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"…
The Nagus (⭑⭑)
Well, here we are: The first of DS9's infamous "Ferengi episodes." While there will be some exceptions, the show's periodic forays into Ferengi-centric (attempted) comedy will, on the whole, be…
Vortex (⭑⭑⭑)
"Vortex" is a few notches closer to the kind of episode that I want from DS9 as compared to the previous few, and there's some engaging material with real potential…
Battle Lines (⭑⭑)
"Battle Lines" is a puzzling little episode that, while it has its moments, is ultimately hugely disappointing. It starts out seeming to represent the show finally turning its attention back…
The Storyteller (⭑⭑⭑)
How to succinctly sum up my thoughts and feelings about this episode? It's a strange one, for sure, and there are questionable things about both of its storylines—but I must…
Progress (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
FINALLY!! This is the kind of DS9 that I signed up for: a story about Bajoran problems that has no good or easy solution and doesn't pretend to, and one…