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Great, Overlooked TNG Episodes

I would like to contribute to the forum by discussing some TNG episodes that aren't discussed too much by others, but are nevertheless very great episodes in their own right.

There has been plenty of attention given to "best" or "top 10" episodes of TNG, but for this topic I'd like to focus more on second-rate episodes, which are personal favorites of mine, so that these gems do not get overlooked by the fans.

I start from the early seasons and work my way up:

"Contagion" - A fantastic episode and one of my favorites from season 2. The Enterprise accidentally downloads malware from a space probe and it begins programming itself into the ship's computer. The crew races against time to find a way to repair their system, while engaging in a heated exchange with a Romulan battlecruiser.

"The Ensigns of Command" - Another great episode and personate favorite of mine. Commander Data is given the task of evacuating an entire colony who won't listen to his warnings. Data must get creative to quickly find a solution, while Picard and the crew must dig through thousands of pages of treaty, searching for a loophole to buy more time.

"The Defector" - Captain Picard has to decide whether or not to trust a Romulan. A really interesting plot and ends with somewhat of a twist.

"A Matter of Perspective" - I always thought this one was really cool. Very interesting to see how the holodeck produces very conflicting testimonies from multiple parties. Geordi and Data make a brilliant technical discovery to prove Will Riker's innocence.

"Legacy" - Two warring factions battle each other like street gangs. Packed full of action and really hard not to enjoy.

"The Wounded" - The Cardassians and the Federation are officially at peace, but a Starfleet Captain has an axe to grind with them after what they did to his family many years ago. A really, really good one.

"Clues" - This episode, hands down, ought to be mentioned in TNG's top 10 lists. An extremely fascinating situation has taken place involving a 24 hour lapse of the crew's memory, whereby a great mystery centered around Data has to be solved. It played itself out absolutely brilliantly. Too bad writer Bruce D. Arthurs hasn't written more sci-fi stories!

"The Drumhead" - I learned a very important lesson in legal theory just by watching this episode. It's really amazing how a show can be so much more than mere entertainment, and can give us insight into ethical principles we hadn't even known before.

"Power Play" - This one is just plain awesome. Invading aliens possess Troi, Data, and O'Brian. The crew must ward them off without harming the bodies they possess. Great action and thrill aboard the Enterprise.

"Schisms" - Finally a ST episode involving alien abduction. Really, really cool stuff, and reminiscent of The X-Files.

"The Pegasus" - Oh man, does this episode rule! Will Riker and his former captain from 12 years in the past covertly work to capture a cloaking device for Starfleet, and Will is faced with a tough ethical dilemma involving duty and loyalty.

I could have listed about a dozen more episodes that fall into this tier. Have you watched these yet? If not I insist you do!

"Contagion"- Awesome prequel to DS9's "To The Death"!
 
Family. EVERYBODY knows this is a brilliant episode, but it just never gets talked about much. It lies in the shadow of BoBW
Half A Life. Probably the only episode I think Majel Barret is really good, & Ogden Stiers is magnificent
Future Imperfect. Also not talked about much, but a darned interesting episode
The Mind's Eye is terrific. It may be Geordi's best featured episode
Disaster. It has all the markings of being a weak & formulaic bottle episode, but that thing is just a very good show imho
The Nth Degree. Shultz really giving some of the best work I've ever seen from him
The Enemy. Geordi is effing miraculous in this episode, & Worf is giving us something they would almost never do again with him, unfortunately
 
Family. EVERYBODY knows this is a brilliant episode, but it just never gets talked about much. It lies in the shadow of BoBW
Half A Life. Probably the only episode I think Majel Barret is really good, & Ogden Stiers is magnificent
Future Imperfect. Also not talked about much, but a darned interesting episode
The Mind's Eye is terrific. It may be Geordi's best featured episode
Disaster. It has all the markings of being a weak & formulaic bottle episode, but that thing is just a very good show imho
The Nth Degree. Shultz really giving some of the best work I've ever seen from him
The Enemy. Geordi is effing miraculous in this episode, & Worf is giving us something they would almost never do again with him, unfortunately
"The Mind's Eye" was a tense, well directed episode. I liked the shots in Geordi's perspective.
the-minds-eye-hd-234.jpg
 
I disagree with this one. Some jerk scientist is doing experiments that could destroy the galaxy, they rescue him and then Picard is excited to take him back so he can start the experiments again?

Good thing you're not me then. :p
 
So there is someone else besides me who likes this one (Imaginary Friend). I don't get why this ones gets so much hate...

I think one of the reasons is that none of the cast is the main character. It is almost like it isn't even a TNG episode. Lower Decks is another one where the main cast are just secondary characters
 
Another vote for "Contagion" as well. I loved how "Contagion" kept the Iconians a mystery. You might say it's an "Iconic" trait. :D

(Yes, there is a nitpick in that software requires hardware it understands in order to run it. The software can't, of its own accord, determine what hardware is running it prior to running itself - otherwise that bootable disk for a Macintosh would work in any Windows clone PC without issue. (Which is where the initial probe came in handy; it 'read' the hardware architecture before delivering its payload now recompiled to run it. (It's a very fast probe too...) It probably read up on Romulan architecture from their databanks as well. There's no outright exposition, it's just a fortunate happenstance there's enough that's open-ended to plop in real life to fix the plot hole bug, so to speak... again, it's a fast probe... :devil:)
 
Another vote for "Contagion" as well. I loved how "Contagion" kept the Iconians a mystery. You might say it's an "Iconic" trait. :D

I love Contagion. One of my favorites but I always get annoyed when Picard orders Worf to destroy the tricorder. Short sighted and unnecessary.
 
Half A Life. Probably the only episode I think Majel Barret is really good, & Ogden Stiers is magnificent

I agree so much on this! Love the episode and well, I really like Lwaxana on the rare occasions when she drops the "Auntie Mame" act, shows her vulnerability and gets quiet and sincere, and Half a Life had a good deal of that. Another good moment like that is on DS9 when she's trapped with Odo in the Turbo Lift.
 
"Masks" is severely underrated, and a really great episode.

"The Royale", "Night Terrors"
and "Identity Crisis" are very creepy episodes, and are better than many people give them credit for.

"Dark Page" is quite underrated, too, because it gives us so much insight into why Lwaxana is the way she is, particularly regarding Deanna.
 
(Unless I'm out of the loop) Surprised to see The Survivors hasn't been mentioned yet John Anderson's performance when he confessing how his wife died & what he did to The Husnock is legendary and heartbreaking.
Also
Pen Pals (for Prime Directive debate)
Glad to see others enjoy this scene.
And
I've noticed a lot of episodes I like are disliked on the forum.

Genesis
Masks
Identity Crisis

Schisms
Rascals
A Fistful Of Datas
Night Terrors
A Matter Of Perspective
The Chase
Suspicions
Disaster
The Schizoid Man
The Game
Devil's Due

Imaginary Friend
Remember Me
Edits mine Bolded - Agree Underlined - Disagree
I also agree with Dark Page, Identity Crisis, Clues, Face of the Enemy and Remember Me being great and underrated. And Contagion is winning me over as I'm watching it.
ETA: Also forgot another S2 episode Time Squared I always thought this one excelled at creating a creepy atmosphere and combining the time loop concept, really deserves to be talked abt more.
 
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I would like to contribute to the forum by discussing some TNG episodes that aren't discussed too much by others, but are nevertheless very great episodes in their own right.

There has been plenty of attention given to "best" or "top 10" episodes of TNG, but for this topic I'd like to focus more on second-rate episodes, which are personal favorites of mine, so that these gems do not get overlooked by the fans.

I start from the early seasons and work my way up:

"Contagion" - A fantastic episode and one of my favorites from season 2. The Enterprise accidentally downloads malware from a space probe and it begins programming itself into the ship's computer. The crew races against time to find a way to repair their system, while engaging in a heated exchange with a Romulan battlecruiser.

"The Ensigns of Command" - Another great episode and personate favorite of mine. Commander Data is given the task of evacuating an entire colony who won't listen to his warnings. Data must get creative to quickly find a solution, while Picard and the crew must dig through thousands of pages of treaty, searching for a loophole to buy more time.

"The Defector" - Captain Picard has to decide whether or not to trust a Romulan. A really interesting plot and ends with somewhat of a twist.

"A Matter of Perspective" - I always thought this one was really cool. Very interesting to see how the holodeck produces very conflicting testimonies from multiple parties. Geordi and Data make a brilliant technical discovery to prove Will Riker's innocence.

"Legacy" - Two warring factions battle each other like street gangs. Packed full of action and really hard not to enjoy.

"The Wounded" - The Cardassians and the Federation are officially at peace, but a Starfleet Captain has an axe to grind with them after what they did to his family many years ago. A really, really good one.

"Clues" - This episode, hands down, ought to be mentioned in TNG's top 10 lists. An extremely fascinating situation has taken place involving a 24 hour lapse of the crew's memory, whereby a great mystery centered around Data has to be solved. It played itself out absolutely brilliantly. Too bad writer Bruce D. Arthurs hasn't written more sci-fi stories!

"The Drumhead" - I learned a very important lesson in legal theory just by watching this episode. It's really amazing how a show can be so much more than mere entertainment, and can give us insight into ethical principles we hadn't even known before.

"Power Play" - This one is just plain awesome. Invading aliens possess Troi, Data, and O'Brian. The crew must ward them off without harming the bodies they possess. Great action and thrill aboard the Enterprise.

"Schisms" - Finally a ST episode involving alien abduction. Really, really cool stuff, and reminiscent of The X-Files.

"The Pegasus" - Oh man, does this episode rule! Will Riker and his former captain from 12 years in the past covertly work to capture a cloaking device for Starfleet, and Will is faced with a tough ethical dilemma involving duty and loyalty.

I could have listed about a dozen more episodes that fall into this tier. Have you watched these yet? If not I insist you do!

Those are all excellent lesser acclaimed episodes. One that I would add to the list as one of my personal favorites from S1 is "Too Short a Season". Special FX aside, I really like the moral and ethical questions raised by the episode- about his use of the de-aging drug, his betrayal of his wife, his betrayal of Starfleet in lying about his earlier arms-for-hostages deal with Karnas *and* his rivals, and the tragedy of his death at the end, which ultimately leads to the final resolution between himself and Karnas and enables Karnas to finally end his grudge and return the hostages.
 
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