After thinking long and hard on this, I must side with those who consider “Genesis” the worst episode, for all the reasons named. Plus, it’s just one more example of how much the Star Trek writers don’t understand how evolution works. I expect some scientific literacy from my science fiction writers. (I know, that’s pretty silly of me when we’re talking about Star Trek, but still…)
Honorable mention to “Sub Rosa,” not only for being stupid, but for ripping off the plot of an Anne Rice novel.
Oh, and the folks in “Up the Long Ladder” were definitely Space Irish. Remember that the Token Hot Chick was named “Brenna O’Dell.” You can’t get much more Irish than that.
I’ll add to the dogpile on “Masks”. Not only did they screw up basic evolutionary biology (e.g., they apparently think our ancestors include arthropods), but at the end they mistakenly thought that a new disease is named after the first known sufferer, rather than after the physician who first describes it as a distinct illness.
Actually, I almost didn’t watch any episodes after the first one, in which I found a Federation pussified to the point that a) the Enterprise has entire litters of small children running around, and b) the bridge officers include, for no apparent reason, the ship’s counselor.
An ancient alien artifact turns crew members into giant spiders but if you perform a ritual, the cosmic “reset” button will bring everything back to normal.
Alright, I’ll come out and say it. I loved Masks. But I like archaeology and old mythology, so I liked any episode where Picard went into archaeologist/historian mode.
Other than that I agree with most of these. Hated Encounter at Farpoint and Naked Now. Data gets drunk? Rascals was awful, too. Then there was the episode with Crusher’s family ghost shudder
As for the people who didn’t like the Jinaii (sp?) episode – where Riker is involved with a member of a monsexual species – there was a reason it was so awful. In his last years, Roddenberry was trying to get a regular gay character on the show. After he died, the studio copped out, produced one ham-fisted episode, and never raised the topic again.
Oh yeah, that one. Not so much bad as totally forgettable. Actually a lot of ST:TNG falls into that category. At least I remember the ones that really stank, like Genesis and Sub Rosa.
It has been a while, but… I’m with Hamish. I liked “Masks.” I wouldn’t want to watch it every day, but it’s a far cry from the worst of TNG. For that, we have (in addition to Schisms) Cost of Living. Basically, any episode with Alexander, with the possible exception of “Rascals” which, while silly, is at least watchable.
Of course, I also liked “Sub Rosa” up until the “it’s not a ghost, but an energy entity” revelation. If you want sucky Crusher shows, I hand you Suspicions.
Encounter at Farpoint gets my vote. It scarred me so much I didn’t watch ST:TNG for a couple of years afterwards. My wife and I still use Deanna Troi’s pathetic “Pain! Suffering! And complete sorrow!” line as code for “Wow, could this show/movie/song/play get any worse?”
The whole first season blows as a whole - the acting and writing are so bad. The writers barely could get a good plot together either. And the first season had Tasha Yar, easily the most annoying character after Wesley Crusher. I was whooping, holloring and cheering when the tar blob that ate Tasha, and I’m a pacifist.
Say it ain’t so, Legomancer. That’s probably my favorite episode.
