# The "Spock's Brain" thread -- worst episodes of your favorite series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246 "2003-06-02T23:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/21 "2003-06-03T13:06:30Z")
OK one from each: ST:TOS - And the Children Shall Lead (as well as all the other crap episodes mentioned in this thread). ST:TNG - Skin Of Evil (the one where Tasha Yar is killed. I think the producer must have been on holiday that week–the quality of the film is awful), Legacy, The Perfect Mate ST:DS9 - Umm… Too many. Probably that one where Ezri Dax goes back to her home planet and does precisely nothing for 45 minutes. I can’t even remember what it was called. Meridian? (the one where the planet’s going to disappear in twenty-four hours or something). His Way (or pretty much any other Vic Fontaine episode). ST:VOY - Again, there’s a fair few. A very up and down series. Perhaps ‘Jetrel’ but maybe that’s cause I’ve seen it far too many times. ‘Threshold’ is crap too. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/22 "2003-06-03T13:07:33Z")
Oh, and ‘The Simpsons’–any musical episode! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/23 "2003-06-03T13:35:53Z")
BtVS: Worst ep has to be Where the Wild Things Are. Everybody’s trapped in a house with evil spirits powered by Buffy and Riley’s shag force. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/24 "2003-06-03T13:39:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Scrivener \* > \*\*[slight hijack] Mick Belker got KIA in “Hill Street Blues”? I remember the one where Ed Marinaro’s “Joe Coffey” got killed, and who can forget the first Sergeant checking out “whilst in the act,” as Renko put it. Bummer! [/hijack] \*\* You are correct. Coffey was killed. Mick did stop a cap, but he survived. ---
**Author:** ![leechbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@leechbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leechbabe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/25 "2003-06-03T13:46:09Z")
The episode of Twin Peaks where Miguel Ferrer’s Acerbic Forensic Examiner comes back to town, walks into the room and he and the Sherriff (Who’s been his mortal enemy since day one) hug each other like old buddies. Nothing like doing a complete 180 on a character to screw up a perfectly good episode. Sports Night - The letter to home episode. Nothing like completely ripping off MASH (without irony). Dawson’s Creek - This ones had it’s fair share, but the Blair Witch ripoff episode took the cake. X-Files - The Finale. Talk about phoning it in. Roseanne - The Finale. It difficult to remember, but Roseanne in it’s prime was a brilliant show, up until it’s star started letting her personal life creep into the show. However after two very poor seasons. the finale showed exactly how poor it became. It waas a fairly average show as finales go, until the final ten minutes, which consisted of Roseanne at a typewriter revealing the last two seasons had been made up by her, her daughters had actually married each others husbands, her sister was gay not her mother(Did any show match Roseanne in the Token Gay Character tally?) and that her husband was actually dead. Not only confusing, but told in such a tedious montone that it made me very glad the series was over. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/26 "2003-06-03T13:52:44Z")
The episode of Twin Peaks where Miguel Ferrer’s Acerbic Forensic Examiner comes back to town, walks into the room and he and the Sherriff (Who’s been his mortal enemy since day one) hug each other like old buddies. Nothing like doing a complete 180 on a character to screw up a perfectly good episode. Sports Night - The letter to home episode. Nothing like completely ripping off MASH (without irony). Dawson’s Creek - This ones had it’s fair share, but the Blair Witch ripoff episode took the cake. X-Files - The Finale. Talk about phoning it in. Roseanne - The Finale. It difficult to remember, but Roseanne in it’s prime was a brilliant show, up until it’s star started letting her personal life creep into the show. However after two very poor seasons. the finale showed exactly how poor it became. It waas a fairly average show as finales go, until the final ten minutes, which consisted of Roseanne at a typewriter revealing the last two seasons had been made up by her, her daughters had actually married each others husbands, her sister was gay not her mother(Did any show match Roseanne in the Token Gay Character tally?) and that her husband was actually dead. Not only confusing, but told in such a tedious montone that it made me very glad the series was over. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/27 "2003-06-03T13:53:52Z")
Sorry, bit of a split personality tonight… ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/28 "2003-06-03T14:51:10Z")
Daria: The one with the ‘Holiday Island’. Truly a WTF episode. > [@](#): > > The episode from The Simpsons when Bart gets the horse is pretty bad too. Yes. Horrible horrible horrible horrible. Horrible. However, I’m not sure whether it ranks as the single worst episode. The one where Homer and Bart get tethered together offers a pretty stiff challenge. ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/29 "2003-06-03T15:01:53Z")
Basically, any “holiday themed” episode of a series that doesn’t take place in our “normal” world. Unless the characters are actually _celebrating_ Christmas, Halloween, etc. (in which case the fact that they are celebrating the holidy becomes integral to the plot), throwing in holiday-related references or themes just jars. This is espeically true when the episodes later get run in syndication at all times of the year. For example, the Halloween-themed “Catspaw” episode of ST:TOS wherein the crew got to run around in a haunted castle for an hour. Sure, maybe it was cute when it was originally run on October 27 (1967), but seeing it at other times just renders it incomprehensible and very, very stupid. [The exception to this rule being, of course, the annual Simpson’s “Treehouse of Terror” episodes.] Barry ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/30 "2003-06-03T15:03:59Z")
WKRP in Cincinatti Les goes to Washington for a big network audition and Mother Nessman shows up. No pacing, no laughs. ER Abby or someone puts a vibrator in Weaver’s locker and the gang gets sent to sexual harrassment class. The episode played out like “The Breakfast Club.” ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/31 "2003-06-03T21:37:16Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The episode from The Simpsons when Bart gets the horse is pretty bad too. > > Yes. Horrible horrible horrible horrible. Horrible. > > However, I’m not sure whether it ranks as the single worst episode. The one where Homer and Bart get tethered together offers a pretty stiff challenge. While both are worthy suggestions, neither plummeted to the depths of “Kill the Alligator and Run” AKA the Spring Break episode with Kid Rock. Worst (non-clip show) episode ever. Star Trek: “The Omega Glory” (Yangs and Comms) stunk. At least “Spock’s Brain” and Space Hippies can be enjoyed on a camp level. DS9: The one where Lwaxana Troi’s illness causes everyone on the station to lose control over their emotions. All of DS9’s attempts at comedy sucked (except Trials and Tribble-ations), but this added in the most repellent recurring character. C’mon, Roddenberry was already dead, no need to kiss up by putting his wife on. X-Files: “First Person Shooter” was stupid (but the chick was hot), “Jump the Shark” pissed me off by killing off my favorite minor characters, but “Hollywood AD” takes the prize as worst ever. Started out promising, but the second half was a completely self-indulgent inside joke laden crap-fest. Worst line: Scully, refering to Tea Leoni’s character, “I think she likes you, Mulder”. See, cuz in real life, hold on, wait for it…the actors are married!! Ha ha ha ha, oh David, you kill me!! Although I did like all the other episodes Duchovney directed. Fawlty Towers: “The Anniversary Party”. The only blemish on what was otherwise the greatest comedy show in the history of television. Basil was just too damn stupid in this one, the final scene in the bedroom just seemed forced. Although everything is relative. The worst Fawlty Towers was still better than 90-95% of all the other stuff to hit the airwaves. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/32 "2003-06-03T21:50:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Cowboy Bebop episode four. I still cannot actually describe _how_ this episode is bad, yet I know that it is, in fact, bad. It’s completely out of tone with the rest of the series. I pretend it never happened. Which episode is this? I _think_ I know which one you are talking about, but I really can’t remember the order all the episodes are in. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/33 "2003-06-03T21:57:13Z")
The “Titanic” and “future” episodes of NewsRadio. They weren’t all that funny and gave off a desperate “nobody’s watching so what the heck” feeling. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/34 "2003-06-03T22:27:10Z")
Last ep of Quantum Leap. Major WTF-fest. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/35 "2003-06-03T22:43:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by divemaster \* > \*\*_Cheers_ is one of the few sitcoms I like. Well-written and funny. But there was this one episode where Norm and Rebecca had to make up some excuse to get the Tom Skerritt character out of his house when he was tired and just wanted to sleep. It got more and more ridiculous and ended up with Norm carrying him on his back through the yard. > > WTF? Its like they hired the writers for a _Laverne & Shirley_ episode. Utterly stupid. Painful. \*\* Actually, IMHO, that _was_ a “jump the shark” moment on that series. _Cheers_ was one of the best sitcoms ever on TV, but the last season decended into mediocrity and worse. Oh, and because it hasn’t been said yet, “Brain, brain, what is brain?!” ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/36 "2003-06-03T23:51:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > **_The Simpsons_: The “Homer joins the Navy Reserve” episode, almost utterly devoid of humor.** You can’t be serious. Smithers dancing with the Village People. Antartica having its own battleship manned with penguins. Its up there with my favorite Simpsons. Eh, different strokes I guess. Mystery Science Theather: Boggy Creek II: and the Legend Continues. A truely awful film that they just couldn’t mock well enough. There are plenty of bad movies out there. Why didn’t they pick one they could do better with? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/37 "2003-06-04T00:18:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kantalooppi \* > \*\*Daria: The one with the ‘Holiday Island’. Truly a WTF episode. > \*\* “Depth takes a Holiday” And yes, doing it on purpose is no excuse. (though of the “normal” episodes, the last-season one with the scholarship competition was lame) ST’s “Omega Glory” with its Yanks and Commies seems a runaway antifave around here (a sentiment I endorse). Haven’t seen any mention of “Your Final Battlefield”, though, the one with the black-n-white guys ( “Isn’t that in the southern part of the Galaxy?”) . May I add that any insertion of a “\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, The Musical” episode in a non-comedy series gets a nomination for this list. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/38 "2003-06-04T00:50:42Z")
MST3K: Blood Waters of Dr. Z. Blargh, the movie was a complete bore-fest and they weren’t funny at all. I think I fell asleep during this one. The Simpsons (this is keeping in mind that I’ve completely given up on it the last few seasons): Alone Again Natura-Diddly. So bad that it marked the end of my watching new episodes regularly. I don’t consider it a jumping the shark moment, though. That happened earlier. South Park: Fourth Grade. I was really afraid the show would suck forever after this, but thankfully it was just a single really, really, really bad episode before a return to quality. Batman, The Animated Series: The Underdwellers. Truly a WTF episode. It really sticks out among all the gems in this series. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/39 "2003-06-04T00:55:49Z")
MST3K: Blood Waters of Dr. Z. Blargh, the movie was a complete bore-fest and they weren’t funny at all. I think I fell asleep during this one. The Simpsons (this is keeping in mind that I’ve completely given up on it the last few seasons): Alone Again Natura-Diddly. So bad that it marked the end of my watching new episodes regularly. I don’t consider it a jumping the shark moment, though. That happened earlier. South Park: Fourth Grade. I was really afraid the show would suck forever after this, but thankfully it was just a single really, really, really bad episode before a return to quality. Batman, The Animated Series: The Underdwellers. Truly a WTF episode. It really sticks out among all the gems in this series. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246/40 "2003-06-04T18:45:18Z")
“…ST:TOS: Either “Turnabout Intruder” or “This Way to Eden” (the episode with the space hippies)…” Man, don’t be such a Herbert! Heading off to Eden, yaaaaay brother… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spocks-brain-thread-worst-episodes-of-your-favorite-series/179246.md?page=3)