Top Five Favorite Episodes

[Stroudarian]

Well, I was just discussing this topic with my wife last night as we are re-watching Star Trek: TNG via Netflix. We got on the topic of favorite episodes, and I thought that I would post the question here to get your feedback. I am curious to know what are your top five favorite episodes from TNG? In case anyone was wondering, mine are listed below, as are my wife's.

Mine:

5. The Inner Light
4. Family
3. Lower Decks
2. Clues
1. Cause & Effect


Wife:

5. The Best of Both Worlds: 1&2
4. Tin Man
3. The Offspring
2. Captain's Holiday
1. The Inner Light

 

[JesterFace]

Let me be the first to say, 5 is not enough...

 

[Stroudarian]

Let me be the first to say, 5 is not enough...

I completely agree. I can sympathize. There are a lot of great episodes to chose from, I had to leave about 20 of some of my favorites off the list, but my wife limited me to only five. It was really tough selecting only five.

 

[Stroudarian]

Let me be the first to say, 5 is not enough...

One episode I really wanted in include was "I Borg". I was torn between "I Borg" and "The Inner Light". It really was agonizing trying to make a selection.

 

[JesterFace]

but my wife limited me to only five

The lady gets what the lady wants...

Here's my top 5, but it's only for today, tomorrow it might be something different.
- All Good Things...
- Who Watches The Watchers
- Evolution
- The Bonding
- The Nth Degree

There might be some sentimental attachment involved.

 

[Armus]

Here are five episodes that I remember liking when they originally aired back in the 1980's. Back then I didn't watch anything religiously and there were a lot of great episodes that I missed until I saw them during TNG's syndicated reruns after 1991. These are the episodes that made me a fan in the first place, before I saw the syndicated reruns and before I got my hands on VHS. Having rewatched them recently I still think they hold up.

1. When The Bough Breaks
2. Conspiracy
3. The Neutral Zone
4. The Dauphin
5. The Enemy

 

[Vger23]

In no particular order:

The Inner Light
Darmok
Best of Both Worlds
Lower Decks
Conspiracy

 

[Qonundrum]

Count me in as "Only 5?"

In no order:
The Measure of a Man
Conspiracy
11001001
All Good Things
The Pegasus

Runners up:
Q Who (opens up the show to the Borg, great way to expand on Guinan while revealing nothing)
When the Bough Breaks (a mature theme, robust sci-fi, handled well)
Contagion (a slice of great sci-fi/fantasy)
The Dauphin (a great coming of age story to begin with, made in an era when most movies and TV just raunched it up shallowly)
The Best of Both Worlds (pt 2 holds up a lot better)

 

[Lynx]

This is an almost hopeless task because there are so many which are excellent.

But these are the ones I think about immediately:
Conundrum
Conspiracy
Chain Of Command
Darmok
Preemptive Strike

 

[STEPhon IT]

Same here, there's so many episodes I enjoy I can see myself changing my stance on any of what were produced.

For now:
Measure of a Man
Encounter at Farpoint
Lessons
Tapestry
Ethics

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

I won't make a list, simply because I can't. There are more than a dozen that can be among my top five depending on how much coffee I've had or how my cars are all running that day. Most of mine have already been mentioned so I'll just watch how the rest of you all react.

 

[Vger23]

Count me in as "Only 5?"

In no order:
The Measure of a Man
Conspiracy
11001001
All Good Things
The Pegasus

Runners up:
Q Who (opens up the show to the Borg, great way to expand on Guinan while revealing nothing)
When the Bough Breaks (a mature theme, robust sci-fi, handled well)
Contagion (a slice of great sci-fi/fantasy)
The Dauphin (a great coming of age story to begin with, made in an era when most movies and TV just raunched it up shallowly)
The Best of Both Worlds (pt 2 holds up a lot better)

Contagion is a great episode. Really fun.

 

[tomswift2002]

The Pegasus
The Next Phase
Datalore
The Best Of Both Worlds 1 & 2
Yesterday’sEnterprise

 

[Sakonna]

It is hard to reduce down to 5, so I was framing it in my mind as: "which 5 have you rewatched the most? Because that will tell you what the favorites are." And that's easy, because I immediately know the 5 episodes I've watched many, many, many times more than any of the others:

The Big Goodbye
Conspiracy
Yesterday's Enterprise
Best Of Both Worlds, Part 1
Sub Rosa

What can I say, I know it's bad, but it's such purely absurd trash, I can't get enough of it. A comedy classic!

 

[Nakita Akita]

In no particular order:
Captain's Holiday
We'll Always Have Paris(Picard Fencing)
Matter of Perspective(Picard Painting and just a fun episode)

Yesterday's Enterprise

Gambit I&II (Picard in a Cute outfit)

 

[Xhiandra]

0. Who watches the watchers
1. The measure of a man
2. The drumhead
3. Darmok
4. The inner light

So hard to leave Lower Decks off, though.

 

[Stroudarian]

0. Who watches the watchers
1. The measure of a man
2. The drumhead
3. Darmok
4. The inner light

So hard to leave Lower Decks off, though.

Great list.

 

[Stroudarian]

0. Who watches the watchers
1. The measure of a man
2. The drumhead
3. Darmok
4. The inner light

So hard to leave Lower Decks off, though.

Seriously, as a philosopher, I am forced to concur with your list. It is great. Really excellent episodes that have a tremdnous depth of meaning to them.

 

[Xhiandra]

Seriously, as a philosopher, I am forced to concur with your list. It is great. Really excellent episodes that have a tremdnous depth of meaning to them.

Well, I'm no philosopher (computer scientist), but those episodes + some other TNG/TOS episodes really helped me when I was a teenager:

I'd been fooled into thinking that morality could only derive from god(s), and since I never could believe in gods (not for lack of wanting, back then, just never was convinced by the arguments), I was caught in a bit of a nihilistic rut (which isn't quite what the movies portray it as - no violence nor even voiced angst, just silent depression), but TNG/TOS exposed me to a more humanist worldview and guided me to a more positive path.

Which is my main issue with the decisively "action" orientaiton of DSC, I feel that in the TOS and TNG days, Trek fulfilled a purpose greater than mere entertainment, and hoped the new series could do that for a new generation.

Back to nerdy lists: out of curiosity, I took the liberty of adding the lists of everyone together, according to the following methodology:

- Assigning points to positions: first -> 5 points, second -> 4 points,... last -> 1 point.
- If "no order" was specified, all entries were given the average & median number of points (3).
- I counted Stroudarian's comment, so my own list was counted twice.
- 2-parters counted as a single episode.

Here goes:

Points - Episode(s)
17 - Conspiracy
16 - The Measure of a Man
12 - Who Watches The Watchers
11 - The Inner Light
10 - Darmok
8 - The Pegasus, All Good Things, The Best of Both Worlds
6 - The Drumhead, Lower Decks, Yesterday's Entreprise
5 - Captain's Holiday, Cause & Effect, When The Bough Breaks, The Big Goodbye
4 - We'll Always Have Paris, Encounter at Farpoint, The Next Phase, Captain's Holiday, Clues
3 - A Matter of Perspective, Datalore, Lessons, Conundrum, Preemptive Strike, Chain Of Command, The Neutral Zone, 11001001, Evolution, The Offspring
2 - Tapestry, The Dauphin, The Bonding, Family, Tin Man
1 - Gambit, Sub Rosa, The Enemy, Ethics

Feel free to keep adding to it, for shits'n'giggles.

 

[Stroudarian]

Well, I'm no philosopher (computer scientist), but those episodes + some other TNG/TOS episodes really helped me when I was a teenager:

I'd been fooled into thinking that morality could only derive from god(s), and since I never could believe in gods (not for lack of wanting, back then, just never was convinced by the arguments), I was caught in a bit of a nihilistic rut (which isn't quite what the movies portray it as - no violence nor even voiced angst, just silent depression), but TNG/TOS exposed me to a more humanist worldview and guided me to a more positive path.

Which is my main issue with the decisively "action" orientaiton of DSC, I feel that in the TOS and TNG days, Trek fulfilled a purpose greater than mere entertainment, and hoped the new series could do that for a new generation.

Back to nerdy lists: out of curiosity, I took the liberty of adding the lists of everyone together, according to the following methodology:

- Assigning points to positions: first -> 5 points, second -> 4 points,... last -> 1 point.
- If "no order" was specified, all entries were given the average & median number of points (3).
- I counted Stroudarian's comment, so my own list was counted twice.
- 2-parters counted as a single episode.

Here goes:

Points - Episode(s)
17 - Conspiracy
16 - The Measure of a Man
12 - Who Watches The Watchers
11 - The Inner Light
10 - Darmok
8 - The Pegasus, All Good Things, The Best of Both Worlds
6 - The Drumhead, Lower Decks, Yesterday's Entreprise
5 - Captain's Holiday, Cause & Effect, When The Bough Breaks, The Big Goodbye
4 - We'll Always Have Paris, Encounter at Farpoint, The Next Phase, Captain's Holiday, Clues
3 - A Matter of Perspective, Datalore, Lessons, Conundrum, Preemptive Strike, Chain Of Command, The Neutral Zone, 11001001, Evolution, The Offspring
2 - Tapestry, The Dauphin, The Bonding, Family, Tin Man
1 - Gambit, Sub Rosa, The Enemy, Ethics

Feel free to keep adding to it, for shits'n'giggles.

WOW! You really went out of your way to do this. I have to say, I am impressed. Thanks for all the hard work.

 

[Stroudarian]

Well, I'm no philosopher (computer scientist), but those episodes + some other TNG/TOS episodes really helped me when I was a teenager:

I'd been fooled into thinking that morality could only derive from god(s), and since I never could believe in gods (not for lack of wanting, back then, just never was convinced by the arguments), I was caught in a bit of a nihilistic rut (which isn't quite what the movies portray it as - no violence nor even voiced angst, just silent depression), but TNG/TOS exposed me to a more humanist worldview and guided me to a more positive path.

Which is my main issue with the decisively "action" orientaiton of DSC, I feel that in the TOS and TNG days, Trek fulfilled a purpose greater than mere entertainment, and hoped the new series could do that for a new generation.

Back to nerdy lists: out of curiosity, I took the liberty of adding the lists of everyone together, according to the following methodology:

- Assigning points to positions: first -> 5 points, second -> 4 points,... last -> 1 point.
- If "no order" was specified, all entries were given the average & median number of points (3).
- I counted Stroudarian's comment, so my own list was counted twice.
- 2-parters counted as a single episode.

Here goes:

Points - Episode(s)
17 - Conspiracy
16 - The Measure of a Man
12 - Who Watches The Watchers
11 - The Inner Light
10 - Darmok
8 - The Pegasus, All Good Things, The Best of Both Worlds
6 - The Drumhead, Lower Decks, Yesterday's Entreprise
5 - Captain's Holiday, Cause & Effect, When The Bough Breaks, The Big Goodbye
4 - We'll Always Have Paris, Encounter at Farpoint, The Next Phase, Captain's Holiday, Clues
3 - A Matter of Perspective, Datalore, Lessons, Conundrum, Preemptive Strike, Chain Of Command, The Neutral Zone, 11001001, Evolution, The Offspring
2 - Tapestry, The Dauphin, The Bonding, Family, Tin Man
1 - Gambit, Sub Rosa, The Enemy, Ethics

Feel free to keep adding to it, for shits'n'giggles.

Seriously, the episodes that you selected are very deep, thought provoking, and significantly profound. I love your top five list.

 

[Mojochi]

To clarify, These will be my 5 favorite, not the 5 I think are the best. In fact, some people might not even think they're all that good.

Sarek: This really is about as good as Star Trek gets for me. I mean what could be better than what they give us here? Of all the TOS appearances, this is the only one that felt like royalty... like "OMG this is all one universe"

Night Terrors: It's just a buttload of fun to watch them all lose it. It may be my favorite "The crew is out of control" episode in all of Trek

Parallels: Such an underrated episode. Frankly, it's the same kind of episode as All Good Things... (character caught in an anomaly) & is actually better imho. They capture the disorientation in such a perfect way, without all the bells & whistles, or melodrama of something like Remember Me

Cause & Effect: You're not even watching them anymore. You're watching it, & it is pretty damn interesting to watch. Who does that episode? How is that a thing that anybody decides to do?

Disaster: I can't help it. I watch this episode probably more than any other. It's inexplicable, but never have I felt closer to these characters. It's just so well executed