Some fun facts - I was recovering from a concussion while making this and I've noticed it's resulted in me tripping over a few words. Secondly, I was making this with a new microphone which I'm still figuring out which has resulted in some peaking audio. Hopefully you can still enjoy the video though. Live Long and Prosper folks :)
PCS Post Concusion Syndrome, yes there is a name, can be temporay or be permament. The most common issues is memory loss and increased anger. It's similar to PTSD. Been there done that. Get well!
I hate star trek episodes that have single episode romances where they would give up their life for someone they have known for a short time It's annoying
Some work because the time is longer. 'Lessons' the one where Picard falls for Neela takes places over the course of about a month, they are starting a two week survey at the start and when she and the Picard first kiss comes after a log entry that they have finished that survey then there is mention that a couple more weeks have passed before the emergency. The one where Crusher falls for 'John Doe' actually takes places over the course of six months, if you go by Beverly and Picard's log entries. However that makes Data and Geordie seem like dullards as they spend months coming up with the simple solution to the data module.
I think the ST:V episode Disease where Kim falls in love with that smokin hot alien was a good one episode romance. It was a great departure from the usual Harry Kim stories.
I thought the mirror universe was a bad choice myself. It could have worked but they already had so much going on with so many loose ends that it just muddied the water further. Nothing wrong with the idea it was just a bridge to far to try and inject that into ds9 imo
Great list! Personally, I'd replace Prodigal Daughter with Time's Orphan: the episode where Molly O'Brien falls into the time well and comes out grown up and acting like a Neanderthal. As much as I love the show, that one never worked for me. Prodigal Daughter wasn't bad, but you're right; it felt like there were more pressing concerns by season 7.
'Time's Orphan' was originally a TNG episode about Alexander that was rewritten for DS9 and Molly. In fact it was one of a number of stories by Joe Menoski meant to kill off Alexander. All were blocked as Alexander was Michael Pillar's mother's favourite character. I've always thought that a good move could have been have a Dax and Worf fun episode then use the transporter fudge to actually rescue Lisa Cusak in the next episode. Have Dukat kill Dax rather than Jadzia (which would mean Jadzia dies but have more weight) and the out of time Lisa Cusak becomes the new female lead replacing Farrel.
The thing that annoyed me most about the 'Emperor's New cloak', is that it was supposedly the SAME Mirror Universe previously visited by Kira, Bashir, Jake and Benjamin. A universe we KNOW had cloaking devices, yet the entire plot contrivance to bring Quark and Rom to the Mirror Universe is because they "didn't have cloaking devices in this universe".
Sorry but the list is incomplete. The actual worst ds9 episode is when they killed off the most charismatic, interesting, beautiful, badass character in the ENTIRETY of star trek. The Defiant.
2:25 After binge watchingDS9 I went back and watched a few TNG episodes, and I've got to say one thing. Michael Dorn looks Soo much better in red. Yellow just makes his skin look weird.
Agreed same thing when I went back and watched the first couple eps of TOS and they had Uhura in Goldish Yellow instead of red it didn't fit her complexion well.
Not to be a hater or anything, but my theory as to why Q was so good on TNG, and so blah here is that TNG was such a stolid, preachy, self-serious show, particularly in the early years. Q called them on their bullcrap, and just openly stated a lot of the problems with the series, many of which we fans were complaining about, too. So I think he worked effortlessly there because he was a way for the writers to vent their frustrations with the strictures they were forced to abide withing. DS9 really didn't have that problem, so there wasn't much to rail against. Also worth noting Q wasn't really funny until season 2. In Season 1 he was a malevolent force, and the writers decided to co-opt him for other purposes in the 2nd season, more-or-less saving the character. Again, in DS9 there wasn't really much to rail against in season 1
Interesting theory. I was thinking it was maybe a personality clash, since by reports the DS9 actors were VERY serious about their work and the TNG cast were not, so maybe DeLancie rubbed them the wrong way and it showed on screen
Wasn't DeLance really, it was more the way the episode came about. Jennifer Hetrik who played Vash was engaged to Patrick Stewart after 'Captain's Holiday' so he insisted she get more episodes so she got a contract for two more episodes, 'Q-Pid' being the first that saw her leave with Q. Only she and Stewart broke up and it was decided her final contracted episode be switched to DS9 to tactfully get it out of the way. Q didn't fit, the story was rubbish to just get that contract done and it failed. 'Voyager' on the other hand had Q because in real life DeLance and Mulgrew are good friends. In fact Keegan DeLance who is John's son and played Q's son is Kate Mulgrew's godson in real life as well as Janeway being his character's godmother.
I bow to your superior wisdom on the subject. It was just something I'd always suspected. I know a lot of the writers were really frustrated by the limitations placed on them, and Q *does* generally call the ever-preachy federation on those very things, so it was an easy (Though specious) conclusion to reach. Thanks for correcting me.
Early on Q was almost dropped and cut back so he didn't become recurring eveytime the writers were bored. 'Time Squared' the episode with the Picard from 12 hours in the future was originally going to have Q as the punchline but it was changed to just being a bizarre space hazard.
Like Quitch said, Q and Picard as well as Q and Janeway played better off each other compared to Q and Sisko and for me thats why it didn't work with DS9 where it did with TNG and Voy.
"The Muse" would have been greatly improved if the writers had thought of having Lwaxana detect the psionic energy and be the one to help Sisko save Jake from Onaya.
I feel like they were hesitant to do that as it would would of been too similar to the TNG episode with Lazaxana and Alexander, which wasn’t received well.
I didn't particularly enjoy the Q episode (it definitely belongs on this list), but I just LOVED watching Sisko punch him in the face. I know that's not the canon reason he never reappeared on DS9, but I do find it telling that the most badass of all the captains from any of the franchises was essentially able to scare away a god with one punch. That's just how awesome The Sisko is, and it's a big part of the reason why my answer to "Kirk or Picard?" will always be an enthusiastic "Sisko!"
@@TheCharlesJackson The stupid thing about the use of Q is that no one was afraid of him. Godlike powers and all, Picard could insult him and Sisko punch him, and none of them was afraid of ending up in the cornfield a la "It's a GOOD Life." Compare and contrast that with Kirk's behavior with a similar character in "The Squire of Gothos," where Kirk realizes he's dealing with an unstable personality and tries to ride the line between confrontation and diplomacy. He is finally pushed to defiance, and puts himself in danger to save his crew and ship. Only a deus ex machina saves the day. Of course, TNG and DS9 plotlines require that Q always be amused by human behavior, rather than angered by it. Good thing for the crew.
I like Sisko the most because he is a captain that will do what needs to be done even if it means that he is crossing a line as seen in my personal favorite episode of the Show, In The Pale Moonlight So… I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all… I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing, a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it… Computer, erase that entire personal log.
I dunno, when Quark walks into the Ward Room in "Fascinations" and his expression seeing everyone getting it on is by far the best reaction to anything. It only last for a few seconds but that alone makes the episode for me. I don't think Luxwana Troi worked in DS9, due to the ensemble cast they had. She worked better in TNG for humour as there wasn't alot of characters in TNG that brought that style of humour, where as DS9 had such a varied cast that made it to much.
Luxwana Troi didn't work in TNG either imho, what an insufferable character, with maybe one or two of her episodes that I can just about stomach. I'm sure Majel Barrett was a lovely woman though and did a good job as the computers voice!
I always hated “Hard Time,” even though it’s pretty well executed as an episode. However, the fact that Chief O’Brien’s 20 year internment in a futuristic, Conte of Monte Cristo style hellhole of a prison is never mentioned again really hurts the continuity of the series. It would just be better if this episode didn’t exist, which in a way makes it worse than any of the ones listed here.
Star trek has a pretty big problem with significant character events being forgotten about. Its a problem with the show, not that episode in particular.
@@sernoddicusthegallant6986 This is the worst example I can think of. I can buy that most of the characters stoically accept whatever happens to them, and hence don't need to bring it up afterward. I can buy that Picard wouldn't want to discuss being tortured by the Cardassians, except maybe in private sessions with counselor Troy. Or that losing a baby isn't something Troy would want to revisit. These are experiences which plenty of people go through, and sometimes they don't talk about them for years or even decades. But this episode goes out of its way to suggest O'Brien is a different person who may never fully recover from what happened to him, yet by the next episode he's the same happy Irishman he's always been. Now from the standpoint of the show: it makes perfect sense to keep O'Brien that way. Fans liked him as the relatable everyman character, and to change him into someone with PTSD would have effectively changed his role on the show. But that only raises the question of why this episode exists in the first place? Worst of all, by forgetting about this episode the way they did: the writers (no doubt inadvertently) end up promoting the poisonous idea that psychological trauma is something you can overcome through shear willpower. O'Brien is literally about to kill himself in one scene, but then I guess we're supposed to assume he's alright because he says "Daddy's home"?
Never mind that, the fact that "our" O'Brien dies from time-jump-induced radiation poisoning and gets replaced by another O'Brien from slightly further in his own future (in the episode "Visionary") is never touched on again either.
I'm surprised you didn't mention "Time's Orphan". That's the one that really rubs off the wrong way on me. But I will say this. DS9, even at its absolute worst, always remained somewhat interesting. There was always some small element present to make the episode worth at least finishing. I actually got a soft spot for a few episodes here. I can't say shows like TNG or Voyager held that same trait.
"Move along home" nearly killed DS9. Highest budget for the first season of DS9, it was (justly) panned by critics - Paramount was considering cancelling the show... Then came episodes like "Duet" to save the show.
decent list with valid arguments. except the lwaxana troi thing. she really came alive when she went to ds9, stopped being a spoiled comic character and her relationship with odo was just beautiful. also, The Muse was about Odo more than it was about Lwaxana and in his speech at the wedding he was talking about Kira. great stuff.
‘Prodigal Daughter’ was awesome. It was about as different as a Star Trek episode could possibly be. Plus, it was interesting learning/finding out about a characters family.
Okay I will never get why people think that Spock's Brain was a bad episode. I mean Dr McCoy making the remark about how he shouldn't have reconnected Spock's mouth at the end still cracks me up. Sure it wasn't the best episode but neither was it the worst...I mean really, space hippies?!
Samurai Momo it's utterly ridiculous and unrealistic but it's still a fun romp, nowhere near the worst TOS episode. Perhaps people are uncomfortable with the treatment of the women in it. I'd still rather watch it over The Trouble With Tribbles, honestly
Spock's Brain had hot babes in skimpy outfits and witty snipping between Spock's disembodied voice and McCoy. Move Along Home has adults playing hop scotch.
For me, basically anything with the mirror universe was an instant skip. All the characters were so bland and two dimensional, especially mirror kira. Her primary characteristic seemed to be that she was extremely horny and I'm pretty sick of sexual promiscuity being a way of showing a female character as evil.
Any episode with a Trill in it creeps me out, which means I'm creeped out a lot watching DS9. Consider: you discover a planet with two sentient life forms on it. One is completely able to live on its own, and has developed a highly advanced civilization. The other is spawned in subterranean caverns, where they swim aimlessly, looking like slugs swimming in stagnant water. Somehow, these slugs have managed to attach themselves to the independent humanoids, and establish themselves as the dominant species on the planet, their lives being the most important, and it not mattering at all if the humanoid it's attached to survives as long as the slug does. The only thing the slug offers is a long lifespan, so that the memories it steals from the humanoid are passed to the next host, and which is deemed a wonderful thing. With such a discriminatory relationship, I'm surprised the Federation ever invited the Trill to join.
Yeah, the Goul'd do it and they're evil but the Trill do it and it's all rainbows and kittens. Who do they think they are the Tok'ra? Smug bastards! :)
There was an internet uproar when the Trill were introduced on ST:TNG as the hosts were portrayed as rather simple and it looked like biological slavery. So they retconned the species for DS9 to make them actually compete to be joined with tests and all that.
"I can't think of a single one that works . . . except for these ones that work." But yeah, more often than not it fails. It is very hard to make a compelling romance in the space of 42-50 minutes, so only the best writers can pull it off.
Jadzia was terrible to Worf in that holiday episode, too. How those two could stand each other is beyond me. They are both totally unwilling to see the other point of view.
Well, well, well. I am very impressed and agreed with the list of the top 10 worst "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episodes of all time. I often thought of what were the writers thinking and the results were somewhat cringeworthy for me. Other than those, I am still glad to be a BIG FAN of ALL the "Star Trek" series and I am sure that most of the episodes of each of them were great as well as a few very horrible ones, too.
Fascination is especially bad when you consider the fact that it's the last time Kira and Bareil spent together before he was injured and died in Life Support.
I disagree regarding the episode "Muse," perhaps the viewer has seen this type of show before but I believe the actor Cirroc Lofton and the actress playing opposite him really work well together. Another interesting physical aspect of that actress is that she possesses the most astonishingly beautiful eye color, the viewer will think she wearing some form of contact lenses but she not, check out some old stock photos of her. Anyway, I certainly believe that DS9 put out some bad episodes, however, I would not count this one among them.
One issue that not many people seem to bring up about LHWIWS (#4) is how utterly controlling Jadzia is being. Worf wanted to visit his parents, she wants to go to Risa...so they go to Risa. Worf goes down in his uniform, Jadzia makes fun of him. Jadzia wants to drink something, Worf says that she's allergic to it, she says she'll do it anyway, and Worf says it's still a bad idea but doesn't stop her... Yet Jadzia and the story structure portray Worf as the controlling one... I honestly don't see how when all he's done is let her do whatever she wants. That's not to excuse him helping the terrorists, I'm just pointing out that jarzia is no saint in this episode either. It's my personal least favorite episode because it's basically character assassination of both of them.
Hard Time should be here. Of all the crap DS9 put Obrien through this episode comes off as nihilistic and painful, basically it doesn’t feel like Star Trek. It’s A far meaner and horrific version of TNG’s the inner Light There’s no resolution to Obriens Trauma and the plot idea is dropped immediately and thank Q for that because there’s really no way that could have ended happily for him.
Five years later - here are my bottom ten from least worst to worst. 10) profit and lace- this is already on the list, so basically says what is needed to be said. 9) rivals - could have been good on paper- a guy getting a device that gives himself luck- instead turns into an overbloated episode about nothing. 8) rejoined - another poor star Trek romance episode but this one has lesbians. Worst thing is we don't care and the actresses (dax and other lady) have zero chemistry. 7) if wishes were horses - season one had some iffy episodes and on paper having the crew meet up with pigments of their imagination could make for an interesting episode for character development - but this did nothing like that. 6) the tears of the prophets - this might be a controversial choice and it's more to do with how it lead to ruining the second half (or the prophet/pai-raith) of the what you leave behind storyline. But suddenly dukat knows stuff about bajor, the prophets and pai-raths- how?? He just does. The federation invades cardassian space but not before the prophets try and warn sisko about not going and the terrible price. Yes, I get Dax dies, but all dukat did was close the wormhole (which hurts the dominion more than the federation and Dax died because she just happened to be around the orb when dukat tried to use it. 5) the storyteller - some guy on bajor keeps energy monster at bay by telling stories. Another lame season one story. 4) change of heart - this one has always urked me the wrong way. Personally never cared for the jadzia and worf relationship because neither had any chemistry together. But in this episode they basically are the cause of the death of a cardassian informant (who we are told could have information that might save millions of lives) and at the end they're basically both given a court martial for their incompetence... No sorry, that would have made too much sense, instead they're given a slap on the hand and told to not work together on away missions again. 3) let he who is without sin- another Dax and worf episode - already explained well enough on the video... Phew!! 2) meridian - urgghh... Thank god this was also already mentioned. 1) sanctuary - just plain terrible. A group of refugees from the gamma quadrant want a new planet to settle on but are adminant that it's got to be bajor... Did I forget to mention that these refugees are just unlikable as characters and we basically feel zero sympathy for their situation. Special mention (or not so special mention) goes to... The collaborator Fascination Who mourns for Morn You are cordially invited The muse
Solid list. I would replace "Move Along Home" and "Q-Less" with "Time's Orphan" and "Rivals". "Move Along Home" is pretty fun if you just think of the Wadi as the galaxy's biggest trolls. The Q character doesn't really work on DS9, but his single appearance in "Q-Less" is breezy and inoffensive.
I kinda liked how at the end the Wadi were like "Wait, you thought we'd actually kill them? Chill dude, it's just a game lol" and Sisko is just... So pissed. He got all dressed up and psyched for first contact and these guys just roll up, play a prank on them, and leave.
Q didn't work on DS9 because the character did not have Jean Luc Picard to be opposite of. DS9 built itself on the idea that not everything in the future will be perfect, and that technology is only as good as the people using it. Plus so much of the episode itself shows Q going back to an earlier point in his own character. After showing how malignant Q is in "All Good things..." it was just dumb seeing him playing with Sisco like he was Picard at "Encounter at Farpoint." I'm glad they made a clean break with the character on DS9 after that. The same goes for Vash also.
You forgot Sanctuary. A mob of snooty ill-behaved charity cases shows up on DS9, makes a mess, demands placement on a resource-strapped planet, and when instead given an entire planet of their own FOR FREE continues to act like victims of the mean ol' bajorans and the audience is expected to sympathize. I hope the Dominion finished the Skrreea off during the war, it'd be a favor to the Alpha Quadrant.
Now, now, while Worf is terrible in Let He Who Is Without Sin, to be fair, so is Jadzia. And everybody. It's a horrible, horrible episode. It and Profit and Lace are terrible. I'm not overly fond of the Mirror Universe episodes outside the first one, Crossover. The time skips make things hard to follow sometimes and there doesn't feel like any consequences for visiting so often. We end the whole in a damn Ferengi comedy episode for crying out loud, as you mention.
Oh yes. Queer's only allowed in the mirror universe. And then it gets really, really kinky. (I know, DS9 did do that other episode with Dax, that was something)
I remember then catching a lot of hell for that from the people you would except claiming they were implying gayness to be evil in and of itself. I don't think they thought of it that way so much as they were just trying to make the characters very different from the main versions and each other. When you have that many baddies running around its very easy for it to degnerate into a who is more evil contest without woking on different ways for them to be evil.
When you consider we had Dana Scully, Lyta Alexander, Leeta, Beverly Crusher, and Kira Nerys it's a wonder every male who grew up in the 90s isn't chasing redheads.
The backstory behind Prophet and Lace gives a lot of explanation as to why it’s so terrible - the writers wanted a comedy, but Siddig saw it as an opportunity to address a social issue. When he directed it as such, producers got upset, and it had to get re-edited to make Heads or tails out of the conflicting viewpoints
'Fascination' is my favourite guilty pleasure episode from DS9! 'Time's Orphan', which is oddly missing from the list, can do one. I never want to see that episode again! As suggested by a couple of people, top and/or bottom ranking videos based on Romances (single episodes (Picard/Kamala yay, Seven/Chakotay bleh), story arcs (Ben/Cassidy being good, Kes/Neelix making no sense), or missed opportunities Worf/Deanna in Parallels, or Picard/Beverly)), Bromances (Julian/Miles being good, Tom/Harry being awful) and Recreational Moments (like Kira and Jadzia's escapades in the holosuite) would be interesting.
I would have put "Paradise" from Season 2. I don't know why, but that episode just piss me off with the idea of a forcing people to give up technology and say its progress despite ignoring the torture, violence and toranical rule and the people on the planet agree despite some of their own dying because of it. I just think it was one of those force to push the creaters plotical agenda of technology is bad he had.
But it was bad in that it makes no sense in the reaction of the people put through hell or they allow it to get as bad. I mean the idea is unique and could have done well but like the episode with them put in the board game, it poorly executed.
Yup. You're right. That episode reminds me of "Cool Hand Luke" too much with "the Box" etc. Really the worst one of the whole series for me. I like "Move Along Home" because of Falow. Great character who put one over on the wily Quark. No, I didn't like the "hopscotch" thing but meh.. minor point. The concept was pretty good, IMO. "Paradise" just irks me every time I see it.
It's hard to fathom a show like "Star Trek" sucessfully pushing the idea that technology is bad. Without technology the show wouldn't have anything to do.
I actually stopped watching Deep Space 9 because three times in a row when I first attempted to start watching it the first year it was out it was the "Move Along Home" episode. Fortunately, I caught the entire series in its reruns later to find out what a great series it was, possibly the best Star Trek series, and only second to TNG if not the best imo. I even just finished watching the entire series for the 3rd time, and I am now watching the Voyager series again and Voyager, although I like it a lot, seems so simple and boring in comparison to just watching Deep Space 9.
Dude, you nailed it, especially with "Meridian." However, I would like to point out that, even with DS9s worst, there is still a great deal of awesomeness. In "Move Along Home," for instance, the acting performance of the lead alien from the Gamma Quadrant is something I find memorable and makes the episode worth watching. I find the precise opposite is true of any episode of Voyager. (I never include the words "Star Trek" with that series because it's just not good enough to be Star Trek.) The very best episodes in Voyager are almost not worthy of watching at all. The Q arch is pathetic---badly conceived and poorly executed for the actors, writers and directors. The best episode of Voyager---and I mean this in both conceivable ways---is the last episode. It's a great time-travel story, and Thank God "Voyager" is over.
Lessons! Best single episode romance ever. The one with Janeway and that anti-telepath guy was good too. We know a romance won't last so the episode needs to be about more than that. Explore the character in new ways and Lessons did that. Great music too.
Iirc That episode took place over a far longer period of time than most normal star trek episodes so it felt more natural despite the fact that it was far from natural with both Janeway and the Commandant (was that who he was?) trying to dupe each-other.
@@taraswartzbaugh9780 They were basically using eachother knowing that they most likely were being used by the other at the same time, yet, hoping something good could come out from it or not, granted that their own goal was achieved. The ending was epic. Mulgrew was at her best (as in Year of Hell two parter)
I was scratching my head at Muse, thinking somehow I don't remember that, then when it turned out to be a Lwaxana episode I assume I just skipped it on every subsequent watch.
Gotta add that captains holiday is in fact not a single episode romance. It is actually a 3 episode cross over story arc for Vash. I think that had they timed it better they could have squeezed her in the voyager episode with riker seeing that they would have been traveling together at the time. My personal opinion is q-less is far from one of the worst episodes. Especially when you take into account the episode where kai opaka becomes a tech zombie, or even the one with rumplestiltskin where all their problems were solved by thinking happy thoughts for christ's sake.
If you want to highlight bad writing the Mirror Universe episodes are your go to. First they have the same weakness of almost all parallel universe stories. No matter how different the histories the same people are in the same place, often with the same jobs. How did the same humans, Klingons, Trill and Ferengi wind up in the same place in a non-Federation universe? But the worst was the last one. Before it Terry Ferrell was the Dax host. Then after she was killed off and replaced by Nicole DeBoer the same switch took place in the other universe. How the he'll did that happen?
once thing I never got is the mirror world's supposed absence of cloaking devices when we saw them being used in the first two times they visited the place. I know that is was just a plot device to get Quark and over to the other side, but I guess they couldn't think at the time of a better way to get to visit the place again.
The first two episodes that LEPT to mind when I read your title was "Time's Orphan" and "Take Me Out to the Holosuite". I cannot find fault with your choices, just kind of sad those two did not make the list.
Mr. Coleman, please consider doing the most UNDERRATED episodes of each series! For DS9, please consider "Prophet Motive" (a clever little Ferengi comedy that is head and shoulders above the rest!) You do a great job on this channel, BTW!
Q-less, Fascination, Resurrection and The Emperor’s New Cloak were good episodes imo. Not the best, but ok. Episodes that you missed: Dramatis Personae, Melora, Sanctuary and Rejoined Overall, my favorite Star Trek show.
2:24 - To be fair, Jadzia doesn't come out of the episode smelling like a bucket of roses either. True, Worf's actions near the end are inexcusable, but Jadzia was blowing off his attempts to talk about their relationship at every opportunity.
I hate all Troy's mother episodes. The actress used to nurse Chapel in TOS, and her mother character is simply boring and predictable. All the episodes mention here were not the best but they were all interesting, even the worst of DS9 is much better than the best of STD:
there are a lot of parallels between Meridian and the episode "rejoined" were we see jadzia in another single episode romance, involves forbidden love, involves jadzia losing her love interest due to circumstanes, and involves a spacial phenomenon that the Defiant crew try to manipulate with near disasterous results.personally, i think rejoined is worse becase its a repeating of these tropes during a more compelling season than Meridian was in.
While you are broadly correct, I actually like 'Profit and Lace' and 'The Emperor's New Cloak'. You actually also missed out the REAL worst episode though, 'His Way'. What made this worse still was that on the video-tape it was twinned with one of THE BEST episodes ever - 'In the Pale Moonlight'.
The Worf episode did always bug me. Glad they didn't write him like that more often. And the one episode romance issue is spot on. But I don't really agree with the rest. Whether they worked or didn't work is pretty much up to personal taste though.
The problem with the Trek shows being 7 season long is that 10 bad episodes is not enough. I love DS9, but I could name 20 bad episodes off the top of my head, LOL.
Move Along Home is a classic. Muse is a great development story. Fascination was a great laugh! Let He Who Is Without Sin tells an interesting modern day story. Profit And Lace is a good laugh. Resurrection was an interesting take on the mirror characters coming here. Prodical Daughter was a character development story for Ezri. Q-Less was a great cameo episode. The Emporers New Cloak was a good Ferengi story in there. Miridian was a good story. Nothing wrong with the episodes you say are bad.
Mirror Vic Fontaine (in Emperor's New Cloak) breaks my brain. Mirror Vic is a human being. Does that mean that in the Prime universe, Vic Fontaine is ALSO a real person in the 2380s? Because I was under the impression that, in the Trek universe at least, Vic Fontaine was a real 1960s Vegas lounge singer who was used as a basis for the holoprogram centuries later.
Honestly, three you listed here would be among my favorites, Fascination, Profit and Lace, and Q Less. I have watched them over and over. Even Move Along Home and Emperor's New cloak I have watched over and over and still enojoy and never skip. In fact, in your whole list, I only consider two of them as one of the worst, that damn disappearing planet one and ezri going home. There are so many to chose, the one where Jake is old, the one where obrien was in prison in his mind, the one with "the reapers," the one where nog gets his new leg, the one where kira gets her leg stuck in a rock, the one where the guy has his daughter in stasis and has a changeling key to unlock it, the one where odo gets infected and dr mora says no one will accept him that he was doing things out of his control.
And here comes My top 10 worst Star Trek Deep Space Nine Episodes Number 10: Muse Number 09: Meridian Number 08: A Man Alone Number 07: Invasive Procedures Number 06: Equilibrium Number 05: Facets Number 04: Past Tense Parts 1&2 Number 03: The Visitor Number 02: Distant Voices Number 01: The Storyteller
I dont think Q worked in DS9 because DS9 didn't need Q. Because of how long the Star Trek lore had been established by that point, combined with just how well DS9 was written, they never really needed that "omnipotent guy to move the plot along", plus as DS9 had enough of its own characters who could take up the pain-in-the-arse role as required, so he wasn't really needed for an antagonistic role either. Now, come Voyager you've got an isolated federation ship with a worn-down crew in an unchsrted and dangerous part of the galaxy, that's where Q gound relevance as a character again because Voyager was prime for him to poke with a proverbial stick. Not to take anything away from the character or John De Lancie's performance which was superb, but I don't think his character would have really fit into the DS9 setting anyway.
Q in Q-Less just isn't Q. in TNG he's mischievous and just wants to play around with the enterprise, here's he's the toxic ex boyfriend who doesn't care who he hurts or goes through to get Vash back. He barely interacts with anyone outside of the bar scene with Sisko, a very brief conversation with Bashir which serves only to remove him from the rest of the episode, and a snide comment to O'Brien to remind us that he wasn't a major character in that show, as if we'd forgotten after only 6 episodes. This is made worse by the fact that this is sandwiched between two decent to great Q episodes in TNG in True Q and Tapestry, the latter airing only one week later than this. Maybe it's a good thing Q didn't come back to DS9, the writers didn't seem to know how to write him and damaging him further could have made him far less popular a character
Very true that everything with Lwaxana in it is instantly at the bottom of all Trek, but you've got 2 Ferengi episodes that don't belong on this list (move along home and emperor's new cloak) while forgetting to put Family Business and Ferengi Love Songs on the list right next to Profit and Lace.
I think "Far Beyond the Stars" was, at best, put into the wrong season. It broke up the story line to get preachy about stuff that happened on earth in the 1950s. The only saving grace of that episode is seeing some of the actors without lots of makeup (Schimmerman, Dorn).
To my surprise, I actually agreed with most of this top 10 worst list. I never noticed the badness of the one with Zek, and Quark cross-dressing, just because Ferenghi shenanigans never pall on me. (The Magnificent Ferenghi is a big favorite!)
'Fascination' is so bad it could've been a TNG episode. At least I can say one thing, it's easier to find 10 episode I DIDN'T like, rather than narrowing down to JUST 10 episodes that I DID.
Single episode romances are the worst thing in every incarnation of star trek, you could do a whole worst list on them alone. The mirror universe was an ok once off idea that just kept getting worse and worse every time they went back to it. I coudn't stomach Discovery long enough to see the mirror universe episode. So i can't imagine how bad a stupid concept on an awful show could possibly be.
I disagree about Move Along Home. The "riddles" are easy to solve, true, but I don't think the ending ruins the entire episode, which to me is just a fun romp anyway. However, one early DS9 entry that I can't stand is The Storyteller : the kids are annoying, and I hate how what looked like interesting negotiations between two factions of Bajorans, something that we hadn't seen up to that point, were left up in the air for the sake of a childish morale. Not to mention, it just doesn't mesh very well with the other storyline, which is the epitomy of bad Star Trek in my opinion : "primitive" people who treat the Federation like white saviors. And I get that O'Brien doesn't want to be their leader, but why would he want to put in charge a guy who literally tried to stab him in the back ? After serving year aboard the Enterprize under Jean-Luc Picard, is that really his notion of an acceptable leader ? Just dumb.
Phew! I was almost worried your list somehow didn't include Meridian. I've rewatched it fairly recently just to see if I was maybe wrong about it all those years ago and... nope! Total yawner. We're supposed to believe that Jadzia is willing to give up EVERYTHING (friends, career, etc.) for this bland, creepy alien guy? And the Dax symbiont is cool with that decision too? Yeah, right. Then there's the weird rapey B-story with Kira, Quark and the Jeffrey Combs alien that desperately wants a holosuite program involving her. Good God.
No. Profit and Lace is hilarious and a good episode for other reasons, too! Also, the romance in Unimatrix Zero is nothing like Jadzia's stupid one in Meridian. Seven doesn't fall madly in love with someone she just met; Seven discovers that she had previously had a relationship of six years with that man. In that case the one episode romance adds decently to her character development. That, and the episode as a whole is simply way better than Meridian.
0:41 Do you like Jumanji then? Hmm, I don't mind "Q-Less", but yeah, Q is definitely more associated with TNG and VOY as he only appeared in that one episode of DS9.
Single Episode Romances are what happen when 90% of your writers are men who have no idea how women think. TNG is demonstrative of this thinking that women take their careers far less seriously than men do given how many times we have the "Lady officer falls in love with boring dude in fewer than 26 hours and wants to resign to be with him forever" trope. Because, you know, women only care about their careers until they can set it all aside for a space hunk.
Some dishonorable mentions from me Time's Orphan - Molly eat rocks now If wishes were horses - Awfully generic "strange stuff is happening" episode, with more rumpletstilskin than any ep ever needs The Storyteller - The village isn't strong, its dumb. Only the Myles/Bashir interactions stop that from being ghastly. Take Me Out to the Holosuite - the ezri family episode doesn't kill season 7s momentum anywhere near as much as this America-centric feel good episode. Tonally completely out of place in the middle of the war story. But you know what, 14 odd bad eps in a series that long is pretty damned impressive. And the good eps are so good.
I like "Move Along Home" only because it's one of the episodes where Avery Brooks sings. Even though it's the stupid “Allamaraine" chant, his beautiful voice makes it pleasant to hear.
Some fun facts - I was recovering from a concussion while making this and I've noticed it's resulted in me tripping over a few words. Secondly, I was making this with a new microphone which I'm still figuring out which has resulted in some peaking audio. Hopefully you can still enjoy the video though. Live Long and Prosper folks :)
sorry to hear that you have had a concussion, but hope you will get well soon :)
Oh yeah I'm all good now. I hit my head while dismantling some scaffolding and had a headache for about a week. But I'm back in tip top shape now :)
Brilliant episode! Feel better! You’re the best.
PCS Post Concusion Syndrome, yes there is a name, can be temporay or be permament. The most common issues is memory loss and increased anger. It's similar to PTSD. Been there done that. Get well!
How is this comment posted a week ago yet this video was just posted today? Are you a Timelord?
I hate star trek episodes that have single episode romances where they would give up their life for someone they have known for a short time
It's annoying
Some work because the time is longer. 'Lessons' the one where Picard falls for Neela takes places over the course of about a month, they are starting a two week survey at the start and when she and the Picard first kiss comes after a log entry that they have finished that survey then there is mention that a couple more weeks have passed before the emergency.
The one where Crusher falls for 'John Doe' actually takes places over the course of six months, if you go by Beverly and Picard's log entries. However that makes Data and Geordie seem like dullards as they spend months coming up with the simple solution to the data module.
Andrew Perkin ...yup...talk about Picard falling in love!
I think the ST:V episode Disease where Kim falls in love with that smokin hot alien was a good one episode romance. It was a great departure from the usual Harry Kim stories.
Why? That happens. You're probably a virgin.
Especially Dax she had lived several life’s yet she behaved like Kes in Voyager
Actually, Luwaxana's first appearance on DS9 was the first time I ever liked the character. Her scene with Odo in the elevator was beautiful
"Look at me, Odo."
I wouldn't say it was the only time I liked her, quite liked the character most of the time myself, but that was one of her best episodes.
I really liked that scene too.
Half a Life on TNG was good.
I highly recommend the book “Q-In-Law” by Peter David. Best plot line with Lwaxana Troi ever.
There can never be too much Mirror Universe "Kinky" Kira. Just sayin.
Death by snusnu?
Ah yes, the absolute least attractive female on the show. I see you are a man of distinguished tastes.
@@Connection-Lost I believe your connection is lost........to REALITY! HAH! GOTTEM!!! GIT REKT NERD!!!
@@Connection-Lost She's still attractive though if you can see past the unflattering hairstyle and frumpy (for Prime Kira) uniform.
I thought the mirror universe was a bad choice myself. It could have worked but they already had so much going on with so many loose ends that it just muddied the water further. Nothing wrong with the idea it was just a bridge to far to try and inject that into ds9 imo
I got so very sick of the “Alternate Universe” episodes in DS9, comparable to how very fed up I got with the “holodeck-gone-wrong” episodes in TNG.
The one with jennifer sisko was ok. But they had to go with a cliche ending.
Maybe the actress was too expensive for a recurring role....
Both examples have no constancy and are simply made up on the spot to move the plot along.
Great list! Personally, I'd replace Prodigal Daughter with Time's Orphan: the episode where Molly O'Brien falls into the time well and comes out grown up and acting like a Neanderthal. As much as I love the show, that one never worked for me. Prodigal Daughter wasn't bad, but you're right; it felt like there were more pressing concerns by season 7.
Oh yeah Time's Orphan is pretty bad. I think they were trying to do a "Shit on O'Brien for good drama", episode like Hard Time, but it didn't work.
@@RowanJColeman Ah, the "O'Brain must suffer" episodes. Some were phenomenal, some were okay, and some were just cruel.
'Time's Orphan' was originally a TNG episode about Alexander that was rewritten for DS9 and Molly. In fact it was one of a number of stories by Joe Menoski meant to kill off Alexander. All were blocked as Alexander was Michael Pillar's mother's favourite character.
I've always thought that a good move could have been have a Dax and Worf fun episode then use the transporter fudge to actually rescue Lisa Cusak in the next episode. Have Dukat kill Dax rather than Jadzia (which would mean Jadzia dies but have more weight) and the out of time Lisa Cusak becomes the new female lead replacing Farrel.
I have no problem with Prodigal Daughter, any episode that focuses largely on Ezri is a good one to me.
@@RowanJColeman I don't like Hard Time
The thing that annoyed me most about the 'Emperor's New cloak', is that it was supposedly the SAME Mirror Universe previously visited by Kira, Bashir, Jake and Benjamin. A universe we KNOW had cloaking devices, yet the entire plot contrivance to bring Quark and Rom to the Mirror Universe is because they "didn't have cloaking devices in this universe".
Sorry but the list is incomplete. The actual worst ds9 episode is when they killed off the most charismatic, interesting, beautiful, badass character in the ENTIRETY of star trek.
The Defiant.
You know how some episodes can just "hurt you". The Defiant getting destroyed did that.
@@kevaninthe4135 The Defiant never interested me in the slightest as a spacecraft.
@@andrewblanchard2398 Like the whiny little bitch it was.
@@ShroomKeppie I thought you were talking about yourself for a minute.
wait a minute.... *you are!*
You take that back! The most charismatic, interesting, beautiful, badass character in the entirety of star trek is obviously MORN!
2:25 After binge watchingDS9 I went back and watched a few TNG episodes, and I've got to say one thing. Michael Dorn looks Soo much better in red. Yellow just makes his skin look weird.
Agreed same thing when I went back and watched the first couple eps of TOS and they had Uhura in Goldish Yellow instead of red it didn't fit her complexion well.
First season of TNG he wore red.
The worst episodes of DS9 are better than the best episodes of STD.
LMAO, I was just thinking the same thing!
@@ipponyc for real. Better than any bullshit that comes out of Kurtzman and JJ Abrams' ass orifices.
@@jaqenhghar2970 Good point there.
Eden and Remembrance are actually good, of course the rest are shit.
@@jaqenhghar2970 JJ Abrahm’s JUST DIDN’T UNDERSTAND Star Trek....AT ALL....!!!!
Not to be a hater or anything, but my theory as to why Q was so good on TNG, and so blah here is that TNG was such a stolid, preachy, self-serious show, particularly in the early years. Q called them on their bullcrap, and just openly stated a lot of the problems with the series, many of which we fans were complaining about, too. So I think he worked effortlessly there because he was a way for the writers to vent their frustrations with the strictures they were forced to abide withing. DS9 really didn't have that problem, so there wasn't much to rail against.
Also worth noting Q wasn't really funny until season 2. In Season 1 he was a malevolent force, and the writers decided to co-opt him for other purposes in the 2nd season, more-or-less saving the character. Again, in DS9 there wasn't really much to rail against in season 1
Interesting theory. I was thinking it was maybe a personality clash, since by reports the DS9 actors were VERY serious about their work and the TNG cast were not, so maybe DeLancie rubbed them the wrong way and it showed on screen
Wasn't DeLance really, it was more the way the episode came about. Jennifer Hetrik who played Vash was engaged to Patrick Stewart after 'Captain's Holiday' so he insisted she get more episodes so she got a contract for two more episodes, 'Q-Pid' being the first that saw her leave with Q. Only she and Stewart broke up and it was decided her final contracted episode be switched to DS9 to tactfully get it out of the way. Q didn't fit, the story was rubbish to just get that contract done and it failed.
'Voyager' on the other hand had Q because in real life DeLance and Mulgrew are good friends. In fact Keegan DeLance who is John's son and played Q's son is Kate Mulgrew's godson in real life as well as Janeway being his character's godmother.
I bow to your superior wisdom on the subject. It was just something I'd always suspected. I know a lot of the writers were really frustrated by the limitations placed on them, and Q *does* generally call the ever-preachy federation on those very things, so it was an easy (Though specious) conclusion to reach. Thanks for correcting me.
Early on Q was almost dropped and cut back so he didn't become recurring eveytime the writers were bored. 'Time Squared' the episode with the Picard from 12 hours in the future was originally going to have Q as the punchline but it was changed to just being a bizarre space hazard.
Like Quitch said, Q and Picard as well as Q and Janeway played better off each other compared to Q and Sisko and for me thats why it didn't work with DS9 where it did with TNG and Voy.
"The Muse" would have been greatly improved if the writers had thought of having Lwaxana detect the psionic energy and be the one to help Sisko save Jake from Onaya.
I feel like they were hesitant to do that as it would would of been too similar to the TNG episode with Lazaxana and Alexander, which wasn’t received well.
I didn't particularly enjoy the Q episode (it definitely belongs on this list), but I just LOVED watching Sisko punch him in the face. I know that's not the canon reason he never reappeared on DS9, but I do find it telling that the most badass of all the captains from any of the franchises was essentially able to scare away a god with one punch. That's just how awesome The Sisko is, and it's a big part of the reason why my answer to "Kirk or Picard?" will always be an enthusiastic "Sisko!"
Sisko was a shadow compared to Picard
@@chadingram6390 Picard? Oh you mean the Borg's little bitch?
@@TheCharlesJackson The stupid thing about the use of Q is that no one was afraid of him. Godlike powers and all, Picard could insult him and Sisko punch him, and none of them was afraid of ending up in the cornfield a la "It's a GOOD Life."
Compare and contrast that with Kirk's behavior with a similar character in "The Squire of Gothos," where Kirk realizes he's dealing with an unstable personality and tries to ride the line between confrontation and diplomacy. He is finally pushed to defiance, and puts himself in danger to save his crew and ship. Only a deus ex machina saves the day.
Of course, TNG and DS9 plotlines require that Q always be amused by human behavior, rather than angered by it. Good thing for the crew.
@@ShroomKeppie well put. Q would be the end for them all if he were written to be as corrupt as someone with his power would be.
I like Sisko the most because he is a captain that will do what needs to be done even if it means that he is crossing a line as seen in my personal favorite episode of the Show, In The Pale Moonlight
So… I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all… I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing, a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it… Computer, erase that entire personal log.
I dunno, when Quark walks into the Ward Room in "Fascinations" and his expression seeing everyone getting it on is by far the best reaction to anything. It only last for a few seconds but that alone makes the episode for me. I don't think Luxwana Troi worked in DS9, due to the ensemble cast they had. She worked better in TNG for humour as there wasn't alot of characters in TNG that brought that style of humour, where as DS9 had such a varied cast that made it to much.
Luxwana Troi didn't work in TNG either imho, what an insufferable character, with maybe one or two of her episodes that I can just about stomach. I'm sure Majel Barrett was a lovely woman though and did a good job as the computers voice!
I always hated “Hard Time,” even though it’s pretty well executed as an episode. However, the fact that Chief O’Brien’s 20 year internment in a futuristic, Conte of Monte Cristo style hellhole of a prison is never mentioned again really hurts the continuity of the series. It would just be better if this episode didn’t exist, which in a way makes it worse than any of the ones listed here.
What about that episode where Geordi gets brainwashed by the Romulans never touched on again
It's never mentioned again because O'Brien knows how to do time.
Star trek has a pretty big problem with significant character events being forgotten about. Its a problem with the show, not that episode in particular.
@@sernoddicusthegallant6986 This is the worst example I can think of. I can buy that most of the characters stoically accept whatever happens to them, and hence don't need to bring it up afterward. I can buy that Picard wouldn't want to discuss being tortured by the Cardassians, except maybe in private sessions with counselor Troy. Or that losing a baby isn't something Troy would want to revisit. These are experiences which plenty of people go through, and sometimes they don't talk about them for years or even decades.
But this episode goes out of its way to suggest O'Brien is a different person who may never fully recover from what happened to him, yet by the next episode he's the same happy Irishman he's always been.
Now from the standpoint of the show: it makes perfect sense to keep O'Brien that way. Fans liked him as the relatable everyman character, and to change him into someone with PTSD would have effectively changed his role on the show. But that only raises the question of why this episode exists in the first place?
Worst of all, by forgetting about this episode the way they did: the writers (no doubt inadvertently) end up promoting the poisonous idea that psychological trauma is something you can overcome through shear willpower. O'Brien is literally about to kill himself in one scene, but then I guess we're supposed to assume he's alright because he says "Daddy's home"?
Never mind that, the fact that "our" O'Brien dies from time-jump-induced radiation poisoning and gets replaced by another O'Brien from slightly further in his own future (in the episode "Visionary") is never touched on again either.
I'm surprised you didn't mention "Time's Orphan". That's the one that really rubs off the wrong way on me.
But I will say this. DS9, even at its absolute worst, always remained somewhat interesting. There was always some small element present to make the episode worth at least finishing. I actually got a soft spot for a few episodes here. I can't say shows like TNG or Voyager held that same trait.
omg...YASSS! Every time I binge through the seasons, THAT episode is a definite *skip*
'Time's Orphan' a story originally designed to kill off Alexander transferred to DS9 and Molly.
a.k.a. The Caveman Molly Episode
Lets Have A Discussion: Ha! Worf just would have left his ass there! Writers must of known & put that script on the back burner.
It has been so long I forgot all about that one, had to Google it. Reading what it was about explains why I blocked it out. :)
The episode with Bashir and the wheelchair girl was an acceptable single episode romance.
I also thought Chrysalis, the one where Bashir brings that genetically engineered girl out of her catatonic state, wasn't too bad.
It was unacceptable. Easily the worst episode of any tv show of all time.
@@BurpingRocks1….why?
"Move along home" nearly killed DS9. Highest budget for the first season of DS9, it was (justly) panned by critics - Paramount was considering cancelling the show... Then came episodes like "Duet" to save the show.
And Duet was absolutely fantastic. My favourite episode of Deep Space Nine.
decent list with valid arguments.
except the lwaxana troi thing. she really came alive when she went to ds9, stopped being a spoiled comic character and her relationship with odo was just beautiful.
also, The Muse was about Odo more than it was about Lwaxana and in his speech at the wedding he was talking about Kira. great stuff.
I don't agree about the mirror universe. I think DS9 dipped into that well once too often.
...More than once.
Until the one in the 4th season with Worf as the leader of the Alliance they were good. After that, not so much
This should be a five second video. Truly there were no bad episodes. Their worst is better than STD’s best.
‘Prodigal Daughter’ was awesome. It was about as different as a Star Trek episode could possibly be. Plus, it was interesting learning/finding out about a characters family.
I think that Move along home is one the "so bad it's good" Trek-Episodes like Spocks Brain... :P
Okay I will never get why people think that Spock's Brain was a bad episode. I mean Dr McCoy making the remark about how he shouldn't have reconnected Spock's mouth at the end still cracks me up. Sure it wasn't the best episode but neither was it the worst...I mean really, space hippies?!
'Spock's Brain' is better in the novelisation. The ending is changed slightly and makes it more believable.
Samurai Momo it's utterly ridiculous and unrealistic but it's still a fun romp, nowhere near the worst TOS episode. Perhaps people are uncomfortable with the treatment of the women in it. I'd still rather watch it over The Trouble With Tribbles, honestly
Spock's Brain had hot babes in skimpy outfits and witty snipping between Spock's disembodied voice and McCoy. Move Along Home has adults playing hop scotch.
@@trajan74 'Move along home' had dabs girls in very revealing outfits.
For me, basically anything with the mirror universe was an instant skip. All the characters were so bland and two dimensional, especially mirror kira. Her primary characteristic seemed to be that she was extremely horny and I'm pretty sick of sexual promiscuity being a way of showing a female character as evil.
Oh, I call her crazy Kira. But kinky Kira works.
Any episode with a Trill in it creeps me out, which means I'm creeped out a lot watching DS9.
Consider: you discover a planet with two sentient life forms on it. One is completely able to live on its own, and has developed a highly advanced civilization. The other is spawned in subterranean caverns, where they swim aimlessly, looking like slugs swimming in stagnant water.
Somehow, these slugs have managed to attach themselves to the independent humanoids, and establish themselves as the dominant species on the planet, their lives being the most important, and it not mattering at all if the humanoid it's attached to survives as long as the slug does. The only thing the slug offers is a long lifespan, so that the memories it steals from the humanoid are passed to the next host, and which is deemed a wonderful thing.
With such a discriminatory relationship, I'm surprised the Federation ever invited the Trill to join.
Yeah, the Goul'd do it and they're evil but the Trill do it and it's all rainbows and kittens. Who do they think they are the Tok'ra? Smug bastards! :)
There was an internet uproar when the Trill were introduced on ST:TNG as the hosts were portrayed as rather simple and it looked like biological slavery. So they retconned the species for DS9 to make them actually compete to be joined with tests and all that.
"I can't think of a single one that works . . . except for these ones that work." But yeah, more often than not it fails. It is very hard to make a compelling romance in the space of 42-50 minutes, so only the best writers can pull it off.
Jadzia was terrible to Worf in that holiday episode, too. How those two could stand each other is beyond me. They are both totally unwilling to see the other point of view.
It's a sex thing
Marc Colten beat me to it!
@@numobudo phrasing
Well, well, well. I am very impressed and agreed with the list of the top 10 worst "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episodes of all time. I often thought of what were the writers thinking and the results were somewhat cringeworthy for me. Other than those, I am still glad to be a BIG FAN of ALL the "Star Trek" series and I am sure that most of the episodes of each of them were great as well as a few very horrible ones, too.
I find many of the stories in DS9 don't really need a sci-fi backdrop. They could be set anywhere.
The Planet Brigadoon episode was only good for the B plot involving the alien trying to procure a holosuite program of Kira.
Fascination is especially bad when you consider the fact that it's the last time Kira and Bareil spent together before he was injured and died in Life Support.
I disagree regarding the episode "Muse," perhaps the viewer has seen this type of show before but I believe the actor Cirroc Lofton and the actress playing opposite him really work well together. Another interesting physical aspect of that actress is that she possesses the most astonishingly beautiful eye color, the viewer will think she wearing some form of contact lenses but she not, check out some old stock photos of her. Anyway, I certainly believe that DS9 put out some bad episodes, however, I would not count this one among them.
Q-Less is basically Q becoming like the Doctor trying to get or keep a companion.
One issue that not many people seem to bring up about LHWIWS (#4) is how utterly controlling Jadzia is being.
Worf wanted to visit his parents, she wants to go to Risa...so they go to Risa.
Worf goes down in his uniform, Jadzia makes fun of him.
Jadzia wants to drink something, Worf says that she's allergic to it, she says she'll do it anyway, and Worf says it's still a bad idea but doesn't stop her...
Yet Jadzia and the story structure portray Worf as the controlling one... I honestly don't see how when all he's done is let her do whatever she wants.
That's not to excuse him helping the terrorists, I'm just pointing out that jarzia is no saint in this episode either. It's my personal least favorite episode because it's basically character assassination of both of them.
Hard Time should be here. Of all the crap DS9 put Obrien through this episode comes off as nihilistic and painful, basically it doesn’t feel like Star Trek. It’s A far meaner and horrific version of TNG’s the inner Light There’s no resolution to Obriens Trauma and the plot idea is dropped immediately and thank Q for that because there’s really no way that could have ended happily for him.
Five years later - here are my bottom ten from least worst to worst.
10) profit and lace- this is already on the list, so basically says what is needed to be said.
9) rivals - could have been good on paper- a guy getting a device that gives himself luck- instead turns into an overbloated episode about nothing.
8) rejoined - another poor star Trek romance episode but this one has lesbians. Worst thing is we don't care and the actresses (dax and other lady) have zero chemistry.
7) if wishes were horses - season one had some iffy episodes and on paper having the crew meet up with pigments of their imagination could make for an interesting episode for character development - but this did nothing like that.
6) the tears of the prophets - this might be a controversial choice and it's more to do with how it lead to ruining the second half (or the prophet/pai-raith) of the what you leave behind storyline.
But suddenly dukat knows stuff about bajor, the prophets and pai-raths- how?? He just does. The federation invades cardassian space but not before the prophets try and warn sisko about not going and the terrible price.
Yes, I get Dax dies, but all dukat did was close the wormhole (which hurts the dominion more than the federation and Dax died because she just happened to be around the orb when dukat tried to use it.
5) the storyteller - some guy on bajor keeps energy monster at bay by telling stories. Another lame season one story.
4) change of heart - this one has always urked me the wrong way. Personally never cared for the jadzia and worf relationship because neither had any chemistry together. But in this episode they basically are the cause of the death of a cardassian informant (who we are told could have information that might save millions of lives) and at the end they're basically both given a court martial for their incompetence... No sorry, that would have made too much sense, instead they're given a slap on the hand and told to not work together on away missions again.
3) let he who is without sin- another Dax and worf episode - already explained well enough on the video... Phew!!
2) meridian - urgghh... Thank god this was also already mentioned.
1) sanctuary - just plain terrible. A group of refugees from the gamma quadrant want a new planet to settle on but are adminant that it's got to be bajor... Did I forget to mention that these refugees are just unlikable as characters and we basically feel zero sympathy for their situation.
Special mention (or not so special mention) goes to...
The collaborator
Fascination
Who mourns for Morn
You are cordially invited
The muse
I loved "Profit and Lace" I thought it was hilarious.
Solid list. I would replace "Move Along Home" and "Q-Less" with "Time's Orphan" and "Rivals". "Move Along Home" is pretty fun if you just think of the Wadi as the galaxy's biggest trolls. The Q character doesn't really work on DS9, but his single appearance in "Q-Less" is breezy and inoffensive.
I kinda liked how at the end the Wadi were like "Wait, you thought we'd actually kill them? Chill dude, it's just a game lol" and Sisko is just... So pissed. He got all dressed up and psyched for first contact and these guys just roll up, play a prank on them, and leave.
Move along home was weird I thought the Wadi as anoying and Quark came off as a wuss !
Not Rivals. That was a really fun episode and a key Bashir-O'Brien moment.
Q didn't work on DS9 because the character did not have Jean Luc Picard to be opposite of. DS9 built itself on the idea that not everything in the future will be perfect, and that technology is only as good as the people using it. Plus so much of the episode itself shows Q going back to an earlier point in his own character. After showing how malignant Q is in "All Good things..." it was just dumb seeing him playing with Sisco like he was Picard at "Encounter at Farpoint." I'm glad they made a clean break with the character on DS9 after that. The same goes for Vash also.
Sisko sums it up perfectly: "I'm not Picard!"
Unpopular opinion: I don't like Q, barring the 1st and last episodes on TNG.
You forgot Sanctuary. A mob of snooty ill-behaved charity cases shows up on DS9, makes a mess, demands placement on a resource-strapped planet, and when instead given an entire planet of their own FOR FREE continues to act like victims of the mean ol' bajorans and the audience is expected to sympathize. I hope the Dominion finished the Skrreea off during the war, it'd be a favor to the Alpha Quadrant.
Now, now, while Worf is terrible in Let He Who Is Without Sin, to be fair, so is Jadzia. And everybody. It's a horrible, horrible episode. It and Profit and Lace are terrible.
I'm not overly fond of the Mirror Universe episodes outside the first one, Crossover. The time skips make things hard to follow sometimes and there doesn't feel like any consequences for visiting so often. We end the whole in a damn Ferengi comedy episode for crying out loud, as you mention.
Oh yes. Queer's only allowed in the mirror universe. And then it gets really, really kinky.
(I know, DS9 did do that other episode with Dax, that was something)
I remember then catching a lot of hell for that from the people you would except claiming they were implying gayness to be evil in and of itself. I don't think they thought of it that way so much as they were just trying to make the characters very different from the main versions and each other.
When you have that many baddies running around its very easy for it to degnerate into a who is more evil contest without woking on different ways for them to be evil.
When you consider we had Dana Scully, Lyta Alexander, Leeta, Beverly Crusher, and Kira Nerys it's a wonder every male who grew up in the 90s isn't chasing redheads.
The backstory behind Prophet and Lace gives a lot of explanation as to why it’s so terrible - the writers wanted a comedy, but Siddig saw it as an opportunity to address a social issue. When he directed it as such, producers got upset, and it had to get re-edited to make
Heads or tails out of the conflicting viewpoints
'Fascination' is my favourite guilty pleasure episode from DS9! 'Time's Orphan', which is oddly missing from the list, can do one. I never want to see that episode again!
As suggested by a couple of people, top and/or bottom ranking videos based on Romances (single episodes (Picard/Kamala yay, Seven/Chakotay bleh), story arcs (Ben/Cassidy being good, Kes/Neelix making no sense), or missed opportunities Worf/Deanna in Parallels, or Picard/Beverly)), Bromances (Julian/Miles being good, Tom/Harry being awful) and Recreational Moments (like Kira and Jadzia's escapades in the holosuite) would be interesting.
I would have put "Paradise" from Season 2. I don't know why, but that episode just piss me off with the idea of a forcing people to give up technology and say its progress despite ignoring the torture, violence and toranical rule and the people on the planet agree despite some of their own dying because of it. I just think it was one of those force to push the creaters plotical agenda of technology is bad he had.
But it was bad in that it makes no sense in the reaction of the people put through hell or they allow it to get as bad. I mean the idea is unique and could have done well but like the episode with them put in the board game, it poorly executed.
It's not a bad episode, but the baddie is someone you really want to slap to next Thursday.
Came here hoping to see that this episode had made the list. The anti technology fanatics are portrayed way too sympathetically. Horrible episode.
Yup. You're right. That episode reminds me of "Cool Hand Luke" too much with "the Box" etc. Really the worst one of the whole series for me.
I like "Move Along Home" because of Falow. Great character who put one over on the wily Quark. No, I didn't like the "hopscotch" thing but meh.. minor point. The concept was pretty good, IMO.
"Paradise" just irks me every time I see it.
It's hard to fathom a show like "Star Trek" sucessfully pushing the idea that technology is bad. Without technology the show wouldn't have anything to do.
I really enjoyed MUSE! Especially the scene where Jake first goes into Onaya's quarters. She was hypnotic.
I actually stopped watching Deep Space 9 because three times in a row when I first attempted to start watching it the first year it was out it was the "Move Along Home" episode. Fortunately, I caught the entire series in its reruns later to find out what a great series it was, possibly the best Star Trek series, and only second to TNG if not the best imo. I even just finished watching the entire series for the 3rd time, and I am now watching the Voyager series again and Voyager, although I like it a lot, seems so simple and boring in comparison to just watching Deep Space 9.
Yeah move along home was clearly the worst episode of ds9
Sign of a good show...I like all of these episodes because they have generated the most conversations with friends lol
Dude, you nailed it, especially with "Meridian." However, I would like to point out that, even with DS9s worst, there is still a great deal of awesomeness. In "Move Along Home," for instance, the acting performance of the lead alien from the Gamma Quadrant is something I find memorable and makes the episode worth watching. I find the precise opposite is true of any episode of Voyager. (I never include the words "Star Trek" with that series because it's just not good enough to be Star Trek.) The very best episodes in Voyager are almost not worthy of watching at all. The Q arch is pathetic---badly conceived and poorly executed for the actors, writers and directors. The best episode of Voyager---and I mean this in both conceivable ways---is the last episode. It's a great time-travel story, and Thank God "Voyager" is over.
Lessons! Best single episode romance ever. The one with Janeway and that anti-telepath guy was good too. We know a romance won't last so the episode needs to be about more than that. Explore the character in new ways and Lessons did that. Great music too.
Iirc That episode took place over a far longer period of time than most normal star trek episodes so it felt more natural despite the fact that it was far from natural with both Janeway and the Commandant (was that who he was?) trying to dupe each-other.
The anti-telepath was a longer time than just one day. Also, she was playing him the whole time to see if he was really interested or just faking.
@@taraswartzbaugh9780 They were basically using eachother knowing that they most likely were being used by the other at the same time, yet, hoping something good could come out from it or not, granted that their own goal was achieved.
The ending was epic. Mulgrew was at her best (as in Year of Hell two parter)
I was scratching my head at Muse, thinking somehow I don't remember that, then when it turned out to be a Lwaxana episode I assume I just skipped it on every subsequent watch.
My personal Star Trek rules.....10. Any episode with Lwaxana Troi is ALWAYS good.
Meridian had one great scene in it. When Dax and Sisko were saying goodbye, it was pretty heart felt.
I can't believe For The Uniform didn't make the list.
Gotta add that captains holiday is in fact not a single episode romance. It is actually a 3 episode cross over story arc for Vash. I think that had they timed it better they could have squeezed her in the voyager episode with riker seeing that they would have been traveling together at the time. My personal opinion is q-less is far from one of the worst episodes. Especially when you take into account the episode where kai opaka becomes a tech zombie, or even the one with rumplestiltskin where all their problems were solved by thinking happy thoughts for christ's sake.
If you want to highlight bad writing the Mirror Universe episodes are your go to. First they have the same weakness of almost all parallel universe stories. No matter how different the histories the same people are in the same place, often with the same jobs. How did the same humans, Klingons, Trill and Ferengi wind up in the same place in a non-Federation universe?
But the worst was the last one. Before it Terry Ferrell was the Dax host. Then after she was killed off and replaced by Nicole DeBoer the same switch took place in the other universe. How the he'll did that happen?
once thing I never got is the mirror world's supposed absence of cloaking devices when we saw them being used in the first two times they visited the place. I know that is was just a plot device to get Quark and over to the other side, but I guess they couldn't think at the time of a better way to get to visit the place again.
The first two episodes that LEPT to mind when I read your title was "Time's Orphan" and "Take Me Out to the Holosuite". I cannot find fault with your choices, just kind of sad those two did not make the list.
Move Along Home > almost anything > Take Me At the Holosuite
Mr. Coleman, please consider doing the most UNDERRATED episodes of each series! For DS9, please consider "Prophet Motive" (a clever little Ferengi comedy that is head and shoulders above the rest!) You do a great job on this channel, BTW!
“Single.... episode... romances!” 🤣
Q-less, Fascination, Resurrection and The Emperor’s New Cloak were good episodes imo. Not the best, but ok.
Episodes that you missed: Dramatis Personae, Melora, Sanctuary and Rejoined
Overall, my favorite Star Trek show.
2:24 - To be fair, Jadzia doesn't come out of the episode smelling like a bucket of roses either. True, Worf's actions near the end are inexcusable, but Jadzia was blowing off his attempts to talk about their relationship at every opportunity.
To be fair, that episode has exactly zero redeeming qualities.
7:15 don't forget Dr Crusher plus a ghost
Funny how those said bad eîsodes, I usually like them the first time I watch them. I just don't like them on the second watching...
I hate all Troy's mother episodes. The actress used to nurse Chapel in TOS, and her mother character is simply boring and predictable. All the episodes mention here were not the best but they were all interesting, even the worst of DS9 is much better than the best of STD:
I never realised there were so many...now I recall.
Fun thing, I nearly fell asleep during Let He Who is Without Sin
Every time those fundamentalists made a speech I nearly did the same
there are a lot of parallels between Meridian and the episode "rejoined" were we see jadzia in another single episode romance, involves forbidden love, involves jadzia losing her love interest due to circumstanes, and involves a spacial phenomenon that the Defiant crew try to manipulate with near disasterous results.personally, i think rejoined is worse becase its a repeating of these tropes during a more compelling season than Meridian was in.
While you are broadly correct, I actually like 'Profit and Lace' and 'The Emperor's New Cloak'. You actually also missed out the REAL worst episode though, 'His Way'. What made this worse still was that on the video-tape it was twinned with one of THE BEST episodes ever - 'In the Pale Moonlight'.
Worf not getting in trouble for terrorism was wild
One good thing with 'Prodigal Daughter' a nice hat tip to Red Dwarf, crates of equipment marked Jupiter Mining Corp.
Fun fact. Terry Farrell, Lt. Jadzia Dax, was the love interest in Rodney Dangerfield's classic "Back To School."
SAY WHAAAAAAAA ...!?
I'm not being sarcastic. I really had no idea! Learnt something new today, thanks!
Aw man I loved move along home! However I’m most likely biased from my childhood haha
I do remember liking it when I was younger too, same for Q-Less. But upon re-watching them more recently, they're real bad haha
The Worf episode did always bug me. Glad they didn't write him like that more often. And the one episode romance issue is spot on. But I don't really agree with the rest. Whether they worked or didn't work is pretty much up to personal taste though.
I would like to add how anoying Dr Bashir was in The Story Teller?
Is it just me, but was Dr Bashir more pompous before or after it was discovered he had been genetically enhanced ? I can't tell ?
DS9 stands for deep shit 9.
The problem with the Trek shows being 7 season long is that 10 bad episodes is not enough. I love DS9, but I could name 20 bad episodes off the top of my head, LOL.
Move Along Home is a classic. Muse is a great development story. Fascination was a great laugh! Let He Who Is Without Sin tells an interesting modern day story. Profit And Lace is a good laugh. Resurrection was an interesting take on the mirror characters coming here. Prodical Daughter was a character development story for Ezri. Q-Less was a great cameo episode. The Emporers New Cloak was a good Ferengi story in there. Miridian was a good story. Nothing wrong with the episodes you say are bad.
Okay, but you are wrong
LOL!!!
Mirror Vic Fontaine (in Emperor's New Cloak) breaks my brain. Mirror Vic is a human being. Does that mean that in the Prime universe, Vic Fontaine is ALSO a real person in the 2380s? Because I was under the impression that, in the Trek universe at least, Vic Fontaine was a real 1960s Vegas lounge singer who was used as a basis for the holoprogram centuries later.
Honestly, three you listed here would be among my favorites, Fascination, Profit and Lace, and Q Less. I have watched them over and over. Even Move Along Home and Emperor's New cloak I have watched over and over and still enojoy and never skip. In fact, in your whole list, I only consider two of them as one of the worst, that damn disappearing planet one and ezri going home. There are so many to chose, the one where Jake is old, the one where obrien was in prison in his mind, the one with "the reapers," the one where nog gets his new leg, the one where kira gets her leg stuck in a rock, the one where the guy has his daughter in stasis and has a changeling key to unlock it, the one where odo gets infected and dr mora says no one will accept him that he was doing things out of his control.
And here comes My top 10 worst Star Trek Deep Space Nine Episodes
Number 10: Muse
Number 09: Meridian
Number 08: A Man Alone
Number 07: Invasive Procedures
Number 06: Equilibrium
Number 05: Facets
Number 04: Past Tense Parts 1&2
Number 03: The Visitor
Number 02: Distant Voices
Number 01: The Storyteller
7:25 Lessons. The episode you are looking for is called Lessons, it's the one where Picard has a duet in a jeffries tube.
I dont think Q worked in DS9 because DS9 didn't need Q.
Because of how long the Star Trek lore had been established by that point, combined with just how well DS9 was written, they never really needed that "omnipotent guy to move the plot along", plus as DS9 had enough of its own characters who could take up the pain-in-the-arse role as required, so he wasn't really needed for an antagonistic role either.
Now, come Voyager you've got an isolated federation ship with a worn-down crew in an unchsrted and dangerous part of the galaxy, that's where Q gound relevance as a character again because Voyager was prime for him to poke with a proverbial stick.
Not to take anything away from the character or John De Lancie's performance which was superb, but I don't think his character would have really fit into the DS9 setting anyway.
When you realise you've commented this on a 2 year old video 🤦♂️
Q in Q-Less just isn't Q. in TNG he's mischievous and just wants to play around with the enterprise, here's he's the toxic ex boyfriend who doesn't care who he hurts or goes through to get Vash back. He barely interacts with anyone outside of the bar scene with Sisko, a very brief conversation with Bashir which serves only to remove him from the rest of the episode, and a snide comment to O'Brien to remind us that he wasn't a major character in that show, as if we'd forgotten after only 6 episodes. This is made worse by the fact that this is sandwiched between two decent to great Q episodes in TNG in True Q and Tapestry, the latter airing only one week later than this. Maybe it's a good thing Q didn't come back to DS9, the writers didn't seem to know how to write him and damaging him further could have made him far less popular a character
This was a great opportunity to do a top 9 list, come-on Rowan!
In defense of single episode romance: "rejoined"
You can’t tell me that Bashir and Garak wouldn’t have gotten together in Fascination
Very true that everything with Lwaxana in it is instantly at the bottom of all Trek, but you've got 2 Ferengi episodes that don't belong on this list (move along home and emperor's new cloak) while forgetting to put Family Business and Ferengi Love Songs on the list right next to Profit and Lace.
You we're the drinking critic the drunken critic dude LOVE your work good job here too look for more
Are you trying to ask if I'm the Critical Drinker? If so, I am not.
I think "Far Beyond the Stars" was, at best, put into the wrong season. It broke up the story line to get preachy about stuff that happened on earth in the 1950s. The only saving grace of that episode is seeing some of the actors without lots of makeup (Schimmerman, Dorn).
To my surprise, I actually agreed with most of this top 10 worst list. I never noticed the badness of the one with Zek, and Quark cross-dressing, just because Ferenghi shenanigans never pall on me. (The Magnificent Ferenghi is a big favorite!)
'Fascination' is so bad it could've been a TNG episode.
At least I can say one thing, it's easier to find 10 episode I DIDN'T like, rather than narrowing down to JUST 10 episodes that I DID.
Single episode romances are the worst thing in every incarnation of star trek, you could do a whole worst list on them alone.
The mirror universe was an ok once off idea that just kept getting worse and worse every time they went back to it. I coudn't stomach Discovery long enough to see the mirror universe episode. So i can't imagine how bad a stupid concept on an awful show could possibly be.
The Mirror Universe episodes of Discovery are great.
I disagree about Move Along Home. The "riddles" are easy to solve, true, but I don't think the ending ruins the entire episode, which to me is just a fun romp anyway. However, one early DS9 entry that I can't stand is The Storyteller : the kids are annoying, and I hate how what looked like interesting negotiations between two factions of Bajorans, something that we hadn't seen up to that point, were left up in the air for the sake of a childish morale. Not to mention, it just doesn't mesh very well with the other storyline, which is the epitomy of bad Star Trek in my opinion : "primitive" people who treat the Federation like white saviors. And I get that O'Brien doesn't want to be their leader, but why would he want to put in charge a guy who literally tried to stab him in the back ? After serving year aboard the Enterprize under Jean-Luc Picard, is that really his notion of an acceptable leader ? Just dumb.
Yeah the Storyteller is really bad
Phew! I was almost worried your list somehow didn't include Meridian. I've rewatched it fairly recently just to see if I was maybe wrong about it all those years ago and... nope! Total yawner.
We're supposed to believe that Jadzia is willing to give up EVERYTHING (friends, career, etc.) for this bland, creepy alien guy? And the Dax symbiont is cool with that decision too? Yeah, right. Then there's the weird rapey B-story with Kira, Quark and the Jeffrey Combs alien that desperately wants a holosuite program involving her. Good God.
No. Profit and Lace is hilarious and a good episode for other reasons, too!
Also, the romance in Unimatrix Zero is nothing like Jadzia's stupid one in Meridian. Seven doesn't fall madly in love with someone she just met; Seven discovers that she had previously had a relationship of six years with that man. In that case the one episode romance adds decently to her character development. That, and the episode as a whole is simply way better than Meridian.
Let he is without sin is a great episode for the sole fact that you can say it's the episode where Worf gets psyoped.
0:41 Do you like Jumanji then?
Hmm, I don't mind "Q-Less", but yeah, Q is definitely more associated with TNG and VOY as he only appeared in that one episode of DS9.
Single Episode Romances are what happen when 90% of your writers are men who have no idea how women think. TNG is demonstrative of this thinking that women take their careers far less seriously than men do given how many times we have the "Lady officer falls in love with boring dude in fewer than 26 hours and wants to resign to be with him forever" trope. Because, you know, women only care about their careers until they can set it all aside for a space hunk.
Some dishonorable mentions from me
Time's Orphan - Molly eat rocks now
If wishes were horses - Awfully generic "strange stuff is happening" episode, with more rumpletstilskin than any ep ever needs
The Storyteller - The village isn't strong, its dumb. Only the Myles/Bashir interactions stop that from being ghastly.
Take Me Out to the Holosuite - the ezri family episode doesn't kill season 7s momentum anywhere near as much as this America-centric feel good episode. Tonally completely out of place in the middle of the war story.
But you know what, 14 odd bad eps in a series that long is pretty damned impressive. And the good eps are so good.
I like "Move Along Home" only because it's one of the episodes where Avery Brooks sings. Even though it's the stupid “Allamaraine" chant, his beautiful voice makes it pleasant to hear.