Poll of the Month: Worst "Best" Episode

[Genkos Adea]

With over 800 television episodes and films, an objective ranking of on-screen Star Trek content would be impossible. However, within each series, a consensus has coalesced around a handful of episodes that are often regarded as the finest. "The Measure of a Man," "Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast," and "Deadlock" are particularly good episodes from their respective series' earlier seasons, and symbolise each series coming into its own.

Even so, admiration for each series' so-called "best episodes" isn't always universal, and fans' rankings of a series' finest episodes might range as much as their selections for the worst. For ardent Trek fans, evaluating episodes on their merits can be challenging since what we appreciate most about our favourite episodes is frequently impossible to measure. The nostalgia of having grown up with these programmes raises the question of their most acclaimed episodes: “Do we love them because they’re good, or are they good because we love them?”

For this month's poll, we chose two episodes from each of the first five series, as well as one TOS feature and one TNG film that are widely regarded as the best of the best. Only series with completed original runs are represented; we'll have to wait for history to weigh in on the series that are currently in production. 

Choose the episode or film you believe is the worst and tell us why. Is there an episode we missed you believe deserves to be the worst "best" episode? Don’t see what all the fuss was about “The Inner Light,” “The Visitor,” or “Equinox”? Tell us what and why!

 

[LCDR Aine O. Sherlock]

DS9, The Visitor. Acting was on point, writing was good. Episode just seemed so random and I just don't get why it was needed.
 

[Karrod Niac]

I think First Contact is the absolute best TNG film and with that said - it's still a really bad movie.  It starts incredibly abruptly and gives zero transitional time between Generations and the new Enterprise E, or the new conditions of the crew like Geordi's eyes.  We very quickly launch into a major Borg action setpiece that could've easily been a major part of the film but it all happens so fast and so arbitrarily that even though the movie talks about it like it's the end of the world the whole thing is setup and over in less than ten minutes of screentime.  Those ships that exploded?  Who cares.  How did the Borg get all the way to Earth again?  Doesn't matter.  Why do they launch a ball?  Also doesn't matter.  The whole first act feels like it's high speed setdressing to get us into our wacky time travel adventure which pendulums between antics on the surface and psychological horror and terror on the ship with our new techno-slick (and always damp looking) Borg.  It's also the first time we really see the 'movie' arc for Picard - which is rapidly morphing from an elder-statesman and contemplative diplomat into a psychologically unstable action hero.  It's baggage that chases the character all the way up to Picard S2 and it's never a good look for the character and it all starts right here.  

I love First Contact.  But it's also terrible in a lot of significant ways that get looked past because it is arguably the only good Next Gen movie.  Wrath of Khan this ain't.