*Sharpening pitchforks* 
The Least Disliked Episode 2023: TNG Season 2
- Thread starter BlueStuff
- Start date
"Contagion" is the only one of these I had to look up to remember. Sounds like a reason to eliminate it to me.
Where Silence Has Lease
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
A Matter of Honor
The Dauphin
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Where Silence Has Lease
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
A Matter of Honor
The Dauphin
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Oops! You're right. Sorry, it's been a minute since I last watched that one. (Might have been in its original broadcast, actually!) Thanks for setting the record straight.
*Gets the torches*
The Schizoid Man is fun but the other episodes left have more to them.
Where Silence Has Lease
A Matter of Honor
The Dauphin
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Where Silence Has Lease
A Matter of Honor
The Dauphin
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Putting The Schizoid Man before Measure Of A Man is a bold choice in my book. Of all the episodes where something bad happens to Data, it's by far the weakest for me. Ira Graves just grates on me every time I see him on screen. An episode I'd happily avoid.
Where Silence Has Lease
Loud as a Whisper
A Matter of Honor
The Dauphin
Contagion
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Beat me to it, albeit for different reasons.
"The Dauphin" is definitely the weakest of the bunch. I am taking it out now.
(I'm amazed it survived past "The Measure Of A Man".)
Where Silence Has Lease
A Matter of Honor
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
(I'm amazed it survived past "The Measure Of A Man".)
Where Silence Has Lease
A Matter of Honor
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
What can I say, I've always found "Measure" overrated. It has to twist itself into such knots to create this situation that it loses me along the way. I have the same complaints on "Death Wish" on VOY. I might be particularly hard on trial episodes, they drive me insane on TOS.
But I have a great time with "Schizoid Man"! Possession episodes are an absolute favorite Trek trope of mine. And "The Dauphin" is one of the only TNG ROTW's that works at all, much less REALLY works -- such a sweet episode. Maybe I'll watch it today!
These are all great, I guess I like "A Matter Of Honor" just a little less. It's executed so well that this doesn't actually bother me, but it is a slightly more awkward story with a slightly less plausible setup.
Where Silence Has Lease
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
But I have a great time with "Schizoid Man"! Possession episodes are an absolute favorite Trek trope of mine. And "The Dauphin" is one of the only TNG ROTW's that works at all, much less REALLY works -- such a sweet episode. Maybe I'll watch it today!
These are all great, I guess I like "A Matter Of Honor" just a little less. It's executed so well that this doesn't actually bother me, but it is a slightly more awkward story with a slightly less plausible setup.
Where Silence Has Lease
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
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Toodles to
Some of the background logic is woolly - and using an 80 year old starship isn't as comparable to the big "D" compared to the big "D" versus a Borg cube.
Still,
Is one of many good scenes, including a neat surprise attack, in the latest exciting episode of "Staaaaaaaaaaar Trek, the Next Generation"!
What's left:
Where Silence Has Lease
Q Who?
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Some of the background logic is woolly - and using an 80 year old starship isn't as comparable to the big "D" compared to the big "D" versus a Borg cube.
Still,
Is one of many good scenes, including a neat surprise attack, in the latest exciting episode of "Staaaaaaaaaaar Trek, the Next Generation"!
What's left:
Where Silence Has Lease
Q Who?
The Emissary
I'll defend you on that, followed by my going into overdrive, like this:
Staginess is definitely a thing, and coming from a fan of British sci-fi where most of the actors are from theater and it shows (but in good and fun ways), this one really ratchets up some contrived melodrama over a construct, via anthropomorphizing...
Data's OFF switch should be telling as well. In terms of Riker having the winning hand, not Picard...
Guinan's discussion with Picard is above first rate, but the episode is in overdrive trying to anthropomorphize a constructed machine has the syrupy melodrama crashing too quickly. It doesn't work, at least from most points of view and trying to contrive Data as being more just because it tries to use informal language -- eh, hi Lore, you're even more special too!
Especially when the Enterprise manages to react to vague requests from the crew with precise results prior to and after this episode, likely due to reading a database of catalogued responses and returning the most-accessed result rather than a heuristic scan or querying for specifics... but now imagine if the ship asked "Why?" every time they're in a red alert situation. Indeed, why doesn't the ship have the same level of "predictive ability" every time they go into battle with known foes? But I'm not the first to mention the inconsistency of Treknobabble. (Sheesh, even "Schizoid Man" does a better job with the same sentience shtick (by the seashore)...)
Even more amazing is how this one lacks Dr Pulaski, since one of the season's key subplots/arcs revolved around her getting used to, later defending, and even outright befriending Cmdr Data!!!!! UGH!!!!!! I find that far less contrived, and far more compelling, than what TMotM is pushing via "plot by numbers", even if some of the details therein are very clever.
But, dayum, the acting in this episode is first rate, and forcing Riker to do devil's advocate was brilliant.
It's a good story, definitely working wonders within the genre of classic sci-fi (a lot of season 2 fits), but it's overrated. It'd have been stronger if they focused on another species instead of mass producing a bunch of androids, since they have no qualms mass producing starships and so on already.
An impossible choice left. I guess as much as I love K'Ehleyr, I'll save The Emissary. Where Silence Has Lease has that fascinating adversary, treating his captive like a science project. And Q Who is still holds up as a very tense introduction to the Borg, and the Q/Guinan interactions are brilliant.
Where Silence Has Lease
Q Who
Where Silence Has Lease
Q Who
Q: You can't outrun them. You can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They regenerate and keep coming. Eventually you will weaken, your reserves will be gone. They are relentless.
I'm just glad Sylvester McCoy and every other actor who's played the Doctor didn't make an appearance for what would be the most awkward crossover ever.
I don't know - I think the very idea that Riker HAD to be the prosecutor and he HAD to try his very best OR ELSE was the height of staged contrivances.
Same!!! UGH!!
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