It hasn't aged well, but I personally don't recall it ever being seen that fondly... that said, a lot of what became TNG fandom and pretty much all TNG fandom I knew personally were the johnny-come-latelies of season three onwards.
In context, sure, "Encounter of Farpoint" is one of the better episodes of the first season... better then "When the Bough Breaks", and such.
But ah. "The PAIN!" That's mostly what I remember people picking up on.
