Most S1 eps at least had great original concepts/ideas that gave you something to think about. Wesley, Troi, and Tasha are annoying but really didn't have that much dialogue, so it's tolerable. Their awfulness is overstated here. Data is actually really annoying sometimes too though. You know, "annoying"... "bothersome, obnoxious, irritating-" "THANKS DATA, BUT WHAT I REALLY MEAN IS STFU DATA."
"We'll get there in about 12 days." "12.02384-" "STFU DATA." It isn't often but it grates me almost as much as the other bad characters b/c it's the same thing every time. It would annoy me more than Wesley, but it's more forgivable b/c that's obviously just how he's programmed, so I can't really blame him. It doesn't detract too much from the eps though.
I disagree with the consensus that Code Of Honor is the worst ep, bottom 5 for sure but not even for the same reasons other ppl have. It certainly isn't "racist" no matter what anyone says. They're black, yeah, but they aren't stereotypes. They look the same as each other just like any other alien species from any other planet, they just happen to be black. And have a custom similar to Native Americans which is described with a French phrase. They dress like Persians and present traditional Chinese style gifts. They're a mess of a bunch of cultures from Earth's past and the only original thing is the ridiculous weapons and arena Tasha fights in. But at least the plot moves and the dialogue is serviceable. Unlike "Skin Of Evil." The dialogue is just embarrassingly bad in that one and I'm sure you could find a similar plot in many children's cartoons. Worst episode by far and the only redeeming quality is the very end at Tasha's funeral.
Also, the hate for Lonely Among Us is unjustified. An entire episode isn't ruined by a line of dialogue or 2, get real. There's a serious threat at least, that means tension. "Not boring," unlike a few eps from S1. Data's antics are juvenile but don't take up a significant portion of the ep. Same could be said for the shenanigans of the Anticans. It felt like a bad sitcom at times but when that thing enters Picard it gets really good. This can't be said for "Justice," the only threat is to Wesley and you just wish he'd die anyway. Now that I think about it though, the ship/structure/god? thing above the planet in that ep was a redeeming factor and the dialogue wasn't bad. They all have redeemable qualities, even Haven, Angel One, When The Bough Breaks, Symbiosis, and We'll Always Have Paris, which all had plots that are either interchangeable with non-sci-fi shows, uncreative, or unrealistic. Still, they're my least fav b/c of their plots.
I also don't get the hate for Datalore. An original idea that adds to the character of Data as a bonus? I'll take it. I just remembered the crystal entity actually, yeah that thing was stupid but the rest of it was good. The Naked Now is an interesting take on The Naked Time, and while not as good, it helps to know how this crew would act while drunk. There's more characterization there than it gets credit for. They're both fun eps that get way too much hate, esp Datalore, it's one of my favs of S1.
I don't get the love for The Arsenal Of Freedom either, the plot is one of the most unimaginative in the series. The single drone that gets released conveniently every 12 minutes or w/e arbitrary amount of time is not the killing machine it's made out to be, it's a storm trooper. I would expect the machine that wiped out a world to be more capable than that. It might as well be a flying cardboard box. Actually I'd prefer that, it'd give it a sense of self-awareness, like it's obviously supposed to be as dumb as it is. I could laugh then. Picard was especially unconvincing while Crusher was injured. Actually, the threat the ship was facing meanwhile was interesting, I just remembered that. So there's def more of a threat than in the previously mentioned "extra bad" eps at least, but I wouldn't put it among the best eps of the season.
The best are:
Heart Of Glory 9.5/10*
Conspiracy 9/10*
Datalore 8.5/10*
The Neutral Zone 8.5/10*
Too Short A Season 8/10*
The Battle 8/10*
Where No One Has Gone Before 7.5/10*
Lonely Among Us 7.5/10*
Home Soil 7.5/10*
The Big Goodbye 7.5/10*
11001001 7.5/10*
Coming Of Age 7/10*
Hide And Q 7/10*
That's half the season at least 7/10 stars. The rest are 4.5-6.5 except for Skin Of Evil which is like 3.5, but most of the rest are 5.5-6.5.
Love it! But TNG survived to live another 6 seasons, TOS did not.
