Haha. I think one must be a good sport, no matter what you obsess about, be it a tv franchise, music.... there'll always be people taking the piss. So very little gets me truly embarrassed. I'm aware of my obsessive compulsive tendencies. ...and I'm glad we agree on Armageddon. *shudder*
Ladies and gentlemen, my I submit "Force of Nature" as the single worst episode of TNG ever. In no particular order: 2. Shades of Grey, 3. Code of Honor, 4. Lonely Among Us, 5. Outrageous Okona, 6. Dark Page, 7. Homeward, 8. Aquiel, 9. Justice, 10. The Royale
"Homeward" felt wrong the entire time. "Rascals" at least you could throw your hands up and laugh and play with. The reason that puts this simply bad episode on the worst list: that the Federation and our heroes let the aliens be destroyed. This after years of their doing the opposite, making a Mary Sue of the guest star for simply having scruples. It's jarring incongruity for the sake of gimmick. Yeah, yeah, Sarjenka. But did she have a pulse at the end of that so much earlier episode? Overall, it's the like the racism of Code of Honor: if the aliens weren't stereotypes, it'd just be a bad episode, that they were, put it on the worst list. The episode's makers weren't racist. They just really dropped the ball. Also, Worf has a human brother Paul Sorvino, who never stopped being Paul Sorvino, and we're learning of this in Season 7? Ditto Ben Vereen as LaForge's father. Worf without the forehead was Michael Dorn, not Worf disguised as a human. Everything about the aliens being saved was called in and entirely forgettable. The suicide at the end was a bad joke rather than a tragedy. Poorly directed. "Dark Page" disrespected the characters of Lwaxana and Troi, and created a child only to kill it. Blech. The aliens, production values, and directing were again assembly line, forgettable, and lowered the whole of the series. Both these episodes, and "Aquiel" and "Force of Nature", are the types they're talking about when they talk about being out of ideas that week but they've got 26 episodes they have to produce. "Emergence", "Bloodlines", "Eye of the Beholder", consider yourselves lucky I felt bad enough submitting a list of ten when five were requested not to make it a list of thirteen. P.S. I tend to forgive earlier bad episodes more than later ones. The earlier ones have a certain precious watchability whereas with the later ones you know they knew better. Still, most those on my ten list are earlier episodes.
I'd probably fiddle with the order a little (Code of Honor's pure racism put it up top for me), but this is a list I can get behind. Although I have a soft spot for Dark Page. But I have only seen it once so maybe it needs a rewatch?
Some posts on Trektoday have me questioning Trek fandom... I always thought it was too many black people onscreen for some people (i.e. whites) to handle. I've only heard whites complain of the so-called racism. I haven't heard any black fans (or fans of color) or Michael Dorn or LeVar Burton complain of the show. That's a problem there. I actually spoke of this episode with a Asian-American friend of mine. (Basically we agreed there was something wrong with that picture). But hey, people will always think what they want. It's just...so...odd.
For me, the worst 5 (with #1 being the worst): [5] Sub Rosa [4] Genesis [3] Code of Honor [2] Justice [1] Conspiracy I despise "Conspiracy".
I may need to rewatch "Eye of the Beholder" because there were some things there that were really interesting. Why do you despise "Conspiracy", Axiom?
In no particular order: "Justice" "Code of Honour" "Sub Rosa" "Genesis" "Masks" To each their own, of course, but I cannot stand any of those episodes. If I could delete them from my DVDs, I'd do it.
Okay, I guess it was because the episode presents an outdated tribal african stereotype, plus the acting was horrendous which made it feel like something from the early 1950's. But I dunno, if you don't find it offensive then maybe it isn't! It's still a really crap episode regardless.
If that were true, I--a 34-year old black male...i.e. someone who would know more about stereotypes towards the black-American or African community--would be making a fuss. Of course, If it was racist. Again, the only people complaining of this so-called racism are whites. If it was the 1950s, we wouldn't have had characters like Yareena or Lutan; and Picard wouldn't have had to 'ask' to get Lt. Yar back. (We probably wouldn't have any dialogue from the Ligonians; they would be speaking some gutter language, etc....). Yar and Troi--two attractive white females--would not be speaking about being attracted to Lutan, a dark-skinned individual. As aforementioned, Yareena wouldn't have been depicted as an attractive, strong-willed woman. Basically, what we saw in 'Code of Honor' is something we would not see in a 1950 film. I'm pretty sure there were people saying the majority dark-skinned population of Zion from The Matrix films was racist as well. Director Reginald Hudlin had the opinion that the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang was derided by some whites because of its majority black cast. So yeah, there are those--whites-- who are uncomfortable when the majority doesn't look like them. It unfortunate, but hey, the world is getting more diverse each year. I personally want to remake Zulu (based on the Anglo-Zulu wars of the 19th century); I actually considered THE original movie made in the 1960s--released after the original Star Trek--a bit racist. (Of course, there are white males who hail it as a great film...go figure). ^^
I certainly don't have any issues with that! I hope that's not what you're insinuating. My issue was with perceived stereotypical, two-dimensional characterisation in the episode (which, for the record, isn't limited to the black characters).
It's been too long since I've seen any TNG to remember specifics, but any of the really boring season 5 episodes would be in there for me – especially "Masterpiece Society," which was Chinese Water Torture dull. In general, I would say boring TNG was more painful than technically bad TNG; some of the episodes listed here, such as "Masks," I can enjoy quite a bit because they're still interesting, even if they're retarded.
I rate Trek on rewatchability. From best to worst: 5 - The Bonding - I can't stand that kid's hair!! Boring show, too. 4 - Homeward - We finally meet Worf's foster brother... and he sucks. 3 - Force of Nature - 42 minutes go by, nothing happens. I remember one of the commercial breaks begins as LaForge and Data are in the jefferies tubes having a serious discussion about Data's cat spot. Just... wow. 2 - Shades of Grey - A very shitty clip show. Nothing good about it. 1 - Dark Page - Lwaxana proves she's even more irritating that usual while dealing with a traumatic memory. Basically, I consider these ass because they move slow, there is little science fiction involved, etc. I love the lowbrow Code of Honor, Justice and their ilk because they are so fucking fun to watch. Season one if so awful it's just great fun to watch. It's like they were deliberately trying to recreate the cheese from TOS and it was fantastic. Love Genesis and Sub Rosa, too. Very comical outings. Ha! Well said! Yes, when TNG was dull it truly was that kind of dull. I can totally understand this point of view. Seasons 6 and 7 certainly got a little... weird. Man, is it just me or did TNG have the most radical departure from it's launch to it's finale than any other Trek series?? From the look/feel of it, to the stories, to the characters. Not that that's bad or anything...