Worst of Star Trek: TNG Season 6
The Five Weakest Episodes of the Next Generation's Sixth Year
Jan 5, 2009
While season 5 was the most uneven season of the series, season 6 is considered to be the most uniform and strong season of the show's run. With only a few minor exceptions, season 6 featured excellent writing, directing and production.
Man of the People
Deanna Troi falls in love with an alien ambassador who comes aboard the Enterprise. Within a short time, she starts to age unnaturally and act irrationally and violently. Eventually it is revealed that the ambassador is leeching strength from the women he surrounds himself with, including Troi, until they age and die.
As with most Deanna centered episodes, particularly those involving romance, there is much over acted hand wringing and scenery chewing during the episode. The scenes involving Troi attacking another woman in a jealous rage are particularly embarrassing.
Quality of Life
Data comes to the defense of computerized repair drones that exhibit indications that they might be alive rather than simply programmed units. Between the terrible acting of the guest star playing the "Exocomps" creator and the fact that this episode is a weak imitation of previous efforts that explored the idea that Data himself might be a life form, Quality of Life is a let down.
Aquiel
When a murder occurs on board an isolated communications relay station, the Enterprise is sent to conduct an investigation. Geordi falls in love with the woman who is the prime suspect and his emotions get in the way of the investigation. As with many attempts to inject romance into the Star Trek universe, Geordi's emotions also get in the way of telling a decent story and the episode bogs down in a pool of sap.
Birthright (2)
While the first part of this mid-season two part episode showed some promise, the second half suffered from the need to stretch out one half of the story to fill an entire episode. Brett Spiner, who plays Data, was in contract negotiations during the filming of the first half of the episode and due to a breakdown in that negotiation, he declined to appear in the second half of the show. This left the Worf storyline to carry the entire episode and a hasty rewrite was less than successful.
Suspicions
Dr. Crusher narrates her own adventure as she tries to salvage her career after a scientist dies and she performs an unauthorized autopsy on his body. The attempt at a film noir style simply does not work in the context of Star Trek, leaving the episode feeling forced and unnatural.
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