Nitpicking: The Next Generation

The single best Q episode ever, notable for both its introduction of the Borg and Q and Guinan's century-spanning relationship as frenemies.

This episode focuses on the Prime Directive and how an emotionless android can nonetheless conduct emotional manipulation. Warning: May contain sophistry or sophistry-like components.

The show's first official time-travel episode manages to avoid most of the worst pitfalls by also being a character study of Jean-Luc Picard(s).

Data and the away team live through a bad noir novel in the first of several "holodeck without the holodeck" episodes. Less Enterprise, just as much suck.

The Enterprise crew find themselves trapped in a late 90's CD-ROM adventure game and discover the wonder that is rebooting from disk.

Wesley seeks advice on women from the worst people in the galaxy. Includes guest commentators Jill Neff and Cynthia Taylor.

A high point of the season--and the series so far--as Data's personhood is put on trial. Actual science fiction! Who'da thunk it?

We see the Federation at its racist worst when Riker joins, and somehow manages not to offend, a Klingon crew.

In an episode that initially flirts with actual science fiction, the transporter is revealed to be a magical cure-all device, a fact that will immediately be forgotten.