From: ottoh3@CFSMO.Honeywell.COM (Otto Heuer #3)
Subject: Re: Series' beginnings (was something about 3 in 1 review)
To: rec.arts.startrek.misc (rec.arts.startrek.misc)
Posted-Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 18: 41:32 CDT
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Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 23:41:32 GMT
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Janus writes:

> ottoh3@CFSMO.Honeywell.COM (Otto Heuer #3) writes:
> > On the other hand, at least 90% of the TOS episodes were better
> > than WNMHGB.  From such a lame beginning, it was extremely hard
> > for them to come up with a worse piece of dreck than the opener.
> > The only ones that come to mind right now are "Charlie X",
> > "The Doomsday Machine", and "And the Children Shall Leave."

> Gosh. I thought that "The Doomsday Machine" was a hell of a good episode. I  
> still get riled up when I watch Decker take command of the Enterprise and  
> about kill off the crew, probably just as much as when I watch the Ent-D take
> on the Borg and rescue Picard in BOBW pt.II. I think that the only thing  
> wrong with "The Doomsday Machine" was the paper-mache look of the  
> planet-killer, and that was forgivable due to the state-of-the-art of special
> effects at the time. Hell, I'd like to see another, updated, "Doomsday  
> Machine."

Since so many people have been asking which eps of TOS I *really* consider
"worse" than "Doomsday Machine"... here are my votes extracted from the
TREK RATE database.

.01     AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD (O)
.015    CHARLIE X (O)
.09     MARK OF GIDEON, THE (O)
.10     ALTERNATIVE FACTOR, THE (O)
.110    LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD (O)
.205    ELAAN OF TROYIUS (O)
.210    IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY? (O)
.250    DEVIL IN THE DARK (O)
.250    EMPATH, THE (O)
.250    RETURN TO TOMORROW (O)
.250    SPOCK'S BRAIN (O)
.250    THAT WHICH SURVIVES (O)
.250    ULTIMATE COMPUTER, THE (O)
.275    WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE (O)
.3      LIGHTS OF ZETAR, THE (O)
.312    MIRI (O)

.313    DOOMSDAY MACHINE, THE (O)

since the USENET-wide rating is:

.759    DOOMSDAY MACHINE, THE (O)

I am obviously in the minority (no accounting for taste)  :-)

I just can't fathom how so many people are able to stomach the lack
of acting ability by the "actor" who played Decker.  Maybe I shouldn't be
jumping on the actor; it may just be a case of bad writing or directing.

Isn't it amazing how many incompetent people in StarFleet rise to such
high positions?  Must be a prerequisite or something.  :-)

> And I thought "Encounter at Farpoint" was one of the worst episodes of Trek,  
> with a contrived premise and an unnecessary tie-in with McCoy that exposed  
> the frantic attempt to pacify diehard TOS Trekkers. To say that 1/2 of TNG  
> episodes were better and 1/2 were worse gives "EaF," in my opinion, far more  
> credit than it deserves. Off the top of my head, and though I may be  
> persuaded otherwise by cogent argument, the only episodes I considered worse  
> than "EaF" were "The Game" and that "Troi-loses-her-powers" kludge. But  
> charitably I can forgive "EaF" for some of its probs, as it was the  
> introductory TNG episode.

On the outside chance that anyone cares which episodes I think are worse
than EaF...

.05     SKIN OF EVIL (N)
.1      NEUTRAL ZONE, THE (N)
.118    OUTCAST, THE (N)
.21     TOO SHORT A SEASON (N)
.230    LONELY AMONG US (N)
.235    SAMARITAN SNARE (N)
.260    HAVEN (N)
.265    JUSTICE (N)
.27     BATTLE, THE (N)
.27     ETHICS (N)
.282    HERO WORSHIP (N)
.298    DRUMHEAD, THE (N)
.30     COMING OF AGE (N)
.32     ANGEL ONE (N)
.350    SYMBIOSIS (N)
.352    LOUD AS A WHISPER (N)
.355    MEASURE OF A MAN, THE (N)
.378    FIRST DUTY, THE (N)
.39     WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS (N)
.395    HIGH GROUND, THE (N)
.397    NEW GROUND (N)
.439    DARMOK (N)
.445    LOSS, THE (N)
.447    BONDING, THE (N)
.45     CONSPIRACY (N)
.45     UNNATURAL SELECTION (N)
.455    CAPTAIN'S HOLIDAY (N)
.470    WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS (N)
.48     NAKED NOW, THE (N)
.480    MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE, A (N)
.49     SAREK (N)
.495    MENAGE A TROI (N)
.5      FAMILY (N)
.5      HOST, THE (N)
.5      LAST OUTPOST, THE (N)
.5      POWER PLAY (N)
.50     CODE OF HONOR (N)
.50     DAUPHIN, THE (N)
.508    SUDDENLY HUMAN (N)

.53     ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT (N)


And the USENET-wide rating for EaF is....

.564    ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT (N)

. which is slightly below the half-way point, but not by much.

                --Otto "HACK-MAN" Heuer
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