SF Debris/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Ever want a quick guide as to what score Chuck gave a particular episode of Star Trek? You're in luck, because his Trivia section has got you covered. Remember, the score given is relative to all other episodes in each particular series, and not in any other. Also, the scores are awarded in approximate bell-curve fashion: this means that there will be relatively few episodes with a very high or very low score. The scores listed below will always reflect his most recent review of that episode.

Within each score category, episodes are listed by series, in chronological order (by original airdate). Clicking on the episode title will link you to our write-up about it in the Recap section of the site, if there is one.

This is a work in progress, so please feel free to lend a hand.

SF Debris Opinionated Star Trek Episode Scores:

10

9

8

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
    • "Where Silence Has Lease"
    • "Q Who"
    • "Deja Q"
    • "The Drumhead"
    • "I Borg"
    • "Relics"
    • "Ship in a Bottle"
    • "Starship Mine"
  • DS9:
    • "The Maquis"
    • "In Purgatory's Shadow"
    • "By Inferno's Light"
    • "Sacrifice of Angels"
    • "Waltz"
    • "The Siege of AR-558"
    • "It's Only a Paper Moon"
  • VOY:
    • "Projections"
    • "Death Wish"
    • "Before and After"
    • "Worst Case Scenario"
    • "One"
    • "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy"
    • "Relativity"
  • ENT:
    • "Regeneration"
    • "In a Mirror, Darkly"
  • Star Trek: First Contact

7

6

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
    • "Pen Pals"
  • DS9:
    • "Return to Grace"
    • "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?"
    • "Children of Time"
    • "Behind the Lines"
    • "Favor The Bold"
    • "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang"
  • VOY:
    • "Time and Again"
    • "Phage"
    • "Eye of the Needle"
    • "Manuevers"
    • "Resistance"
    • "Alliances"
    • "Deadlock"
    • "Tuvix"
    • "Unity"
    • "Waking Moments"
    • "One Small Step"
    • "The Voyager Conspiracy"
    • "Body and Soul"
  • ENT:
    • "Breaking the Ice"
    • "Shuttlepod One"
  • Star Trek III the Search For Spock

5

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
  • DS9:
    • "Indiscretion"
    • "In The Cards"
    • "Field of Fire"
  • VOY:
    • "Heroes and Demons"
    • "Jetrel"
    • "Learning Curve"
    • "The 37's"
    • "Cold Fire"
    • "Prototype"
    • "Lifesigns"
    • "Basics"
    • "The Swarm"
    • "Warlord"
    • "Q2"
  • ENT:
    • "Broken Bow"
    • "Strange New World"
    • "Silent Enemy"

4

3

2

1

0

A score of zero is awarded to an episode which is not only bad, but does the entire franchise a disservice by being associated with it.

Other

  • TNG:
    • "Family" (refused to assign a numerical rating because of how non-Trek it was)
    • "Genesis": 3.5 (one half-point bonus awarded because "the actors put in pretty good performances")


SF Debris Post Episode Follow Up Guide:

This section is a quick guide to the Post Episode Follow Up Awards given out to each episode. Like the scores, this is a work in progress.

Annoying Character/Stupid Neelix Moment

Note: Because this award is given out with almost every episode reviewed, only episodes where it is absent or otherwise subverted will be noted here.

  • TOS:
    • "Where No Man Has Gone Before" - Won by Spock's eyebrows
  • TAS:
    • "Yesteryear" - Awarded to whoever ignored the script's specific instructions and gave Vulcan a moon even though Vulcan has no moon
  • TNG:
    • Two episodes have given the award to a real-life person rather than one of the episode's characters:
      • "Shades of Gray" - Awarded to episode writer and outgoing showrunner Maurice Hurley, as a special parting gift for the man Chuck considers the worst-ever Star Trek writer.
      • "Qpid" - Won by the episode's director[4], due to the awkward staging and filming of much of the episode, combined with the fact that he didn't find any of the characters that annoying.
    • Three episodes have given the award to an object rather than a person.
      • "The Hunted" - Won by James Cromwell's mustache
      • "The Best of Both Worlds" - Won by Wesley's hair
      • "Parallels" - Won by Data's painting
    • "The Game" - Won by The "Outrageous" Okona, even though he wasn't in the episode, because he was so annoying in his own episode giving him the award just once simply wasn't enough
    • "Captain's Holiday" - Won by the entire Enterprise crew for the way they spend most of the first act.
    • "Realm of Fear" - Won by the bad special effects for making the object within the transporter look like an eye instead of a mouth
    • "Ship in a Bottle" - Won by Dr. Pulaski despite the fact that she had long-since departed TNG, due to Chuck's resentment at her being in "Elementary Dear Data," which he had to rewatch to get the backstory for this episode.
  • DS9:
    • "Indiscretion" - Awarded to a sand spine
    • "For The Uniform" - Not awarded
    • "Trials and Tribble-ations" - Not awarded
    • "His Way" - Awarded to whoever put so many songs (five) in the episode[5].
  • VOY:
    • "Eye of the Needle" - Neelix is not in the episode at all, so not awarded.
    • "Tattoo" - Waived as compensation for Neelix suffering Eye Scream
    • "The Gift" gives the award to the departure of Kes, which is not caused by Neelix in universe but when the production team decided not to get rid of Harry Kim, they decided to also keep the hated Neelix and instead get rid of his attractive, intelligent and well liked girlfriend.
    • "The Disease" - Actually received a bonus point for Neelix not acting like an idiot
    • "Life Line" - Awarded to a moment clearly undeserving of one

Chuck: Neelix walked into a room and handed the Doctor a PADD. This offended me.


Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?

Awarded whenever something from Earth history is described as ancient, regardless of which period of history it is from.


Brahma of the Week

Awarded to a creator of new life.

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
    • "Basics" - Suder for creating a new plant
    • "Lifeline" - Doctor Zimmerman for creating photonic life
  • ENT:


Burn, Baby, Burn

Awarded whenever a shuttle or spaceship crashes, is destroyed or otherwise lost.


Cosmic Faceplant

Awarded to beings suffering from either Villain Decay or Informed Ability.


Damn Dirty Mutant

Awarded whenever someone undergoes a physical mutation.

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
    • "Genesis" - The Enterprise-D Crew, turned into animals
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
    • "Faces" - Torres, split into fully Human and Klingon halves
    • "Threshold" - Paris and Janeway, turned into giant salamanders
  • ENT:
    • "Unexpected" - Tucker, growing nipples on his wrist


I Am Legion

Awarded whenever someone is possessed by another lifeform.

  • TOS:
    • "Wolf In The Fold" - Prefect and Enterprise Computer
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
    • "Warlord" - Kes
  • ENT:
    • "Observer Effect" - The main cast


Janeway Pie

Awarded whenever the ship's self-destruct mechanism is engaged. Named for Janeway's authorization code of "Janeway Pi-Alpha".


Lazarus of the Week

Awarded whenever a character returns from death to life.

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
    • "Tapestry" - Picard
    • "All Good Things" - The Enterprise-D crew, twice!
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
    • "Time and Again" - Janeway and Paris
    • "Emanations" - Harry
    • "Threshold" - Paris: see "Other" for more details, but he was awarded "Jesus of the Week."
    • "Death Wish" - all the men of the Voyager crew
    • "Deadlock" - Harry and Naomi
    • "Tuvix" - Tuvok and Neelix
    • "Coda" - Janeway
    • "Relativity" - The Voyager Crew
  • ENT:
    • "Observer Effect" - Trip and Hoshi
  • Star Trek III the Search For Spock - Spock
  • Star Trek Generations - The crew of the Enterprise-D


Like Unto An Ameoba

Awarded for the appearance of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens.

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
    • "Encounter at Farpoint" - Q
    • "Where No One Has Gone Before" - The Traveller
    • "Where Silence Has Lease" - Nagilum
    • "The Royale" - The aliens who built the casino
    • "True Q" - Amanda Rogers
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
    • "Death Wish" - Quinn
  • ENT:
    • "Observer Effect" - The Organians, who, incidentally, gave this award its name in their original episode in TOS.


Smack/Slap The Hell Up

Awarded whenever an annoying character gets what's coming to them.

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
    • "Time And Again" - Janeway wins the "Slap The Hell Up" for telling Tom not to interfere, which would result in the death of everyone on the planets, and then gets hit in the face with a metal bat.
    • "Meld" - Neelix wins the "Smack the Hell Up" award for being the annoying character by bothering Tuvok and then gets strangled to death.[6]
  • ENT:


Twenty Dollar Bill

Awarded whenever a character attempts to, successfully commits or condones genocide[7]

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
  • DS9:
    • "Duet" - Gul Darhe'el, an unseen character being impersonated by someone else, wins an honorary "Twenty Dollar Bill" award for his attempt at Bajoran genocide.
  • VOY:
  • ENT:
    • "Dear Doctor" - Archer and Phlox win the "Twenty Dollar Bill" award for condoning genocide


Unsafe At Any Speed

Awarded to any ship that is a danger to its crew.

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
  • ENT:
    • "Acquisition" - The Enterprise, for its inability to contain spreading knockout gas, and for having a Decontamination Room that a potentially infectious occupant can open from the inside.
  • Star Trek (2009): The Narada, which has no rails or electrical safety.


You Can Go Home Again

Awarded whenever we encounter a place that looks like Earth, either by deliberate design or coincidence.

  • TOS:
    • "The Menagerie" - The illusionary Earth created by the Talosians.
    • "The Omega Glory" - Presence of the American Flag and US Constitution
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
  • DS9:
  • VOY:
  • ENT:


Other

Miscellaneous Awards and bonus points given out once so far.

  • TOS:
  • TAS:
  • TNG:
    • "Family" - Not given a post episode followup, so given no awards at all
    • "Genesis" - Given a +0.5 bonus to its score because of the good performances by the cast
  • DS9:
    • "Children of Time" - All eligible awards besides the Annoying Character are not awarded due to the Timey Wimey Reset Button.
  • VOY:
    • "Faces" - Given a +1 bonus to its score because the characters were written intelligently
    • "Threshold" - Paris wins "Jesus of the Week" for raising himself from the dead
  • ENT:
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Ilia wins "Damn Dirty Mutant Lazarus of the Week" because she Came Back Wrong
  1. ↑ It was originally 7.5. In retrospect, Chuck feels he graded this one too high, by using "7" as a baseline for DS9 scores instead of "5", and lowered the score when he re-posted it to blip.tv
  2. ↑ Chuck says it would be a "7" if he didn't consider it a ripoff of the novel, "Dragon's Egg".
  3. ↑ It was originally rated a 3, but as Chuck notes that this particular episode tends to get worse with repeated viewings, he lowered the score when he re-posted it to blip.tv
  4. ↑ Cliff Bole, though Chuck never actually mentions his name
  5. ↑ assuming this is the writers of the episode, that would mean Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler
  6. ↑ However, it turns out it was just a hologram.
  7. ↑ Named for US President Andrew Jackson, depicted on the obverse of said bill, who did just that with various Native American tribes.
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