The pilot “Encounter At Farpoint” is not a strong series opener, I didn’t particularly liked Q in this episode. Come to think of it, only a few Q episodes I really like. Picard and his crew must prove themselves that humans are a worthy species before a omnipotent creature named Q. And he really is not only omnipotent, but also obnoxious! Q kept thinking Picard was going to be barbaric but apparently Q wasn’t so intelligent to figure that out that Picard wasn’t like that. Note – As I said, it is far from a good episode, the acting is not all there, looks a bit dodgy. Data already is the highpoint this episode which his humoristic banter and answers. Admiral McCoy’s visit was also a treat and Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney) already there in the pilot episode but apparently also the last episode this season!

“The Naked Now” is also an average episode where the crew gets infected with a virus-like disease that makes them appear drunk and removes all inhibitions. Riker recalls a similar situation in the history of ships named Enterprise, James T. Kirk’s ship. Note – Still, a lot of hilarious things happen: Data appears to be fully functional and has sex with Tasha! In a scene on the bridge Data tries leaning on the non-existent furniture after his conversation with Captain Picard about being fully functional and ends up falling on the floor. This was not in the script but was added by Brent Spiner on the set. Director Paul Lynch was pleased at Brent's idea and left it in the final cut. Data has the best lines anyway, he is the funny one. Have the feeling Brent Spiner plays the character differently than in follow-up seasons. He is definitely different in the early episodes / seasons. Picard and Beverley are flirting, very funny!

“Code of Honor” actually is below average where The Enterprise travels to the planet Ligon II to collect a vaccine that will prevent a particularly virulent disease on Federation planet Cyrus IV. The planet's leader, Lutan, is more than pleased to provide them with the cure but while on board takes a particular interest in the ship's security officer, Lt. Tasha Yar. Note – it’s a well below average episode, with a 5/10 I grade it too high. The story is better suited for TOS, not TNG. I thought the best things about the episode was Data’s quest for understanding humor and Wesley is being allowed on the bridge, that says something. What bothers me also, I understand the necessities for stunt doubles, but this is the 2nd episode where Yar has a fight scene and it is so f*cking obvious it is not her, really sad and annoying.

In “The Last Outpost” The Enterprise makes a confrontational first contact with the piratical Ferengi race as their two ships are ensnared by a presumed dead planet ready to judge them. At first both crews don’t know but there power is drained by a force on the planet, comes from an empire which has been gone a very long time. Note - Better than I remembered, was fun actually to see the difference between the Ferengi in this first episode and the ones on DS9. Also starring Armin Shimerman. Very funny when Data’s fingers are trapped in a Chinese finger trap while he is explaining to Picard and the others.

“Where No Man Has Gone Before” is the best episode of the first five. Although Riker considers maverick Federation scientist Kosinski's project to vastly boost the Enterprise's propulsion absurd, Picard obeys the Admiralty's orders. Fascinated, Wesley sits with his alien assistant and wins his confidence. The results surpass even Kosinski's wildest dreams, jumping the ship into a galaxy millions of light year away. Getting back will prove to be much more difficult. Note - Interesting episode, nice story-arc for Wesley whom I find much more likable now than I did 30 years ago.

“The Lonely Among Us” is also a below average episode. While distracted by two antithetical races applying for Federation membership, the Enterprise picks up a sentient entity that can alternately possess either man or machinery. The entity goes from body to body and when he is in Picard, he orders Enterprise back to that nebula it is coming from. Riker and Crusher even want Picard to stand down as captain because he is making strange decisions. Note - Some funny Data moments as he is impersonating Sherlock Holmes, otherwise a bit of a mwah episode. These types of storylines have been used often in sci-fi.

“Justice” is not better I’m afraid. On an alien planet, where it looks like paradise, Wesley commits a transgression, small by our standards but every crime on their planet is punishable by death, this also! Note - So many things wrong with this episode, these people on the planet annoyed me from the first second, it was hard to give this episode an average grade even. Yar says she is aware of their justice system but something like this is overseen / not told? What happened on the ship with Data and the god-like creatures who watch over the people on the planet was kinda interesting.

“The Battle” is another Ferengi episode. Ferengi have contacted the Enterprise telling them they want to meet but they left Enterprise waiting for 3 days. Meanwhile Picard is having a headache. When they do contact, they GIVE Picard’s old ship the Stargazer back, even his first officer is surprised. It is all a ploy, Daimon Bok wants revenge because 9 years ago Picard killed his son when he destroyed their ship, which was unidentified. Bok is responsible for giving him the headaches and bad nightmares. Note - Not a terrific episode but definitely one or two ticks up from the last 2 episodes.

“Hide & Q” was the worst till now for me at least. When Enterprise is on a rescue mission, Q comes to the ship and is a pain in the ass again. He disrupts the urgent mission they are on. He and the Q continuum see a Q in Riker, that was this is all about. Riker thinks that he can stay himself without ever using these powers, Picard is not so sure and rightly so. Note - I don’t care much anymore for most Q episodes, this one is also very mediocre, perhaps not dire but not very entertaining either.

“Haven” is a bit better, Troi is to be married, an arranged marriage. Riker has lots of difficulty with the fact that Troi is going to get married. For the first time we meet her mother Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett) and Mr. Homm (Carel Struyken), her aide. Her husband to be (Wyatt Miller, Robert Knepper) thought he would meet a different women, one whom he’s seen all of his life in his dreams. While the enterprise is at Haven, a Tarellian vessel is nearing the planet Haven, they apparently carry an incurable plague, but it also carries the woman from Wyatt’s dreams. Note - Other guest stars: Raye Birk as Wrenn and Armin Shimerman as the face of the talking gift box. It is an okay episode I guess, a 6/10 perhaps, in my opinion Majel Barrett steals every scene she’s in. Don’t really understand why Riker has such an issue with this marriage, he had ample time himself to act, but apparently he rather be a ships captain, but seems not to want to grant her happiness with another man. Also some fun Data moments at the reception.

• Quote: [Data is observing Mr. Homn as the latter enjoys one drink after another] Lt. Cmdr. Data: Considering the rate at which you imbibe, sir... is your lineage at all mixed with Human? Counselor Troi: Stop this petty bickering, all of you! Especially you, Mother! [runs out of the dining room] Lt. Cmdr. Data: [polite tone] Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.

“The Big Goodbye”, the first holodeck story? Wish they never started it! Captain Picard and some of his crew are caught in a deadly trap in the holodeck as the result of a ship-wide scan from an alien race. Note - Definitely not my cup of tea, usually don’t like holodeck stories, although Data has some had some great moments in this one. And the final greeting of Picard to the aliens was ludicrously funny.

“Datalore” is the first episode which I thought was worthy of an 8/10. The Enterprise visits the planet where Data was created and discovers another android like him, but when he's assembled, he's not exactly like him. He definitely is different, Lore shows emotion, in his case devilish, he is responsible for the death of the colonists, he was able to communicate with the crystal entity and he led it to them. After he incapacitates Data, Lore poses as Data and brings the crystal entity to the Enterprise to consume the crew. Wesley is the only one who sees through Lore from the beginning but the Captain and first officer find formality more important than the possibility of Wesley telling the truth. Because his mother Beverley knows the spot of Data’s off switch, they are able to revive him and stop Lore. Note - Brent Spiner must have had a blast playing the bad android. Data practicing sneezing, hilarious!

From good to below average, “Angel One” The Enterprise visit the planet Angel One in the hopes of rescuing the survivors of a Federation vessel that crashed there several years before. It's taken many years for them to receive the distress call and they're not sure what to expect. Note - Really boring episode, Riker is Kirk in this episode. Didn’t like it, it is not awful but certainly one of my least favorites this season. Talk about the Romulans in the Neutral Zone was more interesting. Fun moment in the end when Picard is improving from the flu but still no voice. Slightly better is “11001001”, the Enterprise, while docked at Starbase 74 will undergo a computer upgrade by hands of the Binars, an advanced race whose minds work in binary code. When warp containment field begins to fail, Commander Data orders the evacuation of the ship and sends it off into the far reaches of space not realizing Riker and the Captain are still aboard. Binars have brought the Enterprise to their planet because they needed the large data storage of the Enterprise to save their world and their people. Note - Second half of the episode I found to be more engaging than the first part. And I have to admit, I wasn’t keen on the Riker / Minuet scenes on the holodeck, Kind of annoyed me.

“Too Short A Season” is an average, predictable episode. The Enterprise transports an elderly Starfleet Admiral Jameson to negotiate a hostage crisis. When the Admiral takes a de-aging drug, he endangers both his life and the mission. He was supposed to use it regularly, in small doses but when he learns of this mission, he takes it all in one time, including the stash he had for his wife. Note – When you see Jameson the first time, even if you didn’t know TNG, you just knew he would become a young man again.

“When the Bough Breaks” is tick-up from the previous two episodes. A planet that was able to cloak itself for thousands of years suddenly reveals itself, with its inhabitants proposing peace. But, after initial negotiations, children of the Enterprise are being kidnapped due to the infertility of the inhabitants. They show their power by throwing the Enterprise 3 days away from the planet at Warp 9. They however have become too reliant on the custodian, who regulates their lives but they also didn’t question anything anymore and that’s a reason why they didn’t figure out it was radiation poisoning which caused their infertility. The solution is to start over. Note - Hilarious scene in the final moments of the episode where Picard is thanked by one of the children and his crew is laughing behind his back because his awkwardness towards children.

Another okay episode “Home Soil” On Velara III, Geordi and Data discover a microscopic life form responsible for the death of an engineer stationed on the base. These lifeforms have been trying to communicate with the scientists and engineers from the terraforming team but they didn’t realize this. Meanwhile the team unknowingly killed thousands of lifeforms. On the enterprise it was able to communicate with the Enterprise crew, letting them know what had happened. At first these lifeforms declare war but Picard makes them see reason. The lifeforms do not trust the humans yet but perhaps in 3 centuries they do. Note - Lifeforms refer to us as “Ugly bags of water”. 😊

“Coming of Age” is also a good episode, Wesley is applying for the academy. There are 4 candidates, he is not accepted. Meanwhile the Enterprise is being investigated, Lt. Cmdr. Remmick is doing the investigation for Adm. Gregory Quinn, a friend of Picard. Picard is the one under the investigation. Remmick does not make himself popular on the Enterprise. In the end the Admiral admits that there was nothing wrong with Enterprise, he wants Picard as his new head of the Academy because he suspects there are strange things going on in Starfleet and he wants Picard close, but he declines. Note - 4 very gifted candidates and they only need one? You would expect they are eager for more gifted candidates. Is part one of a two part episode, part 2 is “Conspiracy”. Shame it stopped there, would have liked this to be common thread throughout the series, like in Babylon 5.

“Heart of Glory” is also okay, The Enterprise searches for answers as to why three Klingon warriors were the only survivors aboard a freighter just inside the Neutral Zone which was seemingly attacked by a Ferengi ship. They told a lie to the captain, they are on the run from their own people because they don’t want this peace, they believe it is not healthy for Klingons to live in peace, they want to go somewhere, where they can be true Klingons again. Worf does feel what they are going through but tells their captain that the true battle is from within, not without. Both Klingons die with honor. Captain of the Klingon battlecruiser asks Worf to join them when his tour of duty on the Enterprise is over. Note - Fun moment when he says: I am honored, the bridge crew look at his as if… I was just being polite, Worf says in response.

In “The Arsenal of Freedom” The Enterprise encounters a planet long dead, but technical equipment still functions for the purpose of selling off its arsenal, along with self sufficiency. When Riker is being held in some kind of stasis field, Picard and Crusher beam down, against Starfleet regulations. The machine emulated Riker’s buddy at Starfleet, Paul Rice, who was trying to learn information. While looking for cover from these flying machines and while running from them, Picard and Crusher fall into a cave, Crusher is critically injured. LaForge is left in command, he handles himself well, he even split the ship in two parts again, this has not happened since the pilot. Chief Engineer Logan (Vyto Ruginis) feels he should be in command, he has a higher rank, but LaForge does not let himself be intimidated.

In “Symbiosis” The Enterprise encounters two neighboring cultures, one suffering from a plague, the other marketing a cure, and learns that nothing is as simple as it seems. The other culture, marketing a cure also suffered from the plague but their ancestors realized that it was also a drug addiction afterwards, they didn’t tell that to their neighbors and making money off of them all these years. Picard cannot interfere with this because of the prime directive, which makes Beverley furious. But ultimately he has a solution, he decides to not help them with giving equipment which should repair their ship, so after this shipment, the cannot go an get more from their neighbors because they aren’t spacefaring, because the medicine is their only means of industry. So in the long run, they will get in trouble also and the addiction, although tough, will end also. Note – Guest starring: Merritt Butrick & Judson Scott. The episode itself was so so, but Beverley was terrific, being so passionate about her standpoint and not hiding it from her captain! She looked great in this episode also.

In “Skin of Evil” Tasha Yar dies a meaningless death by something pure evil. That thing that kills her, is left behind on that planet and has been all alone who god knows how long. Note - The episode does become emotional during Crusher’s attempt to revive her and at the end also, but unfortunately not enough, missed opportunity. Real shame that she wanted out, I kind of liked the character, would have liked to see her evolve over 7 seasons. In “We’ll Always have Paris” The crew on the Enterprise experience a time-distorting ripple. Meanwhile the Enterprise gets a distress call from an time-space-continuum researcher Dr. Paul Manheim. Picard is distraught when he learns his name, only noticeable by Troi. Because Picard knew he was with the woman, Jenice, he stood up some 20 years ago in Paris.

As said earlier, “Conspiracy” is part two from “Coming of Age”, Picard gets emergency message from a good friend captain Walker Keel, that something is going on in Starfleet, strange things have been happening, but there is no proof. When Keel’s ship the Horatio gets destroyed, the Enterprise goes back to earth to get some answers. Soon it becomes clear that people in Starfleet are not who they say they are. Highest personal has been infiltrated with a parasite. Note - This is a premise I get excited about, this storyline, follows-up from 1.18 The Coming of Age. Unfortunately this storyline was dropped after this If I remember correctly. Eerie homing beacon in the final moments of the episode. Real shame this was it. Strange though how Quinn could not be put down with heavy phaser fire by Beverley, while later on in the episode the other parasites were quite easily shot down. Creature inside Remmick was also a bit hokey but those were the times. Two episodes no mention of Tasha, which I find very strange. This one of the few episodes I graded an 8/10.

The season finale “The Neutral Zone”, the Enterprise finds 3 cryonically frozen people on a derelict ship from the 20th century. They have been frozen right at the time of their death. The Enterprise is sent to the Neutral Zone after reports about several destructions of Federation outpost close to the Neutral Zone, a buffer zone between the Romulans and the Federations. Starfleet suspects this could be a deliberate act on their part to lure the flagship to that zone to see what their strength is and such. Note - The Storyline about the frozen people I did not really find that interesting to be honest, I really liked the other storyline with the Romulans. This is a set-up for more stories with the Romulans as the Federation adversaries. Unfortunately it did not unfold in the rest of the series as I’d hoped. Just sporadically confrontations with them, if I remember correctly. Again, no mention of Tasha at all. First Romulans: Marc Alaimo & Anthony James.

Season finale Quote: Commander Tebok: Captain Picard, because your actions are those of a thoughtful man, I will tell you this. Matters more urgent caused our absence... now witness the result. Outposts destroyed. Expansion of the Federation everywhere. Yes, we have indeed been negligent, but no longer. Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Commander, we've made some progress. Let us not ruin it with unnecessary posturing. Commander Tebok: Your presence is not wanted! Do you understand my meaning, Captain? We are back. [the Romulans close the channel] Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [to himself, but loud enough for the Bridge crew to hear] I think our lives just became a lot more complicated.

Final Word:

TNG’s first season is far from a strong season, for me it only has two episodes I graded an 8/10, so in that respect, it is very average. Still, I enjoyed most of the episodes. Even when an episode was boring or weak, there are always moments which I didn’t want to miss. Especially the Data moments make many episodes worth while. If I should grade this season, I think it would be a 6/10.