The Least Disliked Episode of TNG - Season Seven

[BlueStuff]

This is a game that we play every couple of years, and 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 favorite 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, please 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 they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Hall of Champions
2011 - The Best of Both Worlds I
2013 - The Measure of a Man
2015 - All Good Things...
2017 - The Best of Both Worlds I
2019 -

Season Seven

Descent (II)
Liaisons
Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Force of Nature
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Homeward
Sub Rosa
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Masks
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Bloodlines
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[NovaStar]

Eliminating Sub Rosa for it's failed "ghost story" premise and over the top nature and due to the fact Dr. Crusher was completely out of character. Did I forget to mention the cheesy weather effects?

Descent (II)
Liaisons
Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Force of Nature
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Homeward
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Masks
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Bloodlines
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Force of Nature is maybe the most heavy handed episode in the series.

Descent (II)
Liaisons
Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Homeward
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Masks
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Bloodlines
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Seven of Five]

The Picard story in Liaisons is dreadful, and repetative. The Worf scenes save it slightly. Off it goes.

Descent (II)
Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Homeward
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Masks
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Bloodlines
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Farscape One]

Descent (II)
Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Homeward
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Masks
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

"Bloodlines" are taken out of the family tree. We really didn't need Bok to return, and I think the episode suffered in the end with Jason not being Picard's son. It could have been better if done differently.

 

[Brennyren]

I don't know where this round will end, but I know that it's not "Homeward" bound. Once again our heroes -- Picard most emphatically -- argue that it's better and more moral to let a species die when you have the option of saving at least some of them. The episode has other problems, but that's enough to sink it for me.

Descent (II)
Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Masks
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Claudia]

Descent (II)
Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

Taking out "Masks"... the only episode of TNG I never managed to watch in its entirety...

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll just go ahead and take out Decent II. It was just such a cheesy plot that shouldn't have been dragged out into two parts, let alone as a season ended/opener. Sons of Soong indeed.

Interface
Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

Season seven is very mediocre. You can really tell the writing staff were out of juice.

 

[tomswift2002]

“Interface” is gone. I just found the episode never worked. Sure Geordi as the probe was the highlight of the episode, but I never really got the whole reason why they were using it and what exactly happened to the other ship.


Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Journey's End
Firstborn
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Sakonna]

"Journey's End" I appreciated the impulse to do one last Wesley story, and that's about it in terms of positive comments from me on this episode. The actual ending for Wesley is both deeply unsatisfactory and vaguely creepy. And UGH to the depiction of Native American's here, this generic magical mysticism is so off-putting I can't even make it through this one on rewatch.

Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Genesis
Firstborn
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

Once again our heroes -- Picard most emphatically -- argue that it's better and more moral to let a species die when you have the option of saving at least some of them. The episode has other problems, but that's enough to sink it for me.

My initial dream for the upcoming Picard show was for his big epic story to be trying to get the Federation to abandon the Prime Directive, having finally had a moral awakening as to how misguided it was. I see how TNG's treatment of the Prime Directive was a useful metaphor in the late 80's/early 90's, but decades later it is seriously due for an overhaul...

 

[Seven of Five]

That's an interesting notion. It was wonderful growing up on TNG but I love the idea of a somewhat jaded Picard.

 

[Discofan]

Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Firstborn
Emergence
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

"Genesis" is out. Monkeys, spiders, and bears... Oh my! The idea and the execution are both ridiculous. Picard moving around with a vial of pheromones to lure away whatever Worf transformed into... Enough said... I hope.

 

[Seven of Five]

Emergence is very average. Some nice moments on the train in the holodeck, but the rest is forgettable.

Gambit (I)
Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Firstborn
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Sakonna]

"Gambit I" I want to find this story fun, but instead I just find it insubstantial. It's a whole lot of nothing. And this empty story is a big two-parter in their final season?

Also, what a weirdly hollow cliffhanger. They drain the suspense from the complications as they're introduced, so we know there isn't really any threat at the end there. So weird.

Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Dark Page
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Firstborn
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Discofan]

Gambit (II)
Phantasms
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Firstborn
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

Removing "Dark Page". I am neither a big fan of drama nor of Lwaxanna episodes. When I watch a Sci. Fi. series I don't expect it to be a wanna-be-tear-jerker and little else.

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll take out Gambit II. It's enjoyable enough, though one part was enough.

Phantasms
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Eye of the Beholder
Firstborn
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[BigDaveX]

Eye of the Beholder. By no means the worst episode of the season, but it just feels really dull and listless most of the time.

Phantasms
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Firstborn
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Spirit of 73]

I'll take out Firstborn. Poorly executed. There is absolutely nothing in the episode planted along the way that we can look back on after the reveal with new insight. Plus, they treat the awesome power of time travel way too breezily. You can't just gallavant all over time. If you could do that, the Maquis would destroy the Cardassian Empire before it formed. Time travel either needs to be an accident, or extremely difficult and achieved at great personal cost/risk. See Star Trek IV for details.

Phantasms
Attached
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Seven of Five]

Attached can go now. It's interesting that they had a little look at the Crusher/Picard relationship before the series ended, but it was a bit contrived.

Phantasms
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Thine Own Self
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Spirit of 73]

Attached can go now. It's interesting that they had a little look at the Crusher/Picard relationship before the series ended, but it was a bit contrived.

Definitely contrived. I wish they had come up with a better excuse for that scenario, because parts of it worked. But why, if they had them in prison, did they need to implant that device, and why did the device have that side effect?