• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

The Least Disliked Romulan Episode/Movie

The only Romulans in "Future Imperfect" are illusory. It can go.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 2: "Contagion"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "The Next Phase"
TNG Season 6: "Face Of The Enemy"
TNG Season 6: "Timescape"
TNG Season 7: "The Pegasus"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 6: "In The Pale Moonlight"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Shadows & Symbols"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
Got rid of Face of the Enemy, Marina Sirtis was terrible and the episode introduces a pretty important plot point (high-level romulan defectors) that is never revisited.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 2: "Contagion"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "The Next Phase"
TNG Season 6: "Timescape"
TNG Season 7: "The Pegasus"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 6: "In The Pale Moonlight"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Shadows & Symbols"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
In the pale moonlight, so many people love it because "ooh, Sisko does something bad" I assume, the problem is that Avery Brooks performance is way too intense and over the top, it's ridiculous.


TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 2: "Contagion"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "The Next Phase"
TNG Season 6: "Timescape"
TNG Season 7: "The Pegasus"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Shadows & Symbols"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
Its one of my favourites because Avery Brooks really sold the episode to me. He was a desperate man, and the entire tone of the episode showed how up against it the Federation was. I love it, but I'd you're not a fan of Avery Brooks' acting, then you won't buy into it. Same for Far Beyond the Stars - another favourite.
 
Removing "Timescape". While a clever use of temporal physics, it doesn't really offer much in the way of learning about the Romulans, or even any conversations with them. Romulan cardboard figures would have done the same job.


TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 2: "Contagion"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "The Next Phase"
TNG Season 7: "The Pegasus"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Shadows & Symbols"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
Removing "Timescape". While a clever use of temporal physics, it doesn't really offer much in the way of learning about the Romulans, or even any conversations with them. Romulan cardboard figures would have done the same job.

One thing I love about "Timescape" is that Troi, after "Face Of The Enemy", is suddenly the expert on Romulans, reeling off the technobabble specs of how the ships are powered by artificial quantum singularities. I saw Marina Sirtis at a convention around original air and she had a long, hilarious riff on the absurdity of Troi, Romulan engineering expert.

Meanwhile, I'm offing "Shadows & Symbols." What a disappointing missed opportunity Cretak was!

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 2: "Contagion"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "The Next Phase"
TNG Season 7: "The Pegasus"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
The Next Phase; some neat visual effects, but there's not really a whole lot of substance to the story, and it's another of those where the Romulans aren't much more than cardboard cut-out villains.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 2: "Contagion"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "The Pegasus"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
I like that Contagion made it this far, and whilst I quite like the majority of the episode, I think that having Data, and the Enterprise just essentially reboot themselves to rid themselves of the problem was a dumb.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "The Pegasus"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
Taking out "The Pegasus". While a great episode, particularly given that season, the Romulans are hardly present.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary": The Romulans are cartoonish villains in that episode.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
 
Taking out Babel One. Just not that interesting. Oh, and taking the liberty of inserting "The Chase", which I notice was not in the original list but which is a Romulan Episode:

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 6: "The Chase"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
 
The Romulans were so much sly, Machiavellian fun, I admit I can't think of a Romulan episode, in any Trek series, that I didn't like (to me, the 2009 what-passes-for a movie doesn't exist). So I'm afraid I can't choose. My own Romulan favorite being TNG's "Face of the Enemy" which really allowed Marina Sirtis' surprisingly fierce acting chops to shine here. Especially since she was playing off the equally brilliantly acted Carolyn Seymour in the story's battle of Romulan egos.
 
Last edited:
Then "The Chase" is the next one to go. I argued for the exclusion of that episode due to it not really being a Romulan episode. They only appear, briefly, in the last act, and except for a quick dialogue exchange between Picard and the commander, the episode brings nothing to the table with the Romulans.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
 
The Search I, it features a romulan but I don't consider it a romulan episode


TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
 
I kind of liked the idea of Sela as it was a reminder of my favourite episode, Yesterday's Enterprise. It's a shame Denise Crosby was bad. I'll remove Redemption II as a result.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
 
Unification I. Like I said earlier, it's a rather dull two-parter. Seems like part I has very little going for it other than "hey look, it's Spock!"

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
 
Removing "Redemption". A great episode, but it focuses more on the Klingons than the Romulans.

Side note: it's getting very difficult to eliminate episodes now. The remainders are a great bunch having the Romulans at the center.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
 
Removing DS9 Season 7: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges", as the Starfleet people are really the ones behaving like Romulans in that episode.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
DS9 Season 7: "Image In The Sand"
 
I'll remove Image in the Sand. It's not as strong as what is left now, though I did like Cretak and wished she'd stayed around.

Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
DS9 Season 3: "The Die Is Cast"
 
I will remove "THE DIE IS CAST". A great episode among other greats, but since the only Romulan we see is a Changeling, it is not a truly Romulan perspective, even though he likely is much like his solid counterpart.

TOS Season 1: "Balance Of Terror"
TOS Season 3: "The Enterprise Incident"
TNG Season 3: "The Defector"
TNG Season 4: "The Mind's Eye"
DS9 Season 3: "Improbable Cause"
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top