In the spirit of @Sarcastic Vulcan Salute 's thread outlining everyone's "Top 30" of TNG...let's find out how we all feel about the other end of the spectrum as well. What are TNG's weakest 30 episodes, by season? Here's my list: S1 1 Code of Honor 2 Datalore 3 Angel One 4 Too Short a Season 5 Symbiosis S2 6 The Outrageous Okona 7 The Schizoid Man 8 Unnatural Selection 9 Manhunt 10 Shades of Grey S3 11 Evolution 12 The Bonding 13 The Price 14 The Vengeance Factor S4 15 Suddenly Human 16 The Loss 17 Data's Day S5 18 New Ground 19 Hero Worship 20 Violations 21 Imaginary Friend 22 Time's Arrow I and II S6 23 Man of the People 24 Aquiel 25 Suspicions 26 Descent I and II S7 27 Interface 28 Dark Page 29 Sub Rosa 30 Eye of the Beholder
I certainly wouldn't include "Data's Day" as one of the worst of Season 4. Not when that season had stinkers like "Galaxy's Child" or "In Theory".
While I found Wesley better than average in "When the Bough Breaks", I think that one was weaker than many of your first season selections.
My first take: TLDR: If it is an episode that focuses on Alexander or Lwaxana, avoid it if you can. If it features Beverly or Geordi, it's kind of a coinflip. S1 1. The Naked Now: Not particularly well acted and features Wesley as boy genius in an annoying way. There's a thin line between homage and ripoff. 2. Code of Honor: Although I still consider this a guilty pleasure, and would probably watch this over objectively better episodes, it's racist AF. 3. The Last Outpost: The introduction of the Ferengi was underwhelming 4. Justice: I considered leaving it off the list, but Wesley's "I'm with Starfleet. We don't lie." is too painful for it not be included 5. Angel One: Just kind of embarassing all around 6. Symbiosis: Drugs are bad, m'kay? 7. Skin of Evil: There had to be a better way to get rid of Tasha Yar than evil tar. S2 8. The Royale: I get that they were trying to have fun, and it is kind of fun, but being stuck in a badly written novel too easily translates to a badly written episode. 9. Manhunt: Lwaxana's annoying as usual, and for it to work, she's got to be oblivious to what a holodeck is 10. Up the Long Ladder: Space. Irish. One where I feel embarassed for the actors when I watch it. 11. Samaritan Snare: It is almost physically painful to watch. The whole Pakled thing got somewhat redeemed by Lower Decks, though. 12. Shades of Gray: Probably on most people's list in the top 10 worst Trek episodes ever. S3 - I don't know if I think that these episodes are really bad, as such. Just the worst of a pretty good season. If we weren't going with the limitation that each season had to be represented and no season could have more than 7 entries, I don't know if I would list them. 13. Evolution: Just kind of boring. The couple times I've done a rewatch, I usually forget that I've seen this. 14. The Bonding: Ditto 15. The High Ground: A Beverly ep S4 - Same thing -- I don't dislike these episodes, but they just aren't up to the same standards of the rest of the season. 16. Galaxy's Child: Portraying Geordi as a stalker/loser is not where I want to be 17. Night Terrors - I may rate this lower than it deserves for the bit of Deanna floating in her dreamscape 18. Identity Crisis: Another meh Geordi episode S5 19. New Ground: Episodes focusing on Alexander are usually earmarked for badness 20. Cost of Living: Featuring Alexander and Lwaxana is a double threat 21: Imaginary Friend: So much is on the shoulders of kid actors for this and they just aren't up to it. S6 22. Aquiel: Guest-actress was super bad, and again, the episode doesn't make much sense. Why is the chief engineer leading a murder investigation? 23. Birthright I: For being able to do a gazillion computations per second Data is pretty darn slow figuring out his dreaming, and Worf can just pick up and leave and do a solo mission as to a possible Romulan prison camp? Really? 24. Suspicions: Again, the notion that Dr. Crusher is going to be doing the lead on a murder mystery, or that a form of shielding that could withstand direct contact with the sun would be possible to have been stolen is preposterous 25. Descent I and II: Pretty much nothing in this one makes sense if you think about it. How did Lore happen on the Borg? Why would they follow him? Why would he want the Borg followers? Or to bond with Data, who he mostly hated? S7 26. Interface: Another bad Geordi episode 27. Dark Page: Another Lwaxana episode. The premise that for 30+ years Lwaxana hid that she had had a 6 year old child seems hard to swallow 28. Sub Rosa: Ghost sex. 29. Masks: Just an all-around cringey ep 30. Journey's End: I didn't particularly need to bid Wesley a farewell, and the portrayal of the Native Americans isn't great.
Interesting idea. I like it. My list... Season 1 "Code of Honor" "Haven" "Justice" "Too Short A Season" "Angel One" Season 2 "The Dauphin" "Samaritan Snare" "Up The Long Ladder" "Shades Of Gray" Season 3 "The Price" "The High Ground" "Transfigurations" Season 4 "Future Imperfect" "Galaxy's Child" "Identity Crisis" Season 5 "The Game" "New Ground" "The Masterpiece Society" "Imaginary Friend" Season 6 "Rascals" "Aquiel" "Lessons" "Suspicions" Season 7 "Liaisons" "Force of Nature" "Sub Rosa" "Journey's End" "Firstborn" "Bloodlines" "Emergence" Honestly, the worst thing about half the episodes on this is that they are boring. Which in a tv series, is probably the worst thing you can be. Despite some good moments or ideas in them, the episodes just get dumped to the bottom of the barrel.
I do have to say that some of the episodes people have listed range for me from not that bad to actually pretty deece. I think Datalore, Too Short a Season, Schizoid Man, Future Imperfect, In Theory and Masterpiece Society all have at least something going for them in terms of acting, sci-fi concepts or what have you.
It's funny. I've always wanted to do a first/second season comparison of bad episodes to the rest of the series because I think there are as many if not more stinkers throughout the series as in the those first two maligned seasons. This will be a nice exercise to forget the real world for a moment. S01 - 4 The Naked Now - Generally fun in hindsight, but has a dumb external threat and Wesley is unbearable. Code of Honor - Kind of cool concept, but mired in bad pre-war Africa stereotypes. Haven - Nonepisode with a link between two characters that's never explained. Troi's mom is fun. I love the fleshing out of the Riker/Troi relationship showing he's afraid of falling in love with a polyamorous woman who just wants sex. Angel One - Riker in a blouse is amazing. The gender analogies are so terribly bad, though. And what's with that space-flu? S02 - 4.5 The Child - dull magical pregnancy story where we never really get to know the alien and the emotional hooks have zero weight. The Outrageous Okona - Joe Piscapo and a guest character who's got zero charm. Story has no stakes. Half of Up the Long Ladder - Love the body integrity stuff as well as the colonists's need to procreate. Hate the Irish tropes. Manhunt - Luaxanna story done so wrong. No plot. Cringy dialogue. Shades of Grey - Clip show. Does it even count? S03 - 7 Booby Trap - Geordi pretends he needs to create a masturbatory fantasy to save the ship. The Price - Troi and the second Lloyd Braun give each other oily foot rubs. Not sexy. The Vengeance Factor - Story, villain, and conclusion make no sense. Riker could have just grabbed Yutta instead of disintegrating her. A Matter of Perspective - Dumb Rashomon copy that leaves the 24th century still doubting women are raped. The Offspring - Schmaltzy rehash of Measure of a Man and Requiem for Methuselah. Tired of lady robots dying of lady feelings. Captian's Holiday - Picard spends an hour not having sex with an amazing Indiana Jones lady. Odd time paradox. Hollow Pursuits - First we have incel La Forge, then incel Barkley in the same season. Doesn't go over any better the second time. S04 - 7 Suddenly Human - Picard returns an abused boy to the people who murdered his parents and we're supposed to be ok with that. Reunion - K'Eleyr is graphically murdered to inspire Worf to grow a backbone. Fuck this episode. The Loss - An hour of crapping on Troi combined with an only semi-interesting mystery. Galaxy's Child - Tripling down on creepy incel La Forge. Night Terrors - Silly story with silly catch-phrase and a silly floating Troi rearview. Qpid - Some funny bits, but really drags. Holodeck ep with no holodeck. Picard again spends an hour not having sex with Vash. Redemption 1 and 2 - Boring politics and slow moving space battles. Sela is a soap opera character. Data fighting with an underling isn't at all dramatic. S05 - 10 The Game - Wesley and Ashley Judd don't have sex for an hour among a zombie crew. Unification - Terribly boring, padded out political drama with an anti-climax. The Romulan plan is ludicrous. Poor platform for a Nimoy return. Hero Worship - The Bonding redressed. I didn't really like it the first time. Violations - Everyone gets raped to what end? Power Play - Half the crew does funny voices and are about as mean and threatening as a playground bully. Ethics - No real ethical dilemmas are present. Worf suddenly has twice the normal amount of organs. Cause and Effect - Repetitive with no real messages or insights. Solution is a random choice that says nothing about the characters. E-D can be destroyed with a slight nick. The First Duty - Boring court room/high school drama. The Perfect Mate - No one treats Jean Grey like a human being except Crusher. The ending where she impresses on Picard is supposed to seem like a tragic triumph, but impressing on anyone leaves her zero agency. Picard comes off like a horny old narcissist. Imaginary Friend - Kids doing kid stuff with no real point. The Inner Light - Bizarre fan favorite. Picard spends time with the most boring, white bread with mayo aliens in the universe. The whole thing reads like a time-share vacation presentation. S06 - 9 Realm of Fear - Ridiculous concept of being conscious in the transporter matter stream and presenting as a worm while you're in there. Man of the People - Another delegate who rapes/takes advantage of Troi. Schism - Alien abduction story with no real depth. Just a puzzle box. Fistful of Datas - Brent Spiner isn't funny. Having 12 of him not being funny in another killer holodeck story is exhausting. Tech the tech ending. The Quality of Life - Measure of a Man part III. Aquiel - La Forge in love is painful to watch. Murder mystery isn't that interesting. Birthright - Cool bits with Data dreaming. The rest is confused racial heritage messaging that was apparently inspired by Mike Pillar misunderstanding the point of the Malcolm X film. Lessons - Picard starts a mostly passionless affair with an underling then punishes her when it becomes too real for him. Decent - Data is dangerous again, and as threatening as a school yard bully again. S07 - 13 Phantasms - Data is dangerous again. Let's menace Troi again. Silly imagery leads to a silly end. Dark Passage - Luaxanna gets the dark past she never needed. Secret sister? Wolves? Huh? Force of Nature - Boring Ozone Layer analogy. Not a bad subject, but poorly executed. Inheritance - Another Soong Robot in the wild that diminishes Data's uniqueness. Soong was just belting them out, huh? Homeward - Unbelievably dumb interpretation of the PD. What is cultural contamination if a culture dies? The Vians were kinder than this. Sub Rosa - Bev masturbates with grandma's ghost candle. Its like porno Scooby Doo. Lower Decks - A bunch of mini-me's steal the lime light from the main crew. None of them are compelling. Tear jerker ending doesn't land. Masks - Data is dangerous again. More bad Spiner hamming. Eye of the Beholder - Dull harlequin romance murder mystery that pushes the gross Worf/Troi shipping. Journey's End - Wesley rebels at the age of, what, thirty? Offensive depiction of Native Americans as backwards, insular mystics. First Born - Silly, dull time travel paradoxes with weak story. Emergence - Measure of a Man part IV. This time the Enterprise is alive. Next, my can opener. The whole thing takes place on a train? Preemptive Strike - Ro's character gets basically ruined in the name of backing up DS9's plot points.
Ha! I like In Theory. It's a low stakes ep with a threat solution similar to Booby Trap, but the Data relationship stuff was handled really well. A woman repeating mistakes with passionless men. Data treating love like an algorithm and promptly deleting it when it's no longer needed? Really good stuff that could have been super soapy.
“Data’s Day” is, to me (personal opinion only) a complete waste of time on the same scale as “Shades of Grey“ I’d watch “Galaxy’s Child” or even “In Theory” 10 times before “Data’s Day.”
I actually like WtBB quite a bit, especially compared to these other S1 selections I listed. I have a soft spot for S1, but those 4 episodes I listed are cold wet llama feces in a burlap sack.
I wanna play! Season One “The Naked Now” Everyone drops ecstacy and all the women are horny for the men. Picard is afraid of his erection. Wesley is stuck as a second-rate Kevin Riley. “Code of Honor” 1940s racist movie serial crap. Outdated stereotypes kidnap Lt. Yar. For an empath, Troi lacks empathy and lets everyone know that Yar wants to bone her kidnapper. “Datalore” Star Trek meets evil twin plot again but leans more into soap opera cliche. Lore even has a twicth so you know he’s the bad one! Season Two “The Outrageous Okona” The Rocketeer blasts aboard and bangs Lois Lane. Oh, Data learns humor from the least funniest 80s comedian. “The Icarus Factor” Riker’s dad is a dick. Best part though: learning Pulaski banged Riker’s dad. “Pen Pals” Picard treats the Prime Directive as Dogma and wants the little girl’s race to die because… natural evolution or some BS. In this one, Picard is the dick. “Shades of Gray” Oh look we’ve run outta money. Season Three “The Price” Troi in the galaxy’s most boring romance with the universe’s creepiest dude. “A Matter of Perspective” A bad VHS copy of Rashomon where no one beleives a woman claiming sexual assualt. Not a good look then. Not a good look in the Me Too era. “Captain’s Holiday” Picard takes a holiday and gets laid in a coma-inducing adventure. “Meanage a Troi” The most boring Pornhub threesome ever! Season Four “Legacy” Yar’s sister returns. Looks like Sarah Conner. Something about hostages. “Galaxy’s Child” Boy and you thought Geordi was a creeper in “Booby Trap”… he’s a damn right Incel here. Can’t watch ever. “Night Terrors” The greatest scare of this episode is the mundane script and plodding pace. “In Theory” Data’s turn to have a boring romance. Season Five “New Ground” Worf is a dick to his son. Kinda like Riker’s dad. “Violations” Can we please stop metaphorically raping Troi? Oh… that’s right it happens in Nemesis too. “The Masterpiece Society” Boring planet of genetically boring people. Oh, and Troi bangs another boring dude who kinda looks like the dude in “The Price.” At least he’s less creepy. “Cause and Effect” Let’s just repeat the teaser and Act One over and over again. A puzzle box episode. Disco did this better. Season 6 “Man of the People” Troi becomes a harpie cause some old dude is a creeper. “Schisms” Peter Straib aliens abduct the crew for reasons that nobody cares about. “Aquiel” The dog did it. Season 7 All of it is weak, except for “Parallels”, “The Pegasus” and “All Good Things.”
Well, while episodes like Sub Rosa and Shades of Gray are widely regarded as weak, others are a matter of opinion.
Season 1 Datalore is the absolute worst episode of season 1. The dialogue is ridiculously bad. The way Picard sends Wesley to check on Data/Lore is awful. The bridge crew act like idiots the entire episode. It sucks so bad. I would prefer to watch Code of Honor. Lonely Among Us is so boring. Nothing happens the entire episode. When the Bough Breaks- kidnapping 8 kids off the Enterprise is going to save a planet and repopulate it? Season 2 The Outrageous Okona. Horrible episode. The entire cast gushes over this tool the entire episode. Lazy writing by the staff. What does he do that really makes him that cool? Up the Long Ladder. So bad. Cringe worthy. Let's put some more stereotypes in an episode Season 3 Transfigurations. Not horrible but can we get a different outfit for the alien guy? Preferably something a bit looser fitting in the crotch? Tin Man- bad story, bad acting Season 4 The Host- Not really exciting at all. Final Mission- Wesley saves the day for old time's sake Season 5 The Outcast- Preposterous story Conundrum- So many plot holes Season 6 Lots of choices here Birthright- Worf decides to destroy a peaceful society. Those kids who are part Klingon and part Romulan will never be accepted into Klingon society Man of the People-Can we quit it with the ambassador type episodes? Season 7 Dark Page- Mrs. Troi wigs out. Doesn't she do that in every episode? Force of Nature- the first 20 minutes is about Data's cat. There isn't any story here.
It seems like an overwhelmingly unpopular opinion, but I think Datalore is absolute garbage as well. Worst of the worst. Almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever, other than maybe half of the first act.
It's up in my worst of list above. It's trite soap opera melodrama where the crew are idiots and easily duped. Also shame on all the adults who wouldn't listen to Wesley, who is now an acting officer.
Season 1 When The Bough Breaks Lonely Among Us Haven Heart of Glory The Neutral Zone Season 2 Where Silence Has Lease Loud As A Whisper Pen Pals Manhunt Season 3 Survivors The Bonding Season 4 Suddenly Human The Loss Data’s Day In Theory Season 5 Silicon Avatar New Ground (really the Worf/Alexander story drags this down) Cost of Living Imaginary Friend Season 6 Man of the People Ship in a Bottle Aquiel Tapestry Birthright Part 2 Frame of Mind Season 7 Sub Rosa Lower Decks Force of Nature Eye of the Beholder First Born
My thoughts exactly. Some of the episodes are okay to watch but those 3 are the only ones that are of higher quality.
I like two things about it. 1. Brent Spiner hamming it up as evil Lore especially at the end with Crusher and Wesley. 2. I think it establishes the Crystalline Entity as intelligent and a menace that should have been hunted down and destroyed by a 20 ship task force. I'm not in the "it's just a sperm whale feeding on smaller fish" save the whales camp. I don't go for that BS Silicon Avatar is trying to sell later. The CE has cooperated with Lore more than once to destroy life. It clearly responded to Lore's summons and his suggestion to wait to launch a killer strike until after he has lowered the Enterprise's shields.
S1 "Code of Honor " "The Last Outpost" "Angel One" "Too Short a Season" "Symbiosis" S2 "The Outrageous Okona" "Samaritan Snare" "Up The Long Ladder" "Shades of Grey" S3 "The Bonding" "The Price" "The Vengeance Factor" "Tin Man" S4 "Suddenly Human" "Galaxy’s Child" "Night Terrors" "Identity Crisis" S5 "Violations" "The Outcast" "Time’s Arrow" S6 "Aquiel "Birthright "Suspicions S7 "Liaisons" "Interface" "Gambit" "Force of Nature" "Sub Rosa" "Journey’s End" "Emergence"