Trek Episodes you have a hard time rewatching

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Trek
#1

This can include both good episodes or bad episodes. Here are my top 10 Trek episodes that I have a tough time watching, there are mot DS9 episodes because I rewatching the most, where as other series I have likely forgotten the crappy ones:

  1. DS9 - Hardtime

This is a brilliant episode. It is honest and explores aspects about imprisonment. It is so hard to watch because it just gets too depressing to watch O’brien go through that ordeal. In fact, since the first 2 watching, I now avoid the episode all together. The Gamma Quadrant podcast on this episode last week, and I try to rewatch it, but I turned it off right about when O’brien was going to kill his non-existing cell mate. It’s just too hard to watch.

  1. VOY - Fury

This made the list for the horribleness… way to ruin a character…

  1. DS9 - Move Along Home

This one was just craptastic… I hate this episode with a passion.

  1. ENT - Unexpected

The sexed up early seasons of ENT at its worst… Trip gets pregnant because he wasn’t wearing gloves.

  1. DS9 - The Muse

I can’t stand this episode for some reason… I don’t dislike Jake, but an whole episode about him writing his novel? Also, it ruins the character when his most successful novel mentioned in “The Visitor” turns out to be written this way.

  1. TNG - Encounter at Farpoint

For premiers, this was the worst of them all. I didn’t even like Q in this one, though I am glad Q got so much more fun later on.

  1. DS9 - Strange Bedfellow

It’s hard not to watch this one since it’s part of the finale arch, but Dukat and Kai Winn together creeps me the hell out.

  1. VOY - Warlord

I skip this episode everytime. I hate that it’s another Kes episode, because I don’t dislike Kes, and also, Kes wasn’t herself in this episode. It was just bad material though…

  1. TNG - "Ménage à Troi

Ahhhhh~~ Lwaxana is always bad enough… add TNG Ferrangi, and Wesley plus horrible title… what’s the frak is going on…

  1. VOY - Threshold

Even though the first part of the episode wasn’t bad… as soon as Tom reached wrap ten, i just have to turn it off.

#2

Rewatching all of Trek (From the beginning of TOS through the end of Enterprise, is my goal) there are none that I won’t watch at least one more time, except one from TOS so far. And really, I’d watch it again if someone really wanted to see it.

Mirri: Kirk comes of as SUCH a pedo in this one. From the moment he lays eyes on Mirri he’s all, “Hi Mirri. You have pretty hair. I have some candy in this van out back, you want some?”

I understand, later in the episode, when he’s kinda doing it to manipulate her with kindness. But from the first meeting? Cree-py.

#3

TNG - Encounter at Farpoint
I sense pain! Incredible Pain!

TNG - The Game
Once again, Wesley Crusher saves the Enterprise as we know it… It’s nice seeing Ashley Judd in this though. d:

Plenty of others, but those stick out in my mind.

Am I the only one who thought Kai Wynn was kinda hot? d:

#4

Hansioux: I think you nailed the big ones, with a couple more worth noting:

TNG: Genesis is godawful, this is the one where Picard “devolves” into a lemur and Troi turns into a frog. It ties in with Threshold for ridiculously bad science.

TNG: Shades of Grey has always annoyed me. It’s a transparent clip show for one, which was super insulting, and the “story” they wrapped it in is weak.

#5

TOS: The Empath. Hands down the worst of the first series. It makes Spock’s Brain and Turnabout Intruder look like works of genius.

#6

This, and this, and this. It’s the Black Market of Trek…

#7

DS9 - Hardtime for sure. It really puts me through an emotional wringer, makes me feel uncomfortable in a bad mood sort of way. I know the writers loved to make O’Brien suffer, but jeez, guys, wasn’t this a bit over the top?

Really well-written, well-acted episode.

#8

As bad as those are (heck Empath wasn’t that bad. Boring yes). The worst Trek of all time and it’s TOS Is… CATSPAW. MEOW OWWW UGH!!

Between the witches (Screaming Caaaptin Kiiirkkkk ACK!) That giant cat and the Itsy Bitsy String puppets at the end Enough!

#9

DS9 - Hardtime is one of the best episodes of Trek ever. Anytime someone mentions DS9, this is the first episode I think of. I see why it’s on the list but I could watch it anytime.

I always liked Genesis in a guilty pleasure kind of way.

YES, Yes you are. :eyebrow:

TNG - A Fistful of Data’s - A Western in space. How could that ever turn out well? :oops:

VGR - The Thaw - Clowns suck!

VGR - Bride of Chaotica! - Captain Proton is probably the worst thing to happen to Trek. Also, Janeway + Holodeck = Epic Fail.

#10

For some reason I can watch Dee take a gun to her head several times… but I have a hard time watching hardtime… when O’brien puts a phaser to his head because he almost hit Molly, that was just too heart wrenching…

Oh yes, The Thaw… right up there with DS9’s Move Along Home, in fact for a while I always thought those two are the same episode. That one definitely deserve to be up on the “can’t rewatch” list.

As for Captain Proton… well that’s my guilty pleasure. Those aren’t the best Trek ever, but I have no trouble watching it.

#11

The Kai costume (for some reason Opaka wasn’t wearing one) is very nicely done.

I think besides Kai Winn, Bareil also wear it in a dream sequence. Oh, that whole dream sequence was also very bad, specifically where he kissed a naked Vedek Winn… but the rest of the episode is alright. so I watch that one sometimes, just roll my eyes when that happens.

#12

no, Pike’s right. it’s The Empath. it’s Trek…with mime. and the minimalist sets make it feel like bad high school theater. all these years I thot Spock’s Brain was as low as they could go, but TrekTarts agree: The Empath is craptastic!

#13

I find that TNG’s The Child is among the most unwatchably bad Trek episodes.

It’s the one where a glowing ball of energy-life form finds the Enterprise super interesting and decides to say hi by impregnating Deanna and experiencing an accelerated human/betazoid life. Ugh. It’s awful from the creepy “I’m having a sexy dream” faces that Troi makes when the energy ball enters her right down to the “my baby, my baby!” tragic ending. And yet I’ve seen it at least 5 times because Syfy replays a lot of season 2 TNG.

#14

Any trek with evil dimension in it. I just can’t stand them… it like oh there is evil kirk or evil kera. So we can show them doing evil things, it just plain lazy storytelling.

#15

This is a brilliant thread idea.

When I first read it I thot it would showcase the episodes folks had a hard time watching emotionally. Instead, it seems to be pointing out what disgusts, disinterests, and annoys folks.

I’m always impressed with the great concepts Star Trek brings up. It’s the execution that can muddle things up. Something like The Empath tries to delve into the worth and potential of a species but like Lady D said, it comes off as a High School stage play. I had watched Star Trek re-runs throughout my youth but had never seen The Empath. When I finally did I realized that it’s very violent. The crew is tortured by these stoic aliens and Gem (the empath) has to witness and experience their pain. Probably works better on the page than the stage. FWIW, The Empath was one of the few scripts written by a fan.

Anyhoo, Threshold is a complete mess. It’s supposed to be about breaking the Warp 10 barrier established by Gene Roddenberry but de-evolves (pun intended) into complete idiocy. I don’t have a hard time re-watching, I know I never want to see it again. In my personal hell, this plays on constant loop.

I have to throw into the mix the Enterprise finale. I think the idea was to honor the Star Trek franchise but to me it felt like a slap in the face to the fans and the actors of the Enterprise series. Their goodbye was a holodeck simulation. UGH!

Now on to some Star Trek moments that are difficult to re-watch since you know what is going to happen and there is nothing you can do about it:

Kirk holding McCoy back in City on the Edge of Forever.
Spock loses his love for Leila in This Side of Paradise.
Spock’s sacrifice and death in Wrath of Khan.
David Marcus’ murder in Search for Spock.
When O’Brien and Maxwell sing The Minstrel Boy in The Wounded.
Picard’s revelation as the rocket shoots into the sky in The Inner Light.
Marritza’s murder in Duet.
Ziyal’s murder in Sacrifice of Angels.
Seven’s experiences in The Raven.
B’Elanna’s interaction with her mom in Barge of the Dead.

I’ve only seen the Enterprise series episodes one time through. I’ll need to watch them again before I can add any moments to this list.

#16

all great moments in Trek. The closest to really gets me too depressed to rewatch would probably be The Inner Light, but the ending is uplifting enough that it’s still satisfying to rewatch. I don’t get the emotional trauma like when i think about Hardtime.

#17

If there is one constant is that in every Trek show done. The first season is usually the weakest. Plenty of klunkers there. Then in each proceeding season we have at least one Aw God awful Cluster F@#% Episode.

I think by now we can all peel off an episode or two from all the shows. In a way that makes trek fun. Seeing where they went “I don’t know what to do with this C@^&, but we will film it anyway”.

What is funny is how some people have different reactions to the episodes mentioned. One persons Empath is someone else’s Best of both worlds.

What I’m trying to figure out right now is what show had the most of these. Right now I’m torn between Voyager or Enterprise. Both First seasons sucked badly. Though I think Voyager righted itself fairly fast by the second season. Enterprise for as much as I like it. Didn’t seem to get better until the latter half of the 3rd season. By then though the series was pretty much toast sad to say.

#18

I should give special mention to “Miri.” The scene early on when the scary old guy attacks the landing party, then dies clutching his tricycle while begging someone to fix it, blew my four year old mind. I cried myself to sleep that night.

I don’t really have a hard time rewatching it, but I always remember that feeling.

#19

That’s the thing about Star Trek. There aren’t a bunch of bad decisions or stuff that really change a character. Since most of it is episodic, everything is wrapped up in a nice package by the end and forgotten.

Kirk never mentions Edith Keeler again. The flute pops up here and there for Picard.

Oh wait. I just remembered. The scene when Picard goes back to France after he is abducted by the Borg (Family). He gets into a fight with his brother and breaks down. That scene is so moving. I think that was the first time in a Star Trek series that stuff carried over into future episodes. You really feel the impact of what happened to Picard. I remember not being prepared for that when I first watched it. Patrick Stewart’s performance was top-notch.

With Deep Space Nine they started to create some flaws in the characters. Sisko went there and made the difficult decisions. I love In the Pale Moonlight when he lifts his glass to the audience and says, “This is a huge victory for the good guys!” He’s not perfect. He’s not the flawless hero. He’s human.

It’s hard to root for the character when he lies and cheats to achieve the objective. The truth is sometimes when faced with incredible odds, you have to. O’brien was facing survival, a primal priority. His basic instincts took over. The episode engages us to think about how we would fare under the same circumstances. As the viewer and safety removed it is easy to judge. It’s foolish to think we would act any different.

#20

In ‘And the Children Shall Lead’ when Gorgon’s face starts changing. “Death to you all!!!”

Nightmares.