The Five Best Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes
Back when I was young and peerless at wasting my time, I frequented George R. R. Martin’s Not A Blog. I haven’t been there in a decade or so but when I was there, George would lavish thousands and thousands of words on whatever tickled his fancy: politics, geothermal energy, cheezies, and sometimes television. (In fact, he spent so much time writing his Not A Blog that people angrily wondered if he’d finish A Song of Ice and Fire at all.)
Anyway, while praising Melinda M. Snodgrass, who was working on Wild Cards — a series curated by George that no one cares about except for George and the authors writing it — he mentioned that she was responsible for writing one of the “few” good Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes.
One of the “few”?
The “few”?
What a pompous ass!
Although the episode Melinda wrote was a classic and does indeed appear in the list below, there have been several well-written TNG episodes, Mr. Martin. Maybe you were too busy with Beauty and the Beast to notice.
Several.
George’s comment has bothered the bejesus out of me ever since. And now that I have a massive platform with a thunderous 18 followers, I’ve decided to do something about it!
I’ve taken a portion of those several episodes (several, Greybeard) and created a list of the five greatest TNG episodes of all time.
Now, your list might be different from mine, but that’ okay. As David Simon, co-creator of The Wire might say, “I’d agree with you but then we’d both be wrong.”
So I hope you’re reading, George, because your “few” comment is an insult to TNG fans everywhere and does nothing but sully the name of the greatest English Frenchman ever to grace the bridge of a space-faring vessel.
The “few.”
Hmph.
Here’s five of the several, buddy.
Several.
5. “I, Borg.”
You can’t have a TNG list without having a Borg episode, and it would be too easy to pick The Best of Both Worlds (that won’t be on this list). Instead, I give you my favourite little Borg, a dude named Hugh.
TNG was at its best when it proposed moral dilemmas. Questions where what needs to be done conflicts with what should be done. Where the values of peace and trust the federation is built on, where the vaunted mantra of the Prime Directive (don’t interfere with other civilizations) meets the realities of preserving and protecting the human race.
Here the crew of the Enterprise had the opportunity to send a Borg back to the collective with a virus that would wipe out the entire species. Genocide to prevent genocide. The dilemma embodied everything I love about the philosophical bent of the show, and the decision made in the end embodied everything I love about Jean-Luc Picard.
4. “The Measure of a Man.”
This is the episode ‘ole George was taking about, written by Ms. Snodgrass. Here a scientist wanted to take Data, dismantle him, and mass produce a whole race of Datas. He argued that Data, as a machine, was property of Star Fleet.
A trial was held. Picard represented Data and in a wonderfully written twist, Riker represented the scientist. The catch was that Riker loved Data, so the judge said that if at any time she thought Riker wasn’t doing the best job he could, she’d end the trial and rule in favour of the scientist.
The moment that made the episode was when Riker was researching Data and found out that, like any machine, Data had an off switch. Riker was at a computer screen. He looked incredibly pleased with himself for a moment, then utterly crushed that he found it. It led to a scene in the courtroom where Riker makes his case with devastating competency, and TNG history was made.
He says that Data is a machine, and his;
“…software [is] written by a man, it’s hardware built by a man, and now…and now a man will shut it off.”
Click.
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Chills, bro. Chills.
3. “Yesterday’s Enterprise.”
Today, modern television attempts to keep tension running high during all its episodes. Shows like The Walking Dead place its characters in constant peril, and the threat of war looms constantly over Game of Thrones. This wasn’t the case in TNG.
Yesterday’s Enterprise takes place in an alternate timeline where Tasha Yar is still alive and the Federation is at war with the Klingon Empire. It shows a reality where peaceful exploration has been exchanged for constant conflict. It shows the Federation on the brink of defeat.
Everything about this episode was a shock. It was a complete contrast to the gentle, self-contained episodic nature of the show, and was totally different from everything established in the TNG formula.
We saw the last stand of the Enterprise. We saw Riker die. We saw a bridge without Worf (gross). We contemplated how mysteriously cool Guinan is.
But best of all, we got to see what happens when someone asks Picard to surrender.
“That will be the day.”
And with that leap over the com to take Riker’s place at the weapons array, Picard added ‘total badass’ to his already extensive resume.
Awesome.
2. “The Best of Both Worlds.”
Psych! I totally have The Best of Both Worlds on this list. I mean, how could you not?
The episode had two parts, the finale of season three and the premier of season four, and it was an absolute humdinger. The Borg, the greatest threat to life the Federation ever faced, had finally struck. (We’d been waiting for this ever since Q introduced them to us in the episode Q Who.)
An implacable antagonistic collective impervious to Federation weaponry and intent on assimilating all organic life into its cyborg collective, the Borg did the unthinkable in The Best of Both Worlds: they captured and assimilated Jean-Luc Picard!
Inconceivable!
But what made the episode timeless was the end of part one. A plan was devised to destroy the Borg ship by modifying the deflector dish into a weapon (which is what you did in TNG when you needed an OP space cannon: you modified the dish). The only problem was that Picard — now Locutus — was still on the Borg cube.
Like The Measure of a Man, Riker was again put in the position of turning against a close friend. Would he destroy the ship with Picard still on it? Could he? Would he?
“Fire.”
Oh my God!
End of part one.
1. “All Good Things…”
Outside of the last episode of The Wire, no other series finale felt as complete and satisfying as the end of TNG. Robert Moore (who went on to run the Battlestar Galactica reboot) was producer and co-wrote the show.
The two part episode let us relive the past, say goodbye to the present, and look into the future. It bookended the show by using Q and his never-ending trial of humanity as its focal point. It showed us the bonds between the crew and the love and respect they had for one another in a fitting conclusion to the best science fiction show ever to grace the small screen (you heard me).
It’s the last scene in the episode that strikes you in the feels.
For the first time in seven long years, Captain Picard finally joins the crew at the poker table. He sits, calls the bet, and deals the cards. As the camera spirals away from the table, he says, “the sky’s the limit,” before the episode, and the series, soar off into space.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
