A friend recently noted he was lacking in cultural awareness of Star Trek:TNG, and so struck up a conversation about what eps should be watched.

And I got thinking about that. I watched all of TNG many years ago, and have long held the view that I wont watch it all again. Just not worth it, too many crap episodes. But there are many good episodes too, and so it solidified a thought I’d had for a while – to compile approximately a season worth of episodes from the 7 seasons produced, that would cover the best that TNG had to offer.

So beginning with the opening and closing episodes, it was pretty logical then to include the entire Q arc. Not a difficult call since Q is arguably the most entertaining recurring character. Q’s arc intersects with the most famous of TNG aliens, the Borg, so the entire Borg arc was then also an easy choice. Continuing in this style, the Borg arc intersects with Lore’s arc, and with one additional non-Lore episode, this arguably covers the main Data character arc. I then included the episodes with cameos from the original series… and a few bonus that are notable for being of high quality anyway, or just personal favourites.

Season1

• Encounter at Farpoint
  • introduction, Q
• Hide and Q
  • Q
• Datalore
  • Data / Lore

Season 2

• The Measure of a Man
  • Data
• Q Who
  • Q, Borg

Season 3

• The Survivors
  • Personal favourite episode
• Deja Q
  • Q
• The Best of Both Worlds – Part I
  • Borg

Season 4

• The Best of Both Worlds – Part II
  • Borg
• Family
  • Picard (and Worf) after Best of Both Worlds
• Brothers
  • Data / Lore
• Qpid
  • Q

Season 5

• Darmok
  • Notably good episode, Picard
• Unification – Part I
  • Spock
• Unification – Part II
  • Spock
• I, Borg
  • Borg
• The Inner Light
  • Notably excellent episode, Picard

Season 6

• Relics
  • Scotty
• True Q
  • Q
• Chain of Command – Part I
  • Picard
• Chain of Command – Part II
  • Picard
• Tapestry
  • Q, Picard
• Frame of Mind
  • Riker
• Descent – Part I
  • Borg, Lore

Season 7

• Descent – Part II
  • Borg, Lore
• Lower Decks
  • Interesting episode
• All Good Things
  • Q

So what have I missed? The main arcs left uncovered would be Wesley Crusher character arc, Worf’s character/Klingon Empire story arc, and Romulan Empire arc. But, including too many arcs has the danger of this ending with “hell, just watch it all” and that would defeat the purpose.

So this posts asks… are there any truly notable TNG episodes or arcs that would be worth including for the sake of a watchable TNG:condensed “season” of episodes?