A
year ago I discussed five episodes of Star Trek that really should have
sucked. But the episodes had something, good acting for instance, which
rose the goofy story up to a level where the episode is actually really
good.
But can it go the other way? Can an episode that should have had everything going for it become a huge failure? There is a different between an episode that is just bad, and one that is disappointing. Here are five examples of episodes (one from each series) that aren’t awful but at the same time didn’t live up to their potential.
The Alternative Factors (TOS)
This is a great example of an episode that had potential, but couldn’t fulfill it. The plot? A man fights with his evil version for a parallel world. Their fight threatens to damage reality and time itself, which is where the Enterprise comes in. The premise is great, a strong sci fi premise involving parallel realities. If I read that in a TV Guide description I would think the episode sounded cool. To bad it isn’t. Instead it’s slow and plodding. Kirk and Spock have a talk about parallel worlds which goes on forever, and the goofy effects are distracting more than anything. The episode plods on, it doesn’t get good, not kidding here, until the last fifteen minutes! Then everything us finally explained…two minutes before the episode ends. It’s actually a good final act that I like, but man the journey to get there takes forever.
Identity Crisis (TNG)
I am not sure what happened here, this really isn’t a bad episode but at the same time…eh. I’ve seen it a few times and every time I am underwhelmed. The Enterprise is trying to discover why members from a landing party years ago, which included LaForge, are impulsively returning to the planet years later. It turns out it’s the aliens causing those officers to become the aliens, and Geordi comes close to becoming one himself. There is real potential here to have an episode dealing with the concept of losing your identity…and instead it becomes a bore with it taking much of the episode just trying to determine what is going on. The Make-up effects get an A+ but Geordi’s transformation and recovery are way to fast and it’s over before we even start to care.
Defiant (DS9)
Man did this one have the setup. I mean, it was all ready to be a classic! William Riker appears on DS9 and starts to be friendly with Kira. Whens she lets him onto the Defiant..he turns the tables and hijacks it! Turns out this is Tom Riker (from TNG’s Second Chances) and he has joined the Marquis! Wow! What a start! What happens next? Nothing really, we see Sisko and Dukat sit around discussing things while Riker and Kira pretty much to the same. The episode is so busy foreshadowing future events that it forget to do anything interesting here. The ending is anticlimactic and almost off screen. What a wasted opportunity. There were plans to do follow this up but they never materialized.
False Profits (VOY)
This is another one where I think the creators had the idea..but no clue what to do with it. You see back in a TNG episode called “The Price”, two Ferengi get trapped in the Delta Quadrant. It’s a long story. Suffice to say, it seemed perfectly reasonable that Voyager would run into those same Ferengi. And at first it isn’t bad…but then the episode gets silly. I realize if you’re going to do Ferengi it’s going to be light but not satire. Heck, Enterprise did a Ferengi episode that was much better! The episode is boring (have I used that word before?) and turns into another “will Voyager make it home this week” fake out.
Vanishing Point (ENT)
Sometimes an episode has such a good thing going for it, that the majority of the episode works. Until that stupid ending that ruins the whole damn thing! After going through the transporter Hoshi is incorporeal. She can see everyone but the crew are unable to see her. While the crew think she has perished, she stumbles onto an alien’s attempt to sabotage the ship. Cool idea, even if it’s not the most original. Just when Hoshi is off to save the day…turns out she never left the transporter. Yep she spent 8 seconds trapped in the buffer and it was an hallucination with none of the events in the episode happening. At least when TNG would use this kind of trick the character would learn something which resolved a situation. Here, it resolves nothing and the result is the episode feeling like a massive waste of time. You get the feeling the simply did not know how to end the episode so pulled this massive cop out instead. To bad, there was some good character moments in it. Hoshi was not my favorite but I liked her here.
There are probably more than these five, if I missed one you think should have been mentioned comment and let me know.
But can it go the other way? Can an episode that should have had everything going for it become a huge failure? There is a different between an episode that is just bad, and one that is disappointing. Here are five examples of episodes (one from each series) that aren’t awful but at the same time didn’t live up to their potential.
The Alternative Factors (TOS)
This is a great example of an episode that had potential, but couldn’t fulfill it. The plot? A man fights with his evil version for a parallel world. Their fight threatens to damage reality and time itself, which is where the Enterprise comes in. The premise is great, a strong sci fi premise involving parallel realities. If I read that in a TV Guide description I would think the episode sounded cool. To bad it isn’t. Instead it’s slow and plodding. Kirk and Spock have a talk about parallel worlds which goes on forever, and the goofy effects are distracting more than anything. The episode plods on, it doesn’t get good, not kidding here, until the last fifteen minutes! Then everything us finally explained…two minutes before the episode ends. It’s actually a good final act that I like, but man the journey to get there takes forever.
Identity Crisis (TNG)
I am not sure what happened here, this really isn’t a bad episode but at the same time…eh. I’ve seen it a few times and every time I am underwhelmed. The Enterprise is trying to discover why members from a landing party years ago, which included LaForge, are impulsively returning to the planet years later. It turns out it’s the aliens causing those officers to become the aliens, and Geordi comes close to becoming one himself. There is real potential here to have an episode dealing with the concept of losing your identity…and instead it becomes a bore with it taking much of the episode just trying to determine what is going on. The Make-up effects get an A+ but Geordi’s transformation and recovery are way to fast and it’s over before we even start to care.
Defiant (DS9)
Man did this one have the setup. I mean, it was all ready to be a classic! William Riker appears on DS9 and starts to be friendly with Kira. Whens she lets him onto the Defiant..he turns the tables and hijacks it! Turns out this is Tom Riker (from TNG’s Second Chances) and he has joined the Marquis! Wow! What a start! What happens next? Nothing really, we see Sisko and Dukat sit around discussing things while Riker and Kira pretty much to the same. The episode is so busy foreshadowing future events that it forget to do anything interesting here. The ending is anticlimactic and almost off screen. What a wasted opportunity. There were plans to do follow this up but they never materialized.
False Profits (VOY)
This is another one where I think the creators had the idea..but no clue what to do with it. You see back in a TNG episode called “The Price”, two Ferengi get trapped in the Delta Quadrant. It’s a long story. Suffice to say, it seemed perfectly reasonable that Voyager would run into those same Ferengi. And at first it isn’t bad…but then the episode gets silly. I realize if you’re going to do Ferengi it’s going to be light but not satire. Heck, Enterprise did a Ferengi episode that was much better! The episode is boring (have I used that word before?) and turns into another “will Voyager make it home this week” fake out.
Vanishing Point (ENT)
Sometimes an episode has such a good thing going for it, that the majority of the episode works. Until that stupid ending that ruins the whole damn thing! After going through the transporter Hoshi is incorporeal. She can see everyone but the crew are unable to see her. While the crew think she has perished, she stumbles onto an alien’s attempt to sabotage the ship. Cool idea, even if it’s not the most original. Just when Hoshi is off to save the day…turns out she never left the transporter. Yep she spent 8 seconds trapped in the buffer and it was an hallucination with none of the events in the episode happening. At least when TNG would use this kind of trick the character would learn something which resolved a situation. Here, it resolves nothing and the result is the episode feeling like a massive waste of time. You get the feeling the simply did not know how to end the episode so pulled this massive cop out instead. To bad, there was some good character moments in it. Hoshi was not my favorite but I liked her here.
There are probably more than these five, if I missed one you think should have been mentioned comment and let me know.
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