20 years after the original series, Star Trek returned to television in 1987 starring pretty
much a cast of unknowns.
Star Trek: The Next Generation would go on to be a massive success with audiences and
critics alike, winning 19 Emmy Awards, 2 Hugo Awards, 5 Saturn Awards, and a Peabody Award.
7 seasons and 178 episodes later, it is still regarded by many as the peak of Star Trek.
Welcome to the Final Frontier, it gives me great pleasure to bring you the Top 10 episodes
of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Number 10.
I Borg The Enterprise crew discover a crashed scout
ship.
Among the wreck is a single survivor: a young injured Borg.
Taking advantage of this unique opportunity to study the Borg, they restore him to health
and realise they now have an opportunity to use the drone as a weapon of mass destruction
against the Borg, but at what cost?
The Borg are without doubt one of the most dangerous villains ever encountered in all
of science fiction, which is why this story of the ‘humanisation’ of an individual
Borg is so powerful.
And at the heart of the episode lies an age-old moral dilemma – is the murder of one life
justifiable if it will save many others?
This episode features superb performances from Jonathan Del Arco as the innocent ‘Hugh’
and Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan.
Number 9.
Parallels Lt. Worf returns to the Enterprise from a
bat'leth tournament and slowly discovers that he is moving across parallel universes.
This episode was originally conceived as being centered on Picard but changing it to Worf
helped allow the surprise Worf-Troi romance, a relationship that evolved over the final
season of The Next Generation.
However, some fans objected to the pairing as they felt the Riker-Troi relationship was
the correct pairing.
Whatever the case, there can be no doubt that Michael Dorn (who plays Worf) and Marina Sirtis
(who plays Deanna Troi) show some great chemistry in this great episode.
Number 8.
Chain of Command Pt 2 While newly assigned Captain Jellico tries
to whip the Enterprise crew into shape for a confrontation with the Cardassians, Picard
is caught on a secret mission, taken prisoner, and interrogated.
With Deep Space Nine preparing to take to the air, the ‘Chain of Command’ two-parter
was designed to help establish the Cardassians as formidable adversaries.
And boy does it work as we see just how ruthless and cunning the Cardassians are.
A superb story, with elements that resonate strongly with real-world events to this day,
is coupled with some of the finest acting seen in the series, both from Patrick Stewart
and guest stars Ronny Cox and David Warner.
Number 7.
TAPESTRY If you had the opportunity to go back in time
and alter your actions, what would you change?
In Tapestry, Jean-Luc Picard gets precisely that opportunity through Q, and he takes him
up on the offer.
Unfortunately, the outcomes of changing that pivotal moment in his past has unexpected
consequences for the future.
This episode is essentially The Next Generation’s version of A Christmas Carol.
It was the first time that Ronald D Moore had written a Q-based episode and he has described
it as one of the best things he has written and one of TNG's finest episodes.
And I wholeheartedly agree.
Number 6.
Cause and Effect The Enterprise encounters a special anomaly
through which another Federation ship, the USS Bozeman, emerges on a collision course.
The Enterprise is hit and destroyed.
[REPEAT] The Enterprise encounters a special anomaly through which another Federation ship,
the USS Bozeman, emerges on a collision course.
The Enterprise is hit and destroyed….
Wait a sec…
Yes, the Enterprise is caught up in a time loop resulting in its destruction over and
over again.
This episode was unsurprisingly written by Brannon Braga who certainly loves his time
travel.
It was also directed by Jonathan Frakes (aka Cmdr Riker) who did a great job of shooting
the same scenes over and over again but still making them seem fresh.
Kelsey Grammar (well known for his role as Frasier) also cameoed as the captain of the
Bozeman.
Number 5.
Q Who Captain Picard steps off the turbolift and
finds himself on board a shuttlecraft along with Q. Q asks to become part of the crew
but Picard refuses, which leads to Q hurling the Enterprise deep into unknown space.
There they have their first encounter with one of the deadliest foes in the galaxy…
the Borg!
This episode combines two of the greatest foes in The Next Generation’s history: Q
and the Borg.
Interestingly, the Ferengi were initially intended to be the great villains in TNG.
Thankfully, that didn’t quite work out as planned, and instead we were given the incredible
Borg, who would go on to appear in five further episodes of TNG, as well as star in Star Trek:
First Contact.
Number 4.
The Measure of a Man Captain Picard and Commander Riker fight it
out in court to determine Data’s right to self-determination, and to try and prove that
he is more than the sum of his parts, and is truly self-aware.
This incredible episode asks us what exactly is consciousness and how can you prove you
are self-aware.
For many, it is such complex themes that differentiates Star Trek from so many other television shows
out there, and this second season episode clearly set a marker for the rest of
the series.
Number 3.
Yesterday’s Enterprise A rift in space opens, and the USS Enterprise-C
emerges, changing the timeline into a reality where the Federation is in a bitter war with
the Klingon Empire.
The only person on the Enterprise-D who realizes that something is not right is Guinan, and
she must help return the displaced starship to its proper time, in order for the Enterprise-D
crew to save themselves.
This gripping episode sees the return of Tasha Yar who was originally killed without fanfare
in the first season episode ‘Skin of Evil’, and we see her at her best here trying heroically
to save the future…
Number 2.
The Best of Both Worlds Responding to a distress call from a Federation
colony, the crew of the Enterprise arrive to discover the colony has been destroyed.
Suspecting the worst, it is confirmed that the colony was assimilated by the Borg.
Moving to intercept, Captain Picard is captured and assimilated to become ‘Locutus’ of
Borg.
This incredible two parter acted as the finale to season three and the premiere for season
four, and is often regarded by many as the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation,
including by Empire magazine.
So what could possibly have pipped it to the number one slot?
Well, only one of finest pieces of television ever put onto screen…
Number 1.
The Inner Light After being caught in a probe’s energy beam,
Captain Picard finds himself on a distant planet… and this is where I find myself
in a conundrum.
Such is the passion with which I view this episode that, a quarter of a century after
it first aired, I still refuse to spoil the episode for anyone.
So much so, that this scene shown here is actually not from The Inner Light, but a sixth
season episode called Lessons where Picard plays a melody on a flute that is of great
significance in The Inner Light.
When my family and I first watched The Inner Light, it was as if a spell had been cast
over us, such is the magic of this episode.
This is not just the best episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but is one of the
best episodes in the history of television…
So, there we have it, and I know so many of you will ask about what happened to so many
of the other great episodes.
All I can say is a big shout out to Darmok, Deja Q, Timescape, Lower Decks, Ship in a
Bottle and All Good Things for being oh so close to hitting the top 10.
Please comment on the ones you thought should have been there and which episode you would
therefore have taken out.
Although we can disagree with which episodes should be in this Top 10 there is one thing
that I’m sure we can all agree upon, and that is that Star Trek: The Next Generation
was an incredible television series, and one that is missed greatly today.
For more videos on Star Trek and science fiction, please subscribe, and look out for the Worst
10 The Next Generation episodes – coming soon.
Live long and prosper.