Recommend Season 1 & 2 TNG Episodes to Watch

[Qonundrum]

Both of these are solid lists that I would agree with One thing I love about the first two seasons is that sense of the universe still being 1) mysterious; and 2) dangerous, just as it had been on TOS.

Precisely that! TNG also had tried to continue the same feel of TOS in terms of commercial break recap and pulp adventure. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not.

In doing a mini-marathon earlier, I need to add "When the Bough Breaks" to my list. It's another early example of TNG not using TOSisms excessively, using the concept of "kids on a spaceship" as more than a throwaway premise, as well as incorporating mystery and danger. Not every story could be in this format, but when it was used like that it was usually pretty good. (Indeed, recalling the fifth grader running away from Calculus class, do high schools still teach calculus nowadays, has it been relegated to middle school, or is calculus now passe because computers do it all... at least I thought the concept seemed cool in 1987, especially as 24th century humans would have to evolve to understand all sorts of things pertinent to their society, which would invariably be more complex. Or so the theory goes. Until then, at least we can go to stores and watch the 80 year old insult the teenager for relying on the cash register to do the job of counting money while being oblivious to-- *cough* if I were Kryten I would say "oops, ramble mode".)

The Borg are a kind of typification of the kinds of thing the first two seasons would dare to do that seasons 3-7 would not.

Apart from TBOBW. Kidnapping the lead and converting him was a big thing at the time. Other shows trying to do the same thing merely don't understand how to make it effective and properly frightening. As much as many in the audience figured out long before they opened up the drawer to find his uniform what would transpire, it was still conceptually horrifying and was played out as such and the cliffhanger still sent chills down the spine. Rewatched it earlier this week - holds up rather well despite some elongated soap opera-style scenes. Season 3 was the turning point, between action/adventure and dreary soap opera - but both formats including discussion of the human condition in one form or another. The entire run has numerous great and not-so-great episodes regardless of format changes used. Seasons 1 and 2 simply get thrown under because TNG was trying to find its feet, didn't have the panache of season 3 (though season 2 gets extremely close), and it's arguably unfair that so many episodes that are solid or have the potential get summarily overlooked because "Oh that's season 1, I'd rather watch cooties breed."

Jonathan Frakes talks fondly not of the execution of Armus in "Skin of Evil", but as an example of how conceptually brave those first few seasons were compared to later when the writers and producers all got to be a little "safe".

If any of us had to swim in that goo, we wouldn't be fond of making it either. Then again, as a produced episode, it's a scary situation. At least Frakes didn't have to do what, say, Peter Davison had to do to a cow when he played a veterinarian in a British comedy... But TNG was wise enough to take some risks in some episodes while playing it safe in others. The fact a new Trek show was made was the sort of thing people were screaming could not be done with new actors... (Reality is, it can, and more easily if the universe is being expanded. Early TNG took to expanding the universe, sometimes referencing but not too deeply TOS. Fans already knew TOS. They didn't want incessant fanservice. And TNG, while regurgitating a little by reusing themes, still put out genuinely new stuff.)

Personally, I'm a big fan of Maurice Hurley's take on Star Trek which is most personified in season two. As @Cutie McWhiskers says, some of Hurley's episodes have the mysterious-and-dangerous-shit-around-every-corner-anything-goes approach of a classic style Doctor Who. I love that vibe about both seasons

Thx! I love that vibe as well, the spirit of adventure. And TNG really did it right. Season 2, apart from one or two episodes (not including the clip show since the non-clip bits feel genuinely exploratory and alien and are good!), definitely hit the nail for me. So did Piller and Behr, but Hurley definitely helped form TNG beyond its 1st season limitations. And some TNG makers clearly were WHO fans at the time. It's nice to see a show being influenced by another, yet making episodes that don't feel like a ripoff. Well, considering "Hide & Q" has Q trying to recite the metaphor from DW's "Meglos" about flies being trapped in amber (yet "Meglos" did it better despite H&Q being the better story, but nobody can win the contest 100% of the time...)

 

[Vger23]

It is interesting. The more I think of it, the more I realize that S1 and S2 were hit-or-miss in so many ways, but at least they were different and bold in some of those approaches.

When TNG "settled in" in the middle seasons, it had the odd effect of being more consistent but also far more bland/boring.

 

[Lance]

It is interesting. The more I think of it, the more I realize that S1 and S2 were hit-or-miss in so many ways, but at least they were different and bold in some of those approaches.

When TNG "settled in" in the middle seasons, it had the odd effect of being more consistent but also far more bland/boring.

Absolutely 100%. A hit and miss show isn't always hit and miss because it is "bad"; sometimes a show will be hit and miss from week to week because it dares to take actual risks, and sometimes those risks don't pay off, and sometimes they do. Say what some will about TNG's lack of consistency in S1 & S2 (let's be honest, particularly S1 ), it was a show that didn't put limits on its scope, and which was prepared to do almost literally anything. It had ambition.

 

[Spirit of 73]

Season one is poor, in my opinion, with only one episode that I would call genuinely good. There were also a handful of decent ones.

Season two is not bad, all things considered. It has a lot of highs and lows.

If you are not looking to watch every episode, I would suggest the following:

Watch Encounter at Farpoint, because it kicked the series off and makes the series finale much more meaningful. Datalore, 11001001, The Arsenal of Freedom, Where No One Has Gone Before, Heart of Glory, Home Soil and Coming of Age are all pretty decent episodes. Conspiracy is the one truly good episode from season one.

Apart from those, there are others which are not as good, but like Encounter they are important for things to come. You simply have to watch Skin of Evil. It makes a future episode in season three even more compelling than it already is. It's not a terrible episode either, just mediocre. The Neutral Zone should probably be watched as well. It foreshadows important events for seasons two and three. Also, I haven't necessarily listed them in order, but they should be watched in the order they aired.

In season two, there is a lot more that is good. The Measure of a Man and Q Who are the first great episodes TNG produced. After those, Where Silence Has Lease, A Matter of Honor, Contagion, Time Squared, Peak Performance and The Emissary are all very solid. I found Unnatural Selection to be pretty decent so you might consider throwing that one in there, and though I thought it was average, people seem keen on Elementary, Dear Data. At any rate, that last one sets up a very good episode in a later season, so go ahead and give it a whirl.

If you want to get through these seasons more quickly but still see what's good and essential, that would be my list.

 

[USS Firefly]

I am rewatching some episodes of season 2 and its way better then ik remembered.

 

[Spirit of 73]

I am rewatching some episodes of season 2 and its way better then ik remembered.

I am rewatching them for the first time in almost 25 years. So far, seasons one, two and three were as I remembered: one sucks, two is a mix of great/good and poor, and three is pretty solid.

Which season two episodes have impressed you more this time around?