Game The Most Disliked Episode Directed By James L. Conway

Next up in these themed elimination games: EPISODES DIRECTED BY JAMES L. CONWAY. Lots of fantastic ones on this list!

THE RULES. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. Below are a list of Star Trek episodes directed by James L. Conway. Eliminate your FAVORITE or the one you deem the 'BEST.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed.

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 it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win.

Much thanks to @Farscape One for having all the director credits literally memorized.
Enjoy!

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
TNG Season 6: "Frame Of Mind"
DS9 Season 1: "Duet"
DS9 Season 2: "Necessary Evil"
DS9 Season 4: "The Way Of The Warrior"
DS9 Season 4: "Little Green Men"
DS9 Season 4: "Shattered Mirror"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vison"
VOY Season 2: "Death Wish"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

I want to grab the first elimination with "Frame Of Mind." Talk about a triumph of episodic direction! This episode is fantastic, thanks to it's wonderfully creepy tone. It's all in the details on this one, it could have so easily been a boring or unfocused tour of some random weirdness, but it's not, because it's executed in such a perfectly controlled and cleverly thought out way. They nailed the execution here, great work from the whole cast & crew.

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 1: "Duet"
DS9 Season 2: "Necessary Evil"
DS9 Season 4: "The Way Of The Warrior"
DS9 Season 4: "Little Green Men"
DS9 Season 4: "Shattered Mirror"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vison"
VOY Season 2: "Death Wish"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

To cling on, or not to cling on, that's the question...

DS9 Season 4: "The Way Of The Warrior"​

DS9/S4 starts out with a more energetic style that ups the ante between empires. Could Star Trek really go back to a Federation/Klingon war? Well, if the Romulan/Klingon trade treaty from the 23rd century fell apart. It almost feels like a mini-reboot, but seasons 2 and 3 were strong in their own rights... season 4 really ups the ante and nothing more.

Worf returning -- people will either love it or hate it; the latter citing how the makers may have been a bit clingy to keep having DS9 use TNG characters - for a few reasons, none of which are within the scope of this response. But his return worked well enough for me at the time... and of all the crossovers DS9 and TNG did, Worf's felt the most natural and seamless. And opened the door to more than I'd ever have expected - like in 'Sons of Mogh".

What's on paper regarding the story is already robust, but his direction adds much flair to it.

Yes, some incidental music from "Generations" is re-used. It doesn't stick out too badly.

Naturally, here's a tease - there are some great camera angles afoot as well as something that would reel in scores of viewers:





What's left to make a nice helping of Qa'pla out of:

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 1: "Duet"
DS9 Season 2: "Necessary Evil"
DS9 Season 4: "Little Green Men"
DS9 Season 4: "Shattered Mirror"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vison"
VOY Season 2: "Death Wish"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

Choices, choices... I like quite a few from this list, but top spot has to be "Duet". A powerful, thoughtful episode about Kira (one of my favourite characters) and how her views about Cardassians are changing. Plus fantastic performances from Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin.

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 2: "Necessary Evil"
DS9 Season 4: "Little Green Men"
DS9 Season 4: "Shattered Mirror"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Death Wish"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

Saving Necessary Evil. The atmosphere is critical to this episode, but it also has to switch back and forth between the noir backstory and the present comedy. Well made episode.

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 4: "Little Green Men"
DS9 Season 4: "Shattered Mirror"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Death Wish"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

There's always justice for the Ferengi...

DS9 Season 4: "Little Green Men"​

His direction helps a lot in the opening when we get the 5 millionth way that Trek has introduced time travel as a plot device. (And one cringeworthy in-joke.) But the episode beyond the nitpicks is absolutely wonderful.

Charles Napier's casting is a coup. I wish I was in during the conversation when he signed up for it.

One nice touch to the direction is the universal translator snafu:



Odo's plot twist appearance was very nicely handled, flowed smoothly, and was unexpected. especially when he's the person one should be expecting.

Also, the obligatory episode tease:


Makes you wonder if they should have done the whole "Earth past" routine in sepia tone, but even the muted hues do enough to compensate...

...on Staaaaaaaaaaaaaar Trek, Deep Space Nine!


What's left:
TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 4: "Shattered Mirror"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Death Wish"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

A solid list from James L. Conway, with a few of my favourite episodes in the mix.

Death Wish was a great tale about mortality, so is any easy first save. The visual of the state of continuum has always stuck with me.

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 4: "Shattered Mirror"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

All of you picked episodes I would have made as my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th choices. Conway has an astounding collection of great episodes, especially considering he only did 20. Nearly all are gold.

I have to save "SHATTERED MIRROR". It was a fun episode, and some of THE best fights with the Defiant. She never maneuvered more beautifully than here when she was around the station.


TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 4: "For The Cause"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

Saving "For the Cause," a tautly-paced episode that challenged Sisko's integrity, added character depth to Kasidy, and gave character, period, to Eddington, who'd been pretty much a cipher to that point.

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 1: "Broken Bow"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

Saving Broken Bow. I think that the pilot did a decent job of making Enterprise feel different, at least somewhat, from the series that preceded it. Very well paced, good action.

TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"
ENT Season 4: "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I"

 

"IN A MIRROR, DARKLY" is saved.

Fun episode, well done in every respect. And a great new theme...


TNG Season 1: "Justice"
TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"

 

Those little hard disks go round n' round...

TNG Season 1: "The Neutral Zone"​

The premise is interesting, though that 80s fad of freezing people like buckets of ice cream didn't fare too well or else Walt Disney would be spinning to get back into his grave - allegedly he had his head frozen, but thankfully Snopes said it was false. Unless they're hiding the truth, moohahaha...

Speaking of mustache twirling laughs, the Romulans are back and - wow - they are done really well.

The trio of humans make an interesting and varied bunch.

I won't go into detail with the lady's family tree in the most hilarious in-joke/hidden homage/easter egg/crossover with "Doctor Who" that nobody could begin to imagine...

Ron Jones' Romulan theme is so strong that it's retained through much of the series and became iconic. He too would create the iconic Borg theme...


Yes, that's Gul Dukat on the left, posing as a Romulan.
Worf's anger may be exposition, but it's well-handled, especially for season one's clunkiness. This is yet another sign that the fledgling show would go on to do some great episodes, even if they didn't want the Romulans to come in as a crutch.

The sashes the Romulans wear should have been kept when they would do the Romulan uniform costume revamp - note the difference in quilting in the clip, and as season 1 was clobbered by industrial action it makes a certain sense in terms of how much was done in obligatory haste. They're wonderfully iconic, and help balance off those shoulder pads that went to a diving board factory once they found out they were short on materials.

Lastly,



Frozen survivors! From the 20th century! On Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar Trek, The Popsicle Generation!



What's left:
TNG Season 1: "Justice"
DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"

 

"Justice" is divinely cheesy. Obviously it's "bad" by most (all?) conventional measures, but there's not many Trek episodes that can make me laugh like this one. It's a frequent rewatch with the Trek fans in my family.

DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"
ENT Season 3: "Damage"

 

Damage is a great follow-up to Azati Prime. Everything is going to hell for Archer and the crew as he faces some of his darkest times since joining Enterprise.

DS9 Season 5: "Apocalypse Rising"
VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"

 

Saving Apocalypse Rising. Nothing special. The episode needed more compelling issues for a season premier, and I feel the need to reveal the changeling among the Klingons wasn't approached in an interesting fashion. I'm not sure there was much room for positive director input, but overall, the episode was handled well. Perhaps Conway prevented Brooks from going completely over the top.


VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Persistence Of Vision"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"

 

I was going to rescue that next, since seeing Sisko and the gang as Klingons was a lot of fun.

My final save for this game is "PERSISTENCE OF VISION". The episode is creepy as hell, and the Bothan was incredibly mysterious. Great episode for early VOYAGER, and well directed by Conway.


VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
VOY Season 2: "Innocence"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"

 

Was just about to save "Persistence Of Vision" myself. I am such a sucker for a "Kes saves the ship" episode. And it's successor, "Seven saves the ship." What could have been if they just kept them both! My god would I have loved "Kes & Seven save the ship." The relationship those two characters could have had is one of Voyager's greatest missed opportunities. In an OUTRAGEOUSLY LONG list of missed opportunities that show is guilty of!

Anyway, I'll next save... ugh, I hate all of these. I guess I'll go with a save for "Innocence", which I just saw and do not like. But I do think the initial scenes between Janeway and the female alien leader are great.

Meanwhile, the Tuvok story is just a mess, and really suffers from what a thin character Tuvok still is at this point of the series (lucky casting, anything that is there is coming from Tim Russ and never the script).

VOY Season 2: "The 37's"
ENT Season 2: "Judgment"

 

I'm going to save "The 37's".

It was from a time when Voyager had lots of potential and it was an interesting concept. It was also nice to see a little hero worship from Janeway, Mulgrew really managed to give the impression that the likes of Amelia Earhart was an inspiration for the character, an adventurer and a mystery all rolled into one.

Loser: ENT Season 2: "Judgment"

 

I was too late to save Judgment. Never mind. Anything out of the bottom 3 could have won as nothing was outright terrible. More average, perhaps?

 

The biggest issue with "THE 37's" was the network using it as a season premiere. It was shot and functioned far better as a season finale.