The Most Disliked Episode of TOS, Season 2 - 2025 Edition...

[Farscape One]

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 - "AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD"
2018 - "AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD"
2019 - "AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD"
2021 - "THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR"
2023 - "AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD"
2025 -


Season Two

AMOK TIME
WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
MIRROR, MIRROR
THE APPLE
THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
CATSPAW
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
WOLF IN THE FOLD
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Farscape One]

Kicking this season off by saving my other absolute favorite of TOS... "THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE".

This episode was flawless, even by today's standards. Great plot, great action, great drama. William Windom played the damaged leader perfectly. His sacrifice was truly felt. Casting Windom was what really elevated this from a great episode to a phenomenal one.

Spock was fantastic, as usual. "Vulcans never bluff"... DO NOT play poker with this man.

Scotty, of course, gets another shout out with all his miracle working, especially when he got that phaser bank recharged before Kirk even knew about it.

One of the easiest saves I have ever done.


AMOK TIME
WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
MIRROR, MIRROR
THE APPLE
CATSPAW
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
WOLF IN THE FOLD
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Phaser Two]

S2 is my favorite season and, after "The Doomsday Machine," which would have been an extremely easy save for me too, "Wolf in the Fold" is my second-favorite episode of the entire series. As I've said before, Star Trek as murder mystery?? Kirk & Spock versus Jack the Ripper, revealed to be an immortal, evil alien?? Yep, sign me up immediately. The focus on Scotty is compelling, Doohan does an excellent job playing Scott's confusion and frustration, and Shatner and Nimoy are outstanding as they portray their characters' complete and utter fearlessness in a rather unsettling situation. (I'm also a big fan of any script that shows Kirk and Spock as equally brilliant in a cooperative and complementary approach to solving a problem.) For any dialogue fans, the extended, Agatha Christie-like briefing room scene is absolutely chock-full of (ahem) deathless lines. Finally—although I could go on and on—the savage kick with which Hengist/Redjac surprises Kirk as it attempts to escape is perfectly acted by Shatner and nicely scripted. Kirk obviously wasn't expecting that level of H2H skill from "Hengist," and in fact that's one of the few occasions in the entire series where Kirk is caught off guard physically, if only for a moment. Ah, one more thing—Fiedler, Macaulay and Seurat are all superb guest performers. It's a true pleasure to save this one.


AMOK TIME
WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
MIRROR, MIRROR
THE APPLE
CATSPAW
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Seven of Five]

Amok Time for it's iconic music, and also for the introduction to Vulcan.

WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
MIRROR, MIRROR
THE APPLE
CATSPAW
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Sakonna]

"Catspaw" I demand more Trek holiday episodes!

WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
MIRROR, MIRROR
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Qonundrum]

There's a lot to love in this list and while, in some ways, I love the following more than I should,

THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME

no free clinic is required after watching it.

while being influenced perhaps a tad too much by "The Doomsday Machine", therer's still much to appreciate while watching this, it is a good character piece wrapped up in a goofy outer shell. This episode templating off of Doomsday Machine is about a big organic single-cell organic fritter in space, so don't ask how it works or why or how fast it travels, etc. As usual, its path this destructive thingy is headed is toward the most densely packed portion of the galaxy where everyone is. So just marvel at how pretty it is and worry that it won't light up the evening sky.

But that's not the point. TOS is often high concept, and rolling with the high-level stuff is where the real episodes begin.

In unraveling the mystery of a creepy void zone and bag of red gelatinous pus at the middle like a spider in a web, the real issue afoot in the episode is the conflict and debate of "book knowledge vs street smarts vs ego and/or envy". Only done with that special Star Trek style, with requisite character complexities to match: McCoy has the book skills. So does Spock, albeit not as much as he still isn't a specialist at everything. Spock props up how a bunch of Vulcans died so therefore he must go. Spock also says everyone else is indispensable as if he supposedly isn't. So therefore Spock wins. Well, okay then, that gets 7 minutes of screentime out of the way... at least Spock's greater metabolism is another crutch to rely on, as McCoy wouldn't have survived.

Which brings us to the other piece, the crew risking all to save Spock in a neat flip as Spock was volunteering to die so that the crew could be saved.

So, in a parallel universe, look for the upcoming movie "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Red Pus Thing" as a bunch of other space amoeba in void zones did merge and become the stuff of McCoy's hypothesis that clearly scared him, all while he talked of humans in starships now being galactic antibodies as cosmic irony.

Oh, the other gross nitpick is Kirk using the most single entendre metaphor - twice, in fact as story bookends - as he's wanting to relax on some lovely "planet" while a yeoman slinks past him... Twice. Is it no wonder that pop culture took bits like this as veneer for the visage of Kirk being "a ladies' man"? Is this the other why the ship needs a medical dispensary onboard at all times? But I digress.


What's left:
WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
MIRROR, MIRROR
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[carcinoGeneticist]

I thought The Trouble With Tribbles was really funny and it was also the first episode of TOS I ever watched lol

WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
MIRROR, MIRROR
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "MIRROR, MIRROR".

Iconic episode, and the best Mirror Universe episode in the franchise.

Particularly excellent was Nimoy, who COMPLETELY understood how to play a character in this universe: essentially the same, only with their most base instincts unfettered. In his case, very logical but very ruthless in his application of it. What so many people get wrong (and understandably so, since it appears like an evil version of ourselves) is that it's not an evil universe, only a harsher one with our baser instincts left unchecked.

Plus, this episode gave us a telltale method of discovering if a Mirror Universe person comes here... the goatee.



WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
JOURNEY TO BABEL
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Seven of Five]

Journey to Babel was a huge world-building episode, and also had the hilarious McCoy retort at the end.

WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
METAMORPHOSIS
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Sakonna]

I love "Metamorphosis." So 60's dreamy.

I also love laughing at how much of it is insane. Particularly when Cochrane is horrified to realize his buddy the energy cloud is actually a lady who's been having energy-cloud-sex with him this whole time, and Kirk's reaction is amusement. From a certain angle, this one is as troubling as "Profit & Lace"!

Yet, through all that the central love story really works somehow.

WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS?
THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[I am not Herbert]

I will always save Who Mourns for Adonais? Relatively simple plot, but beautifully, poetically written. Some good crewmember interactions, on ship and on planet, and Michael Forest did an wonderful job as Apollo.

THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER".

Another cautionary tale of machines taking over and going wrong.

It's always satisfying to see Kirk outdo a machine.


THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

 

[Victoria]

My favourite episodes of TOS tend to be those that made the biggest impression on me when I saw them first as a child.

"Assignment: Earth" was one of those episodes. I was really taken with Roberta and Isis (and loved the little scene of Isis as woman at the end). It wasn't until I rewatched this as an adult that I realised how sidelined Our Heroes had been.

(The choice of A:E over other favourite episodes has been helped by my recent reread of the excellent Greg Cox sequel "Assignment: Eternity" which reminded me how much I'd liked this)

THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PIECE OF THE ACTION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES

 

[Starflight]

Saving "A Piece of the Action". It's one of my favourites. The second season of TOS is all over the place, but this episode is one of the moments when everything aligns just right. I love Kirk beaming people aboard the ship to make a point, and stopping the gang war from orbit by just stunning everyone.

Kirk's unbelievably cavalier attitude in the ending always makes me properly laugh too. "They may be asking for... a piece of our action!" Ha ha ha, laugh it up, Kirk, this is a court martial-tier disaster. Your second court martial in as many years.

THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR"

I have always loved this one, and I use it to illustrate how realistic many TOS endings actually are.

(Realistic as in not a happy ending. Only a 'best of a bunch of bad choices' ending.)

While TOS had a lot of light moments and endings, it's important to remember there were just as many dark or not so happy endings. (DS9 was the only other series that was this well balanced.)



THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES

 

[Sakonna]

"The Gamesters Of Triskelion" is entertainingly bonkers.

I also love it for giving me the moment I was at a giant leather club, and I noticed a little alcove off to the side selling all this BDSM paraphernalia, and on the sign I read: "Triskelion harness." For exactly what Kirk wears in the show.

I asked the guy selling it: Triskelion harness, what does Triskelion mean? He said: I dunno, some bondage slang.

Star Trek, shaping the culture at every level!

THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
FRIDAY'S CHILD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES

 

[Qonundrum]

Plot setup contrivance aside,

FRIDAY'S CHILD

is a simple yet complex tale, well-crafted. Ain't no way I can dislike this, with maybe one or two scenes that are... yeech.

Yeah, the plot is simple with Feds vs Klingons over wooing a planet. But it's the characters that rise above the premise and the only way to really appreciate it is to see it.

Julie Newmar's got range, sadly and easily overlooked thanks to being remembered solely as Batman and slinking on him every 3 seconds, asking to marry him while saying she'll kill Robin as nonchalantly as you tell the clown with the microphone in its mouth you want a triple cheeseburger with extra bacon and a dessert defibrillator for afterwards.

While DC Fontana was Trek's primo writer alongside Gene Coon, it still bugs me how the pre-credits teaser overtly tells us what the Capellans do, followed by not teaching Security Junior Grade Rocky there about whom with they know they're dealing. As a result, Kirk grieves ironically over the red shirt's demise as only a rookie would not inform the entire landing complement of what not to do. Or was Rocky taking a potty break to avoid the meeting with, while also running away from Natasha with Bullwinkle. That's the one scene in an otherwise compelling story that just-- ugh!


What's left:
THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
I, MUDD
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES

 

[Seven of Five]

I Mudd was a much better use of Mudd than the embarrassing Mudd's Women.

Plus Stella turning up at the end was perfect.


THE CHANGELING
THE APPLE
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
Like

 

[Qonundrum]

"The Gamesters Of Triskelion" is entertainingly bonkers.

I also love it for giving me the moment I was at a giant leather club, and I noticed a little alcove off to the side selling all this BDSM paraphernalia, and on the sign I read: "Triskelion harness." For exactly what Kirk wears in the show.

I asked the guy selling it: Triskelion harness, what does Triskelion mean? He said: I dunno, some bondage slang.

Star Trek, shaping the culture at every level!

Margaret Armen had a great handle on the characters as well as some interesting themes, condensing it all into 60s television that - had season 4 been commissioned - would have ensured her becoming script editor.

She also ensures a nobility with the Providers, who clearly keep their word.

She also introduces the "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?" shtick for McCoy, and if you're not paying attention to the TV while in another room using a blender or mixer to whip up a pie crust and/or boozy drink, the word "Vulcan" starts to sound unintentionally vulgar. I think that preceded "Look that up in your Funk'n'Wagnalls" too, thanking Laugh-In for starting that and then Buck Rogers a decade later in dredging it back up to the fore of disco-era telly...

If anything, instead of Kirk going "dine and ditch" on Shahna, he just leaves and she pines. But even in that, the dialogue gives enough of an inkling that she has what it takes to become a leader of her people, and hopefully Starfleet would return one day. It's kinda poetic, an ending that is vague and somewhat lemony, but allowing lemonade to be made from it. That, and nobody thought of asylum until Alexander showed up. But his was not the same context... Kirk definitely saw qualities more and other than what his inner lust liked.

I almost saved this earlier this AM.

 

[Sakonna]

I need to procrastinate a little more on work, so I will next save "The Apple" for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Hilarious Red Shirt Deaths.

THE CHANGELING
THE DEADLY YEARS
OBSESSION
RETURN TO TOMORROW
PATTERNS OF FORCE
BY ANY OTHER NAME
THE OMEGA GLORY
BREAD AND CIRCUSES