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Patrick Stewart didn’t even unpack his suitcase. That’s how certain he was that Star Trek: The Next Generation would fail after one season.
Fortunately, Stewart was wrong. After some initial bumps, TNG became not only a worthy successor to The Original Series but also one of the greatest science fiction shows of all time. TNG launched 178 episodes over seven seasons and four feature films, as well as the Star Trek renaissance that continued through Enterprise.
The series worked in part because it produced a shockingly low amount of stinkers (well, after the first season, anyway). But if you want the best of the best, these are the 20 that truly stand out. It’s a good thing that Stewart decided to stick around.
20. A Fistful of Datas (Season 6, Episode 8)
Holodeck episodes aren’t everyone’s cup of tea of Earl Grey. But for those who like it when Trek gets silly, the holodeck is a great way to replicate the TOS “set on planets that look like Earth in the past” episodes and let the cast stretch their acting muscles. That last part is enough to put the Western homage “A Fistful of Datas” on the list.
Stewart has fun behind the camera as the director and writers Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Brannon Braga manage to pen an Alexander episode that doesn’t make us all hate Worf. But the real appeal here is Marina Sirtis. Where most episodes force Sirtis to sit in a chair and describe the emotions we can all plainly see, “A Fistful of Datas” lets her cut loose as law woman Durango. Sirtis is a delight, making us realize how much we missed in the previous five seasons of lackluster episodes for Troi.
19. Relics (Season 6, Episode 4)
For a show called Star Trek: The Next Generation, TNG didn’t do nearly as much stunt casting as modern legacy sequels. Sure, DeForest Kelly shows up in old age make-up in the clunky series premiere and Kirk outdoes Picard in the movie Generations. But TNG got to blaze its own trail in a way that many legacy shows aren’t allowed to do.
All of which underscores the special nature of “Relics,” which brings Montgomery Scott into the 32nd century. A fun Trekno babble conceit allows Scotty to be the same age he was in the TOS movies, but the real appeal is seeing what the delightful old engineer makes of the Enterprise-D. He and Geordi have genuine chemistry in their scenes together, and the whole thing builds to a recreation of the TOS bridge, a nostalgic moment the series earns.
18. A Matter of Honor (Season 2, Episode 8)
Although Gene Rodenberry switched to the more patrician Captain Picard for TNG, he didn’t leave Kirk’s swagger all the way in the past. Instead, Commander Riker became the brash adventurer of the show, a quality on full display in the season two episode “A Matter of Honor,” directed by Rob Bowman and written by Wanda M. Haight, Gregory W. Amos, and Burton Armus.
“A Matter of Honor” helps flesh out the updated Klingons, still relatively new after the redesign in The Motion Picture, by sending Riker to serve aboard the starship IKS Pagh. Although we’ve had a Federation-friendly Klingon in Worf, the episode shows how the warrior race enacts their own sense of nobility, an environment that suits the overconfident Riker just fine.
17. The Offspring (Season 3, Episode 16)
Even if “The Offspring” wasn’t an excellent Data episode, it would still deserve recognition as the directoral debut of Jonathan Frakes. Frakes would go on to helm First Contact and Insurrection, and several episodes of other series, work that continues to this day.
But “The Offspring” is very much an excellent Data episode, one that best exemplifies his character’s quest to understand human behavior. Frakes and writer René Echevarria follow Data’s experiment in parenthood by creating a child, who takes the form of a woman called Lal (Hallie Todd). While the act of child-rearing does have interesting insights for Data, the most interesting involve the self-determination that Lal demonstrates, underscoring the franchise’s fundamentally liberal concept of humanity.
16. The Wounded (Season 4, Episode 12)
Most people associate Chief Miles O’Brien and the Cardassians with Deep Space Nine, but both of them play central roles in the TNG classic “The Wounded,” which introduces the pivotal alien race. O’Brien’s unlikely rise from transporter chief with one or two lines per episode to a main character on the best Star Trek show happened in part because of the development “The Wounded” gave him.
“The Wounded” guest stars Bob Gunton as Captain Maxwell, under whom O’Brien served during the Cardassian War. Federation orders to host two Cardassian leaders (one played by Marc Alaimo, who will later go on to portray the excellent DS9 villain Gul Dukat) already unnerve the Chief, but it gets worse when Maxwell starts talking about continuing the war. “The Wounded” has a darker tone than most TNG episodes, but its complex look at the fallout of war sets the stage for DS9.
15. The Chase (Season 6, Episode 20)
With a franchise like Star Trek, which has run for decades across multiple media, it’s almost always easier to ignore canon inconsistencies than it is to explain them. “We do not discuss it with outsiders,” as Worf told his DS9 crew mates, is a much better explanation for the distinctions in Klingon designs than the one provided by Enterprise. We don’t need to know why most of the aliens in Star Trek are humanoids with different bits of stuff glued to their faces. It’s because the show had no budget, and that’s good enough.
Yet, somehow, writers Joe Menosky and Ronald D. Moore and director Frakes avoid all the pitfalls with their episode “The Chase.” Following the lead of a beloved archeology professor, Picard and the Enterprise race the Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians for a piece of ancient technology connected to the origin of life. What they find not only explains the similar appearances between all the races, but also shores up the central themes of Star Trek.
14. Qpid (Season 4, Episode 20)
Maybe the real reason that Worf’s explanation of the differing Klingon designs works so well is because the line comes from Michael Dorn, an underrated master of comedy. Because even those who hate Q episodes have to appreciate Worf’s reaction when the all-powerful trickster transforms the bridge crew into characters from Robin Hood. “Sir, I must protest,” barks Worf. “I am not a Merry Man.”
For those who love Q episodes, “Qpid” is a delight. Directed by Cliff Bole and written by Randee Russell and Ira Steven Behr, “Qpid” finds Q doing what he does best, trying to help Picard in the most annoying way possible. Here, it’s reuniting Picard with the adventurer Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) and giving the Captain a chance to do his own swashbuckling. At the very least, “Qpid” offers a much better version of action Picard than any of the TNG movies.
13. Remember Me (Season 4, Episode 5)
Dr. Beverly Crusher is such an important character that casual viewers don’t even remember that Dr. Pulaski was the Chief Medical Officer on the Enterprise-D for an entire season. Important as she is, however, Crusher didn’t get that many great episodes on the show, and I say this as a defender of the sexy candle ghost episode.
When Gates McFadden does get an episode to herself, she absolutely shines, as seen in “Remember Me,” written by Lee Sheldon and directed by Cliff Bole. “Remember Me” plays like a paranoid thriller, in which Crusher notices that her crewmates keep disappearing from the ship. Worse, no one will acknowledge that the crewpeople ever existed. McFadden plays up Crusher’s logical mind and inner strength, allowing her to solve a mystery that eluded everyone else on the Enterprise.
12. I, Borg (Season 5, Episode 23)
One of the advantages of keeping the Borg distant and unknowable was that it allowed for episodes such as “I, Borg.” In the episode directed by Robert Lederman and written by René Echevarria, a drone (Jonathan Del Arco) becomes disconnected from the collective and lands on the Enterprise. As Geordi works to uncover the drone’s identity, inadvertently giving him the name “Hugh” along the way, the story hits one of the most enduring Trek themes: explorations on the nature of humanity.
However, “I, Borg” ties that question to an ethical issue, when Picard learns that Hugh’s identity can act as something of a virus to the Borg. Do they use Hugh as a weapon to destroy a threat to the universe? Or do they preserve humanity by honoring it in Hugh and his decisions?
11. Lower Decks (Season 7, Episode 15)
“Lower Decks” ranked among the best TNG episodes even before the concept launched the excellent animated series, largely because it underscored the wonderful ensemble show that the series had become. Like TOS, TNG launched with a primary trio—Picard, Geordi, and Riker instead of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy—but over the course of the series, the dynamics shifted, with several other characters earning the spotlight.
With “Lower Decks,” director Gabrielle Beaumont and writer René Echevarria (Ronald Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias get a story credit) prove the power of the ensemble with a story that hardly features the main cast at all. Instead, we spend time with a quartet of ensigns who do the less glamorous jobs on Federation missions. With “Lower Decks,” Star Trek changes from a franchise known for its disposable red shirts into a series where everyone, not just the bridge crew, matters.
10. The Inner Light (Season 5, Episode 25)
If anyone thinks that the “O’Brien Must Suffer” dictum at Deep Space Nine is overstated, just contrast DS9‘s “Hard Time” to TNG‘s “The Inner Light.” In “Hard Time,” O’Brien gets implanted with memories of spending 20 years in prison, which makes him feel like he aged two decades alone. In “The Inner Light,” Picard lives four decades of a full life in just 25 minutes.
Which isn’t to say that “The Inner Light” is escapist fantasy. On the contrary, director Peter Lauritson and writers Morgan Gendel and Peter Allan Fields find pathos in not just the life taken from Picard, but also the life he could have had if not in the stars.
9. The Measure of a Man (Season 2, Episode 9)
Trekkies use the shorthand “Growing the Beard” to describe the moment a series gets good, pointing to the facial hair that Riker sports from season two until Star Trek: Insurrection as the turning point for TNG. But really, the phrase should be “Defending the Data,” because that’s when Captain Picard became Captain Picard.
“The Measure of a Man” establishes Picard’s greatest skill, giving passionate defenses of his crew, while also addressing a tried and true sci-fi premise. When a Starfleet official arrives on the Enterprise-D to claim Data for experimentation, Picard must argue for his autonomy as a person. The episode climax with one of Picard’s best speeches and an affirmation of Federation principles, cementing his place as a great captain.
8. Preemptive Strike (Season 7, Episode 24)
Of all the supporting characters to visit TNG over the years, none can match Ro Laren, the defiant Bajoran who joined the crew in season five. Portrayed by Michelle Forbes, Ro tests the limits of Starfleet principles with her justifiable anger at the Cardassians. As the Captain himself would admit much, much later in the third season of Picard, Ro’s resistance made him a better leader.
Ro stayed true to her disruptive principles right to the end, her final TNG episode “Preemptive Strike.” Sent to infiltrate the anti-Federation militants the Maquis. Instead of siding with Starfleet, Ro finds herself sympathetic to the Maquis and stays with them. Her decision sets the stage for storylines on Deep Space Nine and puts some pressure on the franchise’s central ethos.
7. Cause and Effect (Season 5, Episode 18)
“Cause and Effect” starts with one of the best cold opens in franchise history: the Enterprise explodes. More than just a bit of empty shock value, the explosion leads into not just a solid time-loop story, but also a great Data episode. Each time reality resets, Data must trace clues he left for himself to figure out the reason that his ship exploded.
Anyone reading this list probably knows that the explosion is caused by (SPOILER, just in case) the USS Bozeman, a TOS movie era ship under the command of Morgan Bateson (Kelsey Grammer). The Bozeman reveal remains one of the best moments of the series, a satisfying conclusion that links the present and the past.
6. The First Duty (Season 5, Episode 19)
“The First Duty” combines two of Trekkies’ favorite parts of TNG: Picard making a powerful argument and Picard chewing out Wesley. Written by Ronald D. Moore and Naren Shankar and directed by Paul Lynch, “The First Duty” follows Picard to Starfleet Academy to give a commencement address and check in on Wesley. However, bad things are afoot at the Academy, because Wesley allowed Tom Paris Nick Locarno to bully him into participating in a dangerous maneuver that left one cadet dead.
Of course, the standout moments in “The First Duty” involve Picard reconnecting with groundskeeper Boothby and giving a fantastic speech, but the entire episode serves as a celebration of Starfleet principles. In fact, future Trek writers should be required to rewatch “The First Duty” before pitching another Section 31 story.
5. Yesterday’s Enterprise (Season 3, Episode 15)
Tasha Yar never got the chance for character development like other members of TNG’s first crew, thanks to performer Denise Crosby’s early exit during the first season. Yet, the show never forgot about her, often bringing her back in some form or another. The best of those returns occurred in season 3’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” in which Yar serves aboard an Enterprise from a darker alternate timeline.
“Yesterday’s Enterprise” doesn’t just bring back Yar, but it also gives her more character development than any of her previous episodes combined. As she realizes that her death prevented the war-torn reality that she knows, Yar has a chance to make a heroic sacrifice, transforming her from the show’s first casualty to one of the series’ greats.
4. Chain of Command (Season 6, Episodes 10 and 11)
“Chain of Command” comes in at number five… just kidding. Of course, “Chain of Command” finds Picard captured and interrogated by Gul Madred (all-time great David Warner). Yes, DS9 and Gul Dukat will reveal the full evil of the Cardassians, but Madred serves as a chilling forerunner. It’s not the physical abuse that Picard endures at the hands of Madred. It’s the psychological torment that chills viewers, as Madred seeks to undermine Picard’s duty to the truth, even if it’s a truth as simple as the number of lights he sees.
If “Chain of Command” was just about Picard and Madred, it would make this list. But writers Frank Abatemarco and Ronald D. Moore and directors Robert Scheerer and Les Landau flesh out the story by putting the crew through their paces, too. When Captain Jellico takes command of the Enterprise, he whips the crew into shape, even finally getting Troi into a proper uniform and setting Riker on a path that leads to the USS Titan.
3. All Good Things… (Season 7, Episodes 25 and 26)
TNG doesn’t end on quite the low note with which it began, but there’s no question that the series dipped in quality for season seven. That said, it closed with a perfect pair of episodes, a finale so good that all four movies and even Star Trek: Picard feel extraneous.
Directed by Winrich Kolbe and written by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, “All Good Things…” wraps up the show by exploring what it always did best, building the ensemble and showing how far humanity can go. Sending Picard across three timelines not only assures us of the cast’s future, but also confirms that the crew matters, that the final frontier has been the human experience all along.
2. The Best of Both Worlds (Season 3, Episode 26 and Season 4, Episode 1)
Picard’s TNG story came to an end with him sitting down to play cards with his crew. But it almost had another, very different ending, one closer to Stewart’s lack of confidence in the series. Stewart’s contract came to an end after season three, and no new agreement could be reached before filming the finale. Thus, part one of “Best of Both Worlds” ends with Picard assimilated by the Borg, and Commander Riker ordering the Enterprise to fire on their Captain.
If there’s one drawback to “The Best of Both Worlds,” it’s that the second half doesn’t match the heights of the first, especially that chilling shot on Riker delivering his order. Yet, the two parter gave Picard a proper vulnerability (no one cares about his mechanical heart) and established the crew as more than an extension of their captain.
1. Darmok (Season 5, Episode 2)
“Darmok” doesn’t try for the stakes of the other episodes in the top five. There’s no Borg attack, no time travel shenanigans, no Cardassian plot. It’s just a simple premise, with Picard stranded on a planet with another alien. Such scenarios are nothing new to Star Trek, going all the way back to “Arena” in TOS. But “Darmok” stands out because it investigates the franchise’s commitment to communication and understanding.
Directed by Winrich Kolbe and written by Joe Menosky and Phillip LaZebnik, most of “Darmok” is about Picard learning how to talk with his fellow castaway. The great Paul Winfield plays a Tamarian, who speaks only in allegory, including “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.” As Picard works through the differences, and his own frustrations, he finds the connection worth the struggle, a point Star Trek has been making since the first generation.
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