Top 25 TNG Episodes

[Phantasee]

Please give me a list of 25 TNG episodes to watch. I count two-parters as one.

Because fuck watching all 7 seasons.

In order of airing preferred, S1-7.

[Zod]

I was going to go through and write up a list . . . but no.

You should have to watch all of it like the rest of us did.

[Aaron]

Best of both worlds, yesterday's enterprise, reunification

[adr]

ummm forgive my memory if I get the order wrong lol

if I leave one out that's not a discommendation it is just not coming to mind right now

s1:
the big goodbye
conspiracy

s2:
where silence has lease
a matter of honor
pen pals
the measure of a mang
q who

s3:
the survivors
who watches the watchers
the high ground
deja q
yesterday's enterprise
the offspring
sins of the father
the enemy
the defector
the most toys
sarek
the best of both worlds

s4:
family
remember me
first contact
the wounded
the nth degree
the drumhead
redemption

s5:
darmok
cause and effect
I borg
the inner light

s6:
chain of command
ship in a bottle
tapestry

s7:
gambit
parallels
journey's end
all good things


I guess that's more than 25

if you really wanna trim it umm let me get back to you scrolling upa nd down is a pain

[Aaron]

The Drumhead is the witch hunt,right?

The judges daughter, herself a judge hunts for traitors and tries to railroad one of Picards men?

[adr]

right

[adr]

let me go back and say why

[Zod]

The Big Goodbye but not Datalore?

[adr]

tbh I don't remember datalore very well. aside from "shut up Wesley" and "i'll light you little man up like a torch" lol

but I haven't seen it for a long time

[adr]

I might spoil these... I'll be brief and hopefully vague but idk, proceed at your own risk



the big goodbye

This is the first time we see the holodeck and it is fun to see the characters react to it; they show some wonder and joy messing with it.

conspiracy

It brings some threads from S1 together and is just one of the more memorable episodes from that season. S1 was kinda weak though so that's not saying a lot, but still, I liked it.

where silence has lease

In this episode, the Enterprise is made into a lab rat of a strange face thing. Picard's reaction to coming death is interesting.

a matter of honor

Riker serves aboard a Klingon ship and we see some of that. It doesn't actually stand out that much; I think I remember it more for the plot follow up in Sins of the Father.

pen pals

Has a nice prime directive discussion and we see some of Data's character.

the measure of a mang

One of the best of season 2, this is the one they have the courtroom battle over Data's rights. Great Trek.

q who

Introduces the Borg, one of the better stories of s2, includes some Picard character growth too which was great.


the survivors

Nice mystery here as they figure out what's up on this burned planet. Interesting idea with the conclusion.

who watches the watchers

See Picard's views on religion!

the high ground

A terrorism episode where there's no good guys. Makes you think about current events.

deja q

See Q and Data bond and grow as people. Has genuinely funny moments.

yesterday's enterprise

omg space battles

the offspring

Data builds his daughter, asks more questions about what it is to be human and makes you think about Data's emotions.

sins of the father

Worf starts to become a real character rather than the guy who growled a lot. Feels a lot longer than 45 minutes - lots of stuff happens in this dense episode!

the enemy and the defector

These are two great romulan episodes, with cold war politics on display and good personal stories.

the most toys

Another outstanding look at who Data is.

sarek

Brings back a classic character... and makes a good story out of it.

the best of both worlds

surely you've heard of this. battle pr0n, reflections on history, Riker steps up, TV's greatest cliffhanger.

family

follow up on bobw

remember me

A great story where Dr. Crusher stars. Some funny stuff as her predicament grows (or should I say shrinks lolol)

(this reminds me "Face of the Enemy" is a good one with counselor troi btw)

first contact

A look at what it means to see aliens, good stuff from the world's side.

the wounded

Our introduction to the Cardassian but the real value is in O'Brien's commentary on war

the nth degree

A fun concept, best look at the character of Barclay

the drumhead

Picard on civil liberties

redemption

Follow up on the Worf story and Yesterday's Enterprise thread

darmok

About the difficulty of communication

cause and effect

A fun time loop story

I borg

Makes you think about racism and war and how they tie to individuality and obedience

the inner light

A touching story about the end of civilization

chain of command

Picard's torture is well doen

ship in a bottle

Clever plotting, the same old "ong what if we're IN THE MATRIX" idea, but the enemy is way cool

tapestry

We see Picard's history and the idea behind the story can apply to any of us re youthful regrets.

gambit

Just one of the more fun season seven episodes. Like s1, not saying a whole lot - s7 was fairly weak too - but still this was fun.

parallels

I just like the idea here about what could have been

journey's end

ends the Wesley story started waaaaay back in like the second episode of the series and discusses questions of needs of the many, arbitrary politics lines, forced relocation, and so on

all good things

good episode, wraps things up nicely and has some talk about the human journey and nice time stuff




TNG has so much to offer

[Aaron]

The Wounded is fantastic. I can't remember the episode name but its the one with the super soldier who gets loose and goes and frees his buddies. An allegory to the Vietnam War. Or today where we claim to support or Vets but really just throw them away.

[Manus Dei]

All Good Things is my favourite Trek finale.

"See you...out there!"

[adr]

I can't remember the episode name but its the one with the super soldier who gets loose and goes and frees his buddies.

"The Hunted"

I think that's another season 3 one too. The show really took off that year, so many good episodes.

[Crazedwraith]

the high ground

A terrorism episode where there's no good guys. Makes you think about current events.

Also includes a citation for the IRA being positive terrorism as in Trek verse it reuinted ireland.

needless to say this one frowned upon on the british side of the pond.

[Phantasee]

Don't need a lot of reasons why, just wanted to narrow it down a bit. This is great, thanks!

[Phantasee]

Zod: I've seen the whole series, I just want to catch the highlights since its all on Netflix now.

[Glass Fort MacLeod]

I liked a number of the holodeck episodes of the 'detective' vein, because they often had something interesting and different. Picard as Dixon Hill (much better potential as an 'action hero' story than Captain's Holiday did.) and I enjoyed Data as Sherlock holmes (esp moriarty). ADR mentions Big Goodbye (Dixon Hill) - its a pity it only played a major point once in the series (looking up on Memory Alpha it looks like it only had a few 'guest' appearances in Manhunt and Clues.) Data in Elementary Dear Data and 'Ship in a Bottle' was also good both for Data and the morarity bits - one of their more imaginative opponents as well.

Much of the Borg stuff was also quite good, BoBW was mentioned but more than that. I, Borg was also good. Descent 1 & 2 also wasn't bad, as it mixed Lore and Data themes (always one of the stronger points in TNG) along with the Borg (and I believe picked up from I Borg.. omg continuity!)

I agree the Offspring was quite good too, it was one of the better 'emotional' stories TNG ever did, and the stuff they did with the Q was also interesting (esp since much of it ties into the Borg as well.) I loved De Lancie as Q and has always been for me one of the more memorable aspects of TNG just for the way it shook up the whole TNG paradigm so often. Picard and Q had a very interesting relationship and many of the eps (from the start of the series to the end) added alot of depth and complexity to the series that it often needed. My favorite Q/Picard eps were 'all good things' and the one where Picard is faced with his past when getting that artificial heart in 'Tapestry'.

Unification part 1 and 2 I loved both for Spock getting a role, the continuity (Sela showing up, which is continuity from Yesterday's Enteprise), and an exploration of the Romulans.

Skin of Evil stands out for me as being something reminiscient of TOS as well as for the death of Tasha Yar (first major death of a character). You can pair this up with 'Yesterday's Enterprise' (again continuity) as well as for the fact its such a pivotal point in Federation history (and the source of the tension about what they should do about the Enterprise C and stuff like that.) Plus I also just love Picard's last words as the Klingons demand his surrender.

The Klingon subplots involving the Empire (I forget the eps involved there) or the ones involving Worf and Alexander (or Worf and his family) and such were also worth watching IMHO.

Datalore and Silicon Avatar are also both good for the nemesis as well as the complexity in dealing with it (and revenge being a big issue in Silicon Avatar..)

[Glass Fort MacLeod]

Also to add:

Fistful of Datas.. good worf/Alexander story with some wild-west themes, good holodeck story, and plenty of action and humor to balance it all out.

Time's Arrow: Good pair of stories all around, lots of mystery and the entire team goes back in time, we meet samuel clemens and the mystery of Data's head. Also lots of Guinan because I've been fond of Guinan episodes.

Quality of life because its a data-oriented story and plays on that theme of 'what qualifies as a life' we so often got in trek of that time period.

Thine own self: again a story involving exploration and character development of data, this time in a primitive society. I remember it mainly for the fact that despite the reset button, data was put in a position of sacrifice that still managed to be dramatic and memorable.

Pegasus was good for the tension and the character development of Riker.. i always felt it was kinda a throwback to his development in Best of Both worlds with that whole 'examination of his loyalties' bit. It also adds a bit more to the darker side of the Federation (or at least of individual federation officers). I never cared quite for the 'utopia' angle quite so much and I always liked how TNG challenged that idea (from the Q to the internal political divisions and conflicts over things like Data or colonization or whatever.)

[Oxymoron]

Star Trek : The Data Generation

[Aaron]

It really is to bad that DS9 demolished the progression Worf had as a character in TNG and then had him essentially repeat the same process. Though, to be honest I was pretty damn sick of him by the time DS9 ended.

[adr]

re Descent and Data's character, you might find this internet commentary interesting:
http://blip.tv/confused-matthew/confuse ... ta-6410290

The summary of it is about how Data's journey was mostly treated philosophically, but the emotion chip ruined that by making his big achievement "just plug in that chip lol" rather than a different kind of exploration of what it really means.

I liked Descent as an episode while Confused Matthew (IIRC, I watched this a while ago. EDIT: i just watched it again and he wasn't harsh on the episode as a whole, just the specific data tech parts, which i agree with) ripped into it, but his comments are very interesting anyway.

[Big Orangutan]

Star Trek : The Data Generation

Yeah, a lot seemed to hinge on Brent Spiner's Data.

[Aaron]

Well him and Stewart are the best actors out of the cast.

[Zablorg]

i think geordie is one of my favourite characters

maybe because when he's describing the technobabble i imagine it's a sci-fi version of reading rainbow

"... and the space-time expansion will propel us towards the planet! But you don't have to take my word for it!"

[timmy]

"Tell it to the warp core!"

Can you imagine if Levar Burton had tried to play it hip and they'd let him.