Game The Most Disliked Romulan Episode/Movie

[Qonundrum]

This one had always been Trek's worst enemy...

TNG Feature: "Star Trek Nemesis"​

The last gasp of Berman's era, the movie throws in Romulans in an attempt to make them allies. In retrospect, having a bunch of different contributing writers put salt in the cake mix. Castoreum icing in the form of pointless and stupid dune buggy chases (that even Gidget would blush in embarrassment over) and YADDA* did not help. Being 99% a template to Star Trek II was an attempt to make the franchise serious again after all the humor that helped weigh down the previous TNG outings. This did not help. Especially when the movie lifts scenes, verbatim no less, from Trek II and III - which does nothing more than insult the audience, though not always intentionally if there time or other constraints. Still, it's no wonder the movie poster told us this was the final one.

But putting aside a 8,675,309-paragraph essay on what doesn't work as you' d be here all day trying not to fall asleep:

• The idea of a Picard clone isn't too bad
  
• It's nice to have a serious-tone movie again, with any comedy being between characters and not aimed at the audience as cheap intent
  
• The incidental music is simply superb (though it sorta has to be, to lift up that script!)
  
• Forgetting the contrived nature of Scimitar (headcanon/fanon it), it's nice to have a formidable ship and threat that isn't the easily-defeated Borg again - a ship that Picard has no choice but to ram and in a first rate awesome scene... just take that ~2.6 minute clip and repeat it 45 times and show that in the theater instead... one beacon of hope in 2 hours of muck
• The guest castmembers are all excellent despite a shoddy script that's largely unworthy of the franchise
  
• For a while, Data's "death" had some meaning (before the cut'n'paste about absinthe absent friends, though drinking absinthe while watching this ultimately-not-an-epic movie might help...)

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* Yet Another Dumb Data-centric/clone Adventure, as if no other characters previously underutilized couldn't be used? One needn't be Troi to sense this a light year away. So not just the audience is being insulted, yet again numerous TNG characters are sidelined. Just for YADDA. The script is loaded with nothing more than yadda yadda yadda, that's how bad it is... This one is easily and by far the worst Trek movie between 1979-2002.

What's left:

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part II"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Nepenthe” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Broken Pieces” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[ananta]

I’m gonna saved PIC “Et In Arcadia, Part 2” because [no spoilers] I thought it was a beautiful piece of television.

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part II"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Nepenthe” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Broken Pieces” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Sakonna]

I will save "The Search, Part II", because T'Rul was a potentially awesome character that should not have been dropped. Martha Hackett could have so delivered long-term here!

It's crazy that DS9 has not one but two promising female Romulan's introduced as recurring characters, then quickly mishandled or dropped.

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"
TNG Season 5: "Redemption II"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Nepenthe” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Broken Pieces” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Qonundrum]

There was no way to win when you've already put out the biggest and best cliffhanger by far... so what next?

TNG Season 4: "Redemption I"​

The setup of the impending war is actually pretty great, as is Worf's dilemma - one that would be reused again... Sela is finally shown as the jaw-dropper moment du jour, which worked extremely well at the time, despite a possibility of "same actor different role" trope existing... and her origins are yet to be revealed (a shame as it's a creative upper in an episode that otherwise and largely epitomizes season 5's revamped feel...)

What remains:

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption II"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Nepenthe” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Broken Pieces” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "Broken Pieces". Just a great episode, so no spoiler tag needed.

What remains:

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption II"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Nepenthe” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Sakonna]

It's not the Romulan story of this one that makes me love it so intensely

Spoiler

it's Riker & Troi and all that obviously

, but "Nepenthe" is my favorite episode of PIC so far.

Spoiler

Though I do wish Hugh had been allowed to live, his death was so sad & deflating in a way I also found dramatically unsatisfying.

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
TNG Season 4: "Redemption II"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Qonundrum]

Data was forced into command a role just for the sake of narrative and doesn't begin to feel authentic, but

TNG Season 4: "Redemption II"​

Sela's subplot was a masterstroke, complete with Guinan getting Picard to squirm.

It's her best outing as well; Sela becomes a cardboard cutout - missing only a big floppy black hat and mustache to twirl - in "Unification", whose strengths were elsewhere. Sela had so much potential, however... the scripts just fell.

And, true, Data in command feels contrived, right down to his getting angry (he has no emotions but can act them out really good out of the blue?! That's one heck of a program. It might have come in handy elsewhere, but then we'd be stuck with an entirely different character and Commander Data is far more interesting than Cap'n Data by far.) And the other nitpick, though I'll write it off as "they have a really big net and to get around it would expend so much more fuel and time...

How Worf returns was really well-handled too.

What's left:

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "Babel One"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Seven of Five]

All the good PIC episodes disappeared before I had chance to save them.

I'll switch series and save an ENT episode; Babel One. I did like the whole proto-Federation arc with Andorians, Tellerites, Vulcans and Humans. Well, aside from The Aenar, I guess. That episode was boring as it kept going round in circles.

I like the twist where they discover that the vessel is unmanned, and that it's being controlled on Romulus.

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "United"
ENT Season 4: "The Aenar"
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Xhiandra]

Well, I will save the Aenar, actually. I really liked that arc in ENT. In fact, it's the best ENT has given us, and I really liked the Aenar as a race/concept.

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
DS9 Season 3: "The Search, Part I"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "United"
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Sakonna]

I will finish up "The Search" and save Part I. Justice for T'Rul!

This is an offbeat final foursome...

TAS Season 2: "The Practical Joker"
DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "United"
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Brennyren]

I have only seen one of these episodes ("The Practical Joker"), and it was pretty dumb, so I'm gonna have to sit out the rest of the round. See you in the next game, friends!

 

[eschaton]

Saving The Practical Joker for giving us the "Kirk is a jerk" meme and the inflatable Enterprise. It was stupid, but so stupid it was fun.

DS9 Season 3: "Visionary"
ENT Season 4: "United"
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "VISIONARY". The dartboard gets put in Quark's. That staple alone gets a lot of points.


ENT Season 4: "United"
PIC Season 1: “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]

 

[Tim Thomason]

Saving United, because it was a necessary episode in a great trilogy and the Archer-Shran duel is amazing and an awesome idea to lead (ultimately) to the UFP.

No offense to Et in Arcadia Ego I, which had many neat ideas I don't feel like placing behind a spoiler box right now.

 

[Seven of Five]

It was easily PIC's worst episode, with disappointment on a couple of fronts for me. Lots of vague feelings, etc.

I think as a whole, the Romulans had quite a strong list of episodes, with maybe the second part of Birthright, or even Nemesis would have been my choice.

 

[Sakonna]

This is the first game in this round where I have primarily positive feelings towards the final batch, so the winner was going to end up being something I at least somewhat enjoyed. I suppose it is a strong list overall, so that tracks.

Thanks to everyone who played, and hope to see you on the next one, going up later today: "The Most Disliked Cardassian Episode."

Intriguing that the series that we're still missing on the winner board are TOS, TAS, and ST...

MOST DISLIKED "WINNER"LOSERS, 2020
SEASON PREMIERE: TNG, Season 7: "Descent, Part II"
ROMANCE OF THE WEEK: DS9, Season 3: "Meridian"
FERENGI: DS9, Season 7: "The Emperor's New Cloak"
HOLODECK: VOY, Season 6: "Fair Haven"
TIME TRAVEL/ANOMALY/LOOP: VOY, Season 6: “Fury”
Q: VOY, Season 7: "Q2"
2-HOUR/2-PART: ENT, Season 1 & 2: "Shockwave"
VISIT TO EARTH'S "PRESENT": ENT, Season 2: "Shockwave, Part II"
KLINGONS: ENT, Season 2: "Marauders"
HALLUCINATION/ILLUSION: ENT, Season 3: "Extinction"
VISIT TO EARTH'S PAST: ENT, Season 4: "Storm Front, Part I"
INTRODUCTION OF RECURRING ALIENS: DIS, Season 2: "An Obol For Charon" (the jahSepp)
ROMULANS: PIC, Season 1: "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1"

 

[ananta]

Thanks for creating these games, Sakonna, they are great fun and frequently unpredictable! I was rooting for ‘Birthright II’ to win this one. Even as a kid, I was so angry at Worf’s racism and the distinctly un-Trekkian attempts to break up the Klingon/Romulan community. Maybe I need to rewatch it as perhaps I misremember it, but even the thought of that ep makes me angry
PIC’s ‘Et In Arcadia Ego, Pt 1’ wasn’t a bad ep really. It was just kinda...there.

 

[Sakonna]

Thanks for creating these games, Sakonna, they are great fun and frequently unpredictable! I was rooting for ‘Birthright II’ to win this one. Even as a kid, I was so angry at Worf’s racism and the distinctly un-Trekkian attempts to break up the Klingon/Romulan community. Maybe I need to rewatch it as perhaps I misremember it, but even the thought of that ep makes me angry
PIC’s ‘Et In Arcadia Ego, Pt 1’ wasn’t a bad ep really. It was just kinda...there.

You're welcome! I was also rooting for "Birthright, Part II." I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaate that one. I spent the whole time wanting to get back to the Data story, and practically seething at the awfulness of the Worf story I was being subjected to instead. "Birthright, Part II" is at I-would-burn-every-copy level of hate for me.