The MOST Disliked Episode of TNG - Season Five...

This is a twist on a game that is played here, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am very curious to see the results.

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, wait six hours and 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"

Season Five -

Redemption II
Darmok
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cause And Effect
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I Borg
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

I Borg is one of my favourite The Next Generation episodes.

Redemption II
Darmok
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cause And Effect
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

I have to save "Darmok". It is one of my personal favorites of the entire franchise. Great guest star in Paul Winfield. I love the use of mythology as a means of communication. And one of the very few times that there is a language barrier in the franchise. Absolutely brilliant episode, and one of the reasons why Joe Menosky is among my favorite writers of STAR TREK.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cause And Effect
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

"Cause and Effect" is saved, as a direct result of its shocking teaser. Blow up the Enterprise before the opening credits? You, sir, win all the prizes.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

“The Perfect Mate” is safe. I’ve been in love with Famke Janssen since I saw her in Goldeneye.

Redemption II
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

I'm going to save Ensign Ro. It introduced a memorable new character, along with one of the most important races in the franchise, and even had the guts to depict how the Federation's non-interference policies can seem to those who might be hurt by them.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

The next Phase is safe, I liked Ro coming to terms with being dead and Geordie not accepting it, them watching their ow memorial sevice and Ro's reaction to it was fun. This must be one of my most rewatched episodes.


Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
The Game
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

I'm going to save a guilty pleasure of mine, The Game. I always liked Wesley's character, and I remember being really excited for his return when it originally aired. Plus, I had such a crush on Ashley Judd back then.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend
The Next Phase
The Inner Light
Time's Arrow

 

Aww, I wanted to save "The Game" -- that was the first Star Trek of any kind I ever saw, so it's a strong sentimental favorite of mine. Though I'm glad I'm not the only person who likes it!

Instead I will save "Time's Arrow." I know the general consensus is kind of down on this one, but I love it. Maybe because it was my first experience with a Trek season finale cliffhanger, I was on the edge of my seat that whole summer! (Then when the season 6 premiere was finally a day or two away I did something that got me punished with no TV for a week -- until my parents realized this was the cliffhanger resolution and it was just too cruel, so my punishment was lifted for just that one hour ). It's the most fun Data story for me, the villains are creepy AF, the building out of Guinan's backstory is brilliant and Whoopi plays the hell out of it, it's extremely well-produced, the crew dealing with the implications of Data's death at the beginning is quite moving. It's an all around winner for me.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend
The Inner Light

 

I'm removing "The Inner Light". For obvious reason -- it's one of the best episodes of the series. In fact, in another active thread here, I gave it a Top 5 spot.

Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

“The First Duty”. An excellent Wesley show, plus we get introduced to Tom Paris.



Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

So many to dislike, unfortunately... But for what's left the most that's easily worth saving is...
...drumroll...
duct tape over broken batter head:

Power Play

One of season 5's best.

Incidental music aside (axing Ron Jones was a huge mistake), it's quite the fun, paced thriller episode with a lot of great moments. Has a "one of the better episodes of season 2" feel, but the crew being this far established only makes the story work that much better. Seeing the bodysnatched O'Brein deal with Keiko is chilling as any other scene with any of the possessed crewmembers (esp. Data).

(A shame it was the one episode that had the most missing 35mm elements, but at least most of the scenes are wide shots where it's not too terribly noticeable (something like 1.5 minutes in a 44 minute story is small enough, and given how few lost negs were the case for the entire series, it's rather impressive in of itself.) Am just glad it got remastered into HD to begin with!)


What's left:
Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Ethics
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend[

 

Saving Ethics. Deontological discussion? Always nice. And Gates McFadden is very good in this one.


Redemption II
Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

I am redeeming "Redemption II". Data in command alone, and earning the respect of that douche Lt. Cmdr. Hobson, is worth the save. And seeing the Duras sisters fall was fun to watch.

Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
The Outcast
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

I'll provide shelter for "The Outcast." For all that it was heavy-handed, and for all that I have a hard time believing Riker was ready to risk his career for an androgynous person he'd just met, it still addressed issues I was ready to see Trek address, without sacrificing storytelling in the process. I actually sent the author (Jeri Taylor) a fan letter.

Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Conundrum
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

I deleted Conundrum, I don't remember why, because I have, amnesia.

Silicon Avatar
Disaster
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

Eliminating Trek’s best bottle episode, Disaster.

Silicon Avatar
Unification I
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

I'll rescue Unification I guess, because it was fun to see Spock on TNG. I'll make do with part I for now.

Silicon Avatar
Unification II
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

Unification II remains united with the first part. The scene between Data and Spock was either intriguing or fascinating. The scene where Spock finally touches the mind of Sarek through Picard is heartbreaking.

Silicon Avatar
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Cost Of Living
Imaginary Friend

 

I'll pick up the tab for "Cost of Living." I'm not much of a Lwaxana fan, but it was easy to sympathize with her in this episode. And when she finally realized her dull bridegroom wasn't worth sacrificing her own identity for, and showed up at her wedding "dressed" as a Betazoid should be -- I wanted to cheer.


Silicon Avatar
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
The Masterpiece Society
Imaginary Friend