What was your favorite episode of Star Trek: TNG?
 

Okay okay okay... quit calling me late to the party. I do this with every popular show out there-- I start watching after it's been off the air for at least a few years. I did it with Frasier, Red Dwarf (although there are new episodes being made) and now I'm doing it with the Star Trek franchise. Back off. I know there are Star Trek fans on this forum, and if you've noticed my posting style (although I have no idea why you would) a lot of my posts are Star Trek-centric. This is why:

My job in the past few months had late hours, so I'd get home and be able to watch one episode per day at 1 in the morning. But man, it was great. I just turned it on one day and started watching and never stopped. Anyway, the series has run its cycle now. I've seen all seven seasons plus the movies (except for Insurrection, which I'll get around to eventually). I've also seen the new one by JJ Abrams. At the moment I'm slowly progressing through DS9 and a handful of the original series.

But until I get through it all, I know TNG is pretty much the only series beloved by ALL Trek fans, not just some.

Here are my personal top 5 episodes in no particular order. I couldn't rank them accurately.

1. "The Most Toys" (S3E22)- There's nothing incredibly powerful or ground-breaking about the plot or the way it was written. But it's very dramatic and quite colorful, which I think is what Star Trek is all about. I kind of have a weakness for Data-centered episodes, and this one is particularly good. It's odd, esoteric, and particularly intense considering he's being held captive as an object in a collection of toys, when really he's the being with the highest code of ethics on the entire rogue ship

2. "The Silicon Avatar" (S5E4)- Perhaps the most tragic of all the TNG episodes. I mean, TNG does this all the time where something bad happens but it ends on a hopeful note- Tasha Yar's death, Worf's vengeance against Duras, etc. Not in this one. It ends on a tragic note, with the doctor now only left to her own madness and questioning of her actions for the rest of her life.

3. "Yesterday's Enterprise" (S3E15)- This episode is on most peoples' lists. I normally hate causality/time travel shit in sci-fi movies/stories. It almost never works out. Here it DOES work out and it's absolutely brilliant. People claim that Picard's decision-making is totally irrational and not at all what a starfleet officer would even consider. Well guess what? He's Picard, and when his back is to the wall he often makes decisions that violate starfleet regulation/the prime directive. And it's not THAT unrealistic. He knows what Guinan is capable of and he also knows that the Federation is going to lose the war. May as well send Tasha Yar back, right?

4. "The Chase" (S6E20)- This is one of those episodes that years from now will be considered genius in a Jules Verne kind of way. This is exactly what science fiction is all about- create a universe and try to explain it. If/when humans discover life elsewhere in the universe we're going to have to answer some real tough biological questions. In the Star Trek universe, this one does a brilliant job of it. I was totally blown away. That takes some real creative-ass minds to think of that kind of shit.

5. "I, Borg" (S5E23)- I chose this borg episode instead of The Best of Both Worlds mainly because it exposes a different side to the story instead of just "We need to find a way to kill the borg nao!" And that different story is: "When we DO find a way to eradicate the borg, are we going to have the balls to do it?" Picard's actions in this episode come up time and time again later in the series/movies (especially First Contact, obviously) and here is one of the most questionable decisions he makes in his entire career as captain of the Enterprise. And yet it's so well-written that viewers of this episode more often than not finding themselves siding with Picard, even though they face a fictional race/character who is more violent, hated, and ire-raising than Nazis.

These are just some episodes I brought up. I'm not bringing up more incase this thread dies quickly. I've already wasted enough time typing this out as it is.

Best of Both Worlds part 1 and 2.

I also liked the one where Picard lives an entire lifetime in just a few minutes.

This works for me. The most action of the series.

Definitely.

Although there are a ton of episodes I used to like (been years since I watched any...).

I'm actually recording both parts of Best of Both Worlds in the next couple of days on BBC America.

(I, Borg was just on a couple of days ago. Taped that one as well).

All Good Things...

One of the best series finales ever.

And pretty much any episode with Q is baller.

I think maybe my favorite ever is Reunification, parts 1 and 2. Picard and Data being badass spies, Nimoy doing a bunch of cool shit, and other than Picard's borg transformation it probably has the best cliffhanger ending to the first part of a two-parter in series history. I positively SQUEALED when Nimoy came out of the shadows and said "It seems you have found him, Captain Picard" the first time I saw this episode.

Honorable mention: Descent parts 1 and 2. The first episode is amazing. The second is a bit of a let down.

Any episode with Q
The Tribbles
Yesterdays Enterprise

And the worst episodes? Anything featuring Wesley Crusher.

Biggest blue balls episode? Conspiracy, from near the end of season 1. I remember (at the time!) thinking how awesome it was to have Starfleet infiltrated by mind control aliens. And then....nothing ever happened with them ever again.

(I think they were originally supposed to be the 'big bad' that the Borg were)

Ill probably get flamed, but i never really got into the Next Generation much nor any of the series after.

Im an Original Series guy all the way as cheesy as it is. Nothing will ever top the Kirk/Spock/McCoy Bromance.

First time I saw the end of part 1 I had chills for like... 10 minutes. I imagined myself watching this episode when it came out and having to wait until NEXT season to find out the conclusion. That would have driven me nuts.

Not that we all haven't seen this 1000 times, but here it is just to enjoy it again:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w7KFfbjg3Iw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There are actually some good episodes with Wesley.

I like the one where he and Picard hole up in a cave.

It was freaking torture.

The X-files used to do shit like that, too.

And Battlestar Galactica's season one cliffhanger, maybe the harshest ever. It's like "oh shit" and then "see you again in a year!"

Ditto on the Best of Both Worlds cliffhanger.

I remember watching it...I was about 10...and I was thinking "no way do they let it end like this."

And Picard delivers his line...and I'm in shock...and Riker says "Mr. Worf....fire."

And I'm thinking "**** this is going to own."

TO BE CONTINUED

And I screamed out loud. I was so ****ing infuriated. ROFL

Writers strike didn't help on bringing them back...

Yesterday's Enterprise will always be my favorite.

Other top episodes:
Best of Both Worlds (best cliffhanger in television history)
Reunion
Inner Light
The Measure of a Man
The Wounded
Deja Q
Redemption
Silicon Avatar
Sins of the Father

I really liked the arc about Worf losing and then regaining his honor and the Klingon-centric stories in general. Gawron and K'Ehleyr are probably my two favorite recurring characters.

Plus K'Ehleyr was hotter than a ruptured plasma conduit. :drool:

Worst thing about that cliffhanger...they fired the composer who composed that music. ROFL

Idiots!