I’ve been rewatching the blu-ray collection of the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation series. It’s awesome. Genuinely awesome stuff. This series has aged like fine wine. The effects may not always have, but the series itself is magical and still stands up today as some of the finest television ever created. It isn’t the Star Trek series I grew up with. That would be Voyager, but it is still amazing, and I love it almost as much as I do the one I grew up with. As I have gone through this, I have found some amazing episodes. It’s been a great experience. One I got to share with my fiancee. For the most part. I have selected 20 episodes that are my absolute favorites. Let me know what yours are down below.
20. Ensign Ro
Season 5
This is one of those episodes that introduces a character who is CRIMINALLY underutilized – Ensign Ro Lauren. She is a bajoran, and is the first introduction to the conflict between the Cardassians and Bajor. Ro is assigned to the enterprise after Bajoran terrorists attack a Federation colony. However, all is not as it seems, and Ro is stuck in the middle of several competing interests. What makes it better is that the person who is able to get her to see what she needs to do is Guinan, who is arguably my favorite character in the series. How the conspiracy is resolved is fantastic, and is a great introduction of another of my favorite characters in the series.
19. Booby Trap
Season 3
This is a fantastic episode where we get to look into Geordi as a character. I like when we get to really dive into his arc of the series. He is a brilliant engineer, but is hopelessly out of his element with women. This episode gives us a chance to look at why he doesn’t mesh well, while also having a fantastic puzzle to solve, in the form of a thousand-year booby trap, leftover from a war that has been over for equally as long. The Enterprise is in trouble, and the clock is ticking. It’s a fun episode, and nice to see LaForge really getting to shine.
18. Reunion
Season 4
One of the few overarching plots of the series was of Worf and his discommendation in the Klingon Empire, done so as to keep the secrets of the Klingon High Council secret. This episode brings that to bear with a woman that Worf had sex with and wanted to make his mate comes back. And this time, she has a child. What’s more, there’s a bigger plot where the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council manipulated Picard into becoming his Arbitor of Succession. The reason for this is so Picard can figure out who it is who has been poisoning him, realizing that if such a man were to take control of the Empire, it would be a disaster for the alliance with the Federation. It’s a great episode with a lot of emotional highs and lots of intrigue. How it all ends is great stuff.
17. Redemption
Season 5
And now we get to have the arc with Worf brought full circle. Gowran is in position to take the throne of Chancellor and lead the Klingon Empire. But at the last minute, a new challenger enters the race – Dhuras’ illegitimate son. He’s back by Lhursa and her sister. He wants to lead the empire, and members of the High Council stand with him because of his family. This leads to the start of a civil war. However, Lhursa and her comrades have allies. Secret allies. The Romulans. Picard takes it upon himself to uncover this conspiracy, while Worf rejoins the Klingons to fight for his people in the conflict. It’s an INTENSE two-part episode, and both parts are fantastic.
16. The Ensigns of Command
Season 3
Here we have an episode where there are two fantastic stories playing out, both of which are too much fun. It starts with Picard going to planet that is slated to be colonized by an alien race. However, there is a thriving human colony on the planet. It will take time to move them, but they don’t want to leave. Data is sent to convince them to leave. When the aliens arrive and want the humans gone or they start shooting, Picard has to try and keep the peace. Both stories lead to some fantastic outcomes. Especially when Data has decided that he has had enough of trying to reason with people, and realizing that sometimes the direct approach is necessary.
15. Yesterday’s Enterprise
Season 3
One of my favorite kinds of stories are “what if” stories. This is arguably the best. Enterprise comes upon a temporal anomaly. The Enterprise C comes into their timeline, which causes all of history to change. The Federation is now a much more militant organization, and at war with the Klingons. It is a war that is being lost. The only way to save it would be to send Enterprise C back to their own time period. However, if they go back, they will die. This is a fantastic episode with a lot of great time-changing paradox dilemmas and a great look at what Picard would be like in a more militant Federation.
14. Phantasms
Season 7
This episode is entirely too much fun. Data decide that he wants to see what dreaming is like. What follows is absolutely hilarious. It seems that Data’s dreams are about as strange as they get. However, when he comes to realize that there is something more to his dreams, connected to the events on the Enterprise, then he is having to analyze them. But the thing that really clinches it is Worf eating cake. It’s just the best. “Cellular peptide cake, with mint frosting.” That line is hilarious, and it never stops being funny.
13. Family
Season 4
Following the events of another episode on this list, Picard is back home on his family’s vineyard. Here we get to know his estranged brother and his family. Following previous events, Picard has had a change of outlook. He’s suffering from PTSD. Getting to see the interactions between his family is pretty great stuff. When him and his brother’s aggression comes to a head, it leads to a resolution that is so heartwarming.
12. The Mind’s Eye
Season 4
This episode is intense! It’s a genuinely uncomfortable episode. LaForge is on his way to a conference on Ryza, when his shuttle is captured by Romulans. From there, he’s subjected to cruel conditioning to make him into a sleeper agent for their purposes, as part of a conspiracy to end the treaty between the Federation and the Klingons. When Data starts to get suspicious, he is able to piece together what is happening, and it culminates in one of the best reveal scenes in any series. Plus, it’s great that Picard has so much respect among the Klingons that when Data says that only Picard of the Klingon Ambassador could be the one working with the Romulans, everybody looks at the Ambassador. What a boss.
11. The Drumhead
Season 4
This is an episode that I wrote a post talking about how I feel it is more relevant today than ever. Telling the story of a Klingon spy who was feeding information to the Romulans, it becomes a witch hunt which ends up destroying the career of another crewman who they try to paint as involved, and even gets Picard in the crossfire. How it all culminates is in Picard giving an incredible speech about the nature of truth and freedom, and how important it is that it never be trodden upon. The dialogue between him and Worf at the end is so damn powerful. In today’s world, these lessons are so important, and have sadly been forgotten.
10. Who Watches the Watchers
Season 2
This episode is a fantastic look at a situation spinning out of control, and how Picard tries to deal with it. The Federation has a watching post on a planet with a pre-warp civilization, watching how they grow and develop over time. However, after there is an explosion and the “duckblind” becomes visible, one of the locals goes in to have a look. He ends up seeing something that he wasn’t supposed to, and is nearly killed, when Crusher takes him back to the ship. I’m with Picard in that I would have let him die. Because the Prime Directive gets screwed ten ways to Sunday in this episode. Once things start to spiral, Picard gets a reasonable local and tries to explain things to her in a way she can understand. It’s really great stuff. I could watch that scene over and over again. How it all culminates is good stuff too.
9. Data’s Day
Season 4
Easily the best writing in the entire series is with Data. The way that they are able to show this character’s development, despite him being an android without emotions is absolutely fantastic. Nowhere is that showcased better than this episode. It is just Data talking about the events of his day. His continual efforts to understand people as he is involved in a series of complicated events is fascinating to listen to. Despite not being one of them, he has things that are important to him, relationships that matter, and perspectives he is trying to understand. It’s a fantastic look at the character.
8. Silicon Avatar
Season 5
One of the coolest villains in the entire series is the Crystalline Entity. This being is as the name describes. It is made entirely of crystal, but is nefarious in its desires. Going from world to world, it destroys all organic life on the surface. When Riker and a Federation colony end up in the path, they survive by hiding in a cave. After being rescued, it becomes a race to find this entity and to stop its path of destruction. However, the scientist they bring aboard to kill the entity has an axe to grind with Data. I won’t spoil how this all turns out, but it is nuts. Totally nuts. This scientist loses her shit, and how it ends for her is so heartbreaking.
7. Attached
Season 7
Following being kidnapped by an alien, Picard and Crusher have their minds linked. What follows is the two of them hearing their thoughts and their connection getting stronger and stronger, to the point that they are unable to be physically apart from one-another without it hurting. The dialogue between the two by the fire is so intense! There’s always been this thing of unrequited feelings between them, but this episode really brings it all into focus. Especially how the two of them got to where they are, when they felt the way they did back in the day as well. How it all wraps up is heart-warming, and gives us some neat perspective on a relationship that has a lot of baggage.
6. The First Duty
Season 5
I’m so glad that Wesley became less and less of a part of the series as it went on. The reason the first season is so bad is because of him. But this is probably the one and only episode where he is actually good in it. Following Not Tom Paris (it totally is. It’s played by the same guy, and it should have been, but if it was, then they would have had to give the writer royalties. Cheap fuckers) convincing Wesley to do a maneuver during a training exercise not done in years because of the risks, Wesley lies in the report after one of the cadets is killed in the attempt. The dressing down that he gets from Picard is magical. I could watch that scene over and over again forever. It’s fantastic. If I got that dressing down from the greatest officer in Starfleet, I would feel two feet tall.
5. Unification
Season 5
This episode has so much going for it. For starters, there is a great intrigue plot. Picard is given information that none other than Ambassador Spock is on Romulus. They are concerned that he has defected. Picard has to go and figure this out, and then get him back to Federation space. What follows is almost perfect. This episode has two concurrent plots, one of Picard going to find Spock, and another of Riker trying to figure out what happened with a Vulcan ship while Picard is gone. It’s fantastic. We get to see political intrigue, Picard savagely beating a Klingon to death with kindness, and Mr. Spock back in action. There’s not a frame of this episode I would change.
4. Relics
Season 6
Speaking of people from the original Star Trek series, we have an episode with Scotty! That’s right, James Doohan reprises his role. How he is in the future is actually great stuff. He is caught in the pattern buffers of the ship’s transporters, along with another man. However, the ship has been stuck on the surface of a Dyson Sphere for over 100 years. Once he is back from the ship, there is still a situation to deal with on the sphere. The thing in this episode that makes it amazing is the speech between Scotty and Picard on the holodeck. Seeing these two acting titans playing off one-another, talking about old starships and the nostalgia they have for younger days is magical stuff. I could watch it forever. It was nice to see Doohan have one last outing in the series. How it ends is feels-inducing.
3. All Good Things…
Season 7
The last episodes of the series, this shows one possible future where the crew of the Enterprise end up very distant from one-another. It has Picard realizing what is awaiting him with his medical health, and having to get his crew together to help him one last time in a future where everything has fallen apart for them and they are all very different people. How it all culminates, with Crusher admitting her feelings for him, and Picard joining the crew for a poker game, it shows that the adventures go on, and the Captain has finally realized that he doesn’t have to be so distant with his crew after all. He can engage with them and become a friend to them. It’s a heartwarming ending to the entire series that so many grew up with.
2. The Best of Both Worlds
Seasons 3 and 4
After their first run-in with the Borg, Picard always knew that the day would come when they would have to face them again, and now that time has come. A Borg cube is headed toward Earth, and the Enterprise is their first stop. They want something from them. Namely, Picard himself. After a failed attempt to disrupt them from the inside, Picard is taken prisoner and turned into one of them. We then have the famous Massacre at Wolf 359. It all culminates in Riker taking the Captain’s chair and having to sort this out. It’s an intense story, and how it ends is great stuff.
And my favorite episode of The Next Generation is…
1. The Measure of a Man
Season 2
This episode is perfect. Absolutely perfect. Dr. Maddox wants to take Data to study him and figure out how he could be replicated so that more androids could be pressed into Starfleet. However, Data sees from his lack of knowledge that this would be insanely dangerous to him, and does not with to comply. Picard, seeing his crew member uncomfortable, denies Maddox’s request. When Maddox tries to play hardball, Data tries to quit Starfleet, in order to not have to follow the orders. Maddox files a motion to have Data classified as property, rather than a person, which would make him unable to leave Starfleet. Thus begins the trial. The things that really clinch this, are Guinan helping Picard to realize that what Data would become if he is subjected to this is a slave, and Picard’s passionate argument in Data’s defense. It’s great stuff. I could watch it a thousand times and never be board.
What are your favorite episodes? Tell me down below.
Until next time, a quote,
“The Federation was founded to seek out new life. Well there it sits! Waiting.” – CAPT. Jean Luc Picard
Peace out,
Maverick
Lucien Maverick's Den 