TOS- The way to Eden

 Widely acknowledged as one of TOS' worst episodes, and I can't disagree.  The story idea isn't a bad one, but the episode is badly cast and executed.  At bottom, this should be a comic episode, especially since we get a lot of music and some romance. Instead, except for mild comedy relating to Kirk being called a "Herbert" most of the  episode is deadly serious. The "Space Hippies" - or at least the 3 male Hippies who do almost all the talking - are obnoxious, arrogant,  and ugly of dress and feature.  Other problems:

• The episode is without danger or action. For the first 30 minutes, the only probem is that Hippies are rude and obnoxious and the Hippie Leader resists being Quarantined. For the next 30 minutes, the Hippies take over the USS Enterprise and force it to go Eden.  After almost killing everyone with a sonic device, they leave for Planet Eden on a Space shuttle. The last 8 minutes deal with their sad end. 
• The stakes in this episode are incredibly small.  The Hippies want the Enterpirse to take them to Planet Eden. Kirk doesn't want to.  Once the Hippies get to Eden,  they fall prey to the acid filled fruit and Kirk has the 4 live ones beamed back to the Enterprise.  That's it.  Talk about boring small beer. 
• The romance between Chekov and a Hippie chick (a former Russian Starfleet Academy classmate) is dull and badly done. Chekov is not only incredibly dumb (he practically gives them a floppy disk entitled "How to take over the Enterprise"),  he's supposed to be this buttoned-up, by the book technocrat, who's betrayed his free-wheeling youthful ideals. Absurd! Chekov has always been a ladies man, and rule breaker.  He wants to start a fight with the Klingons in Trouble with Tribbles" and gets himself "Killed" in Specter of the Gun by ignoring orders. 
• The talk about Hippie freedom vs. Star Fleet discipline is incredibly dated. 
• Another absurdity is that Spock, of all people, grooves the Hippies. He digs, man. Again, Spock is a man of science and logic, who disdains emotion and sentiment. He's the last person to agree with the Hippie philosophy of   No rules, man. Just living free, man,  Instead, he makes the Hippie peace sign,  jams with them, and helps them find Planet Eden.
• And God, that horrible music! We get almost 7-8 minutes of unbearable "space rock" by Charles Napier (yes, its Murdock from Rambo II!) with Spock playing his Vulcan harp.
• Could this episode have worked?  Yes, by casting likable attractive people as the Hippies.  And making them charming, and their interactions with the Enterprise crew funny.  And by playing much better music!  If this had been done,   I would've been sad at their deaths on Planet Eden instead of cheering. 

Best Scene:  McCoy and Kirk contront Sevrin with  being a carrier of an contangious disease and orders him quarantined. Sevrin refuses and rants about his Rights and Computers.

Worst Scene:  A 5 minute "Space Rock" Concert with Spock on Vulcan Harp.  Painful. 

Typical bad Dialogue:
ADAM: How about a session, you and us? It would sound. That's what I came for. I wanted to ask, you know, great white captain upstairs, but he don't reach us. But would he shake on a session? I mean, we want to co-operate, like you ask, so I'm asking.

Reviewing the Reviews

One of the reasons this episode is so disliked by the internet "big dog" reviewers think its "anti-hippie" and therefore "anti-left".  These reviewers are VERY uncomfortable siding with Kirk and his insistence on enforcing good manners, rules, and discipline.  Scotty, who mildly complains about the Hippies subverting his engineering staff and interfering with the Engine room operations is labled on "Old Grump" yelling at kids to "Get off his lawn".  Others are shocked that Nurse Chappel implies the Hippies are animals.  Given the episode plot/dialogue its impossible for any reasonable person to side with the Hippies, but these "Big Dog" reviewers also sense that conservatives hate hippies, and they don't want to be on THAT side.  As Mr. Spock would say "Fascinating".