Encounter at Farpoint (⭑⭑)
TNG’s pilot episode is a strange mixture of elements with real merit that show the potential of the new series (albeit a potential that would largely go unrealized for the…
The Naked Now (⭑)
Everything about this episode is ill-conceived: ripping off the plot of an original series episode; doing so in the very first post-pilot episode of the new series; having all the…
Code of Honor (⭑)
"The Naked Now" is almost as bad as they come, but "Code of Honor" is even worse. This turd is on the short list for the distinction of "worst TNG…
The Last Outpost (⭑)
This is another candidate for "worst episode ever" that (like the previous episode) belongs squarely in the "what in the name of god could the writers have been thinking" category. …
Where No One Has Gone Before (⭑)
Though considerably better than the three previous episodes, this one is nevertheless still really bad. It lacks the sort of fantastically ill-conceived premise that ruined all three of the post-pilot…
Lonely Among Us (⭑)
Despite suffering from some of the same fundamental problems as many of the other episodes of the season, this baby immediately strikes one as a very different sort of terrible…
Justice (⭑)
No episode since the pilot has yet merited even two stars, but the last couple travesties prior to this one were nevertheless slightly better than the previous three. Here, however,…
The Battle (⭑⭑)
This episode is not very good, really. However, it is much better than any other episode since the pilot. Its plot contains no surprises, is executed clunkily, and isn't really…
Hide and Q (⭑)
This is hands-down the worst Q episode ever; much of Q's material here is so bad that not even John de Lancie can make watching it non-painful, and the premise…
Haven (⭑)
This episode sucks. The arranged-marriage story seems wildly out of place and at odds with the values and ethos of the Starfleet/Federation world; Troi seems like a volitionless pawn who…
The Big Goodbye (⭑⭑)
This episode is deeply flawed, and aspects of it are terrible—but it's still the best episode since the pilot. The framing story about the insect race that is anal about…
Datalore (⭑⭑)
Though much too flawed to merit a third star, this is the best episode of the series thus far. Halfway through the season, the writers finally got around here to…
Angel One (⭑)
Unfortunately, after two consecutive episodes that seemed to be indicative of a slight upward trend in quality, this heap of shit broke the streak. This one is another terrible first-season…
11001001 (⭑⭑⭑)
This is unquestionably the best episode of the first season—so much so that it’s actually hard to wrap one’s brain around its presence in the same season of the same…
Too Short a Season (⭑)
What a comedown from the previous episode! Here, once again, we return to structureless, filler-packed plotting, clunky exposition, painfully telegraphed foreshadowing, one-dimensional characterization, and a lame storyline that has no…
When the Bough Breaks (⭑)
This is yet another worthless waste of an episode. As usual, one-dimensionality combined with (one assumes) budget limitations lead to a total lack of believability that permeates the episode: the…
Home Soil (⭑)
While still not very good at all, this is a rather different sort of bad episode from most of the other terrible episodes of this season. I mean, it’s not…
Coming of Age (⭑⭑)
I used to think of this episode as a semi-bright-spot in the mostly dismal first season, and not without reason. Still, it's fraught with problems. On a character level, the…
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,…