The WORST TOS episode?

[FordSVT]

I hated The Way to Eden while watching it, but I did enjoy the end where the hippie leaders die and the rest become disillusioned. Bad episode, great message.

I just can't get past the horsie scene in Plato's Stepchildren. It made me cringe more than anything else I can remember. Even after all Will Shatner has done, he did not deserve that.

I agree with Way to Eden, a thoroughly annoying episode. At least Spock's Brain was pure camp.

I've never jived with that opinion of the "horsie" scene in Plato's Stepchildren, you're certainly not the first I've heard this from. I understandsome people hate things that make them cringe as a rule. However, it's a bit ironic that you feel bad for Shatner (an actor) for having to play a scene that was meant to show his humiliation, and he succeeded in that, but you just don't like the feeling. So he and the writers succeeded brilliantly in exactly what they were trying to do and you're penalizing them for it. Know what I'm saying?

The Alternative Factor was indeed confusing, and full of glaringly bad science, even for the 1960s. I just read on Wiki that it also played a role in bringing about the end of one of the Barrymore's acting careers, which is more interesting than the entire episode.

 

[TheGodBen]

I hated The Way to Eden while watching it, but I did enjoy the end where the hippie leaders die and the rest become disillusioned. Bad episode, great message.

I just can't get past the horsie scene in Plato's Stepchildren. It made me cringe more than anything else I can remember. Even after all Will Shatner has done, he did not deserve that.

I agree with Way to Eden, a thoroughly annoying episode. At least Spock's Brain was pure camp.

I've never jived with that opinion of the "horsie" scene in Plato's Stepchildren, you're certainly not the first I've heard this from. I understandsome people hate things that make them cringe as a rule. However, it's a bit ironic that you feel bad for Shatner (an actor) for having to play a scene that was meant to show his humiliation, and he succeeded in that, but you just don't like the feeling. So he and the writers succeeded brilliantly in exactly what they were trying to do and you're penalizing them for it. Know what I'm saying?

I can understand where you are coming from, but it wasn't just Shatner who was being humiliated in that scene, I felt humiliated while watching it for being a fan of the show. It was like watching a sitcom you love that has gone past its prime and all the jokes are embarrassingly bad; you feel bad for the show and you feel ashamed for being a fan of it.

When I first saw the horsie scene I felt like curling up in the corner and crying.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I haven't watched "Miri" in years and have no plans to.

Not a big fan of "And the Children Shall Lead" either.

"The Alternative Factor" is boring and pointless, but I like that stupid Jetsons space ship on the planet.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

The one with the Space Hippy's. Damn that was crap on a cracker.

The Space Hippies episode was called "The Way to Eden" andranks down there with "Spock`s Brain".

 

[Red Ranger]

I haven't watched "Miri" in years and have no plans to.

Not a big fan of "And the Children Shall Lead" either.

"The Alternative Factor" is boring and pointless, but I like that stupid Jetsons space ship on the planet.

Of those three, only Children is truly awful, IMHO. Miri had its moments, while I actually liked Alternative Factor quite a bit when I was younger -- guess it was all the technobabble about parallel universes and what would happen if matter and antimatter dimensions collided, and Spock's chilling conclusion: "Annihilation, Jim." I watched it the other night, and the lapses in logic -- esp. how Lazarus so easily evades security -- are glaring, though. -- RR

 

[cooleddie74]

The Lazarus episode TRIED like hell to be smart and engaging. It just got let down by truly crappy f/x, a subpar replacement actor(Brown) and so many holes in the plot that even a new remake using the same script wouldn't explain anything any better.

 

[Commander Rabbit]

The Alternative Factor

I was really confused by it and it just wasn't edited very well.

Having watched it last night for the first -- and last -- time, I agree, I agree!

 

[cooleddie74]

The Alternative Factor

I was really confused by it and it just wasn't edited very well.

Having watched it last night for the first -- and last -- time, I agree, I agree!

Lazarus(both, in fact)were so poorly explained on every level. WAS there a parallel Earth like the one we saw in "Miri," and it was obliterated or laid waste by something? Who knows. Who cares anymore.

 

[tomalak301]

I was thinking about the Alternative Factor not being edited very well, but there was an episode I think was worse when it came to editing: Friday's Child. That episode felt all over the place, even though it's somewhat better than TAF. At least it was kinda easy to follow.

 

[stoneroses]

The Lights of Zeta for me sucks most.

 

[RedSpar]

Mark of Gideon by FAR

It is the most boring, implausible episode ever. It's the only Trek episode I refuse to watch. Honestly I'd rather clean toilets than watch this.

 

[QuasarVM]

Mark of Gideon by FAR

It is the most boring, implausible episode ever. It's the only Trek episode I refuse to watch. Honestly I'd rather clean toilets than watch this.

I agree...that one is pretty horrible...IMO...

 

[cooleddie74]

Odona and the creepy sound and visuals are all that save "Gideon" from being worse than Lazarus or "Children."

 

[xortex]

AF could have been great if it was explained more metaphysically and had some personal connection or involvement with one of the crew but my all time worst has to be Wink Of an Eye. It was just so silly and stupid, but like I said could have been developed more in lines with a Voyager episode. It was just too boring and sleep inducing. The Enterprise ep with trip getting pregnant would have been better if Trip actually had the child and the Xyrillions took him as a peace Ambassador to pave the way for our future exploration of space and the Klingon who got pregnant should have committed suicide.

 

[Outpost4]

Mark of Gideon by FAR

It is the most boring, implausible episode ever. It's the only Trek episode I refuse to watch. Honestly I'd rather clean toilets than watch this.

I agree...that one is pretty horrible...IMO...

Yeah, pretty big pile of horse pitute. It would be one of my bottom three. You keep wondering, can Kirk be so stupid to miss this not the Enterprise?

 

[gottacook]

Again I must defend, although it's admittedly execrable in some aspects, "The Way to Eden" (the following is my reply to a November thread that became wayward but was originally about "Spock's Brain"):

Aw, man - I can't let criticism of "The Way to Eden" just slip by. The original music in the UNCUT episode is really excellent, and Charles Napier's singing isn't bad either. Adam is really the central guest role, more so than Dr. Sevrin.

I admit: My opinions are colored by this having been an episode that I saw first-run, when I was 12 1/2. Not only that, but my parents had just been to NYC to see the musical Hair on Broadway, and we had the 8-track tape of the original cast album in the car constantly (I thank my folks for helping to show me that words in themselves aren't dangerous; some of those songs featured some rather interesting words). That is to say, I could appreciate what this episode with its musical numbers was trying to do: to emulate the best qualities of the justifiably popular Hair. Viewers today don't make this connection, but the episode would likely never have happened without it.

Okay, Irina's surname gets pronounced three different ways by two different actors, and there's that pesky reversed shot of Kirk watching Sevrin eat the poisoned fruit - but the third season is necessary to help us appreciate how great most of the first- and second-season episodes were.

I agree with all who say "The Mark of Gideon" was worst - heck, it managed to be even more implausible than "The Alternative Factor" (because we are shown and told quite clearly any number of ridiculous things, whereas the basis of the Lazaruses' predicament was poorly explained). The only thing that could have made "Gideon" worse would be if Sabrina Scharf (the worst actress in TOS in my opinion, possibly cast as Miramanee for her boobs alone) had played Odona.