The kid's home sick today (5yo) and I was going to watch Encounter at Farpoint with her, but I just remembered the shootings in the courtroom. I wonder how easy that would be to skip over...
We watched it. I skipped most of the courtroom scene and then skipped the Zorn torture part from when then enter the room until he lands on the bed. The only thing that was left to scar her was Troi screaming about pain for 10 minutes straight.
EAF is a pretty strong pilot and would be stronger if the Q portion had not been shoved in it. Yes, a lot of the character intro's and dynamics were forced, but watching it again I liked it. Data was not so annoying. Beverly was a bit harsher, Riker was gleeful as usual. I do like season 3 onward Picard better, though. He's much too grumpy. There was never saving Troi or Wesley. Anyway, it was obvious Gene et al still knew how to write dynamic characters that specifically complimented each other. I'd take Wesley and Troi over Rom or Nog or Neelix any day.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I sat down and watched it with my parents when I was 8 and it was the most exciting thing I'd ever seen (TNG is still "my" Trek). But that was back in 1988. Watching it recentley, it hasn't aged well, is cringe-inducing in parts and would not hold the attention of most modern 8 year olds.