The least disliked episode 2023 - TOS Final Rounds

[BlueStuff]

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

Season One: Balance of Terror
Wild Card: The Devil in the Dark
Season Two: Journey to Babel
Wild Card: Mirror, Mirror
Season Three: All Our Yesterdays
Wild Card: Day of the Dove

So now it's 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!

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 0
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 0
Day of the Dove - 0

 

[Takeru]

Day of the Dove, the ending is dumb. They don't fight and fake laugh together for 1 minute and the entity packs up and leaves? That's "Let's say stand still but actually jump to make an AI shut down" levels of dumb, it shouldn't work.


Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 0
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 0
Day of the Dove - 1

 

[Sakonna]

4 top tier eps, one I like well enough, and also "Day Of The Dove." It's solid, but it doesn't blow me away.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 0
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 0
Day of the Dove - 2

 

[Seven of Five]

As much as I love Kang as an adversary, Day of the Dove is probably the weakest one left with the somewhat daft end.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 0
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 0
Day of the Dove - 3

 

[Farscape One]

While I love Kang and "DAY OF THE DOVE" is a very solid episode, it doesn't compare to the rest of the list. It has thus been eliminated.

And for my vote on this new round, it goes to "ALL OUR YESTERDAYS". I love this one, but the others are purely classic and are always a rewatch. Plus the Kirk side the episode in the jail is not a strong B story.


Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 0
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 1

 

[Takeru]

The Devil in the Dark. Just a meh episode, never cared for it and it doesn't make the federation look particularly good. They basically play alien invaders and then act surprised when one of the locals fights back, even before they knew the exact reason they should have considered that maybe they are the bad guys.


Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 1
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 1

 

[Phaser Two]

Sorry, folks, but Journey to Babel has no Scotty. That's worth a massive ding right there.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 1
Journey to Babel - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 1

 

[Seven of Five]

I love them all, but All Our Yesterdays isn't quite a classic, like the other four.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 1
Journey to Babel - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 2

 

[Noname Given]

Wow - I can't believe Day of the Dove (Michael Ansara's portrayal of Kang is my favorite TOS era Klingon - and the opening bitch slap of Kirk to the ground really sets him up as a worthy foil/foe to Kirk); went out before All Our Yesterdays. The latter is one I honestly never really liked because yeah, I don't get why time travel would change Spock's behavior, ESPECIALLY given that (per the episode) to survive in the past you need to be processed through the Atabicron (whatever device that); or you'll die in a few hours (something Zarabeth also fails to mention). So yeah, maybe that personality change would happen to Spock IF he had been processed; but he wasn't - so that regression is out of left field.

And Mr. Atoz or more directly Mister A To Z as the 'Librarian'

So yes, adios to All Our Yesterdays.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 1
Journey to Babel - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 0
All Our Yesterdays - 3

 

[Brennyren]

I will cast the fourth and final vote against "All Our Yesterdays." I like it, but it's not on the same level as the other four.

In the next round, my vote goes to "Devil in the Dark." I love it, but I don't love love it the way I do the other three. And all of the other three have outstanding character work, as well.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 1
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0

 

[Qonundrum]

It's good and has Spock workin' that goatee, sure, but it's more than merely convenient regarding the ionizing treknobabble that also changes the crews' clothes and locations for when they pop back and forth between our universe and theirs. Overlook the conveniences and the usual Trektacular messages are solid, even if real-Kirk doesn't vamoose despite being told "no" a zillion times plus "We'll sleep on it but thanks for the offer" by the Heltkans already, but then comes how mirror-Marlena kills all the goons coming to get Kirk, except for mirror-Sulu because the writer thought the audience would somehow stupidly believe that real-Sulu would die as a result of that tantalizing Tantalus weapon too - the games she played were quite different. (as if the scar, shirt representing another division, being actively aggressive, and so on, weren't enough already...)

And don't get me wrong, the McCoy scene with "What kind of people are weeee?" is one of TOS's most poignant.


Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 1
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 1

 

[Takeru]

Devil in the Dark, same reason as before.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 2
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 1

 

[Sakonna]

"Devil In The Dark" is clearly below these three others, for me. I rewatch and find it a bit ponderous.

Balance of Terror - 0
The Devil in the Dark - 3
Journey to Babel - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 1

 

[BlueStuff]

Agreed - Devil is good, but not good enough.

I’ll start the next round off by voting Babel out. It wasn’t as good as I’d remembered on a recent rewatch. Still great, of course.

Balance of Terror - 0
Journey to Babel - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 0

 

[Farscape One]

These are REALLY tough choices.

I love them all equally. (Except one here that is above and beyond.)

I will vote for "MIRROR, MIRROR" because the others appeal to me in more ways than this one does. (Which is difficult, because "MIRROR, MIRROR" is appealing is a LOT of ways.)


Balance of Terror - 0
Journey to Babel - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 1

 

[Takeru]

Journey to Babel because I never bought that no one knew Sarek was Spock's father, it was a weird decision and I'm pretty sure it was only done to surprise the audience with the reveal instead of Kirk announcing it in the log at the start of the episode.

Balance of Terror - 0
Journey to Babel - 2
Mirror, Mirror - 1

 

[Seven of Five]

Difficult choice. I think Mirror, Mirror is a hair behind the other two episodes for me.

Balance of Terror - 0
Journey to Babel - 2
Mirror, Mirror - 2

 

[Sakonna]

I think "Balance Of Terror" is my weak link here. Obviously it's spectacular. But I have such love for the MU, it's one of my favorite Trek things. And "Journey To Babel" entertains me more than "BoT" does.

Balance of Terror - 1
Journey to Babel - 2
Mirror, Mirror - 2

 

[Phaser Two]

JTB has three votes now - I voted it out first at 8:15 a.m. today.

 

[Sakonna]

JTB has three votes now - I voted it out first at 8:15 a.m. today.

After each elimination, vote totals on the surviving episodes reset to zero, so we reset after "All Our Yesterdays" and "Devil In The Dark" were axed.

But you can vote once in each round, so you can go again and take JtB's total up to 3 now.