Category: TNG Season 3

We’ve reached the end of season three! And what a journey it’s been. The most surprising thing about the third season of The Next Generation is, well… the quality! After a poor second season, the third season found a new writing team pushed to the limits to meet their production schedule. Along the way, a bunch of classic episodes materialized out of the ether, and TNG was well on its way to becoming the show we all thought it could be! This episode of the show recaps the third season, hands out some awards, and lists the 5 best and 5 worst episodes of the year!

The Borg have invaded Federation space, and they’ve taken a unique interest in Captain Picard.

Any time you can have a Blu-Ray resolution DVD expose the cheap, form fitting spandex suit of an alien, you’ve gotta do it. John Doe makes his appearance, wearing a wonderfully white onesie, and Beverly sorta falls in love with him. And Geordi gets laid. And stuff.

The Ferengi and Lwaxana Troi in the same episode? Are you crazy? Well, call me crazy but it’s actually not that bad an episode. It’s no Shakespeare, but it’s a fairly tight little comedy episode that calls Riker and Troi’s “friends with benefits” relationship into question!

Illogical! When the famous and highly respected Ambassador Sarek boards the Enterprise for his final mission, Picard will be forced to risk his own mind to save the day! This underrated episode is one of season three’s finest, and Modi Operandus joins us to discuss.

When an obsessive collector sets his sights on Data, he stages a shuttlecraft accident to kidnap our favorite android! Data is then forced to choose between a life of servitude as the centerpiece to a one of a kind museum, or to go totally bonkers and start wrecking house! Clay and Sean join me to debate collections and blind rage!

An episode that seems loaded with insight into the real future (at least the future of 2015), “Hollow Pursuits” is the introduction for Lt. Reginald Barclay! When Barclay’s anti-social behavior and holodeck adventures interfere with his work, Geordi attempts to lend a helping hand. Plus, the ship goes really fast at the end and it’s scary!

In this episode, the Enterprise visits the magical land of Oz in order to get their own personal tin man, Data, a heart! Or maybe they just find a living space ship and an obnoxious telepath and decide to leave them in each others company? Clay stops by to discuss the “Tin Man” episode of The Next Generation!

You could really use a vacation! When the crew starts hassling Picard into taking some shore leave, he ends up on Risa, the “pleasure planet”. After meeting a sexy stranger, Picard embarks on an Indiana Jones style adventure, complete with unnecessary time travel! Plus, this one’s got comedy!

A kidnapped Picard must try to solve a locked room mystery while his evil doppleganger, Fauxcard, commands the Enterprise and begins issuing strange orders to the crew! Will the crew be able to solve the mystery before Fauxcard drives the ship into a pulsar?

Worf learned to be a Klingon by reading a bunch of books, right? He might be of the opinion that the Klingon Empire is built on honor, but he’s in for a rude awakening when his long lost brother shows up and demands that Worf defend their family honor on the Klingon home world!

When Data builds his very own android daughter, he learns a valuable lesson about love, friendship and double checking your system subroutines. Clay joins me to discuss an emotionally heavy episode that brings Data (remember him?) back into the TNG fold!

A huge event in Trek lore! Wesley is capable and completely normal for an entire episode! Actually, this episode features the return of a beloved… uh… respected… uh… original cast member! When the Enterprise 1701-C enters the present from 22 years in the past, the entire timeline shifts so that the Federation is embroiled in a bloody war with the Klingon Empire. New sets, new uniforms, new starts!

It’s the classic “he said, she said” story, where a couple can’t decide if one person is a loose woman or if the other is a pervert who can’t keep his hands to himself! When Riker is accused of murder, the holodeck is used to give the viewers a “Rashomon” type experience where it’s impossible to tell the truth from the fiction. Or is it? This episode also shows you what will happen if you frequently stand next to a microwave.

When Q gets exiled from the Q Continuum, he chooses to live as a human. Unfortunately, he also chooses to live on the Enterprise, much to the chagrin of the crew. Data, however, is perfectly set up to be Q’s friend! It doesn’t quite spin off into a buddy cop show, but we do learn a valuable lesson about sacrifice and torturing lesser beings.

The writers of TNG continue to show their unbridled enthusiasm for all things Irish in “The High Ground”! When Dr. Crusher is taken hostage by an alien sect bearing a strong resemblance to the IRA, it’s up to Picard and the crew to rescue her from the dark cave where she’s being held! Clay and I disagree about this one, let us know who’s right!

If the early ’90s needed anything, it was an odd science fiction allegory for the public’s treatment of Vietnam veterans! And to fulfill that need came “The Hunted”! When the Enterprise captures an escaped super soldier, the crew gets more than they bargained for when they have to return him to his planet. Plus, the first time we see the new brig!

When a Romulan defects to the Federation, Picard and his officers must determine if there is any truth to his claims of impending doom! Sean joins us to discuss 24th century gut feelings, Shakespeare, and auto-didactic Klingons! Join us for one of the best episodes of the third season!

When a group of aliens known as The Gatherers start to raid Federation colonies, the Enterprise is called in to negotiate a truce between The Gathers and the race they left 100 years ago. Then, Riker gets the hots for an alien assassin with a deadly touch! Then people perform diplomacy! Then we get vengeance!

A stable wormhole must be auctioned off to the highest bidder, even in a post-capitalist universe. When such a wormhole is discovered, a guy named Ral appears to win the rights to it, and he seems to have a history with Troi. Or does he? Any why, exactly, is he so good at negotiating? And how about we do some testing before we start calling things “stable”, huh?

Another Geordi episode! Two in a row! This episode, however, is pretty good. Plus, Geordi gets to shoot some rocks with a phaser! When a distress call on an inhospitable planet causes Geordi to get stranded from the away team, he must work to find a way to make an ally out of an enemy. Romulans! Tomalak! It’s all here!

Geordi La Forge might be a senior officer on the most powerful ship in the Federation, but that doesn’t mean he’s a hit with the ladies, right? Unfortunately, that’s both true and the focus of this episode. When an ancient trap threatens the Enterprise, Geordi decides to create a holodeck hottie in order to transfigure the anti-matter input velocity delta combine power press. Or something. And then Geordi makes out with the holodeck creation! Noice.

Star Trek: The Next Generation takes a turn towards the dramatic when a failed away mission results in the death of a science officer. The officer’s orphaned son becomes the focus of the crew, as well as the puppet of a powerful alien! Death! Drama! Let’s dive into the first script from Ronald D. Moore! And let’s get Wesley in here to point blank somebody!

The Prime Directive is a fickle mistress! When a failed power generator exposes a Starfleet science team studying a society on a pre-warp planet, the rescue mission ends up causing the aliens to believe that Picard is a god. To make things right, Picard will have to violate Starfleets most sacred rule. Plus, Riker and Troi play dress up!

I didn’t record just one podcast, or a hundred, or a thousand. I recorded them all. When the Enterprise stumbles upon an obliterated world, the crew are shocked to find two survivors amid the rubble. When the elderly survivors refuse to leave their decimated world, it’s up to Picard and company to figure out their true nature! Plus, a tune that’s so catchy you won’t be able to get it out of your head!

When the long lost cousin of Skin of Evil’s Armus demands that the Federation remove 15,000 colonists from a planet, Data is the only member of the crew who can brave the planets intense radiation. Will he be able to convince the colonists to leave? Can O’Brien play the cello? Can Picard read a 500,000 word peace treaty in 45 minutes? All these questions and more, it’s “The Ensigns of Command”!

Season three! When a baseball obsessed doctor uses the Enterprise to launch a space egg into some star dust (or something), Wesley is the only one one board to take the moment seriously! And he celebrates by letting tiny machine loose, potentially ruining the doctor’s chance at scientific immortality. Enter Nanites!