What was your favorite episode of Star Trek: TNG?

[RealSNR]

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.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

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.

I was watching that with one of my best friends. We both screamed at the TV, and then turned and screamed at each other. That was brutal. So was the wait to see how it would be resolved.

[keg in kc]

Anything with the Klingons in TNG was awesome.

A Matter of Honor was great, too. The one where Riker was put on a Klingon ship. Season 2 I think.

[Frazod]

Gowron was great. A full-blown, wild-eyed lunatic who didn't give a crap about anything, but almost always did the right thing. At least until his DS9 meltdown.

[keg in kc]

Anybody remember when TNG and DS9 were on the air at the same time. That was like the golden age for Star Trek. Then TNG went off the air, and suddenly DS9 just kept getting better and better.

[Crush]

Reunification Parts I and II

[Predarat]

I did not like the episode where Riker fell for that bi sexual tranny alien or whatever that was, he was a mans man. Always getting the ladies.

[Frazod]

DS9 was generally pretty lame until Worf joined the cast. Then they got dark and bloody and it rocked pretty much constantly until the end. Sisko had a mean streak that sort of set him apart from the other series leads. I liked it.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

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.

You know what it also is? It's the music score. There's something about the crescendo after Riker delivers that line (very well, might I add, considering Frakes is a method-acting whore) and the fade to black and the font and text of "TO BE CONTINUED..." I can't quite put my finger on it, but I do know that if Ron Jones didn't write the music the way he did it wouldn't be as hair-raising as it is.

That's why it's my belief that if Hell is the way Dante describes it, there's going to be a particular section (probably in Circle 7- Violence Against Art) for Rick Berman. He pretty much fired Ron Jones for being too good at his job. I can't fathom why anybody would do that. **** his idea of filmscore aesthetics. If you've got a product like the one Ron Jones made, you're an asshole for getting rid of him.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by frazod

I was watching that with one of my best friends. We both screamed at the TV, and then turned and screamed at each other. That was brutal. So was the wait to see how it would be resolved.

heh, yea....that was around 1990 or so right? Pre internet era....you know, before spoilers, when you actually had to wait until something was broadcast or shown in theaters to know all the secrets. It was painful.

[Hammock Parties]

I think the reason most people had that reaction to Best of Both Worlds is Patrick Stewart.

People were emotionally attached to the character of Picard.

What a great actor...

[keg in kc]

This scene has always stayed with me:

[Crush]

Actually, pretty much any episode that involved the Romulans.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by frazod

DS9 was generally pretty lame until Worf joined the cast. Then they got dark and bloody and it rocked pretty much constantly until the end. Sisko had a mean streak that sort of set him apart from the other series leads. I liked it.

The intrigue on that show was great, and then the war. Totally badass series.

I remember watching that and Babylon 5 every week in college. Nothing quite that cool on right now. We need a good space blow-em-up show.

[Crush]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

This scene has always stayed with me:

That is a classic moment. Damn Cardassians.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

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

Idiots!

Heh. I was too late