Binge Watch! Star Trek: The Next Generation (Part 2)
By Ed Herro
You’ve had a week since my last post which means you’ve definitely quit your job (and your hygiene regimen) to watch every episode of the first four seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation according to my Binge Watch! Part 1.
Now, the thrilling conclusion to the entire series. These are the 17 best episodes of the final three seasons, taking into account not everyone is a die hard fan, but still giving lovers of the series what they crave.
Season 5
Episode 2: Darmok. Picard is thrown into an Enemy Mine situation about linguistics. Speaking of Enemy Mine, if you haven’t seen THAT film, what are you doing with your life?
Episode 3: Ensign Ro. The best new character of the series (sorry, Guinan) is introduced with a great story.
Episode 14: Conundrum. Another great mystery episode.
Episode 17: The Outcast. A very ahead-of-its-time analogy dealing with homosexuality.
Episode 18: Cause and Effect. Another ahead-of-its-time episode repeating one day, over and over to get it right (a full year before Groundhog Day was released).
Episode 24: The Next Phase. A great “ghost” episode where crew members have to solve a riddle from a new perspective.
Episode 26: Time’s Arrow – Part 1. Another grand season finale set back in time. Who doesn’t want to see the crew match wits with Mark Twain? (ANSWER: No one).
Season 6
Episode 1: Time’s Arrow – Part 2. Although the conclusion to this two-parter isn’t as strong as I ever want it to be, it’s good to see its ending.
Episode 5: Schisms. An almost X-Files story of abduction.
Episode 10: Chain of Command – Part 1. Another two-parter, this one has Picard on a Special Ops mission and relinquishing control of the Enterprise.
Episode 11: Chain of Command – Part 2. The conclusion, some interesting stuff on the idea of torture.
Episode 18: Starship Mine. Picard gets to go all Die Hard-y. So yeah, it’s good.
Episode 26: Descent – Part 1. Old enemies, new look. And a new look for Data. A must.
Season 7
Episode 1: Descent – Part 2. Another solid conclusion to a season-ending cliffhanger.
Episode 20: Journey’s End. A decent parallel story but really only important for the Wesley Crusher developments.
Episodes 25 and 26: All Good Things… The final (double-sized) episode of the series. A pretty good wrap-up, all things considered although without watching the pilot episode (which was my advice) you might not get 100% of it. But still not worth watching the pilot.
And there you have it Trekkies, Trekkers, and people who accidentally clicked on this article. The best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes in one convenient place. Disagree with my list? Let’s discuss it in the Comments.