The Inner Light.
That is the definitive answer.
Followed by Yesterday's Enterprise, Darmok and so many more.
I concur!
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.
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.
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)
The name instantly conjures the flute melody.
A wonderful piece of science fiction.
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:
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.
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.
I had to scroll way too far before someone mentioned Chain of Command. Lol.
Chain of command is my absolute favorite. There’s just so much going on in those two episodes that I could go on about it all day.
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
Or Trek Hard
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 is such a great two-parter, I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet!
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.
Frame of Mind best captures my own frailties and anxieties of late. Shit, not just of late.
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.
Respectfully, I hated Frame of Mind, although I can certainly understand why some people would enjoy it. I just felt as frustrated watching it as Riker was in it.
Tapestry followed by Yesterday's Enterprise
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.
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).
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.
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
I get misty just thinking about the last scene.
"Five card stud, nothing wild... and the sky's the limit."
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.
I just watched S03E16 "The Offspring"
I enjoyed it a lot.
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