Game The Most Disliked Wedding Episode/Movie

[Sakonna]

THE OBJECTIVE: A sudden-death elimination game in which we remove our personal favorite episodes from a themed list, until we arrive at the episode that is, if not the worst, at least the most disliked.

THE RULES: Below is a list of episodes & movies with weddings (or alien ceremonies that are equivalent to weddings) from TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, LD, and SNW.

Eliminate/save your favorite, or the one you deem the ‘best.’
Post something you love about the episode you are saving, and copy-and-paste the list with your choice removed.

You can use any standard you like to judge which option is "best." You can save episodes for being widely recognized “best Trek” classics, or for idiosyncratic qualities that no one appreciates but you.

But -- no tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode because you don’t think anyone else will, or because you feel it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to “win.”

You can take multiple turns. Leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

New players are always welcome, you do not have to already be a "most disliked game" regular to dive in.

Much thanks to @Farscape One for helping me vet the list!

Enjoy!

TOS, Season 1: “Balance Of Terror”
TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 5: “Call To Arms”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
LD, Season 1: "Veritas"
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Sakonna]

I'm gonna start with "Veritas." Gorn wedding! GORN WEDDING!

This is why I love Trek. To me, the Gorn track perfectly throughout the franchise. It all makes sense to me.

TOS, Season 1: “Balance Of Terror”
TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 5: “Call To Arms”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Farscape One]

My first of this game is one of my two absolute favorites of TOS... "BALANCE OF TERROR". (My other being "THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE".)

This everything... drama, conflict, character insight. And it gave the franchise the Romulans!


TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky”
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 5: “Call To Arms”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Summer Solstice]

TOS, Season 3: “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky” - I love this episode. The idea for the spaceship is so cool and I wonder if McCoy went back to see Natira again.


TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 5: “Call To Arms”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 5: “Course: Oblivion”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Captain's Coffee]

“Course: Oblivion” A tragic, haunting episode. But Tom and B'Elanna are a great couple.

TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 5: “Call To Arms”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Seven of Five]

Call to Arms is the epic cliffhanger to S5, so that's safe. I was always a fan of Rom and Leeta as well, and even though their wedding ended up more rushed than they planned because of the impending war, it was a sweet moment.

TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Sakonna]

As one of the first Trek episodes I ever saw, I have a longstanding soft spot for "Cost Of Living."

TOS, Season 2: “Amok Time”
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Amok Time! Of course! Do I need to explain?

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 4: “Data’s Day”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Farscape One]

That episode most certainly doesn't need an explanation! (Or "CALL TO ARMS", for that matter.)

My next save is "Data's Day". Because it's Data. And it is his day.

And O'Brien's. And Keiko's.


TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TNG, Season 1: “Haven”
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Qonundrum]

The Cowsills are in envy with all that hair...

TNG, Season 1: “Haven”

Ah yes, it's the old "arranged marriage goes awry" trope. Granted, it's not like the old episode of Doctor Who where Susan, arriving in 1500AD, yells defiantly at the priest who's arranging a marriage for her (with the underlying motive where he can suss out Barbara as a false goddess), and in turn gets to punish her by torturing her, we have this early-TNG gem. A gem where people bicker about how little clothing they're going to wear and with the most ridiculous hairdos that even the most bawdy 60s episode would be in awe of.

Don't get me wrong: This is definitely not in my skip list when I rewatch TNG. It's surprisingly good. There is a certain charm with the story, which involves a race of beings - who, as I recall, were afflicted with biological warfare then later hunted down by others as "plague carriers" - which alone makes for a compelling storyline, except it's not explored to its full potential. That aside, due to one of the beings on this ship, and Wyatt (to be married to Deanna) having unexplained visions, the story is also a romance from beyond the stars - literally. One can't help but to feel sympathy for Wyatt's hair (and the rest of him too, but for more appropriate reasons.) As it stands, Wyatt - also a promising medical student, go figure - too wasn't keen on his prearranged marriage with Deanna (who keeps calling Will "Bill"), and smuggles himself aboard the rogue vessel with medical equipment in hopes to save the remaining members of a hopefully not-to-be-doomed-any-longer species.

There's also a room in the ship not often seen after season 1 - presumably in the neck of the engineering hull, though none of the windows' shapes match up... /nerdMode

It's not season 1's best story, or Trek's in general, but it's nowhere near the worst. Even with the goofy playfulness involving suggested noodity for the arranged marriage because that's where the best of TNG plays out.

Here is a scene from that story, with the best allegory of all time ever, which actually addresses the fanbase and not, as we're led to believe, some wedding nobody wants to be in - as Data points out:

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Spoiler: more frightful hair

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What's left, for which none of them involves horrific hair that required enough hairspray to deplete the ozone layer with:
TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome"
TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[dupersuper]

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome": I am Kirrok!!

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG, Season 5: “The Perfect Mate”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Qonundrum]

That episode most certainly doesn't need an explanation! (Or "CALL TO ARMS", for that matter.)

My next save is "Data's Day". Because it's Data. And it is his day.

And O'Brien's. And Keiko's.

And, best of all, was T'Pel's day too!

The marriage subplot was rather nicely done, especially with Data.

The subterfuge/espionage subplot was brilliant as well.

It's a terrific episode.

 

[Qonundrum]

TOS, Season 3: "The Paradise Syndrome": I am Kirrok!!

That was my other choice. It's a little contrived to get the ball rolling, but the acting in it is great... it's way too easy to get wound up over Kirok - and TOS, and a lot of Trek in general, didn't get nearly as vicious (or as unexpected) for a story ending as death by stoning. Damn.

 

[Oddish]

There's an element of tragedy to "The Perfect Mate", a poignant sense of doing the right thing whatever the cost.

And Worf gets growled at.

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 3: “The House Of Quark”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "THE HOUSE OF QUARK".

Both stories are very well done. As a husband, I completely feel for O'Brien. And Bashir gave one of his best pieces of advice EVER. The Quark story is so much fun, too.

But all that aside, there is one reason alone that is worth saving this one.

Quark explaining finances to the High Council.

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 6: “You Are Cordially Invited”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Brennyren]

As a VOY fan, I was seriously tempted to go with "Drive." It's a decent episode generally, and I'd been waiting a while for Tom and B'Elanna to finally tie the knot. But, you know what? They didn't show the wedding. Wow. Seriously?

"You Are Cordially Invited," on the other hand, did. And it was gorgeous. There was enough conflict in the episode to make a happy ending feel earned, the way Worf and Jadzia's friends came together was heartwarming, and the Klingon rituals were just exotic enough to impart an alien feeling to the events. And I love Martok's advice to Worf.

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 4: “The Muse”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Sakonna]

Does "The Muse" even have a bad rep anymore? I didn't take a poll or anything, but it feels like in recent years the general fan consensus has swung to "the Lwaxana/Odo stuff is pretty good actually."

Or maybe it's just me. But I do like "The Muse." I once hated it, but now weirdly it does feel like a great swan song for Lwaxana.

And the Jake story... that actress is good. She commits completely and does what she can.

I do always like re-reading this great quote from Memory Alpha:

According to Moore, "the notion of this exotic, beautiful, older woman who comes to you and gets excited by watching you write is like the most ridiculous idea! Only a writer would come up with that. Think of it. You're sitting there writing and she's just entranced. We watched that scene in dailies and we thought, are we insane? What are we doing? How did we get here?"

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
VOY, Season 7: “Drive”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Captain's Coffee]

"Drive" because I find it fun. And again, Tom and B'Elanna are a great couple. Plus, those uniforms are quite spiffy.

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”
SNW, Season 1: "A Quality Of Mercy"

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "A Quality of Mercy".

Because NO episode of SNW deserves to win these games... at least, not yet. This wasa really, really, REALLY good episode that gave good Pike focus.

And I finally get to save one from SNW!

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
DS9, Season 7: “’Til Death Do Us Part”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”

 

[Seven of Five]

'Til Death Do Us Part set up the idea of sorrow for Sisko if he married Kasidy, yet he did it anyway, obviously. I also love the whole narrative of the Final Chapter.

I enjoyed seeing how much of a celebration there was going to be on the station because the Emissary was getting married.

As for The Muse, I do my best to fast forward the stupid Jake story. It's a bit like Meridian. which had the stupid Dax romance, but a humourous B plot. The material in both cases isn't amazing, but they do a much better job of entertaining than the main plot in both episodes.

TNG, Season 2: “The Outrageous Okona”
TNG Feature: “Star Trek Nemesis”
VOY, Season 3: “Favorite Son”
ENT, Season 4: “Home”