If it was just a seperate pilot I wouldn't have a problem with AE, but like you said Kirk and Spock just kind of bumble their way around this episode. I think that as a series AE would have only lasted a year or two, if even that much.
TOS' worst episode.
- Thread starter Warped9
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If it was just a seperate pilot I wouldn't have a problem with AE, but like you said Kirk and Spock just kind of bumble their way around this episode. I think that as a series AE would have only lasted a year or two, if even that much.
Not only that, a good portion of this episode is just stock footage. It's also one of my least favorites.
Neil
Gary Seven is a great character, and Lansing has a great original presence, like several other classic 60s TV actors. A 1968 guy in a business suit who isn't phased by a transporter... great moment.
Worst, AtCSL. Even that you can pretend is going someplace good, at first. The intelligence level drops throughout the hour.
TRISKELION. My usual retort to complaints about s3....
Worst, AtCSL. Even that you can pretend is going someplace good, at first. The intelligence level drops throughout the hour.
TRISKELION. My usual retort to complaints about s3....
Melvin Belli....an attorney who couldn't act...puts the crown of mediocrity on ATCSL. Ugh!
Wait until you get to see Plato's Stepchildren and Whom Gods Destroy and then make your list!
JB
Can't believe people don't like Bread and Circuses or Omega Glory! Alternative Factor is an odd one I agree but it's not unwatchable in any sense like And The Children Shall Lead which I'd found scary as a kid or Turnabout Intruder which marks the end of our show bar only the star date!
JB
JB
Wait until you get to see Plato's Stepchildren and Whom Gods Destroy and then make your list!
JB
Watch out, JB. Parmen might use his telekinetic powers to make you either Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum.
Two episodes with some of the strongest main and guest cast performances from the entire series.
Yes, Morgan Woodward and William Smithers were great.
I can't believe the Lights of Zetar haters in this thread. Gasp! 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I, for one, love TLOZ! Just visit my blog! 
My worst episodes? Miri & And the Children Shall Lead are proof positive that kids should never have been written into TOS episodes.
I also don't like What are Little Girls Made Of, Plato's Stepchildren, Dagger of the Mind, Whom Gods Destroy, Patterns of Force (although it does have a couple of humorous scenes). Spock's Brain is just about bottom of the barrel, and Turnabout Intruder was a God awful, suck a**ed way to end the series! 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I, for one, love TLOZ! Just visit my blog! My worst episodes? Miri & And the Children Shall Lead are proof positive that kids should never have been written into TOS episodes.
I also don't like What are Little Girls Made Of, Plato's Stepchildren, Dagger of the Mind, Whom Gods Destroy, Patterns of Force (although it does have a couple of humorous scenes). Spock's Brain is just about bottom of the barrel, and Turnabout Intruder was a God awful, suck a**ed way to end the series!
When I see s3 episodes getting dismissed by masses of Trek fans here for superficial reasons, I start to wonder... do I have a problem with s3, like I think I do? If I love their picks for worst ep's, maybe I just ought to stop saying anything against s3. I must love it.
My worst episodes? Miri & And the Children Shall Lead are proof positive that kids should never have been written into TOS episodes.
Miri, set to music.
I really don't know how Miri is not on more worst lists.
That and Alternative just stick out in their utter worthlessness from season one.
For god's sake they surely had some way to beam the crew up in an isolation room where they couldn't infect the ship. Or beam down crew in biohazard outfits. All the communicators were on that table -- even the ones belonging to the guards who weren't in the building?
Worst part was this was the first outdoor location shoot of the series excluding the brief shot in Cage.
They couldn't find any better use of the backlot than a plague ravaged planet that looked like "1960"--??
And why kids?? Too bad they didn't have the balls to do a pure horror episode. Forget the kids and have it be some kind of zombie plague! Tired now, but not played out in 1966. They beam down, get attacked just after the ship has to go to a rendezvous. They get stuck for several days trying to avoid the creatures who have a communicable insanity disease.
They fight for their lives, worry about the morality of killing the victims who might still be curable, they lose some of the landing party (not red shirts but perhaps history and archaeologist specialists.)
Sure that would have precluded some of the Operation Annihilate story, but so what? We would have been spared Miri, Jahn, blah, blah and bonk-bonk on the head.
I can only even bear watching it for the outdoor backlot scenes as it is.
That and Alternative just stick out in their utter worthlessness from season one.
For god's sake they surely had some way to beam the crew up in an isolation room where they couldn't infect the ship. Or beam down crew in biohazard outfits. All the communicators were on that table -- even the ones belonging to the guards who weren't in the building?
Worst part was this was the first outdoor location shoot of the series excluding the brief shot in Cage.
They couldn't find any better use of the backlot than a plague ravaged planet that looked like "1960"--??
And why kids?? Too bad they didn't have the balls to do a pure horror episode. Forget the kids and have it be some kind of zombie plague! Tired now, but not played out in 1966. They beam down, get attacked just after the ship has to go to a rendezvous. They get stuck for several days trying to avoid the creatures who have a communicable insanity disease.
They fight for their lives, worry about the morality of killing the victims who might still be curable, they lose some of the landing party (not red shirts but perhaps history and archaeologist specialists.)
Sure that would have precluded some of the Operation Annihilate story, but so what? We would have been spared Miri, Jahn, blah, blah and bonk-bonk on the head.
I can only even bear watching it for the outdoor backlot scenes as it is.
I actually like a number of S3 episodes! See my comment on the "Why TOS Started So Good?" thread.
I have the usual suspects for the worst episodes. The very worst for is Alternative Factor. Absolutely horrible. And the Children Shall Lead and Plato's Stepchildren are right down there though.
A lot of people list Spock's Brain as the worst of the series and, while not great, it's not as horrible as the others. It's not so cringeworthy and actually a bit of fun. A little bit of fun. Just don't try to take it seriously.
Miri isn't that bad really. The mystery of what is happening is a bit interesting and the kids aren't as irritating as AtCSL. It's not perfect but as a bit of storytelling, it's OK.
Patterns of Force is actually a good episode. Same for Bread and Circuses. You do have to get past the parallel development thing but I thought the stories and guest cast were great in both. But, to each their own!
Mr Awe
A lot of people list Spock's Brain as the worst of the series and, while not great, it's not as horrible as the others. It's not so cringeworthy and actually a bit of fun. A little bit of fun. Just don't try to take it seriously.
Miri isn't that bad really. The mystery of what is happening is a bit interesting and the kids aren't as irritating as AtCSL. It's not perfect but as a bit of storytelling, it's OK.
Patterns of Force is actually a good episode. Same for Bread and Circuses. You do have to get past the parallel development thing but I thought the stories and guest cast were great in both. But, to each their own!
Mr Awe
Without a doubt the worst episodes are "The Menagerie" part 1 and 2. It's like episode "shades of grey" from the next generation which many consider tng's worst episode. Menagerie is basically two episodes of the crew slowly watching episode "the cage". It is quite boring. I realize back then "the cage" had not been released yet but we're not there anymore. I'm surprised this episode was not mentioned somewhere in the last 11 pages of posts. Just watch "the cage" and "Menagerie" part 1&2 right after and you'll see what I mean. Worst episode, hands down.
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