Star Trek: 20 Worst Episodes Ever
1. The Way To Eden (TOS)
"Gonna live like a king on whatever I find, eat all the fruit and throw away the rind."
The Way to Eden began life as a remarkably different story outline called Joanna, written by D.C. Fontana. Joanna would have introduced Doctor McCoy's estranged daughter of the same name to the series, and put the characters on a path towards reconciliation.
Third season producer Fred Freiberger, however, insisted that McCoy wasn't old enough to have an adult daughter, and had the episode dramatically rewritten by Arthur Heinemann. Fontana so disliked the changes that she used her pseudonym (Michael Richards) rather than put her name on the final episode. It's not hard to see why.
The Way To Eden is a complete mess that fails to offer any meaningful commentary on the hippie movement, weirdly turns the youthful Chekov into a conservative and by-the-book officer (try squaring that with his passionate and inexperienced behaviour in, say, Spectre Of The Gun") and bombards the senses with a series of musical numbers which are outright embarrassing.
The episode's core storyline - a misguided religious guru with fantastic powers of persuasion leads a cult of followers in a search for Eden - is remarkably similar to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which, to be honest, says a lot right there. The episode has its defenders, but in my book, its easily the worst episode of Star Trek ever produced.
What's your least favourite Star Trek episode? Share your pick down in the comments.