I've Watched Every Star Trek TNG Episode—These Are the 10 Best

Star Trek: The Next Generation is my generation's Trek. It was and remains my favorite series in the franchise, and not too long ago I finally realized my dream of owning the full series remastered on Blu-ray.

Having taken the time to watch the entire thing again in glorious HD, and with every episode refreshed in my mind, I think it's time to pick out the ten best episodes in the series.

 a Man (Season 2, Episode 9)

Since the original series featuring Captain Kirk, Star Trek has always dealt with some pretty philosophical subjects for a TV show. It's easy to forget that sci-fi on TV or in movies was really superficial and shlocky up to that point.

Season 2's The Measure of a Man is peak Trek. Most of the episode plays out in a courtroom, and the issue at hand is whether the android Data is property or a person. If Data is ruled to be nothing more than Starfleet property, he'll be dismantled for study, and the show really gets into the nuts and bolts of what it means to be sentient. It feels more relevant today in the age of AI than ever.

What really got me about this episode, however, is how it shows that the values of the Federation don't always live up to the practice of it. You'd think that the ultra-progressive Federation would never even doubt Data's right to life and autonomy, but human nature being what it is, there are still people who'll tie themselves in philosophical knots if the ends justify the means.

9Darmok (Season 5, Episode 2)

One of the most famous episodes ever, and one of the few that broke containment outside the Trek fandom, Darmok tackles the question of how aliens with a very different conception of reality can communicate with each other. The Tamarians speak words that the universal translator can turn into English, but the actual meaning of their phrases is not apparent. What does "Shaka, when the walls fell." actually mean?

Picard eventually figures out the gimmick of the Tamarian language, but not without a major sacrifice. There are, of course, lots of plot holes in this one, so it's best not to think too hard about how this would all actually work. However, the actual questions posed by the episode, and the stellar performances, raise it to the top of the TNG episode ranking. It's like Arrival, but on a TV budget.

8The Offspring (Season 3, Episode 16)

The Offspring is a memorable episode for me for a few reasons. Not least of which is that I missed the second half of this episode, the first time it aired in my country, and had to wait years before I got to see it again. Remember missing TV show episodes?

Anyway, in this episode, Data expressed the desire to procreate, and it doesn't involve showing Tasha Yar how "fully functional" he is. Thanks to advances in the Federation's cybernetics technology, Data thinks it's finally possible to build himself a child. Named "Lal", this new android is at first a blank template, and Data leaves it up to them to choose not only their gender, but also species.

Lal decides to present as a human female, and Data goes through the process of raising her. This episode does a good job of asking why we would treat this form of procreation differently from natural methods, and it also opens the same can of worms that The Measure of a Man did, when a Starfleet admiral tries to forcibly remove Lal, and Picard has to remind him that Data's rights have been affirmed, and he's basically trying to take away someone's child.

However, we aren't treated to another lengthy court case, but instead a bittersweet daemon ex machina resolves the issue.

7The Inner Light (Season 5, Episode 25)

Don't put the Kleenex from watching The Offspring away just yet, because in The Inner Light you'll have to face up against loss, you own mortality, and questions about what's real and what isn't—fun!

Picard is zapped by an energy beam from an alien space probe and wakes up as an alien man from a planet called Kataan. Seeing no other way out, Picard lives as Kamin, the iron weaver. He marries, has children, and learns to play the flute.

Kamin notices that an environmental disaster is coming, and eventually the government admits it knew all along, but can't do anything about it. The planet's life will go extinct. The people of Kataan decide to create a probe and transfer the memories of their people to it, so someone out there will know they existed. Picard awakens after living for decades in the simulated world, but only 25 minutes have passed in the real world. It's pretty harrowing to think about, but at least the Captain now knows how to play the flute. A flute that makes a cameo in many episodes later.

6Who Watches the Watchers (Season 3, Episode 4)

The "Prime Directive" of Starfleet is a strict policy of non-interference by Starfleet with cultures that haven't yet developed warp technology on their own. This has been a great source of conflict for episodes, and while the Prime Directive forbids direct interference, it apparently doesn't prohibit spying on these more primitive cultures for scientific reasons, because apparently privacy is only a right afforded to those with space ships.

In Who Watches the Watchers one of these hidden observation stations is compromised, and Starfleet personnel are exposed to some proto-Vulcans on the planet Mintaka. One of the Mintakans needs medical attention on the ship, and ends up remembering this alien abduction, bringing home the story of "the Picard—a god capable of miracles.

So, Picard and his crew have to try and undo the damage they've done, and part of that solution is simply treating the Mintakans like grownups, but the episode brings up some uncomfortable questions about our own history of dealing with people in civilizations who weren't as technologically advanced.

5Datalore (Season 1, Episode 12)

Datalore is one of the few truly great episodes from the much-troubled first season. It's a crucial part of Data's backstory, where we learn more about where the enigmatic android comes from, and why Starfleet isn't swarming with Datas.

This is the one where we meet "Lore", Data's older brother. This is basically an evil twin plot that feels related to the bearded evil Spock thing they had going on in TOS. However, it's only a vague similarity. The best part of this is how we get to see Brent Spiner's true range, as he switches from the neutral, emotionless Data to the sneering, evil Lore.

4Chain of Command (Season 6, Episodes 10 & 11)

This two-parter does a lot of heavy lifting in the TNG canon. Not only do we meet one of the most reviled characters in Star Trek—Captain Jellico—played to perfection by Ronnie Cox of Robocop fame, it's also the origin of the famous "There are FOUR lights!" meme.

Captain Picard is captured and tortured by Cardassians while on a covert mission, during which Jellico is given temporary command of the Enterprise. Jellico won't admit that Picard was on an official Starfleet mission, and so he gets no rights as a prisoner of war and therefore has to undergo relentless torture.

Picard is rescued in the nick of time, and Jellico is ousted from the captain's chair, but in private Picard admits to the ship's counselor that he had in fact been broken, and if the rescue had come a moment later he would have told them everything.

This one is pretty heavy, and deals with subject matter that's perfectly at home in any realistic and gritty war movie, but it's also one of Patrick Stewart's absolutely best performances in the role.

3Q Who (Season 2, Episode 16)

The godlike being Q, who features in the very first episode of TNG as humanity's judge, returns with a demand to join the Enterprise's crew, ostensibly because he fears that Picard doesn't appreciate the dangers of the new regions of space they are exploring.

Picard blows Q off, which makes the omnipotent jerk throw the Enterprise so far away that it would take two years at maximum warp to reach the nearest star base. It's here that the Enterprise encounters the Borg for the first time, and in this first encounter they are absolutely terrifying.

Q yoinks them back to safety, but now the Borg know about the Federation, and they are coming. This episode scared the heck out of me as a kid in the 90s, and it's still effective at portraying one of sci-fi's greatest villains today, until later Trek portrayals of the Borg sort of ruined them.

2I, Borg (Season 5, Episode 23)

This episode was crucial in elaborating the lore of the Borg and how they work. The Enterprise rescues an isolated Borg drone called "Third of Five", but who later takes on the name "Hugh" as he slowly and painfully regains his individuality. Hugh is a great character, but the other part of the plot that makes this episode great is the proposed plan to booby-trap Hugh with a logic bomb, so that when he returns to the collective it will spread and wipe out the Borg. Basically, it's the virus plot from Independence Day.

This brings up the dilemma of trying to save civilization from the Borg or committing genocide against the Borg. In a lesser sci-fi show this wouldn't even be an issue, but this is Star Trek, by Riker's beard, and here we try to do the moral thing.

1 Day (Season 4, Episode 11)

I prefer Data's Day to Lower Decks (Season 7, Episode 15) as the best episode that shows us a little more of what the more mundane part of ship's life is like on the Enterprise, and it's yet another episode that further develop's Data's character. There's a subplot involving a Romulan sleeper agent, but really this is all about how Data spends his day on the ship living among the crew.

This episode revolves around the wedding of Transporter Chief Miles O'Brian and Keiko Ishikawa. Data is asked to give the bride away, so he spends his time learning what he needs to do during the wedding in this role. Oh yes, and he solves that whole Romulan agent murder mystery thing in between tap and ballroom lessons.Picking just ten episodes from the whole TNG series is hard. Well, apart from the first season, which is mostly bad episodes with a few gems. Honestly, it's a miracle a second season was made, but man am I glad they persevered.