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The Most Disliked Episode of TNG, Season 1 - 2025 Edition...

F

Farscape One

Admiral
Admiral
Welcome to our bi-yearly 'Most Disliked Episode' games! Now that the 'Least Disliked Episode' games hosted by BlueStuff (who inspired me to create these games, so thank you very much for paving the way) have concluded, we can begin the opposite side of that coin.

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 most 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. Finally, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

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 (or Failures?)
2011 - "Shades Of Gray"
2018 - "The Outrageous Okona"
2019 - "Code of Honor"
2021 - "Journey's End"
2023 - "Aquiel"
2025 -


Season One -

"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"Haven"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"11001001"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Home Soil"
"Coming Of Age"
"Heart of Glory"
"The Arsenal of Freedom"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
"The Neutral Zone"
 
My first save of TNG is "The Arsenal of Freedom".

I've always had a soft spot for episodes that uses the whole cast, and this one utilizes the full cast very, very well, and they all come across as very good at their jobs. (With the exception of Wesley, but the story didn't need him here, as this was a full blown assignment from Starfleet.) Yar giving good advice, Crusher coming up with the solution, Geordi showing good leadership skills... even Troi doing her job well with the advice she gave Geordi.

On top of that, the story is great, the pacing and direction is focused and keeps the action and tension tight, and we get to see the ship separate. And having Vincent Schiavelli is the cherry on top.

Always a rewatch for me. My favorite episode of season 1.


"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"Haven"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"11001001"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Home Soil"
"Coming Of Age"
"Heart of Glory"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
"The Neutral Zone"
 
So many to save, actually, but I'm starting with a well-grounded story:

"Home Soil"

is that rare episode of TNG doing hard sci-fi and pulls it off fairly well, especially as TNG was still finding its feet in its first season, in a show where everyone said "you can't remake Star Trek!" (even though it was technically a sequel and not a remake, thus allowing for some narrative deviation and flexibility). A shame we didn't get more hard sci-fi on occasion, but the show would find a blend of mixing real science with "Treknobabble".

A couple scenes may have needed retakes, but others do prove that all the guest cast were well-chosen.

Plus, the silicon entity creature would use something we'd find awkward, because translation systems are not 100% perfect.

Hmmm, was this intended to be a reaction to "Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan" regarding the Genesis Device? Likely not, apart from "previous attempts to terraform failed, let's try more reasoned approached that might not work overnight." And is all the better for it, especially as TWOK wasn't about the MacGuffin but the revenge*.

This one's just an easy save and other episodes I love have slightly more nitpickery.

* moohahahahaha!


What's left:
"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"Haven"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"11001001"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Heart of Glory"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
"The Neutral Zone"
 
Despite its many, many, many, many obvious problems, one of my favorite seasons of Trek ever produced. I am spoiled for choice on what to save.

I'll start with "The Neutral Zone." Recency bias. I had a lot of fun watching this with my nephew just a few weeks ago.

"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"Haven"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"11001001"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Heart of Glory"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
 
"Haven" is an easy save; I love Lwaxana but beyond that it's a wonderful, mythic story. Early TNG's dreamlike planetary romance feel is one of the best things about it, and it's on full display there.

"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"11001001"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Heart of Glory"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
 
Count to ten, Mr Data.

"Okay, captain: 00000001, 00000010, 00000011, 00000100, 00000101, 00000110, 00000111--"

"--thank you Mister Data--"

"11001001"

The same actor playing Quinteros was also in "The Mark of Giden". It's always a thrill to see actors return, whether because they love the show or want to be remembered for a better character no matter what, there are many reasons or combinations therein.

Fortuitous happenstance or not, regarding Picard being around to unlock the Bynar code as they work in pairs, the story has a magnetism and I don't mean Minuet. TNG is going down some STEM in this escapade*, albeit limiting processing to 8- ort 16-bits as it wasn't going to get ironically self-aware by Data counting, for example, 2-, 4-, 8-, 16-, 32-, 64-, 128-, 256-, 512-, 1024-- Gotta have some excitement around it and maybe 2048 of the audience will go look up how to count in binary.

This can't be the same stardock used in "The Search for Spock" as the 1701-D's saucer would have been too wide. And I'm okay with that -- in 1987, a new show, a sequel, casual audiences and even some hardcore fans would squeal in delight over the big-D coasting into spacedock and without the slight masking trace error that flubbed the 1984 film.

I really have few nitpicks, this one is a solid entry into the show's first year and has lots of thought put into it, right down to the use of real science regarding Bynar planetary system and need for a mobile database large enough like the Enterprise.

* uh-oh, I smell one of my themes regarding similarities between liked episodes entering the room, or maybe not, time will tell...


What's left:
"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Heart of Glory"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
 
Heart of Glory is the first proper use of Worf, and it's a good one.

Love the Klingon warrior cry when someone dies, and the use of it again on TNG and DS9.

Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
 
I enjoyed "Conspiracy" and wish they had done more with the parasites.

"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
My next one is "Code of Honor" - probably not a popular one (and previous most-disliked episode winner!) but I'm insistent that it gets an unfair dismissal from many. It's one of the only stories Star Trek has ever done where the pre-warp planet-of-the-week is ten steps ahead of the crew, and the villain knows exactly how to wield the Prime Directive as a weapon to hamstring Picard right where he wants him.

The only real failure for me is how hurried the ending is; I always feel like it'd have been better if Yareena was explicitly the one who devised the fake-death plan, since it'd complete the theme of her unexpectedly being the superior political operator all along, and add to the catharsis of her coming out on top.

"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
I feel it's only fitting to remove Farpoint. A lovely introduction to what this new era had to offer and for all the early season weirdness this episode changed the franchise forever.

"The Naked Now"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
"Skin Of Evil" Armus!

"The Naked Now"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
Saving "Where No One Has Gone Before".

An early TNG favorite of mine, it really shows just how marvelous the universe really is.

And can you really go wrong with a starship going through a bubble bath? I think not!


"The Naked Now"
"The Last Outpost"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
"When the Bough Breaks" is another mythical, strangely haunting concept. Wesley rallying the kids to escape is one of the better uses of the character.

Also has one of my favourite Rikerisms, when Worf reports that all the children on the ship are being abducted, then Riker blurts out "it's the children! That's what they want!" Yep, nicely deduced, Will.

"The Naked Now"
"The Last Outpost"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
Okay so this may be cheating somewhat but I'm saving The Last Outpost because of Resurgence. Yes TNG botched the Ferengi big time and their reboot with DS9 was genius but looking at Outpost and Resurgence together as one big stories (with my choices being objectively the canon ones obviously) makes this episode a lot more satisfying.

"The Naked Now"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
Saving "Lonely Among Us".

I like the Anticans and the Selay (I had the action figures as a kid), and the cloud lifeform was cool.



"The Naked Now"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Datalore"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
NINJA'D!
(but here was my write-up)

Okay, other stories can be hit or miss, and some are solid if not a little preachy, so regarding my previous running theme of real science put aside, let's shake it up a bit, as had Lt Worf noticed:

"Datalore"

Oh,don't get me started on the script and plot conveniences, what makes this episode rise above those and work for me are threefold:

1. The incidental music elevates everything
2. The direction and camerawork are stellar
3. Brent Spiner carries so much material, no matter what, and needs to - Lore must be a threat strong and engaging enough to rise above plot nitpickery and all three items combined do that and far more, more than the story arguably deserves, but Lore became iconic for a reason and this story is the sole reason for that. That's how good it is.

How Lore and the Silicon Entity can communicate so easily, or the ship firing through shields, Lore's disassembled body looking like a store mannequin but with some great buns that a camera shot got a decent camera angle for, making Wesley look smart by dumbing down everyone else in the room (OMG, that aspect's awful), or the rest of it aside, they didn't matter. The character-based lore development, pun not really intended, adds a lot.

Lore is not unlike KARR from Knight Rider but is decidedly evil and not simply amoral, and that's guesswork over possible inspiration for script ideas since Hannah Louise Shearer worked on both series and I sorta like her style and contributions to the series, but more on those other ones later...

Also, speaking of shaking it up,
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Haven't posted a massively tangential music pop song in some time...

What's left:
"Encounter at Farpoint"
"The Naked Now"
"Code of Honor"
"The Last Outpost"
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"Lonely Among Us"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Goodbye"
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
"Symbiosis"
"Skin Of Evil"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
"Conspiracy"
 
Yeah, the stinkers are starting to bob to the surface, but three might be easy saves... and soon it will be two:

"Coming Of Age"

The story that sets the basis for "Conspiracy", it also has - apart from some wooden acting - a neat premise that, despite coming across too myopic in scope regarding herding potential new cadets in, is still not uninteresting and not without a few solid moments, not unlike this one:

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Even the crew grilling scenes on the ship are really excellently directed, and are pretty good in content,

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(great Beverly moment, too! Couldn't find the full thing from what I recall, so that's the next best clip montage.)

especially for season one's variable standards that go all over the place, like Pong:

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What's left:
"The Naked Now"
"Justice"
"The Battle"
"Hide and Q"
"The Big Go
"Angel One"
"Too Short A Season"
"Symbiosis"
"We'll Always Have Paris"
 
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