The least disliked episode of TOS - Season Three

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, 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 - Mirror, Mirror
2013 - Balance of Terror
2015 - Mirror, Mirror
2017 - Journey to Babel
2019 -

Season Three

Spock's Brain
The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
And the Children Shall Lead
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Mark of Gideon
That Which Survives
The Lights of Zetar
Requiem for Methuselah
The Way to Eden
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

 

Spock's Brain is THE worst, ever. Yes, there's a theme about working together. Yes, everyone's a stereotype. Yes, it was written on a dare because some were complaining the show took itself too seriously (which was a bad thing??). An hour of backscreen projection and go-go boots does precious little. And the teaching machine for all its magic isn't exploited again. And if they have that teaching gizmo, why not have (or, well, make?!) an electronic HVAC unit as well, since that's all Spock's brain was doing - being a glorified air conditioner temperature controller. That's a wee bit underwhelming a purpose, no? "Oh look, it's Spock. He's stuck in a shiny box with globe on top. Anything significance going on there, Spock?" "Well Cap'n, I'm keeping the air and water warm and flowing but that's about it and I find this oddly preferable." Ugh. If anything, if they licensed "These Boots Were Made for Walking" and used in the appropriate scene, complete with 4th wall-breaking winks and self-aware ego-driven self-congratulatory needless nods, that would not only appease the critics who hated the show taking itself so seriously but then the season would have been nixed 12 episodes in and other episodes just don't come close to being as bad as "Spock's Brain" no matter how bad they are or how much potential was missed. But it would be even more proof Freiberger was ahead of his time.


What's left:

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
And the Children Shall Lead
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Mark of Gideon
That Which Survives
The Lights of Zetar
Requiem for Methuselah
The Way to Eden
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

 

Oh poor season three, where do I start?

The Lights of Zetar has a dull guest star, and it's pretty annoying throughout.

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
And the Children Shall Lead
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Mark of Gideon
That Which Survives
Requiem for Methuselah
The Way to Eden
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

 

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome

Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Mark of Gideon
That Which Survives
Requiem for Methuselah
The Way to Eden
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

***********

Hey, hey!
Ho, ho!
That Gorgon dude has got to go!

And The Children Shall Lead goes back to reform school.

 

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Mark of Gideon

Requiem for Methuselah
The Way to Eden
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

***********

That Which Survives didn't.

Can't stand Spock or Kirk for that matter in this episode.

 

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
That Which Survives
Requiem for Methuselah
The Way to Eden
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder


"THE MARK OF GIDEON" is marked down. I suppose I can't call the episode bad, but it is so boring that it feels horrible. So many things just didn't work in this episode... a society that has no space on the planet but room enough to make a replica of the Enterprise, making that effort to kidnap Kirk when there are FAR simpler ways to get the blood, the 'diplomatic' back and forth that never ended. Rare is it that an episode in the franchise bores me like this one did... so much so that when I was rewatched it recently, I nearly fell asleep. I NEVER fall asleep to STAR TREK.

 

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Way to Eden
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

Simultaneous update.
Just removed my choice again.

 

The Way to Eden is hellish. Off you go!

The Enterprise Incident
The Paradise Syndrome
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

 

The Paradise Syndrome. I understand this was considered one of the highlights of S3 when it first aired, but it has NOT aged well in the slightest.

The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

 

But muh space hippies with mangled social message! Played by people old enough to be their great grandparents!

The Empath gets no empathy from me. Thew most superficial and empty storyline about saving a race by ridiculous torture scenes as "tests". Even the hippie song is leagues better...


(Okay, it was remastered by some bloke who also added some bits of other typical 60s instruments, but it's definitely a Trek-worthy song with a real groove. No autotune here, folks. And, yes, "man" meant "species" as a singular term - though the usage of language does shift over time and generally for good reasons...)

What's left:

The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Spectre of the Gun
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye


Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

 

Spectre of the Gun, I was never a fan of western, I really don't need it in my sci-fi.


The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Plato's Stepchildren
Wink of an Eye
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

 

The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web

Wink of an Eye
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays
Turnabout Intruder

Plato’s Stepchildren bows out ungracefully. I tried to eradicate this episode using telekinesis. It didn’t work. I still have nightmares about the Kirk and Spock song and dance routine.

 

Turnabout Intruder - a few minor line changes would keep the plot focused on her insanity and revenge and end up being a lot less grating than characters other than Lester saying women cannot captain ships. The story gives a vibe of wanting fight sexism by using sexism, but it's not very effective. It is like turning to the camera and screaming "alcohol is wrong" while driving with a flask of wine in one's hand and a bottle of beer in the other. With a liter of Everclear in the back seat to wash all that down with.

Some good notes: Sandra Smith excels at playing swappedKirk, as well as Shatner delivering a good performance as swappedLester. Mop up the dialogue and this story wouldn't be half-bad. But at the end of season 3 and they all knew the show was canceled, it didn't matter.


What's left:


The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web

Wink of an Eye
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays

 

There are some fun parts in The Savage Curtain, but there is also a lot of silliness.

The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Wink of an Eye
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
All Our Yesterdays

 

The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
All Our Yesterdays

I pick Wink of an Eye, the concept is interesting but it wasn't thought out well, people that could move that fast, even faster than the speed of light, I don't think so.

 

The Enterprise Incident
Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
All Our Yesterdays

Riddle me this, Batman? Which episode delivers its message with the subtlety of an antimatter charge? "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" goes poof!

 

Is There In Truth No Beauty? is another average episode. It was nice seeing Diane Muldaur again, but that's it.

The Enterprise Incident
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Elaan of Troyius
Whom Gods Destroy
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
All Our Yesterdays

 

The Enterprise Incident
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web
Elaan of Troyius

Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
All Our Yesterdays

***********

Well, Whom Gods Destroy gets sent to the padded cell. I think it was Bob Justman who said “Didn’t we do this episode in season 1?”

 

All the remaining stories are average or better but there are no tears that can persuade me for this one...

An episode featuring France Nuyen and, of course Jay "Dr Shrinker" Robinson, and some hawt guys wearing kitchen placemats glued together...

An episode that tries to innovate on "The Taming of the Shrew" and ends up misfiring as often as it succeeds as it's a real mixed bag, which hasn't aged terribly well...

"Elaan of Troyius" gets my vote.


What's left:

The Enterprise Incident
Day of the Dove
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Tholian Web

Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
All Our Yesterdays

 

Alright... this is tough. There are two I want to remove. Which do I dislike more? Hmm, going to go with the episode where Bones asked Kirk to just let him stay working and keep quiet and Kirk immediately asks for a replacement CMO. Go touch that sky hollow world...

What's left:

The Enterprise Incident
Day of the Dove

The Tholian Web
Requiem for Methuselah
The Cloud Minders
All Our Yesterdays