I'm often tempted to rewatch TNG, especially since the HD remaster came out, but slogging through 178 episodes of extremely variable quality with some truly interminable stretches feels like an inexcusable waste of time even by my standards. I'll never get around to the important things in life at that rate, like watching Blake's 7.
So I allowed myself a year. Season three isn't just the year TNG got good, it's also one of the finest collections of episodes in the franchise, hammering out the flaws of the early years while still feeling fresh and setting the standard for 90s sci-fi TV. At least, that's what rosy nostalgia and received opinion tell me, I haven't watched most of these since the 90s.
Let's see what's out there...
Key:
Klingon episode
Vulcan episode
Ferengi episode
Romulan episode
Borg episode
Q episode
26. The Vengeance Factor (3x09)
For whatever reason, the season becomes briefly obsessed with angry rebels in its sagging middle. Catching Riker at his alternately hot and cold worst, and with no thoughtful speeches or cute character moments to redeem it, this is one of those episodes the series would be better off without. At least there aren't as many of those as there used to be.
25. The High Ground (3x12)
I think this is the first time I've seen this infamous episode, which was banned the first few times around in the UK for being somewhat insensitive and downright weird in some of its ideas, but it didn't prove to be a lost gem. Although a deeply flawed episode, those failings at least provoke discussion. I really hope we're done with rebels now.
24. Transfigurations (3x25)
I hadn't noticed how absent the stereotypical Treknobabble had been this year until its glorious return. This is a pure Star Trek episode and extremely boring. Beverley would finally get a good episode the following year, but otherwise they lumped her with this sort of twaddle.
22. The Price (3x08)
21. Evolution (3x01)
20. The Ensigns of Command (3x02)
I hadn't noticed how absent the stereotypical Treknobabble had been this year until its glorious return. This is a pure Star Trek episode and extremely boring. Beverley would finally get a good episode the following year, but otherwise they lumped her with this sort of twaddle.
23. Ménage à Troi (3x24)
It's a shame the season had to take another plunge into the depths towards the end, but they had a good run there. This is a problematic episode in several ways, from its human trafficking plot played for laughs and Lwaxana's racist diatribes to the fact that I quite like the schmaltzy Riker/Troi and Wesley stuff. It was time for a lightweight, lighthearted episode, it's just a shame it was this.
22. The Price (3x08)
The first real letdown of the year. I like the wormhole plot that partly inspired Deep Space Nine's premise, as well as the defanging of the Ferengi that finally defines them properly, but Deanna's fling with a pick-up artist is dire. Such a shame Tasha had to die and take most of the series' progressive gender politics with her.
The development this season is tangible. Michael Piller's debut script about Wesley's groundbreaking science project causing techno trouble feels like a holdover from early TNG and we wouldn't see its like again. Piller would all but disown it when he shortly graduated to producer and told the other writers not to submit this kind of story any more. It's an interesting transition.
20. The Ensigns of Command (3x02)
A low-key Data episode between his big hits, this run-of-the-mill plot about stubborn and irrational colonists would be repeated years later with the Maquis, but it's mainly Data's high school story where he gets bullied, has a nerdy admirer and eventually stands up to the jock. Picard's legal B-plot is another recurring theme in one of its more forgettable outings.
19. A Matter of Perspective (3x14)
I used to find this one much more interesting when I thought the gimmick was original. I should probably get around to watching Rashomon sometime, since I seem to have seen every TV series' Rashomon episode. While there's zero jeopardy around the murder question, it's nice that there's at least some ambiguity about how Riker's behaviour is perceived by himself and others... even if the harrassment claim apparently isn't worth investigating on its own merit.
18. The Bonding (3x05)
17. The Defector (3x10)
16. The Enemy (3x07)
15. Allegiance (3x18)
The season's Picard-heavy final third begins with this fun and generally overlooked episode. The Twilight Zoneesque mystery isn't up to much, but Patrick Stewart blends funny and sinister expertly as "Picard" lets his (metaphorical) hair down. We also get several new additions to the alien gallery, despite the budget cuts.
14. Booby Trap (3x06)
13. The Hunted (3x11)
12. Sins of the Father (3x17)
10. The Survivors (3x03)
9. Yesterday's Enterprise (3x15)
8. The Most Toys (3x22)
7. Sarek (3x23)
This is the kind of deep and mature episode you can appreciate a hell of a lot more when you're not 12 any more. Patrick Stewart's breakdown would still be gobsmacking even if it was for the sake of some randomer, but making it a classy crossover secures its hall of fame status. Elsewhere, the petty squabbles are funny too.
6. Déjà Q (3x13)
5. Tin Man (3x20)
Led by a guest character with the regulars merely tagging along, this feels like a classic sci-fi short story moulded to fit the Star Trek framework, which is precisely what it was. But with its strange and wondrous new life and supporting threat from the Romulans, it's perfectly on brand. Farscape's Richard Manning was a producer this season, so I seriously doubt the strong similarity is coincidental.
4. Hollow Pursuits (3x21)
"Pardon me, but why is Lieutenant Barclay being referred to clandestinely as a vegetable?"
The first lower-decks episode is a landmark installment for the franchise, introducing a flawed and awkward character to the mix who's ultimately more relatable for the viewers at home than the flawless heroes they'd rather be. For all the Reg Barclays out there, there are some helpful lessons to take on board amid all the erotic Star Trek roleplay fun. A subtle classic.
3. Who Watches the Watchers (3x04)
2. The Offspring (3x16)
19. A Matter of Perspective (3x14)
I used to find this one much more interesting when I thought the gimmick was original. I should probably get around to watching Rashomon sometime, since I seem to have seen every TV series' Rashomon episode. While there's zero jeopardy around the murder question, it's nice that there's at least some ambiguity about how Riker's behaviour is perceived by himself and others... even if the harrassment claim apparently isn't worth investigating on its own merit.
What if redshirts had families? Ron Moore's spec debut is a thoughtful exploration of those consequences with someone else's generic alien-of-the-week story attached, but it's more notable for its influence on setting the strict character-focused tone from here on.
Another heady Romulan tale that cites Shakespeare and chess as influences so you know it's intellectual, this is a lot duller on a rewatch when you know how it goes down. I was hoping the Romulan cold war arc would be a highlight of the season, but it doesn't amount to more than repetitive stand-offs. Moore's Klingon dynastic soap opera would prove more interesting.
16. The Enemy (3x07)
I've wanted to claim that TNG has 'arrived' for about half the episodes so far, but with previously unheard-of character conflict rearing its head and proper universe-building with the Romulans, there's no going back now. It's not a favourite episode, due to so much of it taking place in a ditch, but if you wanted to show someone that TNG was a meaningful show, you'd rather they randomly came across this one than 'The Child' or something.
The season's Picard-heavy final third begins with this fun and generally overlooked episode. The Twilight Zoneesque mystery isn't up to much, but Patrick Stewart blends funny and sinister expertly as "Picard" lets his (metaphorical) hair down. We also get several new additions to the alien gallery, despite the budget cuts.
With Piller keen to phase out the technobabble stories, this is one last outing for an old-fashioned spooky space mystery solved by... I've already forgotten. Georgi did something and Picard piloted. With LaForge's pervy holoprogram and Picard geeking over antiques, it passes the character test too. A fun episode.
13. The Hunted (3x11)
Another angry rebels story, this manhunt all over the Enterprise was more entertaining than I'd given it credit for. It feels like TNG's 'Space Seed,' even if Danar wasn't charismatic enough to land a film sequel. As a DS9 fan foremost, I always enjoy seeing the overconfident Federation taken down a peg. No surprise that this is where Ira Behr first made his mark.
12. Sins of the Father (3x17)
The Klingons got off to a shaky start in TNG, back when they tried to convince us that the Ferengi were a worthy substitute, but this is where their story really begins. Alongside Q, Worf's family drama is one of TNG's few proper story arcs, and the most consistent, but you have to be in the mood. Next year's 'Reunion' is a top 10 episode, this is just the prelude.
11. Captain's Holiday (3x19)
Deep Space Nine's return to Risa would be one of the worst episodes in the franchise, so I didn't have high hopes going into this one – which turned out to be a damned enjoyable Indiana Jones-style adventure, taking Picard from his most uptight and flustered to his most free and easy. With no boring B-plot dragging us back to the ship, it makes a great vacation.
Deep Space Nine's return to Risa would be one of the worst episodes in the franchise, so I didn't have high hopes going into this one – which turned out to be a damned enjoyable Indiana Jones-style adventure, taking Picard from his most uptight and flustered to his most free and easy. With no boring B-plot dragging us back to the ship, it makes a great vacation.
A great jumping-on point to the series, this Twilight Zone-style mystery gives most of the crew something to do and manages to be intimate and inconceivably vast at the same time. Picard's approach to deduction is a bit reckless, but it's not like it's his first time dealing with an omnipotent trickster. Probably just wasn't in the mood.
9. Yesterday's Enterprise (3x15)
Not quite the definitive classic I remembered, TNG's take on 'City on the Edge of Forever' via 'Mirror, Mirror' is mainly notable for its sentimental fanwank. Filling in a missing piece of the lore, resurrecting a dead cast member for a more fitting farewell and playing with the 80s movie sets and uniforms turn what would have been a generic alternate universe diversion into a special event. If only it had been a two-parter.
Ruthless and giddy collector Kivas Fajo is one of the most memorable antagonists of the series. He'd fit right in on Deep Space Nine, but it's funny to see the clean-cut TNG crew not even being able to conceive of such materialiatic subterfuge until the evidence mounts up. A great Data episode at the same time.
This is the kind of deep and mature episode you can appreciate a hell of a lot more when you're not 12 any more. Patrick Stewart's breakdown would still be gobsmacking even if it was for the sake of some randomer, but making it a classy crossover secures its hall of fame status. Elsewhere, the petty squabbles are funny too.
Like The Voyage Home, this comedy episode hits the right notes and was always one of my favourite Q stories, behind only the peerless 'All Good Things...' and maybe 'Tapestry.' With witty banter, inverted humanity lessons from Data and one of the most memorable endings of the series, this is the halfway point where season three shifts from good to great.
Led by a guest character with the regulars merely tagging along, this feels like a classic sci-fi short story moulded to fit the Star Trek framework, which is precisely what it was. But with its strange and wondrous new life and supporting threat from the Romulans, it's perfectly on brand. Farscape's Richard Manning was a producer this season, so I seriously doubt the strong similarity is coincidental.
4. Hollow Pursuits (3x21)
The first lower-decks episode is a landmark installment for the franchise, introducing a flawed and awkward character to the mix who's ultimately more relatable for the viewers at home than the flawless heroes they'd rather be. For all the Reg Barclays out there, there are some helpful lessons to take on board amid all the erotic Star Trek roleplay fun. A subtle classic.
3. Who Watches the Watchers (3x04)
Star Trek's most outspoken atheist statement this side of the 60s, that probably gets the episode disproportionate love and disdain in equal measure, which might be what I'm doing right now, but it's up there with my favourite talky episodes. The most effective demonstration of the Prime Directive, there are also nice callbacks to the classic series with the return of Vasquez Rocks and parallel evolution.
This was always my favourite Data episode, the much-vaunted Measure of a Man being a bit boring and too season two for my taste. Don't worry about the technobabble, just experience the feelings that Data can't have. Great, that's set me off again.
1. The Best of Both Worlds (3x26)
It's a big 'un. But as this season delivered hit after hit, I really wasn't expecting it to make it this high. I was worried that I might have outgrown the Borg, but watching this two-parter again for the umpteenth time (preceded by the A New Hope of 'Q Who,' naturally), the ominous dread was palpable. Things wouldn't get this convincingly desperate again until DS9 approached the Dominion War. The foreshadowing of Riker's hesitance to take command sells the jeopardy brilliantly, even when you're not watching in 1990. Justifiably legendary... but I think I still prefer 'All Good Things...'
1. The Best of Both Worlds (3x26)
It's a big 'un. But as this season delivered hit after hit, I really wasn't expecting it to make it this high. I was worried that I might have outgrown the Borg, but watching this two-parter again for the umpteenth time (preceded by the A New Hope of 'Q Who,' naturally), the ominous dread was palpable. Things wouldn't get this convincingly desperate again until DS9 approached the Dominion War. The foreshadowing of Riker's hesitance to take command sells the jeopardy brilliantly, even when you're not watching in 1990. Justifiably legendary... but I think I still prefer 'All Good Things...'