The Inner Light.
That is the definitive answer.
Followed by Yesterday's Enterprise, Darmok and so many more.
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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That is my favorite episode hands down. Darmok is probably my second. ;)
A person of culture, I see. 🫖🍵
I relate with the The Inner Light episode so much it hurts. I had a phase where I had dreams where I lived an entire life from childhood, getting married, having kids, to playing with my grandkids and eventually facing my death of old age. And then I'd wake up completely drenched in sweat from exhaustion. Knowing that none of these people I deeply cared about and loved are real; that they're mere figment of my imagination completely devastated me. Though I didn't suddenly learn to play a flute, I can't help but feel that each of these dreams permanently changed me in some way. Even decades after having these dreams, I still feel and it still affects me. I salute to the writer of this episode who probably has had a similar experience as I did.
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The Inner Light is by far my favorite episode. Jean-Luc is visibly changed after his experience.
TIL it is Patrick Stewart's favorite episode of the series.
The name instantly conjures the flute melody.
A wonderful piece of science fiction.
I'd say The Inner Light is almost universally considered the greatest TNG episode, although there are other great ones.
I in particular enjoyed The Measure of a Man, The Drumhead, The Chase, Who Watches The Watchers, Yesterday's Enterprise, The Offspring, The Best of Both Worlds, Darmok, Chain of Command, The Pegasus, Lower Decks, and All Good Things.
Almost certainly the worst episode is Masks (or maybe Shades of Grey)
Also mine!
TNG probably has the largest proportion of gold standard episodes of any Trek series, IMO. There's so many great episodes.
In no particular order, several that come to mind for me are:
- The Best of Both Worlds
- Inner Light
- Tapestry
- Measure of a Man
- Darmok
Darmok is probably my favorite but this list is perfect
If you subbed Darmok for Yesterday's Enterprise then this would probably be my top 5.
Darmok would probably then be in my honourable mentions list, along with Redemption, Unification, Chain of Command, I Borg and All Good Things. The TNG two-parters were almost always gold.
One of the things I really like about TNG is that the longer seasons allowed the writers to take more risks outside of the standard "planet of the week" episodes. Some of my favorite episodes are those that dive deep into some of the lesser seen characters and really flesh them out in a way we don't usually get to see in more modern television. It depends if you're more into this vs the more traditional plots, but if so I hope you'll really like the late season episode "Sub Rosa".
Yes! Sub Rosa is so ridiculous and so amazing at the same time. I love it.
Measure of a Man is great. Buckle up for Season 3 - it is the best season of TNG. Yesterday's Enterprise and Sarek are my personal favorites.
All these are great TNG episodes but no one has mentioned one of my all time favorites…
Relics
Also, the one where O’Brien convinces his former captain to turn himself in because he’s gone rogue and is attacking Cardassian ships during peacetime.
The Wounded!
Starship mine. Just Picard, his ship, some thieves and the uncaring death machine known as the remmler array.
Also bonus points for Tim Russ, data having small talk with hutch, and “ Anyone who is an experienced rider naturally has his own saddle”
Or as I call it, Star Trek: Die Hard
Maybe that’s why I like it so much
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There are so many great episodes to chose from. Since most of the ones I’d pick have already been listed by others, here are my favorites that haven’t been mentioned yet:
- Time’s Arrow
- Cause and Effect
- Relics
- Data’s Day
Time’s Arrow is such a great two-parter, I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet!
Cause and Effect is also my favorite! I remember watching it as a kid when it first aired and being blown away by the mystery and the twist.
Same!
Also the source of a great meme!
Don't think anyone has mentioned this one yet ... "All good things ... ". It'll take you a while to get there as it's the finale of the whole show in S7.
It may not be the best episode or even my favourite, but I adore it as a finale for the show and basically think of it as my favourite finale of any show (anyone care to provide a better one?).
Otherwise I'll plug "Cause and Effect" (5th season). A great little piece of science fiction in a stand alone episode.
Thanks for mentioning All. good Things, great episode and such a perfect end to the series. Can’t think of many shows that ended better.
And also Cause and Effect one of the first I thought of as well!
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Season 3 is where it starts getting good. Who watches the watchers, booby trap, Ensigns of command, yesterday's enterprise, captains holiday, the most toys, sarek, I mean seriously season three is fantastic. Your gonna love it.
Season 3 is your reward for having to sit through Shades of Gray.
Yeah, we don't talk about that episode... Lol
I'd watch Shades of Grey a dozen times over on repeat before wanting to watch Code of Honor.
I'll be honest, it's not tng but ds:9... I love "move along home" and I know it's one of "those episodes".
"Move Along Home" is objectively pretty not great, but I have to admit I really like it too. I appreciate what they were trying to do with it and they just never really got there. It's a plot that I've cribbed for running D&D games in the past when player are unable to make a session. The party gets trapped in the game and the missing player/s is/are the one who's on the outside trying to get them free.
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Booby trap and Yesterday's enterprise are truly where 3 graduates, plus BoBW obviously.
But I actually liked Sins of the Father, it completely rewrote the concept of Klingons, this is the episode that took them from "evil alien stand-in antagonists" to "race with actual character traits and motivations beyond 'KILL!'".
Tin Man too, and the Defector, they both added the Romulans in with more flavor, S3 was actually Romulan heavy even if they weren't onscreen for most of their action (The Enemy had one on screen but not... doing anything).
Yesterday's Enterprise is one of the show's finest episodes.
These are some of my favourites:
The Inner Light
Chain of Command
Sins of the Father
The Most Toys
The Offspring
I mean there are loads of bangers in the whole series and I think it just gets better over time in general but those are some ones that come to mind.
@briongloid @Speckle Great list. Chain of Command is my favorite two-parter also. Patrick Stewart’s performance as Picard deteriorating under torture, but refusing to give in, and still mentally deconstructing his captor is immense. Also we learn a lot about the Cardassians’ militaristic regime, and how much they’ve “dehumanized” their enemies.
Yeah there is a lot of story in there and the whole episode feels gritty. Patrick Stewarts acting is solid from season 2 onwards IMO, but I am quite biased
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Oh boy you are in for a ride. I also started watching TNG like 7-6 years ago from Netflix. Took me at least a year to finish (after which I move to DS9 which is also great).
The beginning of TNG has not aged that well (although it has it's 80s charm) but once the series gets going, it becomes evident why it is considered a classic. Great stuff 90% of the episodes.
Lucky you! 😁
The Drumhead is one of my favorites
Tapestry followed by Yesterday's Enterprise
My most memorable are episodes with Q.
2 has A Matter of Honor and The Emissary, which give a sneak peak behind the curtain of the Klingons Also Contagion, which is kind of a different episode, most episodes in these series are basically re-spins of TOS gen2 scripts and the plots could fit in TOS without too much work, contagion is different, it's a combination mystery/adventure/thriller where Picard's archaeology is the main star.
Q Who is fun, and brings in the Borg, a new type of enemy that isn't simplistically evil like many of the TOS revamps.
Peak Performance is great because the individual characters get to conflict, which is something Roddenbury hated but is fun to see.
3 is better, 4 breaks the pattern a bit, then it levels off.
So many good ones! If you like measure of a man, you'll probably like Drum Head a lot
All of my usual go-to ones have already been said (The Inner Light, Chains of Command, etc.) so I'll add one that I think had not:
Frame of Mind
The ones directed by Jonathan Frakes in general, but that one in particular is just amazing.
Also, I think it's called "Disaster"? The one where Picard is trapped with all the kids and that one girl steps up as "Number One" for the day and then Riker lets her sit in his chair at the end. It's not a perfect episode, but it is just really heartwarming.
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Frame of Mind best captures my own frailties and anxieties of late. Shit, not just of late.
Deja Q because it's Q being probably his most fun alongside the crew still championing the core tennants of the Federation. Given all the trouble he had given them and all the trouble he brought they could have just kicked him out but they didn't. It's a fun episode that works because at this point we know all the characters well.
There are so many great episodes spread throughout the series! Season 6 is my personal favorite with episodes like the Chain of Command two parter, Relics, Frame of Mind, and Tapestry. Along with some some of my favorite sillier episodes like Rascals and Fistful of Datas.
Rascals is actually really problematic. A friend of mine wrote a solid analysis of why a while back; I can try n find it if anyone wants it.
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