Game The Most Disliked Episode Directed By Les Landau

[cosmic mouse]

VOY Season 5: "Counterpoint"
My favorite episode of VOY. Janeway is on fire and her chemistry with Kashyk was extraordinary. I always thought it a missed opportunity that he didn't become a recurring character.

TNG Season 2: "Samaritan Snare"
TNG Season 3: "Sins of the Father"
TNG Season 4: "Future Imperfect"
TNG Season 4: "Clues"
TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Crossfire"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 1: "Heroes and Demons"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 5: "Drone"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Sakonna]

My favorite episode of VOY. Janeway is on fire and her chemistry with Kashyk was extraordinary. I always thought it a missed opportunity that he didn't become a recurring character.

Though I dislike the Devore makeup and it kind of ruins his vibe -- that actor was a fox! I countersign this wish...

 

[Qonundrum]

There should always be a little of the different and unexpected in sci-fi, adding in season 2's daring to be experimental...

TNG Season 2: "Samaritan Snare"​

This episode attempts a different take on what makes a person feel uncomfortable. While the episode could have been more refined (a little exposition wouldn't be amiss; not to mention the Pakleds don't have replicator but they do have other traits and compensations. Whether the episode was telling or hinting at those is another matter, especially being made in the late 1980s. But a lot of it took the episode at face value. Which is easy and fun to do, but there's always something... even in that walrus song - the one made deliberately to troll people who look for messages in songs has a message... oh, the irony (whichever one that may be...) )

Troi did get some duffer dialogue at times, but she also got some of the best (as well as figuring out what none of the non-empaths could - and none of the Pakleds were stating the obvious on screen, unlike most episodes where Troi tells the Captain how they're saying the obvious). If only she was on the Bridge a few minutes earlier - it's as if the episode was setting up the reason why she needs to hang around to remind the audience with.

Though why a department head would be sent over is boggling, at least from in-universe perspective. For the audience anyway, there's otherwise no story unless they brought in someone of lower ranks and made them interesting for a few sporadic episodes and TNG wasn't doing that sort of interweaving... the closest may have been Sonya Gomez (in her second TNG episode after "Q Who"), but nobody would want to see her shot at point blank range and beaten up viciously either, but she's Geordi's backup, allowing him to go experience all that fun she told him about in her introductory story.

And all that's where the direction of this episode elevates a curate's egg of a story, nobody expected Geordi to be shot and pummeled and in an episode that really delivers the unexpected and unsettling. A recurring theme in season two, space is a dangerous place...


What remains:
TNG Season 3: "Sins of the Father"
TNG Season 4: "Future Imperfect"
TNG Season 4: "Clues"
TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Crossfire"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 1: "Heroes and Demons"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 5: "Drone"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Seven of Five]

I just noticed Drone on the list, which is a perfect episode for showing what an asset Jeri Ryan's eyes were to the show. She has very expressive eye, which come in handy for Seven to get glimpse about how she actually feels, because she's not so great with the humanity at this stage of her voyage.

It's fascinating watch her practice her smile in the first and final scene, and it's a little heartbreaking. One was a great character, and I can only imagine what it may have been like if he'd been around for a few more episodes maybe.

TNG Season 3: "Sins of the Father"
TNG Season 4: "Future Imperfect"
TNG Season 4: "Clues"
TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Crossfire"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 1: "Heroes and Demons"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Brennyren]

"Heroes and Demons" was another good-looking episode, and one of the first to feature major character development for the EMH -- who says he's a doctor, not a mythic hero?!? Given some great material to work with, Bob Picardo is (no surprise) a standout.

TNG Season 3: "Sins of the Father"
TNG Season 4: "Future Imperfect"
TNG Season 4: "Clues"
TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Crossfire"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Sakonna]

"Clues" is a pretty masterful piece. I love that Dixon Hill opener setting the tone and theme, and the alien threat in this one feels like a very fresh idea. A cool mystery that is a great ensemble piece as well, everyone gets something interesting to do.

TNG Season 3: "Sins of the Father"
TNG Season 4: "Future Imperfect"
TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Crossfire"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Qonundrum]

If only there was a note...

TNG Season 4: "Future Imperfect"​

The use of Minuet was a nice twist to get Riker to realize he's in some twisted dream. The double double dream with the Romulans was also a nice twist. Shades of "The Mind's Eye" only better intentions and from a delightful, orphaned praying mantis that just wants help.

Also, the teaser's pretty decent as, unlike my post here, shatters no now-decades' old spoilers:

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What's left:

TNG Season 3: "Sins of the Father"
TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Crossfire"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Removing Sins Of The Father.

A defining event for Worf, our first look at the complexity of Klingon noble culture. The episode that set the tone for all Klingon episodes.

What's left:

TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Crossfire"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"[/QUOTE]

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Removing Crossfire. True, it's The Bodyguard, but the pacing is excellent, the acting is top notch, and there are a number of great crowd scenes.

TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Dark Page"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Farscape One]

I am saving "Dark Page". Because this time, on STAAAAAAAAARRRR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, we have the 'why' on why Lwaxana Troi is the way she is with her daughter and life in general. Incredibly sad, learning that about her first child. The bond between Majel and Marina is genuine, and it shines brightly here. I have shed a single man tear or two while watching what we learn about Kestra.


TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 4: "Accession"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Seven of Five]

I'm sure I've saved Accession in another round, yet I want to here again because I love the tale of a new Emissary taking over Sisko's duties, only for him to fight to regain the title again. The Sisko has come so far, bless him.

TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Qonundrum]

A couple episodes remain but I'm in a quandary as to which to pick...

TNG Season 5: "Conundrum"​

This one had some chutzpah in changing around characters during their amnesiac phase. Even Ro and Riker getting all coldsoreslips, woohoo!

Don't ask too much as to how such a less developed civilization could infiltrate the Federation Flagship but it's still a neat concept to exploit. MacDuff (not related to Homer's beer) probably went through the Academy in some long game tactic, which doesn't seem entirely plausible (especially ) but - heck - this episode is tons of fun, especially as the actors get to show their chops in doing other than the usual (something that was even more fun every time the VOY cast got a chance to do the same.)

And Worf assuming command is cool. Wish there was more of it in what's quite an entertaining little yarn despite some hiccups. If MacDuff can fiddle with memories of the Federation Folks, why not the Lysians? Maybe the Lysians are jellyiish that ain't got no brains but other things that are analogous or if nothing else are best served with a cup of tartar sauce and coffee? I dunno...

Also,

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(I love the use of the 'sting' as a brief exciting audio cue at the start of the teaser which keeps the exciting tease music going (and no less in a season where the bulk of the in-episode incidental music is all too frequently the equivalent to a bunch of toads sitting in a tuba and "tooting" into it from the wrong side...), sadly by then they replaced the announcer and got rid of "Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar"... and depressed over how much time is given to Ro and Riker's foreplay as means to get viewers in an episode whose reuse of props suggests either budget cuts or believing nobody remembered that hideous season one episode that also featured both the prop and a lot of cooties...)

What's left:

TNG Season 4: "Night Terrors"
TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Sakonna]

"Night Terrors" keeps calling to me. Yes, it is "bad." Yes, Troi flying is an embarrassing calamity. Yes, the Memory Alpha page does feature this hilarious item:

Director Les Landau blocked this episode out and prefers not to discuss it, for reasons he won't elaborate. It had something to do with Troi floating in space. (The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 21, p. 45)

But I don't know, I like it! I suppose in my usual so-bad-it's-good way. And I can't blame poor Les for any of that terrible flying -- that's a writing failure there, putting something on the page that was simply beyond their budget.

I never fail to chuckle over Troi's ridiculous VO telepathy conversations with the unconscious Betazoid. Guinan with the gun is a delight. I love all the nightmare vignettes, particularly Beverly's corpses all sitting up (which is also shot perfectly and legit frightens me most viewings).

You know, writing all these eliminations has me realizing it's specifically the spooky/scary so-bad-it's-good ones that really get me. That's some mental callback to my childhood of sneaking to the TV to watch the 2 AM syndicated reruns of TNG -- the spooky eps were the most intense for a kid to experience in this dark, quiet, illicit context, so they deliver the most powerful nostalgia hit...

TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Alliances"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "ALLIANCES".

I've always loved this episode. Good speech at the end by Janeway. The Trabe would have been a good antagonist for the season, so it was a real shame we only saw them here.


TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 3: "The Chute"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Agony_Boothb]

I'm saving the Chute. Probably one of the darkest trek episodes and great performances from Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang.


TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"
ENT Season 1: "Sleeping Dogs"

 

[Sakonna]

I think "Sleeping Dogs" is great, this is one of those "the-execution-is-so-much-better-than-the-script" episodes I referenced at the beginning of the thread. It's a very simple story, but it's effectively told and consequently quite satisfying. And I usually like this small-group-trapped-on-imperiled-ship premise. Also, one of Enterprise's best uses of the Klingons.

TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Invasive Procedures"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"

 

[Seven of Five]

Invasive Procedures had some great casting with John Glover as the tragic Verad. I loved how different he was before and after symbiont.

The episode also has Tim Russ as a Klingon.

TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Second Skin"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"

 

[Farscape One]

"SECOND SKIN" is my next save.
Excellent performances all around, particularly Nana Visitor who is claustrophobic and had to endure that makeup. (And even more kudos to Andrew Robinson, too.)

You have Garak in the episode, it's going to win no matter what.


TNG Season 5: "Unification I"
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"

 

[Qonundrum]

EPIIIIIIIIIIIC!

TNG Season 5: "Unification I"​

In 1991, everyone saw the teaser and got all hyper over seeing "Generations" before "Generations". Okay, it felt like a generation in terms of the passage of time before seeing him, but getting Nimoy at all was a coup. Still, part 1 is a bit of a padded setup for pt 2 and both parts could have been intertwined more effectively, as well as fleshing out Sela as more than being a generic cartoon character in popsicle stick form straight out of TOS (much like the overall feel of both episodes, interestingly). Sela is far better than homage fodder but that's in pt 2. By comparison, what did make good homage fodder was the lighting placed across Nimoy's face - very reminiscent of the 3000 scenes in TOS where Kirk got the same iconic treatment.

Nice continuity in expanding how Klingons sleep and how Picard was unprepared for it. What else did Riker keep secret when he was on the student exchange program?

There's closure for Sarek thrown in for good measure, since getting a communique at any other point in any other episode would just be jarring.

The use of Khitomer was in this and in STVI, spoiler alert 29 years and a handful of months early....

Also, yeehaw! Ride 'em cowboy!

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The only thing missing is a whip...
...and everyone wearing those red Devo upturned flower pot hats (there, I feel better now...)

And that exciting teaser:

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And in the actual episode he's in it for like only 2 seconds! Gag me with a spoon!


What's left:
TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Time and Again"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"

 

[Sakonna]

There's only two left I truly dislike, the rest of these I all have at least moderately positive feelings towards.

I'll save "Time And Again." It would have been a better TNG ep, and it's not placed particularly well as episode #3, but it's basically an involving story that works. The climax is exciting. I even like the alien tri-color outfits that otherwise seem widely hated.

TNG Season 7: "Bloodlines"
DS9 Season 2: "Sanctuary"
DS9 Season 3: "Destiny"
DS9 Season 7: "Image in the Sand"
DS9 Season 7: "Afterimage"
VOY Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY Season 2: "Investigations"
VOY Season 6: "Virtuoso"