For full disclosure, Yesterdays Enterprise is in my all time top 5. I love this ep and highly recommend it. But within the parameters set down by the OP, it doesn't fit the request. I'm not trying to pick nits here, I'm just pointing out the fact that it was actually a very Klingon centric episode even though actual Klingons were never scene, just their ships. In the timeling created by the E-C's arrival, the Fed was about to lose a war to the Klingons that should have never started in the first place. Capt Garret was killed by a Klingon attack. I could go on, but you get the idea. The entire plot of Yesterdays Enterprise is woven around the Klingons. Another great ep. The problem is the Klingons play a very important role in Part II and they, or their ship, have plenty of screen time. I guess my vote would have to go to Sarek. It has a little of everything. Good TOS cross over. All of the main cast gets some time, and Stewart still gets to show off his acting chops. The Perfect Mate would be a strong alternative. Normally I would put The Inner Light in contention as well, but if you are chosing just one TNG episode to watch, it might be a little too Picard centric.
Lessons and Data's Day are excellent episodes, and I agree that some of the best Trek moments happened in less hyped episodes. Picard's announcement of Ensign Sito's loss and his comments about her at the end of Lower Deck's makes me cry every time, especially given her context and back story and the dressing down Picard gave her earlier in the episode. Another wonderful moment is in Galaxy's Child on the bridge when they stumble upon the space-borne life form and data says there's nothing like it on record. They come back in the next scene and identify it as a life form. This right here is Star Trek -- new life and new civilizations - a new life form living in space -- as Picard mentions soon after, it's the reason they're out there. The build up from the moment they find this thing was so perfect. The procedures the bridge officer's followed was by the book, and they tried every thing they could to protect the ship, and avoid provoking or harming the life form... ..until the moment when I heard the computer say "Lethal Exposure in 1 minute" and Picard realized he had no choice of what to do next .. and you could tell after Picard agonized internally over his next order, even Worf didn't want to fire the phasers. That build up, that scene, and the reactions of everyone on the bridge after Data pronounced the life form dead is one of the most emotionally powerful scenes in Star Trek and that puts this episode way up there. I can't watch it without crying. It's hard to pick a best TNG episode ever because there are so many great moments in TNG that push an episode over the top.
I love that one too. Obviously it's a sort of follow-up to The Inner Light and those two are probably my favourite TNG episodes.
Easy.... "Q Who?" Dark, intense, thrilling, spectacular. Everything about this episode is perfect. The acting, the writing (some absolutely fantastic dialogue), the directing and especially the music. I could watch this episode every day.
First Contact (the episode) The Drumhead The Survivors Up the Long Ladder The Defector The Ensigns of Command The Measure of a Man Tin Man The Enemy The Vengeance Factor The Hunted Contagion Q Who
The next phase, Face of the enemy, Timescape is a fascinating watch. If you don't like Klingon episodes how do you cope with Worf?
I don't have a problem with the klingon episodes just my brother has became obsessed with them and i didn't want to hear those recommended because i wasn't in the mood to watch one of those
I thought Birthright: Part 2 was a great Klingon/Worf episode. Worf has spent his whole life with humans and serves in Starfleet but he loves his heritage and has an idealized view of the Empire. Consequently, as Dax pointed out in DS9, he turns out to be the most honorable Klingon alive because he's true to the teachings of Khaless and not corrupted by Klingon politics. Worf was the perfect person to have awakened the Klingon spirit in Toq and the minute I saw Toq walk out of the building in full Klingon warrior garb, I was like "hell yeah. Qapla." Toq was a great character in this episode with him discovering and embracing his Klingon culture thanks to Worf. The scene where Worf and Toq were hunting was awesome.
Whoever said Lessons is underappreciated is right, I freaking love that episode. One of the few TNG episode that makes me really well up, and the actress playing Neela was perfect. But my favorite episode might be "The High Ground".
Gotta vote for Darmok here. A classic TNG puzzle that was fairly cool to watch, had some fight scenes, had some (badly filmed) ship to ship combat.
I'm quite fond of "Cause and Effect." Though not of its boring, generic title which took me about twenty minutes to find. And "Sarek."
"The Inner Light." That episode never ceases to be a deeply profound, emotional, moving experience for me.
My favorite are "Manhunt" "Menage a Troi" "Haven" "The Loss" "Second Chances" "The Best of Both Worlds 1 & 2" and "Measure of a Man."