Which Episode to Start off with to get into the Show?

So I wanted to get my friend into TNG especially since she loves scifi but I can't think of which episode to start off with. I don't want to do it in episode order just yet because she usually loses interest a show if it doesn't interest her within like 5 episodes. Any episode you all can think of would be great, whatever you think would most likely grab someone's interest and what to watch the show further.

 

"Cause and Effect" starts off with a bang.

 

Tough question ... I wouldn't pick one of the top 10 episodes because then it's likely she'll lose interest if she realizes not every episode is as great as what you showed her first and in many cases they require some knowledge of characters or plot lines to be really effective. Yesterdays's Enterprise for example is not a good first episode as much as I love it because without knowing the regular timeline and Tasha it loses a lot of impact.

My suggestions (in no particular order)

Remember Me
Clues
The Offspring
Lessons
Disaster

All self contained good episodes with character focus but not so good that it can only go downhill from there.

 

I'd recommend in that order:

Sins Of The Father
The Nth Degree
A Matter Of Time
Conundrum
The Inner Light
Schisms

All are good examples of different aspects of the series.

 

5 huh?

I'd go with one of the worst followed by a few of the average and a couple of the tops.

Justice is a great example of how they WANTED to be thought-provoking and failed miserably. I would pick it because we love to roast bad things together.

Inner Light is perfect as a stellar one-off.

Q Who is also a great intro to Q and the Borg while not revealing the BEST of Q nor even the best of the Borg!

Suspicions is an example of mystery with different alien species done "meh" while reserving the better mysteries for later.

Then give her a Part One of a two-parter and let THAT be the fifth. Go for broke:

Best of Both Worlds Part One

"There, honey, that was five. Want more?" hahaha

 

The Enemy
The Defector
Darmok
Q-Who
The Best of Both Worlds 1 & 2

 

How about the final episode 'All Good Things...', it visits their first mission and lays down nicely how Q puts them on trial.

 

Start off with the absolute worst: The Outrageous Okona. If they still want to watch after that rubbish, then they will like everything.
Maybe something like The First Duty

 

Add a plate of stale biscottis and a glass of sour milk to complete the experience.

 

Slightly burnt popcorn is also encouraged.

 

Hard to say without knowing what they like. How about:
Encounter at Farpoint
Measure of a Man
Q Who
Who Watches the Watchers
Darmok

 

Q Who is probably the only second season episode I'd recommend to a newcomer.
follow that up with Best of Both Worlds
Family
Darmok
Sins of the Father

 

I feel like introducing a newcomer to BoBW too soon could set them up for false expectations regarding the overall quality of the show. Telling them "this is the best it gets" doesn't seem like a great idea either.

I think there may have been some viewers who watched the series back when it was released who kept hoping, especially if there was a Borg episode (thankfully TNG was fairly restrained about that), that the series would hit the peak of BoBW1 again, and IMO it may have come close a few times, but never quite hit that height again.

I had the reverse effect with LOST where I started with the first chunk of S3, then when the show went on hiatus I picked up S1 and S2 on DVD and binge-watched. It got events a bit muddled in my head (appropriate for that series?) but it also meant I unknowingly started with what I believe is generally considered to be the worst of the series; it only got better from there.

Similarly, when a friend expressed interest in Babylon Five I advised her that S1 might be a bit difficult to sit through, but that things picked up with S2...but that if S1 was just too painful, we could move on to something else. She stuck through it!

 

If it helps, I do not think BoBW sets up false expectations though re: the overall quality of the show. The only concession I would grant you is that no other "space opera"-conflicts-between-star-systems episodes comes close to that level of suspense (Redemption 1/2, etc), but there are far more single episodes that reach that level of quality or surpass it.

As to telling them this is "the best it gets", I even disagree with that. So I will out myself as one of the few people alive who prefers Chain of Command as a better two-parter than BofBW. I am now putting on my flame-resistant gear.

 

I don't think doing Q Who -> BOBW -> Family is a good idea because it will make the show look much more serialized than it is. They're great episodes but they might give the wrong impression.

 

None is the best.

None is the worst.

But I'll pick some 5

That really quench my thirst.

(for the show)

/groan

In no order, unless it comes with fries and a cola:

Symbiosis
Contagion
Q Who
Hollow Pursuits
First Contact (season 4 episode)

 

Oh, I enjoy "Contagion" even if the solution feels a bit dopey, especially by today's standards. "First Contact" is an interesting choice given that it starts out from the perspective of not-Our Heroes. That could be a neat way to introduce someone to them, through the eyes of aliens who also don't know them yet.

 

Did anyone notice that one of the aliens in Symbiosis is played by none other than the guy who played Kirks Son in WOK and TSFS?

 

Yes. I did.

Khan's son's in it too.

 

11001001 is the first episode of TNG I say fires on all cylinders, so I’d call that a good starting point. Follow that up with Home Soil. Those two in particular are TNG season one coming close to, if not being equal to TNG in its prime.

Then I’d move to season two and Measure of a Man, Contagion, and Q Who.

That’s keeping to original episode order, of course, but if you can’t appreciate TNG in the first two seasons, you can’t really appreciate what it grew in to after them in my book.

 

I can think of a couple...