The Least Disliked Episode 2023: VOY Season 4

[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: Voyager
Hall of Champions
2011 - Meld
2013 - Living Witness
2017 - Blink of an Eye
2019 - Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
2021 - Scorpion (I)
2023 -

Season 4

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Nemesis
Revulsion
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Random Thoughts
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
Retrospect
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
Vis á Vis
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
Demon
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Brennyren]

Farewell, "Random Thoughts." I know there are objectively worse episodes in this list, but when Janeway signed off on an alien species going into Torres's brain -- and Paris was the only one who stood up for her, what a great friend you aren't, Chakotay -- I about lost it. Also everyone being just generally okay with literal Thought Police. What a creepy planet! Also also, seriously, nobody else in the crew had a violent thought in three days?!? You people are prigs.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Nemesis
Revulsion
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
Retrospect
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
Vis á Vis
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
Demon
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Sakonna]

The last season I was a Voyager completist! On original air, anyway. Seven was great, but I missed Kes, and there were enough clunker episodes I became an irregular viewer starting in season 5.

(And I'm about to fill in the last gaps! There are three episodes in season 7 I still haven't seen, but I'm about to watch them along with the Delta Flyers. It's a weird feeling. Since I first discovered TNG in '91, there has always been more Berman Trek to see -- but soon I will finally have completed it, after 32 years!

"Retrospect" is a complete mess narratively, with buckets of queasy messaging mixed in on top of it.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Nemesis
Revulsion
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
Vis á Vis
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
Demon
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Seven of Five]

Demon is a particularly stupid episode, so is an easy first pick for the season.

Course: Oblivion, at least. was a thousand times better.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Nemesis
Revulsion
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
Vis á Vis
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Qonundrum]

Oh sheesh, it's the good season ...

Two comparatively stinky episodes come to mind and one is for a comparatively but very shallow reason, sooooooo...

Revulsion​

...is my first pick of the day, and my nose is relieved...

Aptly named, actual soap opera relationships - not failed quests or tragic endings in an attempt (e.g. Miramanee, Edith Bunker Keel over, or even Shahna and I loathed Kirk's outer space equivalent to "dine and ditch"), but as a recurring theme for generic plot fodder as "positive" development -- this just does not work in Trek. The characters and actors are both there and the number one thing for having this work is on-screen chemistry by the actors. Unlike them in the script, I ain't feelin' it. At least it's better than Mira Romaine/Scotty/Vinaigrette, but I digress...

(Oops, I meant "Keelor" and spellcheck kicked in. Am leaving it in for, why not, it's Saturday and I haven't had my 5th cup of coffee yet... or second... )

That, and using ridiculously large numbers will take me out of a scene, never mind story points being undermined or technobabble that feels inauthentic (TNG really set the stage for GOOD technobabble, even in "Deja Q" - by VOY, more often than not, it became "by the numbers", but I digress...) Most importantly, throwing in something for the sake of trying to be "epic" only works if:
a) the "something" is a big pile of hay
b) the "epic" is metaphor for a large bull pen where no janitor fears to tread

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Oh wait, wrong show - meh, it works 98.5% just as well...

Honestly, they'd be far better off promoting Harry Kim.


What's left:
Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Nemesis
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
Vis á Vis
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[ReddishAlert]

I’m going to go with Concerning Flight. I love
John Rhys-Davies and always want to like this episode more than I do.

I wouldn’t call it bad just contrived as an episode for one purpose only.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Nemesis
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
Vis á Vis
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Qonundrum]

I’m going to go with Concerning Flight. I love
John Rhys-Davies and always want to like this episode more than I do.

I wouldn’t call it bad just contrived as an episode for one purpose only.

Can't blame ya. John Rhys-Davies has a knack for taking characters he really wants to get invested in. What the scripts later do, if not other factors... He was best as evil Professor Arturo - both of them.

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They're not exactly ♪ id-en-tic-al cou-sins ♫, but later episodes only give slight hints (the perfect level, actually) to suggest which version of Arturo had slid and either could have said "oh my God" in the same inflection for their own reasons...

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[Sakonna]

“Vis a Vis” was such a letdown. I was excited for it - I love a Trek possession ep, I always wanted Paris to get more to do. But this was just one of those inert episodes, there’s no life to it.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Nemesis
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Takeru]

Nemesis, I thought it was very boring, that's all I remember.



Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
The Omega Directive
Unforgettable
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll remove the wrongly titled Unforgettable next. What a bore of an episode!

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Killing Game (II)
The Omega Directive
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Qonundrum]

Where to begin... the indecision is killing me:

The Killing Game (II)​

Let's see, more-evolved-unlike-Kirk Janeway there breaks the prime directive and hands out Federation technology like candy to enemies - to the point it's no wonder that The Orville lampoons it with the zoo episode where they hand over Earth technology to keep the zookeepers entertained. Gotta wonder what'll be in her log...

That, and will the Hirogen really be happy forevermore with simulations?

They turn off the old standby of "holodeck safeties" and yet that explosion in the recap of the cliffhanger really didn't cause any more damage than the big cliffhanger sweeps week stunt? Not even a power outage? No worries, it'll look shiny showroom-new by next week.

This story has heavily influences from "Day of the Dove" (TOS) and "Our Man Bashir" (DS9) - of which there are indeed some interesting ideas, but none feel executed with any real depth. One really has to inanely accept and just roll with this one, as it's not luring the viewer. Which is saying something since most high-concept episodes require that, but most of those have a little more panache. Enough to not make me think of "What influenced this one" instead of "this is great and actually feels new!". Another example of the latter might be Doctor Who's "The Brain of Morbius", which was clearly influenced by "Frankenstein", but whose handling of every detail makes it feel like its own thing instead and not screaming "We got this from ___!" complete with optional "easter egg" if the scene alone wasn't uninvolving enough.

It's otherwise a runaround, a bottle episode. Part of a two-parter, where the altering of directors between episodes feels too apparent and might have been better if they stuck with one?

One that has a holodeck reconstructed to take up several decks for greater "realism" - just how much gear are the replicators pumping out, and won't they run out of fuel or whatever rations are needed this time that was set up in the opposite way the previous week? (Never mind how it can simulate someone being pregnant, that one's new. External stimuli, sure, but it there a transporter putting in a relay inside a person to achieve this effect? If nothing else, that's mildly disturbing... how did they deal with potential cancer risk, shields? Hope the relay's battery never goes out...) Or is it another neural interface that makes the person feel other than they should? Mmmm, mind-altering drugs -

Neelix as a Klingon was interesting. Or easily could have been more compelling. Somehow, it's all just no less superficial.

Even Janeway goes from "I'll destroy the ship first!" to "Let's help!" feels too "by the numbers". Why not do a three parter? Or a whole season? Like "Year of Hell", this two-fer has a few interesting ideas, but it isn't as engaging as it deserved to be. (ditto for pt 1, but that's another story. At least the story as a whole shows more than trotting out WW2 or the civil war or, indeed, any human war and shows how other species can have wars to reflect on too. Again, the story had some big potential. It does nearly sod-all with it.)

Could be worse: Any old parody of Trek could easily do a spoof of this and give a bunch of angry aliens the equivalent to a glorified Xbox with Kinect and - viola - problem solved.

What's left:
Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
The Omega Directive
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Oddish]

Scratching "The Omega Directive", for being an incomprehensible concept that had never been discussed before and never was discussed again.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Concerning Flight
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
The Killing Game (I)
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Farscape One]

Possibly VOYAGER's strongest season, only one or two real clunkers, which have alreasy been taken out.

I'll take out "THE KILLING GAME" since part 2 was already eliminated.


Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Message in a Bottle
Hunters
Prey
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Qonundrum]

If this came ashore, check for wee-wee:

Message in a Bottle​

One would think that Robert Picardo and Andy Dick would be two lightning bugs in a bottle*, but... no.

Not to peck at this incessantly, but it's so easy and fun to do - and on home video can be pecked at forevermore:

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So now the computer-generated image has to say that the computer systems on the panel are too complicated? Is this a parody of Voyager or the actual show?!!

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I should like this episode more because, not since 1994, have we seen a ship separate "because there's no drama in it". And the "saucer" arrowhead even has a teensy warp nacelle of its own. It's so cute. I'll name it George and then hug it....

Also, there's acting that distracts rather than compels - that's how to make a classic episode! Coupled with egregious amounts of multi-vector treknobabble mode! Indeed, Judson Scott has and is capable of more than being a beige-flavored popsicle stick. What the heck happened?

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Yeah, but the Romulans in sickbay or brig or wherever needed life support? I don't remember, but before I get any daffy urge to rewatch this story as it's been too long since I had already, I'll move on:

Romulans didn't scramble the frequencies; they're probably jamming the communication systems or scrambling the content within the frequencies...

The EMH does not need to say "In English".

The Dominion War is mentioned, mostly as a throwaway but let's give this episode an 11 out of 10 for namedropping alone!

And that's the bridge from Star Trek V, just repainted and tarted up. Ditto for Star Trek VI's, and other periodic ships since the set was kept in storage - apart from that one day when it rained, of course... oops... but that's another story...

* snarf!! ​

Lastly, for Andy Dick's other-best material from the 1990s, check this out:

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He's not quite Carrot-Top, either, but he really wasn't half-bad in most of GS95's episodes, a show that suffered from wallowing in too many 90s'isms, and everyone knew him from "NewsRadio" anyhow...

CARROT TOP BRINGS the PROPS on 'LENO' - YouTube

Honestly, this episode should have been all-serious gripping tense "war stories drama", and using some other episode slot to be throwaway for "The EMH/Super SecretAgent Comedy Hour" instead. The Prometheus design separating is not anywhere near the real cause of this episode crashing, cute teensy nacelle and all.

What's left:
Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Hunters
Prey
Living Witness
One
Hope and Fear

 

[Seven of Five]

This is probably my favourite season of VOY as well.

I'll go with Hope and Fear next. I like how it is a pretty perfect analysis of Janeway and Seven's relationship, and how far Seven has come since she joined the crew . However, it was a pretty poor payoff of the arc regarding the message from Starfleet.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Mortal Coil
Waking Moments
Hunters
Prey
Living Witness
One

 

[Takeru]

Mortal Coil for creating a death cure that's never used again for having Neelix get over his suicidal thoughts too easily. I appreciate that the topic was brought up at all but the story ended to abruptly.


Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Waking Moments
Hunters
Prey
Living Witness
One

 

[Farscape One]

Putting "WAKING MOMENTS" to sleep.

I like the concept, and it was a fun episode, but the rest are just better in other ways. Plus, we don't even know that species' name!


Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Hunters
Prey
Living Witness
One

 

[Sakonna]

I earlier axed "Macrocosm" for lousy CGI failing the script, now I will kill "Prey" for the same reason.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
The Raven
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Hunters
Living Witness
One

 

[Dee1891]

When using the term, "least disliked", do you mean the least disliked of episodes that one is inclined to dislike? Or do you mean that viewers are inclined to dislike all of the show's episodes and is expected to list those that are "least disliked"?

 

[Oddish]

"Mortal Coil's" chief continuity issue could have been easily addressed... just have Seven explain that Talaxians have a unique physiology where brain death takes much longer than other species. Don't think it would have won regardless.

Plucking "The Raven", because it's probably the weakest of what remains. It's not bad, though.

Scorpion (II)
The Gift
Day of Honor
Scientific Method
Year of Hell (I)
Year of Hell (II)
Hunters
Living Witness
One