This story made its mark all over the place and was a mess to clean up... doesn't stop me from entirely hating it, and - indeed - there's
some stuff to appreciate (mostly the feel of the episode for its use of suspense and horror).
TOS, Season 3: "The Mark Of Gideon"
Backstory over narrative flow prevailing, this one couldn't find a sledgehammer big enough, or enough or enough experienced co-writers to smooth the narrative considerably. And half a dozen sledgehammers, rather...
Worse, the episode is half-a-step away from saying "We need to kidnap Kirk to get busy with the women since he's a carrier of a disease lethal to us." (but thankfully nobody else in the galaxy, or they're all dead by now... ain't standalone episodic television grand?
) One scene introduces blood as a requisite detail, but otherwise one has to wonder just how far this story would have gone, even if season 3 was forgotten by the suits and the censors wouldn't care as much. But as allegory goes, the episode is sorta trying to nudge over Kirk being everywhere may have given him his ailment.
And the target audience would see through the coordinates' transposition right off the bat. Even for 1960s television, this
was weak.
The story really is about Hodin and his love of his people and wanting to end their endless agony, even if the situation is not just warped but contrived to an impossible level. Maybe that's where Doctor Who came from; not Gallifrey but some unknown planet and the Enterprise was just in another universe for a while. There's that crossover everyone wanted to love, just it's not with Tom Baker's incarnation with Picard.
It's also an unintentional allegory discussing carriers of diseases and how they can potentially impact entire populations if left to run rampant. Like HIV except carriers that don't die from it or its complications seem to be far fewer...
That and the horror element, prior to the reveal that the whole ship, with blinky lights and noises and vibrations and everything, could be replicated so perfectly and to scale, was actually quite effective. But the reveal spoils it all. Where did Gideon get the blueprints and schematics from? It's a plot hole and the story doesn't need any more than a fan filling in the blanks (Klingon or Romulan espionage, evil Admiral of the week(tm), they telepathically thunk it all from that great distance... got it when Kirk was on the planet way back when or however the Gideons figured it out.
Oh, the Gideons have no need for doctors but the cooties Kirk is unwillingly bestowing would ultimately kill them all.
On the flip side, while too simplistic to be believed, constant organ regeneration - how many stomachs do they go through in a year if they're all constantly starving to death? As high concept horror, this episode DOES have a few moments, but that underlying cause still ranks right up there with unicorns peeing rainbows from afar and what's in that pot may look like gold, but... (which is why you never get to it to see that illuision.)
And Ben/Krodak/Egghead would return with a bit more authority and being a goodie in "11001001", one of TNG's better entries...
What's left:
TOS, Season 3: “The Paradise Syndrome”
TOS, Season 3: "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky"
TOS, Season 3: "Wink Of An Eye"
TOS, Season 3: "Elaan Of Troyius"
TOS, Season 3: "The Lights Of Zetar"
TOS, Season 3: "Requiem For Methuselah"
TNG, Season 1: “We’ll Always Have Paris”
TNG, Season 2: “Loud As A Whisper”
TNG, Season 3: “The Price”
TNG, Season 3: “The Vengeance Factor”
TNG, Season 4: “The Host”
TNG, Season 5: “The Masterpiece Society”
TNG, Season 5: “The Outcast”
TNG, Season 6: “Aquiel”
TNG, Season 6: "Birthright"
DS9, Season 2: “Second Sight”
DS9, Season 3: “Meridian”
DS9, Season 5: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume"
DS9, Season 5: “A Simple Investigation”
DS9, Season 6: “Resurrection”
DS9, Season 7: “Chrysalis”
VOY, Season 1: "Prime Factors"
VOY, Season 2: "Non Sequitur"
VOY, Season 3: “Real Life”
VOY, Season 4: “Unforgettable”
VOY, Season 6: "In The Flesh"
VOY, Season 6: “Fair Haven”
VOY, Season 6: "Ashes To Ashes"
VOY, Season 6/7: "Unimatrix Zero"
ENT, Season 1: “Unexpected”
ENT, Season 1: “Civilization”
When this list was first being run as a "Least Disliked" game last year, it didn't originally have "Emissary", someone suggested it and there was an extended controversial discussion as to whether it qualified. I became convinced it belonged because it did tell the full story of the Jennifer/Sisko relationship in a single episode, and there were other eps on the list that told the stories of long relationships in one ep, via various sci-fi means. And my other rationale was it's also a ROTW for the Jennifer Prophet who's incarnating it. Since the Prophets are outside of time, all experiences of romance for them are romances of the week, the month, the year, the second... 
There is an innocence to it, it is well-acted, great location work, the ending - atypical for Trek - works in part because it is so atypical. Especially for TOS.
