Great, Overlooked TNG Episodes

Phantasms is one of my favorites. I thought it would be considered a good episode but it isn't. I actually thought it was a legit good episode. Not just because of my fave.

 

Here's another I enjoy - Power Play where Troi, Data and O'brien are possessed by bad aliens and they try to take over the ship to get home.

 

"Future Imperfect".

Perfect, it was not. But, suspenseful, it was.

After Riker woke up in sickbay and was told that sixteen years had passed, you knew that there was more to the situation than meets the eye. Was it a sinister Romulan plot? The story kept me in suspense.

It took the appearance of Minuet, a blast from Riker's past, to tip him off that something was definitely amiss. Riker called out the charade, but it wasn't as simple as that, because he wound up trapped in a charade within a charade. I thought it was a clever story.

Ultimately, it was not a sinister Romulan plot. It turned out to be nothing more than the doings of a lonely little orphan alien, who was just looking for company. Aw.

I can understand a viewer not liking the ending. Despite the buildup, the episode ended not with a bang but with a whimper. I don't remember how I reacted to the ending, the first time that I saw this episode. I saw this episode recently, and this time I thought the ending was sweet.

The alien came clean at the end. He had no malice. He was just lonely. Despite being kidnapped, Riker showed compassion. I think it was obvious that all that time when the alien pretended to be Riker's son "Jean-Luc", it had an emotional impact on Riker. When the alien told Riker his real name, Riker responded that he will always be "Jean-Luc" to Riker.

I guess this was, in a limited way, Riker's "long lost (phony) son" episode, somewhat like "Bloodlines" was for Picard. But "Future Imperfect" was so much better. Again, a sweet ending to a suspenseful episode.

 

"Where Silence Has Lease" doesn't get nearly the credit it deserves. That episode was weird, intriguing, exciting, unsettling, and even had a great philosophical moment with Picard and Data discussing death, and what might lie beyond.

 

^^this



The first half is spectacular. Starting with a throwaway with Worf's exercise program, which is surprisingly good or at least sufficiently engaging and not overly long, once they get past the credits, the real mystery starts - with the big blob in space that has no resemblance to the one in "The Immunity Syndrome", and even Data isn't pedantically trying to find through the Federation database the one Kirk found. This is conclusively proven the moment they're engulfed in the anomaly. The tone and style of these scenes help sell it well enough... then once they get on the inside, it really takes off. And it only skyrockets from there with numerous unsettling moments that pack a great dramatic punch.

Steeped in atmosphere and weirdness that only sci-fi can do, then Nagilum appears -- as a partial and presumably disembodied head, and was quite the moment. The episode sells fairly well the "differences" shtick, since Nagilum's species(?) probably doesn't reproduce the way all these pesky Earthian mammals do (the same way humans have observed numerous smaller and often edible species to then post on Wiki with probably lurid detail, and how did humans first sample various things to discover if they're edible or not)...

The Picard/Data scene is truly first rate and told so maturely it makes up for all of season 1's jocular fluff. Even "Justice"'s overt flagrancies...

However, the episode is not without its share of flaws, so I'll just hone in on the biggie: Wesley apparently needed his bathroom break at just the perfect moment, since there's no other way to explain why he's in one scene, then is not present with a standby in his place - the one who, you know, is experimented on - then in the next scene Wesley is back, complete without residual wet spot cuz he's that good at everything, go figure.

 

Because on Trek, inconveniences like redshirts losing sphincter control as they die don't happen. And they don't have friends, either: the moment the camera pans away from their corpse, it vanishes into the ether and they're immediately forgotten.

It's possible that Naguilum would have wanted to conduct his initial experiment on an adult anyway. So if Wes had been there, some poor sap at the astrometrics station would have expired instead.

But I expect to be thorough, he would have snuffed a few kids as well, given the chance. Picard's solution, shocking as it was, made it illogical for him (or it, or whatever) to continue.

 

"The Big Goodbye" - wait a minute, did this show just do something that wasn't an imitation TOS episode? And it was good?
"Legacy" - Data learns real grown-up shit about "being human."

 

A lot of it is good but the pacing feels uneven, I'm not sure/have flip flopped between the beginning feels a little too long/extended and after the beginning feels too short.

 

Maybe it's not perfect... but it's pretty darn good.

 

Great episode and, having watched some of the episodes out of sequence, it was the first time I'd seen Brent Spiner play 'Data' differently, a sneaky, mean convict. Cool stuff.

 

All three of those particular characters actually play villains surprisingly well.

 

"In the Mind's Eye" is a great one also. A very good thriller with interesting twists. The klingon ambassador is friendly enough that you don't see it coming. It is also a good Geordi episode. The tone is a bit dark for TNG, meaning you could just swap the characters and you have a DS9 episode.

 

I haven't read all the replies, so hopefully I won't be redundant. Some of the ones that I always look forward to in a TNG rewatch, but which either never show up in Top 10 lists, such as...

...The Survivors. Perhaps the best mystery they ever did and such a stunning, chilling, meaningful finale. Classic Star Trek IMO which probably makes my personal TNG Top 10.

...or even make Bottom 10 lists often, to my eternal bewilderment, such as:

Sub Rosa. Guilty pleasure? Yes maybe, but it's directed with such style, it has such a great gothic mood and it's certainly the bolder and more fun version of "female crewmember comes under the influence of a telepathic villainous male" compared to "Man of the People". I swear to the Great Bird that when I first saw season 7, I legimately listed it as my second or third favorite of the whole season, just for entertainment value.

 

Absolutely love "The Survivors". Not only for your reasons, but it really showcases why Picard is the captain. Excellent detective work on his part. This helps show why he earned that chair.

 

for me its got to be the following, The Arsenal Of Freedom, Times Squared, Evolution, The Survivors, Clues and many others.

 

I agree completely. It's a very underrated episode,.

 

Clues is a fave of mine, for sure. And Arsenal is worth watching for Vincent Schavelli alone.

 

absolutely and yes arsenal of freedom is another of my faves,

 

Symbiosis from season 1. The dilemma Captain Picard had to face with regards to the narcotics for this group of alien race was interesting. Very underrated episode from season 1 IMO.

 

Symbiosis is very good indeed! One of my favorites from season 1. I like how Picard deals with the Brakkians and Ornarians situation without breaching the Prime Directive. Although I could be without the Tasha Yar's PSA.