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Top 10 Episodes - TNG Season 7 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-12-03 15:00:17
Edited:
2026-11-01 04:53:11
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Trekkie74205

They knew Season 7 was the last season beforehand. ”All I can tell you is that the decision to end Next Generation after a seven-season run was made at least two years and two Paramount regimes ago,” Rick Berman- Entertainment Weekly 1994. They cited rising production costs including the actors salary increases. It seemed like a solid plan to make TNG movies and start another show with lower cast salaries. The first draft of "Generations" was dated June 1, 1993 (before the 7th Season started).

Christian Levesque

Well geez... Thanks for the spoiler about Final Destination... Kidding ;)

Paul

I like when shows are internally consistent, but I do give a little bit of leeway especially when they're episodic, hence why I can still enjoy episodes like Sub Rosa or Masks or Genesis without issue. It helps that Star Trek still tries to be coherent, as much as is possible at least (the parts ironically that you both could do without, the science exposition tying it together). It's jarring for some folks if they're watching a show with well-established internal cohesion witness it suddenly break that logic with no rationale. It's fake TV, fiction, of course, but I like to be immersed in shows and movies. Easier to accomplish that if I believe the world they live in makes sense and obeys its bedrock principles, even if they're entirely made-up rules. Worlds I want to live in!

Jonathon Tsagris

I discussed my thoughts on Sub Rosa at length in the comments for that episode; but I think the people who focus on the whole 'romance novel/ghost story' plot or the ridiculous ghost sex scene as being the reason it's bad are really missing the point. It's in the 'code of honour' and 'up the long ladder' genre of bad; not the 'Masks' genre of bad.

CommodoreDecker

Star Trek novelizations hold a special place in my heart. In the early 90s when I first got into Trek as a kid, TNG and TOS episodes were hard to find. My parents weren't going to buy TV guide and the new episodes mostly were on after my bedtime. I had a few episodes and some TOS movies taped on VHS (commercials and all), but other than the random TNG and TOS episodes in syndication, I didn't see much. My fandom was built on toys and books. There are a set of complete TOS novelizations done in the 1970s by James Blish. My elementary school had the whole set in paperback (weird since it was a relatively conservative Lutheran school) and I read all of them 2-3x, even when they were above my grade level. They were full of random stuff that couldn't be shown in TOS and backstory of some of the guest characters, especially when they knew one of the main characters. Those books, and a few other novels I found at the time, were a huge source of information about Trek. There were also super nerdy technical manuals, including one from the 1970s with complete plans for making your own uniforms, though my mother was not interested in sowing me any.

Call ‘Em Greg

Yeah there was never a discussion of an 8th season.

Matchstick Jose

I believe the original plan was that there was going to be a full-on DS9/TNG crossover in the DS9 season 1 finale. The Enterprise would help DS9 defend against an attack. Didn't happen, obviously, but would have been fun. Looking online for why it didn’t happen, and different sources give different reasons. One said Rick Berman didn’t like the idea so it was nixed. But there’s one source noting that Ira Steven Behr said it was ultimately deemed too expensive to do.

James H

My favorite memory from this entire TNG journey is Josh yelling “ASS!” at the end of Masks.

misti-step

anyway. yall better not spoil what the future of star trek may or may not have

startrekiborg

I think you guys should have a top 10 worst episodes of the TNG series.

Loot Narsbaar

Star Trek 6 (thank you Nicholas Meyer) was a big success, critically and commercially, so they promoted TNG to big screen and DS9 was created to take over on TV. Plus I can’t even imagine an 8th season. The show was completely out of gas.

Matchstick Jose

It would have been interesting to see what season 7 would have looked like if they had gone with the wild idea they were considering of killing off Will in Second Chances and having Lt. Tom Riker on the show instead. I know Frakes was OK with the idea (“Hey, I would still be on the show!”), and it would have really shaken up the dynamics of the show in the final season. (I assume we would have had Data as first officer, which would have been a great thread all its own.) Seeing an ambitious Tom Riker trying to prove himself and move up the ranks could have been fascinating, not to mention a potential Riker-Troi-Worf love triangle.

Ken R

Sub Rosa is fun for the corniness and the fact it plays it all with a straight face, elevating it to almost campy status. Big points for not winking at the audience saying "we are intentionally bad, please laugh!"

Jeff Cornell

I like the conversation at the beginning about a possible Captain Riker spinoff. But I think it would work better if you have him leave the Enterprise and get his own ship. Keeping him on the Enterprise creates a dilemma around how many other characters to keep. Do you write almost everyone else off the Enterprise for various reasons, or do you keep so many of them that it feels more like TNG season 8 rather than a new show? But if Riker leaves and gets a new ship, you don't have that problem. And you can promote some side characters to main characters on the premise that Riker offered them promotions if they joined his new crew. So if I were making a Riker spinoff with no knowledge of future shows, I'd go with this cast of characters: Riker as Captain, obviously. Data as First Officer Barclay as Chief Engineer Ensign Gates as Helmsman, just for Alex And maybe Ogawa or Selar as the Doctor, but otherwise original characters for the rest.

Collin Freeman

The idea and go-ahead for the first TNG movie started 2 years before it actually premiered, around the time that Star Trek VI came out.

Collin Freeman

If you read the novelization of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the author deals with the whole Chekov-not-being-there-in-season-1 and some other plot holes.

Numinous2019

Guys, while I do genuinely respect your opinions, it has become clear that you have a predisposition to 'plot-light character' episodes. No problem with that, but you do seem to overlook that a high cost TV series has to broadcast a variety of episodes and also that the level of writing in ST generally isn't great with most character based light-plot episodes. I mean specifically that TNG is 'cozy' rather than dramatically sophisticated with many of this type of episode.

Numinous2019

Re Worf and Troi. I imagine the idea originated like this.....[TNG writers' room - Season 7]. A collective "Well, what do we do?!!", followed by the writers slowly turning around to face the intern who has been suggesting a Worf & Troi romance for the last 3 years (and who got shot down unanimously 3 years in a row).

Collin Freeman

I think Kirsten Dunst had filmed Interview with a Vampire around that time.

BusterB

Interesting fact. Data's mom also plays a mom in Lost. Weird huh?!

penoyer79

i have also thought about this scenario. that would have been awesome.

Avaria

Hey guys. This is a link to Star Trek Minutiae. It's an online production script archive -- not complete, but pretty darn thorough. Collected Star Trek Scripts » Star Trek Minutiae https://share.google/Hcq17dz1PRVCb9cur (Spoiler Warning: Contains both what you have seen & what you have not, but you have control over what you see so it should be easy to avoid seeing anything you're not ready for.)

Darin Wagner

The reason why they didn't start a story on TNG and have it continue on DS9 is because both shows were syndicated. In many markets, DS9 was shown first and TNG second and in others vice versa. Also the two shows were often on competing networks in many markets.

Steven Linden

This discussion got me thinking about an episode that's "Parallels" from the other point of view. We stay on the familiar Enterprise, but gradually Worf starts acting weird. He doesn't remember that they saw a Cardassian ship on the recording, then he casually asks why Wesley isn't on the bridge, then he starts thinking that Troi's his wife. Every time they ask him how he did in the Bat'leth tournament, he says he did worse. Would be kind of fun.

Forbidden Donut

I understand enjoying Genesis (I do too, just less than you two did), but defending the nonsense of them turning into animals with 'werewolves aren't real, either, it's all fake anyway' is a weak defense that doesn't really hold up. In a good scifi or fantasy show, there still needs to be a certain degree of rules, boundaries, and/or verisimilitude where the show establishes what ways that it is, and isn't, out of the ordinary, and it should try its best to stay within those lines. The 'werewolves aren't real, either' defense doesn't hold up the further it strays from the norm. To make an obvious example why, no one is going to credibly make that defense if a TNG episode had something even more ridiculous, like Picard flying around naked on a magical broomstick, outside of the ship, waiving inside at everyone from a window, before shooting a death star ray from his nose that blows up Vulcan, because 'hey, it's all made up, it's all fake, so don't complain!' The rest of the production (directing, acting) could be great, but that's fatally stupid and out of line for TNG. Obviously Genesis doesn't push it to that extreme, but it's still a pretty bad foundation for the episode. Personally, I just have to concede it's BS to enjoy the rest of the episode in spite of that major flaw. That foundation is very weak, but beyond that it's well directed, it's 'scary', etc and there's a lot to like in spite of the flaw.

Steven Linden

Agreed. I love "Genesis", but having a problem with the realism or verisimilitude of a story is a perfectly valid reason not to like something.

John M.

Final Destination style spoiler avoidance sounds like a great sketch idea. Also, Sub Rosa and Fight Club are both trash. Don’t put me in your boxes! ;)

Target Audience

Yes, obviously there are limits to suspension of disbelief. To me, not correctly depicting de-evolution in a cast of characters that are mostly fictional alien species, is immensely far away from that limit based on everything else weve seen in the series. If someone is a biologist or that’s their specific interest I have more understanding, but the complaint was so mainstream in the comments that it’s baffling. There have been plenty of complaints about other episodes I don’t agree with of course, but the widespread use of this one is absolutely the most absurd imo. Especially the way it’s used to treat an exceptionally executed episode as if it’s the worst of the series.

Steven Linden

"Lower Decks" is one that I always liked, but came to appreciate even more rewatching it with your reaction.

Kaleigh

I guarantee you guys will have multiple new favorite episodes that will match or exceed your love for these TNG ones in DS9, VOY, and ENT.

Forbidden Donut

I agree that Genesis is by no means 'worst of the series' or anything like that. As to why that complaint is so common here, I'm not entirely sure. Speaking for myself, even without any special background in biology, this particular excuse of 'they're turning into various animal species because of 'reverse evolution'' just doesn't make any sense to me, even for a scifi show. If anything, they should probably all have changed similarly to how Riker did -- more primitive, yet still the same species. It could be interesting to explore in more detail why some 'out there' ideas click better than others do with fans. I suspect it's multiple factors, but I'm not sure what all of them are.

BN13

I usually have a real problem when the science makes no sense in Star Trek because I hold Star Trek to a higher standard there, but for some reason Genesis doesn't bother me at all. Maybe because when I first saw it, I didn't understand that this is absolutely not how it would work. But even today I can hold my suspension of disbelief for this one just fine. It's less about the science being 100% accurate, and more about giving us a glimpse into what these species early proto worlds would have looked like. The directing is also very good, and the episode manages to hold my intrigue the entire time wondering what each character turned into. I guess it's one of those episodes where ignorance is bliss.

North

re: Novelizations - I'd always seek out novelizations back when practically every movie was guaranteed one as standard tie-in merch. The writers were usually working off of an earlier version of the script, so there would often be information/characters/scenes in the novel that never made it to screen. Sometimes you'd get fun extras, and sometimes it would be "oh, yeah, I can see why they'd cut that." 🤣

Ryan

I love Genesis because it's so far out there. The guys have talked a lot about being okay with big misses if the creators take big swings, and this was one of the franchise's biggest. I'm one of those people who gets really enthralled by moods and vibes, and the mise-en-scene of this episode was one of the most entrancing that the franchise had ever achieved. With that said, I understand if the shaky scientific underpinnings bother people, because Star Trek has always prided itself on grounding its fakey future science on at least some foundation of what we know to be true in science today. Warp drive won't happen for a long time, but based on what we know about space-time today, it *could* conceivably work the way TNG depicts it. The intron thing in Genesis is just bunk, no basis to it at all, and yet it enables an episode that's so stylish and cool that I just can't be mad about it. Sci-fi has endured worse and more forgettable mistakes. How many dozen sci-fi stories have been based on the even dumber "we only use ten percent of our brains" myth? (As one commenter put it, "Then which 90 percent would you like me to remove?") And yes, I love those stories too. I am definitely not the guy you want in charge of a scientific literacy effort, but I do appreciate a weird and wonderful story.

Ryan

I remember reading '90s Star Trek novels for the "read at home" assignments in middle school, and my teachers always kind of groaned, like it was going to be a bunch of mindless action scenes. I always wished I could get them to see what incredible writing and characterization a lot of those books had. They fueled my love for reading in general.

Loot Narsbaar

Also, according to what I've read, DS9 wasn't hurting for eyes in Season 2

Numinous2019

My point is that Star Trek is 1) a buffet of different type of episodes in order to attract & retain a big enough audience, 2) that Star Trek became so popular because if it is comforting, not challenging and 3) that if DS9 had been 90% character 'hang-out' stories, then I hope you enjoyed the show, because it got cancelled after the season 2 finale.... You both, just as I do, have preferences for which episodes we enjoy most. To make my point absolutely clear....'Lessons'....you are both the only ST reviewers I have every watched/read who rate it that highly, which doesn't discredit your p.o.v.'s, but my favorite episode ('Damok') isn't the best TNG episode.

Numinous2019

Additionally....only TOS was genuinely groundbreaking. After TOS, ST was behind the TV curve despite DS9's semi-serialisation. ST became more Conservative in terms of taking risks, because of the knock on implications for a franchise. The BBC's Blake's 7 laid down some tropes (in the late 1970's/early 1980's) for all subsequent SF shows, which ST followed up on. Firefly had the potential to be THE SF TV SHOW. Its characters were the primary aspect of that show and they had to eek out an existence, making them more relatable and easier to invest emotionally in (even if the show was a quasi-comedy). We will never know if Firefly could have fulfilled its early promise.

Summer

i am preparing my list of 26, Disaster, Data’s Day, the Wounded, Lower Decks, the Defector, Remember me, The enemy, Cause and Effect, Rascals, Schisims, Future imperfect, Offspring, Mind’s eye, Hero Worship, Ensigns of Command, Arsenal of Freedom, Coming of age, Frame of Mind, Drumhead, I borg, Deja Q,A Fistful of Datas, Face of the enemy, Samaritain snare, honorable mentions to Alliegence, Royale, Suspicions, Gambit, Haven, and 11001001. all deserve high places on the list

TinMan_7B9

Should have been a top 50. Just season 3 & 4 alone already have 26 top-tier episodes!

Worf and Riker Ride Again

I disagree with this, the premise of the episode is ‘let’s make a horror episode by turning the crew into animals’. For them to try and explain this with 100% real science would take up far too much of the episode and kill any fun they would have had with building the problem and atmosphere. It’s a 45 minute self-contained episode, as a viewer I don’t want to be bored by spending half of that time listening the Data exploring how it could be scientifically plausible.

Forbidden Donut

I agree that spending a ton of time trying to justify this idea would drag the episode down, which is why to me it's just not the best concept to go with in the first place. Ideally they would have done a horror episode similar to this but with a better / less silly premise than 'de-evolving into random animals'.

Cranky Grandma

Novelizations of movies can add a lot! Often it’s based on an original script and contains the cut parts. I was in the hospital around the time the original Star Wars came out in 77. I read a novelization done by George Lucas which included a lot of scenes cut from the movie. Now for the original Star Wars film the cuts were good as they greatly helped pacing. But the novelization filled in all sorts of gaps. But that was not the one Alex watched…this one was done when there was only one Star Wars movies. It depends on the writer of the novelization of course.

Matthew Ganz

Given your love for poker, may I suggest Rounders as a great movie, that you may not have seen.

Narnman

neat website i found an amusing entry for an episode we've seen: STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE "Move Along Home" (fka "Sore Losers")

JoeMama47

I think the bow that Preemptive Strike needed on top was Ro explaining that Picard showed her what Starfleet is supposed to be, but the Maquis showed her that they still need to do a lot of work. That would work better than "I found a home on the Enterprise but I found a real home with the Maquis". It kind of undercuts her connections on the Enterprise.

Naglfarius

Love both of your Lists.

Elway Simpson

I think with season 7, there are still the same amount of great episodes, bad episodes, and ok episodes as any other TNG season. The amount of good episodes got cut down and were put into a new category special to S7 called "....huh? episodes" (sub rosa, genesis, masks) and that makes S7 place in the Trek universe a little weird. Still a great season of TV.

BN13

I remember back in the day, DS9 trailers would air after the TNG episodes finished. I vividly remember my mom not liking the DS9 trailers because she thought they were scary. My experience with this was only during the last half of season 7 though.

BN13

I hate Sub Rosa but love Genesis. And I am one of the people who hold Star Trek to a higher standard for being scientifically accurate. But it depends on the episode. I let Genesis slide because it's done well if you just accept it for what it is, and I don't have a problem with stuff like Anti-Time in the finale, because it works for that episode. In fact, I think the only time the science ever bothered me was in Second Sight because it felt like they just really didn't care in that episode. There can be a lot of different reasons why we like some episodes but don't like others without necessary falling into a set formula of what we watch Star Trek for. We all have our own ideas about what we think Star Trek is and/or should be. But we also have widely different tolerances for how far we're willing to stretch that idea for certain episodes. I don't like episodes like Man of the People or Sub Rosa because 1) they're bad. And 2) I don't like that type of humor. I don't find those episodes funny. Instead, I find them very cringe and uncomfortable. Without the humor, there is nothing in those episodes for me. Plus I think they both borderline glorify toxic things, and I don't like stuff that I feel sends bad examples out into the world, especially if people laugh it off and dismiss what's toxic. I can understand why other people like these episodes though and can get on board with the "so bad it's good" quality to them. And I still wouldn't say "they're not Star Trek." I just think they suck and Star Trek can do far better. I also don't like episodes that make no sense to me canonically. For instance, I don't like Qpid pretty much solely because I don't buy that Q would care at all about Vash or teaching Picard about love. I also feel like Vash is a Mary Sue in this episode. The whole Sherwood Forest thing I wouldn't have minded if there were a better reason behind it.

BN13

I think the direction in Genesis is legit good outside of any Gates McFadden bias. I never knew who directed this episode, and I don't care who directed what. Direction is not normally something I even notice unless it's an episode like Cause and Effect. But I realized this time that one of the main reasons why I find this episode so intriguing to watch is the direction. It keeps you pulled in and fully immersed in this new primordial world we're exploring. It makes everything feel both suspenseful and really interesting.

BN13

I actually like the poker scene episode idea. It can be called "In The Cards."

Skullman8942

In this hypothetical spinoff, I think Data would be nailed on to replace Riker as Picard's next number 1, so perhaps Worf could be Riker's First Officer, instead.

Fedora The Explorar

I hate Sub Rosa not because it is something experimental and out there but because of how misogynistic it is and how insulting it is to Beverly Crusher's character. This candle ghosts, lets call it what it is, seduces and rapes generations of women and the end scene is Beverly going "you know what, despite it all, he made Grandma very happy" after an entire episode where she behaves out of her control with some laughable acting because shes under the control of this candle. But its also really funny as it is morally repugnant I just laugh at it and not with it.

Mark Wood

Back in the old usenet days the comparison to rape was made by people even then for the Child. This one is magnitudes worse. So it nots just something that people think of today.

Quension

"What do you want?" I want end-on-the-scene Josh! You ended *after* the scene and it wasn't even a shot of an empty room!

penoyer79

You can tell the Rounders writers drew heavy inspiration from Mean Streets. the Mike/Worm/Gramma dynamic is almost exactly like the one between Charlie/Johnny Boy/Michael

penoyer79

26 favorite TNG episodes. 26 episodes in a TNG season. makes sense.

penoyer79

My Bold prediction is that Josh and Alex will both like Star Trek Generations more than The Voyage Home.

ShazD

A spinoff with Data, Worf and Troi? Lmao. You guys be wilding as usual. Also Genesis on the Patreon list lmfao. You guys are way too easy to influence.

ShazD

But there is an interview with the actors when the finale is filming and they're expressing confusion over the show ending. Seems they really had hope it would continue.

Ryan

Getting rid of Ron Jones (composer) was one of Star Trek's worst own-goals. A lot of the great early TNG episodes stick out because the music does so much to create the atmosphere. Something like "Q Who" would have been nowhere near as creepy or distinctive with a season 5 or 6 soundtrack.

JoeMama47

We need a Tear List: episodes that managed to pry a tear out of your stone hearts.

Tim Nikiforovs

Alright, took me a week to get around to this one, but here's the summary. Alex Josh Audience 1 - Inheritance 1 - Lower Decks 1 - Lower Decks 2 - Lower Decks 2 - Genesis 2 - All Good Things... 3 - The Pegasus 3 - Inheritance 3 - The Pegasus 4 - Parallels 4 - All Good Things... 4 - Parallels 5 - Genesis 5 - Parallels 5 - Preemptive Strike 6 - All Good Things... 6 - Attached 6 - Inheritance 7 - Attached 7 - The Pegasus 7 - Genesis 8 - Dark Page 8 - Preemptive Strike 8 - Attached 9 - Sub Rosa 9 - Eye of the Beholder 9 - Dark Page 10 - Eye of the Beholder 10 - Dark Page 10 - Gambit Honorable mentions Preemptive Strike Sub Rosa Eye of the Beholder Journey's End Phantasms Sub Rosa Thine Own Self Only 12 episodes between all 3 lists, so positioning on the lists aside, we're all pretty well lined up this season. For some reason I wasn't expecting Pegasus to be on Josh or Alex's list, or at least not that high. A little surprised Gambit made the patrons list. I always really appreciated Inheritance, but I suspect the reactions may have played a role in convincing the patrons to put that and Dark Page on the list. Perhaps also Genesis, but I suspect for every hater there's someone else who finds it to be a fun episode.

Some Guy

Remember when they zoom in on the Borg cube in the best of both worlds? "We have engaged the Borg"

Ryan

I got chills at that moment. Another instance of Ron Jones absolutely crushing the assignment.