The worst episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, according to IMDB, surprisingly isn't Spock's Brain

When you think of the worst episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, two episodes almost immediately come to mind—Spock's Brain and The Way to Eden [via Den of Geek]. Some fans might throw in The Alternative Factor as a tie, which is included by Slashfilm. And The Turnabout Intruder usually gets a vote here and there,, but coming in at only 5.2 on IMDB, which is not the lowest for a Star Trek episode overallm is the third season episode, And the Children Shall Lead.

I've written before about finding the good in the bad episodes and have even included the positives in The Way to Eden in an essay for Startrek.com. And there are even some positives in And the Children Shall Lead, much more than I would say in other episodes of Star Trek that stand out as really bad like The Alternative Factor. It's difficult to find something positive in that particular episode, especially with the really bad special effects.

Don't get me wrong. And the Children Shall Lead is a weak episode, but at least it was about mind control, something that has a slight possibility of actually happening in the future. But Spock walking around without a brain and, in a different episode, sitting in on a jam session with a group of space hippies? Both of those episodes made Spock look ridiculous whereas And the Children Shall Lead only made Melvin Bell, whose costume was a sparkly shower curtain, look ridiculous.

We all have our opinions, of course, but I'd much rather sit through another watch of And the Children Shall Lead than The Way to Eden because once you start hearing those songs on the latter, you can't get them out of your head.