"Rascals" worst TNG episode?

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2005-02-10 02:55am

Then there's "The Bonding" where Worf does the R'uustai with Marla Aster's kid, Jeremy Aster. The kid was an absolute retard; there's an alien entity staring him in the face doing all this wacky shit (like recreating his home on Earth and disappearing right before his eyes) and he still thinks it's his DEAD mother. Great addition to the House of Mogh. Sigh, I guess they had to write the boy like that to give Troi something to do.

actually that ep was great, it didn't get overdramatic.

Bertie Wooster · Post by **Bertie Wooster** » 2005-02-10 09:53am

"The Offspring" was the worst in my opinion. Data makes a daughter, yadda, yadda, yadda, starfleet wants the daughter, daughter's programming crashes. Come to think of it, any episode that focused on Data tended to suck.

Worlds Spanner · Post by **Worlds Spanner** » 2005-02-10 10:22am

Data was a good character with a good actor at least. Unlike Riker and Troi....

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2005-02-10 10:56am

Bertie Wooster wrote:Come to think of it, any episode that focused on Data tended to suck.

Oh, come on. How can you dis "Ode to Spot" like that?

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2005-02-10 11:33am

Tommy J wrote:I cannot even remember the name of the Episode but where Riker gets stung by a plant and goes through a series of flashbacks --- YUCK!

Rascals is agreed a real close 2nd to the above.

Rascals was okay, even though the premise sucked (how can a transporter do that, anyway?). You're right--that Riker episode was the worst one ever. He even "flashbacked" to things he wasn't present for and could have no memory of.

Darth Lucifer · Post by **Darth Lucifer** » 2005-02-10 02:04pm

Tommy J wrote:I cannot even remember the name of the Episode but where Riker gets stung by a plant and goes through a series of flashbacks --- YUCK!

The episode in question was "Shades of Grey (gray)" and you're right, it did suck. Bad.

edit: oops, I see several others have answered that question. My bad.

The Silence and I · Post by **The Silence and I** » 2005-02-10 07:35pm

Bertie Wooster wrote:"The Offspring" was the worst in my opinion. Data makes a daughter, yadda, yadda, yadda, starfleet wants the daughter, daughter's programming crashes. Come to think of it, any episode that focused on Data tended to suck.

I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that...
(

)

IMO most (well, many) episodes with lots of Data are superior, largely because Spiner is a damn good actor, and also--as far as my preferences go--because Data is my favorite regular TNG character. So I might be biased. Maybe.

Darth Lucifer · Post by **Darth Lucifer** » 2005-02-10 09:36pm

Bertie Wooster wrote:"The Offspring" was the worst in my opinion. Data makes a daughter, yadda, yadda, yadda, starfleet wants the daughter, daughter's programming crashes.

My only complaint about this episode is that they conveniently seem to forget the events in "The Measure of a Man." Data had the right to say "No, you cannot take my child from me" but that would have made for a real short episode (but a cute new crew member).

DarkSilver · Post by **DarkSilver** » 2005-02-10 11:34pm

Shades of Grey, hands down worst episode ever.

Offspring wasn't *that* bad, compared to some others, like any episode centered around Riker....

like that one where he fell in love with that alien andryognous thing which looked like a lil boy....forget the name of that episode, that one just....ugh..

Darth Lucifer · Post by **Darth Lucifer** » 2005-02-11 12:31am

DarkSilver wrote:like that one where he fell in love with that alien andryognous thing which looked like a lil boy....forget the name of that episode, that one just....ugh..

I think Geordi would have been more likely to go for the 'Female' androgynous alien than Riker. He seems much more desperate to get some.

At the risk of upsetting the sensitivity of some, this episode reminds me of an earlier thread about why gender issues aren't done in sci-fi. Just seeing this episode is akin to watching an hour long truth.com propaganda piece about the dangers of smoking. Darksilver..."Ugh" is right on the money.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2005-02-14 04:23am

Ode to Spot wrote: Felus catus, is your taxonomic nomenclature
An endothermic quadreped, carivorious by nature?
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigues by your sub-vocal oscilations,
A sigular devlopment of cat communications.
That obviates your basic hedonistic predelection
For a rhymic stroking fo your fur that demonstrates affection.
A tail is quite essencial for your acrobatic talents,
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when being utalized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
Oh, Spot, the complex level of behaviour you display
Connote a fairly well devloped cognative array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and cannot comprehend,
I none the less consider you a true and valued friend.

Worse than Vogon poetry...

For me, it's "The Naked Now" —not only a bad rewrite of an early TOS episode (and not quite one of the best ones at that), but one riven with such consummate stupidity on every level that it was sick-making. Combine it with a decidedly high-school attitude on sex and WESLEY SAVING THE SHIP and it makes for one really bad hour of TV which very nearly put me off of NextGen right then and there and which I've been able to watch only once since that piece of shit aired.

Of course, since then, a lot of the series has aged badly in my view.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2005-02-14 07:22am

While the premise was bad Rascals was watchable and had some funny moments.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the reset button was not pressed. Picard would have to leave command, go through academy again and return many years later as a young officer.

Darth Lucifer · Post by **Darth Lucifer** » 2005-02-14 09:48am

The Shadow wrote:While the premise was bad Rascals was watchable and had some funny moments.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the reset button was not pressed. Picard would have to leave command, go through academy again and return many years later as a young officer.

Why would he have to go through SF academy again? I thought his memories and mind were still intact, it's just that he had a kid's body. Picard would be more likely to take up a few new hobbies until he's "old enough" to take command of a starship once sgain. Of course, we don't really know if there are any long term effects of whatever changed the crew members into kids. For all we know, the mind catches up to the body later. Or not.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2005-02-15 12:10am

Mario1470 wrote:
The Shadow wrote:While the premise was bad Rascals was watchable and had some funny moments.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the reset button was not pressed. Picard would have to leave command, go through academy again and return many years later as a young officer.
Why would he have to go through SF academy again? I thought his memories and mind were still intact, it's just that he had a kid's body. Picard would be more likely to take up a few new hobbies until he's "old enough" to take command of a starship once sgain. Of course, we don't really know if there are any long term effects of whatever changed the crew members into kids. For all we know, the mind catches up to the body later. Or not.

It has been a while since I saw the episode but if I recall correctly Troi said to Picard that he would have to go through academy again to qualify or something like that. I could be wrong though.

wood · Post by **wood** » 2005-02-15 03:19pm

DarkSilver wrote:Shades of Grey, hands down worst episode ever.

Offspring wasn't *that* bad, compared to some others, like any episode centered around Riker....

like that one where he fell in love with that alien andryognous thing which looked like a lil boy....forget the name of that episode, that one just....ugh..

I agree wholeheartedly about "Shades of Grey".

I *think* the androgenous episode was called "The Outcast".

There were a (very) few decent Riker episodes... take "Frame of Mind" for example. I thought that particular episode was very well done.

Eframepilot · Post by **Eframepilot** » 2005-02-16 10:10pm

Patrick Degan wrote: For me, it's "The Naked Now" —not only a bad rewrite of an early TOS episode (and not quite one of the best ones at that), but one riven with such consummate stupidity on every level that it was sick-making. Combine it with a decidedly high-school attitude on sex and WESLEY SAVING THE SHIP and it makes for one really bad hour of TV which very nearly put me off of NextGen right then and there and which I've been able to watch only once since that piece of shit aired.

Of course, since then, a lot of the series has aged badly in my view.

Make that "Wesley endangering and then saving the ship." I never understood the Wesley hatred until seeing that episode. First he brags to Geordi about his mini-tractor beam ("I know more about the ship that Captain Picard but he won't let me fly it.") Then he takes over main engineering in the lamest possible way. Then he comes up with a last-second idea to delay the ship's destruction and Riker gives him credit for saving the day, much to Worf's dismay. "The boy?!?"

Though the episode did bring us Data's infamous, "fully functional, programmed in multiple techniques," line.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2005-02-16 10:24pm

"Shades of Gray" was just a "Fuck, our budget is non-existant, clip time!" episode. But "Masks" well...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-02-17 12:43am

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:"Shades of Gray" was just a "Fuck, our budget is non-existant, clip time!" episode. But "Masks" well...

I thought Shades of Gray was "Fuck, out of scripts, let's throw together a clip show!" as IIRC Season 2 was fucked hard by a writers' strike in Hollywood - which I think led them to recycle stories written for the old Star Trek Phase Two project.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2005-02-17 03:17am

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:"Shades of Gray" was just a "Fuck, our budget is non-existant, clip time!" episode. But "Masks" well...

I liked Masks. If you ignore the stupid premise and the recklessly endangering the ship theme that is really prevalent throughout the entire series anyway... it had a creepy atmosphere to it, and of course had Brent Spiner acting with multiple personalities. What's not to like?

DarkSilver · Post by **DarkSilver** » 2005-02-17 05:25am

Uraniun235 wrote: I thought Shades of Gray was "Fuck, out of scripts, let's throw together a clip show!" as IIRC Season 2 was fucked hard by a writers' strike in Hollywood - which I think led them to recycle stories written for the old Star Trek Phase Two project.

Shades of Gray was indeed the result of a diminished budget for the season finale. the wanted to do a Borg episode to end the season, and because of the lack of funds due to the strike, had to go with crappy clip show.

But still, they could have done better than that....

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-02-17 05:39am

wood wrote:I *think* the androgenous episode was called "The Outcast".

Yes, it was. And I think it was technically "her" that fell in love with him.

Random Trivia: The species in that episode was called the J'naii, which is also the negating article in Japanese ("ja nai").

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-02-17 12:55pm

DarkSilver wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote: I thought Shades of Gray was "Fuck, out of scripts, let's throw together a clip show!" as IIRC Season 2 was fucked hard by a writers' strike in Hollywood - which I think led them to recycle stories written for the old Star Trek Phase Two project.
Shades of Gray was indeed the result of a diminished budget for the season finale. the wanted to do a Borg episode to end the season, and because of the lack of funds due to the strike, had to go with crappy clip show.

But still, they could have done better than that....

Wait, that doesn't make sense. "Lack of funds due to the strike"?

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2005-02-17 02:25pm

Uraniun235 wrote:Wait, that doesn't make sense. "Lack of funds due to the strike"?

If the results of the strike were higher payrolls, yes.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2005-02-17 02:36pm

"Shades Of Grey" had nothing to do with any lack of funding due to the Writers' Strike but was the direct result of the strike. They ran out of original scripts and scripts from the recycle bin. So they had an office hack put together a framing story to plug a bunch of clips into.