Favourite Much-Maligned TNG Episodes

I agree, I half expected one of the crew to say: "The natives are getting restless."

That would have completed the cliché.

 

Or the crew - save for Geordi - talking about their white superiority.

That would have been interesting. However, that probably would have also been cliched since it would be discussing race just because it involves black people.

We know that there already is racism among humans within the Star Trek universe - it damn well shows in fandom, and we only need to see this thread to know that! - so it would have been interesting to see the attitudes in play. For example, has Picard (or any of the white members of the main crew) ever came in contact with a predominant alien race that was darker than they?

 

Well, BigJake's posted something about Star Trek that I more or less agree with right down the line. I think I'm going offline for the rest of the afternoon to avoid any further shocks to my decrepit system.

 

Isn't that one of the signs that the apocalypse is coming?

 

A weekly network television series simply doesn't have the flexibility to make those kinds of changes once an episode is in the midst of production like that.

I do wonder why an episode that was hated by so many involved in making it was slotted as the third show of the season, though. Perhaps, similar to the original series, there simply wasn't any other episode ready for broadcast.

 

Don't worry, gents.

I'm frightened too.

 

Probably "Masks". Or the nuttiness of "Genesis", featuring Spider Barclay and Fish Troi.

 

I haven't seen Thine Own Self in a long long time, but I remember really liking it. Actually, there's a lot in Season 7 I really like, basically because before I came here, I didn't know Season 7 wasn't all that liked.

 

My choices (none of which have been mentioned yet):
The Last Outpost (I like the more militaristic take on the Ferengi that this episode introduces and that gets carried over into other episodes such as The Battle)
The Price (a nice blend between the above-mentioned militaristic take on the Ferengi and the characteristics that later came to define the species thanks to DS9)
Encounter at Farpoint (a much better Pilot episode than it's come to retroactively be seen as)

 

Justice for me.

 

I generally agree with most of the episodes that are considered really bad. It's usually the ones everyone rates as the best that leave me confused as to why.

The one I do really like that most everyone seems to hate is The Naked Now. Why? It's a funny, engaging episode. I get that it's sort of weird to show us the characters' un-personalities before we've even had a chance to get to know who they are, but if you're going to take it so far into left-field, it was probably better to do it early on, rather than wait until the characters were solidly established and people were going to take it all too seriously anyway. I found it to be an interesting twist on getting to know everyone.

 

Also, I'm never going to not like anything that explains Data is "fully functional." That right there made the whole episode worth it. Maybe that's just me.

 

I liked Masks when I originally saw it. It had all of the mysterious happenings that made for some of my favorite episodes of TNG before. An ancient civilization coming back to life and the possible loss of the ship were what appealed to me. I watched it recently and I saw how many problems it had. I remember it well from way back when though, so I'll never hate it.

I have always liked Night Terrors. I saw it as a kid and I liked it, and it always seemed to be one that got replayed a lot.

 

I love "The Naked Now".

 

That's the way I feel about The Game. Not a good episode by any means, but it's one that I remember vividly from first watching the show as a kid, so it sticks out with nostalgic fondness.

 

The problem, for me anyway, is their secret drunk identities is: they get horny. That's about it. Oh, I guess Wesley turns out to be one of those drunks who says, ``hold my beer and watch this'', which is kind of interesting, but it's too literal a copy of what we already saw Kevin Riley do to feel like it's him, rather than a script of plot points to follow. I guess Riker gets a little aggressive and commanding, which is one of the ways people go, although it's not exactly clear whether he's clinging so tight to his professionalism that he's keeping the disease in control or whether he's just not particularly infected or what, exactly.

In the original episode there's a more interesting blend of reactions. Some of the characters turn out to be maudlin drunks: Tormolen becoming outright suicidal, Spock breaking down over the fact of his having emotions, Kirk regretting that his love of his ship ruins his personal life. I guess Chapel gets a little horny, but even that's tinged with sadness, awareness that it can't be reciprocated.

These are interesting feelings to have, because they're frustrated partly by nothing more than their own personalities; Spock can be proud of loving his mother if he chooses to be, but he doesn't know how to choose to be. Oh, I guess some of the crew turn out to be ``hold my beer and watch this'' types, like Riley and Sulu (though even Riley's tinged with frustration and longing, which gets stripped from Wesley's remake of it, and Sulu's that for one comic scene, basically).

 

"Code of Honor" was one of the most racist things Trek did, certainly TNG.

But I agree on "The Royale" - that's a fun episode and actually, I like the concept. There's entirely too much video game logic, I guess, but the atmosphere is great and I like how they have to play out the novel to get out.

I'm not sure what all episodes are maligned, but I love "Power Play."

I'd also mention:

"Man of the People" - While I cannot for the life of me figure out how or why Troi cannot sense deception from him (that woman is not his mother), Alkar is a heinous person and a real villain because he really believes that what he is doing is right and he justifies it so that you actually do stop in your tracks for a minute (but only a minute), and when Troi walks into Ten Forward wearing that dress, Will is like, "What the--!?"

"Sub Rosa" - I get that that this one is disliked, but it's creepy and atmospheric and fits well in the seventh season. It's pretty clear that Ronan or whatever is not a ghost because this is Trek, but he sells it well and when you consider that it would have worked as such in prior centuries (I guess superstition is not really dead in the 24th century?), the episode kind of works.

 

I honestly don't see the racism in Code of Honor that many others apparently do.

 

I really like "Lonely Among Us" (fun mysterious atmosphere) and "The Price" (Troi's angst, romance and subsequent greater angst were well-done and the negotiations (especially admitting that the Federation wasn't perfect and Starfleet wasn't necessarily better than capitalists) and Ferengi (making a really good transition from primarily weak menaces to primarily strong comedy) were also entertaining).

 

I never did myself. While the writing could have been stronger with the episode, I found it quite enjoyable.

I'm actually going to do a Youtube video review soon, especially to give an additional perspective as a black fan of Trek.