The Worst Episodes of Star Trek
Every episode of Star Trek ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Star Trek!
Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk with First Officer Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen led by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Lowest Rated Episodes Summary
The worst episode of "Star Trek" is "And the Children Shall Lead", rated 5.2/10 from 3527 user votes. It was directed by Marvin J. Chomsky and written by Edward J. Lakso. "And the Children Shall Lead" aired on 10/11/1968 and is rated 0.2 point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "The Way to Eden".
5.2/10 3,527 votes#1 - And the Children Shall Lead
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/11/1968
On a distant planet, Kirk, Spock and McCoy find a scientific team dead, and their children who, unknown to the crew, have great powers at their disposal.
Director: Marvin J. Chomsky
Writer: Edward J. Lakso
5.4/10 3,527 votes#2 - The Way to Eden
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 2/21/1969
The Enterprise picks up a group of space "hippies" looking for Eden.
Director: David Alexander
Writer: Arthur Heinemann, D.C. Fontana
5.6/10 3,740 votes#3 - Spock's Brain
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/1968
An alien female beams aboard the ship and, after incapacitating the rest of the crew, surgically removes Spock's brain. Kirk and the crew have just hours to locate and replace it before Spock's body dies.
Director: Marc Daniels
Writer: Gene L. Coon
5.7/10 4,014 votes#4 - The Alternative Factor
Season 1 Episode 27 - Aired 3/30/1967
Kirk and Spock encounter an alien named Lazarus who claims to be from an anti-matter universe.
Director: Gerd Oswald
Writer: Don Ingalls
6.1/10 3,564 votes#5 - The Omega Glory
Season 2 Episode 23 - Aired 3/1/1968
Captain Kirk must find the cure to a deadly disease and put an end to another Starfleet captain's cultural interference.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Gene Roddenberry
6.2/10 3,738 votes#6 - Catspaw
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 10/27/1967
Two powerful aliens threaten the well-being of the Enterprise and her crew.
Director: Joseph Pevney
Writer: Robert Bloch, D.C. Fontana
6.2/10 3,004 votes#7 - The Lights of Zetar
Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 1/31/1969
Strange incorporeal aliens threaten the Memory Alpha station and the Enterprise.
Director: Herbert Kenwith
Writer: Shari Lewis, Jeremy Tarcher
6.4/10 3,581 votes#8 - The Apple
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/13/1967
The crew of the Enterprise visits a mysterious paradisical planet controlled by a computer that is served by the local inhabitants.
Director: Joseph Pevney
Writer: Max Simon Ehrlich, Gene L. Coon
6.5/10 3,406 votes#9 - Plato's Stepchildren
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 11/22/1968
The crew of the Enterprise encounters an ageless and sadistic race of humanoids with the power of telekinesis and who claim to have organized their society around Ancient Greek ideals.
Director: David Alexander
Writer: Meyer Dolinsky
6.5/10 3,282 votes#10 - The Empath
Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 12/6/1968
While visiting a doomed planet, the landing party is subject to torturous experiments by powerful aliens.
Director: John Erman
Writer: Joyce Muskat
6.5/10 3,125 votes#11 - The Mark of Gideon
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 1/17/1969
A race of overpopulated aliens abduct Captain Kirk to solve their problem.
Director: Jud Taylor
Writer: Stanley Adams, George F. Slavin
6.5/10 3,055 votes#12 - That Which Survives
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/24/1969
Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu are stranded on a barren planet where a mysterious woman attempts to kill them one at a time, while the Enterprise must travel halfway across the galaxy to rescue them.
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Writer: John Meredyth Lucas, D.C. Fontana
6.6/10 3,182 votes#13 - The Savage Curtain
Season 3 Episode 22 - Aired 3/7/1969
Aliens force Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock to join forces with "Abraham Lincoln" and "Surak" to battle villains in a contest of good vs. evil.
Director: Herschel Daugherty
Writer: Arthur Heinemann, Gene Roddenberry
6.7/10 4,976 votes#14 - Mudd's Women
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/13/1966
The Enterprise picks up a intergalactic conman, Harry Mudd, and three incredibly beautiful women who harbor a dark secret.
Director: Harvey Hart
Writer: Gene Roddenberry, Stephen Kandel
6.7/10 3,531 votes#15 - Friday's Child
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 12/1/1967
The crew of the Enterprise become entangled in a planet's tribal power struggle.
Director: Joseph Pevney
Writer: D.C. Fontana
6.7/10 3,405 votes#16 - The Paradise Syndrome
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/1968
An alien device on a primitive planet erases Captain Kirk's memory, and he begins a new life with the planet's indigenous people.
Director: Jud Taylor
Writer: Margaret Armen
6.8/10 3,410 votes#17 - A Private Little War
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 2/2/1968
The crew of the Enterprise discovers Klingon interference in the development of a formerly peaceful planet and is forced to help maintain a balance of power.
Director: Marc Daniels
Writer: Gene Roddenberry, Don Ingalls
6.8/10 3,106 votes#18 - Turnabout Intruder
Season 3 Episode 24 - Aired 6/3/1969
The Enterprise is in danger when Janice Lester, one of Kirk's former lovers, steals his body.
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Writer: Gene Roddenberry, Arthur Singer
6.9/10 4,645 votes#19 - Miri
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 10/27/1966
Kirk and a landing party are stranded on a planet due to a disease that causes any adult to die a painful death, and must deal with the local children who have survived.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Adrian Spies
6.9/10 3,327 votes#20 - Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 10/18/1968
The Enterprise travels with an alien ambassador whose appearance induces madness.
Director: Ralph Senensky
Writer: Jean Lisette Aroeste
6.9/10 3,202 votes#21 - Whom Gods Destroy
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 1/3/1969
Captain Kirk faces off with a demented shape-shifting starship captain determined to control the universe.
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Writer: Jerry Sohl, Lee Erwin
7.0/10 5,709 votes#22 - Charlie X
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/1966
Charlie Evans, the sole survivor of a transport crash, is transferred to the Enterprise from a different ship. Why are they so eager to rid themselves of him, though? There's more to Charlie than meets the eye...
Director: Lawrence Dobkin
Writer: Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana
7.0/10 3,636 votes#23 - The Gamesters of Triskelion
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 1/5/1968
Captain Kirk and his companions are abducted into slavery and trained to fight as gladiators for the gambling entertainment of three disembodied beings.
Director: Gene Nelson
Writer: Margaret Armen
7.0/10 3,402 votes#24 - Bread and Circuses
Season 2 Episode 25 - Aired 3/15/1968
The Enterprise crew investigates the disappearance of a ship's crew on a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire.
Director: Ralph Senensky
Writer: Gene Roddenberry, Gene L. Coon, John Kneubuhl
7.0/10 3,280 votes#25 - Elaan of Troyius
Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 12/20/1968
The USS Enterprise ferries a spoiled princess whose betrothal to a royal Troyian is hoped will bring peace to a star system at war.
Director: John Meredyth Lucas
Writer: John Meredyth Lucas