# Worst TNG episode ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414 "2010-10-17T05:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [October 18, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/101 "2010-10-18T23:54:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Your point being? Re: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Raguleader View Post > Worth noting, that had Riker taken one of the offered commands, it’s very likely he’d have died at Wolf 359. That given all the time travel/interdimensional stuff the series used, Riker probably had a list of commands to turn down. 🙂 ---
**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:** [October 18, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/102 "2010-10-18T23:57:47Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > This is, perhaps, justifiable to some degree. It is likely that isolated colony worlds might well be settled by small, fairly homogeneous groups. Poul Andersen was big on that theory, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/103 "2010-10-19T00:28:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Poul Andersen was big on that theory, as I recall. David Weber has a lot of fun with playing that idea straight and tweaking it, so you end up with things like a star nation which is, for the most part, ethnically Han Chinese, but speaks and dresses in the German style (a group of German mercenaries took over a struggling Chinese colony and helped them prosper over time), or a planet where everybody is a bunch of white fundie Christians (“Space Mormons” wouldn’t be far from the mark), and love the things that white fundie Christians love, like baseball, neckties, and settling matters of honor in Japanese style katana fights. There’s even a planet settled by Mafiosos. Known, ironically, for the strictest law enforcement in the known galaxy. If you brake the speed limit, they remotely shut down your car. Your _flying_ car. 😃 But I digress. I seem to recall disliking “Arsenal of Freedom” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/104 "2010-10-19T01:00:59Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I seem to recall disliking “Arsenal of Freedom” That’s a personal favourite of mine and, I figure, a vastly underrated episode. As with “The Royale” (and TOS “A Piece of the Action”), the characters are trapped in some ludicrous situation and the only solution is to just play along. Arsenal of Freedom: Hologram wants to sell a weapons system. Stages a series of increasingly dangerous “demonstrations” as part of its sales pitch. Picard’s solution: “All right, I’ll buy it.” Hologram is satisfied, problem solved. The Royale: Landing party trapped in simulation of bad novel. Riker’s solution: We’re now characters in the book who deus ex machina come in, solve the problems and (most importantly) disappear at the end. Piece of the Action: Landing party trapped on planet modeled after 1930s gangland Chicago. Kirk solution: “WE’RE in charge now, see? nYeah!” ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/105 "2010-10-19T01:24:03Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > Well in Voyager, Janeway and Paris evolve at such an alarming rate that they both turn INTO iguanas. So that – > > Wait a bit. WAIT a BIT. Of course! Eureka! Evolution is cyclical! I knew it! No, cats are simply hyperevolved humans. At least, that’s what my cat tells me. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/106 "2010-10-19T03:42:21Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Arsenal of Freedom: Hologram wants to sell a weapons system. Stages a series of increasingly dangerous “demonstrations” as part of its sales pitch. Picard’s solution: “All right, I’ll buy it.” Hologram is satisfied, problem solved. I also enjoyed the creative solution to the problem, but one thing kind of bugs me. Once Picard agrees to purchase the weapons system, the small drone attacking the ground party instantly deactivates, but the larger one going after the _Enterprise_ keeps on trucking. It seems like both of them should have been affected or not affected in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/107 "2010-10-19T03:59:45Z")
The episode where Worf found out his parents might be alive bothered me. Not because of that, but because they were on DS9 and only Bashir made a small appearance. They should have used several DS9 and TNG members and done a real cross-over. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/108 "2010-10-19T04:10:41Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I don’t know if it’s you alone, but it was pretty obvious that Pulaski was an attempt to translate crusty, grumbling Dr. McCoy to the new paradigm. And also an attempt to reintroduce Diana Muldaur, who was a two-time (now three-time) Star Trek alumna, to fandom. > > The first was kind of annoying and lazy. The second was an okay move. If Pulaski hadn’t been such a glaring clone of McCoy, Muldaur probably would have had a better reception. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I take it that I alone liked Pulaski, then? > > Though I will concede that Crusher was hotter. Yeah crucher was hotter, but Pulasky was the only one who wasn’t all the time “oooohh, we’re special, we have the prime directive, we interact…” I like no no-nonsense doctors (that’s why I married one) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/109 "2010-10-19T04:45:52Z")
They ran the episode tonight with Data getting a girlfriend. I guess he had to get the screw on equipment out of the cabinet. It had been awhile since he did it with Tasha Yar. 😉 Wonder where he gets batteries for that thing? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/110 "2010-10-19T04:59:41Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > David Weber has a lot of fun with playing that idea straight and tweaking it, so you end up with things like a star nation which is, for the most part, ethnically Han Chinese, but speaks and dresses in the German style So…_Hans_ Chinese. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/111 "2010-10-19T05:28:28Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > _Genesis_ Apparently by the 24th-and-a-half century, science will have firmly established that cats evolved from iguanas. Also, Dr Crusher infects herself with the Stupid Virus. Not only does she create a disease that comes very close to destroying the ship, she decides to inspect Worf’s poison glands from very close up (“Those look like poison glands. Here, Worf, let me put my face right in front of your mouth. AAAGH!”). > > At the end of the episode she laughs the whole thing off despite a couple of crewmen having been killed by the protoWorf. This didn’t bug me half as much as the plot point of Data’s cat Spot, whom he has consistently referred to as a “he” throughout the six previous seasons, becoming pregnant! > [@](#): > > They ran the episode tonight with Data getting a girlfriend. I guess he had to get the screw on equipment out of the cabinet. It had been awhile since he did it with Tasha Yar. Wonder where he gets batteries for that thing? Data: “Lt. (whatshername) has just given me what might be referred to as a…passionate kiss in the torpedo bay.” Best Trek double entendre ever. Made even better because the writers clearly never realized it. Anyway, three pages in and nobody’s mentioned [the Outrageous Okuna](http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Star_Trek/The_Next_Generation/The_Outrageous_Okona.aspx)? Or was this one SO painful that you’d all blocked it out of your collective consciousness? (If so, I’m sorry for reminding you.) ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/112 "2010-10-19T08:17:23Z")
Think I’d have to go for “where no man has gone before”, purely on the fashion stakes. Not only does Wesley wear the worst sweater I’ve ever seen in it, there is also a guy in a dress wandering around the corridors. > **[Where No One Has Gone Before (episode)](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Talk:Where_No_One_Has_Gone_Before_(episode))** > > Did anyone else notice in the episode Where No One Has Gone Before (TNG) that there is a man wearing a women's star fleet uniform dress around the 51 minute mark (on tivo)? Or am I just seeing... Plus it has the stupid “you can go faster than warp ten if everyone thinks about it”, and a “theres no place like home” ending. You can get away with that sort of thing on Dr Who, but not TNG. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/113 "2010-10-19T09:23:40Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > Anyway, three pages in and nobody’s mentioned [the Outrageous Okuna](http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Star_Trek/The_Next_Generation/The_Outrageous_Okona.aspx)? Or was this one SO painful that you’d all blocked it out of your collective consciousness? (If so, I’m sorry for reminding you.) I hear that the actor who played Okona is a pretty cool guy, so I’m willing to cut that one a little slack. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/114 "2010-10-19T09:37:06Z")
Well, personally, I can’t really say much for [Emergence](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Emergence_%28episode%29), except that it had a really nice opening scene with Data and Picard discussing Shakespeare, and that it’s the TNG episode that most reminds me of a Voyager episode, and all that it had in store in the years ahead. That last part isn’t nice at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/115 "2010-10-19T11:15:02Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I also enjoyed the creative solution to the problem, but one thing kind of bugs me. Once Picard agrees to purchase the weapons system, the small drone attacking the ground party instantly deactivates, but the larger one going after the _Enterprise_ keeps on trucking. It seems like both of them should have been affected or not affected in the same way. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, I admit. Did La Forge defeat the big drone with some technobabble? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/116 "2010-10-19T11:24:10Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Yeah crucher was hotter, but Pulasky was the only one who wasn’t all the time “oooohh, we’re special, we have the prime directive, we interact…” > I like no no-nonsense doctors (that’s why I married one) From [www.memory-alpha.org](http://www.memory-alpha.org): > [@](#): > > When Jessica Walter, the original actress proposed for the role of Miranda Jones [ep. “Is There in Truth No Beauty”] became unavailable and the search for other actresses also deemed futile, director Ralph Senensky recommended Diana Muldaur for the role, after they’ve worked together the previous season in “Return to Tomorrow” and an episode of “I, Spy”. According to Senesky, however, there was a policy against the reuse of guest stars in different roles (a claim refuted by the large number of actors who did, in fact, return to the series in multiple roles). This problem was solved by having Muldaur wear a dark black wig, adding a different appearance. After a viewing of the rushes, co-producer Robert H. Justman walked out of the screening room saying “I wonder how she looks in a red wig.”, jokingly referring to another possible appearance by Muldaur if the series would go on to a fourth season. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/117 "2010-10-19T11:43:27Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, I admit. Did La Forge defeat the big drone with some technobabble? Less than usual: the Enterprise plunges into the atmosphere; the drone follows; what’s hard to spot in the vacuum of outer space leaves a visible wake through the air. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/118 "2010-10-19T14:09:15Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > Anyway, three pages in and nobody’s mentioned [the Outrageous Okuna](http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Star_Trek/The_Next_Generation/The_Outrageous_Okona.aspx)? Or was this one SO painful that you’d all blocked it out of your collective consciousness? (If so, I’m sorry for reminding you.) Oh but that Outrageous Okuna is so outrageous! He’s like a cad, a rogue, a real maverick he is. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/119 "2010-10-19T14:37:22Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Oh but that Outrageous Okuna is so outrageous! He’s like a cad, a rogue, a real maverick he is. data was especially bad in his prolonged synonym-ing that episode since it was also the one where he learns about comedy from joe piscapo ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414/120 "2010-10-19T14:39:16Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > The episode where Worf found out his parents might be alive bothered me. Not because of that, but because they were on DS9 and only Bashir made a small appearance. They should have used several DS9 and TNG members and done a real cross-over. That was _Birthright, Part I_, which was excellent, because the related B-plot is the one where Data finds his ability to dream. Unfortunately, Part II was awful and consisted of an hour of Word awkwardly singing Klingon battle hymns to a bunch of people who don’t give a shit. The reason they didn’t have more DS9 people on it was because they were shooting a DS9 episode simultaneously. In fact, the role that Bashir played in that episode was originally intended for Jadzia, but scheduling didn’t allow it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tng-episode-ever/557414.md?page=7)