Nominees
Worst
Plotline
The crew of the Starfleet starship USS Shenzhou are sent to investigate a damaged subspace relay in a binary star system near the edge of Federation space. They discover that it has been damaged by what looks like disruptor fire. Nearby they find an object mostly obscured from sensors. First Officer Michael Burnham volunteers to investigate the object and finds an ancient, carved vessel. While investigating she is attacked by a Klingon and accidentally kills him while attempting to escape.
On board the hidden ship a group of Klingons mourn the death of their soldier at Burnham's hands. These Klingons are led by T'Kuvma, who dreams of greatness by fulfilling an ancient prophecy of uniting the 24 great Klingon houses as was once done by the legendary Kahless. He preaches to his followers about the Federation's attempts to usurp the individuality of the Klingons and their culture, which he believes is the hidden message behind their greeting of "We come in peace".
Back on board the Shenzhou, Burnham contacts her adoptive father Sarek in an attempt to learn how the Vulcans were able to keep the Klingons at bay prior to the formation of the Federation. She learns that they did it by always firing first. Convinced that this is the only course of action that can prevent war, Burnham tries to convince Captain Georgiou to do the same. When Georgiou refuses Burnham uses the vulcan neck pinch to incapacitate Georgiou and attempts to fire on the Klingons first. Before she can do so the Captain recovers and Burnham is arrested for mutiny and locked in the brig.
Voq, an outcast Klingon without a house, volunteers to become the new "Torchbearer". T'Kuvma lights a beacon that summons all the Klingon leaders to the binary star system.
Analysis
Oh dear, where to start. First, we have a Starfleet officer, who has managed to get to the position of first officer aboard a starship, who tries to start a mutiny and attack a non-Federation ship with no provocation at all.
Second, these so called Klingons are nothing of the kind. They are completely different from any form of Klingon we have ever seen before. From a production standpoint they are also so covered in prosthetics that they are completely unintelligible, even when we are treated to them speaking English later in the series. We can't even claim that these are some fogotten branch of Klingons that have evolved differently from others. The end of this episode all the leaders of the Klingon houses show up and look pretty much like these ones do.
As if that wasn't enough, we have what appears to be a robot officer on the bridge of a Federation vessel some 108 years prior to Data. I can live with some updating to the special effects, after all the viewing public isn't going to put up with 1960s effects in the 22nd century. This is not that, this is an insult to one of the best loved characters in Star Trek history, Data.
