# Worst ST:TNG episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869 "2003-02-09T10:59:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/21 "2003-02-09T17:17:05Z")
Any “Data goes crazy and takes over the ship” episode after the first one. You’d think they’d put in some safety protocols for dealing with that but just like clockwork, once a season, the Data Goes Crazy and Takes Over the Ship episode would come back. I think in the last season it happened twice… Close follow up is any episode where ancient psuedo-mysticism is all powerful (a good example being that horrible Wesley episode mentioned above). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/22 "2003-02-09T17:30:33Z")
Another vote for Genesis. When Riker is de evloving (is that a word? It ain’t science) into austropithicus-something, he gets phasered by Data. As he slides down the wall into unconciousness, Johnathan Frakes gives the finger. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/23 "2003-02-09T17:31:13Z")
They get tons of respect as we whoop it up every March on St. Patrick Stewart’s day, drinking Jim Bean-me-up and chanting baudy Klingon Limericks. What would we do without the Irish in space? There’d be a hell of a lot less transporter personnel, I can tell you that. Code of Honor, the one where Tasha is kidnapped so as to become the leader’s wife, probably ranks right up there. Or down there. But, really, how bad can an episode be that has two women in skimpy outfits fighting to the death? ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/24 "2003-02-09T18:03:41Z")
What about the one where Tasha gets killed by that black blob thing? It just seemed so… pointless. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/25 "2003-02-09T18:08:44Z")
Kasuo: They had to write her out _somehow_. ^:)^ ---
**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:** [February 9, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/26 "2003-02-09T18:21:52Z")
The episode where Riker had a fling with a member of a monosexual species. Not only did it deliver a “message” about personal lifestyle choices with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but it made Riker look like a stupid horny jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/27 "2003-02-09T18:28:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lumpy \* > \*\*…but it made Riker look like a stupid horny jerk. \*\* Like that’s hard to do. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/28 "2003-02-09T18:30:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daniel \* > \*\*the one where everyone was eating dinner at starfleet command, and the dinner was all maggots or something, revealing that starfleet had been infected by these “neckworms” or what have you that attach to the back of your neck and take over your mind. > > Yeah, that one. \*\* Yeah, that one was awful. It has my vote. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/29 "2003-02-09T18:49:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kasuo \* > \*\*What about the one where Tasha gets killed by that black blob thing? It just seemed so… pointless. \*\* “Skin of Evil.” This one has my vote, too. Although the fact that it got rid of Tasha Yar means it has at least one redeeeming feature. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/30 "2003-02-09T19:20:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lumpy \* > \*\*The episode where Riker had a fling with a member of a monosexual species. Not only did it deliver a “message” about personal lifestyle choices with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but it made Riker look like a stupid horny jerk. \*\* I was going to nominate that one, too. It was just so blatantly preachy. I mean, a lot of episodes had morals for us primitives, but that one was just, I don’t know, over the top somehow. And all of the first season sucked. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/31 "2003-02-09T19:30:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Just Some Guy \* > Any “Data goes crazy and takes over the ship” episode after the first one. You’d think they’d put in some safety protocols for dealing with that but just like clockwork, once a season, the Data Goes Crazy and Takes Over the Ship episode would come back. I think in the last season it happened twice… If you’re talking about _Brothers_ I must respectfully disagree, as it is one of the best episodes of the whole series. Not to mention that Brent Spiner carries about 2/3 of the episode himself, playing three different characters simultaneously. Also, I liked _A Fist Full of Datas_, just for the sheer siliness of it. (Same reason I like _The Royale_, another much maligned ep.) I mean, Worf dressed up as a cowboy? It doesn’t get much better than that. As for worst episode, I’d have to go with a tie between _Genesis_ and anything that has Lwaxana in it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/32 "2003-02-09T19:37:36Z")
Easy choice. **Family**. The show got poor ratings and the ST:TNG producers, in their usual cluelessness, figured it was because there were no space battles, so they made sure from then on that there always were space battles. But it wasn’t the lack of space battles. It was that, if you want to deal with human relationships (something ST was never very good at), your characters have to act like real human beings and you need writers who have something more than an fifth-grade knowledge of how emotions work. There were three stories. The worst was Picard going home. It was sub-par soap opera, where fifty years of pain and resentment were magically cured by two minutes of mud wrestling. Rather sexist, too, when the two men tramp mud into the house and seem to expect the woman to clean up. And finally, we discover Picard grew up in France. We discover his brother grew up in France. _Why the hell do they both have English accents?_ Meanwhile, discover Worf has parents from the planet Schtick and Wesley gets to hear the usual ST cliched recorded validation from a dead person (i.e., “I’m dead, but don’t be sad about it because I’m taking it so nobly.”) The only potential gem in this muck is the idea that Picard felt guilding about being taken by the Borg. Of course, that was never mentioned again. Also, if it’s bothering him as much as it shows in the episode, how the hell doesn’t their hotshot empathetic counselor notice or even consider the possibility? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/33 "2003-02-09T19:57:36Z")
Off the top of my head: **Naked Now** - Crappy remake of a crappy TOS episode. Way too common in the first and second seasons. Bleh. **The Child** - Troi gets impregnanted by a speck of light. Huh? Not that I’m jealous or anything… **Time Squared** - Two Picards. I’ve blocked everything else from memory. **Remember Me** - Crusher gets caught in a subspace bubble. I was a little dissapointed that she managed to get out. **Rascals** - Children. Bleh. I hate children. **Phabtasms** - Troi as a cake was nice but everything else in this episode gave me a headache. **Masks** - Worst. Episode. EVER. Oh, and everyone that said Below Decks and Genesis sucks. 😛 Those’re two of my favorite episodes along with Chain of Command Parts I and II, Parallels, Who Watches the Watchers, and that episode where Data crash lands on some planet and becomes the local Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/34 "2003-02-09T20:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Terrifel \* > \*\*Just off the top of my head, I’d nominate “The Outrageous Okona” for daring to suggest that Joe Piscopo should be consulted in matters of comedy. That one scene with the Jerry Lewis teeth, where he and Data whoop it up, it still makes me weep, deep inside. > \*\* hear hear, and Piscopo tells an ethnic joke! I thought they would be past that by their 24th century. ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/35 "2003-02-09T20:21:28Z")
Yes, **Masks** was absolutely horrendous. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/36 "2003-02-09T20:28:57Z")
Some of them mentioned so far are pretty bad, but I absolutely hate “The Perfect Mate”, followed closely by “The Game”. Both were season five. Although season one had 26/26 bad episodes, I can’t bring myself to name any of them the worst. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/37 "2003-02-09T20:33:40Z")
The game. Oh yes, that fellates with great allacrity. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/38 "2003-02-09T20:50:55Z")
I’m just surprised that nobody’s mentioned the wretched “Cost of Living,” about which all that needs to be said is that Lwaxana Troi and Alexander get a great deal of screentime. Oh, and it has a mud bath sequence. Possibly two of them, iirc. Yargh. Or, for that matter, the equally nauseating “Sub Rosa,” in which Dr. Crusher gets seduced by a “ghost” that’s actually some kind of plasma thingie. Spew. And, of course, any episode featuring a Troi romance (this includes Troi/Worf UST as well as bland guest-stars-of-the-week). BTW, I liked “Lower Decks,” too. And “Cause and Effect,” which is the one where the ship blows up over and over. That one’s fun. ---
**Author:** ![Saitou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Saitou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saitou)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/39 "2003-02-09T21:04:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enderw24 \* > But, really, how bad can an episode be that has two women in skimpy outfits fighting to the death? Bad, really bad. Come on they were fighting each other to “death” with a cactus! My votes for worst **The Royale** : Aliens create world based on world’s worst novel, Producers create Episode based on world’s worst script. **Genesis** : Part man, Part Spider…Mostly Wretched ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869/40 "2003-02-09T21:22:05Z")
46 minutes of Ashley Judd? Are you mental? 😉 BTW, I think the folks in Up the Long Ladder were actually Space Scottish. –Cliffy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-st-tng-episode/153869.md?page=3)