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00:00One of the best events of a Star Trek series is the fan-serving crossover episodes,
00:04where characters from one series appear in another.
00:07These have occurred in all the modern series and wholeheartedly deserve their status as
00:11prestigious TV events, given how they unify fan bases and their inevitable effect on ratings.
00:17And while some appearances were brief, such as Commander Riker in the Voyager episode
00:21Death Wish, others had the entire episode built around them, like Sarek, and the results
00:26have often been a mixed bag, despite how well the idea of crossovers is invariably received.
00:31Inevitably, not all of the crossovers were such a good idea, like that Enterprise episode.
00:36And in other cases, we've had very brief nods to the fans with 30-second appearances in
00:40episodes such as Quark turning up in Star Trek The Next Generation, although he was also
00:44meant to appear in Star Trek Insurrection, but the scene was cut.
00:47Other episodes were just unsatisfying, like Sons of Moog in Deep Space Nine.
00:52Now, of course, the best episodes are certainly an easier prospect to swallow, but to commemorate
00:57the fact that not every episode can be as great as perhaps was intended...
01:01So, without further ado, I'm Amy from WhatCultureHorror, and here are ten...
01:05Ahem.
01:06Uh, excuse me?
01:08What do you think you're doing?
01:09Shoo?
01:10This is my channel?
01:13I'm EliwoodTrekCulture, here with a list of the ten worst crossover episodes in Star Trek history.
01:18Number 10, Caretaker Star Trek Voyager.
01:22Caretaker took the approach of having Deep Space Nine appear as a location at the start
01:26of the episode, with Quark and Morn both making very brief appearances.
01:31Of course, one little crossover point which is missed sometimes is the character of Gull
01:35Yvesque, who appeared in Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and The Next Generation.
01:39And much like The Walking Dead, it spent an odd volume of time with the cast on a farm.
01:44The two-part episode really dragged in the middle, until Harry, Kim, and Bellana Torres
01:48finally get back on board Voyager.
01:51And frankly, destroying the Maquis vessel just made no sense in that manner at all.
01:55The entire episode felt like a missed opportunity.
01:58The crossover element of Caretaker was just to get the ball rolling for Voyager.
02:01Of course, towards the later series, you would have two The Next Generation characters
02:06appearing on a semi-regular basis, to the extent that Reginald Barkley ended up appearing
02:10in more episodes of Voyager than he did in The Next Generation.
02:14Whilst those could be considered crossovers at the start, by the time Troy appeared for
02:18the third time, it was less a crossover and more a recurring character.
02:23Number 9.
02:24Encounter at Farpoint, Star Trek The Next Generation
02:27Encounter at Farpoint was the pilot episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, and launched
02:32a continuous period of some 18 years of Star Trek on television, until the final episode
02:38of Star Trek Enterprise. It isn't a traditional crossover story at all, but does feature a
02:43cameo from the late DeForest Kelly as Admiral McCoy. Kelly refused to take anything more
02:48than the scale rate of pay for appearing in the episode. He felt that this was a way to
02:52say thank you for Star Trek, and hoped that his appearance would boost ratings and publicity
02:56for the new series.
02:58Apart from this, and a mention of Captain Kirk's Enterprise in The Naked Now, this would be the
03:02only inclusion of any element seen in the original series for some time to come.
03:07Farpoint is looked upon fondly due to it being the pilot of The Next Generation, but really
03:12it isn't a particularly fabulous episode, much like the other episodes in the first
03:16season. This was partly in how it was written. The Q storyline was shoehorned into the story
03:21in order to expand it to a two-part episode, and so it just didn't fit with the other story.
03:27Number 8.
03:27Q-less, Star Trek Deep Space Nine
03:30Q-less was a direct sequel to the Next Generation episode Q-PID, and featured the return of Q and
03:35Vash in their only appearance in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. It was the last of three appearances
03:40in the franchise for Vash, but Q would make a couple more appearances in The Next Generation,
03:45as well as a bunch in Voyager. Much like Q's interactions with Picard has the standout
03:49scene of the courtroom, the entity's sole appearance alongside Sisko does too. But this
03:54involves Sisko punching him in the face, probably one of the most memorable and funny moments from
03:59the first season of Deep Space Nine. Q was a bit untapped for Deep Space Nine, mostly because we
04:04just didn't get a sense of a similar relationship with Sisko that he had with Picard and would later
04:09have with Janeway. We never really got to find out what the Prophet or Q thought of each other,
04:14or if there was any relationship between the two. The only problem is that how do you explain Q coming
04:19back again and again to Deep Space Nine? And the character wouldn't have fit in at all during the
04:25Dominion Wars seasons. Number 7. Emissary Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Emissary was the pilot of Star
04:32Trek Deep Space Nine. It turned the crossover cameo in a Star Trek pilot into an expectation.
04:37A lot of setup occurs in this episode, but some of the more interesting scenes are those with
04:42Commander Sisko and Captain Picard. You see, at the start, there is quite a bit of animosity between
04:48Sisko and Picard, as while Picard was assimilated by the Borg during the Best of Both Worlds, the Borg
04:53destroyed the USS Saratoga, resulting in the death of Sisko's wife. The Picard appearance is
04:58bookend Emissary in order to show the character growth of Sisko during the events that occur in
05:02the episode. It was initially planned for there to be a major crossover episode with Deep Space Nine
05:07and the Enterprise D for the end of the first series of Deep Space Nine. This didn't happen,
05:13unfortunately for us crossover fans, and instead the first series was closed within the hands of the
05:18Prophets instead. Emissary is the best Star Trek pilot when considered in hindsight, but because
05:24some of the crossover episodes are of such higher quality, it pushes this one down to the worst list.
05:29A shame really, because I'm sure this would appear in many people's top 20 lists of Deep Space Nine.
05:35Number 6. False Prophets Star Trek Voyager. This is probably one of the least noticed crossover
05:41episodes, as it didn't feature any well-known stars from a different Star Trek series. False
05:46Prophets was a Voyager episode which acted as a sequel to the Next Generation episode The Price.
05:51Both of those episodes featured the Ferengi character of Arador and Cole. While Dan Shaw came
05:56back to play the part of Arador, Cole was a non-speaking role in the first episode and so
06:01was recast for Voyager. After being stranded at the other end of a wormhole in the Next Generation
06:06episode, the Ferengi arrive at a planet and immediately pose as gods, leaving Voyager with
06:11a conundrum about how to remove them. False Prophets was an interesting follow-up to The Price,
06:15but didn't deliver the crossover spectacle that we've come to expect. The problem with
06:19False Prophets is just that there is nothing to stand out, and it ends up being a fairly
06:23average Voyager episode. You know what I mean. It involves some funny make-up for Neelix,
06:28who appears as a Ferengi, and some scenes that I can only describe as shenanigans. There are
06:33some good Ferengi episodes in Deep Space Nine, and this isn't even in their league.
06:38Number 5. Birthright Star Trek The Next Generation.
06:42One of the two stories in Birthright has Data working alongside Julian Bashir when the Enterprise
06:47visits Deep Space Nine. The android is caught by an energy discharge and begins to dream.
06:52Well, that's our crossover. It wasn't originally intended to have Bashir appear in the episode.
06:57Instead, it was meant to be Jadzia Dax, but Terry Farrell was busy filming the Deep Space Nine
07:02episode Move Along Home. It is a blessing that Birthright isn't as bad as Move Along Home,
07:06but neither of the two stories are that engaging. On the one hand, you have Worf investigating a
07:11colony of Klingon-Romulan hybrids, and in the other story, you have Data dreaming about his
07:16father being a blacksmith. While both stories seem like they could have had ongoing effects
07:20to the characters, neither are ever mentioned again. Another actor who is better known for a
07:25different role in the franchise also appears in this episode, James Cromwell. He appears as
07:30Zefran Cochran in Star Trek First Contact and appears in Birthright as Jaglum Shrek, but is barely
07:35recognisable under the makeup. His part was to have been bigger in this two-part episode, but he
07:40broke his leg between the first and second parts, and he had to be written out.
07:44Number 4. Sons of Moog, Star Trek Deep Space Nine
07:48Sons of Moog featured the return of Kern, the brother of Worf, in his only appearance in Star Trek
07:54Deep Space Nine. Kern had a bit of a character arc alongside Worf in his Star Trek The Next Generation
07:59appearances, and frankly, it is always good to see Tony Todd on screen. Just take a look at his
08:04other appearance in Deep Space Nine as an older Jake Sisko in The Visitor if you want to look at
08:09what Todd can do. This episode was a proper crossover, but wasn't much of a surprise, as
08:13since Worf joined the crew of Deep Space Nine, it was just a matter of time before his brother showed up.
08:18Although Kern appearing was initially pleasing, it just seems very out of character to find that he
08:23wanted to die because of the dishonour to his house, something he had dealt with before.
08:27Kern ends the episode with his mind wiped and his face changed, and with no idea left that
08:32he is Worf's brother. It still would have been fairly easy to revisit the character in later
08:36episodes despite the memory loss, but it was a plot point that was left open, which the
08:40writers never returned to.
08:42Number 3. Past Prologue, Star Trek Deep Space Nine
08:45The first of two mentions of the Duras sisters in this list. Past Prologue is the only time they
08:51appeared in Deep Space Nine. This is an appearance that sometimes gets overlooked because the episode
08:56is remembered for a different reason. It features the first appearance of Garak. The Klingons are
09:01selling bomb-making chemicals to a Bajoran terrorist who is seeking to permanently close the wormhole so
09:06that Bajor will be left alone by both the Federation and the Cardassians. The episode has some highlights,
09:12but it is a mostly Keira-driven episode rather than a proper crossover. Including the Duras sisters was a nice
09:18touch, but really it's another nod to the fans rather than anything interesting. They could have been
09:23simply replaced by new characters and there would have been no difference to the plot. While it was an
09:27interesting episode to give an indication that not all Bajorans were fond of the Federation, it just
09:33didn't gel. While it was meant to introduce Garak, it actually ended up being the character's only
09:37appearance during season one. It was simply one of those dodgy aliens turns up on the station and medal episodes.
09:43Number 2, Firstborn, Star Trek The Next Generation. Firstborn is that Worf Alexander episode of The
09:50Next Generation that featured an Alexander from the future coming back in time to make his younger
09:55self become a warrior in order to prevent the murder of Worf. All in all, it's actually an interesting
10:00episode which is something akin to Deep Space Nine's The Visitor, although not nearly held up to such
10:05high esteem. It is an Alexander-heavy episode, which isn't necessarily a good thing. While this isn't as bad as
10:11a fistful of datas or cost of living, it isn't great in hindsight. What makes it even less interesting
10:16or relevant is that Alexander later appeared in Deep Space Nine, having not taken the path that
10:21the future Alexander here was concerned about. It features a very brief cameo from Quark, as the
10:26Enterprise crew are investigating the actions of the Duras sisters and call on him to find out some
10:31information. He appears for a single conversation on the viewscreen of the Enterprise. But I guess the
10:36point of this episode wasn't to have it be a crossover. It's an interesting take on the idea
10:41proposed by The Visitor, but misses out because it didn't have Tony Todd.
10:45Number 1. These Are The Voyages Star Trek Enterprise.
10:49These Are The Voyages had so many issues that it's difficult to list them all.
10:53The premise itself was okay. The final adventure of the Enterprise NX-01 is watched on the holodeck of
10:58the Enterprise D, but it was riddled with problems. The romance between T'Pol and Trip, which had been built up
11:04for two years, was totally brushed aside. Despite the course of several years having passed since
11:09the previous episode, the entire Enterprise crew, and the ship for that matter, looked exactly the
11:14same. Plus, both Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis are simply a great deal older than during The
11:19Pegasus, the episode that the holodeck scenes are meant to be during. It isn't their fault, and in fact
11:24Brent Spiner didn't appear in person as Data, as he thought he was too old for the part at the time.
11:29Plus, you have the matter of Trip's death, which was just plain stupid, to the extent that
11:34they've tried to rectify it in the novelizations following the end of the series. All in all,
11:38the episode is just a silly way to force some of the next generation into Enterprise, and Rick
11:43Berman and Brandon Braga should be ashamed. It's not just the worst crossover episode, but a contender
11:49for the worst episode of the franchise. Period. And that concludes our list. If you can think of
11:54any other examples, then do let us know in the comments below, and while you're there, like and
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