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!
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.
Season 1 Ratings Summary
The best episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" season 1 is "Encounter at Farpoint", rated 6.9/10 from 7556 user votes. It was directed by Corey Allen and written by Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana. "Encounter at Farpoint" aired on 9/28/1987 and is rated 0.4 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "The Naked Now".
6.9/10 7,556 votes#1 - Encounter at Farpoint
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/1987
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
Writer: Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana
6.5/10 4,894 votes#2 - The Naked Now
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1987
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
Writer: D.C. Fontana, John D.F. Black
5.1/10 4,808 votes#3 - Code of Honor
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/1987
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.
Director: Russ Mayberry, Les Landau
Writer: Michael Baron, Katharyn Powers, Kathryn Powers
6.3/10 4,333 votes#4 - The Last Outpost
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/1987
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
7.5/10 4,756 votes#5 - Where No One Has Gone Before
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/26/1987
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
Writer: Diane Duane, Michael Reaves
6.3/10 3,953 votes#6 - Lonely Among Us
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/1987
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
6.0/10 4,315 votes#7 - Justice
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1987
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
6.8/10 3,999 votes#8 - The Battle
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1987
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
6.9/10 4,172 votes#9 - Hide and Q
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/23/1987
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: Maurice Hurley, Gene Roddenberry
6.2/10 3,874 votes#10 - Haven
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1987
Stardate: 41294.6. 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
7.2/10 4,162 votes#11 - The Big Goodbye
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 1/11/1988
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
7.6/10 4,337 votes#12 - Datalore
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/18/1988
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: N/A
5.7/10 3,942 votes#13 - Angel One
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/25/1988
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
7.4/10 4,253 votes#14 - 11001001
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 2/1/1988
Stardate: 41365.9. While undergoing repairs, the Bynar Engineers steal the Enterprise to save their planet from destruction.
Director: Paul Lynch
Writer: Maurice Hurley, Robert Lewin
6.1/10 3,771 votes#15 - Too Short a Season
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 2/8/1988
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
Writer: D.C. Fontana, Michael Michaelian
6.4/10 3,690 votes#16 - When the Bough Breaks
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/15/1988
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
6.8/10 3,658 votes#17 - Home Soil
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/22/1988
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
7.1/10 3,833 votes#18 - Coming of Age
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 3/14/1988
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
7.2/10 3,735 votes#19 - Heart of Glory
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 3/21/1988
Stardate: 41503.7. Two Klingons, rescued by the Enterprise, try to take over the ship.
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Maurice Hurley
7.1/10 3,806 votes#20 - The Arsenal of Freedom
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 4/11/1988
Stardate: 41798.2. The crew encounters bizarre phenomena while searching for the missing U.S.S. Drake.
Director: Les Landau
Writer: Richard Manning, Hans Beimler
6.9/10 3,797 votes#21 - Symbiosis
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 4/18/1988
Stardate: Unknown. Picard attempts to break an ancient co-dependency between two species on one planet without violating the Prime Directive.
Director: Win Phelps
Writer: Richard Manning, Robert Lewin, Hans Beimler
6.8/10 4,235 votes#22 - Skin of Evil
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 4/25/1988
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
6.5/10 3,632 votes#23 - We'll Always Have Paris
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 5/2/1988
Stardate: 41697.9. Picard meets an old flame, whose husband has created a haywire dimensional experiment.
Director: Robert Becker
Writer: Hannah Louise Shearer, Deborah Dean Davis
8.0/10 4,483 votes#24 - Conspiracy
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 5/9/1988
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
7.4/10 4,045 votes#25 - The Neutral Zone
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 5/16/1988
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: N/A