Ranking the TNG Seasons 

By the way, I grew up on TNG literally, I was in 1st-7th grade. So TNG to me is almost like the centerpiece of my childhood. But that aside, modern day sci-fi fans especially those who were too young to remember can't comprehend how important TNG was to serious sci-fi. Even in the cinema, Star Wars Trilogy was as sophisticated as sci-fi fantasy got outside Star Trek in the 1980s.

Yep, Season 3 never gets enough love. Seems like half the TNG fans still don't think the show had gotten good yet. But it's my fave too. Better atmosphere than any other season, since they still had Ron Jones, they played with darker visuals (not saying darker is better, but too much brightness makes shot-on-video look...well...fake and stagey), and hadn't yet gotten into that comfy groove where Seasons 4-6 all basically looked, sounded, and felt the same. 3 was unique. 3 was the birth of modern Trek, and the next time it got that good, is was when DS9 shook off the formula and started doing similar things. My rankings: 3, 4, 6, 5, 7, 2, 1

I am still convinced that you just confuse the episode titles of The Royale and Where Silence Has Lease to troll your audience. ;-)

The Ensigns of Command a 2? It was a Great Episode! I Loved it! Exploring two Minds of two completely different fractions. it perfectly encapsulates the motivations and reasons for what both sides are doing and wanting to maintain/change, with the Enterprise and especially Data, my favorite character in the whole show, in the middle trying to understand both sides while still trying to maintain peace and that's where honestly the episode shines. Data trying to change the Reasoning of why they want to stay and fight is so greatly capsulated and I absolutely love it. One of the honestly comparably rare highlights of Season 3. (I'm normally not good at finding arguments why an episode or movie is good or Bad and because of it I try to do it as rare as possible, but to be honest, this time it felt easy.) There's so much I disagree with here, but hey everybody has his/her own opinions. but I hope I can change your opinion of that episode for the better.

Thanks

Fantastic work!

I almost agree 100% ... I would switch season 3 and 6 with each other in your list. My favorite cliffhanger would have to be the Best of Both Worlds, when Riker says "FIRE"

I could feel you pull back from saying "fully functional" at 13:09 My ranking, from worst to best, would be: 1,2,7,4,3,6,5

Dr. Crushed was my first Hollywood crush. Polaski killed it for me

I think 1, 2, 7, 4 are pretty easy to rank. They go in that order, I think most fans rank them that way. It's the other three that get difficult. Id go 6, 5, 3 for those. But you make a great argument that the last 2/3 of season 6 could possibly be the most solid run in TNG.

Best to worst 1. Season 6 2. Season 4 3. Season 5 4. Season 3 5. Season 7 6. Season 2 7. Season 1

Oh yes! Finally we get to see that famous spreadsheet!

As a public service you should print the chart. Maybe make a special Pensky File Commemorative binder filled with stuff or something. Well at least the chart! I know now, and in hindsight, Season 1 had the most. . .pain -- but considering it was new after over 20 years after the TV was gone and after original series films 1-4, it was a refreshing take we all tuned into every week. Your assessment in my opinion is spot on. Season 7 and I and many others felt wistful as it was shutting down. But Seasons 4-6 were the best. So I'd go 4,5,6,3,7,2,1. I can't get rid of any of them as they. . .complete me. . .

Also, its a long shot, but have you ever considered re-podcasting The Measure of a Man... not that I think it would change your opinion on the episode. But for a lot of Star Trek fans in often makes top 10 lists. It was just a shame you had no guest on the show that week and I would of loved someone fighting in the corner of team 5 Star. Would of made for great listening

The quality drop from season 6 to 7 is due to Michael Piller, who was busy running DS9 and preparing Voyager at the time, stepping down as showrunner, and being replaced by Jeri Taylor, who was obviously a much lesser talent.

I think the 1st Season of TNG wasn't that bad. Why?, During TNG's 1st season in 1987-88- Dallas, Dynasty, and Knots Landing were on the air, the Cold War was raging, and Reagan was in power. Compared to J.R. Ewing or the Carrington's, TNG was a far superior show at the time. There was no Babylon 5, X-Files, or Stargate SG-1 yet. Sci-fi was comic book fare then basically. When TNG went of the air, sci-fi television was a lot more popular and it was a different era in society. All of the above shows had been canceled and you could find sci-fi shows like SeaQuest DSV, Lois & Clark, and X-Files on network primetime. If TNG seems so uneven in quality, keep this in mind that society's tastes in entertainment so drastically changed during this period.

Season one had TOS style stories, but lacked everything which makes TOS fun: the characters, and the swashbuckling western elements, Kirk getting in a fistfight. Season 1, except Conspiracy, gets the woodchipper.

Spreadsheets. Things are serious.

Conundrum FTW

Why is Descent 1 and 2 ranked so low? That is weird.

The Royale as good as The Measure of a Man...?

Wow, those are some disastrously low scores you've given everything. EDIT: Oh, out of 5. Aha. That's a lot fairer. Still disagree with a lot of the ratings, however.

Wait a minute, you gave Family and Who Watches the Watchers a 2 but you gave Brothers a 5??

I think my ranking. Would be... 7. Season 2 6. Season 1 5. Season 3 4. Season 4 3. Season 7 2. Season 5 1. Season 6

My personal ratings: Season 1 Encounter at Farpoint I-II. - 3 The Naked Now - 1 Code of Honor - 1 The Last Outpost - 2 Where No One Has Gone Before - 3 Lonely Among Us - 2 Justice - 1 The Battle - 2 Hide and Q - 3 Haven - 2 The Big Goodbye - 4 Datalore - 3 Angel One - 1 11001001 - 4 Too Short A Season - 2 When the Bough Breaks - 2 Home Soil - 3 Coming of Age - 3 Heart of Glory - 3 The Arsenal of Freedom - 3 Symbiosis - 2 Skin of Evil - 2 We'll Always Have Paris - 3 Conspiracy - 4 The Neutral Zone - 3 Average: 2.5 Season 2 The Child - 3 Where Silence Has Lease - 3 Elementary, Dear Data - 4 The Outrageous Okona - 1 Loud as a Whisper - 2 The Schizoid Man - 3 Unnatural Selection - 2 A Matter of Honor - 4 The Measure of a Man - 5 The Dauphin - 2 Contagion - 3 The Royale - 2 Time Squared - 3 The Icarus Factor - 2 Pen Pals - 2 Q Who - 5 Samaritan Snare - 2 Up the Long Ladder - 2 Manhunt - 2 The Emissary - 3 Peak Performance - 4 Shades of Gray - 1 Average: 2.77 Season 3 Evolution - 3 The Ensigns of Command - 3 The Survivors - 4 Who Watches the Watchers - 4 The Bonding - 2 Booby Trap - 3 The Enemy - 3 The Price - 2 The Vengeance Factor - 2 The Defector - 5 The Hunted - 3 The High Ground - 3 Deja Q - 4 A Matter of Perspective - 2 Yesterday's Enterprise - 5 The Offspring - 4 Sins of the Father - 4 Allegiance - 3 Captain's Holiday - 3 Tin Man - 4 Hollow Pursuits - 3 The Most Toys - 3 Sarek - 5 Menage a Troi - 2 Transfigurations - 3 The Best of Both Worlds I. - 5 Average: 3.23 Season 4 The Best of Both Worlds II. - 4 Family - 5 Brothers - 3 Suddenly Human - 3 Remember Me - 2 Legacy - 3 Reunion - 4 Future Imperfect - 3 Final Mission - 3 The Loss - 1 Data's Day - 4 The Wounded - 4 Devil's Due - 3 Clues - 2 First Contact - 4 Galaxy's Child - 3 Night Terrors - 2 Identity Crisis - 3 The Nth Degree - 3 Qpid - 3 The Drumhead - 5 Half a Life - 4 The Host - 2 The Mind's Eye - 4 In Theory - 2 Redemption I. - 4 Average: 3.19 Season 5 Redemption II. - 4 Darmok - 4 Ensign Ro - 3 Silicon Avatar - 3 Disaster - 3 The Game - 2 Unification I. - 3 Unification II. - 3 A Matter of Time - 3 New Ground - 3 Hero Worship - 2 Violations - 2 The Masterpiece Society - 2 Conundrum - 3 Power Play - 3 Ethics - 3 The Outcast - 3 Cause and Effect - 4 The First Duty - 4 Cost of Living - 2 The Perfect Mate - 2 Imaginary Friend - 2 I, Borg - 4 The Next Phase - 4 The Inner Light - 5 Time's Arrow I. - 3 Average: 3.00 Season 6 Time's Arrow II. - 2 Realm of Fear - 3 Man of the People - 2 Relics - 5 Schisms - 2 True Q - 2 Rascals - 2 A Fistful of Datas - 3 The Quality of Life - 3 Chain of Command I. - 4 Chain of Command II. - 5 Ship in a Bottle - 3 Aquiel - 2 Face of the Enemy - 4 Tapestry - 5 Birthright I. - 3 Birthright II. - 3 Starship Mine - 3 Lessons - 3 The Chase - 3 Frame of Mind - 3 Suspicions - 3 Rightful Heir - 3 Second Chances - 3 Timescape - 3 Descent I. - 2 Average: 3.42 Season 7 Descent II. - 2 Liaisons - 2 Interface - 3 Gambit I. - 3 Gambit II. - 3 Phantasms - 2 Dark Page - 2 Attached - 3 Force of Nature - 1 Inheritance - 3 Parallels - 4 The Pegasus - 4 Homeward - 4 Sub Rosa - 1 Lower Decks - 4 Thine Own Self - 3 Masks - 2 Eye of the Beholder - 3 Genesis - 2 Journey's End - 3 Firstborn - 3 Bloodlines - 2 Emergence - 3 Preemptive Strike - 4 All Good Things... I-II. - 5 Average: 2.92

agree with the rankings. Season one was so awful

Not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I might favor S2 over S7, because at least S2 was showing improvement, while S7 is definitely one season too many and ends the show on a bit of a bum note overall. Likewise, S6 for me benefits from the S3 to S5 expansion of the TNG story/character universe and continues to develop them. It's the argument of 'By now I've gotten invested in this universe and I like the characters more', instead of the stronger highlights in S3 that are surrounded by a show that is still properly establishing itself.

The end of The Chase is hilariously bad. Everyone on the sound stage looks bored to death by the 12,000 year old monologue.

Elementary Dear Data = 4, come on.

I'm first AWESOME

My rankings for the 7 seasons would be as follows: 1. Season 3 2. Season 6 3. Season 4 4. Season 5 5. Season 7 6. Season 2 7. Season 1

3 for Sub Rosa? Watch that one again. 0 if it was possible. Apart from that, your pretty much dead on.

Never understood the hate for Season 7, or season 4 for that matter. My ranking would go as follows: 1. Season 5 2. Season 3 3. Season 7 4. Season 4 5. Season 6 6. Season 2 7. Season 1

Booby Trap is absolutely a 4 or a 5. It's not a 2. Also Who Watches the Watchers is not a 4, it's a 2 at the most.

Its so predictable, the seasons most people chose. I am most fond of the early seasons, theres something wonderous and magical about them. People are so predictable tho, with the things they chose to praise.