How to Start Watching (And Fall in Love with) Star Trek — Part Three!

I suggest skipping episodes 4 & 5, “Suddenly Human” and “Remember Me”.  They’re not bad at all, just not that great or memorable.  (Well, “Remember Me” is memorable for getting a little silly, and not in a good way.)

6 – Legacy – You’ll learn more about the backstory of a character you probably didn’t expect to ever learn anything more about.

7 – Reunion – A FANTASTIC Klingon episode.

8 – Future Imperfect – A fun stand-alone.

9 – Final Mission – An important change for a member of the main cast.

10 – The Loss – Skip this.  It’s probably the weakest episode of the season.  (And don’t read anything into the episode title “The Loss” coming right after “Final Mission.”  The two episodes don’t have anything to do with one another.)

11 – Data’s Day – A fantastic Data episode, one of my favorites.

12 – The Wounded – One of my favorite episodes!!  This is a great spotlight on Miles O’Brien (who has been a side character since the pilot, where he was at the conn station on the bridge), and this episode introduces an interesting new alien race, the Cardassians.  This episode plants the seeds of what Deep Space Nine will be about.  I really, really love this episode.  It doesn’t usually make it onto best-of lists, but it’s one of my personal favorites.  There are shades of grey here that you don’t usually get on Trek (until DS9).

13 & 14 – Devil’s Due and Clues – These are OK episodes.  If you’re enjoying the season and not in a rush, feel free to watch.  If you want to push ahead to the best stuff, feel free to skip.

15 – First Contact – An interesting episode exploring contact with a pre-warp civilization, with a fun guest star appearance from Bebe Neuwirth (Lilith from Cheers and Frasier).

16 – Galaxy’s Child – an interesting sequel to an earlier episode (but I won’t spoil which, as that’d spoil the fun!).

17 & 18  – Night Terrors and Identity Crisis – two solid stand-alones.

19 – The Nth Degree – This episode is a follow up to the third season episode “Hollow Pursuits”.

20 – Qpid – The year’s annual Q episode and possibly the best one after “Q-Who”.  It’s very silly but I really quite like it.

21 – The Drumhead – A small-scale bottle episode that is nevertheless a fantastic drama and Picard gives one of his all-time best speeches.  I love this one.

22 – Half a Life – OK, so I’m not sure about this one.  Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who played Nurse Chapel on the Original Series, has a recurring role in TNG as Lwaxana Troi, Deanna Troi’s mother.  She appeared in “Haven” in season 1, “Manhunt” in season 2, and “Menage a Troi” in season 3.  Those are all mediocre episodes, so I’d left them off my list.  It might be worth going back to watch one or more of them now.  Or you can skip them all.  You could skip “Half a Life” too.  It’s not a bad episode but not a great one.  It feels weird for me to have someone watch TNG and not see any of the Lwaxana Troi episodes, since she is a major Q-level recurring character (not in terms of power but in terms of her importance as a basically once-a-year-recurring character)… but while I like her character, I don’t actually love any of the Lwaxana episodes… so I am a bit mixed on how to advise you here…

23-25 – The Host/The Mind’s Eye/In Theory – All solid, good-but-not-great stand-alone episodes.  None of them are perfect but they all have some good, interesting stuff.  I think they’re worth watching unless you want to rush ahead to the very best stuff.  (Of them all, “The Host” is probably the weakest.  I liked it a lot at the time but I don’t think it’s aged well.  It plants some interesting story threads that DS9 will run with, so that’s a plus, but it’s by no means essential viewing.)

26 – Redemption Part 1 – a terrific season-ender that picks up the Klingon stories from “Reunion” from earlier in the season.

Season Five:

Over-all, season five has some GREAT episodes, but also a lot of so-so stand-alone episodes.  You could make a very quick “only the best” run through this season (Redemption pt. 2, Darmok, Ensign Ro, Disaster, Unification I & II, Cause and Effect, The First Duty, I Borg, The Next Phase, The Inner Light, Time’s Arrow) or take your time to watch more of the stand-alones.  It’s up to you, based on how much you’re enjoying the stand-alones versus how much you’re in a hurry to get on to the best stuff in these later seasons (and perhaps to move on to Deep Space Nine, my favorite of the Trek series!!)

1 – Redemption Part 2 – Of course!

2 – Darmok – A highlight of TNG – a very unusual and unique episode.

3 – Ensign Ro – A strong introduction to a new alien race and a new recurring character.  (This episode also lays MAJOR groundwork for DS9.)

4 – Silicon Avatar – Skip this, unless you’re really desperate to see what happened to the crystalline entity from season 1’s “Datalore”.

5 – Disaster – A solid stand-alone.

6 – The Game – A decent stand-alone with Wesley Crusher back – and Ashley Judd in a guest role!

7 & 8 – Unification Parts 1 & II – A fantastic two-parter!  Part 1 is one of my very favorite TNG episodes.  Love it a LOT.  I don’t want to spoil anything so I will say no more.

9 – A Matter of Time – A decent stand-alone.  The guest role was originally written for Robin Williams, who in the end wasn’t able to do it.  It would have been a better episode with Robin Williams!!

10 – New Ground – A decent stand-alone.  Not great, but there’s some important character stuff here and Worf’s son Alexander re-enters the story.

11 – Hero Worship – Skippable.

12 – Violations – A decent stand-alone.

13 – The Masterpiece Society – Skip.

14 & 15 – Conundrum and Power Play – Decent stand-alones.  They’re skippable if you’re in a rush to get to the best stuff.

16 & 17 – Ethics and The Outcast – Skip these both.

18 – Cause and Effect – One of my favorite stand-alones.  A fun brain-teaser of an episode.  The pre-opening credits “teaser” sequence is one of my favorite pre-credits sequences from any TNG episode.  I love this one.

19 – The First Duty – A terrific episode and the best Wesley episode in the whole run of the series.

20 – Cost of Living – A Lwaxana Troi episode.  It’s worth watching if you enjoyed the other Lwaxana episodes.  But it’s not that good.

21 – The Perfect Mate – Some people really like this one but I always found it boring.  I haven’t seen it in years.  Famke Janssen (Jean Grey in the X-Men movies) guest stars.  I probably recommend you skip this one.

22 – Imaginary Friend – Skippable.

23 – I, Borg – The Borg return but not in the manner you’d expect.  This is a very interesting episode.  Some love it and some hate it.  Definitely watch and judge for yourself.

24 – The Next Phase – A great, fun stand-alone.

25 – The Inner Light – perhaps TNG’s finest hour.  It’s a very unusual episode.  I love it a LOT.  Definitely a top five episode in my opinion.

26 – Time’s Arrow – A 500 year-old artifact is uncovered on Earth: Data’s head!  That’s the beginning of a very weird and strange season-ender!

Season Six:

1 – Time’s Arrow Part 2 – Of course!

2 – Realm of Fear – Another fun Barclay episode.

3 – Man of the People – skip!

4 – Relics – An intriguing episode that you should definitely watch, though I have mixed feelings about certain aspects of it.

5 – Schisms – A decent stand-alone, skippable if you’re in a hurry to get to the best stuff.

6 – True Q – Not the best Q episode but worth watching.

7 – Rascals – A decent stand-alone.  This is a ridiculous, Z-level concept that shouldn’t work at all but, actually, weirdly, somehow does!  It’s not essential and is for sure skippable if you’re in a hurry to get to the better episodes, but I remember this fondly as being decently fun.

8 – A Fistful of Datas – I know some people who love this episode (in which a holodeck malfunction puts Worf, Troi, and Alexander into an old west simulation with Data/Brent Spiner playing all of the characters) but I never had much patience for it. If the premise sounds interesting to you, go for it, but otherwise you can skip this.

9 – The Quality of Life – Skip.

10 & 11 – Chain of Command – Another solid mid-season two-parter, and a rare example when part 2 is better than part 1.

12 – Ship in a Bottle – I love this one. It’s a great sequel to an early episode (I won’t spoil which one).

13 – Aquiel – Skip!  Oh lord, upon peril of your life, skip this, it’s one of the worst TNG episodes ever.

14 – Face of the Enemy – A decent stand-alone involving Troi and Romulans.  It’s skippable if you’re in a rush to get to the best stuff, but it’s a decent watch.

15 – Tapestry – A fascinating exploration of Picard’s backstory.

16 & 17 – Birthright part 1 and 2 – Another great two-parter!  (I particularly love the Data story in part one.)

18 – Starship Mine – A decent stand-alone. I have a friend who felt this was his all-time favorite episode because of a scene involving Data and his new “small talk” subroutine.  I think my friend is crazy to think this, but it’s still worth watching for some good hero moments for Picard.

19 – Lessons – A sweet Picard story.

20 – The Chase – A fun episode that tries to provide an in-universe explanation for why almost all aliens on Star Trek are fairly similar-looking humanoid bipeds.  I love it for that!

21 – Frame of Mind – A decent mind-bending episode.  Skippable if you want to hurry ahead to the best stuff, but a decent watch.  Nice spotlight on Riker.

22 – Suspicions – Skip.

23 – Rightful Heir – This mediocre episode does have some good Worf and Klingon stuff, and one plot development that will be referenced a lot down the line, so I recommend watching it even though this is not a great episode.

24 – Second Chances – Ugh, skip this.  (And just put in the back of your mind – because it’ll come up on DS9 when you least expect it – that somewhere in the universe is a transporter duplicate of Will Riker, from back when Will was a young buck of a Lieutenant, running around out there. Please don’t ask me to explain this any further because this episode is painful.)

25 – Timescape – A terrific stand-alone involving Romulans and a bizarre temporal anomaly.  I really like this episode.

26 – Descent – It’s a season-ender so of course it’s worth watching, but it’s not at the level of the other great season-finale cliffhangers…

One other note: The next spin-off, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine launched about halfway through this season. (Specifically, after “Chain of Command” pt 2.)  Miles O’Brien became a main character on DS9, which is why he and Keiko vanish from TNG after a few appearances for O’Brien early this season.  There are a few small crossovers between DS9 and TNG in TNG’s sixth and seventh seasons, but nothing you won’t be able to understand.  Most notably, you’ll start seeing a lot more of the Cardassians, in storylines that tangentially intersect with what DS9 is developing.  But I think the best way to watch these shows is to watch TNG through to the end before starting DS9.

Season seven:

1 – Descent part 2 – Not a great episode, but how could you not watch the end of the cliffhanger?

2 – Liaisons – Skip.

3 – Interface – Skip.

4 & 5 – Gambit part 1 and 2 – A fun (if not very consequential) two-parter.

6 – Phantasms – I love this weird episode, featuring more of Data’s dreams!

7 – Dark Page – Skip.

8 – Attached – This is a mediocre episode but I think it’s worth watching for some closure (sort of) on a long-running character relationship.  I have problems with this episode but I think it’s one you should see, having gotten this far in TNG.

9 – Force of Nature – There’s an interesting idea at the heart of this episode (an environmental message) but the episode is very mediocre.  You might choose to watch this, but I think probably you should skip. (Just know that the two-to-three times later in the season when someone refers to “warp speed limits” it’s a call-back to this episode.)

10 – Inheritance – A solid Data episode.

11 – Parallels – A terrific mind-bendy stand-alone.

12 – The Pegasus – A solid episode looking back at an incident from Riker’s past.

13 – Homeward – Skip.

14 – Sub Rosa – This is generally considered one of the worst episodes of all of TNG.  Skip at all costs.

15 – Lower Decks – A spectacular episode that breaks with the standard TNG format.  This is one of my very favorite TNG episodes and a definite stand-out in this final season.

16 – Thine Own Self – This is a decent Data episode, and there’s also a B-story that moves forward the thread of Troi’s role in the Enterprise’s command structure.  It’s an OK episode but I’m not sure it’s worth your time if you’re eager to move forward.

17 – Masks – A crazy Data episode that gets a bit silly at times but I sort of love it even though it’s kind of terrible.

18 – Eye of the Beholder – This is a weird stand-alone with an interesting mystery about the early days of the Enterprise-D.  It doesn’t come together the way it should, but there are some interesting ideas here.  As with “Thine Own Self,” this is an OK episode but skippable if you’re eager to move forward.  It’s a total stand-alone so you won’t miss anything if you skip it.

19 – Genesis – A fun and super-weird stand-alone; I enjoy this one a lot.

20 – Journey’s End – Wesley’s final appearance on the show. This is a flawed episode, but I think you should watch it because it is Wesley’s last appearance.  (Before you watch this episode, go back and watch season 1’s “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.)  This episode (and also “Preemptive Strike”, which is later on this list) crosses over with some of the Cardassian goings-on on DS9.  I believe it’s all explained pretty well in the episodes, but the short version is that the Federation and Cardassians have agreed to a peace treaty that has redrawn the border between the two nations, resulting in some Federation planets now being on the Cardassian side of the border, and vice versa.  This means certain colonies have to be relocated.  A group of Federation citizens calling themselves “the Maquis” has emerged to fight both Starfleet and the Cardassians, to resist these forced relocations.

21 – Firstborn – A mediocre episode but it gives some resolution to the Worf-Alexander relationship, so I think it’s worth watching for that.

22 – Bloodlines – a sequel to season 1’s “The Battle.”  These three episodes (“Journey’s End”, “Firstborn”, and “Bloodlines”) are all somewhat flawed.  They’re skippable if you’re impatient to wrap TNG up and move on to DS9.  But they also have some interesting stuff and all attempt to give some wrap-up to TNG character arcs, so I think you’ll probably want to watch them.  Up to you.

23 – Emergence – Our last fun weird stand-alone.  Not a classic but I like it a lot, and think you should watch it.

24 – Preemptive Strike – An important character returns one last time.  This is a strong episode.

25 – All Good Things – The two-hour finale.  At the risk of overselling it, I think it’s one of the five-to-ten best TNG episodes and it’s one of the best series finales ever made.  A fine conclusion to the series.  The last scene in particular, and the last line, are absolutely perfect.

The Next Generation movies:

There are four TNG movies.  I think you should watch the first two, after completing the series.  They are both flawed, but also have some really terrific stuff.

Star Trek: Generations – The first TNG movie.  It’s a somewhat misguided attempt to create a TNG-Original Series crossover, and there are some big things in this film that just don’t work.  But there are also a lot of things that work great, and certain scenes that are among my all-time favorite TNG scenes.  What’s great about the film is 1) it fills in some cool “missing pieces” of Trek history, 2) it does a great job at moving forward certain character-arcs and storylines from the show, and it isn’t afraid to make some big changes to the TNG status quo (which season seven avoided doing, for the most part), 3) they make some interesting changes to the main standing TNG sets/costumes/etc. for this big-screen presentation, which are fun to see, 4) there’s some good (but brief) Guinan stuff in the film, her only substantive appearance (which is a shame) in the TNG films, 5) there is a short but super-cool space-battle action sequence in the middle of the film that is one of my favorites from all Trek.  (Watch this on as big a screen as you can!  Do the same for First Contact!)

Star Trek: First Contact – The Borg return.  Most people say this is the best TNG movie, and they’re probably right.  Some say it’s one of their favorite Trek movies, period.  The plot has too many holes for me to feel that way, but there is still a lot I love about this movie, and it contains possibly my favorite Picard/Patrick Stewart scene of all of TNG.  (You’ll know it when you see it. It’s a barn-burner.)  There’s some cool action (and a great horror/suspense/action movie tone that is a shift for TNG but I think it works well in the film) and some interesting new ideas/concepts.  Again, watch it on as big a screen as you can…  (One note: this movie came out during DS9’s fifth season, and it contains one tiny DS9 crossover.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t spoil anything for DS9.  But just so you’ll understand, at one point early in the movie you’ll see that Worf has been put in command of a small mini-starship called the Defiant.  That ship appeared on DS9 and its backstory was that it was originally built to fight the Borg.  So it’s a nice continuity connection that when the Borg return in this film, the Defiant is brought into the action.  That’s all.)