Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
25 Episodes 1987 - 1988
Episode 1
Encounter at Farpoint
Mon, Sep 28, 198792 mins
In the 24th Century, Captain Jean-Luc Picard assumes command of the Federation's state of the art, luxury flagship, the fifth U.S.S. Enterprise, and its new crew with an array of both humans and non-humans. On their maiden voyage, to Farpoint space station, on the primitive Bandi planet, they come under the apparently inescapable control of alien Q, representative of a technologically superior civilization. He calls humanity backward savages, but accepts to put them to the test at the station. Bandi leader Zorn offers full use of the apparently adequate facilities, but no answers to the key questions, how the station was built, and what agonized feelings Troi is picking up.
Episode 2
The Naked Now
Sat, Oct 3, 198745 mins
Picard and the crew of the Enterprise are set to rendezvous with a Federation scientific vessel studying the collapse of a super red giant star into a white dwarf. As they near the ship however, they receive odd communications from the vessel, almost as if they are all drunk. When one of the crew blows an outer hatch, the crew is killed. An away team investigates but acquire a virus-like disease that makes them appear drunk and removes all inhibitions. As it spreads throughout the ship, Picard and Riker try to maintain discipline while Dr. Crusher tries to find a cure. Riker recalls a similar situation in the history of ships named Enterprise and that gives them a head start but not before an infected Wesley Crusher disables the engines just as the sun explodes leaving the ship in destruction's path.
Episode 3
Code of Honor
Sat, Oct 10, 198746 mins
The Enterprise travels to the planet Ligon II to collect a vaccine that will prevent a particularly virulent disease on Federation planet Cyrus IV. The planet's leader, Lutan, is more than pleased to provide them with the cure but while on board takes a particular interest in the ship's security officer, Lt. Tasha Yar. He is attracted to her physically and is intrigued at her obvious skills and intelligence. He kidnaps her to show that he is a brave man but when the time comes for her return, he refuses to do so wanting to make her his first wife. His current first wife challenges Tasha to a fight to the death to retain her position. Meanwhile, Data continues to try and understand humor but the nuances continue to escape him.
Episode 4
The Last Outpost
Sat, Oct 17, 198745 mins
The Enterprise makes a confrontational first contact with the piratical Ferengi race as their two ships are ensnared by a presumed dead planet ready to judge them.
Episode 5
Where No One Has Gone Before
Sat, Oct 24, 198745 mins
Although Riker considers maverick Federation scientist Kosinski's project to vastly boost the Enterprise's propulsion absurd, Picard obeys the Admiralty's orders. Fascinated, Wesley sits with his alien assistant and wins his confidence. The results surpass even Kosinski's wildest dreams, jumping the ship into a galaxy millions of light year away. Deciding against immediate study, Picard orders Kosinski to get them back. Only Wesley notices that his assistant, who 'fades' supernaturally, is the real key. The next jump brings them to where everyone's deepest hopes and fears come true. The alien assistant is ailing and reveals his 'Traveller' identity. Wesley's astuteness is noted and fittingly rewarded with an academy cadet future.
Episode 6
Lonely Among Us
Sat, Oct 31, 198745 mins
Heading for Parliament, the sector's neutral conference planet, the Enterprise transports peace delegates from two malevolent races, the carnivorous Anticans and the reptilian Selay, both of which want to join the Federation but can't stand each other long enough to occupy neighboring suites. Traveling past a mysterious energy cloud, something curious boards the ship, jumping between machinery and crew members, as if seeking a suitable host and learning about the ship without revealing itself. The crew catches on slowly, as nobody seems seriously affected by the highly intelligent host entity (except Wesley's engineering mentor Singh, killed in a warp technology energy surge).
Episode 7
Justice
Sat, Nov 7, 198746 mins
Exhausted from helping a human colony settle in, the Enterprise crew delights in taking their first-ever shore leave on Edo, an extremely friendly nearby planet. Half in jest, Picard says its Eden-like playground seems too good to be true. Alas, it is, for while teaching native adolescents football, Wesley unwittingly commits a minor transgression in a zone where all errors incur but one punishment: death by painless injection. Back aboard the Enterprise, senior officers struggle with an entity defying every known law of nature, which faces and tests them. It turns out to be Edo's 'god', fiercely protective of its 'children', absorbing all Federation knowledge from their database and intending to hold them to their laws. Violating the Prime Directive to save Wesley might arouse its fatal wrath.
Episode 8
The Battle
Sat, Nov 14, 198746 mins
The Enterprise is ordered to rendezvous with a Ferengi vessel for reasons that are not made clear to Capt. Picard. They meet as scheduled but the Ferengi simply ignore them for a period of time. Finally, they reveal the purpose of their trip - to return to the Federation the USS Stargazer, a ship that Picard once commanded and for which he is credited with a particularly important maneuver, one that is now taught in battle tactics at the Academy. Picard is please to see his old ship but has been suffering from headaches lately. With Dr. Crusher concerned, the Captain just goes on as usual. Picard's condition worsens as it is revealed a member of the Ferengi crew is out to avenge the death of his son in the battle for which Picard gained such recognition. It's left to Commander Riker and his Ferengi counterpart to sort it all out.
Episode 9
Hide and Q
Sat, Nov 21, 198746 mins
The indefatigable Q appears again, still not convinced that humans are a race worth saving and wanting to test them yet again. This time he focuses on Commander Riker and sets out to prove that mankind will not do the right thing when the opportunity presents itself. To prove his point, he vests in Riker all of his powers convinced that the old adage about absolute power corrupting absolutely will prove to be true. Riker is obviously tempted to play God but his assumptions about giving people the opportunity to be whatever they want doesn't go over quite well. Picard knew that the experiment would fail and wins his wager with Q.
Episode 10
Haven
Sat, Nov 28, 198746 mins
The Enterprise travels to the planet Haven in the hope of providing the crew with some much deserved shore leave. On arrival however there is a message for Counselor Troi - her fiancé and his parents are waiting for them and would like to proceed with the wedding. Troi is genuinely shocked - as is Riker - but the engagement is genuine having been arranged by the parents when Troi and her intended, Wyatt Miller, were just children. Also waiting for her is her mother, Lwaxana Troi, a larger than life personality who dominates any room just by her presence. For Troi and Wyatt, there seems to be little time to get to know one another but there is another problem: she's not who he was expecting to see. Since early childhood, he has dreamed of a beautiful blond woman and just assumed it was Troi. When it turns out to be someone else, neither are sure what to do. Captain Picard soon has another situation to deal with however when a Tarellian vessel suddenly appears, obviously destined to Haven. The Tarellians carry an incurable plague and the last of them were thought killed many years before. When the Enterprise establishes visual contact with their ship, the pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place.
Episode 11
The Big Goodbye
Sat, Jan 9, 198845 mins
The Enterprise is sent on a diplomatic mission where Captain Picard has to master a very difficult language and deliver a welcome address faultlessly or face the end of any hope of establishing relations. Stressed and tired from his efforts, he decides to take Counselor Troi's advice and spend some time on the holodeck. He chooses his favorite program, that where he plays a private detective named Dixon Hill in 1940's San Francisco. Accompanied by the ship's historian, Dr. Crusher and Data they live out the wonderful world created for them in the holodeck but when they are scanned by aliens, it causes a malfunction that traps them there. Not only that, but the safety mechanisms malfunction as well leading to one of the participating crewmen being seriously injured. With the clock ticking away, time is growing short for Picard to make his address to their hosts.
Episode 12
Datalore
Sat, Jan 16, 198846 mins
The Enterprise visits Data's planet, Omicron Theta, to see if they can learn more about his somewhat unknown beginnings. The entire population of the planet died of unknown reasons many years previously with Data being found just around that time. Although they find no one alive, they do find a huge underground complex and, surprisingly, a disassembled version of Data. They re-build him and once activated, he introduces himself as Lor, an earlier and, he claims, a superior version of Data. He claims he was disassembled because he was so human-like that he frightened the local population. In fact, he knows far more than he is letting on and has the ability to call upon a crystalline entity of great destructive power, the very power that destroyed the planet and killed all of its inhabitants. All he has to do is find a way to impersonate Data.
Episode 13
Angel One
Sat, Jan 23, 198846 mins
The Enterprise visit the planet Angel One in the hopes of rescuing the survivors of a Federation vessel that crashed there several years before. It's taken many years for them to receive the distress call and they're not sure what to expect. They do know that Angel One is a matriarchal society where women are the stronger and men adopt a more subservient role. They face an unusual problem when they find the survivors. As for Riker, he has to tread carefully when the planet's leader, Beata, takes an interest in him. Aboard the Enterprise Picard and Dr. Crusher have their own crisis when a severe flu epidemic strikes the crew.
Episode 14
11001001
Sat, Jan 30, 198846 mins
The Enterprise docks at Starbase 74 for 48 hours for what is supposed to be a computer upgrade. The upgrade is in the hands of the Binars, an advanced race whose minds work in binary code. For Picard and the crew it's an opportunity to relax and have a bit of R and R. Commander Riker is never quite sure what to do with himself on these layovers so he decides to spend some time on the holodeck in a New Orleans jazz bar. There he meets the beautiful Minuet and if it's possible to fall in love with a computer image, he practically does so. Picard soon joins them but the holodeck party is oblivious to what is happening on the ship. When the warp containment field begins to fail, Commander Data orders the evacuation of the ship and sends it off into the far reaches of space not realizing Riker and the Captain are still aboard.
Episode 15
Too Short a Season
Sat, Feb 6, 198845 mins
The Enterprise travels to the planet Persephone 5 to collect Admiral Mark Jamieson and transport him to Mordan IV to again lead a hostage negotiation on the planet where he had achieved a successful negotiation 40 years before. The Admiral makes it quite clear that he is in command the mission, but not the ship. En route, Jamieson, who is quite elderly and suffering from the incurable Iverson's disease, takes an alien rejuvenation drug that makes him younger. It soon becomes apparent that the hostages are being held by the planet's ruler, Karnas, not a terrorist group as he had claimed. When it also come to light that Jamieson's success was not brought about in the manner recorded in Federation history books, it becomes clear that it is the Admiral himself Karnas is after.
Episode 16
When the Bough Breaks
Sat, Feb 13, 198845 mins
The Enterprise is delighted with a rare chance to visit a technologically advanced planet which long prevented access by means of a perfect cloaking technique. Prime administrator Radue shows how their people lead a life of leisure, trusting their central computer takes care of all necessities. But they can't solve a medical nightmare: endemic infertility, so they need to 'adopt' earthling children. Negotiations failing, they suddenly snatch Wesley and several younger, also gifted crew kids. Picard can barely keep negotiating credibly enough to avoid being chased too far in space ever to return, but Wesley manages to study and befriend the locals while planning a minimal risk revolt.
Episode 17
Home Soil
Sat, Feb 20, 198846 mins
The Enterprise visits a team of scientists and engineers terraforming on Velara III. The team's leader, Kurt Mandl, isn't very welcoming stating that they are very busy but Picard insists with Riker, Data and Geordi beaming down to the planet. Velara III was selected because of its complete absence of any life forms and the terraforming initiative takes about 30 years. The team is now in the process of removing salts from the natural water supply as the first step in creating a sustainable environment. Geordi and Data come across a non-carbon based object that glows and give the appearance of life. When it attempts to communicate with the crew, it is obvious they have encountered a life form like no other.
Episode 18
Coming of Age
Sat, Mar 12, 198846 mins
Wesley is off to complete his Starfleet entrance exams and testing and makes friends with Mordock, another of the four candidates seeking admission. Only one of the four will be accepted into the Academy and the competition will be strong. Wesley is particularly worried about the psychological evaluation which will focus on what he fears most. He has no idea what that is, however. Picard's old friend, Admiral Gregory Quinn requests to be beamed aboard and arrives with Commander Remick from the Inspector General's office. Remmick is there to conduct a complete investigation of the ship's operations. His very presence is unnerving to both the Captain and the bridge crew and his questions to the senior officers all seem to indicate that it is Captain Picard who is under investigation with his decisions, judgment and reliability all in question.
Episode 19
Heart of Glory
Sat, Mar 19, 198846 mins
The Enterprise responds to a disturbance in the neutral zone with reports of a possible Romulan attack on a Talerian freighter. There is debris in the area and the freighter has obviously suffered some damage. On board, they find 3 Klingons with one of them seriously injured. The survivors are not very forthcoming about what happened on their ship nor how three Klingon warriors even ended up on a space freighter. After the injured Klingon dies, the remaining two try to recruit Worf to their cause by appealing to his Klingon heritage and pride. They tell him they were looking for a new world where they could be true Klingons and that the debris the Enterprise found was actually that of a Klingon battle cruiser they fought and destroyed. The Enterprise soon comes into contact with a second Klingon cruiser that wants the renegades arrested and turned over to them.
Episode 20
The Arsenal of Freedom
Sat, Apr 9, 198846 mins
The Enterprise encounters a message from a planet offering to sell them arms. The messenger, essentially a holographic image, invites them to the planet below. There, the away team led by Commander Riker comes under attack from a myriad of weapons leading Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher to also beam down to the planet. They too are attacked and Dr. Crusher is seriously wounded. Aboard the Enterprise, Lt. Laforge is left in command for the first time in a crisis situation. He not only has to deal with being under attack from these unknown weapons systems, but also deal with a colleague who feels he should be given command of the ship.
Episode 21
Symbiosis
Sat, Apr 16, 198845 mins
While observing a solar flare, the Enterprise happens to pick up distress calls from a breaking-down freighter. Two of the six people aboard get killed as there's no time left to beam aboard properly because the cargo was sent first, yet the other two crew members seem to care only for the freight. Their passengers, from their neighbor planet, contest ownership because their agreed payment aboard the freighter was lost. It's their only produce, vital for the other planet since it was struck by a general plague, yet Dr. Crusher soon realizes it's not really medicine as they have no plague symptoms, yet suffer immensely without it.
Episode 22
Skin of Evil
Sat, Apr 23, 198845 mins
Counselor Troi is held captive on a deserted planet by a slick, black, oily, sentient and immortal puddle of evil.
Episode 23
We'll Always Have Paris
Sat, Apr 30, 198845 mins
Puzzled, the Enterprise follows an enigmatic trail of distress messages left behind by the vessel of reputed time-space-continuum researcher Dr. Paul Manheim, who dropped from sight years ago during his last experiment. His latest trial goes terribly wrong, causing a time-distorting ripple to spread from a binary star system, tapping into unimaginable energy that already affects the Enterprise crew. To prevent the galaxy being ripped open, the process must be reversed, although gravely (maybe fatally) injured Manheim can only give unreliable instructions to Data. Jean-Luc Picard is largely focused on Paul's younger wife Jenice, once Jean-Luc's fiancée, whom he dumped in Paris for his Starfleet dream.
Episode 24
Conspiracy
Sat, May 7, 198846 mins
Captain Walker Keel, an old friend of Picard's, uses a top-secret frequency, thus excluding informing Riker, to summon him to a top-secret meeting with two other captains. The vague innuendo about a plot to take over a strategic sector of the Federation by replacing mysteriously dying Starfleet officers doesn't quite impress Picard, but he reconsiders after Keel and his crew die in an explosion. So he intends with Riker to visit Starfleet HQ, where he will dine with admirals and their aide Dexter Remmick, while Riker keeps an eye on admiral Aaron, who insists to visit the modernized Enterprise, actually carrying an alien brain-parasite.
Episode 25
The Neutral Zone
Sat, May 14, 198846 mins
While assigned to investigate missing outposts in the Neutral Zone, the Enterprise revives three cryogenically frozen people found aboard a wayward derelict Earth vessel.
