The Good In Every Episode, TNG Edition...

[Trek Survivor]

Time Squared (another personal stinker) does show our usually very in control captain being quite unnerved and uncomfortable meeting his own future double.

I loved "Time Squared"!

"Manhunt", however, what a terrible episode. However, I loved the Antedean make-up. Fish face for the win. And Worf's comment that he thought they looked handsome.

Trek so rarely does "total head" mask/prosthetics (usually just opting for the old "slightly different forehead" effort) that I applaud anytime they do something a bit more daring.

 

[Sakonna]

A year or two back I was surprised to discover that the first 20 minutes of "Shades Of Grey" are good, before Pulaski wheels out the clip show device and it all goes to hell. That planet set w/ running water is great, and the attacking vine is so effectively creepy.

It's already been discussed some, but "Sub Rosa" was also the first thing I thought of clicking on this thread. My ultimate Trek guilty pleasure, I love Gates total commitment to the lunacy of it. In a strange way, it's her greatest performance of the series.

"Lonely Among Us" has a different lighting scheme from the rest of the series and I really love it, it's so moody and shadowy. I also have a weird love of the Selay and the Anticans, despite the insanity of everything they're actually doing. I agree with @Trek Survivor above, I'm glad full-head alien masks are not their dominant approach, but I do get excited when it pops up as a contrast (I'm a fan of the Antedean's as well).

 

[NinjaRaiden2005]

I didn't know "Descent" was considered a bad episode by others. I always liked seeing Beverly in command with a younger less experienced bridge crew. She uses her scientific mind to combat the Borg threat which easily suits her. Plus the tactic of hiding inside a star was a nice way to connect to previous episodes as metaphasic shields were also introduced in one of her episodes.

I don't like much of seasons 1 or 2 but I still like "Conspiracy." A good mystery combined with our first look at Earth in TNG. Sure it wound up being Invasion of the Body Snatchers with a Trek twist, however it was never fully resolved. The ending is so chilling and showed that it wouldn't be like TOS where every episode ends with a laugh and smiles. No dialogue or music; just a series of of beeps in a message to deep space. Always felt it was a shame it was never followed up on except for a single novel.

 

[Farscape One]

It doesn't have to be an episode considered to be bad by others.

My goal for these threads was for people to find good in episodes they themselves consider bad, which was why I started off each of these threads with episodes I personally do not like.

(Believe me, it was REALLY challenging to find a positive for ENTERPRISE's "PRECIOUS CARGO".)

On the flip side, there are episodes many others consider bad that I really love, such as TNG's "Masks".

 

[Sakonna]

Oh god, "The Price"! I just rewatched that and was horrified by how bad it was (this "romance" plays like Troi's #MeToo story), but I thought the scene late in the episode where Troi and Devinoni Ral go at each other about the ethics of their empathic powers was fascinating. It's a real missed opportunity that they didn't make an episode that focused fully on these issues.

Angel One: Riker's chest hair.....

Seconded!

 

[Kilana2]

@StefanM would have liked to see the the Angel One Ladies with the same chest hair.....

 

[Farscape One]

"Force of Nature" - I never cared for this episode, but I did like the idea behind warp drive actually causing damage. The speed limit was kept up very sporadically in season 7, but never really addressed again. I wish they kept up with such a franchise altering idea.

 

[Mojochi]

Frakes directs the hell out of Cause & Effect. They shoot angles of the ship & sets that haven't been seen in any episode prior. The episode is generally well liked, but that hardly ever gets mentioned.

Geordi's survival mode scenes in The Enemy are some of his most interesting stuff. The dude used a visor to spot ore in the soil, & used his phaser to melt it into climbing spikes. Carrying only 4 pieces of tech, a communicator, a tricorder, a visor & a phaser, he's like effing Batman lol

 

[Vger23]

I didn't know "Descent" was considered a bad episode by others. I always liked seeing Beverly in command with a younger less experienced bridge crew. She uses her scientific mind to combat the Borg threat which easily suits her. Plus the tactic of hiding inside a star was a nice way to connect to previous episodes as metaphasic shields were also introduced in one of her episodes.

I don't like much of seasons 1 or 2 but I still like "Conspiracy." A good mystery combined with our first look at Earth in TNG. Sure it wound up being Invasion of the Body Snatchers with a Trek twist, however it was never fully resolved. The ending is so chilling and showed that it wouldn't be like TOS where every episode ends with a laugh and smiles. No dialogue or music; just a series of of beeps in a message to deep space. Always felt it was a shame it was never followed up on except for a single novel.

Not trying to get off track, but the percentage of TOS episodes that end on a downer or ominous note is about the same as TNG. Just go look at

Where No Man Has Gone Before
Balance of Terror
City on the Edge of Forever
A Private Little War
Paradise Syndrome

...for examples.

 

[Qonundrum]

@StefanM would have liked to see the the Angel One Ladies with the same chest hair.....

Even better, that would be the sweeps week episode where Picard dons a wig and likes it...

 

[NigellaDeanna20]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that

Oh, here's another one. I don't know if The Royale is overwhelmingly considered a bad episode. Some people quite like it. I've always thought it was a rather silly idea, & execution, but its book ends about the NASA astronaut were very cool. In fact, I remember its teaser as being one of the most eye grabbing of the whole season, when it aired. We were like "Wha wha wha?"

The Royale for me was a really fun episode. I particularly love RIker's line towards the end where he says, "When the train comes in, everybody rides." I wouldn't call it a bad episode more a good fun episode for me anways..

 

[Sakonna]

I love the scene in "Cost Of Living" where Deanna is trying to get Lwaxana to explain the circumstances that led to her upcoming wedding. It's such a believable mother/daughter bond they had, Marina Sirtis nails the affectionate exasperation ("Mother, if you're happy, I'm happy for you -- I only asked who he is, and where you met him. Those are not unusual questions!")

 

[Lance]

The Royale for me was a really fun episode. I particularly love RIker's line towards the end where he says, "When the train comes in, everybody rides." I wouldn't call it a bad episode more a good fun episode for me anways..

I love The Royale!

Conceptually, the second season of TNG is a favorite of mine for episodes like this: I love the TOS-style weirdness and the continual feeling that the universe is a foreboding and scary place. TNG kind of lost that feeling a little from season 3 onwards, it all got to feeling a little too safe at times....

 

[at Quark's]

Conceptually, the second season of TNG is a favorite of mine for episodes like this: I love the TOS-style weirdness and the continual feeling that the universe is a foreboding and scary place. TNG kind of lost that feeling a little from season 3 onwards, it all got to feeling a little too safe at times....

Come to think of it, Season's 1 Haven.

Generally a thoroughly 'bleh' episode for me, but I do like some of the weirdness in it, for example, Troi's wedding gift in a box with the face on the box that unfreezes to tell Deanna to rejoice because the momentous day is close at hand-- and then freezes again. In later years, those Betazoids seemed almost completely human except for their empathy and tendency to hold naked wedding parties, but little reminders like these serve to remind me that this is truly an alien culture.

Also, liked the design of that Tarellian ship, and wouldn't have minded seeing it again-- without the plague of course! (Edit: corrected name of species)

 

[Farscape One]

I liked that box, too.

And it was Armin Shimerman's first role in the franchise.

 

[Lance]

Come to think of it, Season's 1 Haven.

Generally a thoroughly 'bleh' episode for me, but I do like some of the weirdness in it, for example, Troi's wedding gift in a box with the face on the box that unfreezes to tell Deanna to rejoice because the momentous day is close at hand-- and then freezes again. In later years, those Betazoids seemed almost completely human except for their empathy and tendency to hold naked wedding parties, but little reminders like these serve to remind me that this is truly an alien culture.

I'm often reminded when I rewatch TV shows like this from the beginning of what stardestroyer.net calls "Brain Bugs" -- which in their case was refered to as a tendency to as time goes on in Sci Fi focus on one or two specific traits of an alien society as a lazy shorthand for depicting them, as opposed to expanding them with a richness. So, the Ferengi over time became all about money and greed, ignoring that on TNG they had an established military, weapons, and other things that later Trek ignored to the expense of effectively making them a one-note cartoon society. Likewise, Klingons all wearing body armour (even civilians) and being drunkards who fight and are obsessed with honor. Early Klingons, even the TOS movie Klingons, had more strings to their bow. Your betazoid example is another great one. Early TNG gives us some intriguing ideas about how different their culture is, but over time they *just* became about their empathic ability and that's it.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I think it's because that unique ability or quality is a quick easy way to begin a story - how would (insert alien character/species here) react to a specific situation? how would their (insert quality) complicate/facilitate this particular situation"?

 

[Vger23]

The Royale for me was a really fun episode. I particularly love RIker's line towards the end where he says, "When the train comes in, everybody rides." I wouldn't call it a bad episode more a good fun episode for me anways..

The Royale is one of my favorite TNG episodes from all 7 seasons.

 

[tharpdevenport]

"Code of Honor"

The only composer from the original 1960's series to score an episode of any Trek spin-off. That was nice. Too bad Steiner's talents were squandered on it.

 

[Lance]

"Code of Honor"

The only composer from the original 1960's series to score an episode of any Trek spin-off. That was nice. Too bad Steiner's talents were squandered on it.

Good call
It's a great soundtrack that consciously echoes the types of themes used in TOS. I might not love the episode itself, but I find the soundtrack repeatedly listenable.