh
The Communicator
Cease Fire
Judgement
The Expanse

 

[Sakonna]

What a horrible season of television this was. All these lazy episodes blur into one single mass of bland, phoned-in trash. “The Seventh” was a part of this worthless shit pile.

I really have almost nothing to say about this season. I liked “Minefield”, “Dead Stop”, and “Regeneration”, and completely hate every other episode.

Carbon Creek
Minefield
Dead Stop
The Communicator
Cease Fire
Judgement
The Expanse