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Not every mission is a classic. This video counts down ten Star Trek episodes from across the franchise that are difficult to watch today due to their outdated themes, poor execution, and controversial content.
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00:00How do we decide which episodes of any show are unwatchable? Surely we must look beyond whether
00:04they were good or bad as taste is subjective. There may well be episodes on this list that
00:09have their fierce defenders, so let us be clear. We'll make our arguments, but this is a list of
00:14episodes deemed unwatchable by us. If these are your favourite episodes, you can only beg forgiveness.
00:19Having said that, no franchise is perfect, nor is there any show in existence that offers only
00:24perfect episodes. With a franchise like Star Trek, featuring 60 years of choice, there were always
00:30bound to be a few episodes that simply didn't age well, alongside those that stumbled right out of
00:35the gate. This is a universe that offers episodes like The Inner Light, In the Pale Moonlight, and
00:39The City on the Edge of Forever. This is also a series that offers episodes like Spock's Brain,
00:44Move Along Home, and Stardust City Rag. Peaks and troughs. There are those episodes that started
00:51out from a positive place with the best of intentions, though sadly, somewhere along the
00:55way, they lost track of themselves. Sometimes, certain people involved in those episodes have
01:00been revealed as far from ideal, affecting rewatches as the time passes. Sometimes, one can separate the
01:07art from the artist. Sometimes, it's that little bit harder. Here, we're focusing on those episodes
01:12that, for one reason or another, go straight into the skip list on any rewatch of their respective
01:18series. Brace for impart, for these are the hours of television that will leave a serious
01:22dent in your goodwill. I'm Sean Ferric for Trek Culture, and here are 10 episodes that are
01:28unwatchable now. Number 10. Code of Honor. We're beginning with the episodes that everyone knew
01:35would be here on this list. There is simply no defending it, regardless of the fact that it's
01:40one of the very few Tasha Yar-centric episodes available to the audience. If you don't know the story,
01:45the Enterprise-D arrives in orbit around Ligon 2, where the Ligonians possess a vaccine desperately
01:51needed by Starfleet. The Ligonians are a race of people depicted as tribal people of colour.
01:56The outfits are stereotypical, the misogyny is on full display, and Tasha is quickly kidnapped by
02:02Lutan, their leader. Cue a ritualistic fight to the death between Tasha and Yurina, Lutan's woman.
02:09The original filming script didn't specifically call for the Ligonians to be played by black people
02:14entirely. What resulted was an episode that was described by Jonathan Frakes as a racist piece
02:19of sh**. It's uncomfortably stereotypical, leaning heavily on Western notions of African tribalism,
02:26offering little to no nuance, and the resolution, while offering some catharsis in Lutan's deposition,
02:32feels a bit too tacked on to really work. This, being the third episode of The Next Generation,
02:38came at a time when the show hadn't earned any goodwill from the audience yet. Neither Encounter
02:44at Farpoint or The Naked Now had done much in that respect either, offering a rocky start for the
02:50first live-action Trek spin-off. Number 9. The Enemy Within
02:55While Richard Matheson's The Enemy Within is classic Star Trek for many reasons, the events surrounding one
03:02of its lead performers have left a sad, bitter stain on the episode. Splitting Kirk into his good and evil
03:08halves was an excellent idea, exploring how every person is a combination of both, requiring all
03:14parts of themselves to truly be the best version of themselves. That, along with the adorable dog in
03:19the costume, certainly helped to give this story a warmer reception than one might expect, considering
03:24it's on this list. Evil Kirk assaults Janice Rand while aboard the ship. Though the overall attack is
03:31stopped, leading to the now infamous scratches on Kirk's cheek, the episode handles this poorly in
03:37almost every respect. Yeoman Rand was originally set to be one of the stars of Star Trek, and Grace Lee
03:43Whitney featured heavily in the initial marketing for the series. However, she vanishes just after
03:48seven appearances, with the reasons behind the scenes leaving a truly disturbing stain on this episode.
03:54At the story's close, Spock's remarks to Rand that the evil Kirk had some interesting qualities,
04:00then asking if she agreed, consider. This person had just assaulted her, so why would Spock say such an
04:07insensitive remark? Even for a Vulcan repressing emotions as he does, I was cold. Then, when this is
04:13combined with Grace Lee Whitney's account of her assault at the hands of an unnamed producer in their
04:18office shortly before she found herself out of a job, this episode takes on a disturbing new level. In her
04:25autobiography, Lee Whitney was candid about both the assault and how she felt about Spock's line
04:30in particular. She felt, quite justifiably, that this was an incredibly insensitive, thoughtless
04:35inclusion. Knowing what we know now, The Enemy Within becomes something of a dark example of the rampant
04:41lack of safety in the 1960s in Hollywood, though that is not to suggest that things are entirely fixed in
04:472026. Number eight, Turnabout Intruder. Turnabout Intruder is another episode that was bound to be
04:54on a list like this, though it is more of a frustrating entry. William Shatner, as Janice Lester,
05:00as James T. Kirk, is acting his pants off here, truly selling it for the backseats. There is a lot
05:05of
05:05fun to be found in this final episode of the original series, though then, that final line ruins everything.
05:12Headcanon has done a lot of work in retconning Kirk's closing assertion. Her life could have been as rich
05:17as any woman's, if only. This inadvertently became the final line of Star Trek, referencing Lester's
05:23madness brought about by her exclusion from Starfleet on the basis of her sex. In short, in 1969, women
05:31couldn't become starship captains. Enterprise quickly changed that, introducing Captain Erica Hernandez of
05:37the NX-02 Columbia. And thank The Great Bird for that, because for a show that was as progressive
05:42as Star Trek was, that was a curiously strange, regressive inclusion. Gene Roddenberry had been
05:49removed from active involvement in Trek by that point, with Fred Freiberger stepping in as showrunner.
05:54Whatever the exact logic behind the line, its placement in Star Trek history immediately ensured it became
06:00infamous. When re-watching Star Trek, there are some episodes that are so bad they're good,
06:06with Spock's brain easily falling into that camp. It's nonsense, but it's harmless. And then there
06:12are stinkers like And the Children Shall Lead, while some other episodes are simply dull. Turnabout
06:17Intruder is sadly misogynistic, it's the final episode, and it was a low point for the show.
06:22If one was to watch it, we suggest watching it out of order. Try not to leave that taste in
06:28your mouth
06:28before moving on to Beyond the Farthest Star. Number seven, Mudd's Passion. Strange New Worlds has done
06:35a terrific work in fleshing out some of those characters introduced in the original series,
06:40who didn't perhaps get the best initial run. Jess Bush's Christine Chappell is granted more agency,
06:45more room to grow, and hers is a performance that is easily one of the best parts of the recent
06:50series.
06:51Majel Barrett was working under very different conditions, with very different restrictions.
06:56While Chappell is a largely likeable and capable character in the original series,
07:00she was often relegated to pining after Spock. The animated series episode Mudd's Passion takes
07:05things to a new level, though not in any kind of positive way. Harry Mudd, space pimp and trader
07:11in illicit goods, returns to Star Trek. This time, rather than transporting women or finding himself
07:16controlling android planets, he's selling roofies to lonely miners. And that's how the episode begins.
07:22Surely when the crew of the Enterprise intervene and arrest him, he will face all sorts of justice and
07:26punishment. Well, if you believed that, you obviously thought a little too highly of Chappell,
07:31who takes one of these drugs from him, fully intending to use it on Spock. While it's described
07:36as a drug that causes infatuation in the victim, what it effectively is, is a date rape drug,
07:42with Chappell knowingly poisoning Spock with it. The entire affair is kept light, as the animated series
07:47was largely targeted at children, and the result is that Spock develops feelings for Kirk instead,
07:52as if they weren't already there, Spock fanfiction having already been around for years.
07:57Chappell drugs her superior officer and faces no repercussions whatsoever. If we somehow manage to
08:03put the ethical implications of that aside, one must then consider the character assassination that this
08:08is. Chappell is now an attempted rapist at the very least, so one wonders how she kept her commission,
08:13let alone stayed out of prison. Mudd's passion is best left to the side when re-watching the animated series,
08:20which itself is sad as Roger C. Carmichael returned to voice the character once more.
08:24Number 6. Profit and Lace
08:28This late episode of Deep Space Nine, directed by Alexander Siddig, started from a good place.
08:34Ferengi society was male-dominated, with women barred from going outside without a male escort,
08:39and from wearing clothing. This was the episode to attempt to change that, as Ishka and Zek attempted to
08:45change Ferengi society for the better. Rather than a serious exploration of the end of a misogynistic
08:51society, it became a slapstick comedy featuring some incredibly dated and uncomfortable cross-dressing
08:56jokes. The end result was the death of Ferengi episodes for a time, something that had generally
09:01been a success on Deep Space Nine. Quark, after a fight with his mother, must step into the role of
09:06Lumba, tasked now with convincing a powerful and influential Ferengi businessman named Nilva to
09:13support female emancipation. The story quickly devolves into a strange depiction of gender
09:17reassignment surgery, exposure, attempted assault, and Quark saving the day by showing his breasts.
09:23It's not handled very well at all. At best, it's an outdated lowbrow attempt at humour. At worst,
09:29it's an open mockery of those people who undergo gender reassignment surgery,
09:33relegating them to a comedic role in society. There is no doubt that Quark is never played as
09:38an actual transgender individual, but there are too many jokes about him suddenly becoming overtly
09:43emotional once having Dr. Bashir casually operate on him. Armin Jimmerman wasn't a fan of the end
09:48results, and for good reason. He had hoped for a more serious attempt to depict the wrongs of Ferengi
09:53society and the attempt to fix it, but instead was presented with a send-up of those same things,
09:58closer in style to a carry-on movie than a drama. With the current focused attack on transgender people
10:03in so many western societies, it was an episode that wasn't funny to begin with and has only aged
10:08even more poorly as time has gone on. Number 5, Extinction. If the episode is so bad that LeVar
10:16Burton regrets directing it, you know it's gotta be a real dud. Such is the case with Extinction,
10:22the third season episode of Star Trek Enterprise. In a year that began with the fallout from Trek's own
10:279-11 in the form of the Xindi attack on Earth, having an episode where two of your lead actors
10:32spend 40 minutes grunting and running around on all fours was a choice. Not even Jolene Blaylock
10:37bravely trying her hardest to make something of this script alongside a non-verbal Scott Bakula
10:43Linda Park can save it. The episode was meant to highlight a species facing, well, extinction,
10:48but instead veers too far into the pantomime, killing the message along with the pacing of the season.
10:53This was Enterprise's darkest year, told in the early days of the second Iraq war. Whatever one's
11:00feelings on that conflict, stopping that story for a toddle around a forest set with a face covered
11:04in plasticine did no one any favours. The setting is dull, the action is sparse, the grunting and hissing
11:10is hard to hear. This is a story that should never have escaped the writers room, let alone made it
11:15through all of the stages to actually airing. Thankfully Enterprise had some far better offerings
11:20along the way. This simply wasn't one of them. Number four, Very Short Treks, Skin a Cat, Holiday Party,
11:28Worst Contact. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the animated series, CBS commissioned five
11:35Very Short Treks, which were to be comedic episodes animated in the filmation style of the 70s.
11:41Created by Caspar Kelly, these five episodes were released on YouTube for free. Of the five,
11:46two of them, Holograms All the Way Down and Walk, Don't Run, are charming, fun and an attempt to
11:52honour both the animated series and Trek in general. Cameos from Trek alone like Ethan Phillips and George
11:58Takei helped to make these episodes more enjoyable. The same cannot be said for the first three episodes
12:04of this series. Skin a Cat is a poor attempt to parody political correctness, where a flustered Kirk
12:10continually puts his foot in his mouth, with the gag seemingly being a very boomer-esque,
12:15everyone is offended these days. The short ends with a ship exploding, for which we are all grateful.
12:21Holiday Party features the Strange New Worlds cast watching a blooper reel, as Spock describes it.
12:26It's an uncomfortable lesson in Spock having no sense of humour. It was, unfortunately, another example
12:32of a lack of understanding of his character. Spock wasn't funny because he was trying to be,
12:37he was often funny because he wasn't trying to be. Watching him cry as Tip Rim breaks up with him,
12:43hardly funny at all. Worst Contact is a joke about snot, inconsiderate people in the workplace and gross
12:48out humour. As a tribute to the animated series, one could be forgiven for wondering if CBS actively
12:54hated the show and used these shorts as a way to prevent even the mildly curious from ever seeking
13:00them out. The decision to greenlight these truly was a blooper. Number 3. Section 31.
13:07Star Trek Section 31 is a lesson in why committing to a deadline, regardless of the cost, can often
13:13result in a mess rather than a success. Fresh off the back of Michelle Yeoh's deserved Oscar win for
13:19Everything Everywhere All At Once, production on this TV film began in earnest. Section 31 had originally
13:25been touted as a series, though Yeoh's lack of availability killed that idea. The ideas that
13:30would have informed that series were then cobbled together into this scant hour and a half release,
13:35resulting in a poor attempt to deliver on the premise and losing a lot of goodwill for Secret
13:40Hideout along the way. Calling this a feature film would not be accurate, nor too would it be to call
13:46it a backdoor pilot. Perhaps there was a chance somewhere along the way that this could have led to
13:51more stories featuring Georgiou, Sahar and Garrett, but the audience reaction immediately cleared up
13:56any uncertainty there. The film was panned by critics and audiences alike, citing a wildly inconsistent
14:03tone, hammy acting, and the barest hints at a connection to the larger Star Trek universe. This
14:08was hardly a surprise to those who were involved in the production, as the Trekkies in the cast were
14:14aware of the reception that awaited them. While it is never a bad thing to try something new in an
14:19ongoing franchise, this was simply too far away from what Star Trek had espoused in the six decades
14:24of its life. This sadly felt more like a cash grab than a serious attempt to tell a new story,
14:29outside the borders of Federation space. While Michelle Yeoh looked to be having the time of her
14:34life on screen, the audience was having anything but. As the film doesn't really connect to any
14:39ongoing series, it is easy to skip it in any rewatch. There are certainly those who enjoy it,
14:44and rightly so, to every project and audience, to each their own. Number 2. Four and a half Vulcans.
14:51Strange New World's third season leaned on the comedic for several of its episodes. While Wedding
14:56Bell Blues offered genuine laughs in the shape of Rhys Darby's wedding planner, the later offering
15:01Four and a half Vulcans was a wide swing and a miss for the prequel series. A standard MacGuffin results
15:07in
15:07Pike, La Anne, Chapel and Uhura transforming into Vulcans. Hilarity was meant to ensue. Instead,
15:13Star Trek sank into racial stereotypes, unfunny jokes at Spock's expense, and an uncomfortable
15:19allusion to taking away someone's consent. The Vulcans of the piece are said to have skipped the
15:24decades of mental training required to control their emotions, because science, and immediately
15:30set about highlighting their racial superiority to the half-human Spock. He is referred to as half a
15:37Vulcan, rather than simply Vulcan. Logic is used to hand-wave away his abuse with an air of,
15:43don't worry about it, rather than any real tackling of the impact of this segregation.
15:48The episode that aired just before this one, What is Starfleet, though not without its own issues,
15:53revealed that, as a child, Spock had engaged in self-harm to cut the human part out of himself.
15:59One week later, it's played for laughs, abandoning any attempt at taking this stark topic seriously.
16:04The episode seems more concerned with making surface-level jokes than truly engaging with
16:09what it's saying. Genetic directives play a large role, with Laanne becoming more Romulan than Vulcan
16:15because of her augmented DNA. The episode's sole saving grace is Patton Oswalt's Doug,
16:21and a post-credits scene that shows Spock attempting to teach him some more human jokes.
16:25Otherwise, it's a dismal affair across the board.
16:291. These Are The Voyages
16:32Star Trek Enterprise was sadly cancelled during its fourth season, leading to a rushed finale that
16:37couldn't possibly sum up the promise of Star Trek's prequel series. While Demons and Terra Prime offer
16:43a powerful yet bittersweet ending to the ongoing story of the show, These Are The Voyages has gone
16:48down in history as, not only one of the worst episodes of Enterprise, but also retroactively damages
16:53one of the stronger episodes of The Next Generation as well. Envisioned as a tribute to Star Trek,
16:59the episode sees Riker viewing the final days before the foundation of the Federation on the holodeck.
17:04All regular characters from Enterprise appear in holographic form. Trip is killed, Archer's speech
17:09is cut off before the credits roll, and no one is given any sort of resolution beyond the surface level.
17:15Was it truly necessary to kill Trip for shock value? Was it truly necessary to cut away from one of
17:20the most
17:20famous speeches in Federation history, just so Riker and Troy can leave the holodeck?
17:25There were some nice cameos in the crowd at the end, including the showrunner Manny Cotto,
17:30but nothing about the episode feels earned or enjoyable. Rick Berman and Brandon Braga have
17:35since claimed that the episode had always been planned, which is why it was set 10 years ahead
17:39of the events of the penultimate episode, but one has to wonder whether that's actually true.
17:44Dominic Keating, who played Malcolm Reed on Enterprise, has said he enjoys the episode,
17:48though others have claimed it was the only time that Scott Bakula was ever visibly upset on set.
17:54These The Voyages can best exist in a what-if scenario, unrelated to the overall plot of the show,
17:59as opposed to the actual finale of this bold step backwards in Star Trek's history.
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19:14That's everything for our list today, folks! Thank you so much for watching along, you are awesome,
19:17you are wonderful. Please make sure that you're following us on the various socials,
19:20we are at Triculture or at TricultureYT on Instagram, I am at Sean Ferrick, and you are a big shower
19:24of
19:24legends. Make sure that you live long and prosper till I see you again, be kind to yourself, be kind
19:28to your friends and family. Take it easy, one day at a time, and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks
19:33very much.