10 Times Star Trek Was So Bad It Was Good
7. The Royale - The Next Generation
Camp, cheap, silly, self-aware and a joy to watch. In this early episode of TNG, the cast, the writers and everyone were just having fun. The stakes weren’t high, the message wasn’t deep, even the characters were just going along with it and enjoying their crazy, crazy job as space adventurers.
In an era of entertainment when the drama is always dialled up to eleven, where it’s always life or death and where the audience is always on edge, it’s relief to watch something easy going. The Royale delivers this flawlessly. The crew get trapped in a casino, which aliens created based on a description from a trashy novel. Riker, Data and Worf must act out pulpy novel’s story in order to escape. Data wears a cowboy hat and throws some dice, they enjoy themselves, we enjoy ourselves.
This one has ‘so bad it’s good’ baked into it. The plot literally centres around the crew acting out a bad novel. Turn off your brain, relax and enjoy!