Considering how rich and nuanced Star Trek history is, a few missteps and blunders can easily be forgiven. But the Trekkies are not easy to please and have often ranted against some storylines which have made their way into the historic franchise, be it in the Abrams universe or otherwise.
Remember the weird episode where Spock lost his brain? Or the bizarre romantic subplot between Worf and Troi in The Next Generation, which fans just couldn’t deal with? It’s obviously important to address these mistakes in the Star Trek canon. Here are some of the most hated Star Trek storylines:
10 Plato’s Stepchildren
The tenth episode of Season 3 was of great significance in the sci-fi canon owing to the famous kiss between Kirk and Lt. Uhura, but the episode was also quite messed up in other ways. Spock and McCoy arrive at a planet to investigate a distress call. The planet is inhabited by people who have adopted classic Greek culture as their own, as an homage to the philosopher Plato, and are known as Platonians. The fandom never really made peace with Spock in a green robe and his harp singing.
9 Picard’s Secret Kid
Picard always has so much on his plate and it’s never a good time for him to discover that he has a secret child. In Bloodlines, Picard gets a message from DaiMon Bok, who tells him that he plans to avenge the death of his son by killing Picard's son, Jason. Picard beams Jason aboard and it is revealed that he is indeed Picard’s kid. But Jason simply wants to go back to his home in Camor V, as things are so obviously uncomfortable for both of them.
It is also revealed that Jason has a hereditary congenital neurological disorder, which is cured at the end of the episode and Jason goes back to Camor. It’s really bizarre that Picard’s son was bought in, not as a major recurring character and had nothing substantial to contribute to the canon.
8 And The Children Shall Lead
The inconsiderate treatment of this episode was quite problematic, and even more so because it felt so out of sync with Star Trek’s overarching themes. The entire episode felt like a bad spin-off pilot, and something like this would never get the green light today, and was even criticized in the ‘60s when it aired. The story basically shows children of a scientific expedition who have been possessed by Gorgan, and seem to have a warped consciousness as they play around the corpses of their parents.
7 Star Trek: Nemesis
There’s nothing to be said about Nemesis that hasn’t been said already, the storyline has its merits but the film has been one of the most hated storylines of the franchise. But for many fans, the 2002 was the film which made them realize that the franchise was finished, unless of course, a major overhaul was coming.
The writing was tired and the film felt like a clingy hangover, especially considering how it tried to make the dated plot devices work for an audience that was clearly ready for something new.
6 The Troi and Worf Romance
The Next Generation fandom has unanimously agreed that the Worf and Troi romance was written simply because the writers were too bored, and just wanted to see where it leads them. It’s not inappropriate and rather adorable but it simply just doesn’t make any sense. Firstly, it’s quite unrealistic for Troi, the superbly intelligent, psychic counselor to be attracted to Worf, and although the franchise did explain why Worf would pursue her after being aware of the alternate timelines, it just wasn’t a reasonable plot device in any way.
5 The Planet Of Female Oligarchs
There are so many ways of approaching a storyline exploring female oligarchy, especially given the incredible female characters who have been a part of Star Trek's history. But the episode titled Angel One, in the first season of The Next Generation, ignored all the viable possibilities and settled for a lazy script which was slammed widely.
The Enterprise arrives at a planet named Angel One where men are subjugated, and simply put, the storyline just didn’t have anything new to say. It didn’t make for any substantial social commentary nor did it offer a newer perspective, it looked like a filler episode gone really wrong.
4 The One With Kirk’s Ex
The finale of the super crucial third season of The Original Series was a huge letdown. It mainly involves an ex of Kirk, Dr Janice Lester, who has been denied the command of her own starship just because she’s a woman. Disappointingly, the storyline uses the tired trope of the madwoman, which has been pop culture’s go-to plot device whenever a powerful female figure has to be maneuvered into subjugation. Janice kills her entire team and takes over Kirk’s body just so she can control the spaceship. There’s also a whole lot of confusion in the episode, especially as there are just too many things that the audiences have to remember.
3 The Vacation to Risa
Unlike vacations in the present timeline where people are looking to unwind, holidays in the Star Trek timeline are apparently full of relationship drama, awkward moments, and a whole lot of drama. In Deep Space Nine’s fifth season, Worf, Jadzia, Basheer, Quark, Leeta go to the climate-controlled planet Risa where Worf and Jadzia’s relationship takes a turn for the worse.
Worf starts behaving like a jealous and abusive boyfriend, and immerses himself in essentialist literature, and actually wrecks Risa. The worst part of the storyline was that the random events do not exactly lead to anything substantial and the painful comic efforts come off as clumsy and forced.
2 The Space Hippies
What was the point of introducing space hippies in the third season of Star Trek? They were too unrelatable and quite annoying, and also looked like some sort of a feeble representation of bygone sixties culture. The storyline also adapted an unusually condescending tone, almost as if it was trying to laugh at a culture but quite facetiously, in an attempt to be sleek and self-deprecatory. The storyline, of course, hasn’t aged well, and the planet Eden turned out to be quite insubstantial in the end.
1 When Spock Lost His Brain
Remember the bizarre episode where Spock lost his brain? Leonard Nimoy even admitted to feeling embarrassed to shoot the episode. Spock's brain is kidnapped by Sigma Draconians and he’s only alive because Vulcans can live up to twenty four hours after they have lost their head. There are so many things about the Draconians which are never explained like their relationship with sex, or the reason why they can’t think for themselves. But the most glaring failure about the storyline was definitely its lack of purpose which didn’t just make the protagonists look dumb but also made the show come across as somewhat juvenile.
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