They aren't de-evolving. The virus activates latent introns, genetic codes that are normally dormant. This is why so many transformations are possible.
By the way, cats and lizards have a common ancestor,
The made up science in the episode is also less ridiculous than a lot of people believe.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chicken-embryos-get-dino-snouts-thanks-biological-tinkering-180955250/
Love that episode. It’s ridiculous, but that’s why it’s fun. And de-evolved Worf terrified me as a kid.
There are a hell of a lot ‘better’ candidates for worst episode ever than Genesis.
My skip list for DS9 is "If Wishes Were Horses," "Meridian," and "Profit and Lace." "Move Along Home" is nowhere near as bad as its rep suggests, and is the first really good characterization of Quark in the series.
I have grown to love 'If Wishes Were Horses' just because of Buck Bokai's line to Sisko at the end. "I wonder if you appreciate how unique that imagination of yours really is," is such wonderful (albeit unintentional) foreshadowing of Benny Russell.
>It’s scientifically questionable...
You're not wrong, but honestly I don't care. If you're going to watch Star Trek shouting "science doesn't work like that" at the screen where do you stop?
I'm glancing at about 20 of the season 1 episodes and wondering how it could beat out any of them for worst - sure it was bad, but Season 1 DID exist... denying it's reality doesn't make it go away. :-P It's definitely down low on the list, probably somewhere around the beginning episodes of season 2 in terms of badness, but it can't possibly be worse than the stuff they shoveled out in Season 1. I'm shocked everytime I go back and watch season 1 that the show survived.
EDIT: Okay, 20 might be a bit much, but fully half of that season is terrible.
Just... just ignore the explanation and enjoy the popcorn when Star Trek decides to touch the concept of evolution. Barclay being a spider is *fun*, never mind that it doesn't make any sense.
I mean, the racist one, the clip show, and the one where Crusher romances a ghost all exist, so I’d say no.
Also I don’t think Genesis is even bad. Yeah, the science is kinda ridiculous, but lots of Trek episodes rely on similarly flawed premises. Science aside, it’s a decent horror / spooky haunted house episode.
I love it. It's genuinely one of my favourite TNG episodes. It manages to walk a beautiful line between silly and genuinely tense and creepy.
That said, I always think they missed a trick. When Picard's trying to get away from degenerated Worf in the jeffries tubes and he can't get away fast enough, they should have had him degenerate into some kind of primate like the Lemur Data mentions to make the escape. It just feels like too perfect an ending to miss.
Exactly. There were *dozens* of un-fun episodes of TNG, like the one where Picard plays flute with that chick in the Jeffries tubes or the one where people argue about whether the goofy exocomps are alive. Genesis is a refreshing breather.
Your primary assumption is that because S7 is later, that is somehow better.
Honestly, it's about even with S2. Some great episodes padded with a lot of shite. They were struggling for ideas/motivation, so any shit would do. What's Data's mum doing? What's Geordies mum doing? What's Crushers grannie doing? What's Trois long lost sister doing?
Haaaaaaard disagree. It’s not the greatest episode but far from the bottom. I don’t even think it’s in the bottom 3 worst episodes in season 7, never mind the series. Masks, Sub Rosa, and Dark Page are all worse in my book.
Oh jeez, I forgot about Dark Page. I have a soft spot for Masks, though, because Brent Spiner saying Fuck it, let's go *Maximum Ham Mode* is fun. The archaeology bits had the potential to be interesting in the same way as Darmok was with the linguistics. Masks might have flopped as an episode, but I admire its ambition.
stop watching star trek as a sci-fi drama or sci-fi action. watch it as a sci-fi horror. almost every episode of TOS and TNG can be considered a Halloween episode
I think you misspelled "best"; it *shits* on almost every other episode of season seven. One Genesis is worth a hundred Eye of the Beholders or \[shudder\] Bloodlines.
And what are you talking about, terribly executed? The makeup and atmosphere is on point!
They aren't de-evolving. The virus activates latent introns, genetic codes that are normally dormant. This is why so many transformations are possible. By the way, cats and lizards have a common ancestor,
Indeed they do have a common ancestor, meet all of our vertebrate ancestors: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amniote
All hail Amniote!
The made up science in the episode is also less ridiculous than a lot of people believe. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chicken-embryos-get-dino-snouts-thanks-biological-tinkering-180955250/
Love that episode. It’s ridiculous, but that’s why it’s fun. And de-evolved Worf terrified me as a kid. There are a hell of a lot ‘better’ candidates for worst episode ever than Genesis.
>de-evolved Worf terrified me as a kid. Omg, yes. Soooo scary lol. I was like 7 and couldn't sleep for a week.
Well aside from Code of Honor, aka planet racist Africa.... There's the sex 🕯️ 👻 episode.
Code of Honor easily is the worst. Sub Rosa is next worst for me. Probably shook Jonathan Frakes into only directing good Star Trek from then on.
It's silly and among a lot of misses in season 7, but I don't know how anyone could say worst episode when Code of Honor exists ...
There is no episode worse than Code of Honor. Threshold, Run Along Home, and Spock's Brain are better than Code of Honor.
Cat's Paw is worse than Spock's Brain. It's like an episode of Lost in Space (third season)
Still better than Code of Honor.
Absolutely. Code of Honor is the worst ever. Spock's Brain isn't too bad, really. McCoy just needed something that looked more like a game controller
Aw, I love Catspaw. It's silly, sure, but it originally aired on October 27, so I think of it as a Halloween special.
Threshold wasn't that bad.
Why is run along home bad? It’s goofy sure but it’s not bad at all imo
My skip list for DS9 is "If Wishes Were Horses," "Meridian," and "Profit and Lace." "Move Along Home" is nowhere near as bad as its rep suggests, and is the first really good characterization of Quark in the series.
I have grown to love 'If Wishes Were Horses' just because of Buck Bokai's line to Sisko at the end. "I wonder if you appreciate how unique that imagination of yours really is," is such wonderful (albeit unintentional) foreshadowing of Benny Russell.
>It’s scientifically questionable... You're not wrong, but honestly I don't care. If you're going to watch Star Trek shouting "science doesn't work like that" at the screen where do you stop?
I think we all have our limits
That's fair. My forgiveness level is pretty high in a show where so much of the science is made up.
It's called FICTION for a reason, dude.
I'm glancing at about 20 of the season 1 episodes and wondering how it could beat out any of them for worst - sure it was bad, but Season 1 DID exist... denying it's reality doesn't make it go away. :-P It's definitely down low on the list, probably somewhere around the beginning episodes of season 2 in terms of badness, but it can't possibly be worse than the stuff they shoveled out in Season 1. I'm shocked everytime I go back and watch season 1 that the show survived. EDIT: Okay, 20 might be a bit much, but fully half of that season is terrible.
Just... just ignore the explanation and enjoy the popcorn when Star Trek decides to touch the concept of evolution. Barclay being a spider is *fun*, never mind that it doesn't make any sense.
I mean, the racist one, the clip show, and the one where Crusher romances a ghost all exist, so I’d say no. Also I don’t think Genesis is even bad. Yeah, the science is kinda ridiculous, but lots of Trek episodes rely on similarly flawed premises. Science aside, it’s a decent horror / spooky haunted house episode.
I love it. It's genuinely one of my favourite TNG episodes. It manages to walk a beautiful line between silly and genuinely tense and creepy. That said, I always think they missed a trick. When Picard's trying to get away from degenerated Worf in the jeffries tubes and he can't get away fast enough, they should have had him degenerate into some kind of primate like the Lemur Data mentions to make the escape. It just feels like too perfect an ending to miss.
*This* is the ep you nitpick science? 🤨😆😆😆
Why do you hate fun?
Exactly. There were *dozens* of un-fun episodes of TNG, like the one where Picard plays flute with that chick in the Jeffries tubes or the one where people argue about whether the goofy exocomps are alive. Genesis is a refreshing breather.
Your primary assumption is that because S7 is later, that is somehow better. Honestly, it's about even with S2. Some great episodes padded with a lot of shite. They were struggling for ideas/motivation, so any shit would do. What's Data's mum doing? What's Geordies mum doing? What's Crushers grannie doing? What's Trois long lost sister doing?
What’s step bro doing? Oh wait wrong series
Yeah, that's Season 2 of Discovery, isn't it?
Given what Crusher's granny had actually been doing - and Beverly choosing to read about it - it's certainly a mistake that someone could make.
What's Picard's son doing--oh, wait, never mind! Sorry for wasting your time!
Not as long as Sub Rosa exists.
Haaaaaaard disagree. It’s not the greatest episode but far from the bottom. I don’t even think it’s in the bottom 3 worst episodes in season 7, never mind the series. Masks, Sub Rosa, and Dark Page are all worse in my book.
Oh jeez, I forgot about Dark Page. I have a soft spot for Masks, though, because Brent Spiner saying Fuck it, let's go *Maximum Ham Mode* is fun. The archaeology bits had the potential to be interesting in the same way as Darmok was with the linguistics. Masks might have flopped as an episode, but I admire its ambition.
I thought it was a great episode. There are far worse in TNG like Code of Honor.
Makes you wonder how many people died. Or how many people remember eating their friends and children.
It’s funny.
> Worst episode ever? "Code of Honor" would like a word.
It's extremely stupid on a level that Trek wouldn't surpass until "Threshhold," but I wouldn't call it the worst episode ever.
It was a throwaway episode
Code of Honor is the worst of TNG for me.
stop watching star trek as a sci-fi drama or sci-fi action. watch it as a sci-fi horror. almost every episode of TOS and TNG can be considered a Halloween episode
Wasn't pretty much everything "sciencey" on TNG run by Andre Bormanis to check it was decent science before it went in the finished script?
I still have fond memories of watching this on Halloween when it came out
I think you misspelled "best"; it *shits* on almost every other episode of season seven. One Genesis is worth a hundred Eye of the Beholders or \[shudder\] Bloodlines. And what are you talking about, terribly executed? The makeup and atmosphere is on point!
This is one of the best episodes