Star Trek: Next Generation Top Picks (Ranked)
by MisterKino | created - 28 Dec 2021 | updated - 28 Dec 2021 | PublicThese episodes highlight what is best about TNG. Any fan of the scifi genre, regardless if they've even seen any Trek at all, should be able to get something out of these.
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1.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
The Measure of a Man
(1989)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
When Data resigns his commission rather than be dismantled for examination by an inadequately skilled scientist, a formal hearing is convened to determine whether Data is considered property without rights or is a sentient being.
Director: Robert Scheerer | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 6,244
2.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
The Best of Both Worlds: Part 1
(1990)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Responding to a distress call on one of the Federation's outer-most colonies, the Enterprise arrives...only to find a big hole in the ground where the town used to be, and discovers the Borg are behind the attack.
Director: Cliff Bole | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 5,803
3.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
The Best of Both Worlds: Part 2
(1990)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Having absorbed Captain Picard and his knowledge, the Borg head for Earth, leaving Riker and the Enterprise desperate for an unanticipated way to defeat them.
Director: Cliff Bole | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 5,437
4.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
I Borg
(1992)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear and sympathy from various crew members.
Director: Robert Lederman | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,328
5.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Tapestry
(1993)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
When Captain Picard's artificial heart fails, he is offered the rare opportunity to go back in time and set right the mistake that led to his demise.
Director: Les Landau | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,299
6.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
The Inner Light
(1992)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Picard awakes to find himself living in a small village where he is a well-known member of the community who is suffering from a delusion of being a starship captain.
Director: Peter Lauritson | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 8,268
7.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Darmok
(1991)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Picard must learn to communicate with a race that speaks in metaphor under a difficult set of circumstances.
Director: Winrich Kolbe | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 5,088
8.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
All Good Things...
(1994)
TV-PG | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Capt. Picard finds himself shifting continually into the past, future and present and must use that to discover a threat to humanity's existence.
Director: Winrich Kolbe | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 9,261
9.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Yesterday's Enterprise
(1990)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The Enterprise C enters the Enterprise D's time and space continuum, where they find Picard and crew in a constant state of war with the Klingons, and only Guinan knows it.
Director: David Carson | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 6,065
10.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Q Who
(1989)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Q tries to prove that Picard needs him as part of their crew by hurling the Enterprise 7,000 light years away where they encounter the Borg for the first time.
Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 5,079
11.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Encounter at Farpoint
(1987)
TV-PG | 92 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
On the maiden mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), an omnipotent being known as Q challenges the crew to discover the secret of a mysterious base in an advanced and civilized fashion.
Director: Corey Allen | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Denise Crosby
Votes: 7,338
12.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Elementary, Dear Data
(1988)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An attempt to provide Data with a challenging Sherlock Holmes holodeck program backfires when its Professor Moriarty character accidentally becomes self-aware.
Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,358
13.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Cause and Effect
(1992)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The Enterprise gets caught in a time loop which always has one result: total destruction of the ship, itself.
Director: Jonathan Frakes | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,771
14.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Who Watches the Watchers
(1989)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A proto-Vulcan culture worships Captain Picard and prepares to offer Counselor Troi as a sacrifice.
Director: Robert Wiemer | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,383
15.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Lower Decks
(1994)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A mission of the Enterprise is seen through the eyes of some junior officers who are up for promotions, as questions of duty and honor arise among some of them, such as a Bajoran whom Worf has designated to be promoted to operations.
Director: Gabrielle Beaumont | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,159
16.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
First Contact
(1991)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Disguised as an alien prior to First Contact, Will's life becomes imperiled when incurred injuries reveal his foreign internal structure to a xenophobic alien population.
Director: Cliff Bole | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,734
17.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Face of the Enemy
(1993)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Deanna awakes to find herself altered to look like a Romulan, immediately unaware she's involved in a cat-and-mouse game as a member of their intelligence agency.
Director: Gabrielle Beaumont | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,239
18.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Time's Arrow, Part II
(1992)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Captain Picard and crew follow Data back to the late 1800s to get him back, only to find the suspected alien visitors killing people of that time.
Director: Les Landau | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,653
19.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Time's Arrow
(1992)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Captain Picard and his archaeological curiosity are called upon by scientists from Earth when they find evidence to support beliefs that aliens had visited Earth in the late 1800s.
Director: Les Landau | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,677
20.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Gambit, Part I
(1993)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
While investigating the apparent death of Capt. Picard, Riker is abducted by a group of intergalactic archaeological thieves, only to find Picard has apparently joined their ranks.
Director: Peter Lauritson | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,034
21.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Gambit, Part II
(1993)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Riker and Picard must find out why this intergalactic gang is looting archaeological sites.
Director: Alexander Singer | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,026
22.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Parallels
(1993)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
On his return from a bat'leth competition in the Klingon Empire, Worf finds himself shifting realities where events and details are in a constant state of flux and only he is aware of the changes.
Director: Robert Wiemer | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,847
23.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Chain of Command, Part I
(1992)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Picard is replaced as captain of the Enterprise so he, Lt. Worf and Dr. Crusher go on a top-secret mission into Cardassian space. Meanwhile, his replacement, Captain Jellico, meets his new command with some resistance from the crew.
Director: Robert Scheerer | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,666
24.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Chain of Command, Part II
(1992)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
While the humorless Captain Jellico leads the effort to prevent a Cardassian invasion, Picard is captured and tortured by a ruthless interrogator in an attempt to break him.
Director: Les Landau | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,012
25.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Galaxy's Child
(1991)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
As Geordi La Forge finally meets the real Dr. Leah Brahms, a tragic first contact leaves the Enterprise with a gigantic galactic infant suckling the ship's energy.
Director: Winrich Kolbe | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,206
26.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
A Matter of Time
(1991)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Reaching Penthara IV after an asteroid wreaks havoc of catastrophic proportions, the Enterprise crew deals with trying to save the planet as well as deal with someone who claims to be a historian from the future.
Director: Paul Lynch | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,154
27.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Future Imperfect
(1990)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Riker awakens sixteen years after an away mission where he contracted a disease which destroyed his memory back to the point of infection - or so he's told.
Director: Les Landau | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,641
28.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
The Offspring
(1990)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After returning from a cybernetics conference to the Enterprise, Data creates his own "child," much to the chagrin of his captain, and without regards to the ramifications with Starfleet.
Director: Jonathan Frakes | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 4,589
29.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Episode:
Disaster
(1991)
TV-PG | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Collision with a quantum filament leaves Troi in charge of a damaged and endangered Enterprise with emergency bulkheads cutting off sections of the ship.
Director: Gabrielle Beaumont | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
Votes: 3,609
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