Worst of Star Trek Marathon

G4 is running a 'Worst of Star Trek' marathon on Saturday

weberm...

Why didn't they just call it a "Voyager marathon"?

NOT Star Trek 2.0

in extended time slots, presumably uncut.

edrhodes...

I don't see why you'd believe that. The ones on Star Trek 2.0 aren't
uncut!

Anim8rFSK...

But the ones on 2.0 are in one hour time slots. These are in (about) 69
minute time slots:

Mountain time:

Saturday am

9:00 - 10:09 - And the Children Shall Lead
10:09 - 11:17 - Spock's Brain
11:17 - 12:26 - Is There In Truth No Beauty
12:26 - 1:37 - The Empath

NOW

That's all that my DVR guide showed when I made the original post. Now
it's showing additional episodes

But they're in 1 hour time slots; The Tholian Web and For the World is
Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky, and then they go into Star Trek 2.0,
showing Bread and Circuses, Journey to Babel, and A Private LIttle War.

So they've got 3 sets of Trek, cut, uncut, good, bad, marred by trivia,
something for everybody running Saturday. :-)

The very worst episodes of Trek TOS?

Spock Brain (you knew THAT was coming)

Joe Gillis...

I don't mind this episode -- I actually prefer it to, say, "A Piece Of
The Action".

Scott Golden...

"Brain and brain! What is brain?"

edrhodes...

The last time I saw "Spock's Brain"
was just three weeks ago
now here they have it on again
and what I'd like to know.

What happened to the tribbles?
The Gorn and all the rest?
Why do we get the crummy shows,
why not ever, the best?

Magnus, Robot Fighter...

Tribbles out the nearest airlock.
Gorns lie naked on a sunny fair rock.

pv+usenet...

On a pure camp level, I disagree. Too much fun to be the worst.

And the Children Shall Lead (Melvin Belli's place in hisory)

pv+usenet...

Pretty terrible indeed. Definitely belongs on the list.

Is There in Truth No Beauty (Medusa!)

pv+usenet...

Liked it.

and the very worst Star Trek Episode of them all?

The Empath.

DougOrama...

Dude..The Empath RULES! One of my faves.

George Peatty...

Mine, too, but you'll find some of the regulars here feel very differently,
and are a bit too eager to share their dislike for this episode.

Wayland...

Well, this makes me wonder, what are the top 10 worse Trek episodes or
movies of all time, through all the series.

Brian Thorn...

My list of 10 worst...

10. TNG, "Justice"
9. ENT, "Rogue Planet"
8. TOS, "The Way To Eden"
7. VOY, "Spirit Folk"
6. DS9, "Profit and Lace"
5. TNG, "Genesis"
4. VOY, "Darkling"
3. VOY, "Bride of Chaotica"
2. TOS, "Spock's Brain"
1. VOY, "Threshold"

Graeme...

Kind of hard to compare separate shows that way. No way is Spock's Brain
the worst TOS episode though, or even the second worst Trek episode. It's
simply too watchable.

Brian Thorn...

Well, we disagree. :-) I think the whole concept of "Spock's Brain"
is so ridiculous that I can't even find it humorous. (There is simply

JEDIDIAH...

Actually, the concept is a fairly good one in terms of hard
sci-fi. They just weren't able to make a compelling story out of it.
While still painful, it's still doesn't represents the lowest depths
to which old Trek managed to sink.

Brian Thorn...

Uh... someone has his brain removed and... lives? Oh, we must be
talking about the writer of this episode.

no comparison between it and genuine Trek comedy such as "Piece of the
Action" and "Trouble with Tribbles".) Granted, I think "And The
Children Shall Lead" and "The Alternative Factor" register way up
there on the stinkometer, too.

Wikipedia says that because of Tom Paris breaking Warp 10, that Threshold
has been "unofficially decanonized". Now, what the heck does that mean?
It's unofficially unofficial? Isn't that the same thing as official?

Brian Thorn...

Anim8rFSK...

No, the producer.

Beats me. I don't care much about canon ("Enterprise's" abuses never
bothered me much, either.) I just found "Threshold" to be abominable
on pretty much every level.

David Levy...

You included my least favorite episodes from three of the series
("Profit and Lace," "Genesis" and "Threshold"). I'm not a big enough
fan of the original series to fairly judge, and you omitted my pick
for the worst "Enterprise" episode ("Carpenter Street").

pv+usenet...

Ergh, I wish you hadn't written that. Easily the worst trek episode of all
time. *

I agree that "Profit and Lace" is the only "Deep Space Nine" episode
worthy of making the list, but it just seems wrong that only one
"Enterprise" episode is there. There are so many hideous ones! I
know that you like "Dear Doctor" (which I'll excuse, given the fact
that I like "Bride of Chaotica"), but there must be some others that
at least tie for spots on your list. ("Unexpected"? "The
Communicator"? The aforementioned "Carpenter Street"?)

I'll also note that you previously ranked "Masks" and "Shades of Gray"
below "Genesis." What made you change your mind?

Wayland
...I'm going to have to go with "Threshold" as number 1.

Lobster Man...

There are so many options....

Easier to pick the two or three good ones from each series...

Graeme...

Is There In Truth No Beauty isn't THAT bad. It's not worse than The Way to
Eden. Or Plato's Stepchildren, though they probably don't want to use that
one as long as they're plugging it as some socially meaningful
ground-breaking whatever. Mark of Gideon would be another strong choice.

Anim8rFSK...

Yeah, ITITNB is clearly the best of the lot. The other 3 belong there;
Spock's Brain is commonly thought of as the worst, even though it's not;

GeneK...

If they'd discipline people for their behavior under the influence of
mutated water, half the ship would've been down there with Riley.

Graeme...

Granted, but still, when Riley and the gang in the Rec Room are
wondering what he might possibly have done wrong, this still should
have come up, even if only as a joke.

And the very idea that they let him alone in the engine room again is
kind of a blencher. Assign him anywhere else.

Come to think of it, is giving him an isolated assignment all by
himself somewhere REALLY safer than having him up on the bridge
surrounded by people?

The Empath isn't commonlly thought of as the worst, even though it is;
and And the Children Shall Lead is just painfully bad.

George Peatty...

Omega Glory

ToolPackinMama...

OK, that was one of the worst, but it was not entirely without merit.
Many good things are in it.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

ToolPackinMama...

OK, that WAS one of the worst! :) But it rang a bell, back in the day!
My mom and dad did a Star Trek style "interracial couple" for
Halloween that year: She was white on one side... etc.

I, Mudd

ToolPackinMama...

NO! That was one of the best! OMG! One of the most popular and funny
eps ever!

Metamorphosis

ToolPackinMama...

Again, one of the best (despite the weirdass ending).

Bread and Circuses

ToolPackinMama...

LOL, One of the LOL best! That's ENTERTAINMENT! :)

Patterns of Force

ToolPackinMama...

Again, in many ways, a very worthwhile episode. For example, in that ep
we see Kirk ardently working for a CEASE-FIRE, and an end to war.

The Way To Eden

ToolPackinMama...

OMG, one of the kickassinist, all time BEST! That is probably one of
the least-appreciated GENIUS eps of all time!

Turnabout Intruder

.. and, 1-4) of your list ..

wdstarr...

Frankly, "The Empath" isn't commonly thought of at all, I don't
think. Outside of discussions like this one, it's got to be just
about the most forgettable of all the episodes. (With "The Lights
of Zetar" in second place, or perhaps "The Cloud Minders," which had
nothing memorable at all except the idea of standing at a railing
and looking down nine miles. And Jeff Corey intoning "Very well,
THE RAYS!")

You're right about Plato's Stepchildren, they use that in other
groupings.

What to go in that fourth slot, that's worse than ITITNB? Most of the
back half of 3rd season, I'd think.

pv+usenet...

Elaan of Troyius Liked it
Wink of an Eye Liked it, bad science aside
That Which Survives Liked it
The Way to Eden On my list of worst
Requiem for Methuselah Not all that terrible
The Savage Curtain Oy, best not to think about this one
Turnabout Intruder terribly overacted. Who knew?

Elaan of Troyius
Wink of an Eye

David Johnston...

Er...what cryogenic plot?

That Which Survives
Whom Gods Destroy
The Mark Of Gideon
The Lights of Zetar
The Cloud Minders
The Way to Eden
Requiem for Methuselah

ToolPackinMama...

Nonsense. Those are two of the most memorable and hotly debated.

The Savage Curtain
Turnabout Intruder

Michael Bowker...

Ah come on ITNTIB is horrible (for TOS), it's middling ok only if it's a
TNG episode.

Graeme...

Yeah, it's hard to explain exactly why, but Is There In Truth No
Beauty? is the TOS episode that, more than any other, reminds me of a
TNG episode.

Anim8rFSK...

Now that was just mean.

Michael Bowker...

:-) Sank you, I'll be here all ze veek.

Magnus, Robot Fighter...

No, if it were TNG the Medusan would be some guy with a funny nose and
we'd all be taught that everyone is beautiful on the inside by Troi and
Picard.

MrBuddwing...

Maybe because Diana Muldaur is in it ...

Anim8rFSK...

Nah, that just reminds me of LA Law.

Marcovaldo...

Maybe it's the visor.

Graeme...

Yeah, probably a combination of all those things. TNG had more shows
where the exotic alien of the week came onboard ship. In TOS, they
more often left the ship to meet the EAOTW. I think that's part of it
too.

Speaking of TNG, I watched Where No One Has Gone Before again the other
night. I see now why it reminded me of Wounded Sky. It was written by
Diane Duane. It wasn't *bad*, exactly, but it wasn't especially good
either. A warp experiment shoots them 2 galaxies away. Okay, not a
bad setup. But when they get there, it's pretty much the same as here,
but with more flashing lights. This was the Voyager before Voyager.
Since that's not interesting enough, they pop into some kind of
non-reality where they start seeing things they imagine (a la Shore

Anim8rFSK...

You have to wonder what Picard's elevator delusion looked like to an
outside observer.

Leave). The things are kind of interesting, but don't really amount to
much. Unlike Shore Leave, they're a distraction from the main plot,
rather than the main plot. Eventually they solve everything, find The
Thing That Is Not As It Seems (the Traveller, rather than Kozynski is
responsible for it all), and get home.

There's nothing particularly wrong with it (except the ending, where
the Traveller extols the virtues of Wesley, comparing him to Mozart,
which leads Picard to make him an Acting Ensign. BLECH!), but there's

Anim8rFSK...

There's that.

but there's

nothing particularly right either. They go to the end of the Universe,
but not much happens except visions of things here, and they get back
again. So what?

Anim8rFSK...

That's standard in TNG. In Relics they find a Dyson Sphere, and just
fly off. Hell, they find Scotty, and just fly off.

One thing that did catch my attention. Wikipedia talked about
Threshold being "unofficially decanonized" (whatever that means)
because Tom Paris' shuttle exceeds Warp 10. But in Where No One Has
Gone Before, they also talk about the ship passing Warp 10 when it
makes its big jump.

The Duct Tape Avenger...

Well, they used a different warp scale overall in TOS. At one point they
went up to Warp 14.

Wayland...

Well, yeah, but the whole ship didn't turn to lizards!

Wayland
...so it's got that going for it.

Anim8rFSK...

So, it was better than the rest of Voyager or any of Enterprise then?

wdstarr...

I'd go with "The Way to Eden." The others at least don't have
bad songs.

Captain Infinity...

The Empath would have been a much better episode if they hadn't dressed
Paul McCartney as a girl, and let him sing.

**
Captain Infinity

Kevin...

Wow! Way to hit it on the head, Captain Infinity! By the way, do you have
a deep-voiced announcer who introduces you at all social events using a bit
of vibrato and the old echo chamber effect? Like . . . AND HERE HE IS,
CAPPPPPP-TENNNNNNNNNNN INNNNNN-FINNNNNNNNNNNNITYYYYY . . . Just asking.

John Duncan Yoyo...

I just wonder if he is the same Captain Infinity that used to break
Apple II games so that you could play an infinite number of lives.

pv+usenet...

Not good, but not really what I would call worst either. I'd probably go
with "The Way to Eden" or "Plato's Stepchildren". *

Ken from Chicago...

NO!!!

Jem, Jem is excitement.
Oh, Jem. Jem is adventure.
Glamour and glitter
Fashion and fame.
Jem is her name.

treeleaf7...

1. The "first" episode.... The one with the different crew: Sally
Kellerman and others never to be seen again. Awful for many reasons:

Anim8rFSK...

Huh? Sally Kellerman DIES at the end. So does Gary Lockwood, who
killed Kelso.

Awful for many reasons:

Spocks eyebrows point almost skyward, they angle up at 45 degrees from
the horizontal.
The uniforms are a mishmash, everyone has a different collar, crew
collar, cowl neck, asymetrical collar. And the colors don't quite
match.
Kirk must wrestle - fight the bad guy (nuff said). Can't recall if his
shirt is torn so that we can see his manly shoulders.
Scotty needs a shave badly.
The sketchy plot... no explanation as to why picking up the 20th
century satellite lead to the development of ESP powers by the crew.

wdstarr...

Or, you could have paid atention to the show.

treeleaf7...

Waiting for DVD #2 to arrive from Blockbuster online.... I promise I'll
watch carefully. sigh...

Anim8rFSK...

Have you actually WATCHED "Where No Man Has Gone Before"? It's not a
satellite, it's a ship's disaster beacon/recorder. And it has NOTHING
to do with the ESP powers; those come from the barrier at the edge of
the galaxy, which only amplifies ESP in existing espers.

2. Any episode where Bones is grouchy.