Ranking My Favorite “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Episodes Is Harder Than I Thought
I can’t remember why, but a few weeks ago, I got it in my head that I was going to rank my top 20 favorite episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” I was obsessed with the show in high school and college. I remember what happens in the vast majority of episodes by just their episode titles. I still occasionally enjoy rewatching the show. I usually have pretty strong opinions about what I love and hate. And, I enjoy ranking things…or, at least, I thought I did. The last few times I’ve tried to rank things, I’ve found it hard getting the order just perfect and deciding what to squeeze into a certain numerical limit and which excellent items get cast out as honorable mentions, at best. And, wow, ST:TNG is no exception.
Conundrum #1 — Reality vs. Nostalgia: TNG is an old show. I wish is it weren’t because it reminds me of how old I am. TV has changed since TNG was on the air. Long story arcs means show are now more fluid than episodic. Seasons are shorter, so the better shows pack more great episodes into a season with less filler. TNG is from an era where a lot of “spaghetti” had to be thrown against the wall to see what would…
