Worst DS9 Episode?
- Thread starter mike2363
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Move Along Home...awful
Its pretty universal that episodes like Move Along Home and the Ferengi episodes, especially Profit and Lace are perfect examples as some of the worst DS9 had to offer. My outside the box episode is Hard Time. It has a very interesting concept but i always had a lot of difficulty watching it. It may not be the worst but for me it was up there.
Some of the Ferengi comedy episodes were dire. But then, some were quite good. I liked Little Green Men, and The Magnificent Ferengi. And some of the more dramatic Quark episodes were good. I enjoyed Business as Usual, and Body Parts
What is so bad about Move Along Home?
Is it the hopscotch scene?
...
Okay. It's a liiitle bit silly, but There's some good stuff in this episode. I much prefer over some other Season 1 episodes, like:
Babel -the one where everybody starts talking crazy
Captive Pursuit -the one where O'Brien gets a Gamma quadrant pet ...I mean friend.
Q-Less -...
Battle Lines -An awful, awful end to Kai Opaka's story
The season 2 episode Sanctuary
Move Along Home has some great character development. In the beginning, everyone is getting ready for a "first contact. The most important thing ever." They get all dressed up in their Class A's and await this new gamma quadrant race, only to have their expectations subverted.
The Wadi don't care about Starfleet's silly formalities. They wanna know where the casinos are at! We get to learn a lot about quark in this episode. Yes, he cheats, like any responsible gambling house, but we learn he also has a conscience. He doesn't want to see anyone get hurt. There's that great scene where he begs on he's knees doing that Ferengi prayer thing with his hands. "Please...PLEASE!!" The Wadi guy just shrugs and says "Okay, we'll just let the game choose randomly." Odo face palms. It's great stuff!
It's also DS9's first holodeck episode, and took a rather creative approach to it.
Is it the hopscotch scene?
...
Okay. It's a liiitle bit silly, but There's some good stuff in this episode. I much prefer over some other Season 1 episodes, like:
Babel -the one where everybody starts talking crazy
Captive Pursuit -the one where O'Brien gets a Gamma quadrant pet ...I mean friend.
Q-Less -...
Battle Lines -An awful, awful end to Kai Opaka's story
The season 2 episode Sanctuary
Move Along Home has some great character development. In the beginning, everyone is getting ready for a "first contact. The most important thing ever." They get all dressed up in their Class A's and await this new gamma quadrant race, only to have their expectations subverted.
The Wadi don't care about Starfleet's silly formalities. They wanna know where the casinos are at! We get to learn a lot about quark in this episode. Yes, he cheats, like any responsible gambling house, but we learn he also has a conscience. He doesn't want to see anyone get hurt. There's that great scene where he begs on he's knees doing that Ferengi prayer thing with his hands. "Please...PLEASE!!" The Wadi guy just shrugs and says "Okay, we'll just let the game choose randomly." Odo face palms. It's great stuff!
It's also DS9's first holodeck episode, and took a rather creative approach to it.
Aggressive. Adversarial.
But seriously, our first look at Wolf 359, with Captain Martok/Bolian, the creepy new station, Picard vs Sisko... You must be joking, right? There's worse pacing and prophets in vastly inferior eps.
Noticing some episodes that are most mentioned on this list...
"MOVE ALONG HOME" - I really liked the concept. The execution was lacking, but I don't think it was as terrible as people say. It DOES feel like a TNG episode, though, so in that regard it definitely felt off.
"THE STORYTELLER" - I have to give this one a mulligan for two reasons. First, it had some good Jake/Nog scenes. Second, it was basically the birthplace of the O'Brien/Bashir friendship, one of my favorite aspects of the series.
"IF WISHES WERE HORSES" - Just like "MOVE ALONG HOME", this felt more like a TNG episode. I still enjoyed it a lot.
"THE FORSAKEN" - Not a great episode by any means, but it fid have its charms. The wig part of the turbolift scene was well done. One thing that did bother me was that we never saw or heard anything about PUP again.
"MELORA" - This WAS a very predictable episode, and felt like it dragged. I didn't care for it much.
"SANCTUARY" - I give this a mulligan for one reason... it was the first true failure of the Universal Translator shown.
"MERIDIAN" - Definitely agree, bad episode. Only saving grace... Jeffrey Combs' first STAR TREK appearance.
"HEART OF STONE" - One saving grace... the Nog storyline.
"THE MUSE" - Interesting idea, a Creativity Vampire. Other than that concept, can't really defend it.
"THE QUICKENING" - Great Bashir episode, and shows just how despicable the Dominion can be.
"LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN..." - The ONLY thing I can say about this episode... nice look into Worf's childhood, which explains a lot of his rigidity.
"VALIANT" - I liked the idea, and thought it was well done. A shame to lose a Defiant class ship, though.
"PROFIT AND LACE" - Absolutely NO redeeming value to this episode. Very worst of the series, in my opinion. Possibly of the franchise.
"TAKE ME OUT TO THE HOLOSUITE" - Not a big fan of the episode, but it was a fun use of all virtually all characters.
"COVENANT" - Acting wise, good episode. I like the attempt at seeing things from the perspective of a cult.
"PRODIGAL DAUGHTER" - Seemed to drag through the entire episode.
"THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK" - Terrible end to the Mirror Universe outings.
"FIELD OF FIRE" - Hard to find any good in this episode, though it was an interesting idea to see Ezri have an imaginary person helping her solve a crime.
"MOVE ALONG HOME" - I really liked the concept. The execution was lacking, but I don't think it was as terrible as people say. It DOES feel like a TNG episode, though, so in that regard it definitely felt off.
"THE STORYTELLER" - I have to give this one a mulligan for two reasons. First, it had some good Jake/Nog scenes. Second, it was basically the birthplace of the O'Brien/Bashir friendship, one of my favorite aspects of the series.
"IF WISHES WERE HORSES" - Just like "MOVE ALONG HOME", this felt more like a TNG episode. I still enjoyed it a lot.
"THE FORSAKEN" - Not a great episode by any means, but it fid have its charms. The wig part of the turbolift scene was well done. One thing that did bother me was that we never saw or heard anything about PUP again.
"MELORA" - This WAS a very predictable episode, and felt like it dragged. I didn't care for it much.
"SANCTUARY" - I give this a mulligan for one reason... it was the first true failure of the Universal Translator shown.
"MERIDIAN" - Definitely agree, bad episode. Only saving grace... Jeffrey Combs' first STAR TREK appearance.
"HEART OF STONE" - One saving grace... the Nog storyline.
"THE MUSE" - Interesting idea, a Creativity Vampire. Other than that concept, can't really defend it.
"THE QUICKENING" - Great Bashir episode, and shows just how despicable the Dominion can be.
"LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN..." - The ONLY thing I can say about this episode... nice look into Worf's childhood, which explains a lot of his rigidity.
"VALIANT" - I liked the idea, and thought it was well done. A shame to lose a Defiant class ship, though.
"PROFIT AND LACE" - Absolutely NO redeeming value to this episode. Very worst of the series, in my opinion. Possibly of the franchise.
"TAKE ME OUT TO THE HOLOSUITE" - Not a big fan of the episode, but it was a fun use of all virtually all characters.
"COVENANT" - Acting wise, good episode. I like the attempt at seeing things from the perspective of a cult.
"PRODIGAL DAUGHTER" - Seemed to drag through the entire episode.
"THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOAK" - Terrible end to the Mirror Universe outings.
"FIELD OF FIRE" - Hard to find any good in this episode, though it was an interesting idea to see Ezri have an imaginary person helping her solve a crime.
Field of Fire was one of the few times Dax was interesting, and probably the only time Ezra was. The idea is fun, and I'm glad they had the guts to make a twisted host part of the Dax history. Also, that rifle was wicked, and I loved the killer's last words.
I liked a few of these more than you. I really liked TakeMe Out ... I also think Field of Fire, Covenant, Storyteller and Valiant were solid .. beyond that I think you pretty much nailed it.
But beyond Come Along Home and Wishes .. all the others are watchable/even a cool moment or two to make it worthwhile.
Meridian isn't too bad the romance is the most bearable part.
Fascination could have been handled better-what happens when all the crew's subconscious feelings and urges are brought to the open-interesting idea
Fascination could have been handled better-what happens when all the crew's subconscious feelings and urges are brought to the open-interesting idea
Definitely something from season six or seven. The one with Sisko unveiled as "part-prophet" is a low point for sure.
Can't believe somebody said "Emissary"... this is one of the BEST episodes of DS9 in my opinion!
Can't believe somebody said "Emissary"... this is one of the BEST episodes of DS9 in my opinion!
I have to say, "Profit And Lace" fascinates me today... in a dark, unsettling way. Like the way I'm fascinated by "Code Of Honor", or 80's teen sex comedies that treat drugging girls as just a wacky way to get laid, or the racist crows in Pinocchio, or outrageous "Oriental" villains in early Batman comics. It's illuminating to consider the power structure that at all levels just waves this through and thinks it's perfectly well suited for mainstream American society of the mid 90's.
I feel like one of it's most gross details is one that I don't often see remarked upon (of course, the episode is so full of gross details, it's hard to focus on any one in particular) -- that it opens with Quark explicitly extorting sex from a woman by threatening her livelihood, played as a fun sex game that she's ultimately really into. Sickening. It's hard to even get past that scene.
I feel like one of it's most gross details is one that I don't often see remarked upon (of course, the episode is so full of gross details, it's hard to focus on any one in particular) -- that it opens with Quark explicitly extorting sex from a woman by threatening her livelihood, played as a fun sex game that she's ultimately really into. Sickening. It's hard to even get past that scene.
Well put, Sakonna! There are some really creepy things in our culture. I accidentally saw a few minutes of some trash film the other day, in which a father has to beat up another man in order to impress his son, who is looking on with glee at the impending beating. Great values! That's partly why ratings are so bogus. Even a show that is rated acceptable for young people is likely to be riddled with disgusting implications and horrendous life lessons.
As for 80's comedies, wasn't there a scene in Revenge of the Nerds where the "hero" basically rapes somebody? How are there no standards other than language/violence/nudity being applied? Some movies should be NC-17 just for having ideas about the world and how to treat each other that a stupid person wouldn't question.
I'd argue that having Quark be scum is acceptable character development/revelation, but it does sound like an inexcusable scene. (I forget this ep because I remember hating it...so I never watch it).
Also, pretty sure them racist crows were in Dumbo. Weren't they the ones saying "I've seen a house fly!" "I saw a dragon fly!" "I never seen an elephant fly!" Last time I saw Dumbo, I didn't even get the offensive stereotypes, much less the pink elephants.
As for 80's comedies, wasn't there a scene in Revenge of the Nerds where the "hero" basically rapes somebody? How are there no standards other than language/violence/nudity being applied? Some movies should be NC-17 just for having ideas about the world and how to treat each other that a stupid person wouldn't question.
I'd argue that having Quark be scum is acceptable character development/revelation, but it does sound like an inexcusable scene. (I forget this ep because I remember hating it...so I never watch it).
Also, pretty sure them racist crows were in Dumbo. Weren't they the ones saying "I've seen a house fly!" "I saw a dragon fly!" "I never seen an elephant fly!" Last time I saw Dumbo, I didn't even get the offensive stereotypes, much less the pink elephants.
Just last month I rewatched Dumbo for the first time since I was a kid. All the other times I saw it, I was too little to see anything untoward about the depiction of the crows in that movie, and honestly, now that I've seen it as an adult, I don't see them as anything to get that worked up about. They're black so they can't sound black? Granted, it's fairly lazy to have them speak in that stereotypical way, but they're not really offensive stereotypes- I mean, they prove to be nice and helpful characters. There are way more cringeworthy examples of racism in cartoons than the crows in Dumbo.
I actually also recently rewatched Sixteen Candles for the first time in decades, but unlike Dumbo, I found it to be not as good as I remembered and a lot more problematic for various reasons: the implication of date rape, Dong, etc. On the other hand, the aforementioned scene in Revenge of the Nerds always unsettled me (I also questioned how Robert Carradine's lovemaking abilities could be that amazing when he doesn't even take his helmet off during the act).
I actually also recently rewatched Sixteen Candles for the first time in decades, but unlike Dumbo, I found it to be not as good as I remembered and a lot more problematic for various reasons: the implication of date rape, Dong, etc. On the other hand, the aforementioned scene in Revenge of the Nerds always unsettled me (I also questioned how Robert Carradine's lovemaking abilities could be that amazing when he doesn't even take his helmet off during the act).
I admit I watched Dumbo and figured out how Disney would recast the crows using African-American comedians... the dialogue would be tweaked for modern sensibilities, of course.
The episodes in Season 7 that waste time trying to establish the Ezri Dax character less than a season before the end of the entire series.
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