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The Most Disliked TNG Episode - Season 5...

New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Outcast
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend


I'll shatter the "Silicon Avatar". While I find Dr. Marr's actions at the end reprehensible, I liked seeing the return of the crystalline entity and learning at least a little more about it, and Data's cold delivery of her son's verdict to Marr at the end of the episode chills the room when I listen to it. Also a rare episode without any sort of happy ending.
 
Oh season 5, so many I love to loathe but largely for the same reasons (contrived, one-sided, changed plot and character to suit narrative (thusly making Chekov's changes in "The Way to Eden" positively benign by comparison), makes a sledgehammer look as powerful as a feather by comparison as they're that preachy, never mind enough soap opera suds...)

So of all that remain that I dislike, the one I dislike the least and it was a tough call so I'll explain my other choice later, especially if it manages to make "the worstest season 5 episode ever" at the end:

Imaginary Friend

This one isn't too terribly bad, reminds us that the 1701-D was for whole families to stay together while on duty, and tries to improve on the reputations set from Trek episodes such as "And The Children Shall Lead" and "The Child" by amalgamating the best of their ideas, while using new ideas - complete with 90sTrekisms - in that "the bad bad aliens comin' to kill are just misunderstanding of the humans and want to learn what they do" as opposed to being either really evil or just a benign glowing light bulb that wants to experience life the way we do, though nobody asked it why so for a light bulb it wasn't very bright.

"Imaginary Friend" is still a somewhat cringey episode, but still a better one than many in the whole of season 5.But what's left are, largely, and in my humbly ol' opinion, deservedly the most disliked. Can't wait to get to the other episode I want to prattle on about, I feel like Sheldon Cooper having just downed 2 sips of coffee...

What's left:

New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Outcast
The Perfect Mate
 
"The Outcast" It fails in all it's objectives, but it's trying to do something great. I give it extra points for meaning well. The only other one here that seems a potential candidate to save is "The Perfect Mate" -- it's interesting how the pros/cons of the pair are perfectly inverted, "Perfect Mate" is an exceptional execution of a terrible idea, whereas "Outcast" is a terrible execution of a good idea.

New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Perfect Mate
 
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I'll save "New Ground" because it addressed a choice in "Reunion" that frankly bothered me. I always thought it was a writer's copout -- and at least arguably negligence on Worf's part -- to present us with Worf's son and then immediately ship him off to live with his grandparents. In universe, it was especially troubling because Alexander's mother had just been killed, and then his remaining parent sent him away? Worf, dude, that's sucky parenting. "New Ground," for all its flaws, presented Worf making an effort to shoulder responsibility for his son. (Until DS9, anyway. But that's a separate complaint.)

Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Perfect Mate
 
Oh season 5, so many I love to loathe but largely for the same reasons (contrived, one-sided, changed plot and character to suit narrative (thusly making Chekov's changes in "The Way to Eden" positively benign by comparison), makes a sledgehammer look as powerful as a feather by comparison as they're that preachy, never mind enough soap opera suds...)

So of all that remain that I dislike, the one I dislike the least and it was a tough call so I'll explain my other choice later, especially if it manages to make "the worstest season 5 episode ever" at the end:

Imaginary Friend

This one isn't too terribly bad, reminds us that the 1701-D was for whole families to stay together while on duty, and tries to improve on the reputations set from Trek episodes such as "And The Children Shall Lead" and "The Child" by amalgamating the best of their ideas, while using new ideas - complete with 90sTrekisms - in that "the bad bad aliens comin' to kill are just misunderstanding of the humans and want to learn what they do" as opposed to being either really evil or just a benign glowing light bulb that wants to experience life the way we do, though nobody asked it why so for a light bulb it wasn't very bright.

"Imaginary Friend" is still a somewhat cringey episode, but still a better one than many in the whole of season 5.But what's left are, largely, and in my humbly ol' opinion, deservedly the most disliked. Can't wait to get to the other episode I want to prattle on about, I feel like Sheldon Cooper having just downed 2 sips of coffee...

What's left:

New Ground
Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
The Outcast
The Perfect Mate

Ugh it's so hard. Imaginary Friend is so bad it gives me gas.
 
Perfect Mate was actually pretty good. I'll save it. It does, after all, have Riker's pained announcement that he will be in Holodeck 3.



Hero Worship
The Masterpiece Society
 
I really don't mind these last two episodes. I like Masterpiece Society more than most fans do and there are worse kid shows in season 5 than Hero Worship. I cannot choose!
 
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The only other one here that seems a potential candidate to save is "The Perfect Mate" -- it's interesting how the pros/cons of the pair are perfectly inverted, "Perfect Mate" is an exceptional execution of a terrible idea, whereas "Outcast" is a terrible execution of a good idea.

That is wonderfully put!

I'll save "Hero Worship" because it's a Data episode and I love him. Which leaves...
The Masterpiece Society
 
Damn, this season went by fast. I was super tired, and just woke up... just under 12 hours of sleep. Benny did its job.

We have a 'winner' with "The Masterpiece Society". I must confess, this episode is rather boring go me, and ranks pretty low for me because of it.

Thank you all for playing. I'll post season 6 tomorrow.
 
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