Offensive, JK, or not?
Worst TNG Episode Ever?
- Thread starter Chief Medical Officer
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Offensive, JK, or not?
I found Sub Rosa pretty horrid, but laughable especially towards the end. And Genesis is hated by a lot of people but I found it amusing as well - Shades of Grey was definitely shit, no doubt.
But I think my personal least favorite definitely has to be Cost of Living. It's just so bland...
But I think my personal least favorite definitely has to be Cost of Living. It's just so bland...
Well, normally TNG 2 parters are TNG's strong suits. The big exception to that is Descent. I think Spiner plays evil Data in a hamsfisted way. The outcome of leaving Data alone with the sweet talking borg could be seen from a mile off. The usual trope about being too late to thwart a fleeing shuttle is present. The whole concept of the Borg allying with Lore is very contrived. There's a ship on the prowl that's more powerful than a Romulan Warbird that can and wants to destroy the Enterprise but Picard sees fit to beam the entire crew (!) onto the planet to recover one man whilst leaving the ship to the doctor and a handful of nervous junior officers! And Picard's eventual escape is very slapstick. Just pull out a very obvious pipe protruding from the borg-guard and viola, you're away! All in all, a pair of weird and lacklustre episodes.
"Darmok" is one of my favorite episodes in all of Star Trek, but my enjoyment of it isn't predicated on the Tamarian language being either anything plausible or anything that needs fleshing out or fixing. The main point is that it is completely incomprehensible at first. Arguably, if the language did make sense, it would lose some of its aura of incomprehensibility that makes the sense of bewilderment a real thing that we can feel coming out of the story and share in.
The climax of the episode is of course Picard conversing in the alien language at the end. We understand what both he and the Tamarian officer are saying, but only because we have experienced the events in the episode. For me, one of the main ideas of the episode is that to understand language, beyond just having a common frame of reference, one has to imagine events from the viewpoint of the speaker, to construct a shared experience. In addition, the story of the episode has Picard making a choice to try to bridge the gulf of bewilderment in order to communicate, for the mutual benefit of the both the Federation and the Tamarians, and do so despite the temptation to mistrust and become adversarial in the face of potential hostility. Deciding whether to try to bridge the gulf with one's potential enemy is a very basic situation that we face and grapple with today.
These are all profound ideas, themselves communicated by allegory in what to me is an excellent episode.
http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/202.htm
As for my least favorite episode in TNG, there are many to choose from. "Journey's End" will do. Talk about deus ex machina!
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I never found it offensive. I actually thought it was progressive seeing lots of black faces on Trek and I wanted to see the Ligonians again.
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Yeah, DS9's 7th season was problably the best of all the 7th seasons.
But Voyager's "highwater mark" were Season 3 & 4.
I can't believe someone doesn't like this one, I love it!
I'm not going to include "Shades of Grey", because that's a non-episode.
So, I'll say "Conspiracy". Clichéd plot, pointless gore, no depth,... the only redeeming feature I can find is the set at the beginning, that volcano where the captains meet.
"The Game" is a close second, though.
So, I'll say "Conspiracy". Clichéd plot, pointless gore, no depth,... the only redeeming feature I can find is the set at the beginning, that volcano where the captains meet.
"The Game" is a close second, though.
I don't believe I saw that one. I never liked Lwaxanas character, in any of her appearances.
There are some episodes that I know are bad and I avoid them on purpose, but I didn't remember much if anything about 'Man of the People', so I made a brave decision and watched it. Shouldn't have. A part of me died inside, so bad!
What do you think... Should I avoid episodes like 'Sub Rosa', 'Dark Page' and other ones good as those, because it has been so long since I watched tehm, I can't remember what is going on in them, exept some random moments and stuff from Memory Alpha. I think I should avoid them.
What do you think... Should I avoid episodes like 'Sub Rosa', 'Dark Page' and other ones good as those, because it has been so long since I watched tehm, I can't remember what is going on in them, exept some random moments and stuff from Memory Alpha. I think I should avoid them.
With lesser, unmemorable episodes, I tend not to remember the titles. A small hint as to the plot of these would help, please. Maybe it's just my problem. I know every TOS title by heart, no trouble, but there's just so much Trek now, so much of it blends together. I know I can Google. Don't bother to inform me of that. That makes a job out of something meant to be fun.
For me, many of the bland titles of forgettable episodes all sound the same.
There's just something about it that I didn't get on board with. Not a particularly 'bad' episode, just not one I really enjoyed all that much.
Force. Of. Nature.
"Shades of Grey" was a clip show, but, meh, it was early on, and there was lots to see...MST3K it and enjoy.
"Code of Honor" was interesting if you looked past the quaint racism. The politics were intriguing, and the difference of aliens not being the same mostly white people was kind of cool. I liked the idea of a planet that only evolved black humanoids.
But "Force of Nature" was the most simplistic, heavy handed, dreadfully dull, and inexcusably late in the series run episode that utterly revolted me watching it. This is the ultimate filler episode of the series for me.
"Shades of Grey" was a clip show, but, meh, it was early on, and there was lots to see...MST3K it and enjoy.
"Code of Honor" was interesting if you looked past the quaint racism. The politics were intriguing, and the difference of aliens not being the same mostly white people was kind of cool. I liked the idea of a planet that only evolved black humanoids.
But "Force of Nature" was the most simplistic, heavy handed, dreadfully dull, and inexcusably late in the series run episode that utterly revolted me watching it. This is the ultimate filler episode of the series for me.
"Force of Nature" is fine.
The last time I watched Inner Light was because of the new bluray. I wanted to see if the lighting looked different and lost some of it's soft glow with new HD clarity. I also hadn't watched it in awhile and sometimes what we think is great loses it's luster over time. i'm happy to say it simply looked better, the new digital matte is way better, and the episode should have won a lighting Emmy
. It really is every bit as good as we think it is.I've argued this before at length, but I do not see "Code of Honor" as racist. There was no intention of racism. In fact, casting an all-black planet was in part to address the in-universe use of all white planets for aliens in TOS. There are other reasons I won't go into at the moment, since this isn't a "Code of Honor" thread, but as poorly executed as it was, this criticism is not legitimate.
Naked Now is a solid though not great episode. It's biggest sin is the timing of it's airing.
I'm generally amenable to many differing opinions on episodes here. I can accept them if i don't agree with them. However, I'll filibuster "Masks".
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