20 Most Cringeworthy Classic Star Trek Moments

15. Sulu's Plant From The Man Trap (1966)

We could make some sort of joke about Sulu's favourite plant being a man's hand stuck inside a pink puppet, in an episode called The Man Trap, but that would be unnecessary and maybe even vaguely homophobic. But honestly, how did we not know he was gay after this? Anyway, we're well aware that Star Trek was operating on a tight budget, and the only sensible way to depict an animate plant in a '60s sci fi series was with a hand puppet. Heck, even Next Gen did it once in The Most Toys, and that wasn't even a plant. But Beauregard - yes, that's the plant's name, Beauregard - is the sort of creation you'd expect from a series trying to save money towards the end of its run, not in the very first aired episode. Of course, this was also the episode that featured a costume recycled from the movie of The Time Machine, so we shouldn't be so surprised. Still, this is pretty awful, and it tends to make non-fans titter like fools. It wouldn't even be so bad if the thing didn't have so much screen time. Shame they couldn't replace Beauregard with new CGI effects for the Blu-ray releases. And speaking of elements we wish could be replaced with CGI...
Contributor
Contributor

Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.