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The Best Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5

Every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5!

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.
Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyAction & AdventureDramaMystery
Network:Syndication

Season 5 Ratings Summary

"Redemption (2)" is the best rated episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" season 5. It scored 8.4/10 based on 3639 votes. Directed by David Carson and written by Ronald D. Moore, it aired on 9/23/1991. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Darmok".

  • Redemption (2)
    8.4/103,639 votes

    #1 - Redemption (2)

    Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1991

    Stardate: 45020.4. Picard suspects a Romulan influence in the recent Klingon civil war, and must force the Federation to intervene before the Empire collapses.

    Director: David Carson

    Writer: Ronald D. Moore

  • Darmok
    8.7/105,339 votes

    #2 - Darmok

    Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1991

    Stardate: 45047.2. Picard must find a way to communicate with the newly discovered Tamarians, who speak entirely in metaphors, when a Tamarian Captain is brutally killed.

    Director: Winrich Kolbe

    Writer: Joe Menosky, Philip LaZebnik

  • Ensign Ro
    7.8/103,568 votes

    #3 - Ensign Ro

    Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1991

    Stardate: 45076.3. Picard exposes a planned genocidal attack on the Bajorans with the help of a new officer, Ensign Ro Laren.

    Director: Les Landau

    Writer: Rick Berman, Michael Piller

  • Silicon Avatar
    7.2/103,304 votes

    #4 - Silicon Avatar

    Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1991

    Stardate: 45122.3. Picard attempts communications with the Crystalline Entity - a life form responsible for hundreds of deaths throughout the Alpha Quadrant. However, a scientist on board the Enterprise has plans of revenge over the death of her only son at the hands of the Entity.

    Director: Cliff Bole

    Writer: Jeri Taylor

  • Disaster
    7.9/103,791 votes

    #5 - Disaster

    Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/1991

    Stardate: 45156.1. A natural disaster leaves Troi in command of the Enterprise, Picard stuck in a turbo lift with three small children and Keiko O'Brien stuck in Ten-Forward giving birth with an anxious Worf.

    Director: Gabrielle Beaumont

    Writer: Ronald D. Moore, R. G. Jarvis

  • The Game
    7.4/103,728 votes

    #6 - The Game

    Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 10/28/1991

    Stardate: 45208.2. An addictive game is distributed among the crew of the Enterprise, however, it appears that this game interferes with a person's logic and reason, which leaves the crew open to manipulation. Only a young Ensign and a vacationing Wesley Crusher are able to think for themselves, and must find a way to reverse the damage before the ship falls into the wrong hands.

    Director: Corey Allen

    Writer: Brannon Braga, Fred Bronson, Susan Sackett

  • Unification (1)
    8.2/103,731 votes

    #7 - Unification (1)

    Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 11/4/1991

    Stardate: 45233.1. Ambassador Spock has disappeared and intelligence finds him on Romulus. Captain Picard is sent to Romulus to find Spock. Meanwhile Riker and the rest of the crew investigate the fragments of a Vulcan ship discovered in the wreck of a Ferengi vessel.

    Director: Cliff Bole, Les Landau

    Writer: Rick Berman, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller

  • Unification (2)
    8.3/103,698 votes

    #8 - Unification (2)

    Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/1991

    Stardate: 45245.8. Picard and Data find Spock and discover the reason behind the secret meetings. However, a darker scheme planned by the Romulans is also uncovered in the process.

    Director: Cliff Bole

    Writer: Rick Berman, Michael Piller

  • A Matter of Time
    7.2/103,321 votes

    #9 - A Matter of Time

    Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 11/18/1991

    Stardate: 45349.1. While on a mission to help a planet recently struck by an asteroid, the Enterprise is payed a visit by a man who claims to be from the future.

    Director: Paul Lynch

    Writer: Rick Berman

  • New Ground
    6.5/103,013 votes

    #10 - New Ground

    Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 1/6/1992

    Stardate: 45376.3. Worf's son, Alexander, unexpectedly arrives on the Enterprise to stay with his father. However, Alexander wants to stay permanently.

    Director: Robert Scheerer

    Writer: Stuart Charno, Grant Rosenberg, Sara B. Cooper

  • Hero Worship
    6.6/103,146 votes

    #11 - Hero Worship

    Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 1/27/1992

    Stardate: 45397.3. The Enterprise investigates the cause of an explosion which destroyed a small ship and its entire crew, except for a small boy.

    Director: Patrick Stewart

    Writer: Joe Menosky

  • Violations
    6.2/102,996 votes

    #12 - Violations

    Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 2/3/1992

    Stardate: 45429.3. While escorting a group of telepaths, crew members on board the Enterprise suddenly start to slip into comas.

    Director: Robert Wiemer

    Writer: Jeri Taylor, Pamela Gray

  • The Masterpiece Society
    6.7/103,080 votes

    #13 - The Masterpiece Society

    Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 2/10/1992

    Stardate: 45470.1. A natural disaster in the core of a system's sun threatens to destroy a colony of genetically engineered people on an otherwise desolate planet. However, the crew's intervention may cause more harm than good.

    Director: Winrich Kolbe

    Writer: James Caan, James Kahn, Adam Belanoff, Michael Piller

  • Conundrum
    8.2/103,768 votes

    #14 - Conundrum

    Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 2/17/1992

    Stardate: 45494.2. The Enterprise crew unknowingly receives a new first officer who claims that the Federation is at war with another species.

    Director: Les Landau

    Writer: N/A

  • Power Play
    7.3/103,201 votes

    #15 - Power Play

    Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 2/24/1992

    Stardate: 45571.2. While en route to the source of a subspace distress signal coming from a desolate moon, Data, Troi and O'Brien take over the bridge and force the ship to change course.

    Director: David Livingston

    Writer: Brannon Braga, Herbert Wright

  • Ethics
    7.2/103,239 votes

    #16 - Ethics

    Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 3/2/1992

    Stardate: 45587.3. When Worf is paralysed in an accident he must undergo drastic back surgery. However, this experimental technique may cost him his life.

    Director: Chip Chalmers

    Writer: Ronald D. Moore, Stuart Charno, Sara B. Cooper

  • The Outcast
    6.8/103,563 votes

    #17 - The Outcast

    Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 3/16/1992

    Stardate: 45614.6. While investigating the disappearance of a J'naii shuttlecraft, the crew finds reason to believe the missing ship is stranded in an abnormal pocket called "null space." Riker and Soren, a member of the J'naii race, begin preparing to rescue the craft, and the two strike up a friendship. Their relationship develops quickly as the pair question each other about mating habits, since the J'naii are androgynous and do not identify themselves as either male or female. Despite this difference, sparks begin to fly between them.

    Director: Robert Scheerer

    Writer: Jeri Taylor

  • Cause and Effect
    8.9/104,994 votes

    #18 - Cause and Effect

    Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 3/23/1992

    Stardate: 45652.1. While exploring the Typhon Expanse, the Enterprise is caught in a time warp in which they are repeatedly destroyed while colliding with another starship.

    Director: Jonathan Frakes

    Writer: Brannon Braga

  • The First Duty
    7.8/103,530 votes

    #19 - The First Duty

    Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 3/30/1992

    Stardate: 45703.9. Wesley is involved in a cover-up at Starfleet Academy when a cadet is killed and five shuttles are destroyed during a forbidden maneuver performed by Starfleet Academy's best cadets.

    Director: Paul Lynch, Naren Shankar

    Writer: Ronald D. Moore, Naren Shankar

  • Cost of Living
    6.1/103,028 votes

    #20 - Cost of Living

    Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 4/20/1992

    Stardate: 45733.6. Deanna's mother pays a surprise visit to the Enterprise with even more surprising news: she plans to marry a man she has never met. After destroying an asteroid, the ship becomes infected with parasites that eat away at the ship's hull.

    Director: Winrich Kolbe

    Writer: Peter Allan Fields

  • The Perfect Mate
    7.3/103,522 votes

    #21 - The Perfect Mate

    Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 4/27/1992

    Stardate: 45761.3. The Ferengi try to abduct an empathic Metamorph who could bring peace between two warring worlds.

    Director: Cliff Bole

    Writer: René Echevarria, Reuben Leder, Michael Piller

  • Imaginary Friend
    6.0/103,015 votes

    #22 - Imaginary Friend

    Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 5/4/1992

    Stardate: 45832.1. While exploring a strange form of energy in a region of space, a little girl's imaginary friend becomes real and places the Enterprise in great danger.

    Director: Gabrielle Beaumont

    Writer: Brannon Braga, Edithe Swensen

  • I, Borg
    8.8/104,524 votes

    #23 - I, Borg

    Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 5/11/1992

    Stardate: 45854.2. An injured Borg is discovered and brought back to the Enterprise where he is 'repaired' by Dr. Crusher and befriended by Geordi, who names him 'Hugh.' Soon, Hugh starts showing signs of individuality while Picard must choose between destroying him or returning him to the collective.

    Director: Robert Lederman

    Writer: René Echevarria

  • The Next Phase
    8.3/103,630 votes

    #24 - The Next Phase

    Season 5 Episode 24 - Aired 5/18/1992

    Stardate: 45092.4. While the Enterprise helps a Romulan science vessel, an accident occurs which forces Geordi LaForge and Ro Laren slightly out of 'phase', causing them to become undetectable to everyone but each other. As a result, the crew thinks they are dead and make arrangements for their funerals, even though they are closer than the crew realise.

    Director: David Carson, Robert Lederman

    Writer: Ronald D. Moore

  • The Inner Light
    9.4/108,601 votes

    #25 - The Inner Light

    Season 5 Episode 25 - Aired 6/1/1992

    Stardate: 45944.1. Picard awakes to find himself living in a small village where he is a well-known member of the community who is suffering from a delusion of being a starship captain.

    Director: Peter Lauritson

    Writer: Peter Allan Fields, Morgan Gendel