The least disliked episode of Voyager - Season Two

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, and wait at least 6 hours after your last vote, before voting again.

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 - Meld
2013 - Living Witness
2017 -

Season Two

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Elogium
Non Sequitur
Twisted
Parturition
Persistence of Vision
Tattoo
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Threshold
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Investigations
Deadlock
Innocence
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

I'll save everyone else the trouble and boot out Threshold to start off, one of the few Star Trek episodes that needs no explanation for its removal. However, for your viewing pleasure:

It's more beneficial to view the whole thing as a fever dream.

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Elogium
Non Sequitur
Twisted
Parturition
Persistence of Vision
Tattoo
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Investigations
Deadlock
Innocence
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Innocence has now been fed to the Morrok. This was a tough choice, as both this episode and Twisted are just dreadful, but this one feels like it was a situation that should have been resolved much more easily than it actually was, whereas Twisted at least had the excuse of the crew not knowing they were dealing with a lifeform.

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Elogium
Non Sequitur
Twisted
Parturition
Persistence of Vision
Tattoo
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Investigations
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Oh dear. So many to choose from here, though not as bad as season three. I'd like to kill off Parturition first. The Paris/Neelix/Kes jealousy had gotten embarrassing by this point, and was just as bad as the forced encounter with an infant to make them work out their differences together. Feh.

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Elogium
Non Sequitur
Twisted
Persistence of Vision
Tattoo
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Investigations
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Well, there are terrible Kim ("Non Sequitur") and Chakotay ("Tattoo") episodes catching my eye, but I can even more viscerally recall what an unpleasant trial "Investigations" was to sit through the first time, so I'm axing that one. The impulse to add more serialized elements was a good one, but ugh did they fumble the ball in executing this spy arc. It was so unsatisfying as drama from the jump, and for the resolution they decide to add copious amounts of the most annoying version of Neelix? A terrible idea, incompetently executed.

God, all those "Briefing With Neelix" bits are rushing back to me. Such bad, awkward writing!

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Elogium
Non Sequitur
Twisted
Persistence of Vision
Tattoo
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Eliminating Tattoo. I don't know what made the writers think this was the best way to explore Chakotay's heritage.

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Elogium
Non Sequitur
Twisted
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

I'll happily get rid of Non Sequitor myself. Badly written and badly executed. Whoever played Libby was so wrong for the role.

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Elogium
Twisted
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Elogium is toast... no thanks on Kes being in heat and wolfing weird crap.


The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Twisted
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Alliances
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

I'm not making common cause with "Alliances." The captain opposes making alliances, but when pressed to do so anyway she decides to try allying with factions she knows she has no reason to trust (Seska and Culluh? Really?). Then when the whole thing goes south, she smugly declares it proof that alliances are a bad idea. I don't think you really gave that one a fair trial, Kathy.

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Twisted
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Well, the other episode I was contemplating getting rid of is still in, so I'll put an end to "Twisted." It's an idea that could potentially have worked, but in execution it amounts to 40 minutes of people walking around and looking confused, with a lame twist ending (no pun intended).

The 37s
Initiations
Projections
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

I will put "THE 37's" to sleep. It was an okay episode, but it really feels like a season ender than a season premiere. Which is exactly how it was shot. I never really liked that UPN decision to hold over 4 episodes from season 1 and 2... it ended up screwing the fans out of 4 more episodes of the series... this is why season 3 really only had 22 episodes. They could have tied with DS9 in terms of episode count.

Initiations
Projections
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Tuvix
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Tuvix! I despise this episode, it doesn't matter how Tuvix was created, he was a living, thinking individual who clearly didn't want to die but was executed in the transporter anyway just so that the crew could get their friends back. Sucks for Neelix and Tuvok but they had died in the transporter.
Murdering an innocent man to get crewmembers back is probably the most untreklike thing I've ever seen on Star Trek.


Initiations
Projections
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Eliminating Initiations.

Nog makes a better Ferengi than a Kazon.

Projections
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Resolutions
Basics (I)

 

Well, now we're getting into episodes I mostly like. But I'll toss Resolutions. The script is not bad, but unfortunately any two-hander is doomed to fail when one of the hands is Robert Beltran.

Projections
Persistence of Vision
Cold Fire
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Basics (I)

 

Cold Fire is the next one to go for me. Kes developing her powers was an interesting idea, but Suspiria was a poor follow-up to the thread dangled back in Caretaker about his mate.

Projections
Persistence of Vision
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
The Thaw
Basics (I)

 

I exterminated The Thaw because I'm prejudiced against clowns.

Projections
Persistence of Vision
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Death Wish
Lifesigns
Deadlock
Basics (I)

 

Death Wish

Man, I want to like this one since it covers a very Trek-worthy topic in what should be a rock solid classic, especially as Q is involved.

The problem? Ignoring that the concept of a "balance" by keeping a Q locked up being somewhat lame on its own when Q have been stripped of powers and turned normal where it's possible they would be killed... they turn the extra-dimensional mystery realm of the Q Continuum into an exceedingly weak metaphor of a decaying rural village just outside where they filmed the Knight Rider car for that show's awesome opening credits just so Janeway and the gang can "understand" the "impasse". In turn, the whole mystery and aura of the Continuum died that day in the ultimate irony, which did not need to be explored to begin with.

Add on top of that, pointless inclusions of Riker (complete with yet another pointless retcon to the first encounter with the Borg), Newton, and some guy named Maury* don't do much to propel the story or any real interest in it.

* possibly the inspiration for the follow-up to this one where Q wanted to be a father because his Romeo to Janeway Juliet breeding will obviously save the Continuum because all the Q within will have something new to learn or want to experience for themselves or-- Indeed, why is Q wanting to get busy with any human to begin with - did the Calamarain all turn him down in a puff of smoke or something? Ugh. (*facepalm* , despite the one funny joke that follow-up episode actually had...)​

That and TNG's "Ethics" already tried discussing the issue and took the biggest cop-out imaginable... until now.

So, yeah, I'd rather rewatch "Hide and Q" despite its awkward season-1 foibles.


What's left:
Projections
Persistence of Vision
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Dreadnought
Lifesigns
Deadlock
Basics (I)

 

I am going to eliminate "BASICS, PART I". It was a good episode, and a good season finale, but it feels like the weakest one of the remaining episodes. Plus, I remember the first time watching it, I was not surprised that the Kazon took the ship. I have to blame the UPN marketing for this because the upcoming promo pretty much gave this away.
​

PROJECTIONS
PERSISTENCE OF VISION
MANEUVERS
RESISTANCE
PROTOTYPE
MELD
DREADNOUGHT
LIFESIGNS
DEADLOCK

 

Eliminating Persistence Of Vision. There's some neat character exploration but too much about the episode makes no sense.

PROJECTIONS
MANEUVERS
RESISTANCE
PROTOTYPE
MELD
DREADNOUGHT
LIFESIGNS
DEADLOCK

 

I'm going to shoot down Dreadnought. It's got decent suspense in places, but the other episodes are better, and it makes you wonder why if the Cardassians are capable of producing such a powerful weapon, the Klingons or Maquis were ever a threat to them (the alternative being that it was Torres's modifications that made the titular weapon so deadly, which is even worse in many ways).

Projections
Maneuvers
Resistance
Prototype
Meld
Lifesigns
Deadlock