# Dumbest. Episode. Ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [May 3, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501 "2023-05-03T15:05:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/41 "2023-05-03T23:13:36Z")
Voyager had so many terrible plot devices. The time that they were able to punch a hole in the event horizon of a black hole, and the then escape through it, still sticks in my mind 25+ years later. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/42 "2023-05-04T00:51:50Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > > > The stupidest thing about this is, shouldn’t they be spending all their time encasing him in an immense tomb? Why would his door have an unlockable lock, and not be bolted shut? > > IIRC the Devil was imprisoned by some holy staff that barred the door. The stupid part was telling the reporter Don’t move the staff then leaving him alone. Yes it was a holy staff. It was the TZ episode _The Howling Man_. I like the episode. Maybe because John Carradine plays the monk with his usual scene chewery. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/43 "2023-05-04T01:07:19Z")
Damn. I generally thought Star Trek TNG was pretty good for its time, but there was one episode that was excruciatingly bad. Alas, to paraphrase Julie Brown, “It was so stupid, you know what it was 'bout? Well, I forgot what it was about, 'cause it was _so stupid!_” I agree with @Scoobysnax, though - Voyager had more than its share of astonishingly dumb episodes. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/44 "2023-05-04T02:57:34Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#): > > The time that they were able to punch a hole in the event horizon of a black hole, and the then escape through it, still sticks in my mind 25+ years later. I still remember the episode of _ **Space: 1999** _ where they flew into and out of a black hole and maybe met God. There was a Gerry Anderson pilot called _ **Into Infinity** _ that was basically _ **Lost in Space** _ meets _ **Space: 1999** _, and they did the same thing but emerged on the other side of the Universe. _“We needn’t worry about flying into a black hole. Nobody’s done it before, so we don’t know what’s going to happen.”_ Yeah, right. 🥺 ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/45 "2023-05-04T03:04:53Z")
The first episode of the Twilight Zone is this guy walking around a town that’s completely abandoned. He has no idea how he got there or why there isn’t anyone in the town. He eventually goes crazy and we find out he’s an astronaut that’s training for traveling around the moon. He’ll lose contact with Earth when he’s on the far side, so this simulation is to prepare him for that. Of course, the situations aren’t remotely the same. One is a completely bizarre experience where you have no idea what’s going on or happening to you, and the other is “hey Jim, we’ll see you in two hours, keep an eye on the instrument panel.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/46 "2023-05-04T12:02:59Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > I know I’ve seen some dumb episodes of a lot of shows, but the only one that stands out in my mind is _Star Trek: Voyager_ where Paris and Janeway reach warp 10. > > The bizarre consequences of that being they’re everywhere at once and can somehow comprehend everything for some reason. They then hyper-evolve to a creature that looks like a big evolutionary step backwards, even if evolution worked like that, and mate. > > I may have misremembered the details, the episode is so stupid I watched it once, over 20 years ago. and not again. Conversely, there’s the ST:TNG one (“Genesis”) where Dr Bev has a little oopsie and unleashes a devolution virus on the ship. Troi becomes a frog person. Picard starts turning into a lemur. Data’s cat Spot devolves into an iguana. It all gets laughed off at the end despite several crew members dying. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/47 "2023-05-04T12:58:05Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > He has no idea how he got there or why there isn’t anyone in the town. He eventually goes crazy and we find out he’s an astronaut that’s training for traveling around the moon. He’ll lose contact with Earth when he’s on the far side, so this simulation is to prepare him for that. > > Of course, the situations aren’t remotely the same. One is a completely bizarre experience where you have no idea what’s going on or happening to you, and the other is “hey Jim, we’ll see you in two hours, keep an eye on the instrument panel.” IIRC, you’ve got the details a little mixed up: he _wasn’t_ walking around in a deserted town that’s filled with tantalizing hints that people had just been there; that _wasn’t_ the plan for prepping him for the mission. It’s that, while being prepped for the mission, he went crazy and so _then_ started hallucinating that he was, y’know, wandering through some town. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/48 "2023-05-04T13:13:48Z")
_ **The Principal and the Pauper** _. /thread ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/49 "2023-05-04T13:15:51Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > being able to remove (and later reattach) Spock’s brain Without disturbing a hair on his Vulcan head. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/50 "2023-05-04T13:35:05Z")
AFAIK, they never explained how there could even be a human/Vulcan hybrid. So that throws everything Spock related into dispute. I demand a certain level of plausibility in my made for tv science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/51 "2023-05-04T13:39:16Z")
FWIW they did explain it in the novel [Spock’s World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spock%27s_World), though that came out 20 years later. Basically lots of genetic engineering between Sarek & Amanda. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/52 "2023-05-04T13:43:48Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > **Breaking Bad** - The Fly > > Easily the strangest and most meaningless of episodes. Breaking Bad isn’t rewatchable in general, it’s dark and emotional turmoil is not fun to rewatch, but I certainly never need to see that episode again, syndicated or otherwise. I second this! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/53 "2023-05-04T13:51:46Z")
It did have a pretty dramatic moment when the drug addled Walt almost confessed to letting Jane die. Other than that it was comedic. I’ll argue that one of the falls he took trying to get the fly should have at least bruised a few ribs. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/54 "2023-05-04T14:08:34Z")
I’ll see you and raise you **Saddlesore Galactica**. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/55 "2023-05-04T14:23:51Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > IIRC, you’ve got the details a little mixed up: he _wasn’t_ walking around in a deserted town that’s filled with tantalizing hints that people had just been there; that _wasn’t_ the plan for prepping him for the mission. It’s that, while being prepped for the mission, he went crazy and so _then_ started hallucinating that he was, y’know, wandering through some town. He didn’t just happen to go crazy; the hallucination was induced by being confined for days in an isolation box. They actually did tests like this in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/56 "2023-05-04T14:25:19Z")
I had to look it up. Your synopsis sucks 😆 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/57 "2023-05-04T17:07:02Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > FWIW they did explain it in the novel [Spock’s World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spock%27s_World), though that came out 20 years later. Basically lots of genetic engineering between Sarek & Amanda. Even before that, Roddenberry touched on it in _ **The Making of Star Trek** _ (1968): _Conception and pregnancy when properly planned and controlled by technicians of the highly advanced Vulcan school of medicine can be brought to full term._ (P. 299) In other words, Spock was something of a test-tube baby. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/58 "2023-05-04T17:15:42Z")
The latest episode of Ted Lasso was a low point in the series. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/59 "2023-05-04T17:53:57Z")
Do you remember that episode of Happy Days where the Fonz jumps the shark? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501/60 "2023-05-04T18:08:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I don’t think it was ever explained how the “accelerant” got into their water—a failed medical experiment, maybe. But there was a similar episode of _ **The Wild, Wild West** _ in which an evil scientist concocted such a potion. I think Gene Coon was behind both episodes as writer and/or producer. Polluted water was the in-universe “explanation” of the acceleration. Yes, Gene used the WWW idea when he wrote the episode for ST:TOS. Probably the stupidest episode of BtVS was “Beer Bad.” That the episode was written by people who should know better makes it all the worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-episode-ever/983501.md?page=4)