The Most Disliked Episode of TNG, 2023 Edition - Season 4...

[Farscape One]

Saving "Devil's Due" next.

A good episode that is elevated further by Marta Dubois. She was excellent as Ardra, and it's a shame we never saw her again.


BlueStuff, since Oddish beat you to your pick, go ahead and pick another one for your turn, if you want. We can adjust the list.


"Brothers"
"Suddenly Human"
"Future Imperfect"
"The Loss"
"Galaxy's Child"
"Identity Crisis"
"The Nth Degree"
"Half A Life"
"The Host"
"The Mind's Eye"

 

[Sakonna]

"Future Imperfect" is cool. They really nail all the little details of the fake-future timeframe.

"Brothers"
"Suddenly Human"
"The Loss"
"Galaxy's Child"
"Identity Crisis"
"The Nth Degree"
"Half A Life"
"The Host"
"The Mind's Eye"

 

[Qonundrum]

I'm amazed at what still exists that's really good, but...

"The Nth Degree"

Is a neat inversion of the theme of exploration, even though it risks putting the abducted visitors and their ships in mortal danger just to see a big floating head that can heal everyone and fix everything as needed. Just imagine if a Borg vessel stumbled across one of those probes, which then became like a rescued stray puppy and clinged to them. Would the Borg just keep shifting direction forever? Would the probe overload and risk everything in the vicinity for them as well? I'm sure the Borg could withstand it, but if they managed to build up and meet the Cytherians, since the Borg felt the Federation had somethiing to offer with their vastly inferior technology and popsicle captain who needs that stick removed and all...

Barclay is good in this, though it's the one episode of his that borderlines "fairytale" - at least the more metaphorical definition of it as the approach taken still has a more grounded sci-fi feel and in the way that only TNG could do. His other episodes deal with his enduring life, though most of us would love to at least be Algernon once in a while, there's a fun read - "Flowers for Algernon", but I digress...

Does the Cytherian probe look only for ships with holodecks or ships with neural interfaces? The probe must reprogram individuals in different means to get them to rebuild the engines and do what not to fly on over to Cytherian space. That's the only headscratcher. The flow and buildup of the plot are still quite good, but in a larger macrocosm, there are some interesting questions on the other side of the interesting ideas.


What's left:
"Brothers"
"Suddenly Human"
"The Loss"
"Galaxy's Child"
"Identity Crisis"
"Half A Life"
"The Host"
"The Mind's Eye"

 

[CitadelZombies]

I'll save "Identity Crisis". It's not perfect, but I enjoy the body horror aspects, and it's a fun little mystery.

"Brothers"
"Suddenly Human"
"The Loss"
"Galaxy's Child"
"Half A Life"
"The Host"
"The Mind's Eye"

 

[Seven of Five]

Another great Brent Spiner performance in Brothers, so that's next. It was fun seeing his creator.

"Suddenly Human"
"The Loss"
"Galaxy's Child"
"Half A Life"
"The Host"
"The Mind's Eye"

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "The Mind's Eye".

Tense episode. Very well done from start to finish. This is David Livingston's first episode, who goes on to direct more ST than anyone else. (62 episodes.)

"Suddenly Human"
"The Loss"
"Galaxy's Child"
"Half A Life"
"The Host"

 

[Qonundrum]

One good, one not-so-good, one that slides all over, and a bunch of... fluff.

"Half A Life"

Majel Barrett steals the show, combining Lwaxana's wit with a serious side that's very much refreshing - for both character and plotting reasons. As with how seasons 2 and 3 of TNG took storytelling to new levels, this episode took a passable Lwaxana into someone really special.

What's left:
"Suddenly Human"
"The Loss"
"Galaxy's Child"
"The Host"

 

[Sakonna]

"The Loss" is an amazing Troi showcase! How is it still here???

Anytime Troi gets to tell people to fuck off, I can't get enough of it.

"Suddenly Human"
"Galaxy's Child"
"The Host"

 

[Qonundrum]

"The Loss" is an amazing Troi showcase! How is it still here???

Anytime Troi gets to tell people to fuck off, I can't get enough of it.

IMHO, other stories did similar issues better. "Loud as a Whisper" is 90% the same thing, but I've rewatched it more times. Marina Sirtis was given better stories where she shows more range, before and especially after this. (And I agree, when she goes the proverbial effenheimer route it's lovely . Esp. in season six, hehe... )

 

[Seven of Five]

Suddenly Human is pretty average, yet Stewart is great in the unexpected father role.

"Galaxy's Child"
"The Host"

 

[Qonundrum]

Saving "Galaxy's Child"

Badly written in spots, but there is a good story within. A few Geordi/Leah scenes needed small tweaks, and the alien phallic whale things is just embarrassing, though kudos to the actors in all playing this with sincerity - that helps, a lot. "Souring baby's milk" was a terrific euphemism as well. Again, this story needed some refining, but they were onto something. Unlike:

"The Host", which deservedly wins.

Especially for lack of continuity within the episode, and really especially regarding that lame shuttle scene, just for cheap tensionmuhdrama... it's no wonder DS9 retconned trills (arguably twice) but given how half-baked-hokey this TNG escapade is, I can't blame them. If there is a good story in this, it needed a lot more refining than any of the others. Even then, Crusher's excuse for opting to bang earlier swapped hosts but then not the latest ones is full of so much chicken manure that they could power an electric plant with said pile for over a decade. Not that I have (m)any opinions on this tripey tropey episode to begin with or anything...

 

[Oddish]

"Half A Life"

*Sigh*... well, I knew my least favorite Trek (#900 out of 900) wouldn't win this one. Glad it hit the bottom five, anyway.

"The Loss" is an amazing Troi showcase! How is it still here???

Anytime Troi gets to tell people to off, I can't get enough of it.

It had a couple of great lines...

RIKER: "No, no. Minutes is fine."

CRUSHER: "Therapists are always the worst patients, except for doctors."

Aaaand... "The Host" it is. Considering that it wasn't a horrible episode, it shows the quality of TNG S4. Aside from that one, but my hatred of it is clearly personal.

 

[Farscape One]

We have a season 4 winner with "The Host". Fun fact: this is the exact winner and runner up for the 2018 game.

I will start season 5 later this evening. Hope to see everyone there.

Thank you all for playing.

 

[Qonundrum]

*Sigh*... well, I knew my least favorite Trek (#900 out of 900) wouldn't win this one. Glad it hit the bottom five, anyway.

Mind if I ask why you dislike it? It's not great in some aspects, I can't disagree...

Aaaand... "The Host" it is. Considering that it wasn't a horrible episode, it shows the quality of TNG S4. Aside from that one, but my hatred of it is clearly personal.

Like even the worst of season 4, there's a good story in there that simply can't get out of its trappings. But 'The Host" doesn't even try, or too readily glosses over big issues - "Hey, we can reluctantly bonk the body of the first officer of all folks just because he's the temporary host of a near-parasitic being thanks to plot magic that's we're really trying to please, until we can't do that for the same and identical reason for anyone else." At best it shows Beverly had a thing for Riker but kept maturity and is now being emotionally coerced to have sex thanks to the blob he's hosting because it wants to feel sexual congress, I guess. And I say "at best" relatively speaking because that scene fails for multiple and significant reasons and it's incredibly bad... the episode at least tries, but it's an incredible series of misfires... really good acting, though!

 

[Oddish]

Mind if I ask why you dislike it? It's not great in some aspects, I can't disagree...

In short, it treats systematic and global genocide in a sympathetic manner.

 

[Qonundrum]

In short, it treats systematic and global genocide in a sympathetic manner.

Blimey, that's an interesting point. I perceived it as a take on ageism and ritual death (not unlike "Logan's Run" but having its own take on the issue.) But not genocide. It definitely is systemic, though.

I don't think there was any other way to end the story, especially with Picard and the prime directive and all. Or why they could accept the guy for asylum, like Alexander from TOS...

 

[Oddish]

It would be brutal but poetic justice if Timcin proved to be the only man who could save his people's sun, and his forced suicide resulted in armageddon.

 

[Qonundrum]

It would be brutal but poetic justice if Timcin proved to be the only man who could save his people's sun, and his forced suicide resulted in armageddon.

And is still infinitely more compelling than "The Masterpiece Society"

 

[Oddish]

And is still infinitely more compelling than "The Masterpiece Society"

Thing I remember best about that one was Troi's horrible line: "_________ and I have had a relationship." I mean, I know she can't say "we banged like bunnies last night"... but "had a relationship"?