The Best of TNG

[Sarcastic Vulcan Salute]

What would you say were the best 30 episodes of TNG?
For this, I'm counting two parters as one episode, and I'm asking that lists are a) in order of airing b) each season has at least 2 representatives and no more than 7.

S1

1. Encounter at Far Point - Because it's the premise and Q is kind of fun
2. Conspiracy - It is creepy. "We only seek...peaceful co-existence."

S2
3. The Schizoid Man - I always love Graves as Data patting himself on the back
4. A Matter of Honor - I like my Klingon episodes
5. The Measure of a Man - Picard speechifying at its finest
6. Q Who - The intro to the Borg
7. The Emissary - Keyhlar was pretty darn hot and cool at the same time.

S3

8. Deja Q - It's good to see Q taken down a peg
9. Yesterday's Enterprise - Probably on everyone's top 10 for the series
10. The Offspring - a great mix of humor and seriousness
11. Sins of the Father - Klingons
12. Sarek - A moving tribute to a legacy character and some good acting from PStew
13. Best of Both Worlds - Obviously.

S4

14, Brothers - Data being a bad-ass
15. Reunion - Worf TCB
16. The Drumhead - I also like trial episodes
17. Redemption - great to see the Klingon Civil War and Data stepping up

S5

18. Darmok - Another ep that is probably in most people's Top 10
19. Unification - Got to love Spock
20. Cause and Effect - Time loop episodes usually aren't as good as this one
21. The Perfect Mate - Again, Picard stands out.
22. I, Borg - Another perennial favorite
23. Inner Light - Ditto

S6
24. Relics - Another TOS shoutout
25. Schisms - One of the more creepy episodes
26. Chain of Command- There are four lights!
27. Tapestry - It's a Wonderful Life, TNG style

S7
28. Parallels - It was great to see those alternate realities
29. Lower Decks - Such a different and interesting take on what goes on
30. All Good Things - Pretty much all you could ask for in a finale.

What say you?

 

[Kilana2]

The Measure of a Man - Brian Brophy

Nuff said.

 

[Farscape One]

Normally, I count two-parters separately. But in this case, it does make it easier to make my list.

Season 1...
"Home Soil"
"Heart of Glory"
"The Arsenal of Freedom"
"Conspiracy"

Season 2...
"Where Silence Has Lease"
"The Measure Of A Man"
"Contagion"
"Q Who"
"Peak Performance"

Season 3...
"The Defector"
"Deja Q"
"Yesterday's Enterprise"
"The Offspring"
"The Best of Both Worlds"

Season 4...
"Data's Day"
"The Wounded"
"Redemption"

Season 5...
"Darmok"
"Unification"
"Ethics"
"The First Duty"
"The Inner Light"

Season 6...
"Relics"
"Schisms"
"Chain Of Command"
"Frame of Mind"

Season 7...
"Phantasms"
"The Pegasus"
"Masks"
"All Good Things..."


Are you going to do a top 30 for each series? (At least, all the ones that had more than 30 episodes.)

 

[Sarcastic Vulcan Salute]

What made me think of this was I had a friend who was starting DS9 and wanted to recommendations. So that led me to tell him that because DS9 is so heavily arced, you can't really pull out the best episodes and recommend them like you could with TNG or other shows. Which led me to think to myself, "If you had to recommend the best of TNG, what would it be?" With the cavaet that one had to recommend at least some from each season, and you couldn't just say "Just watch all of S. X."

There are definitely some ones on your list that I considered (particularly Data's Day and The Wounded) and other cuts that were rough. But I'm surprised about Masks.

I'm in the middle of S6 for my TNG rewatch. I'm probably going to rewatch DS9 next and so might do something similar. Even though I've seen each episode of DS9 at least twice, I don't know it as well as TNG. And the other modern series less so.

 

[Farscape One]

I know I'm in the minority on loving "Masks", but it's a genuinely great episode when you really look at it. Some of the reasons why I love it...

1. As a mythology lover, it's got that subject in spades.

2. It shows Picard as a detective, basically... we don't see that side of him very often, but when we do, it's a joy... and it shows us why he's earned the captain's chair.

3. We also see Picard's love of archaeology being not only shown, but also quite useful.

4. The idea of an ancient civilization so advanced it can literally change a starship into a space city is really high concept and very cool.

5. An excellent showcase of Brent Spiner's acting versatility. He was quite convincing in being a different person each time.

6. Speaking of Data, that was a great concept, too, with him having an entire civilization within him.


Another, more personal taste reason is it was written by Joe Menosky, who is one of my favorites of the franchise. Believe me, I know I'm in the extreme minority in defending this episode, but that's nothing new. (You should see my list of reasons why I love "MOVE ALONG HOME".)

 

[JesterFace]

I have my list but I'm sorry to say that it's not allowed in this thread.
Rules say that there has to be episodes from all seasons. While season 2 has two great episodes I can't put season 1 episodes among the best of TNG, sorry.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

I have my list but I'm sorry to say that it's not allowed in this thread.
Rules say that there has to be episodes from all seasons. While season 2 has two great episodes I can't put season 1 episodes among the best of TNG, sorry.

Don’t be overly literal. If you have no S1 favorites, just say so. The evil Mod will look the other way.

 

[JesterFace]

Don’t be overly literal. If you have no S1 favorites, just say so. The evil Mod will look the other way.

Thank you.

Here's a list, hopefully nothing is missing. Two parters are in two parts on this list. Episodes are in no order, I went through older saved "best of" material so these might be in weird order. The first two episodes just might be the best of the series for me.

1. All Good Things...
2. Who Watches The Watchers
3. The Measure of a Man
4. Q Who
5. Evolution
6. The Bonding
7. Sins of the Father
8. The Defector
9. Allegiance
10. Sarek
11. Yesterday's Enterprise
12. Legacy
13. The Offspring
14. The Best of Both Worlds 1
15. The Best of Both Worlds 2
16. Reunion
17. Data's Day
18. Clues
19. Night Terrors
20. The Nth Degree
21. The Drumhead
22. The Mind's Eye
23. Identity Crisis
24. Redemption 1
25. Redemption 2
26. The Masterpiece Society
27. Cause & Effect
28. Imaginary Friend
29. I Borg
30. Aquiel
31. Ship in a Bottle

Oh no, now there's 31 of them.... More rule breaking. 'Aquiel' might be there just because it was the first episode of TNG I got on VHS in the 90s. Emotional, sentimental and all that. List is quite season 3 and 4 heavy.

 

[Qonundrum]

Thank you for including multipart epics as single episodes!

A decade ago this list would be different, though still largely seasons 1 to 3-centric. Half a decade prior to that would be seasons 3, 4, and 7.

Season 1...
"Encounter at Farpoint"
"When the Bough Breaks"
"Home Soil"
"Heart of Glory"
"The Arsenal of Freedom"
"Conspiracy"

Season 2...
"Elementary Dear Data"
"The Dauphin"
"Contagion"
"Q Who"
"Peak Performance"

Season 3...
"Evolution"
"The Survivors"
"The Enemy"
"The Defector"
"Deja Q"
"Yesterday's Enterprise"
"The Best of Both Worlds"

Season 4...
"Remember Me"
"Data's Day"
"The Nth Degree"

Season 5...
"Ensign Ro"
"The Game"
"Cause and Effect"
"The Next Phase"

Season 6...
"Ship in a Bottle"
"The Chase"

Season 7...
"Phantasms"
"The Pegasus"
"All Good Things..."


Honorable mentions:
Haven
Coming of Age
Where Silence Has Lease
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Time Squared
Pen Pals
Devil's Due
Half-a-Life
The Mind's Eye
Imaginary Friend

 

[Vger23]

List of "favorites..." not "best" necessarily:

S1
1 Encounter at Farpoint
2 Where No One Has Gone Before
3 11001001
4 Conspiracy

S2
5 Where Silence Has Lease
6 Contagion
7 The Royale
8 Time Squared

S3
9 The Survivors
10 Booby Trap
11 The Defector
12 Deja Q
13 The Best of Both Worlds

S4
14 Family
15 Future Imperfect
16 The Wounded
17 Clues

S5
18 Darmok
19 Unification I and II
20 Conundrum
21 The First Duty
22 The Inner Light

S6
23 Schisms
24 Chain of Command I and II
25 Tapestry
26 Frame of Mind

S7
27 Parallels
28 Lower Decks
29 Preemptive Strike
30 All Good Things...

Interesting Exclusions (meaning popular ones I don't really care about):
Yesterday's Enterprise
Measure of a Man
Relics
The Pegasus
The Drumhead
Data's Day (and most Data-centric episodes)
All of the post-BOBW cliffhangers

 

[Mark 2000]

I started with Eps I hate in the other thread. Lets see if I can be as verbose about what I like. I like the overall tone of S 01 and 02 best, but I seam to like the most individual episodes in S04. Go figure.

S01
1. Encounter at Farpoint - The Q stuff is dreadful and he gives them too many clues. But I really like the initial dynamics of all these characters, many of which were dropped too soon.
2. Lonely Among Us - This is an interesting take on Gene's New Human concept, with Picard so xenophilic he's willing to jump ship.
3. Where No One Has Gone Before - Drop the Wesley as Mozart stuff and you have the nice out-of-character study The Naked Now should have been. Also a nice commentary on fake science and technobabble.
4. Too Short a Season - A wonderful repudiation of TOS's "cowboy diplomacy" with the kind of comeuppance Kirk would have deserved. It really sets the two eras apart.

S02
5. The Measure of a Man - Louvois is a great character. Nice, serious handling of a sci-fi ethical debate.
6. Contagion - Exciting episode with a lot of pyrotechnics that don't bog down the plot.
7. Time Squared - Space Tornado could have used a bit more complexity, but some great Pulaski/Picard moments and a lot of Picard as a completely inflexible dick, which is my favorite Picard.
8. Q Who - The ultimate Borg episode. They were never more threatening or uniquely alien again.

S03
9. Who Watches the Watchers - TNG finest commentary on religion.
10. The Enemy - An ethical/racial argument that has real stakes and doesn't end happily combined with a fun buddy survival story that does.
11. The Defector - Real political drama with teeth. Great ending.
12. Deja Q - Q learns humanity from the crew's least human member. Hilarity and well earned pathos ensues.
13. Sarek - TNG's best use of scene editing set to music. Sarek's drama is well earned. Nearly ruined by Stewart's hamming.
14. Best of Both Worlds - Even the ending. Only thing that could have improved it would be Riker getting the last kill shot in instead of the Borg self destructing.

S04
15 .Brothers - I hate Spiner outside of Data, but he does a decent subdued job with these three roles. The opening action sequence is fab.
16 . Remember Me - Love Bev getting to be smart and holding her own the whole episode. The Traveller returning is a nice touch.
17 .Future Imperfect - I liked this story as a GI Joe two parter and I like it here. Props for bringing back Minuet in the 24th C version of a silent 16mm home movie.
18 . The Drumhead - Great McCarthy analogy. I like when Star Fleet shows the holes in its moral superiority and then proves it really is as morally superior as it claims.
19. Half a Life - Nice discussion of the place of the aged and cultural traditions. Luaxanna's best episode and Majel's best acting ever.
20. The Mind's Eye - Good uses of La Forge's abilities for no good. Great tension. Love seeing La Forge freak out at the War Bird in the teaser and piece together he brain washing with Troi at the end.

S05
21. Silicon Avatar - Nice action and ethical dilemma. Love seeing Admiral Mom degrade into madness.
22. Disaster - Love seeing the women on the show taking command and dramatic center stage. Ro is at her best here.
23. Conundrum - I forget this one a lot but always go "Oh yeah!" when I remember it. Fun jaunt. Wish the Ro/Riker/Troi meanage had continued.
24.Cost of Living - Maybe I'm too much of a Golden Girls fan, but I like this dumb episode and I cheer at the end nudist wedding strut every.fucking.time.

S06
25. Rascals - It's just fun and silly. I hate kids but these were all great actors and perfectly cast.
26. Face of the Enemy - Troi is a total bad ass under difficult circumstances. Great intrigue.
27. The Chase - What could have been a fan wanker technobabble of an episode turned into a nice universe mythos builder with a heart felt conclusion.

S07
28. Liasons - Again, silly ep. But I really appreciate the discussion of consent in the Picard plot. Worf comedy is also peak here.
29. Attached - One of the few times I take Picard seriously as a romantic character and TNG's romance in any way "adult". The paranoid world not understanding how petty they are in contrast to a larger universe is so true to life.
30. Thine Own Self - The last great Data story. I love that you don't see anyone from the Enterprise until the end making the whole story self contained with an ending you don't see coming.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Season One

1. “The Last Outpost” This episode has a very TOS-like feel to it with a mysterious planet, a dead culture, and the ship in peril.
2. “The Big Goodbye” Do holograms dream of electric sheep or something like that. Although if Picard is a huge noir nut, why the hell does he seem to not know anything about the time period?
3. “Home Soil” OK, this could be laughable with “ugly bags of mostly water.” But I like that this had a truly alien lifeforms and the crew doing science to figure out what it is.
4. “The Aresenal of Freedom” Another TOS-like episode about the 80s arms race. Also some nice Beverly-Picard character moments.

Season Two

1. “Where Silence Has Lease” The most Twilight Zone episode of TNG. And the crew as rats in a maze is a very Roddenberry story.
2. “Elementary, Dear Data” Pulaski challenges Data. Geordi fucks up and makes Morierty a real boy. Also picks up on the themes of whether holodeck characters are real from “The Big Goodbye”. The last best holodeck episode of TNG.
3. “The Measure of Man” Gold standard. What else can I add. Oh, Star Trek Picard totally fucks this all up.
4. “Time Squared” Kirk meets his negative half and he embraces it, accepting his flaws. Picard meets his imperfect version and phasers it cause he’s above his flaws. Picard has deeper ego issues than Kirk.

Season Three

1. “The Survivors” A great mystery episode that’s a really a tragedy.
2. “Who Watches the Watchers” The best use of the Prime Directive in all of Trek.
3. “Yesterday’s Enterprise” Worf drinks prune juice. Tasha comes back and another Enterprise must be sacrificed to save the future.
4. “Tin Man” I have a soft spot for this episode. And I really like the character of Tam and his relationship with Data.
5. “Best of Both Worlds, Part I” Riker can’t sit in the captain’s chair. Shelby rocks. Picard gets turned into a Borg. My summer was fucked.

Season Four

1. “Family” Picard is human after all. Actually this was the episode where I finally warmed up to Picard. Unlike Kirk, Picard always felt above his own humanity. Kirk was unabasedly human. Picard wasn’t. Until this episode.
2. “Future Imperfect” Trek does an episode of G.I. Joe where Riker is Shipwreack. Look it up. G.I. Joe did this concept first.
3. “The Wounded.” Dumb title. Great episode. Should’ve been titled “The Minstral Boy”.
4. “The Drumhead” An episode that is relevant today as it was then.

Season Five

1. “Darmok” Race talks in memes. Picard shows off his literary knowledge.
2. “Ensign Ro” TNG introduces a character it sorely needed since Yar’s death.
3. “Disaster” Picard gets stuck with kids. Troi takes command. The writers don’t understand military proceedure or the chain of command but the episode still works.
4. “The First Duty” Wesley lies and learns the true meaning of Christmas… I mean of duty.

Season Six

1. “Relics” Scotty is back! And his episode isn’t as boring as Spock’s two-parter appearance. Although Georid is a dick to him.
2. “True Q” Amanda is a Q but does she want to be. But she does want to bone Riker. That much is certain.
3. “Rascals” Picard, Gunian, Ro, and Keiko get turned into kids. A fun silly episode only mared by the stupid Ferengi subplot.
4. “Chain of Command, I/II” Riker is a dick to his new CO. So is Geordi. Picard gets tortued.
5. “Tapestry” Picard learns the true meaning of Christmas and gets stab in the heart as a reward.
6. “Frame of Mind” Riker was the O’Brien of TNG. How often could you just fuck with that character. But this is another great TNG does The Twilight Zone episodes.

Season Seven

1. “Parallels” Worf leaps from alternate realty to alternate realty trying to put things right that once went wrong hoping each leap will be the leap home!
2. “The Pegasus” Badmiral forces Riker to choose between Picard and his former commanding officer. ENT tried to ruin this episode like Star Trek Picard tried to ruin “Measure of Man.”
3. “All Good Things” Best Trek series finale. Sky’s the limit!

 

[Tosk]

My personal "best 30" (which changes depending on what day you ask me) ...

1. The Measure of a Man
2. The Survivors
3. Who Watches the Watchers
4. Booby Trap
5. The Enemy
6. The Vengeance Factor
7. The Defector
8. Yesterday's Enterprise
9. The Offspring
10. The Most Toys
11. Sarek
12. The Best of Both Worlds
13. Family
14. Brothers
15. Legacy
16. Data's Day
17. The Wounded
18. The Drumhead
19. In Theory
20. Ensign Ro
21. Cause and Effect
22. The First Duty
23. Chain of Command
24. Tapestry
25. Second Chances
26. Parallels
27. The Pegasus
28. Lower Decks
29. Preemptive Strike
30. All Good Things…

I ignored some of the rules. Sue me.

 

[Arpy]

The first two seasons are under appreciated because of the 80’s style. Still, in Season 1 alone,

"Where No One Has Gone Before"
"11001001"
"The Arsenal of Freedom"
“Skin of Evil" (Best funeral ever)
“Conspiracy”

...are all great. Additionally,

"The Big Goodbye” won a Peabody,

"Heart of Glory" redefined the Klingons after TOS and presented them better than the caricatures they’d become later,

“Naked Now" is trippy, tense, memorable, and fun, and way more adult than you first notice (naked multi-racial orgies),

and the season includes a personal favorite “Hide and Q,” which, though mediocre, includes some pretty astonishing sci-fi. The idea of evolving into godhood, and denying such power now, well it blew my mind as a kid.

 

[Mark 2000]

"Heart of Glory" redefined the Klingons after TOS and presented them better than the caricatures they’d become later.

Heart of Glory is a double edged sword. It’s a good episode, but the Klingons in it are clearly meant to be throw backs to an idealized time that probably never was. Then they were misconstrued into a template for all modern Klingons. It’s hard not to resent it even if it’s not the episode’s fault.

 

[Arpy]

Heart of Glory is a double edged sword. It’s a good episode, but the Klingons in it are clearly meant to be throw backs to an idealized time that probably never was. Then they were misconstrued into a template for all modern Klingons. It’s hard not to resent it even if it’s not the episode’s fault.

Maybe? But as you say, it's not the episode's fault. You might as well resent BoBW for giving us the Borg. (The "Q Who" Borg only cared to assimilate technology and might have been a single race/species otherwise.)

I wish they'd done "Too Short a Season" with Kirk as the admiral having to revisit past decisions. I mean, they already included McCoy in the series premiere, and they'd include Spock and Scotty well enough later...Cowboy Diplomacy doesn't always work.

Now I'm also imagining VOY's "Flashback" if it had been done on TNG. Either in these early passing-the-baton seasons or even later in the series. What if it had been Sulu and the Excelsior instead of the Enterpise-C? We could find out whatever happened to them both and you wouldn't have this 22-year gap between the destruction of the previous Enterprise and the launch of this one. And we could find out what happened to it in another episode.

 

[Vger23]

Maybe? But as you say, it's not the episode's fault. You might as well resent BoBW for giving us the Borg. (The "Q Who" Borg only cared to assimilate technology and might have been a single race/species otherwise.)

I've noticed that a number of people have been commenting lately that they blame TWOK for the direction that the film franchise eventually went in (revenge-motivated villains and pew-pew action), and I think that criticism is equally unfair. It's the same phenomenon you point out here. It's not the movie's fault....it's the fault of the suits who insist that there's no other way to capture an audience without re-doing TWOK or TVH...which seem to be the two films they've been chasing for the last 25-30 years.

 

[Mojochi]

Well, sticking by the OP, there's a few sacrifices to make but it's still an interesting list that highlights what seasons I think were the best.

Where No One Has Gone Before
Conspiracy

The Measure of a Man
Q Who?

The Enemy
The Defector
Deja Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
The Most Toys
Sarek

The Best of Both Worlds
Brothers
The Wounded
Clues
The Nth Degree
The Drumhead

Redemption
Darmok
Ensign Ro
Unification
Cause & Effect
I Borg
The Inner Light

Chain of Command
Tapestry

The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[CorporalCaptain]

What would you say were the best 30 episodes of TNG?
For this, I'm counting two parters as one episode, and I'm asking that lists are a) in order of airing b) each season has at least 2 representatives and no more than 7.

Gah, the rules to post in this thread.

But OK, I need a diversion, so I'll play too. Order is airdate order [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation].

1. The Big Goodbye
2. The Arsenal of Freedom
3. The Neutral Zone
   
4. Unnatural Selection
5. Q Who
6. The Emissary
   
7. The Survivors
8. The Defector
9. The Hunted
10. The Offspring
11. Sins of the Father
12. Tin Man
13. The Best of Both Worlds
    
14. Brothers
15. The Loss
16. The Wounded
17. Half a Life
18. Redemption
    
19. Darmok
20. Ensign Ro
21. The First Duty
    
22. Relics
23. A Fistful of Datas
24. Ship in a Bottle
    
25. Dark Page
26. Force of Nature
27. Parallels
28. The Pegasus
29. Lower Decks
30. All Good Things...

These aren't my picks for best 30 episodes of TNG. Again, rules. I decided to pick at least three episodes per season to give a better indication of what I thought of each season.

IMO, "The Offspring" does better than "The Measure Of A Man" in exploring the subject. TMOAM has a pretty good set up, but it can't deliver a solid rebuttal to the premise; both episodes suffer from having the myopic, self-serving career scientist as the baddie.

If I were to whittle it down to best of each season, it would be:

1. The Neutral Zone
   
2. The Emissary
   
3. The Best of Both Worlds
   
4. The Wounded
   
5. Darmok
   
6. Relics
   
7. All Good Things...

 

[FederationHistorian]

Due to the stringent requirements, there were quite a few sacrifices made. But, I have picked what I thought was the best of the best.

S1
"Encounter at Farpoint"
"Conspiracy"

S2
"Where Silence Has Lease"
"Elementary, Dear Data"
"The Measure of a Man"
"Q Who"
"The Emissary"

S3
"Who Watches the Watchers"
"The Defector"
"Deja Q"
"Yesterday’s Enterprise"
"The Best of Both Worlds"

S4
"Reunion"
"Data’s Day"
"The Drumhead"
"Redemption"

S5
"Darmok"
"Silicon Avatar"
"Cause and Effect"
"The First Duty"
"I, Borg"

S6
"Rascals"
"Relics"
"Chain of Command"
"Starship Mine"
"Tapestry"

S7
"The Pegasus"
"Lower Decks"
"Preemptive Strike"
"All Good Things..."

 

[Mojochi]

It's great to see Deja Q on so many lists. You don't often hear it being lamented as one of TNG's best, but it's hard to deny it's top notch imho