The Most Disliked Episode of TNG, Season 2: 2021 Edition...

Hey, I resemble that remark!

"Contagion" is to computer viruses what log file altering was in TOS' "Court-Martial", except the big reveal of how to resolve the episode is handled a lot better, and because viruses were a fairly new thing and not all viewers are nerds.

Seeing a sibling ship be destroyed is out of the blue, but is chilling and sold well. Missed opportunity for a spin-off as well with Captain Varley, where a lot of stock footage could be reused...

The probe is almost OTT in that it can reprogram any computer - if you don't believe me, write something for Windows 10 then try to run it in a Macintosh circa 1997. You have to rewrite a ton of code, or even use assembly language - which differs between computer platforms too. But "machine learning" of sorts could have the probe figuring out how, play an Atari 2600 video game far longer and rack up high scores far faster than any human for the most unsurprising and basic of reasons, and then take over the universe** and all within the span of 44 minutes...

** moohahaha, complete with mustache-twirl

With that bizarre ending aside with the conch shell, so no wonder Sarjenka reclaims her memories as well as starting up a new brand of rich flavorful and other adjective-loaded coffee, it's a great little story. But the story was doing a big set-up with detail and logic, just to flush it down the toilet for the sake of one final tearjerk moment. Not sure if that's pandering, insulting the audience, and/or what else... it's just cringe that upends the story and risks rendering it hollow because it's an undeserved denouement. So much more works in the story's favor, thankfully, but that ending is the most bizarre that 20th century sci-fi put out. (Meanwhile, 21st century sci-fi chimes in with "Hold my beer!" and proceeds to be far more hollow... )

Another species, with ideals not unlike the Federation's but not as refined or expanded either, went to set up first contact and got clobbered?

 

Well I guess I'm gonna save "Loud as a Whisper" Yes, there is the incredibly stupid plothole that 1)Nobody knows that this incredibly famous negotiator is deaf and uses his chorus to speak and 2)Even though it's an important mission, nobody is briefed on that very important fact either (at the very least they should have been told that they're gonna transport four people altogether).
And there's also that very silly ending.
But...

Well, gotta give them some credit that they hired a deaf actor to play a deaf character. Plus the idea of Riva's Chorus was pretty creative.
And the idea of a world that has spend 1500 at war is also very interesting.
And it's also a better episode than the others that still remain.

The Child
The Outrageous Okona
The Icarus Factor
Up The Long Ladder
Manhunt
Shades Of Gray

 

I'd honestly rather watch a clip show with cool clips being highlighted than entire dull and dreary episodes like what remain here. Episodes that don't have any "clip show" value whatsoever.

Shades Of Gray is saved.

The Child
The Outrageous Okona
The Icarus Factor
Up The Long Ladder
Manhunt

 

I quite liked seeing Deanna as a parent in The Child. The scenes at the end where Ian 'died,' were quite sad.

Shades of Gray is a terrible episode but wasn't it a studio-mandated budget-saving exercise? It's dumb, but I can forgive it some of the cheesiness on those terms.

The Outrageous Okona
The Icarus Factor
Up The Long Ladder
Manhunt

 

Saving "Manhunt". Still not a good episode, but the scene with Picard trying different themes and the holodeck getting it wrong is hilarious. And the episode did have some funny moments.


The Outrageous Okona
The Icarus Factor
Up The Long Ladder

 

I'm just gonna save the Outrageous Okona, because at the very least it has a hot guest star.
And well there's the bit where it's obvious that Brent Spiner is making fun of Joe Piscabo, without Joe Piscabo noticing.
Also, this episode is so much like somebody's fanfic about their "totally cool" original character meeting the Enterprise crew, haha.I know I have written my fair share of that type (not Star Trek, but still)

The Icarus Factor
Up The Long Ladder

 

I'll save "Up The Long Ladder", which at least has some scenes that are so stupid they're funny, and make "Icarus Factor" the winner, an episode that just utterly infuriates and enrages me. I cannot stand the messaging around the Riker father/son relationship, it truly makes me see red.

Glad "Shades Of Grey" was saved earlier! I have recently legit gotten into "Shades Of Gray." The framing scenes are actually quite good, and a lot of times my Trek viewing these days is just hopping around to random scenes from random episodes anyway. So in that context, it's actually great to have one episode that does the random-scene shuffle for you.

 

I'm actually pleasantly surprised that the Icarus Factor "won". I was honestly expecting people to fawn over the relationship between Pulaski and Riker's Father, and over Worf's masochistic Klingon ritual.
But yeah it's a terrible episode.

 

"The Outrageous Okona" didn't "won"? This is outrageous (no pun intended).

 

I give that episode bonus points for bringing up my favorite alien race in Star Trek, the Tholians.

 

Yeah, it's a very cringeworthy story. One so awful they even include a lame "69" reference. What, "47" wasn't overused yet? I suppose trying to blend elements of Romer & Juliette into TNG was worth a try, and for added measure there's bit of Maury as well...

And best of all, the episode where Data has to learn from a comic... the best comedic lines are overshadowed by the reactions of Data and Guinan TO them! That's surely not the intent...

 

And certainly having Data learning comedy from one of the least funny comedian of all time (Joe Piscopo) is not a recipe for a disastrous trainwreck.

 

I didn't think The Icarus Factor was the worst episode in season two but there are definitely some cringeworthy bits in it.

 

We have a season 2 'winner'..."The Icarus Factor".

It's interesting to note that 2 of the 3 previous entire game 'winners' were from this season and are already eliminated from being in the finals. It's going to be a very interesting game for this year.

I will post season 3 either Wednesday or Thursday... tonight is my next to last night at my current job, and I've got a lot of details to give to help the next people to take over my spot. So please bear with me while I help them with the transition.

Thanks for playing!

 

What? I could also say Manhunt didn't "win"? To me Manhunt isn't just the worst episode of Season 2, it's one of the worst episodes in all of Star Trek, and definitely the worst Lwaxana episode.

 

Interesting that there are at least three people (me included) who would have saved Shades of Gray...

 

Hurray for the "Shades Of Gray" renaissance! It'll be winning the "Least Disliked" version of these games before we know it.

 

To quote Commander Sinclair of B5...

"You better check the temperature in hell first.'

 

I fear you're right. It's underrated, but not that underrated.

 

It's terrible, but my view on it has softened over the years.

The idea of the vine creature was cool, as well as using memories and emotions related to them to cure the patient of the infection.

But it just didn't work that well, and I think a lot of it is because it was a clip show. There are FAR better clip shows in scifi. (SG-1 actually did several good ones, which is hard to get one right, let alone multiple.)