The least disliked episode of TOS - Season Two

[BlueStuff]

This is a game that we play every few years or so, 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 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 -

Season Two

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Changeling
Mirror, Mirror
The Apple
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Gamesters of Triskelion
A Piece of the Action
The Immunity Syndrome
A Private Little War
Return to Tomorrow
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Omega Glory
The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth

 

[Winterwind]

And boom... The Omega Glory is gone. Is an explanation even needed? Not even Morgan Woodward could save this one.

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Changeling
Mirror, Mirror
The Apple
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Gamesters of Triskelion
A Piece of the Action
The Immunity Syndrome
A Private Little War
Return to Tomorrow
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name

The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth

 

[Herbert]

I can't stand A Private Little War. never liked it. Depressing, and I don't like the Vietnam allegory. The character Nona is annoying. Although, Nancy Kovack was very hot. On the plus side, we get the Mugatu, which is a pretty cool monster, if a little too ape-like

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Changeling
Mirror, Mirror
The Apple
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Gamesters of Triskelion
A Piece of the Action
The Immunity Syndrome
Return to Tomorrow
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth

 

[Damian]

"Return to Tomorrow"--for the record I don't 'hate' any episode of the original series. But as far as least favorite, "Return to Tomorrow" comes to mind for the 2nd season. Parts of it were overly melodramatic. I did like Spock as Henoch though. I also didn't care a lot for the music in this episode.

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Changeling
Mirror, Mirror
The Apple
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Gamesters of Triskelion
A Piece of the Action
The Immunity Syndrome
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth

 

[Spock's Barber]

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Changeling
Mirror, Mirror
The Apple
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Gamesters of Triskelion

The Immunity Syndrome
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth

Sorry, Kirk-O, but A Piece of the Action gets rubbed out for breaking the mob’s code of silence.

 

[Qonundrum]

^^ that one needed a cone of silence as it was so bloody awful! (Then again, Max reminded us enough times the Cone of Silence never worked properly...)

My current vote could be one of many, but I will chew on this and nominate "The Apple" for being easily the most dis-likeable of what's left so far. Cor, even the Nazi episode (IMHO) was better...

Anyway, that "Apple" story feels like it doesn't even want to try. It is also soooooo cheesy (basic plot, everyone's a shexxxy hawttie and probably to ironically cover up for the sheer lack of storyline), inconsistent (for a rock that boomboomsplodeys under reaction to pressure, it didn't mind the greater force of Spock crushing it before he flung it!), heavy-handed in metaphor (Apple, cliche control-all computer has an orifice that looks like, you guessed it, a snake. Their world is paradise until Lord James Tennant Kirk waltzed in...)

I'd be here all day mewling except I need my vote tallied before someone else posts, teehee!

What's left:

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Changeling
Mirror, Mirror

The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Gamesters of Triskelion

The Immunity Syndrome
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth

 

[Unicorn]

I'm giving "The Gamesters of Triskelion" the chop - I've never liked this one much, the plot is uninspired and not particularly fun, and the romance with Shahna just feels melodramatic and hokey. The whole hour feels like a parody of itself. I do like the floor pattern in the battle scenes, and that Chekov and especially Uhura get to have "a piece of the action" - it's not often that she gets to be away from the chair

What's left:

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
The Changeling
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Immunity Syndrome
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth

 

[Marsden]

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Immunity Syndrome
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
Bread and Circuses
Assignment: Earth[/QUOTE]

Goodbye The Changeling Killing billions of people and joking about it at the end, the ship absorbs 99 torpedoes worth of destruction but we are shocked it can handle 1, Scotty is a revenant and Uhura is a conflict mass of impulses that's retrained to do her job in a week from Kindergarten. This one is all over the place.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Immunity Syndrome
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer

Assignment: Earth

Bread and Circuses gets the thumbs down from the Emperor. This parallel planet episode just makes me want to cancel my toga party.

 

[BK613]

Amok Time
Who Mourns for Adonais?
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
I, Mudd
Metamorphosis
Journey to Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in the Fold
The Trouble With Tribbles
The Immunity Syndrome
Patterns of Force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
--------------
Removed Assignment: Earth. As a pilot, it was pretty good (and a show I would have watched), but the crew of the Enterprise are nothing more than ineffectual window dressing. So as an episode of Star Trek, it's pretty bleh.

 

[johnnybear]

I'm going for I Mudd which is definitely not an episode to be watched with any member of the non Trek fraternity!

Amok Time
Who Mourns For Adonais?
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel
Friday's child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The immunity Syndrome
Patterns of force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer
JB

 

[Seven of Five]

The claws are out for Catspaw. I just find this one dull, despite it being full of fun ideas. And Chekov!

Amok Time
Who Mourns For Adonais?
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The immunity Syndrome
Patterns of force
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer

 

[Takeru]

The nazis are out, Patterns of Force never should have been made.


Amok Time
Who Mourns For Adonais?
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The immunity Syndrome
By Any Other Name
The Ultimate Computer

 

[BK613]

Amok Time
Who Mourns For Adonais?
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The immunity Syndrome
The Ultimate Computer

By Any Other Name is consigned to the galactic void. I find the episode's plot solution happens too easily and too quick, and where is all this Kelvan magic tech later on?

 

[Qonundrum]

Wow, there are a few choices left... I don't dislike the following story - a story about one deliciously big man and his pet goats. And handy force field. Scotty gets fried. Chekov is wearing the hideous wig. And yet Kirk isn't the one jealous over how big the guy's ego is. The basic plot is sorta interesting, outgrowing ancient myths - that turn out to have been real albeit as advanced beings that later gave up with as much nihilism as Dr Who's Argolins. (Save for the one in this Trek story, who didn't want to go, but with a body like that who could blame him? Pretty well-acted, too, especially for 1960s TV, which helped the episode remain watchable.) I wish there was a greater level of tragedy in the species that just gave up, but the best is saved for the end as he acquiesces and outs all his fellow deities before vanishing. (The f/x with him behind the picnic table were rather good...)

Actually, commentary aside, if we add in some scientific data nowadays there's almost a romanticism about returning to a more simplistic way of life.

Then again, scientific data also now shows herpes, a condition up to 80% of adults have and many don't realize it (but the astronauts now do), is flaring up in the space station so how come Kirk isn't one big bundle of blisters? (Must be mighty boring if everything's curable by the late 2200s...)

As said, none of the remaining stories are truly dislikable as such at this point, just flawed and/or outdated compared to what we know now - some massively so and with luck I'll get to rag on one or two of those as the hours while away and without the double entendres or word associative disorders... But writing down stories in reverse-order, clearly I can only be speaking of "Who Mourns For Adonais?" as being apropos for this point in the contest.


What's left:


Amok Time

Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel
Friday's Child
The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The immunity Syndrome
The Ultimate Computer

 

[GNDN18]

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

So much for “The Deadly Years”.

What's left:

Amok Time
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel
Friday's Child

Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The immunity Syndrome
The Ultimate Computer

 

[Spock's Barber]

What's left:


Amok Time

Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel

The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The immunity Syndrome
The Ultimate Computer

Friday’s Child has to go. Those Teletubbie costumes just make those dudes look silly.

 

[NovaStar]

Amok Time

Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel

The Deadly Years
Obsession
Wolf in The Fold
The Trouble with Tribbles
The Ultimate Computer

I'll remove The Immunity Syndrome. This one is the least memorable for me compared to the rest. For some reason It didn't leave an impact on me.

 

[Commishsleer]

Amok Time
Mirror, Mirror
The Doomsday Machine
Metamorphosis
Journey To Babel
Obsession
The Trouble with Tribbles
The Ultimate Computer

Just removed Deadly Years again if thats OK

My choice is "Wolf in the Fold" because of its sexist overtones and the ridiculous notion that there ever was a woman in engineering.
And that Scotty was not always the perfect gentleman.
And that Kirk would ever leave his ship in the charge of drugged out maniacs...

Is the list OK now?

 

[Spock's Barber]

It looks okay. Man, there are some excellent episodes left. It’s like a TOS smorgasbord!