My Top Ten Favorite episodes of Star Trek TNG, ranked

My Top Ten Favorite episodes of Star Trek TNG, ranked.
#3 Lower Decks, season 7
One of the best episodes of the series; one of my personal favorites. It took some flack for being too aggressive as far as military operations go, but I think it was wonderfully done and these kinds of episodes helped to support DS9 which made it such a good series.
This script is heavy on dialogue and crew interaction and that's always a challenge since there usually needs to be a focal point of action to keep the story moving. Mostly, when they spend time on personal stories, it ends up being too much time and it either short changes the action, or it's too random and irrelevant to the franchise in general... In Theory, Qpid, Lessons, and Sub Rosa are good examples. But other times it's done right like Family, Data's Day, and this one. A lot of time is devoted to simply painting a broad picture of how the senior officers and junior officers view each other and react to each other with each group learning and growing from their interaction with each other. And they really nail it with a nice balance of characters to make the audience comfortable with so many new faces at one time. Ogawa is already a familiar face and so is Sito. And with Sito our interest is piqued after her part in The First Duty. It's wonderfully teased... not too much of her personal story is given away at first. Instead of following the main characters, the cameras stay on the ensigns and their points of view when the crux of the story is finally unveiled. The parallel poker games bond all of the characters of upper and lower decks and help to get the audience completely invested in these characters who would all be thrown away except Ogawa.
Then, with a few choice scenes, the writers cultivate the bittersweet story of Ensign Sito (and give her an even better ending than poor Wesley.) To further the DS9 foundation, Sito is chosen pose as a prisoner with a Cardassian spy for the Federation to help get him back into Cardassian territory. We're reminded that she's had a rough time since the incident at the academy. Worf and Picard must both prepare her mentally with tough love to give her the strength to carry out the mission, should she chose to accept it. And she does accept it because the Cardassian/Bajoran conflict is personal. It's a testament to how the main cast had grown by the seventh season that we didn't need to see whatever counseling Picard needed to saddle such a big responsibility onto such a young junior officer, nor how the rest of them especially Worf could be supportive of so obviously a dangerous mission. The tension amidst her colleges and her superiors as she flies unarmed and scared into a deadly game of espionage is thick enough to cut with a knife and our hearts are crushed when news of an anonymous, dead Bajoran prisoner is relayed to the crew.
I didn't want it to be the end. I half expected her to turn up in DS9 especially after Worf joined the cast, but they chose not to salvage the character again. Disappointing, but sill okay since this is one of the best written and acted episodes ever. Instead of being black and white it moves within the shades of gray where war and peace is concerned. This is Star Trek at it's fully matured state.

 I also have 10 honorable mentions to match my top ten favorites, so I'll throw one in every day that I post a top ten episode. These aren't ranked
Darmok, season 5
I don't want to actually complain about this episode. I really loved it, of course, but it's so wildly popular I feel like I have to explain why it didn't make it into my top 10 favorites list. It comes down to the fact with my analytical mind, I can only stand so many "feels", particularly when I feel like someone is trying to deliberately manipulate my feelings. The emotions produced by The Inner Light and Lower Decks felt more organic; authentic. The emotions brought about by this episode feel contrived or forced.
The Enterprise meets with a race that nobody has ever been able to communicate with and it doesn't look like they'll be able to any time soon. In desperation that race decides to trap the two captains on a planet with a dangerous creature to finally break down the language barrier that separates their cultures. Picard has every reason to assume the worst at first, but hardly had their first meeting on the planet gone by before the audience can see that Dathon's intent isn't evil. He arms them both but instead of attacking his body language indicates defeat and sadness when Picard refuses to fight. I think at this point Picard should've suspected that there was more to this than a challenge since he is supposed to be a great communicator. Dathon helps him through the night with his fire, doesn't make any moves to kill him in his sleep and still Picard thickly assumes that he wants a fight the next day.... until he notices there's a deadly beast on the planet. Sorry, I'm just not buying it from Picard. Riker, maybe, but not Picard. Picard was picked for obvious reasons. Once he realizes that their language is stories from their own mythologies, nobody but Picard could validate the actions of the Tamarian captain with such relief and enthusiasm. Nobody but Picard could tell the Sumarian tale of Gilgamesh and Enkidu with more credibility and charm while he comforts Dathon who was mortally wounded by the creature. And nobody but Picard could stay the Tamarian hostilities at the end when the Enterprise retrieves him from their cage with more graveness and and sincerity. There's not much dialogue in this episode, but as a Picard episode, it does its job of pulling at your heart.
They made this out to be a vital new alliance but offered no evidence that there would be any follow up which is another cheat of one's emotions. However, it's a heart-felt episode that showcases Picard at his best and the content offers points for reflection without pushing one ideology to indicate what people "should" think. That's why I love it even though I can't classify it as a favorite.

My Top Ten Favorite episodes of Star Trek TNG, ranked.

My Top Ten Favorite episodes of Star Trek TNG, ranked.
#4 The First Duty, season 5
I'm a self professed Wesley-hater, but I want to clarify. Wil Wheaton was not the problem. Even the character of Wesley Crusher that was the main problem. I blame the writers and directors entirely. I understand that they wanted him to be a "good boy" and a proper role model but they went too far by giving him no viable teenage flaws. He always knew what the right thing to do was and he always did it with little or no prodding. He had no bad attitude or mischievous tendencies whatsoever. He was at genius level intelligence and even though his outlook was too innocent for his age, he was also somehow mature for his age and never conflicted with the other characters. The episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" set him up to be a unique character. And what a build up. He's going to be something amazing. He's going to be a "chosen one." He's going to be... going to be... ... ... A straight "A" student? A sci-fi Hardy Boy? There was great material all around him and he was always solid when paired with Picard, but nobody noticed until the end after he'd become a recurring character with precious little time for development.
This episode is another one of my personal favorites and, in my opinion, the best "Wesley" episode ever. There's an accident at the Academy in Wesley's flight team and one of the members is killed. When the team leader, Nick, interrupts his comfort time with his mother and Picard you see that the team is responsible for the accident and they're trying to cover it up. Where was all this great peer pressure when Wesley was growing up and being perfect from sun up to sun down? This is a much bigger deal than setting Nanites loose on the ship by accident. He'd never had any real challenges to his character development up until now and then it's like going from one extreme to the other. But this "other" is far more interesting. Picard confronting Wesley is a fantastic scene as it always is when Wesley and Picard are paired together. The ethics are solid and it's great character development for a character that wasn't even on the show regularly any more. Very gripping. This episode is so powerful that they show it at the Air Force Academy as a part of teaching about duty and ethics. If only Wesley had still been a regular on the show, some follow up could've been done. But they wasted his time on the show by making him the perfect little hero all the time. It still drives me crazy. This is such a cool episode. An episode that spawns other stories is the most impressive kind. The actor that played Nick went on to be a main character in Voayager... nearly as this character but for legal complications. And Sito would be brought back for another five star episode that's also in my list. Love it. Love it.

 I also have 10 honorable mentions to match my top ten favorites, so I'll throw one in every day that I post a top ten episode. These aren't ranked
To Thine Own Self, season 7
I liked this episode an awful lot and it's actually the B story that I liked over the A story. I liked Data's adventure too as long as one doesn't think about it too hard about it because even though amnesia stories work well, the fact that Data is the one with the amnesia makes it more difficult to pull off. You know - he doesn't remember that radioactive materials are dangerous but he's somehow retained enough scientific knowledge to understand that fire isn't an element as well as the skill to build a microscope and create a cure for radiation poisoning. It's one of those 7th season stretches that is forgivable because the show and characters are so beloved at this point they can almost do no wrong. Still... it's a story that begs to have holes knocked into it.
But the Bridge Officer test angle for Troi is what makes me stand up and cheer every time I see this episode. It only takes up about three scenes in the whole show, but it's the better story. Seeing Beverly taking a command watch on the bridge gets Troi thinking about her own career and she decides she would like to get a promotion. But it's not that easy. She passes all of the technical requirements, however it concludes with a test of character that has her stumped as she repeatedly destroys the Enterprise in a holodeck simulation. She doesn't know what she's doing wrong and Riker says that he can't tell her which only frustrates her more. She even asks if it's a no-win scenario, but that's not it either and Riker is ready to fail her for the good of the ship which gives Troi the epiphany needed to pass the holodeck simulation. She has to order poor holo-Geordi to his death in order to save the ship. Ah, my heart! So, not only did it reference the Kobayashi Maru from Khan, but it built on the concept. Spock volunteered to do what Kirk couldn't or wouldn't have asked him to do and now it's a requirement that commanding officers have the fortitude necessary to order someone to die to save the ship. The Kobayashi Maru is probably still there in the 24th century as a test of character, but now there's also a more grown up test of character to go with it. Because the show has grown up too. I love it so much!
I can see there was't enough there to fill an entire episode so it had to be a side story, but this little bit goes a long way. It was another great example of the reach and impact that The Wrath of Khan had on the franchise, furthering my opinion that Star Trek wouldn't have survived without it.

My Top Ten Favorite Star Trek TNG episodes, ranked

My Top Ten Favorite episodes of Star Trek TNG, ranked.
#5 All Good Things, season 7 finale
This is an example of a series finale done right. It draws from the history of the show to bring closure to the characters while imagining a future that is tainted with sadness, but with the reassurance that it isn't set in stone. It brought a touch of class to the first season and validated its part in the growth of the show. It also facilitates continuing plot lines in DS9 and the three TNG movies, building the strong foundation that enabled the Star Trek franchise to continue through the 1990's and early millennium. All three of the other series used characters from this series in different capacities; they couldn't have done it without this show. It's one of the most perfect episodes constructed for the series because there was a sadness that the series had to end, but it was an ending that was left opened to all the new possibilities.
As a long two-hour episode, the first part is a lot of dialogue without as much action. But it's meaningful conversation which helps set the table for the climax along with the slow and deliberate introduction of the other two timelines that will play a significant role. Like the pilot episode, Encounter At Farpoint, the story is a simple one so a lot of time can be devoted to the characters, in this case developing a possible future for them and bringing a sense of completion to this chapter of the franchise. It's slow, but it's also very busy with Picard's time shifting to shape the episode which is an example of how the writing had improved over the years.
It wasn't entirely perfect... I thought the word "paradox" was too generic; the animus between Worf and Riker was left undeveloped do to lack of time and it kind of short changed Deanna from the future; and there's actually a fairly big goof regarding the tachyon pulses at the end, but we also forgive things like this since it's fiction. Still, I have no real complaints. It's all of the little details displaying the evolution of the characters and how they've bonded that the episode is really about. The rest is just backdrop. I have only love and admiration for a brilliant episode that killed everyone off and gave everyone a happy ending at the same time. So much love for this episode.

 I also have 10 honorable mentions to match my top ten favorites, so I'll throw one in every day that I post a top ten episode. These aren't ranked
Parallels, season 7
I love this episode. It's a different kind of Worf episode that's creative, technically good writing about a time anomaly since nobody around Worf remembers what went on in the end... not as good as Yesterday's Enterprise, but probably my second favorite time anomaly. And it was one of the best ways of teasing a Worf/Troi romance which I was completely in favor of at the time. But that's not what made it a great episode. It was fun with a serious problem that needed to be fixed and the solution foreshadowed the series finale. The pacing is wonderful, the situations are believable, and the twist at the end just adds to the story demonstrating that his first shift occurred when he entered the fissure and not again until Geordi was with him at the birthday party. I loved the shifting between parallel universes. It's a chance to mix up the characters, put them in different uniforms, and explore different plot twists like the possibility of the Borg taking over the quadrant or the Bajorans as the enemies. Poor Geordi has to be hypothetically sacrificed again, lol! He's always taking one for the team. It's a great example of how they could've better utilized Wesley even though he didn't have many lines. It was an all around great exercise in creative writing.
I can relate to Worf on a lot of levels and it was all the more special because they used him for it when, I think, they would've normally used Picard for an episode about jumping between alternate universes. Worf, who can't handle losing control over any aspect of his life, being forced into strange situations where he can't operate his control panel, where events are changing around him without his knowledge, where his family life is different, and there's nothing he can do about any of it. You can really feel his exasperation and helplessness and you can't help but admire him for handling it so gracefully in most situations. It's probably not relatable to everyone, so it didn't make the top ten cut, but it's one of my personal favorites and I love to watch it over and over.

My Top Ten Favorite Star Trek episodes, ranked

My Top Ten favorite Star Trek TNG episodes, ranked.
#6, The Inner Light, season 5
This episode utilizes one of my big bugaboos about alien races having "mind control" technology and no other comparable military technology, or in this case space travel capabilities. I also have to assume that the real Kamin must have been in on the creation of the probe's programming since it's his life that Picard's free-form hallucination takes on, and yet there's no indication of this happening in Picard's experience as Kamin. However, in this case it was the best way to handle a story like this, so I willingly and happily overlook the sci-fi flaws of this beautiful episode.
The Enterprise encounters a probe which makes a connection with Picard and throws him into a state of unconsciousness on the bridge. Meanwhile, in his mind, he's living the life of a man on a dying planet. Unwillingly at first, since he can't shake his identity off instantly. However, this is where the episode takes an unexpected turn. A seasoned Star Trek fan would expect Kamin-Picard to be solving the mystery of his new placement on Kattan within a few hours or days, inadvertently teaching lessons to all the people in town about space travel, how to save their planet, and even finding a way to meet with them for real. But that's not what happens. Instead he accepts his new identity and life believing his vague memories of space exploration to be dreams brought about by illness. Over the course of Kamin's long life, Picard gets the whole domestic and civil experience, wife and kids, joys and woes - a life he'd not chosen for himself in his real world, which is why it's so emotional when at the end he realizes that all of "his" life was a memorial to the extinct planet and their plea to be remembered. I mean, it's the reason we procreate and pass stories and history down through the generations anyway... it's as close as we come to eternal life on Earth. The memories would be with Picard forever.
I consider this episode to be an improvement on "The Paradise Syndrome" in which Kirk, with amnesia, takes on the life of a medicine man and marries with intent to start a family. That life is tragically taken from Kirk and Spock helps him to forget in the end. But in this episode, Picard is allowed to live his alternate life out naturally before he's gently removed back to reality where he then has to live with those memories. And even the writers realized afterwards how an experience like this could deeply change a character even though all they were looking for was just a good hour of T.V. It's every bit as invasive and life altering as his experience of the Borg assimilation. Instead of taking his life as the Borg did, this probe gave him an additional life to cherish, and it's also a lot to work through psychologically. The image of Captain Picard living as an average, "nobody" type of man who is not a leader of anything significant or fulfilling any kind of "chosen one" role had a more powerful impact than anyone could've expected for both the character and the audience. And it wouldn't have worked as well for any other character.

I also have 10 honorable mentions to match my top ten favorites, so I'll throw one in every day that I post a top ten episode. These aren't ranked.
The Gambit, season 7
This episode was so much better for displaying Picard's passion for archaeology than Captain's Holiday. This episode is action packed. They don't spend a lot of time on dialogue and there's no need since the story is pretty straight forward. It leaves you breathless almost from beginning to end. You know Picard can't really be dead but it's an interesting twist when he turns up as a part of the mercenary crew and not a hostage. The name he's using while posing as an archaeologist is enough to give the episode an emotional hook that they don't even have to waste time explaining since Picard's beloved and recently departed mentor, Galen, is still fresh in our memories from The Chase in the previous season. It's another glowing demonstration of how the characters have grown together and work smoothly as a team without having to give a wink and a nudge to make their intentions known to each other and without a need to telegraph to the audience what they were doing like the episode, Allegiance. These interactions are another affirmation of how Wrath of Khan changed the way stories were written. It had all the intensity of an action movie, like Starhip Mine, with a plot that undergoes a couple of twists and ends up exploring the darker side of Vulcan's past as Picard becomes involved in a plot to rebuild a destructive telepathic weapon. It's a really cool episode in the 7th season when you could tell that they were running thin on ideas.
They say the producer felt a little bad about doing this one because it breaks Roddenberry's rule of "no space pirates." But the best work was done outside of Roddenberry's rules. The show would never have matured and we wouldn't have had the deep complexities of DS9 if they followed Roddenberry's rules. It's kind of hard to take "no space pirates" seriously anyway when that's essentially what the original concept of the Ferengi was in the early seasons. This was a great little adventure. And it was more Indiana Jonsey than piratey.One of my personal favorites.

My Top Ten Star Trek TNG episodes, ranked.

My Top Ten Star Trek TNG Episodes, Ranked
#7 Best of Both Worlds, Season 3 finale
Some say that Measure Of A Man was the first really good episode of the series. I mean, I don't know... maybe. It's on my Honorable Mentions list. But I think Both Worlds may be the first real home-run of the show. There were a lot of good episodes in season 3, including Yesterday's Enterprise. But most of the good episodes in that year were improvements on concepts from the first 2 seasons. That's great and they needed to happen, don't get me wrong. However, this episode was a demonstration of their ability to further develop a concept without reaching over-saturation (which is kind of what had been happening with Data at this point, except his popularity made it okay.) As the first fruits of Q Who from the previous season, they begin to slowly build up their primary nemesis and it continued to break ground giving us the viral phrase, "Resistance is futile." The hopelessness of their first appearance was observable and the helplessness of the crew is measurable in this appearance as Picard is abducted and assimilated into the Borg collective.The character of Picard was always written the best even in the weakest episodes and he was very beloved and respected by now. So giving him over completely to the enemy's side to the point where the crew had to make the choice to possibly kill him was a bold move on the part of Star Trek and made a magnificent cliffhanger. There was actually a question as to whether or not Stewart would come back for the fourth season if you can imagine that ... it's almost as horrifying as the cliffhanger. But he did return and it enabled the writers to evolve the Borg a little more as we learned that Picard's personality wasn't completely gone, but only suppressed. Even though the weekly previews spoiled all of this, it was still a terrible shock when Picard was taken and a huge relief when they were able to communicate with him again and get him back. That's what makes this such a powerful episode. And even though it's a happy ending they don't have Picard playing it off as "all in a day's work" but rather with the dark weariness of someone who has been heinously traumatized. Very real; very relatable. It gave it a lot of depth.
I love this episode because, although the writers had been trending away from mercilessly beating up on humanity in general during this season, this is the first episode in which the human race, and Picard specifically, are unmistakably the good guys of the universe. They're special and able to overcome an overwhelming adversary such as the Borg. In fact, humans are so resilient that a liaison was needed to help take us out. It was very refreshing and just aided in giving the show purpose and direction. It opened up a lot of avenues and cemented for TNG an original antagonist all of its own so that they could grow beyond the political tensions of TOS as Roddenberry envisioned. TNG would never end another season without a two part cliffhanger again and this set the bar almost impassably high. It's a great episode.

 I also have 10 honorable mentions to match my top ten favorites, so I'll throw one in every day that I post a top ten episode. These aren't ranked.
Starship Mine, season 6
Picard as a badass, rogue action hero? Uh... yes, please! It was pitched as "Die Hard on the Enterprise" and that about sums it up I guess. It seems like an idea that somebody would've had in the first season, but if it had been done in the first season it would've been awful. The Enterprise is in for a routine maintenance procedure which is lethal to organic life so they all must evacuate and most of the senior staff is forced to attend a reception they're not interested in. Picard finds a way out of it when he discovers that he can ride the nearby horse trails and returns to the ship to get his saddle before all the systems are shut down. He discovers a small group of people on the ship stealing valuable material from the engine core and can't escape in time to warn anyone, so he spends the episode trying to hinder their progress while cut off from everyone else and unable to use the advanced technologies on board the ship. He's resourceful and quick witted and shows a remarkable capacity for cunning and stealth. Stealth on both ends, because for the theft to work, there needs to be accomplices on the surface of the planet so the rest of the crew at the reception become hostages and they have to work while impeded as well to regain control of the situation. It reaches a nail biting climax as Picard and his crew overcome their enemies and find a way to communicate with only seconds to spare before Picard is killed by the maintenance procedure.
This episode is just wall to wall action. Even the comic relief is fast paced and precise. It showcases Picard at his coolest. I don't have a bad thing to say about it. It doesn't make the favorite's cut because it's a one-off episode, I guess that has no further impact on the characters within. Five stars for fun though. It's one of my personal favorite Picard episodes.

My Top Ten Star Trek TNG Episodes, Ranked

My Top Ten Favorite Star Trek TNG episodes, ranked.
#8 Q Who, season 2
This is a pivotal episode that changed everything for the series. After evolving the Klingons into allies, the show flailed about helplessly for a primary adervsary. The early concept of Ferengi was an unmitigated disaster. Troll-like, garden-gnomish; like children outfitted for Halloween. Cowardly whips and jumping about like nymphs in a Shakespearean play, there was no way to take them seriously as a nemesis. Q himself was only a little better. They probably could've done well with him as the enemy for a while, but at this point he was mostly comical and far too charming. Instead they use him as a catalyst for this adventure and end up not only validating Q as a powerful, formidable character, but they hit upon the turning point that, I think, saved the entire TNG project.
It broke the budget for the second season, but it paid out like a slot machine. Who could fail to be intrigued by a cyborg similar to a Terminator coming aboard the Enterprise, not to attack, but to start downloading all of their data banks as reconnaissance?... in your face reconnaissance that required no sneaking or guile. Their emotionless behavior is mesmerizing. This is the fear they wanted to strike into people's hearts from the beginning with the Ferengi, but they were still thinking along the line of TOS... aggressive war-like races. I'm not sure which writer(s) hit on a cold, machine intelligence as the best way to go, but he, she, or they nailed it. It actually fit in perfectly with the dawning of the computer age here in real life. Out-gunned, the Enterprise runs. And they can't outrun for long either. One of the most intense scenes ever is when they zoom in on the Borg Cube repairing it's damage while it's quickly catching up to them. I think this is another influence of Star Trek II. This is a no-win situation and there really is no doubt about it. They're obviously outmatched and would most certainly be toast quickly and mercilessly. I think this influence is part of what makes this such a great episode. The hopelessness is palpable.
The Borg then evolved over the series which kept it interesting and fun to watch. This is a huge episode and worthy of being in any Top 10 list.

 I also have 10 honorable mentions to match my top ten favorites, so I'll throw one in every day that I post a top ten episode. These aren't ranked.
Relics, season 6
Not in my favorites because transporter science is always lovably dubious and the Dyson Sphere was as well. But I love the warm, fuzzy nostalgia with one of the best Star Trek characters ever created. Scotty is still 100% Scotty with Doohan playing him the same way he did throughout TOS and the movies... with that air of melodrama that was so distasteful in the first two seasons of TNG, but perfectly normal when exhibited by anyone from the original cast. Trapped in a transporter to escape a disaster, the crew finds him and releases him. He is bewildered to discover that 75 years have passed. The disparity of years and fifth-wheel dejection he feels is relatable. But he gets to prove himself again as a miracle worker and they couldn't have found a better way to work in the bridge of the original Enterprise on the holodeck.
Of all the transitioning mechanisms between TOS and TNG, this one, after six seasons,was the smoothest. I've made the comparison a lot on how TOS was much more simplistic/immature and it's in this episode that my view is supported. You can see the difference in the attitude of the two different shows. The personality of Scotty represents the playfulness of TOS and how it belonged to a time when stories could be played out like games. Geordi's personality was more serious and represented the way the stories had matured and how the stakes of the games had risen. And it was the most effective passing of the torch between the two if you ask me. McCoy in the first episode was sentimental. The movie, Star Trek Generations, was a nice gesture. But this episode featuring the two engineers of the Enterprises was the best bridge between what was and what was to be.
It was a wonderful send off to the character of Montgomery Scott. So much love for this episode!

My Top Ten Favorite Star Trek TNG Episodes

My Top Ten Favorite Star Trek TNG episodes, ranked
#9 Disasters, season 5
It may seem like a strange pick for a favorite with a predictable, soapy plot, but I loved the sudden change up for all of the characters. Being thrust into positions they wouldn't normally be in like Troi having to take charge of the ship or Picard having to comfort and lead a group of children. Seeing different character pairings like Geordi and Beverly who are often in a group setting but never teamed up to resolve an issue that doesn't fall specifically within either of their expertise. It's always Geordi and Data that are paired. And Geordi would not only feel no awkwardness about using Data's head as a tool, but he'd also know exactly what to do with it, unlike Riker to whom this is an entirely different and unusual experience. And they all have their own issues. Nobody but the bridge crew is aware of the danger to the ship so everyone is just doing their own thing to survive. Including prudish, OCD Worf delivering Keiko's baby which isn't living up to his expectations from the simulated deliveries he'd practiced. I love comedy and it's probably the funniest moment of the series and just one reason why I love to watch this episode again and again. I loved it because it was different and a nice break from the weightier scripts.

 I also have 10 honorable mentions to match my top ten favorites, so I'll throw one in every day that I post a top ten episode. These aren't ranked.
The Most Toys, season 3
Like Ensigns Of Command, it's more of a breaking away from the simplicity of TOS. I'd call this a Roddenberry classic episode because it seems exactly like the plot of a TOS episode, and I'm not entirely sure it wasn't. But it improves on Roddenberry's narrow view of conflict resolution as Data is kidnapped by a high end thief who wants to display him in his personal museum. Data spends much of the episode practicing the appropriate passive resistance to Fajo's displays of power over him. But eventually he reaches a point in which he realizes that the pacifistic response (that Fajo even throws back in his face) is no longer an option and sometimes the use of force is necessary. Sometimes evil needs to be destroyed rather than negotiated with or psychoanalysed. Of course, he doesn't actually have to pull the trigger in the end, but it's a harsh reality that was concluded and it helped to broaden the perspectives that the show would take in the future. I also see it as correcting the response that was given to Armus in Skin Of Evil which was poorly played out. A lot of episodes in season 3 were a kind of reboot of the series that made it better and stronger. This episode is a great example.