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Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Review

Star Trek: The Next Generation is a science fiction television series which is considered one of the genre’s finest TV productions. The first season premiered in 1987 and it consists of 26 episodes.

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“When has justice ever been as simple as a rule book?“

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It is considered to be the worst season of this show and for many great reasons. The stories range from truly mediocre to pretty good, but none are truly excellent. The season relies little on action scenes and yet the storytelling itself is not sophisticated enough to support that. Some exceptions exist of course, but this is mostly a disappointing season.

In no small part this is disappointing in characterization. So Jean-Luc Picard is definitely terrific, there is no denying that. He’s great, a fantastic protagonist and a charismatic, very endearing crew captain plus Patrick Stewart is just fantastic in what is obviously his career-defining role. Unfortunately, others pale in comparison significantly. William Riker is quite likable and Data can be quite amusing at times. He’s the show’s sole comic relief in the first season. But Wesley is so annoying and all the women are ridiculously underutilized and awfully forgettable.

At least the acting is good across the board as are the special effects, most of the dialogue and of course the score with a phenomenal opening theme. But the storytelling is problematic as it isn’t smart or intricate enough and the emotion is simply not there for the most part.

Encounter at Farpoint is a solid two-parter and a good opening for the show. It’s a pretty good case for humanity and it’s actually quite sophisticated and works as a solid courtroom drama. It’s just that it needed to air much later in the show’s run and not now when we simply do not know these characters which is a mistake that many episodes here share.

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The Naked Now is even worse in that regard. So they basically made an episode where the characters behave oddly owing to some phenomenon and we do not even know who they are in the first place. So it entirely fails, it doesn’t make sense and it’s overly sexual in its approach.

Code of Honor is a horribly racist episode about a planet with black people who fight to death for honor. Easily the worst episode in the season for obvious reasons. The Last Outpost features pretty forgettable villains, but Where No One Has Gone Before features a solid premise and particularly strong VFX. Lonely Among Us is overly familiar in plot, but Justice is phenomenal as a great cautionary tale about other worlds/countries and their laws. Very well done and one of the rare sophisticated tales of the season.

The Battle is pretty forgettable and now we get to a pretty lackluster streak of episodes unfortunately. Hide and Q is thoroughly forgettable to the point that I almost forgot about it completely. Haven is an okay episode, but it’s rather sexist and I disliked Troi’s silly, cartoony mother quite a bit. The Big Goodbye has a solid premise, but weak execution.

Datalore is not the best episode. It features some very strong acting, but the dialogue can be rather annoying and silly here. Angel One also has a good premise, but weak execution once again. Futurama did this story so much better in its third season. 11001001 has some intriguing, but overly sexual scenes once again.

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Too Short a Season is a solid episode built upon a very good premise. When the Bough Breaks also is particularly effective in its winning original premise and the political tone to it. Home Soil is one of the better episodes of the season thanks to an involving mystery and a terrific atmosphere showcased.

Coming of Age is also very strong. Although Wesley is per usual annoying, his story is actually very interesting here. And of course the other story about Picard being questioned by authorities is fantastic, featuring a couple of truly sweet moments where we see just how much his crew cares for him. The characterization individually may be thin in this season, but they work splendidly as a team and one giant family.

Worf has never been a fun character and Heart of Glory is no exception. The story is good, but the characterization is per usual disappointing. The Arsenal of Freedom is weaker later on, but the first half is very mysterious and intriguing. Symbiosis is your regular Star Trek political episode whereas Skin of Evil kills off Yar who was so forgettable that not even her very well done goodbye scene could not make me feel anything.

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We’ll Always Have Paris is an interesting experiment that didn’t work as Picard’s love life should not be emphasized this much in my opinion. But Conspiracy is very effective as basically the only creature feature and horror episode here and thus the most entertaining one for sure. The Neutral Zone has its moments, but the previous episode would have been a much better finale.

Overall, the first season is fine, perfectly solid and far from terrible as it has its good episodes, but the characterization is so weak that it hurt the season significantly.

Worst Episodes: Code of Honor and Datalore.

Best Episodes: Justice and Conspiracy.