Dog Star Omnibus: My Favorites

I've had an unequivocally agreeable ol' time revisiting TNG these past few months. I'll probably be leaving the show alone for the foreseeable future, so I wanted to end this series of posts by revising my list of favorites. I last did these in 2013. so taking a quick snapshot of how everything feels to me immediately post-rewatch-2020 makes sense.

There were one-hundred-and-seventy-eight episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, produced for an era where owning all of them - even taped off the television onto videocassette - was uncommon. Here are my twenty-five favorites. These aren't the series' best episodes - you're big girls and boys can make up your own mind on what best fits that description. These are the ones I personally always want to watch more than any other.

I've more or less said everything I have to say on the show in the other posts, but I added mostly new remarks to the below. Couldn't resist - with Trek, I'm always running my trap. You're on your own for plot descriptions, though.

25.

Some people hate it; we here at the Dog Star Omnibus ranch just love it to pieces. Just the other day I did my best Captain Picard voice when I told daughter number two I could tell she'd been in my office because "clues had been left behind."

The Paxons join the Orgainians and the Metrons and the Q as alien races who think humans have potential. Potential for what? Who knows. If we were living the Trek timeline, we'd still be in the shit years of the twenty-first century, some forty-odd years out from Zefram Cochrane's boogie-woogie warp speed flight. Which means we still have a lot of this shit sandwich to eat before things get on the road to Trek. Seems to be tracking.

On the other hand, apparently UFOs are real so maybe First Contact's already been made. Was it the Chinese or the Persians who said "may you live in interesting times?" Maybe it was the Paxons. 2020 is an interesting time, to say the least.

24.

Kind of a crap episode in some ways. But a fave.

Is part of the reason it's endured with me over the years because when I watch it I time travel back to March 27, 1989, the night I watched it when it originally aired? Undoubtedly. Doesn't happen with just any episode, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when it does.

While not sensible criteria for a Best-Of list, this is exactly the sort of thing that exerts great influence on a Favorites list.

23.

"Intelligent converse is impossible. You do not discuss, you gibber."

Who hasn't felt like the Sheliak lately, trying to engage with the world? Perhaps even more than lately.

And who hasn't felt a bit like Data, as well, trying to talk sense into the stubborn colonists, only able to persuade when he starts waving a phaser around?

I like this episode because like "Darmok" (though a different shade of "Darmok") it's really just a story about discussion and communication. It offers no firm philosophical conclusion - save "find a way to use your opponent's intransigence against them" I guess - just sketches out the difficulty inherent in people getting people to listen.

The meaning or reference of the title, though, continues to elude me. Does anyone know?

22.

"With all the power that MacDuff had to alter our brain chemistry and manipulate the computers, it's hard to believe he needed the Enterprise."

It's true. That sinks this episode for some people, that the Satarrans and Lysians seem technologically incapable of pulling off this sort of stunt. When it comes to incongruent technologies in the Trekverse, everyone has different breaking points.

The dramatic device used here - inserting MacDuff into things with no undue attention or music cues to announce "here is the villain, folks!" - is great. Unless you're tuning in to TNG for the first time - and it would be cool to talk to a fan whose first episode was "Conundrum" - the viewer is one step ahead of the crew in figuring out the mystery. I like that. Same device is used to good effect in a couple of other TNG episodes as well.

21.

Darmok

Speaking of not making sense, here's "Darmok." But who needs sense? Hell, "Amok Time" doesn't make much damn sense either, but that's not the part you remember (or love) about that one. Like any Trek fan, I vacillate between demanding the series be science-fiction ("that's not the right warp mix ratio...") while tolerating the occasional flight of science-fantasy ("PUNCH IT!). This inner struggle won't end anytime soon.

I wonder what happened to the Children of Tama after this first contact was established? I'd also like to know how their civilization got to this point. How did they come up with warp drive given their range of metaphorical examples? Although I guess, as we see here, with "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" being added to their lexicon, they have enough flexibility to accommodate new situations.

20.

I didn't realize it when I put these together, but this is the first of a three-episode Data cluster in my favorites. I should've put "The Offspring" at 21; for awhile it was in the countdown, but I wanted to make room for the ones above.

Pretty airtight episode. One of those scripts like an Ira Levin novel - every piece working in concert toward a seemingly effortless finish.

19.

"Are we no longer a couple?"

"No we're not."

"Then I will delete the appropriate program."

Ouch.

Great episode. Sure it's got the whole Picard-solo-pilots-the-shuttle thing; that kinda stuff annoys me in Trek. Anyone who's read any of these posts has heard me bitch about it. Probably the best of the Data-explores-humanity episodes. But not my own personal favorite. That would be:

18.

A great little mystery with some truly memorable imagery. The first time I saw this was in college; it was the ones I never saw until 2003. I had a professor that semester who would occasionally teach Freud in class; it was an English lit class but it was one of those classes that kinda went all over the place. The Freud stuff in this episode, as a result, cracked me up. I think they're kind of dismissive of Freud in this, which is a perfectly reasonable attitude for anyone in the 24th century to have - especially the 24th century of Roddenberry/Berman-era Trek - but it's still a hoot for me when he calls into the dream to advise Data to "KILL 'ZEM!"

17.

Michael Piller co-wrote this but took his name off for Writers Guild reasons so that his staff could get their credits. What a guy. Has anyone ever said anything bad about Michael Piller? I’ve never seen it if so.

I was amused to discover Ron Moore’s original contributions included grisly deaths in graphic detail of all the principal cast members (Data electrocuted, Wesley’s head blown off, etc.) Those were the times. When I see this episode now, I think of this. The 80s were great for that kind of alternate-reality-everyone-dies sort of things.

16.

A unique episode of the show, with a moving, earned ending. The moment above is very bad-ass.

One thing. After Sito passes the gik'tal challenge, she asks Worf if there really is such a thing, and he responds there is not but perhaps next time it won't take as many bruises before she protests. Aren't Klingons all about bruises? I'm not saying it's not good advice, or that it's inappropriate to the occasion. It's a great scene. Just seems odd that this would be a Klingon thing. I get that Worf is making it all up for Sito's sake, but if she were Klingon it'd be easy to miss the point of, is all I'm saying, because Klingons love bruises.

15.

Will they ever resolve the whole Guinan/ Picard thing? I can't see how. They should've found a way to do so in the last season; I think everyone was signed on for eight seasons and maybe they had it earmarked for that. Why they didn't do it in Generations when Guinan was in the frigging movie and it might even have made a tiny bit of sense is beyond me. Good lord, Generations! Every time I think of that movie something new occurs to me about how awful it is.

Anyway, Guinan is one of those characters that's kind of hard to bring back. You couldn't drop her - not played by Whoopi Goldberg anyway - into Picard (perhaps we should be thankful for this on behalf of both parties); how to explain the actress' aging? I suppose they could recast her. I don't want them to do this, partly because I'd have to watch it and the idea makes me grumble. Watching, I mean, or having an obligation, entirely self-imposed, to do so. I'd just as rather not.

14.

I remembered Ro as having a bit more to do on TNG than this rewatch revealed. She's really not in all that many episodes and there's only two or three ("Conundrum," aforementioned, and "Rascals", not included in this countdown, but I do love that one. Although while that's Ro in that one, it's obviously not Michelle Forbes, so we'll put an asterisk next to it.)

Anyway this one's great. "What am I, some kind of blind ghost with clothes?" will forever crack me up. Like "What does God need with a starship?" it's one of those Trek questions that seems bigger than its literal meaning.

13.

Some may balk at this episode coming in anywhere other than the top spot, or at least the top three, but I had to be honest with myself. The twelve still to come are simply episodes I'd rather watch. I do not dispute the warmth and originality of the episode nor the skill of the cast and crew who brought it to life. It's an A++ affair, top to bottom, reputation well-deserved.

All that said the list is Favorites 2020, and I'm just a tad burnt out on it.

12.

Was that a groan? I think I heard one out there. (There's one guy out there fist-pumping - thank you, sir). And Gates McFadden, maybe, who used to refer to it as a favorite though she's distanced herself in more recent interviews. Not me. Each time I watch it I say crazy things like "This is the greatest episode of TNG ever filmed; inform the men."

...

This is an incredibly entertaining episode, in all its icky-ghost-orgasm glory. Running ghost story tropes through the Trek-translator usually lands with me; pairing them with gothic romance tropes to them even moreso.

11.

"Nothing has changed, Jean-Luc, except for you. That's what you wanted, wasn't it? To change the man you were in your youth? Well, you did it. This is the man you are today. And You should be happy. You have a real heart beating in your chest, and you get to live out the rest of your life in safety, running tests, making analyses, and carrying reports to your superiors."

An episode designed to make you feel both inspired and like time is running out and you need to change/ seize the day. An urgent message, that. Both, I guess. Also an important word of caution: be wary of which errant threads you tug at lest you unravel more than you bargain for.

10.

What more can possibly be said about this episode? I've been too wordy as it is.

Wil Wheaton has an amusing anecdote about hiding in his home office, refreshing the page to vote for this episode over and over as best of all TNG in some official Trek online poll, while his wife pounded on the door asking what he was doing.

Were the Borg ever as cool as they came across here? For my money, no.

"I believe you are reasoning by analogy, classifying objects and phenomena according to superficial observation rather than empirical evidence. Wood, for example, does not contain fire simply because it is combustible, nor does it contain rock simply because it is heavy. Wood, like any complex organic form, is composed of thousands of different chemical compounds, none of which is fire."

"That will be enough for now, Jayden."

Poor Talur! Even with his memory gone, it's got to be tough being a teacher with Data in the class.

The very ending of this one with Riker and Crusher visiting in disguise and beaming Data directly from his grave to the Enterprise is great. "He was my friend, too." Someday that culture will exhume the body and find it gone and assume resurrection. Two thousand years later, hi-jinks will have ensued.

The final bit of this episode where the alien reveals himself to Riker and Riker puts his hand on his shoulder is one of the warmest moments in all of Trek. Great episode. Another of the warmest moments? The ending to this next one, captured in this screencap:

"Let him dream."

Prophetic words, given the future-present of the franchise. Maybe not just the franchise.

That's not the only warm moment in "Family" the whole thing is pretty warm. I love that scene between Worf and the Rozhenkos for another. It's funny that Worf has this whole Russian side to his biography, right down to the luxuriant-hair wigs they put on him (from Russia, and a few thousand apiece, I think), but his other brother is Paul Sorvino. And Tony Todd.

Such a wonderful episode. this is one of those that hits me on a spiritual level I can’t quite put into words. Not the Wesley/ Traveler gobbledy-gook, but everything on Beverly's side of the bubble. The script reads like an Oracle of Delphi-type response where you perceive your own truths.

Along those lines, here’s a mash-up poem of bits from the script, words courtesy of episode-author Lee Sheldon, arrangement on the house:

So many of the people you've known all your life are gone.

All you said was 'Thank you.'

I said, 'My pleasure,' or something, and that was the end of it.

Your word has always been good enough for me.

A lie I can live with.

Narrow perceptions of time and space and thought.

I won't forget. I won't forget any of you.

Once we've cataloged the symptoms, we will proceed to determine the illness,

and find the cure.

We will start with the assumption that I am not crazy.

If this was a bad dream, would you tell me?

That is not a valid question.

Like hell it's not.

That information is not available.

There is no Tau Alpha C listed on current star maps.

That information is not available.

If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe.

The universe is a spheroid region seven hundred and five metres in diameter.

That's when it started. That's when I started losing everybody.

My thoughts created this universe.

That information is not available.

One thousand and fourteen.

That's the exact number there should be.

"The intelligence that was formed on the Enterprise didn't just come out of the ship's systems. It came from us. From our mission records, personal logs, holodeck programs, our fantasies. Now, if our experiences with the Enterprise have been honorable, can't we trust that the sum of those experiences will be the same?"

Good perspective. Not just for TNG but for that other several-year-mission called the USA. Meta but classy, inventive yet trope-ish, this one fits the whole s7 theme of family, to boot; this is the ship's family episode, where it gives birth. My personal favorite of all the meta-Trek commentaries given to us: this weird and genre-mixed ride, coming to an end and a new beginning, not fully understood but born of our mutual experiences.

Things I love about this episode:

- Everything Moriarty (Daniel Davis) does or says and the way he does or says them.
- The surreal scene in Engineering where Data deduces how Moriarty "left" the holodeck.
- The Countess (Stephanie Beacham) and Moriarty's relationship.
- The nested-universes of the story as a chess game between Data and Moriarty, fulfilling the computer's challenge from back in "Elementary, Dear Data" for an opponent that can but not necessarily does beat Data.
- This idea that two computer programs could be out there exploring an entire virtual universe, fully stocked, one would imagine, with no reason to suspect anything other than the reality of their surroundings. The ultimate benevolent holo-sim. I'd watch this show.
- That shot of Moriarty and the Countess leaving the Enterprise and into the infinite, and the cut to Barclay et al closing the lid on it.
- Everything else.

"All hands, abandon ship! All hands, abandon -" kaboom!

Great cold opening.

And it gets better from there. How long do they stay in this causality loop? Years? Months? Centuries?

Speaking of causality loops:

"Goodbye, Jean-Luc. I'm going to miss you. You had such potential.

But then again, all good things must come to an end."

Indeed they must. Today would have been my best friend AJ's forty-fifth birthday had he not died in 2014. All good things indeed. I picture him out there, watching the ship get destroyed from different timelines/ different realities. Did he navigate his way through it and into the great beyond? Does the trial ever end?

Sorry - just got some things on my mind this morning. Dearly departed aside, this is probably the greatest series finale of all time. Not counting Ron Moore's BSG - but hey, he had a trial run with "All Good Things!"

In many ways it's still my favorite TNG episode. But over the years I've found myself watching this one more and more:

I especially like that it centers around Worf's birthday. Each time your birthday comes around you can't help reflecting on the years gone by, paths not chosen or unreachable, the number of paths ahead lessened by one in a finite, steady direction. Going a little sideways with it, like this (or a lot of the above episodes, actually - I guess these are the kind of things I most like in Trek) refreshes my mind each time I check it out.

I was happy to watch this with my two daughters during this rewatch. I wonder if that will ever happen again in life? I hope so.

Well before we turn out the lights, let's do one more round of Leftover Screencaps, shall we? I hope you enjoyed the insertion of the title into the screencaps themselves, above - I wish I'd thought to do that all along.