Heart of Glory (⭑⭑)
Another difficult-to-rate episode, this one is a clear example of ideas with merit being seriously botched in the execution. Nineteen episodes in, the writers finally decided to explain Worf's presence…
Arsenal of Freedom (⭑⭑)
The plot of this episode doesn’t stand up to even casual scrutiny, and the backdrop is a typically hokey, first-season premise (a planet of arms dealers who destroyed themselves). But…
Symbiosis (⭑)
Once again, just when it seemed like the season was, relatively speaking, on a roll (three consecutive two-star episodes!), it crashed and burned with this piece of garbage. The lameness…
Skin of Evil (⭑)
In some ways, this is the most vacuous and wanderingly pointless episode of the entire first season, yet the one major event of significance that happens in it reverberates through…
We’ll Always Have Paris (⭑⭑)
Way back in my early teens, when TNG was originally airing (and when its first-season episodes were about all I knew of the show), this one was one of my…
Conspiracy (⭑)
This episode is actually popular among many fans, to the point of often being cited as the best episode of first season. I can maybe understand some of the reasons…
The Neutral Zone (⭑)
This is another episode that (like "We’ll Always Have Paris") I remember quite liking as a 14-year-old, so it pains me a bit to slam it too harshly—but this one,…
The Child (⭑⭑)
I get the impression that this episode is heartily loathed by most fans and critics—and, to be sure, it’s nothing special in most respects. I, however, will stand firmly behind…
Where Silence Has Lease (⭑)
This episode, for me, is a really tough call between one and two stars. It's a damn sight more watchable than most episodes in the one-star category, but it nevertheless…
Elementary, Dear Data (⭑⭑⭑)
This is one of the first genuinely good and flat-out enjoyable episodes of the series (notably, only the second one that I have rated above two stars). Its main weakness…
The Outrageous Okona (⭑⭑)
The second in a series of early-second-season episodes with a character focus on Data, this is not one of the better such (but neither is it the worst). Its two…
Loud as a Whisper (⭑⭑)
This, unfortunately, is an episode about which every good thing that I might say is mitigated by a corresponding bad thing, but some of the bad things that I might…
The Schizoid Man (⭑)
The third of the four early-second-season Data-focused episodes, this one is, alas, a complete bomb. Its few paltry redeeming features are these: 1. Dr. Selar, though the reason why she…
Unnatural Selection (⭑⭑)
My main overall reaction to this episode is that it's a fundamentally forgettable one. While not entirely without merits, it needed a lot of work before it could qualify as…
A Matter of Honor (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
As my rating indicates, this is easily the best episode of the series thus far; it's not perfect, but it just towers over the majority of what comes before it. …
The Measure of a Man (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
"A Matter of Honor," the episode immediately prior to this one, was, when it first aired, the best episode that the series had yet produced—but this one easily topped it,…
The Dauphin (⭑⭑⭑)
Despite its having significant weaknesses and being the sort of episode that many fans of the show automatically dislike (a love story for Wesley!), I personally enjoy this episode too…
Contagion (⭑⭑)
This episode is sort of the opposite of the previous one ("The Dauphin"), in that it has just never really worked for me, even though I gather that it is…
The Royale (⭑⭑⭑)
The third consecutive episode to which, based on what I've read elsewhere, I think I react somewhat differently than many other fans, this one is admittedly kind of a "turn…
Time Squared (⭑⭑)
This episode wants really badly to be a good one, and significant portions of it are really engaging. It has an intriguing story idea, really great visual effects, and some…
The Icarus Factor (⭑⭑⭑)
This is yet another episode that, based on what I've read elsewhere, I gather that a lot of fans don't like very much, but of which I have always been…
Pen Pals (⭑)
It's a fair generalization, I think, that the majority of the episodes in roughly the first two thirds of this season are essentially mediocre (with a few big exceptions, of…
Q Who (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
I said in my review of "Pen Pals" that most of the best and worst episodes of this season are clustered together in its final third. Nothing illustrates this better…
Samaritan Snare (⭑)
The yo-yoing inconsistency of the latter part of second season continues, plummeting all the way from the heights of "Q Who" to another low point with this clunker. When I…
Up the Long Ladder (⭑)
The thing about this episode is that—hmm, how can I put this?—it royally sucks. It's a poorly structured mishmash of elements (a thoroughly stereotypical old-worldish colony that's presumably supposed to…
Manhunt (⭑⭑)
I'll say this for this episode: the first time that I watched it after not having seen it in many years, it managed to pleasantly surprise me a bit. Maybe…
The Emissary (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
This episode is a strong enough character piece, and does enough other things really well, that it easily earns a four-star rating, even if its main plot is arguably a…
Peak Performance (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
Apart from one bafflingly glaring, major plot flaw, this is a wonderful episode whose thematic depth/complexity, sophistication, and sheer enjoyableness surprise and impress me each time I watch it. It's…
Shades of Gray (⭑)
A lot of people slam this episode as the hands-down, all-time worst of the series. I definitely will not go that far, but it is, for sure, an unsalvageable waste…
Evolution (⭑⭑⭑)
With the start of season three, TNG finally attains its full maturity. As with "The Child," I can't really discuss this episode without also offering some broader observations—this time about…