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 concur!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inner_Light_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)# 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
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.
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!
So many good ones! If you like measure of a man, you'll probably like Drum Head a lot
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."
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!
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!
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.
Yesterday's Enterprise is one of the show's finest episodes.
The Drumhead is one of my favorites
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.
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! 😁
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.
My most memorable are episodes with Q.
I just watched S03E16 "The Offspring"
I enjoyed it a lot.
@briongloid First and foremost Darmok then The Inner Light.
How dare you list them in the wrong order!
😉
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.
I like disaster too! Frère Jacques... Frère Jacques...
Lol
What do you mean you've never heard of "The Laughing Vulcan and His Dog"?
I remember reading someone joke about this line somewhere about how that song is probably about Sybok and J'onn on Nimbus III.
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.
To me that's part of the appeal, is going along for the mindf--- with him.
Going to add a couple more not mentioned yet that I always loved: Clues Timescape
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