10 Star Trek Episodes That Actors Regret

9. Extinction - LeVar Burton

Star Trek - “Spock’s Brain”
CBS

This is technically a cheat as LeVar Burton didn't appear in front of the camera. Rather, he appeared behind it, directing the episode. In the years that have passed, he has openly stated that he was ashamed of being associated with this chapter of Enterprise.

The plot follows a vaguely similar structure to Burton's own episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Identity Crisis. In both installments, members of the crew are infected with a virus that regresses them to become something other than human. The thing about Extinction however is just how ridiculous everything comes across as.

The episode arrived in Enterprise's third season when the show was generally beginning to pick up speed thanks to the Xindi Arc. There is a message in the episode about ethnic cleansing and genocide, yet this is lost in the bafflingly awful execution of the storyline. To be very fair, Scott Bakula and Linda Park give it their all as they act the part of the infected, yet that really is the nicest thing that can be said about it.

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick