Sub Rosa (⭑)
And so, we come to the episode in which Crusher gets sexually assaulted by a ghost, then promptly falls in love with "him." Oof. Season seven of TNG has more…
Lower Decks (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
I'm almost speechless over how good this episode is. I remembered it as fantastic, and I went into the re-watch prior to writing this review fully expecting to give it…
Thine Own Self (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
I have always really enjoyed this episode, despite some issues that I will fully acknowledge. To my surprise, however, I'm realizing that it is not very well-liked among fans of…
Masks (⭑)
I scarcely know what to say about this one. I knew it was bad, but it's somehow actually much worse than I even remembered. It has no point and makes…
Eye of the Beholder (⭑⭑⭑)
This is a pretty down-the-middle, three-star episode: not bad, but not great either. It holds my interest while I'm watching it, but for the most part, it doesn't really...matter to…
Genesis (⭑⭑)
In my mind, "Genesis" is the ultimate Braga-run-amuck episode. It's his usual "weird shit goes down aboard the Enterprise" schtick, but with the last shreds of logic and restraint thrown…
Journey’s End (⭑⭑)
With "Journey's End," we enter what I think of as the final stretch of TNG; from here on, almost every remaining episode (with, I think, one exception) feels like a…
Firstborn (⭑⭑⭑)
"Firstborn" is not a standout episode by any stretch, but it's a reasonably enjoyable one. On one hand, it suffers from a lack of character depth and arrives at its…
Bloodlines (⭑⭑)
I think of "Bloodlines" as "the last bad episode of TNG." This is an episode that's ill-conceived, pointless, and dull, and with the show nearing its end, one dearly wishes…
Emergence (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
Even more so than the handful of episodes immediately preceding it, "Emergence" is explicitly an end-of-series episode; "Journey's End" and "Firstborn" wrap up the show's treatment of specific secondary characters,…
Preemptive Strike (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
"Preemptive Strike" is a good episode, albeit one that has always struck me as a bit of an odd choice for the penultimate installment of TNG. I said in my…
All Good Things… (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
One of the biggest paradoxes of TNG is that it was a show that, at face value, no one would have expected to come up with a really satisfying, pull-the-whole-show-together…
Generations (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
I'm very much aware that my assessments of the first two movies are probably where I differ the most starkly from the majority of the TNG fandom, in that, in…
First Contact (⭑⭑)
Overwhelmingly, the consensus among Trek fans is that First Contact is the best of the TNG movies. I have never understood this (especially in light of how great Generations is!).…
Insurrection (⭑⭑)
Unlike the situation with both Generations and First Contact, I am aligned with the majority of other critics and fans in my view of Insurrection: this is not a very…
Nemesis (⭑)
As with Insurrection, I'm pretty sure that I had only ever seen Nemesis once (in the theater, back when it came out) before re-watching it in order to write this…
Emissary (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
Deep Space Nine's pilot episode is nothing less than a masterpiece. I could call it the best pilot episode of any Trek series (as many, though for some reason not…
Past Prologue (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
"Past Prologue" is a pretty good follow-up to the pilot episode that makes a lot of solid storytelling moves. It's not an incredible standout by any means, and four stars…
A Man Alone (⭑⭑⭑)
"A Man Alone" is a pretty busy episode, weaving together a lot of disparate elements that don't reallly cohere into a meaningful whole. I like a lot of the individual…
Babel (⭑⭑)
This fairly dull and routine-feeling offering confronts us with the unwelcome reality that, thus far, each episode of the new series has been worse than the previous one. "Babel" isn't…
Captive Pursuit (⭑⭑⭑)
This is a perfectly serviceable little episode. It has modest ambitions, but it's quite engaging, and I don't have any major complaints (though I will have some things to say…
Q-Less (⭑)
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. An episode written by Hannah Louise Shearer (who penned a number of terrible TNG episodes in its first few years, including "Pen Pals" and "The…
Dax (⭑⭑⭑)
I find "Dax" both engaging and a bit disappointing as an episode, placing it pretty solidly in the three-star category. Going into this re-watch with only the dimmest memories of…
The Passenger (⭑⭑⭑)
"The Passenger" is a pretty down-the-middle three-star episode, albeit one that, I must say, I really did not remember very well at all from previous viewings. It's the least "DS9-specific"…
Move Along Home (⭑)
This nonsensical episode is nothing but a pointless waste of fucking time. I can only surmise that the writers must have wanted to do a DS9 take on the "classic"…
TNG “Story Types”
There are many different ways that episodes/stories can be categorized: by quality, by "genre" (comedic vs. action-oriented vs. dramatic), by which character or characters (if any) is featured, etc. What…
TNG Statistical Summation
Having completed the project of rating and reviewing all 176 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it's time for some observations about how the show stacks up, as a…
Meandering Thoughts on “Kitsch” (with a Major Digression Concerning a Beloved TV Show)
One day, a month or two ago, a few friends and I had a conversation that began when somebody referenced the concept of the "ugly Christmas sweater," and I—albeit with…
Music, and Memories, and—Moving On? (Journalings About Recent Experiences/Feelings)
In recent weeks, I’ve experienced numerous little moments of intense emotion, where the emotions in question are simultaneously joyful and profoundly, despairingly sad. And I’ve wanted to talk about these…
Wrapping Up: The Trip Home From Yellowstone
I’m sort of ready to be done writing about this trip, and I’m not sure how much I really have to say about the homeward-bound road trip in any case.…