Five Most Forgettable Star Trek Episodes

So when I was talking about “Impulse” I noted that the episode wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very memorable either. In fact I had to watch it again to even remember it. But that isn’t the only episode that doesn’t quite make the cut.

 

 

Even a bad episode of Trek can have something in it I remember. Spock’s Brain is goofy, Threshold is astoundingly dumb, Heart of Stone is just ridiculous. Even  Plato’s Stepchildren and Sub Rosa may be nauseating but I remember them. When an episode leaves you with nothing, it’s failed at a level that only a select few episodes can achieve. Here are my five most forgettable episodes of Trek.







Requiem for Methuselah (TOS)    

Picking a forgettable episode from TOS third season is not that easy. There were a few. But this one is especially bad. The plot involves Kirk, Spock, and McCoy meeting a man named Flint who has a female android. And the episode becomes a love triangle as she develops feelings for Kirk and Flint. Then they fight over her like two lovesick teenagers. What? The android is so torn up she dies, sure. Did I mention Flint was also Leonardo DeVinci and Brahms? Whatever. Except for a scene were the Enterprise is turned into a tabletop model (for ages I remembered that scene but couldn’t pinpoint the episode), there is nothing in this episode. Spock echoes my sentiment when in a gesture of friendship to the heartbroken Kirk, he does a mind meld and just says “forget”. No problem.








Liaisons (Next Generation)

Oh season seven TNG, why do I pick on you? This is the episode that I always forget, and when something reminds me of it, it takes me a bit to remember it. The plot? The Enterprise hosts three ambassadors and while two fight with Worf and acts like rude jerks, another tricks Picard into thinking he’s a woman so that he will fall in love with her. Him. I don’t know the episode is so boring. Turns out the ambassadors are studying human emotions and take a rather direct approach. I am sure if the episode is meant to be taken seriously or not, it’s just lame.








Lessons (Next Generation)

Ah, Picard and his stupid romance stories. Actually the three episodes that feature Picard being in love are just boring! “Captain’s Holiday” This OK but it took several viewings to think so. And “The Perfect Mate” is way to convoluted. But this one takes the cake, does anyone remember this one? Not only is it forgettable, and boring, but it’s stupid! The plot involves Picard learning why he can’t get involved with a member of his crew. Please! I do like that it kind of calls back to “The Inner Light”, but where that one was interesting this one is just bleh. Oh wait, four episodes of Picard’s romances. I always forget “We’ll Always Have Paris”. Because it was bad even for Season One.  The ironic thing? The only romance in the movies Picard had was in Insurrection which is generally considered the most forgettable and boring movie!







“The Forsaken” (DS9)

Awhile back I wanted to do a Laxwana Troi list of her good appearances, but I barely remember her DS9 visits. She appeared about three times and i can hardly remember them. I think it may have been because Laxwana didn’t really belong on DS9. Obviously her being on made the episode a comedy, and a comedy did not work on this show. Most of the time (Tials and Tribble-ations was fantastic). However she did appear three times, and one of these days I will have to give those episodes another watch.





“Unforgettable” (Voyager)

Yeah I know, am I trying to be funny? The whole plot of this episode is the fact that Chakotay meets a woman he can’t remember, but shs insists they met and fell in love. But man is the episode a bore. I can’t remember much about it at all. It sees like the worst episodes are the forced love stories, I don’t care if one of the characters falls in love for an episode. Sometimes it works (City on the Edge of Forever anyone?) but usually it just fails. Bashir had a notorious one in “Chrysalis” on DS9, Riker’s love story in “The Outcast” is best forgotten, Harry Kim bored us at least once with his romantic crap on Voyager, and even Data’s worst episode is that stupid “In Theory”. This one is no better, involving a woman who Chakotay saves but somehow due to her biochemistry people forget they met her 24 hours later. It’s stupid and the title of the episode describes it perfectly.




Did I miss an episode of Trek you think is forgettable? Comment and let me know.