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The Best Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1

Every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1!

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Follow the intergalactic adventures of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and his loyal crew aboard the all-new USS Enterprise NCC-1701D, as they explore new worlds.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 1 - Encounter at Farpoint
    6.7/10(8242 votes)

    #1 - Encounter at Farpoint

    S1:E1

    Stardate: 41153.7. The new commander of the recently built U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC1701-D), Captain Jean-Luc Picard takes the crew on their first mission to discover the secret of Farpoint Station. During their journey, they encounter an omnipotent being known as Q. Q accuses humanity of barbarism, and places humanity on trial. Jean-Luc must prove otherwise or the human race will be annihilated.

    Director:Corey Allen
    Writers:Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana

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  2. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 2 - The Naked Now
    6.4/10(5476 votes)

    #2 - The Naked Now

    S1:E2

    Stardate: 41209.2. The crew of the Enterprise are infected with a virus contracted by the away team while they were investigating the mysterious deaths of the entire crew of the Starship Tsilkovsky.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writers:D.C. Fontana, John D.F. Black

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  3. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 3 - Code of Honor
    5.1/10(5392 votes)

    #3 - Code of Honor

    S1:E3

    Stardate: 41235.25. Tasha Yar must fight for her life and a vaccine to save a race of people when she is kidnapped and forced to battle with her abductor's wife.

    Directors:Russ Mayberry, Les Landau
    Writers:Katharyn Powers, Michael Baron

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  4. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 4 - The Last Outpost
    6.1/10(4856 votes)

    #4 - The Last Outpost

    S1:E4

    Stardate: 41386.4. A powerful entity disables the Enterprise and a Ferengi ship. Their only means of escape is if they can correctly answer the riddles he asks.

    Director:Richard A. Colla
    Writer:Herbert Wright

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  5. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 5 - Where No One Has Gone Before
    7.2/10(5317 votes)

    #5 - Where No One Has Gone Before

    S1:E5

    Stardate: 41263.1. The Enterprise is flung across space into a distant galaxy billions of light years away when a propulsion engineer and his mysterious companion, attempt to re-design the ship's engine systems.

    Director:Rob Bowman
    Writers:Diane Duane, Michael Reaves

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  6. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 6 - Lonely Among Us
    6.1/10(4425 votes)

    #6 - Lonely Among Us

    S1:E6

    Stardate: 41249.3. Picard's mind is taken over by an energy field that the Enterprise passes through.

    Director:Cliff Bole
    Writer:D.C. Fontana

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  7. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 7 - Justice
    5.8/10(4826 votes)

    #7 - Justice

    S1:E7

    Stardate: 41255.6. Picard is forced to choose between friendship and the Prime Directive when Wesley Crusher is sentenced to death for accidentally breaking the law on Rubicon III.

    Director:James L. Conway
    Writer:Worley Thorne

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  8. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 8 - The Battle
    6.5/10(4470 votes)

    #8 - The Battle

    S1:E8

    Stardate: 41723.9. The Ferengi hand over an old ship which Picard once captained, the U.S.S. Stargazer. The Ferengi have installed a mind altering device that alters Picard's mind to make him think that he is reliving a past battle, and the target is the Enterprise.

    Director:Rob Bowman
    Writer:Herbert Wright

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  9. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 9 - Hide and Q
    6.9/10(4665 votes)

    #9 - Hide and Q

    S1:E9

    Stardate: 41590.5. Q places the senior crew of the Enterprise in a war game that pits them against a boar-faced, Napoleonic enemy.

    Director:Cliff Bole
    Writer:Gene Roddenberry

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  10. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 10 - Haven
    6.0/10(4351 votes)

    #10 - Haven

    S1:E10

    Stardate: 41294.5. The mother of Deanna Troi, Lwaxana, pays a surprise visit to the Enterprise and announces the prearranged marriage of Deanna to the son of her mother's late husband's best friend.

    Director:Richard Compton
    Writer:Tracy Tormé

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  11. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 11 - The Big Goodbye
    6.7/10(4679 votes)

    #11 - The Big Goodbye

    S1:E11

    Stardate: 41997.7. Picard, Dr. Crusher and Data are placed in great danger when the holodeck malfunctions while they are running a Dixon Hill program, which pits them against 1940's mobsters.

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:Tracy Tormé

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  12. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 12 - Datalore
    7.3/10(4855 votes)

    #12 - Datalore

    S1:E12

    Stardate: 41242.4. While exploring his homeworld, the crew of the Enterprise find android parts that are identical to Data's. When assembled, an 'evil' twin of Data named Lore is revived.

    Director:Rob Bowman
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 13 - Angel One
    5.7/10(4436 votes)

    #13 - Angel One

    S1:E13

    Stardate: 41636.9. The Enterprise discovers the male crew of a crashed Federation freighter are hiding as fugitives on the planet Angel One, which is dominated and ruled by women.

    Director:Michael Ray Rhodes
    Writer:Patrick Barry

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  14. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 14 - 11001001
    7.2/10(4775 votes)

    #14 - 11001001

    S1:E14

    Stardate: 41365.9. While undergoing repairs, the Bynar Engineers steal the Enterprise to save their planet from destruction.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writers:Robert Lewin, Maurice Hurley

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  15. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 15 - Too Short a Season
    6.4/10(4254 votes)

    #15 - Too Short a Season

    S1:E15

    Stardate: 41309.5. The aging and terminally ill Starfleet Admiral Mark Jameson, who is negotiating the release of hostages, suddenly begins growing younger through an unexplained phenomenon.

    Director:Rob Bowman
    Writers:D.C. Fontana, Michael Michaelian

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  16. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 16 - When the Bough Breaks
    6.3/10(4157 votes)

    #16 - When the Bough Breaks

    S1:E16

    Stardate: 41509.1. The children of the Enterprise, including Wesley Crusher, are abducted by a race of sterile people who are unable to have children of their own.

    Director:Kim Manners
    Writer:Hannah Louise Shearer

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  17. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 17 - Home Soil
    6.8/10(4114 votes)

    #17 - Home Soil

    S1:E17

    Stardate: 41463.9. The members of an away team investigating the death of an engineer encounter vengeful microscopic life forms.

    Director:Corey Allen
    Writer:Robert Sabaroff

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  18. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 18 - Coming of Age
    6.8/10(4299 votes)

    #18 - Coming of Age

    S1:E18

    Stardate: 41416.2. While Wesley takes the entrance exam to Starfleet Academy, the Enterprise is investigated by the Inspector General's office and Picard's competency is questioned.

    Director:Michael Vejar
    Writer:Sandy Fries

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  19. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 19 - Heart of Glory
    7.0/10(4198 votes)

    #19 - Heart of Glory

    S1:E19

    Stardate: 41503.7. Two Klingons, rescued by the Enterprise, try to take over the ship.

    Director:Rob Bowman
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 20 - The Arsenal of Freedom
    6.8/10(4280 votes)

    #20 - The Arsenal of Freedom

    S1:E20

    Stardate: 41798.2. The crew encounters bizarre phenomena while searching for the missing U.S.S. Drake.

    Director:Les Landau
    Writers:Richard Manning, Hans Beimler

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  21. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 21 - Symbiosis
    6.8/10(4278 votes)

    #21 - Symbiosis

    S1:E21

    Stardate: Unknown. Picard attempts to break an ancient co-dependency between two species on one planet without violating the Prime Directive.

    Director:Win Phelps
    Writers:Richard Manning, Robert Lewin, Hans Beimler

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  22. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 22 - Skin of Evil
    6.5/10(4740 votes)

    #22 - Skin of Evil

    S1:E22

    Stardate: 41601.3. When Troi's shuttle crashes on an alien planet, a new being is discovered: an entity that thrives on the suffering of others.

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:Joseph Stefano

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  23. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 23 - We'll Always Have Paris
    6.4/10(4080 votes)

    #23 - We'll Always Have Paris

    S1:E23

    Stardate: 41697.9. Picard meets an old flame, whose husband has created a haywire dimensional experiment.

    Director:Robert Becker
    Writers:Deborah Dean Davis, Hannah Louise Shearer

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  24. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 24 - Conspiracy
    7.4/10(5028 votes)

    #24 - Conspiracy

    S1:E24

    Stardate: 41775.5. The strange behavior of high-ranking officers leads Picard to uncover a twisted alien conspiracy within Starfleet.

    Director:Cliff Bole
    Writer:Tracy Tormé

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  25. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episode 25 - The Neutral Zone
    7.2/10(4530 votes)

    #25 - The Neutral Zone

    S1:E25

    Stardate: 41986.0. A derelict satellite is found with cryonically frozen humans aboard as the USS Enterprise is sent to investigate the destruction of outposts near Romulan space.

    Director:James L. Conway
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Encounter at Farpoint" is the best rated episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" season 1. It scored 6.7/10 based on 8242 votes. Directed by Corey Allen and written by Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, it aired on 9/28/1987. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "The Naked Now".