List of the best ST: TNG episodes

[Joutou43]

Hi,

I want to see the best of Star Trek: TNG without going through to the whole series so I am looking for a list of the best ST:TNG episodes to watch.

I have found such list of the 25 best episodes online:

http://whatculture.com/tv/star-trek-top-25-next-generation-episodes.php/14

Do you agree with it and have you any other suggestions?

PS: I want the best of the best and would like to see those borgs too.

 

[Ro_Laren]

Hi,

I want to see the best of Star Trek: TNG without going through to the whole series so I am looking for a list of the best ST:TNG episodes to watch.

I have found such list of the 25 best episodes online:

http://whatculture.com/tv/star-trek-top-25-next-generation-episodes.php/14

Do you agree with it and have you any other suggestions?

PS: I want the best of the best and would like to see those borgs too.

Why don't you want to watch the whole series? It's worth it!

I didn't go through the list since it would take forever to get through, but I will say that my favorite TNG episode is from Season 3: Yesterday's Enterprise!

 

[The Old Mixer]

I only agree with about half of that list. Everyone has their favorites. That said, I recently wanted to put together a list of roughly the 20 best episodes of the series, and dug up an old thread here where everyone gave their personal top 20. I did a tally of which episodes got the most mentions and mostly based my list on that, with a little tweaking for my personal opinion. In chronological order, the top 21 or 22 (depending on whether you count AGT as one or two episodes, as it originally aired as one):

1) The Measure of a Man (2x09)
2) Q Who (2x16)
3) The Defector (3x10)
4) Yesterday's Enterprise (3x15)
5) Sins of the Father (3x17)
6) Sarek (3x23)
7) The Best of Both Worlds (3x26)
8) The Best of Both Worlds: Part II (4x01)
9) Family (4x02)
10) The Wounded (4x12)
11) The Drumhead (4x21)
12) Darmok (5x02)
13) Cause and Effect (5x18)
14) The Inner Light (5x25)
15) Chain of Command, Part 1 (6x10)
16) Chain of Command, Part II (6x11)
17) Tapestry (6x15)
18) Parallels (7x11)
19) The Pegasus (7x12)
20) Lower Decks (7x15)
21) All Good Things... (7x25/26)

Honorable mention: If you want to see how the Worf arc that starts in "Sins of the Father" plays out, add these episodes:

Reunion (4x07)
Redemption I (4x26)
Redemption II (5x01)

 

[Runetouch]

The Best of Both Worlds is the best TNG episode.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Why don't you want to watch the whole series? It's worth it!

... AGREED!!!
Taken in whole, or in part, I find The Next Generation to be supremely satisfying! This particular series is a stellar role call of some of the best stars in Hollywood, at the time. Knowing this series fairly well, I can tell you - with a high degree of confidence - that you won't want to miss a thing!

 

[The Old Mixer]

This particular series is a stellar role call of some of the best stars in Hollywood, at the time.

That's laying it on a bit thick....

 

[Runetouch]

TNG season 1 was bad. Only like 3 or 4 episodes were good. So I wouldn't recommend seeing all of TNG.

 

[HaventGotALife]

I'm not going to rank them. I love this show and it's like picking between my kids (if I had any, but I've heard).

Encounter at Farpoint
Where No One Has Gone Before
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
Skin of Evil
The Measure of a Man
Q Who
Who Watches the Watchers?
The Bonding
Déjà Q
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Offspring
Sins of the Father
Transfigurations (A Bev Crusher episode I like!)
BOBW I and II
Family
Reunion
Data's Day
The Wounded
Clues
First Contact
Galaxy's Child (b-story rocks!)
The Nth Degree
The Drumhead
Half a Life
The Host
Redemption I and II
Darmok
Ensign Ro
Unification I and II
Hero Worship
Eithics
The Outcast
Cause and Effect
The First Duty
I, Borg
The Inner Light
Chain of Command, I and II
Tapestry
Lessons
Journey's End
Dark Page
Parallels
Lower Decks
Masks
Firstborn
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

Those are the episodes that I would watch more than once in a single sitting.

 

[PhoenixClass]

I would add The Drumhead and The Ensigns of Command to the OP's list. Also, I really enjoy watching Devil's Due. I know it doesn't have the important themes of other episodes, but I find it really fun to watch.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I was just watching DRUMHEAD and it occurred to me that Jean Simmons was one of the biggest HOLLYWOOD legends that TNG ever got on the show. Isn't that right?

They certainly used her to effect, but I hated her outfits. Particularly that one thing that jutted up and out from her shoulders. Maybe they put her in those creations so that the audience would think she was nuts just by her fashion sense. And it's such a shame that her character's Daddy Issues are only there to give Picard a devistating blow against her. It serves no other purpose and someone this out to hurt the innocent wouldn't have left herself so open to attack. Certainly not by the likes of The Good Captain, when she boasts how, "I've taken down bigger men than YOU, Picard!" Yes. Yes, of course you have.

I'm trying to think who else might've been that legendary, from Hollywood's heyday ... from what I've gathered, actually, Admiral Jameson's wife from "Too Short a Season" was actually a mover and shaker in her time. She'd done alot to fight so-called "blacklisting" of celebs, if I recall. And her performance in that episode is wholly unremarkable. But she was a cutey in her day ... I'm sure she was a force to reckon with. Not unlike Admiral Satie!

 

[Mojochi]

25 Brothers
24 The Battle
23 Where Silence Has Lease
22 Relics
21 Contagion
20 Parallels
19 The Wounded
18 Gambit
17 Schisms
16 Phantasms
15 Datalore
14 Time Squared
13 The Pegasus
12 No One Has Gone Before
11 Ship in a Bottle
10 Conspiracy
9 I Borg
8 Chain of Command
7 Measure of a Man
6 All Good Things
5 The Defector
4 Q who
3 The Inner Iight
2 Yesterday's Enterprise
1 The Best of Both Worlds

I agree that the entire show is worth watching. Their list isn't bad, however...

Although they're not bad, I'd pull these 6

The Battle
Relics
Contagion
Gambit
Phantasms
Time Squared
Ship in a Bottle

And I'd add these 6

Sarek
The Drumhead
Cause & Effect
Darmok
Redemption
The Enemy
The Offspring

That would round out my top 25

 

[Lance]

The Best of Both Worlds is the best TNG episode.

I do agree in regards to Part 1, but the second part does dilute the appeal of the overall story somewhat IMO (inevitably, I hasten to add; it would be almost impossible to top *that* cliffhanger without it coming across as a bit of a let-down).

 

[jpm1701]

I would suggest that the episode The Cost of Living also be added to this list

 

[Qonundrum]

Hi,

I want to see the best of Star Trek: TNG without going through to the whole series so I am looking for a list of the best ST:TNG episodes to watch.

I have found such list of the 25 best episodes online:

http://whatculture.com/tv/star-trek-top-25-next-generation-episodes.php/14

Do you agree with it and have you any other suggestions?

PS: I want the best of the best and would like to see those borgs too.

What @Ro Laren said, as fan consensus is like a room full of people smoking Marlboro, you whip out a Winston, they all glare, and three buildings away a group of tobacco chewers think everyone in the room is nuts... never mind what they think in the clinic three miles away... or even what ALF would say, since he smokes cats. But the best of the best is still objective.

...but I will opine my favorites - and from memory. Not Memory Alpha.

Where No One Has Gone Before
Datalore (and note how I've ragged on it in the past, the story is more than the sum of its parts - no pun intended)
11001001
Coming of Age
Home Soil
Conspiracy
The Arsenal of Freedom
Skin of Evil (it's refreshingly different, even if the ending is more saccharine than all of season three of "The Brady Bunch" combined)
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary Dear Data
Loud as a Whisper
The Dauphin
Pen Pals (despite the final scene, which is cringe, which reminds me of that other post...)
Time Squared
Contagion
Q Who
The Emissary
The Survivors
Booby Trap
The Most Toys
Yesterday's Enterprise
The Best of Both Worlds
The Mind's Eye
The Game
Powerplay (despite the incidental music, which tries to drive the episode down)
The Next Phase
Relics
The Pegasus
All Good Things

 

[Warp 10 (Pepperoni)]

I think that once you've seen a fair few of the best episodes that you'll be hooked enough to want to see them all. Even bad TNG episodes have a lot to love about them. My personal top 25, in chronological order:

A Matter of Honor (Season 2)
The Measure of a Man (Season 2)
Yesterday's Enterprise (Season 3)
The Offspring (Season 3)
Sins of the Father (Season 3)
The Most Toys (Season 3)
Best of Both Worlds Part 1 (Season 3)
Devil's Due (Season 4)
The Drumhead (Season 4)
Darmok (Season 5)
Silicon Avatar (Season 5)
Disaster (Season 5)
Conundrum (Season 5)
Cause and Effect (Season 5)
The Inner Light (Season 5)
A Fistful of Datas (Season 6)
Ship in a Bottle (Season 6)
Face of the Enemy (Season 6)
Starship Mine (Season 6)
Second Chances (Season 6)
Timescape (Season 6)
Inheritance (Season 7)
Parallels (Season 7)
The Pegasus (Season 7)
Thine Own Self (Season 7)

 

[Herbert]

I would suggest that the episode The Cost of Living also be added to this list

no Lwaxana episode should be anywhere near a best episodes list. This episode exemplifies everything wrong with the later seasons of TNG. What a snoozefest.

TNG season 1 was bad. Only like 3 or 4 episodes were good. So I wouldn't recommend seeing all of TNG.

Harumph I say! Harumph!! I wholeheartedly endorse season one. It has that feel of space exploration that was sorely missed and badly needed in later seasons.

 

[PoorSailorsAirline]

So far, all the recommendations I've seen are really good ones. Everyone is going to have their own opinions, for example, I might be one of the few people not named Roddenberry who actually loves the Lwaxana episodes, so my opinion comes with a grain of salt.

But I'll add to the list...just because it's fun to be contrary...once you've watched the stellar recommendations above, all really solid stories, well-acted, just great stuff... There are so, so many references you'll see around online that will make more sense if you buckle up and force yourself to watch Code of Honour, Angel One, and Justice. Absolutely dreadful, almost universally panned by everyone involved in hindsight. But once you've really enjoyed just how great the show can be, it's a maudlin twist of irony to watch three of the worst hours of television to ever come out of the late 1980s.

 

[Oddish]

Say what you want about "Angel One", at least it didn't pretend that a society could develop full gender equality overnight.

 

[Quantum21]

I'd have had some of those episodes on my list at one point or another, so can't fault that. My final list was probably closer to the one the mod posted.

 

[Qonundrum]

I would suggest that the episode The Cost of Living also be added to this list

The Lwaxana stories were generally average (the earlier seasons are the better ones IMHO). "Cost of Living" is okay, but "Half a Life" gives her (IMHO) the biggest chance to do more than just comedy and Majel steals the show and holding her own against David Ogden Stiers.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Their discussion is a bit on the nose, certainly direct and without the usual metaphor or allegory one generally expects, but it manages to rise above its straightforwardness. Not an easy task.


As for "Cost of Living", only in true Lwaxana fashion:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

It's one of the better Alexander episodes, too.