The Worst Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation!
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.
Lowest Rated Episodes Summary
The worst episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is "Shades of Gray", rated 3.3/10 from 4168 user votes. It was directed by Rob Bowman and written by Maurice Hurley, Richard Manning, Hans Beimler. "Shades of Gray" aired on 7/17/1989 and is rated 1.5 point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "Sub Rosa".
3.3/10 4,168 votes#1 - Shades of Gray
Season 2 Episode 22 - Aired 7/17/1989
Stardate: 42976.1. Riker is infected with an alien organism that takes over his mind. Dr. Pulaski must force Riker's mind back to a state where it can access primitive survival skills.
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Maurice Hurley, Richard Manning, Hans Beimler
4.8/10 3,407 votes#2 - Sub Rosa
Season 7 Episode 14 - Aired 1/31/1994
Stardate: Unknown. Dr. Crusher attends her grandmother's funeral, to find that she had been in romantic encounters with a mysterious man who had been haunting the Howard family women for generations.
Director: Jonathan Frakes
Writer: Brannon Braga, Jeri Taylor
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
5.7/10 3,942 votes#4 - 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
5.7/10 2,993 votes#5 - Man of the People
Season 6 Episode 3 - Aired 10/5/1992
Stardate: 46071.6. Deanna becomes attracted to an alien ambassador. Shortly thereafter, she starts ageing rapidly and starts becoming violent.
Director: Cliff Bole, Winrich Kolbe
Writer: Brannon Braga, Frank Abatemarco
5.8/10 4,091 votes#6 - The Child
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 11/21/1988
Stardate: 42073.1. Troi undergoes a mysterious pregnancy when the Enterprise tries to escape from a system that has recently fallen victim to a deadly plague.
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Maurice Hurley, Jon Povill, Jaron Summers
5.8/10 3,160 votes#7 - Masks
Season 7 Episode 17 - Aired 2/21/1994
Stardate: 47615.2. The Enterprise is slowly transformed into an ancient alien temple when Data discovers an alien archive full of information about an ancient culture. Shortly after opening the archive, Data becomes possessed with several different personalities.
Director: Robert Wiemer
Writer: Joe Menosky
6.0/10 4,315 votes#8 - 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
6.0/10 3,268 votes#9 - The Loss
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 12/1/1990
Stardate: 44356.9. Troi loses her empathic abilities when the Enterprise is caught in the gravitational pull of a black hole.
Director: Chip Chalmers
Writer: Hilary Bader
6.0/10 2,988 votes#10 - 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
6.0/10 2,970 votes#11 - Aquiel
Season 6 Episode 13 - Aired 2/1/1993
Stardate: 46461.3. Geordie falls in love with a lieutenant who is the prime suspect in a murder case.
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Brannon Braga, Jeri Taylor, Ronald D. Moore
6.1/10 3,771 votes#12 - 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
6.1/10 3,449 votes#13 - Manhunt
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 6/19/1989
Stardate: 42859.2. While being escorted to a Federation conference by the Enterprise, Lwaxana hunts for a man to satisfy her needs when her sex-drive is quadrupled during a natural mid-life cycle.
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Tracy Tormé
6.1/10 2,996 votes#14 - 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
6.2/10 3,874 votes#15 - 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
6.2/10 3,910 votes#16 - The Outrageous Okona
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 12/12/1988
Stardate: 42402.7. The Enterprise is placed in a compromising situation when the captain of a disabled starship places the crew in the middle of a love triangle.
Director: Robert Becker
Writer: Burton Armus
6.2/10 3,729 votes#17 - The Dauphin
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 2/20/1989
Stardate: 42568.8. Wesley falls in love with a passenger the Enterprise is escorting, who has the secret ability to shape-shift.
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Scott Rubenstein, Leonard Mlodinow
6.2/10 3,376 votes#18 - The Icarus Factor
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 4/24/1989
Stardate: 42686.4. Riker is promoted to Captain of another Federation ship. Worf must confront his past and his Klingon heritage.
Director: Robert Iscove
Writer: Robert McCullough, David Assael
6.2/10 3,673 votes#19 - Up the Long Ladder
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 5/22/1989
Stardate: 42823.2. Picard must convince two dying civilizations that they must co-exist on the same planet to survive, however, they have other plans to ensure their survival: in the form of clones of the Enterprise crew.
Director: Winrich Kolbe
Writer: Melinda M. Snodgrass
6.2/10 2,964 votes#20 - 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
6.2/10 2,760 votes#21 - Interface
Season 7 Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/1993
Stardate: 47215.5. Geordi defies direct orders from Captain Picard in an attempt to rescue his mother who had recently been reported as missing.
Director: Robert Wiemer
Writer: Joe Menosky
6.2/10 2,992 votes#22 - Journey's End
Season 7 Episode 20 - Aired 3/28/1994
Stardate: 47751.2. Under the terms of the new Federation/Cardassian alliance, Picard is ordered to evacuate a colony of native Americans, but protests from Wesley hamper the process. Wesley's destiny is finally revealed to him when the Traveler returns.
Director: Corey Allen
Writer: Ronald D. Moore
6.3/10 4,333 votes#23 - 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
6.3/10 3,953 votes#24 - 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
6.3/10 3,475 votes#25 - The Price
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/13/1989
Stardate: 43385.6. The Enterprise hosts the negotiations for the rights to a newly discovered, stable wormhole to the Delta Quadrant. One of the negotiators, Devinoni Ral, becomes attracted to Deanna Troi, but he holds a dubious secret.
Director: Robert Scheerer
Writer: Hannah Louise Shearer