Star Trek: 20 Worst Episodes Ever

13. Time's Orphan (DS9)

Originally conceived as an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (where Worf's son Alexander would have fallen into a time portal only to emerge as an adult), Time's Orphan made its way to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine late in the sixth season when executive producer Ira Steven Behr needed a bottle show to balance the budget. While that's perfectly fine - some of Star Trek's best episodes, like Duet, have been bottle shows - this is a story of little consequence, and it feels especially slight in light of the greater drama of the Dominion War which had consumed the series by this point.

To briefly summarise, Miles O'Brien and his family are enjoying a picnic on the planet Golana when their eight year old, Molly, falls into a time portal while playing and disappears (O'Brien just can't get an even break). When she re-emerges from the portal, Molly is ten years older, frightened, and unable to speak.

This results in some drama as the Miles and his wife Keiko try to adjust to this new situation, and eventually the requisite moral dilemma of whether or not to let Molly return to the time portal. She eventually does, and through the convenience of the plot, the O'Briens have the 8 year old Molly returned to them, and the series moves on to more important stories.