Star Trek: The Next Generation

Reviews of The Next Generation were written retrospectively from 2005-2013. Initially envisioned as a short project, the review format was shorter in the early seasons, but got somewhat longer as the project went on. Note: All reviews contain spoilers.

Content Listing

Season 1 (1987-1988)

  • 9/28/1987. Encounter at Farpoint 2 stars. — As the new Enterprise crew is assembled for the ship's maiden voyage, they are confronted by Q, who puts the human race on trial.
  • 10/5/1987. The Naked Now 2.5 stars. — A viral outbreak on board the Enterprise has the effect of rendering the entire crew intoxicated.
  • 10/12/1987. Code of Honor 0.5 stars. — Yar is kidnapped by the representatives of a society that values adherence to honorable custom above all else.
  • 10/19/1987. The Last Outpost 2 stars. — When the Enterprise comes in contact with a Ferengi vessel, a powerful forcefield traps the ship in the orbit of an ancient world.
  • 10/26/1987. Where No One Has Gone Before 2.5 stars. — A theoretical test to improve the ship's engine output sends the Enterprise careening out of control to a place where imagination becomes reality.
  • 11/2/1987. Lonely Among Us 2 stars. — The Enterprise is stricken by an energy pattern that takes control of the computer system and, ultimately, Captain Picard.
  • 11/9/1987. Justice 1 star. — While on a world of apparent paradise, Wesley Crusher commits an accidental, trivial offense and is consequently sentenced to death.
  • 11/16/1987. The Battle 2.5 stars. — While meeting with a Ferengi ship with an unknown motive, Picard begins to have flashbacks to a deadly encounter from his previous command, the USS Stargazer.
  • 11/23/1987. Hide and Q 3 stars. — Q interrupts the Enterprise while it's on a rescue mission and asks Riker to join the Q, giving him the powers of omnipotence.
  • 11/30/1987. Haven 2.5 stars. — When Troi's fiance in a traditional Betazoid arranged marriage arrives on the Enterprise, Riker must deal with unresolved feelings while Troi must deal with her uncontained mother.
  • 1/11/1988. The Big Goodbye 2 stars. — Picard, Data, and Crusher become trapped in a holodeck simulation of a 1940s private detective novel.
  • 1/18/1988. Datalore 3 stars. — The Enterprise crew visits Data's colony of origin and discovers a planet devoid of life, and also an android virtually identical to Data.
  • 1/25/1988. Angel One 1 star. — Riker attempts to negotiate the release of prisoners sentenced to death on a world controlled by an oppressive matriarchal society.
  • 2/1/1988. 11001001 4 stars. — A group of Bynars, from an alien society highly dependent on computers, distracts Riker with a particularly convincing holodeck program as part of a plan to steal the Enterprise.
  • 2/8/1988. Too Short a Season 1.5 stars. — The Enterprise provides passage for an old Starfleet admiral to negotiate the release of hostages from a world he had dealings with nearly 50 years earlier.
  • 2/15/1988. When the Bough Breaks 1 star. — A sterile alien society kidnaps children from the Enterprise in a desperate bid to avoid the extinction of their species.
  • 2/22/1988. Home Soil 3 stars. — When a scientist is apparently murdered, the Enterprise crew investigates and discovers a new form of intelligent life.
  • 3/14/1988. Coming of Age 2.5 stars. — Wesley Crusher takes the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew is put under an investigation to find problems in Picard's command.
  • 3/21/1988. Heart of Glory 3 stars. — Two Klingon fugitives are rescued by the Enterprise and subsequently attempt to convince Worf to join them.
  • 4/11/1988. The Arsenal of Freedom 3 stars. — An away team is threatened by an advanced weapons system on the surface of a destroyed world while the Enterprise comes under attack from an invisible weapon in orbit.
  • 4/18/1988. Symbiosis 2 stars. — Picard must interpret the Prime Directive to settle a dispute between two societies over a much-needed supply of drugs they have in their possession.
  • 4/25/1988. Skin of Evil 1.5 stars. — Troi's shuttle crashes on a planet, and the rescue team is confronted and threatened by an evil being holding nothing but contempt for the visitors.
  • 5/2/1988. We'll Always Have Paris 2 stars. — An investigation into why strange events are happening in space and time reunites Picard with an old flame.
  • 5/9/1988. Conspiracy 3.5 stars. — Picard is warned of an alien conspiracy at the top levels of Starfleet Command.
  • 5/16/1988. The Neutral Zone 1.5 stars. — Shortly after Data and Worf rescue cryogenically frozen 20-century survivors from a space relic, the Enterprise is deployed to the Neutral Zone to investigate unusual Romulan activity.

◄ Home Page