The Continuation of the Top 17 Episodes of Star Trek: TNG

Previously:

17.  Encounter at Farpoint
16.  The Royale
15.  Data's Day
14.  The Masterpiece Society
13.  Chain of Command
12.  The Offspring
11.  The Wounded
 

Star Trek: The Next Generation is my favorite television series of all-time. It had everything. It had action, adventure, taught moral lessons, explored humanity, was a social conscious at times and almost always told a story. Here is my top seventeen list of the greatest episodes of the series. As a side note, episodes that were two-parters, I lumped together.

10.  Parallels
This is the episode that introduced the idea of parallel universes to me.  It is a very interesting idea.  With a rift in the space-time continuum, Lt. Worf starts to jump from universe to universe.  In each universe we find that a different choice here or there changes lots of different things.  The best part of this episode is at the end when we find out there is a universe where the Borg are about to finish off the Federation and in another Riker succeeded in killing Locutus.

9.  Redemption
This is the season four finale and season five premier.  Following the awesome cliffhanger from season three to season four, this cliffhanger had me imagining all kinds of scenarios over that summer.  Part one ends with what appears to be Tasha Yar emerging from the shadows in a Romulan uniform stating that humans will come around when least expected.  Turns out that it is not Tasha but who it is, is even more intriguing.  This episode also puts Data in the commander chair of his own ship which has the viewer question their own stereotypes about people who are different and their capabilities.  We also get to see Worf serving on a Klingon ship as a Klingon warrior in a Klingon civil war.

8. The Game
This episode was way ahead of its time.  Riker brings a game back from Risa.  This game is so addictive that the entire crew becomes addicted to it.  Some writer must have heard about a plan to introduce smartphones in the next 10 to 15 years while thinking up this episode.  Wesley visits the Enterprise while on leave from Starfleet Academy and meets Ashley Judd (yes, Ashley Judd played a minor character on Star Trek: TNG).  The game is being used to control the crew by an alien.  Watch this episode and then think real hard before playing Candy Crush.

7. Tapestry
In season two, we found out that Picard has an artificial heart due to a fight when he was young.  Later on in season six, there is an accident and Picard dies due to the heart being damaged.  He awakens to find Q as the judge on the other side. He is quick to point out that Q cannot be God because the universe is not so poorly designed.  Q gives Picard the chance to change that moment and he does not get into the fight.  He never has the artificial heart and later on down the road, the accident will not cause his heart to malfunction.  However, his life turns out so much different.  He never makes it into command and is just a normal Joe working as a science officer on the Enterprise.  Once he is brought back from the dead, he and Riker have a conversation and I learned a lesson that has reminded me throughout my life to accept that both the good and bad have shaped made me into the person that I am today.

"There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of. There were loose threads - untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads, it unraveled the tapestry of my life." - Picard

6.  The Inner Light
An alien race that has been extinct for many, many years sends out a probe that "tethers" itself to Picard and he lives a lifetime as one of the aliens in his mind.  They do this so that their culture will be remembered.  This episode also has a quote that I will never forget and will always remind me to enjoy what I have in front of me.

"Seize the time, Meribor, live now!  Make now always the most precious time.  Now will never come again." - Kamin (Picard's alien name)