Best Episodes of Season One

[AdmiralScreed]

Hi folks. I'm new to the boards, but in the short time I've been on here I've discovered that there is a lot of dislike for the first season of TNG. I would agree that the show improved as it went along, but by no means do I feel that the first season was in any way bad. Personally, I thought that there were quite a few strong episodes in the first season. Here are some of my favorites:

Encounter at Farpoint P1 and P2
Datalore
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
Arsenal of Freedom
Symbiosis
The Neutral Zone

Datalore and The Neutral Zone are two of my favorite TNG episodes of all time. They would easily make my top 5 list.

With that said, what episodes do you all consider to be the very best of season one?

 

[BlueStuff]

While no episodes from Season One would make my top 5, or even top 10, I do especially enjoy Heart of Glory, The Arsenal of Freedom, and 11001001.

 

[Michael]

I agree that overall the first season certainly isn't very strong story-wise. But I still prefer the general mood and style of these early episodes. Also, in most cases the music is better and the cinematography and lighting looks more interesting than in later seasons.

Favorite episodes are "Mission Farpoint", "Where No One Has Gone Before", "Datalore", "11001001", "Coming of Age", "Skin of Evil" and "Conspiracy".

 

[WisTrekFan]

I think two of the better episodes from season one were "The Big Goodbye" and "Conspiracy."

 

[AdmiralScreed]

I think two of the better episodes from season one were "The Big Goodbye" and "Conspiracy."

I liked Conspiracy quite a bit, although I was disappointed when it was revealed that there was no real conspiracy and that it was just parasites controlling Starfleet Officers. A real conspiracy would have made for a more interesting story, IMO, though I suppose DS9 made up for this by introducing the Maquis and turning Eddington into a redcoat.
Getting back to Conspiracy, I liked the parasites and thought they were pretty creepy.
Nice responses so far!

 

[USS Kongo]

My faves of the first season of TNG are (in no particular order):

Encounter at Farpoint
Heart of Glory
Arsenal of Freedom
The Neutral Zone
Conspiracy

Sean

 

[Seven of Five]

My top ten would be something like:

Conspiracy
11001001
Where No One Has Gone Before
The Arsenal of Freedom
Datalore
Heart of Glory
Hide and Q
The Big Goodbye
Coming of Age
Skin of Evil (purely for the Tasha farewell scene)

It's by no means a classic season, and is very uneven. I agree that it has a certain feel to it - the universe still feels like a big, unknown, dangerous place. And if course the silly music restrictions that happened in season four haven't happened yet.

 

[Trek Survivor]

In no particular order, my top 5 season on eps:

1) Heart Of Glory
2) Conspiracy
3) The Arsenal of Freedom
4) Skin of Evil
5) 11001001

The block of episodes from "Coming of Age" through to "Neutral Zone" really do show a marked overall improvement on the previous 18.

 

[bbailey861]

I think two of the better episodes from season one were "The Big Goodbye" and "Conspiracy."

I liked Conspiracy quite a bit, although I was disappointed when it was revealed that there was no real conspiracy and that it was just parasites controlling Starfleet Officers. A real conspiracy would have made for a more interesting story, IMO, though I suppose DS9 made up for this by introducing the Maquis and turning Eddington into a redcoat.
Getting back to Conspiracy, I liked the parasites and thought they were pretty creepy.
Nice responses so far!

I also really enjoyed "Conspiracy". I was hoping that somewhere further in the series we would have been exposed to the parasites yet again. I think, perhaps, that was the original plan when they first conceived of the story - it just didn't pan out that way somewhere down the line. Recurring evilness came by way of the Borg, instead.

 

[sonak]

there are actually a bunch of good episodes in Season 1

"the big goodbye"
"conspiracy"
"11001001"
"heart of glory"
"datalore"
"where no one has gone before"

the problem with this season isn't the lack of good episodes, it's that the bad ones are SOOO bad.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Conspiracy and The Neutral Zone, I consider my favourite episodes.

 

[Vanyel]

Datalore
Conspiracy
The Arsenal of Freedom
We'll Always Have Paris

 

[Saspearia]

Skin of Evil, Datalore, The Neutral Zone and Justice (for Picard's grandiose speeches!)
Although not my favourite season its amazing how many really good episodes there are in it. I suppose thats why we love the whole series!

 

[RAMA]

Several are in or near my top 10:

1. Best of Both Worlds I and II
2. Yesterday's Enterprise
3. Darmok
4. The Inner Light
5. The Chase
6. The Survivors
7. The Wounded
8. Q Who
9. Where No One Has Gone Before
10. All Good Things..

11001001, Datalore, Conspiracy are near there too.

 

[Dr. Crusher]

I think that Conspiracy was actually the very first TNG episode I ever saw, and I saw it when I was very young and it must have either first aired or it was close to that. I actually didn't get into TNG until about season 5 or 6, but I remember seeing this and the images never quite went out of my head...

 

[JustKate]

In addition to some of the episodes already mentioned ("Conspiracy" is one of my all-time Trek favorites, and I also love "The Neutral Zone"), one of the lesser-known first season episodes that I like is "Home Soil." It's not perfect - then again, neither is "11001001," and I like that one a lot, too - but it is a fascinating concept, and when I watched it for the first time, it was one of the first episodes of TNG that actually made me think, "Hey! This is going to turn out to be a really good show!" Because up until then...well, let's just say that the series hadn't exactly hit its stride.

 

[indolover]

The Neutral Zone and the Arsenal of Freedom stand out for me.

I always liked Hide and Q, as well as the Dixon Hill episode. Overall, it was a stinky season though.

 

[Mojochi]

In addition to some of the episodes already mentioned ("Conspiracy" is one of my all-time Trek favorites, and I also love "The Neutral Zone"), one of the lesser-known first season episodes that I like is "Home Soil." It's not perfect - then again, neither is "11001001," and I like that one a lot, too - but it is a fascinating concept, and when I watched it for the first time, it was one of the first episodes of TNG that actually made me think, "Hey! This is going to turn out to be a really good show!" Because up until then...well, let's just say that the series hadn't exactly hit its stride.

I was going to come in & say Home Soil too. I like that one. Very much what interested me in the show too

 

[euphorik]

"where no one has gone before" and "11001001." nothing else in the first year, for my money, comes close to those two. honorable mention to "the big goodbye." personal favorites - ie "episodes *i* liked that no one else seemed to be quite as enthusiastic about" - include "the naked now," "lonely among us," and "heart of glory."

on the whole, though, i think the 1st year is sadly undervalued. i'll take a first year episode over a 7th-year episode any day of the week.

 

[Maurice]

11001001
Conspiracy