PATRON TIER LIST S5E17

Star Trek was woke before woke was woke.

I find the guest star’s performance beautifully understated and haunting. Her speech at her trial affects me every time. I’m sure some believe her speech is preachy, but I think the ideas she’s expressing are said exceptionally well, and (clearly) plenty of people in 2025 still need to hear it.

As a kid a missed the gay rights subtext and as a adult I find it too preachy. That's arguably more about how the world has changed than the fault of the episode, but it never hits the sweet spot of being a compelling story even if you don't focus on the message. Not bad, but also not great.

B. I'm not really a fan of Horndog Riker plotlines, but this is an interesting episode which prompts interesting discussions without giving easy answers. That said, it feels like it could have done a bit more with its premise if it wanted to. Also, I noticed a small technical flub on this viewing. At around 35 min in, Riker goes to the trail room on the Jenoy homeworld, but you still hear the Enterprise humming noise in the background, whoops.

Meh, kinda preachy for me. Plot-wise, not a good use case for testing the limits of the prime directive. If you like the politics of this episode, then you'll like it. Otherwise not much here. Paper-thin plot. I think The Host did a better job of the "message" if you are looking for that, but like I said, the rest is bland. D for don't care.

Rather cringe and not believable. It Could have been more, or could have been done way better. I didn’t buy Riker falling for the alien and I sure didn’t buy what he did to rescue them, or believe Picard would look the other way. The writers were trying hard to make a statement and the story suffered. When Trek puts the story and characters first, it can really make us think. But this didn’t do that. I did like the twist at the end, and there were a few good lines, but this is a C or D for me.

Low B / High C. it deals with the question of nature or choice, and the states right to override the choices of the individual, 30 years later society still at odds on this one.

Eh, 'C'. I have nothing against the episode and can respect the idea it's trying to show. But the dialogue is so tedious and cringe.

Some critical of this one have said they wished Riker's explaining of the sexes and their relationships would have included some mention of homosexuality. I can assume the producers were too worried about that, but a brief vague mention of it may have gotten by.

They are supposed to be a alien race with no gender , and it doesn't work story wise , where did they get the idea of male and female ?they have there own reproduction that have nothing to do with the human way . So I don't like it because the alien race is to be completely different to us but yet they know all about the human race and how we reproduce, it doesn't make sense in science fiction.

That makes two episodes in a row displaying Riker and Worf's friendship. I must admit I noticed their relationship much less than I did Data and Geordi's when I first watched the series. This rewatch has made me notice it more.

As a member of LGBT this episode has always been special to me but, what was groundbreaking representation in the 90's, is very lacking in 2025. It is still A for me but that may be the rose tint. I feel like if Soren was played by an androgynous male actor and the scandal was about Soren showing attraction to non-single gender species rather than Soren turning female; it would be more timeless. Rick Berman was notoriously anti-gay so that would never fly unfortunately.

Not a perfect episode but a lot to like here. I appreciate the writers were brave enough to shock us with the ending.

Kudos to Riker for not being so predictably one-dimensional and for not boning a flashy guest star of the week.

This story had a lot of potential and was quite ground-breaking for 1992 and Star Trek in general, but it failed to deliver on that potential.

Going to be lots of "I give them credit" responses to this one. I'll only give them credit for a rather ingenious and unique spin on a view of homosexuality. But this being one of the more-preachy episodes really turns me off. I also find it too much of a stretch for Riker's personality to fall for this .... alien. Attraction of brains aside, we know Riker goes for attractive ladies, and that is not an attractive woman. It's completely preposterous to me that Riker's lust would rear its head here. At all.

I like how Worf, without hesitation, supports Riker... If Riker has a "best" friend (he has a lot of friends), is Worf it?

I'll give them credit for addressing what at the time had been a controversial refusal to address LGBT issues, but ultimately the execution was really fumbled. A case where the guest actor was just not a good enough actor for the material, and I agree with Frakes that the episode would have been a lot stronger if the non-gendered character had been played by a man.

I have a hard time ranking this episode. I love this episode but I don't watch it very often. I jokingly tell people I'm so "screwed up" because I watched Star Trek as a kid. Therefore I'm big on "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" and believe in equality and equity for everyone and I think this episode is one of the biggest reasons for that. Why should someone not be loved or accepted for who they are because they don't fit societal norms? We're all different, all screwed up in our own ways. I love all the scenes with Soren and Riker talking, Soren and Beverly taking, and the poker game. I love how Worf went from "women are weak" to "let me help you save Soren".

Another "Riker gets horny" story. The allegories and such are still relevant but also really ham-handed and generalized. I don't think the message will be lost on you guys, and I don't know how you'll feel about the second "morality play" in a row. I know that after the previous episode doing a really good job with it, and this one being heavy-handed and not as well written (with the usual cringe-worthiness of a Riker romance,) this juuuuuuust barely edges into C-territory.

Whether or not this has aged poorly, I'll let others decide that. I appreciate what this episode tries to do. At the time it was a gay allegory but of course now it can also be read for its trans applications. This is the only episode of Star Trek that legitimately disturbed with the ending. As someone with a trans sister, having Soren be successfully converted is really upsetting to me. In that way, I kind of like that the ending is actually so dark.

Sweet and short -} Boooooring

One of the most Star Trek episodes !it’s sad and scary how relevant a 1990’s episode is in 2024. A, not S only cause I hate that the ending is too real 🥺

I never liked this one. I generally don't like episodes where one of our crew falls madly in love with a guest star in an hour and this is the worst one. I don't feel any chemistry here. I don't buy that Riker would throw away his career after knowing this person as briefly as he does. Also it fails as a gay-rights analogy when it ends with Soren's conversion therapy apparently being a complete success. Conversion therapy is only ever harmful and never actually works and should have been portrayed that way. Not quite Erase-from-canon but, for me, it's close.

Notwithstanding the missed story opportunities I don’t recall much chemistry between Riker and Soren. Didn’t buy the romance at all

This episode was a statement at the time. While I don't think it's anywhere near perfect, I give them credit for making the statement. The early 90s was an interesting time. Friends made an impact with having a character who barely was ever on screen be lesbian. Ellen recently came out and got canceled by a ton of people. We've come a long way since then ( though we still have some way to go yet)

D for Dull, a very rare grade for me. There's something about this episode that just detaches my interest to the point I find it irritating. It's a subject that has been explored much more effectively in other places, and perhaps the show's desire to avoid offending people crept too deep into the production process to the point that not even Riker's Rizz can redeem it for me.

The studio was not having it and so this episode is not top tier. The message gets muddled in politics and ends up being detrimental to their supposed messaging. B for me

I think a lot of people missed the point with this one (including Frakes) Star Trek tells its story’s by analogy to reflect a modern day issue. If you make the soren character a man it’s no longer Star Trek, Great episode Roddenberry would have approved!

I hate this episode. I know they didn't mean to offend but it is really, really bad. After years of promising a "gay episode" what they come up with is an alien played by an attractive woman coming out as a straight woman and starting a relationship with Riker. Seriously? They tried to be clever with they allegories and having a genderless alien species that their "gay" episode ended up being about a straight couple. And then it ends with Soren getting conversion therapy. This is presented as bad but it still works. Not exactly a great message. It could have been so easy, just take a random episode, have a male guest character mention his husband instead of a wife and move on. Gay characters don't need to have their existence justified by the story, they can just be there and do the same mundane jobs as everybody else.

"TREK HAS GONE WOKE!!!!!" apparently Franks wanted the main character to be played by a male actor. B Fair episode. Sad ending

I like this episode for its calm tones and for the premise. Seeing Will getting really into it and getting the talk with Diana is very heartwarming. Strong B

B for Banging Riker, once again. Ahead of its time at the time, but seen by many as not going far enough. Proving even today that, you can't please everyone when it comes to opinions on gender.

This episode was considered a poor attempt at commentary on Gay rights at the time, and is now hailed as a forward thinking examination of gender issues. Either way, it's an interesting piece for Will Riker who's otherwise been relegated to back-up Captain for too long. It shows he's not just a vapid horn-dog but does actually care deeply for his partners. C

An episode that was very much ahead of its time. At the time it was seen as very much a parallel for the experiences of gays and lesbians. However it is much more relevant to the present experiences of transgendered people. The most haunting aspect is that there are people, even in the Trek audiences, who would side with the forced therapy for “sick people”. A for “ass-kickin Riker and Worf”

Huge swing and a miss. Nothing happens in this episode. Riker is completely out of character. If they made this a Geordi episode, it might have worked. People like to bring this up as an LGBTQ+ episode, but if anything, it's completely opposite. Soren ends up "normal" again after conversion camp, pretty much going along with "have you you tried NOT being gendered?" (and only after a few days at most.)

B tier: they tried to throw the gay community a bone (pun intended) but they didn't exactly swing for the fences here. Even Frakes called them cowards for not casting a man in the Soren role.

Interesting how the social issues addressed in this episode have become more and more relevant since it first aired. Too bad it's so awkwardly done. D-tier!

This episode was written in response to calls for gay representation in Star Trek. Unsurprisingly it wasn't well received. The J'naii are genderless, or you might say monogendered, so by our understanding all their relationships are homosexual, yet they're presented as a very regressive society looking to prevent Soren from living as a woman and pursuing a heterosexual relationship. Not exactly the representation people asked for.

Another Star Trek episode that ended up foreshadowing our own social issues before anyone had the language to talk about it.

Just proof that Riker isn't prejudice... he'll screw you no matter what you are! lol

I think this has a lower quality in the episode due to acting of the peripheral characters, including the primary character that Ryker is supposedly in love with so emphatically the story is executed generally as poor as I’ve seen Star Trek execute a sensitive talk. It’s almost as bad as coat of silence and it’s bumbling nature, but it’s still entertaining because it’s Star Trek and it was fun to watch the really uptight squirm and struggle and lose their mind.

I was in college when this episode came out, and I watched a bunch of people who hadn’t found the vocabulary for the word woke jump out and start shouting about how Star Trek was bad! at this point and it was due to this episode and their reactions to whatever they perceived this relationship between Ryker and/a gender neutral androgynous character of a fictional TV show affected their small minds

People makes this out to be more 'political' than it is. If it was, it wouldn't allow you to make a solid case for both sides. Gender isn't so simple, but the treatment really did work and there was a 'natural' state (at least with this species). SciFi is at it's best when it raises an interesting question, but doesn't nudge the scales or advocate.

Frakes said that he actually wanted the actor playing Soren to be a man, thereby hammering the message about LGBTQ rights and visibility home further. Studio said no. Common Frakes W.

I love the idea of the episode. And that it has just gotten more relevant. But it’s too heavy handed, Riker and Worf go beyond what is acceptable, and the ending ruins the episode for me

I love this episode. A moral dilemma, worf being a bro to riker after their ordeal in Ethics, great speeches, and a rare super downer of an ending. The anti-conversion message is pretty clear at the end too. I know certain people don't like the message here but it's nuts to me that people will watch episodes like this one and not think Trek has always had a progressive slant in its messaging.

Star Trek again tries to tackle a tense social issue. This episode probably has more relevance today than it did when it first aired. A nice attempt but still too predictable and by-the-numbers. I agree with others who see it as okay good moments.

Riker dose to loose his cool a bit to much in this episode. The psychotetrctic treatments seem really scary. Too many people in the real world would love to use that. B teir.

So…in August 1991 (about seven months before “The Outcast” aired), I wrote and submitted a TNG spec script entitled “Nature’s Way” to Eric Stillwell, who was in charge of Star Trek submissions at Paramount. The Enterprise travels to a world where the battle of the sexes escalated into the separation of males from females, with both genders occupying differing hemispheres. The result was a homosexual society, with procreation done through insemination. Picard and the crew take aboard delegates from both sides and Riker falls in love with the female consort of the woman in charge, who in turn falls in love with him. This, of course, leads to controversy among the delegation and Picard being placed in the awkward position of adhering to the Prime Directive while supporting his First Officer within the bounds of protocol. Much of the sequence of scenes and dialogue in the aired episode are similar to what I had written…although I had not included a sci-fi B-plot, as I felt the drama of the piece was enough to sustain an hour episode. And, of course, the aired episode deals with an androgynous race and the idea of “conversion therapy”. I have always held a special place in my heart for “The Outcast”. It may just be an amazing coincidence that many of the details and situations from my submission are the same, even if the over-arching concepts differ. I have not shared this experience with anyone outside my close circle of friends and family. But watching the episode again recently made me want to share this with the community here. My thanks to everyone who read to the end!

This episode has aged remarkably well and found new relevancy now that the writers hadn’t necessarily intended back then.

I think the episode does a pretty good job (particularly for its time) of addressing the issue of being 'different' or 'deviant' in a society that doesn't tolerate you. Back then, I think that made this be seen as a 'gay episode', now I think people may see it as more of a 'trans episode'. Without being too personal, I will just say that I think a lot of people who are 'different' can relate to Soren and this story, even beyond those who are specifically gay or trans.

Fairly forgettable outing.

Found this boring as a kid, but it’s aged well. I find the big speech stirring now. Riker falling in love so fast is very TOS. B.

Soren:”Commander, tell me about your sexual organs.” Riker: 😃

I hate this episode. I've watched this series hundreds of times and I'd rather watch Code Of Honor. This is beyond E tier for me. Political crap aside... How freaking desperate can they make Riker?? Between Troi, fake holodeck women, and a species that isn't even male or female...dude has got problems. This episode is truely Shaka When the Walls Fell.

I remember when this first aired, this episode was treated like TOS’s “Let that be your last battlefield,” in that it was a little *too~* super obvious on the social commentary. Later it seemed to age better as society grew. But I think while this episode had some potential, it fell flat on its resolution, which imo does not age well. The fact that the “reassignment” procedure at the end worked in the episode defeats the message it was trying to convey. Still, I think Star Trek is at its best when it asks the hard questions but leaving the answers to the viewer to decide or ponder over. C-B for me.

This is just a C tier episode for me, mainly because this story has now been done so much better in other sci-fi shows (The Orville for example). Sure, this episode is better now than when it was released, but it doesn't save this episode from being a slow, boring episode with very little reason to rewatch it.

Riker follows his balls and seeks to add to his impressive resume. Worf risks violating the Prime Directive in an excuse to help his friend by beating up aliens. Picard remains nonchalant about the whole thing.

Topical given the current US administration’s views on gender. More evidence that Riker really isn’t that choosy.

I worked with a friendly, openly gay man in the early 00s that was deeply religious. Think Flanders level of religious. At one point, he told us that he was "done sinning" and that he was going to "homosexual therapy." His elderly parents spent untold amounts of their life savings sending him to total quacks to "cure" him. He ended up taking his own life shortly after they deemed him of being cured. I can't watch this episode without thinking of that guy. . Sorry to be a downer if this gets read, I've never really been able to share that story any other way.

This episode was panned for years as a ham-handed way to address homosexuality and how the gay community was treated in early-90s American society. Years later, it has found a new and more favorable life as a trans allegory. Regardless, it has a strong message of "the desire to be oneself" and is a memorable episode. A-tier for me.

On the surface this appears to be WOKE GARBAGE, but if you think about it, this society forcefully suppresses gender. That would make this episode UNWOKE GARBAGE.

Allegory Ahoy!

Another “message” episode that probably has more meaning now than it did when it first aired. It is kind of funny when for once Riker gets somewhat embarrassed while talking about sexual matters, but again, not one of my favorites. Another one I rank as “Time Filler With Good Moments”.