I was thinking of the current streaming model of 10 episodes per season for Star Trek and the arguments on both sides of the issue, with some wishing we had the longer seasons of old and others claiming that it cuts out a lot of the so-called "filler" episodes, and what would constitute "filler" episodes in this instance. Just as a thought experiment, I began to think about the the episodes themselves, and the larger story and character arcs therein. What would "lean-and-mean" Next Generation* seasons look like if reduced to 10 episodes while still trying to honoring the larger character and story arcs involved? Just to make things more difficult on myself, I decided to try to honor established future continuity as well on this list. I suspected from the start that some seasons would be easier than others. Painful cuts will abound. *Trying to do this with my favorite Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, would be an absolute lost cause. far too much serialization. Season 1 1-2 Encounter at Farpoint obviously is the necessary origin story for our 10 episode season, introduces Q, and current streaming models would probably break it down into two episodes just at syndication models did. Not the best that the Next Generation has to offer, but that's the first season in a nutshell. 3 The Last Outpost introduces The Ferengi, and is also a strong Riker episode. 4 Where No One Has Gone Before introduces The Traveler and begins Wesley's arc. 5. God help us, Haven. Introduces Lwaxana and her relationship with Deanna. 6. DataLore, of course introduces Lore 7. Heart of Glory. First strong Worf episode. 8. The Arsenal of Freedom. Great episode for Geordi as well as giving us what are now our first hints of chemistry between Picard and Crusher. 9. Skin of Evil. RIP, Tasha. 10. Conspiracy now serves as our season finale, even if that particular cliffhanger was never picked up on. The Neutral Zone may have originally served to reintroduce the Romulans and lay the first hints of Borg incursion, but those are minor points in an otherwise underwhelming episode that never really served as a strong season finale in the first place. Well, that's a lean and mean 10 episodes, and there was only one real clunker in the bunch. Painful cuts? As a matter of fact, yes. The Big Goodbye, not only for its introductory holodeck malfunction tale but for it's adorable interplay between Picard and Crusher. Curse you, Haven! Also-- Hide and Q. Not the strongest Q episode to be sure, but any interplay between Patrick Stewart and John Delancey is pure gold. Okay, this is taking more thought time and thought then I originally imagined it was going to and this is only the first season, which I thought would be easy, so I'm going to do each season in a separate post. Please tell me what you think. How would you break down the seasons? Would you just jettison Lwaxana altogether? Believe me, I considered it.
Season 2 should be easier, as it's a shorter season and the show still hadn't really found its groove yet. 1. The Child introduces both Guinan and Pulaski to the mix. Another so so episode important to the larger tapestry. 2. Elementary Dear Data. builds on the Pulaski and data dynamic that was established in what is now the previous episode. Introduces Moriarty into the mix. Data's fascination with Sherlock Holmes now comes out of the blue, but that's a minor thing. 3. The Outrageous Okana. Not because it's a great episode, but because the character goes on to appear in both Lower Decks and Prodigy. 4. The Measure of a Man. Obviously, this is one of the better episodes in the entire series and is an vital component of Data's journey. Some would argue that it's inclusion is necessitated simply by the inclusion of Brian Brophy as Bruce Maddox, but that's another thread entirely. Also serves as what is now our first mention of the Romulans. 5. Contagion. Another very strong episode in a not very strong season. 6. Pen Pals. Strong Data episode that shows how Pulaski's opinion of Data has changed since coming on ship. Fascinating discussions on the prime directive. 7. Times Squared. Entertaining hour of wibbly wobbly future duplicate shenanigans. 8. Q-Who. A turning point for not only this series but the entire franchise. The return of Q and the introduction of the Borg. There is a brief mention of the events of The Neutral Zone, which we skipped, but it's a minor thing that you don't need to understand to follow the story. 9. Samaritan Snare, for the importance that the Pakleds played in Lower Decks. 10. The Emissary. This one will now serve as our season finale. a strong Worf episode that introduces Key'hlar to the audiences. Any painful cuts in season 2? only one -- A Matter of Honor. People tend to rag on the first season, but even broken down to its most essential components, I think season 1 is stronger than season 2. Going to take a break before moving on to season 3.
Season 3 is going to be tough as it is unapologetically my favorite season of The Next Generation. Note that the episodes are somewhat out of order in places because of how much I had to go back and forth on which episodes to include. 1. Evolution. A strong episode, the first from Michael Piller, reintroduces Beverly to the mix. 2. Booby Trap. An episode I've always liked, and would have chosen anyway, it does have relevance to Discovery down the line. Despite its inclusion here, I concede that the subplot with Geordi didn't age well, and I have my doubts about including it's problematic follow-up down the line. 3.The Defector. One of my absolute favorites. 4. Hollow Pursuits introduces Barclay. 5 Yesterday's Enterprise, which is necessary for Sela's origin 6. Captain's Holiday introduces Vash, who will appear later on Deep Space Nine. 7. Deja Q is my favorite Q episode with my favorite Guinan scene. 8. Sins of the father is instrumental in Worf's arc. 9. Sarek. 10. The Best of Both Worlds part 1. Painful cuts? Oh, so many. Tin Man. The Hunted. The Enemy. The Offspring. Had to cut The High Ground in order to include Hollow Pursuits, which introduces Barcla. I feel as if I've severed a limb. An unfortunate continuity cut is The Price, which sets up the Voyager episode False Profits. Seasons 1 and 2 showed us the benefits of tighter seasons while season 3 shows us the benefits of a longer season. interestingly, the shorter "continuity heavy" season 3 is much weaker than the longer more episodic season 3.
This one could absolutely be cut. I'd put The Most Toys if you want more Data, or The Enemy for a solid Geordi episode, or The High Ground for pure Star Trek.
That's entirely valid, and if I hadn't decided to make things harder on myself by honoring the continuity of shows to come, I would absolutely cut it. I mean, come on, "Haven"? I'm still wondering if I should have just eliminated Lwaxana as a character all together, if not for her appearances on Deep Space Nine. And you'll note that I mentioned that I had to cut The High Ground in order to include Hollow Pursuits for that same reason.
I mean, if you were to do a list for DS9, the Vash episode could be cut pretty easily. Two Vashes with one stone.
I know this would be too much, but some of these episodes might not be necessary once you make your streaming model lists for DS9 and VOY. Would the streaming model of DS9 really need Q-Less?
Well, I was actually thinking ahead to season 4 and Qpid, but I think that's going to be another painful cut, so you both may be right. I will definitely revisit all of the seasons once I'm all the way through. Doing Deep Space Nine would be tough. I don't think I could do it by season so much as to reduce the story to 70 episodes and try to make it a hard serialization. I'm pretty sure all of the Lwaxanas appearances would get the ax, which also puts Haven back on the chopping block. Barclay is a character that could probably be cut from The Next Generation all together, but is ironically far too important to Voyager's story to cut his introduction out completely.
Season 4 1. The Best of Both Worlds part 2 2. Family. 3. Reunion. Return and death of Key'hlar. Introduction of Alexander and Duras. 4. Final Mission. So long, Wesley. 5. The Wounded. Strong O'Brien episode that now serves as our introduction to Keiko. Also introduces the Cardassians. 7. The Drumhead. A chilling episode gives Patrick Stewart another chance to shine. 8. Q'pid makes the cut after all! That solidifies Captain's Holiday spot. 9. The Mind's Eye. Weird mind trip episode focusing on Geordi. Foreshadows Sela, but not really necessary for that reason. Still, it's nice to be able to keep a rare bit of foreshadowing. 10. Redemption part 1. Continues Worf's arc, introduces Lursa and B'Etor. Introduces Kurn in a matter that makes me want to reconsider switching my sole tough cut for season 2, A Matter of Honor, out into the main list. Painful cuts for season 4 actually include the Lwaxana episode Half a Life, with David Ogden Stiers. Brothers was another as it continues Lore's story and includes three strong performances from Brent Spiner. It actually came down to either Brothers or The Drumhead for me. As much as I like Brothers, it isn't really necessary in Lore's overall arc, and I personally feel The Drumhead is a much stronger episode. The Host introduces The Triil, but given that Deep Space Nine pretty much ignored everything established in this episode, that made for a very easy continuity cut.
Season 5 1. Redemption part 2. Wraps up Worf's arc. 2. Darmok. One of the best of the best. 3.Ensign Ro. Introduces the title character. 4-5 Unification 1 and 2. The inclusion of this one is obvious for multiple reasons, not the least of which is Unification 3 on Discovery. That said... I almost wish I could cut it. The character of Spock is wasted in a dull, political story that takes up two episodes on the list. 6. Power Play. A tense and emotional hostage situation involving possession. 7. Cause and Effect. a very cool wibbly wobbly time loop episode and one of the better efforts from Brannon Braga. 8. The First Duty. A strong episode for both Picard and Wesley which wraps up Wesley's arc and sets up Lower Decks, both the episode and the series. 9. I, Borg introduces Hugh, who is important not only to the show down the line but Picard as well. 10. The Inner Light. An emotional story with an amazing performance from Patrick Stewart. Explorers Star Trek's spirit of exploration and discovery seen in a fresh new way. Painful cuts here include The Next Phase and the cliffhanger, Time's Arrow. However, that latter cut will give me more room to work with in season 6. I will do season 6 and 7 and my final revisions tomorrow after work.
You should redo these lists without regard for who or what appears in other TV shows. Treat it as if TNG was the only Trek show and nothing came later.
Fun experiment. There's a chance you could save some of the A or B plots from the cut episodes because 90s Trek was always 41.5 minutes give or take for commercials. Current streaming models have episodes closer to an hour or more. So you'd likely be able to re-edit some of the elements of cut episodes back in. Of course it would be jarring and not always flow, but that's the fun in the experiment. For example, using what's provided for S1, you could mix in a good 20 minutes of entertaining story from The Big Goodbye into Haven for example. Or try to cut Skin of Evil and Symbiosys together into an extended episode. I realize it's not exactly what Turtletrekker started (and I'm not looking to derail) but it's interesting to think what could be preserved byintegrating episodes together. I'd hate to see a S1 without 11001001! It may be much easier to integrate stories as extended prologues or epilogues. You couldn't mix When The Bough Breaks into Coming of Age because it would require two Wesley Crushers to work.
Given that TNG originally consisted of 178 episodes, narrowing it down to 70 seems like a monumental (if not impossible) task. Very few of the stories were entirely self-contained; most had at least one minor thread that interconnected everything.
One thing this thread demonstrates is that early TNG had many bad episodes that were also "mythology" episodes. "Code of Honor", "Justice", and "Angel One" are easy cuts, "Haven" and "Datalore" not so much. If someone wanted to get into TNG, they probably shouldn't just start with season 3. They'd need some kind of curated skip this not that list.
that's rather ironic, considering that, as a syndicated show, TNG is considered peak episodic television.
You can only segment that kind of story so much, especially when dealing with characters expected to change and grow over a long timespan. You don't even have to do an in-depth analysis - just look at how the main cast was depicted in "All Good Things", versus the pilot. Sure, some of it was due to the time-travel narrative, but you could tell the actors found it challenging to keep up with all their periodic differences.