Our Most Painful Star Trek Reaction

Supposedly, Snodgrass' original script was about immigration, but due to budget cuts and rewrites that aspect got lost. Like the "Lazaurs" episode of TOS, at some point the plot got lost and it became a mess but they had already comitted to much to yank it. The reason Meany isnt credited is he found the episode offensive and at first refused to appear, but he did that short scene at the last minute.

Most people hate this episode for the Irish stereotypes. I actually liked this episode for a while until my most recent rewatch. Now my problem with this episode is how they handle the clones. Everything about the later half of this episode rubs me the wrong way. The most disturbing thing is how the solution to this episode is to force asexual people to have sex against their will, and force all the women to have 3 husbands and 9 kids. It's implied that the women in the Irish colony have no problem with this, but we don't really know that. Wth? And all of this after the crew made a huge deal when it was THEIR bodies and DNA that were being taken and used by force, to the point where they were willing to murder over it, all because they felt insecure about clones of them existing. So hypocritical.

When Worf was embarrassed about his fainting, he chose Riker as his example. "HOW would Commander Riker feel if he had the measles ". He identifies Riker as being the most like him. The "manly" , like a Klingon.

If an episode ever needed to be sponsored by Fireball... this was it.

I always liked this episode. Ridiculous, absurd, but I like it.

What if after each woman has 3 kids, to 3 different men, they still don't want sex? Then you got these guys in 3 sexless marriages each? 27 kids running around that all sort of look alike. How do they keep track of which kids can procreate and how long until that doesn't "math" anymore. That's part of the issue that the Amish have now.

That distress beacon sounds like an 80s arcade game

I'm not enjoying the INTENSE lighting you guys are using, now. It reflects Hard on you guys and shifts you out, away from tge background sets you use. It's discordant. Repugnant! (lol)

As someone who has watched TNG several times, this is on my skip list. Its so awkward, definitely feels like two different scripts were shredded and then pasted together. The clone world thing would have probably made a great episode, but combined with the clearly Irish society who decided to go back to basics as part of their beliefs... it just didn't mesh well. Also how does the Dad even know "Send in the clone?"

So just a heads up, when people are saying to skip seasons, one and two of Star Trek next generation, they are usually referring to how forgettable the episodes are in both of the seasons. There are some episodes that are iconic, and then some forgettable ones such as this. As you have mentioned though a lot of the early episodes help to show the character’s personalities and aspects of everyday life on the enterprise. Hope you enjoy the rest of the season. 😊

Yeah, maybe I skip this one ... We have our own version of this episode in Germany, dubbed into German with changed things to say and hillarious dialects - it's part of the series: "Pointless in Space" - that makes fun :-)

This episode very nearly caused Colm Meaney to leave the show altogether.

It isn’t the best episode, but it is far from the worst. A nice comedic script m, but I agree that the clone stuff ruins the pacing. I am guessing the complaints are about the Irish “drinker stereotype”.

This episode is pretty bad. It has a few good moments, Picard laughing at how absurd the situation is being the best. Part of me thinks it’s actually Patrick Stuart laughing at the script.

Wow, I've seen this episode twice now in the past 2 months and I STILL forget about it.

While maybe not the best of episodes it at least fills out some of the characters emotions, abilities and personalities. Worf with his poetry and the tea ceremony, Geordie with his ability to tell when someone is lying, and touching on what they consider to be bodily autonomy. The last of those being especially poignant these days.

This episode is absolutely ridiculous, but I really enjoy it. It almost feels like a recycled TOS script.

Yep. When people talk about TNG S2 being terribad, this is what they mean. No shame, every Trek series drops a few stinkers every season. But this one really is a stand-out, all-star pile of garbage.

Yea, this is a terrible one. Probably somewhere in the top five worst of the entire series.

“YET”.