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.
Season 5 Ratings Summary
The best episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" season 5 is "Redemption (2)", rated 8.4/10 from 3604 user votes. It was directed by David Carson and written by Ronald D. Moore. "Redemption (2)" aired on 9/23/1991 and is rated 0.3 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Darmok".
8.4/10 3,604 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
8.7/10 5,268 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
7.8/10 3,521 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
7.2/10 3,264 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
7.9/10 3,743 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
7.4/10 3,684 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
8.2/10 3,687 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
8.3/10 3,653 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
7.2/10 3,281 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
6.5/10 2,984 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
6.6/10 3,120 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
6.2/10 2,964 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
6.7/10 3,053 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
8.2/10 3,735 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
7.3/10 3,164 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
7.2/10 3,208 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
6.8/10 3,523 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
8.9/10 4,946 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
7.8/10 3,493 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
6.1/10 2,996 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
7.3/10 3,491 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
6.0/10 2,988 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
8.8/10 4,477 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
8.3/10 3,598 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
9.4/10 8,518 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