10 Worst Episodes Of Otherwise Excellent Sci-Fi TV Shows
2. Star Trek - “Spock’s Brain”
Star Trek is an incredibly beloved franchise for millions of people these days, but back in the '60s, the show lost a lot of viewers and was canceled early. There's a lot of nostalgia for the original series, but looking back, it's clear that the series was off its rails by the third season.
"Spock's Brain" opened the third and final season of Star Trek, and it's often chosen as the worst episode of the series. Now, anyone who loves Star Trek from any of the shows or films knows that there's often a suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy the show... but not for "Spock's Brain."
Here's the elevator pitch: an alien woman beams aboard the USS Enterprise and quickly manages to incapacitate the crew. She then surgically removes Spock's brain (without killing him). Captain Kirk and the rest of the crew have only a few hours to find his brain before his body dies.
It's no easy task to suspend disbelief on something that ridiculous, and the episode doesn't have many fans among Trek culture. Even William Shatner himself called it the worst episode, while Leonard Nimoy wrote, "Frankly, during the entire shooting of that episode, I was embarrassed."