Movies and TV What was your favorite episode of Star Trek: TNG? - Page 4

**RealSNR** · 03-16-2011, 06:42 PM

Okay okay okay... quit calling me late to the party. I do this with every popular show out there-- I start watching after it's been off the air for at least a few years. I did it with Frasier, Red Dwarf (although there are new episodes being made) and now I'm doing it with the Star Trek franchise. Back off. I know there are Star Trek fans on this forum, and if you've noticed my posting style (although I have no idea why you would) a lot of my posts are Star Trek-centric. This is why:

My job in the past few months had late hours, so I'd get home and be able to watch one episode per day at 1 in the morning. But man, it was great. I just turned it on one day and started watching and never stopped. Anyway, the series has run its cycle now. I've seen all seven seasons plus the movies (except for Insurrection, which I'll get around to eventually). I've also seen the new one by JJ Abrams. At the moment I'm slowly progressing through DS9 and a handful of the original series.

But until I get through it all, I know TNG is pretty much the only series beloved by ALL Trek fans, not just some.

Here are my personal top 5 episodes in no particular order. I couldn't rank them accurately.

1. "The Most Toys" (S3E22)- There's nothing incredibly powerful or ground-breaking about the plot or the way it was written. But it's very dramatic and quite colorful, which I think is what Star Trek is all about. I kind of have a weakness for Data-centered episodes, and this one is particularly good. It's odd, esoteric, and particularly intense considering he's being held captive as an object in a collection of toys, when really he's the being with the highest code of ethics on the entire rogue ship

2. "The Silicon Avatar" (S5E4)- Perhaps the most tragic of all the TNG episodes. I mean, TNG does this all the time where something bad happens but it ends on a hopeful note- Tasha Yar's death, Worf's vengeance against Duras, etc. Not in this one. It ends on a tragic note, with the doctor now only left to her own madness and questioning of her actions for the rest of her life.

3. "Yesterday's Enterprise" (S3E15)- This episode is on most peoples' lists. I normally hate causality/time travel shit in sci-fi movies/stories. It almost never works out. Here it DOES work out and it's absolutely brilliant. People claim that Picard's decision-making is totally irrational and not at all what a starfleet officer would even consider. Well guess what? He's Picard, and when his back is to the wall he often makes decisions that violate starfleet regulation/the prime directive. And it's not THAT unrealistic. He knows what Guinan is capable of and he also knows that the Federation is going to lose the war. May as well send Tasha Yar back, right?

4. "The Chase" (S6E20)- This is one of those episodes that years from now will be considered genius in a Jules Verne kind of way. This is exactly what science fiction is all about- create a universe and try to explain it. If/when humans discover life elsewhere in the universe we're going to have to answer some real tough biological questions. In the Star Trek universe, this one does a brilliant job of it. I was totally blown away. That takes some real creative-ass minds to think of that kind of shit.

5. "I, Borg" (S5E23)- I chose this borg episode instead of The Best of Both Worlds mainly because it exposes a different side to the story instead of just "We need to find a way to kill the borg nao!" And that different story is: "When we DO find a way to eradicate the borg, are we going to have the balls to do it?" Picard's actions in this episode come up time and time again later in the series/movies (especially First Contact, obviously) and here is one of the most questionable decisions he makes in his entire career as captain of the Enterprise. And yet it's so well-written that viewers of this episode more often than not finding themselves siding with Picard, even though they face a fictional race/character who is more violent, hated, and ire-raising than Nazis.

These are just some episodes I brought up. I'm not bringing up more incase this thread dies quickly. I've already wasted enough time typing this out as it is.

Hammock Parties · 03-16-2011, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNR

I LOVE this scene in Best of Both Worlds. Riker's probably my favorite human character

That's awesome because Riker is usually so happy and jovial most of the time. Always smiling.

And then...

I also love Worf's line after they fail to rescue Picard from the Borg.

"No sir, he appears to have to gone over to the Borg."

"He IS a Borg!"

**BigRedChief** · 03-16-2011, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frazod

**** Voyager. Do Gooders Lost in Space.

This!

Also, I agree DS9 sucked until Worf joined the show. After that it rocked.

Frazod · 03-16-2011, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Not much.

I really liked Enterprise at the end. They fixed that series just in time to get it cancelled. The last season was not far behind some of the best of TNG and DS9.

The key factor, I think, in all their best runs being conflict.

I had high hopes for Enterprise, but it sucked out of the gate and I'd lost interest by the time it got better. I sure did like the Vulcan, though.

A friend of mine is seriously into movie/TV collectibles - he has some stuff that's so amazing I probably shouldn't even talk about it. But he had several uniforms from NG (including one of Stewart's uniforms) and one of Jolene Blalock's orange one piece suits that he actually had displayed on a mannequin. Sadly, he lost his job about a year ago and has had to sell off parts of his collection to pay the bills, and that was one of the things he liquidated.

And yes, I did feel up the tits, just to say I did it.

Crush · 03-16-2011, 07:34 PM

Voyager should have been over in the first episode. They kill Janeway and use that damn device to get back home.

Voyager had the potential to be the greatest series. It would have been if Janeway wasn't such a pussy and if the ship gradually fell apart throughout the series.

**RealSNR** · 03-16-2011, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frazod

I had high hopes for Enterprise, but it sucked out of the gate and I'd lost interest by the time it got better. I sure did like the Vulcan, though.

A friend of mine is seriously into movie/TV collectibles - he has some stuff that's so amazing I probably shouldn't even talk about it. But he had several uniforms from NG (including one of Stewart's uniforms) and one of Jolene Blalock's orange one piece suits that he actually had displayed on a mannequin. Sadly, he lost his job about a year ago and has had to sell off parts of his collection to pay the bills, and that was one of the things he liquidated.

And yes, I did feel up the tits, just to say I did it.

Should have bought some of that stuff off his hands, man. You probably could have gotten a deal for it if you offered to let him buy it back when he was employed and in good financial shape again

keg in kc · 03-16-2011, 07:35 PM

Heh, they were never shy about her role on the show...

Crush · 03-16-2011, 07:37 PM

Also, Enterprise would have been a lot better if the entire crew had questionable ethics. They were only a generation or two separated from an apocalyptic nuclear war, there needed to be a transition between World War III and Paradise.

Frazod · 03-16-2011, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNR

Should have bought some of that stuff off his hands, man. You probably could have gotten a deal for it if you offered to let him buy it back when he was employed and in good financial shape again

This shit goes for serious cash. I don't have that kind of money laying around. Even the communicator pins (I think he has two of them, or at least did) go for several hundred a piece.

JD10367 · 03-16-2011, 07:46 PM

Anything with Q.

The episode where Picard lived a whole lifetime.

The time loop where the Enterprise kept exploding.

The two-parter where they thought Picard was dead but he was pretending to be an archaeological thief.

The one where the Enterprise was docked to get cleaned and everyone left the ship but Picard and thieves came on board to steal the deadly emissions and sell them to terrorists.

The two-parter where they go back to San Fran because of Data's head in a cave, and meet Guinan in the 1800s.

The one where Troi's mother goes comatose and Troi has to go into her mind and finds out she had a dead little sister.

The one where Data has nightmares and tries to stab Troi and it turns out interdimensional parasites are snacking on people.

The one where the away team on a shuttle comes back to find the Enterprise frozen in time in apparent battle with another ship (a Romulan IIRC).

The one where the older ship comes back through time and changes history so that the Federation is at war with the Klingons and Tasha Yar is still alive.

The one where Riker finds his double trapped on a planet because when he tried to beam out it bounced back and made two of him.

The one where Geordi and Ro Laren are presumed dead but are actually out of phase and still on the ship.

The one where Ro, Guinan, Picard, and the Asian chick are turned into kids.

(Those are the ones off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more.)

Crush · 03-16-2011, 07:52 PM

Also, the one where O'Brien, Data, and Troi were possessed by imprisoned energy beings.

**RealSNR** · 03-16-2011, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JD10367

The two-parter where they go back to San Fran because of Data's head in a cave, and meet Guinan in the 1800s

Time's Arrow.

This one is very underrated. I think people are turned off because they decided to throw in some historical actors which made it kinda cheesy. Maybe so.

But we're still dealing with the question of intelligent life out there in the universe. And I'm sure we've all had the thought that if there is intelligent life, has any of it ever visited earth? And if it has, when? This feeds into that side of Star Trek's viewership, which I think it should have done more often-- connecting the dots between where we the human race are now to where we supposedly get to in the Star Trek world.

Also, Data is a badass in this episode. He doesn't need an emotion chip to function in 19th century America. Hell, he does it much better than any of the Enterprise crew, and he's not even human

JD10367 · 03-16-2011, 07:58 PM

As for the other series... I enjoyed DS9 for a while but actually enjoyed it less near the end where it was all about war. But I do admit that Sisko's character improved greatly once they let him shave the testicle-fuzz off his head. As soon as he was bald again, he started working his Hawk character from "Spenser" into his attitude.

Voyager wasn't bad. Wasn't great, wasn't bad. Just sorta "was".

Enterprise, I watched the first few and gave up on it.

While we're on the Star Trek subject: the order of the movies, in order of "goodness", goes: 2 (Khan), 4 (whales), 6 (Klingon assassination), 1 (first film), 3 (Search For Spock), 5 (the reeruned one about the Godlike something or other that was so bad the only thing I remember is Uhura doing a fan dance, which was pathetic). I don't include the TNG films in the group, but for those I didn't mind Generations (Captain Kirk, Malcolm McDowell, and the Nexus) and the one where they went back in time to help Zefram Cochran launch his ship. The last one, about the young Picard clone, I don't even remember what happened it was so bad. I think Data croaked in it IIRC.

Crush · 03-16-2011, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JD10367

While we're on the Star Trek subject: the order of the movies, in order of "goodness", goes: 2 (Khan), 4 (whales), 6 (Klingon assassination), 1 (first film), 3 (Search For Spock), 5 (the reeruned one about the Godlike something or other that was so bad the only thing I remember is Uhura doing a fan dance, which was pathetic). I don't include the TNG films in the group, but for those I didn't mind Generations (Captain Kirk, Malcolm McDowell, and the Nexus) and the one where they went back in time to help Zefram Cochran launch his ship. The last one, about the young Picard clone, I don't even remember what happened it was so bad. I think Data croaked in it IIRC.

My list is:
1. Star Trek VI
2. Star Trek IV
3. Star Trek II
4. Star Trek III
5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
6. First Contact
7. Generations
8. Insurrection
9. Nemesis
10. Star Trek V

Hammock Parties · 03-16-2011, 08:03 PM

Just read the OP. Amazing that you just now got around to watching it.

If you haven't seen DS9 start on it now. It's better than TNG and gets really episodic and dramatic in the last 3 seasons. It's Michael Dorn's best work.

I've done this too. Did it with Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond. I plan to do it with the X-Files (I've seen one season, have them all on DVD) and I should probably do it with Babylon 5 and Stargate Atlantis.

keg in kc · 03-16-2011, 08:05 PM

It would be 2, 1/6, 3, 4, 5 for me. First contact and the new one would both fall somewhere behind 2 and ahead of 1/6. The other TNG movies just sucked.

03-16-2011, 06:42 PM
RealSNR Special Teams ACE!!! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Where the hell is SNR Casino cash: $-1294792	What was your favorite episode of Star Trek: TNG? Okay okay okay... quit calling me late to the party. I do this with every popular show out there-- I start watching after it's been off the air for at least a few years. I did it with Frasier, Red Dwarf (although there are new episodes being made) and now I'm doing it with the Star Trek franchise. Back off. I know there are Star Trek fans on this forum, and if you've noticed my posting style (although I have no idea why you would) a lot of my posts are Star Trek-centric. This is why: My job in the past few months had late hours, so I'd get home and be able to watch one episode per day at 1 in the morning. But man, it was great. I just turned it on one day and started watching and never stopped. Anyway, the series has run its cycle now. I've seen all seven seasons plus the movies (except for Insurrection, which I'll get around to eventually). I've also seen the new one by JJ Abrams. At the moment I'm slowly progressing through DS9 and a handful of the original series. But until I get through it all, I know TNG is pretty much the only series beloved by ALL Trek fans, not just some. Here are my personal top 5 episodes in no particular order. I couldn't rank them accurately. 1. "The Most Toys" (S3E22)- There's nothing incredibly powerful or ground-breaking about the plot or the way it was written. But it's very dramatic and quite colorful, which I think is what Star Trek is all about. I kind of have a weakness for Data-centered episodes, and this one is particularly good. It's odd, esoteric, and particularly intense considering he's being held captive as an object in a collection of toys, when really he's the being with the highest code of ethics on the entire rogue ship 2. "The Silicon Avatar" (S5E4)- Perhaps the most tragic of all the TNG episodes. I mean, TNG does this all the time where something bad happens but it ends on a hopeful note- Tasha Yar's death, Worf's vengeance against Duras, etc. Not in this one. It ends on a tragic note, with the doctor now only left to her own madness and questioning of her actions for the rest of her life. 3. "Yesterday's Enterprise" (S3E15)- This episode is on most peoples' lists. I normally hate causality/time travel shit in sci-fi movies/stories. It almost never works out. Here it DOES work out and it's absolutely brilliant. People claim that Picard's decision-making is totally irrational and not at all what a starfleet officer would even consider. Well guess what? He's Picard, and when his back is to the wall he often makes decisions that violate starfleet regulation/the prime directive. And it's not THAT unrealistic. He knows what Guinan is capable of and he also knows that the Federation is going to lose the war. May as well send Tasha Yar back, right? 4. "The Chase" (S6E20)- This is one of those episodes that years from now will be considered genius in a Jules Verne kind of way. This is exactly what science fiction is all about- create a universe and try to explain it. If/when humans discover life elsewhere in the universe we're going to have to answer some real tough biological questions. In the Star Trek universe, this one does a brilliant job of it. I was totally blown away. That takes some real creative-ass minds to think of that kind of shit. 5. "I, Borg" (S5E23)- I chose this borg episode instead of The Best of Both Worlds mainly because it exposes a different side to the story instead of just "We need to find a way to kill the borg nao!" And that different story is: "When we DO find a way to eradicate the borg, are we going to have the balls to do it?" Picard's actions in this episode come up time and time again later in the series/movies (especially First Contact, obviously) and here is one of the most questionable decisions he makes in his entire career as captain of the Enterprise. And yet it's so well-written that viewers of this episode more often than not finding themselves siding with Picard, even though they face a fictional race/character who is more violent, hated, and ire-raising than Nazis. These are just some episodes I brought up. I'm not bringing up more incase this thread dies quickly. I've already wasted enough time typing this out as it is.
Posts: 93,264

03-16-2011, 07:34 PM	#49
Crush Amateur Poster Join Date: Mar 2004 Casino cash: $2437091	Voyager should have been over in the first episode. They kill Janeway and use that damn device to get back home. Voyager had the potential to be the greatest series. It would have been if Janeway wasn't such a pussy and if the ship gradually fell apart throughout the series.
Posts: 15,298

03-16-2011, 07:35 PM	#51
keg in kc oxymoron Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: OP/KC/Whatever Casino cash: $9556299	Heh, they were never shy about her role on the show...
Posts: 58,682

03-16-2011, 07:37 PM	#52
Crush Amateur Poster Join Date: Mar 2004 Casino cash: $2437091	Also, Enterprise would have been a lot better if the entire crew had questionable ethics. They were only a generation or two separated from an apocalyptic nuclear war, there needed to be a transition between World War III and Paradise.
Posts: 15,298

03-16-2011, 07:46 PM	#54
JD10367 Cheaterlover* Join Date: May 2009 Location: RI Casino cash: $10010716	Anything with Q. The episode where Picard lived a whole lifetime. The time loop where the Enterprise kept exploding. The two-parter where they thought Picard was dead but he was pretending to be an archaeological thief. The one where the Enterprise was docked to get cleaned and everyone left the ship but Picard and thieves came on board to steal the deadly emissions and sell them to terrorists. The two-parter where they go back to San Fran because of Data's head in a cave, and meet Guinan in the 1800s. The one where Troi's mother goes comatose and Troi has to go into her mind and finds out she had a dead little sister. The one where Data has nightmares and tries to stab Troi and it turns out interdimensional parasites are snacking on people. The one where the away team on a shuttle comes back to find the Enterprise frozen in time in apparent battle with another ship (a Romulan IIRC). The one where the older ship comes back through time and changes history so that the Federation is at war with the Klingons and Tasha Yar is still alive. The one where Riker finds his double trapped on a planet because when he tried to beam out it bounced back and made two of him. The one where Geordi and Ro Laren are presumed dead but are actually out of phase and still on the ship. The one where Ro, Guinan, Picard, and the Asian chick are turned into kids. (Those are the ones off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more.)
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03-16-2011, 07:52 PM	#55
Crush Amateur Poster Join Date: Mar 2004 Casino cash: $2437091	Also, the one where O'Brien, Data, and Troi were possessed by imprisoned energy beings.
Posts: 15,298

03-16-2011, 07:58 PM	#57
JD10367 Cheaterlover* Join Date: May 2009 Location: RI Casino cash: $10010716	As for the other series... I enjoyed DS9 for a while but actually enjoyed it less near the end where it was all about war. But I do admit that Sisko's character improved greatly once they let him shave the testicle-fuzz off his head. As soon as he was bald again, he started working his Hawk character from "Spenser" into his attitude. Voyager wasn't bad. Wasn't great, wasn't bad. Just sorta "was". Enterprise, I watched the first few and gave up on it. While we're on the Star Trek subject: the order of the movies, in order of "goodness", goes: 2 (Khan), 4 (whales), 6 (Klingon assassination), 1 (first film), 3 (Search For Spock), 5 (the reeruned one about the Godlike something or other that was so bad the only thing I remember is Uhura doing a fan dance, which was pathetic). I don't include the TNG films in the group, but for those I didn't mind Generations (Captain Kirk, Malcolm McDowell, and the Nexus) and the one where they went back in time to help Zefram Cochran launch his ship. The last one, about the young Picard clone, I don't even remember what happened it was so bad. I think Data croaked in it IIRC.
Posts: 12,916

03-16-2011, 08:03 PM	#59
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $1040478	Just read the OP. Amazing that you just now got around to watching it. If you haven't seen DS9 start on it now. It's better than TNG and gets really episodic and dramatic in the last 3 seasons. It's Michael Dorn's best work. I've done this too. Did it with Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond. I plan to do it with the X-Files (I've seen one season, have them all on DVD) and I should probably do it with Babylon 5 and Stargate Atlantis. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 296,685

03-16-2011, 08:05 PM	#60
keg in kc oxymoron Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: OP/KC/Whatever Casino cash: $9556299	It would be 2, 1/6, 3, 4, 5 for me. First contact and the new one would both fall somewhere behind 2 and ahead of 1/6. The other TNG movies just sucked.
Posts: 58,682