Worst of Star Trek: TNG Season 5
The Five Weakest Episodes of the Next Generation's Fifth Year
Jan 5, 2009
Following the strength of both season 3 and season 4, it is hardly surprising that Star Trek: The Next Generation stumbled a bit in season 5. While there was a solid crop of great episodes, no season had seen as many weak episodes since the writer's strike truncated season 2.
New Ground
Child actor Brian Bonsall took over the role of Alexander in this episode, but the change did little to improve the character. Watching Worf try to relate to his son is almost unbearable. Add a weak performance by Bonsall, playing Alexander as petulant but coming off as simply annoying, and the stage is set for a terrible episode.
Violations
A group of telepaths hitches a ride on the Enterprise and suddenly members of the crew start going into inexplicable comas. By the end of the episode, most of the audience has joined them. Violations is easily among the least exciting episodes of the series.
The Masterpiece Society
The Enterprise finds a colony on a planet which is about to be impacted by a fragment from an exploded star. The colony is engineered to live in perfect balance, with members bred to specific tasks and specialties. The intervention of the crew raises questions of self-determination and destiny.
The episode is so bad that it raises the question, "Who cares?"
The Outcast
Riker falls in love with an alien who's species has no gender. Riker's attentions bring out feminine feelings in the androgynous alien, leading "her" to be ostracized from "her" culture and society. Ultimately, she is reeducated and reintegrated into androgyny. Considering Riker's track record with the ladies, "she" was probably better off not pursuing him.
The Outcast was Star Trek: The Next Generation's attempt to tackle sexuality and sexual identity issues from a science fiction angle, but the execution was simply awkward and uninteresting. Deep Space Nine would do a much better job with similar concepts.
Cost of Living
This episode combined the uninteresting Alexander character with the outrageous Lwaxanna Troi character to disastrous effect. Lwaxana boards the Enterprise on her way to meet her future husband for the first time, and in a fit of last minute rebellion she drags Alexander into a silly holodeck fantasy involving mimes and mudbaths.
Picking just five episodes to fill a list of the worst episodes of the season is difficult. Episodes like Hero Worship, which adds yet another terrible child actor to the list of terrible child actors that have graced the series, Imaginary Friend which adds two terrible child actors to the list, and Ethics, which is without a doubt the dullest episode to revolve around a Klingon ever, all deserve honourable (or is that dishonourable?) mention.
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