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The Least Disliked Episode 2025 - TOS Final Rounds

BlueStuff

BlueStuff

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Here we have the winners and runners-up of each season:

Season One: The Devil in the Dark
Wild Card: This Side of Paradise
Season Two: Amok Time
Wild Card: Mirror, Mirror
Season Three: Day of the Dove
Wild Card: The Tholian Web

So now it's time for the final part.

*RULES*

Give what you consider to be the worst/your least favourite episode ONE point, and briefly explain WHY. Be sure to copy and paste the list with your point added. When an episode reaches 4 points, it is eliminated. Then a NEW round begins (in this thread) with the numbers restored to 0. Vote ONCE per round. If 48 hours without a vote passes, the episode currently leading in points will be eliminated, and a new round will begin. And enjoy! :bolian:

The Devil in the Dark - 0
This Side of Paradise - 0
Amok Time - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
Day of the Dove - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
 
Thanks much for all these contests that you, @Sakonna, and others put out!! :luvlove:


My first vote is as follows, so to start it off, the least of these is... drumroll... popcorn-shove-down-gullet... more lame melodramatic paus-- (pie thloomped in face)

This Side of Paradise

As far as pot parables go, this one's a bit thin and relying on set-pieces and other veneer to keep it going.

Seeing the crew all line up to beam down, with some being haughty and even with a fish-eating grin, is great.

Seeing Spock get jiggy is not. Especially early on in season one, and if the goal is to explore Spock's psyche, other stories did it far better already, and would do so far better later on. This episode is the proverbial unwashed armpit after playing basketball for three weeks and not showering even once.

Apparently, to overcome the space plant pot, one needs to have strong emotions - just not the ones as stated by the mutineer who countered Kirk's claim enroute to the transporter.

How many times in the show's run does someone, especially Kirk, get to use "politically incorrect" terminology, solely for "drama in the scene", as means to get Spock angry as a sign of "I'm not the real Kirk", "you're high and only strong emotions will get you out of it", etc? Kirk already said it in the dumb android episode with the most pointless and/or bizarre title ever, now he's saying it again as if it were a pot of coffee to get Spock out of a drugged-up stupor. Being Kirk and all-knowing (TMP raised a good point about poor micromanaging too (vs good micromanaging, but I digress)), I'm shocked the plot doesn't have him beaming everyone up one by one and using whatever bit of thought comes his way. Methinks Kirk has a real problem and not just using something he knows will upset Spock as a proverbial surgical tool due to atypical problem situation requiring something unconventional to get out of it (even that dumb android episode did it better). At least, in "Day of the Dove", Kirk is about to say it again - but after Scotty, and it's in this episode it's the alien who is clearly creating imaginary thoughts in peoples' minds thanks to Sulu pointing out that Chekov did not have a brother, so what else is the alien fritter planting in the crew's minds (so it's a complex, multi-faceted situation within the plotting)... On the plus side, at least the one episode in season one where the crew's locked-up thoughts and inhibitions that were let loose, "The Naked Time", didn't go down the vulgar route for cheap lame "drama" the way this one did.



And speaking of ripping to shreds, pretend the following song is anthropomorphization of a person:

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The song nails the metaphor. Perfectly. Almost. Great instruments too.



The Devil in the Dark - 0
This Side of Paradise - 1
Amok Time - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
Day of the Dove - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
 
Last edited:
I, too, am not over-enamoured of This Side of Paradise. I don't find it very interesting (in the same way that being the only person sober among a room of people who have been drinking isn't very interesting) and I'm not sure the apparent message that it is not okay to be happy is a good one. (As an aside: did this episode take its name and inspiration from the Scott Fitzgerald novel?)

The Devil in the Dark - 0
This Side of Paradise - 2
Amok Time - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
Day of the Dove - 0
The Tholian Web - 0
 
All great ones are left. But there are two that I wouldn't say are "classics".

One of them is "DAY OF THE DOVE", which is my vote for this round. There's actually nothing wrong with this one... but when I think of TOS, my first thoughts center on other episodes. Despite excellent acting from Ansara and a great story and script, I have to give it a point this round.


The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
Day of the Dove - 1
The Tholian Web - 0
 
As much as I can nitpick them all in some fashion, even I have to concede that "Day of the Dove" is comparatively weak with the plot ideas - or at least is using the gimmickiest ideas as a plot crutch/retread. The other four, regardless of nitpickery, feel fresher or don't feel derivative at all. But that said, "Dove" is still a strong entry for its own reasons, or at least is a strong season 3 entry.


The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
Day of the Dove - 2
The Tholian Web - 0
 
The problem with many of the season 3 episodes was that they seem to be repeats of ideas that we've had in the earlier seasons. If they escape that then they have premiss or sets-up that may be good but which dwindle away into nothing.

Day of the Dove is another "aliens made me do it!" episode. Pooe Chekov comes off especially badly. I like the thought of working together with your enemies to defeat the bad guy but otherwise it's just insipid.


The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 0
Day of the Dove - 3
The Tholian Web - 0
 
All these remaining episodes are classics which makes it hard to select any of them.

I shall opt for "The Tholian Web". This manages to combine the, by now, tired tropes of "alien possession causes the crew to behave weirdly" and "unreasonable aliens" and Chekov is, again, marked out for particular suffering and unreasonable behaviour (an early example of Chief O'Brien syndrome perhaps?)


The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 0
The Tholian Web - 1
 
ARGH!!!!!!! There's the one I'd call my all-time favorite of the list, plus two almost-as-good follow-ups (but these two aren't a tie unless there's a cummerbund and posh pants with easy-access zipper to go with it for after the prom ends when you get to the motel in Encino), plus the other one that's a wee bit overrated but honestly isn't anything approaching a stinker, despite my lengthy wordsalad of a paragraph that is to follow. And with that said...

Mirror Mirror on the wall, which story's the most scribbled of 'em all?

The other three are all more consistently and better constructed, making better use of their ideas. "Mirror, Mirror" tries but for as good as it is, just doesn't hold up as well. IMHO, YMMV, EIEIO, ETC.

Well, as much as the contrast between our universe and the mirror one, since no other universes possibly exist as this episode postulates (and the limited scope gaffe alone making for a hilarious joke in Futurama doesn't help), not to mention the even more obvious of the circumstances on how they get there and back are a bit magical in terms of how the evil crew get back (feels like an afterthought), the insta-clothes change is a hoot, and how cheesy that alt-Marlena tantalizingly Tantaluses everyone out of existence, except Sulu because someone decided to think that the audience too dumb to realize this isn't the same universe (hence the 2-universe limit problem as well), which is proof that writers long before "Nemesis" didn't think much of the audience at times... it's not the best. I could probably rag on this more than a dirty cloth factory next to a mechanic shop...

Hmmm, of all the things to not play with, why not have our universe call them "Halkans" and the mirror one not call them "Nak'lahs" (or "Snak'lah") and beat everyone over the head with that like a baseball bat, too? The agonizer (aka personal taser) is unintentionally funny as well, you'd think more of the crew would use the thing to assault others with it...

At least Kirk states how assassination is often used and I'll admit, the big action scene where not-Chekov goes after Kirk is really good and lets Walter Koenig show some more acting chops. A pity, in a way, since Chekov - when not otherwise doing the usual "Course set, captain", is relegated to being evil in some way but everyone loves evil acting and that does up this episode for me. Ditto for a few continuity references that sweeten the pot a bit. Ditto for McCoy, Kirk and the leader of the Halkans all had some choice moments therein, the character work/content DOES overcome the premise's uneven setup/resolution. But for character psyche exploration, I'd still put "The Naked Time" much above this one. But I digress with my wordsalad bar.


The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 1
The Tholian Web - 1
 
BlueStuff said:
The Tholian Web is very cool in terms of concept and aesthetics, but it’s slightly ponderous in pace.
Click to expand...
Agree. And even when I first saw it as a teen, it struck me as having a bit too much "telling, not showing" in the relationship between Spock and McCoy. Much better, the understatement in "Amok Time" when Spock simply said, "I also ask McCoy," and a visibly-moved McCoy responded, "I would be honored, sir."

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 1
Mirror, Mirror - 1
The Tholian Web - 3
 
Eliminating "THE THOLIAN WEB".

Same reasons as I voted for "DAY OF THE DOVE"... excellent, but not one I think of as 'classic' when I think TOS.


Now comes the tough choice. Each of these are stone cold classics of TOS for various reasons. And all are very, very well known. Even non-Trekkies know or have seen an image from each of these.

I'm reluctantly giving my point to "MIRROR, MIRROR" this round. There's nothing wrong with it at all. But it does have the stigma of being the start of a string of mediocre-bad episodes (half of the DS9 ones and all the DISCO ones). Despite it being excellent, it was used as a template for some really bad episodes.



The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 0
Mirror, Mirror - 1
 
Wow I'm Iate to the party, I didn't realise these contests were up and running again.

As much as I love Mirror, Mirror, I think the other two are better, so I'm eliminating it with the fourth vote.

The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 0
 
Last edited:
Now is the REALLY hard choice. Both are absolute classics.

One gives us a lot about Vulcan culture and illustrates the tremendous bond between the trio.

The other is an excellent story that illustrates one of the core philosophies of the franchise.

Because "THE DEVIL IN THE DARK" (the title itself is so awesome) so encapsulates one of the core ideals of STAR TREK, I will have give my elimination vote point to "AMOK TIME".


The Devil in the Dark - 0
Amok Time - 1
 
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