Why don't we call this Series' episodes what they really are: They're not Pensky Material.

Ha Ha Ha code of honor!!! I always called it the "Coming To America" episode and kept expecting one of the wives to say "the Royal penis is clean your highness"

Wow, you weren't kidding about "Lonely Among Us" being forgettable-- I have no memory of that episode whatsoever, and I thought I'd seen seen all of season 1, lol.

The big problem with "The Naked Now" is that it missed the point of the episode it was imitating. "The Naked Time" revealed aspects of Kirk, Spock, etc. that we might never have seen under any other circumstances; it was for example our first insight into how much emotion Spock was wrestling with. It actually revealed character. "The Naked Now" did nothing of the sort, it just made all the characters act like they were drunk. I say TNN is the worst because they couldn't even copy the original episode well. Tasha should have been talking about how she was constantly haunted by her hellish childhood, Crusher about how she worried about failing Wesley because she was pursuing her career (that would have even been fairly timely 30 years ago), Wesley about how he couldn't ever live up to his dad's example OR he resented Picard not saving his dad. And Worf and Picard ... ? Man, just imagine what either of them could have revealed; they both ended up being much more complex than the first season allowed them to be, just imagine if they'd offered some hints of what was to come.

I loved The Naked Now, but it was an odd choice as the second episode for the series. What a weird follow up to such a good series premiere.

"Lonely Among Us" was a very good choice, as being boring is, to me, the cardinal sin a TV show can commit. That said, "The Naked Now" may be derivative and awkward, but it's never boring. I would have put "Home Soil" on the list instead. Other than the scene where the sentient chunks of sand take control of a laser drill and try to kill Data, who skillfully dodges the beams, nothing really happens. "Ugly bags of mostly water" was a decent line, but still.

I always had a soft spot for "Code of Honor", I never saw it as racist as they were supposed to be aliens and so, like pointed ears, dark skin was merely an attribute of the species as a whole. Also, the battle at the end might have been cheesy but there was so little interesting conflict in those first two seasons that I took what I could get, plus the wife, who had been looked down upon as property, actually gets to fight for her beliefs and triumphs over her so-called master in a clever manner in the end and I enjoyed that. Now "Justice" on the other hand, my god, what a piece of hot garbage that was.

kinda surprised the very first episode "encounter at far point" wasn't included. I remember seeing it when it first aired way back in 1987. alotta people had high hopes for the new star trek... only to have it dashed by pink and blue space jelly fish 🙁

I thought Skin of Evil was one of the better episodes of the season, though maybe I’m just thinking of the ending.

"Number 5: The Naked Now." *_You're kidding!_*

They are so lucky TNG wasn't on a network, it would have never seen a 2nd season!

As Trek aficionado Steve Shives would say, "The hardest part is only picking five."

Code Of Honor still makes my head hurt.

the last episode was the worst.all the stations in the neutral zone destroyed and no explanation.season 2 skips right over it.

This was a goofy season. The naked time was ok, nostalgic for the original series' fans. Skin of evil was super anti climactic. Agree with you there. Code of honor was cool. The cat fight with the venomous gloves were cool too. When the bough breaks was not bad, although it was pretty slow. Lonely among us was goofy like the whole season. Not that good. probably the worse. (Riker is a racist always, think about it)

I think we can just throw season 1 on a list of worst trek and call it a day. Between the crew acting like pompous dickheads, the out of touch storylines, and the frankly overbearing smug that came from Roddenberry's directing yeah TNG season 1 was a disaster. Thank god after season 3 things improved dramatically

I still watch the first season does that mean that there is something wrong with me?

It's funny that "Lonely Among Us" is your number one since I am watching TNG on Netflix, and it's the episode to spark my search for the worst Episodes of TNG. Putting what you said aside, I do not appreciate being preached to about "Enslavement of Animals" and "Eating meat is Barbaric" .... It's just one of those Go Fuck yourself moments, form me. As for Code of Honor, the moment I saw the Aliens of the episode I skipped it. :P ., and Naked Now is a bit uncomfortable to watch, though I did enjoy the Yars-Data Scene.

Wesley never gets killed or at least severely injured in any part of TNG :( :)

Data’s Sherlock Holmes shtick in Lonely Among Us is one of the best parts of the otherwise poor season so even if I couldn’t care less about anything else in it, I have to give the episode props for containing one thing I like more than most of the other episodes.

It's surprising that this show survived this season.

skin of evil and code of honor were actually pretty good.

i actually liked When The Bough Breaks

My only disagreement is that Code of Honor should have been number 1. That episode is not kind of racist, it is just horribly racist. Even as a teen that episode offended and made me question my future with TNG.

We call season one season shit here at work

Narrowing it down to 5 is yeoman's work. It's crazy to see them in those early episodes where their roles weren't yet clearly defined. Goerdi wasn't yet the head engineer, Worf sometimes is at Ops, O'Brien is occasionally a pilot, and the chain of command isn't always consistent.

You forgot to mention the part in the naked now were Piccard hallucinates and he sees his mom which made me unintentionally laugh so hard 😂

As a kid, I saw the seasons out of order and incomplete because the only way I could watch them was reruns recorded onto VHS. As a result I saw most of season 2, 4, 5, and 7 longer before I saw episodes from 1, 3, and 6. Once I bought the whole series on DVD, of course, I could see all the ones I missed. When I saw episodes from season 1 for the first time, they felt very alien and out of place to me, like the show had no idea what it was doing or what it was going to become. I couldn't believe the show that was so central to my adolescence had started with THIS.

No matter what anyone says i like almost all TNG episodes

What?! The Skin of Evil was awesome!

The five worst episodes of season one? Really, how can you tell?

You had to put here the neutral zone. It was the worse season ending episode ever. It was anticlimactic and the three frozen people where unnecessary.

The Naked Now gets a pass because Tasha looked amazing.

My five: #5: When The Bough Breaks. #4 The Arsenal Of Freedom. #3 Symbiosis. #2 Lonely Among Us. #1 Code of Honor.

I'm actually really surprised to see Skin of Evil on this list. I'd consider it one of the best of the episodes of Season 1. The death of Tasha, while needing to be written for contract purposes, did make a couple good point/moments. Reminded us, the watchers, that space is dangerous and that no one is safe. Something that shows now (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Orange is the New Black, etc.) do much more liberally. Anywho, just my opinion, I've always loved the episode.

The episode with Julie Newmar is the worse, bar none. Hollywood Hills scrub set, ridiculous plot and inane dialogue. Newmar: “I want Mac Coy.” (No one else may touch her). Baaaad episode !!!

That awkward moment when Lonely Among Us and When the Bough Breaks are both in your top 5 favorite s1 episodes lol 1. Angel One - poor execution, no decision in this episode make sense to me, and i love how the crew catch basically the common cold....i guess nobody uploaded the ingredients to Tylenol into the replicator lol 2. Haven - what a way to set the tone for bad Troi episodes 3. Too Short A Season - dumb plot, horrible make up, stupid ending 4. Datalore - how can the bridge crew be THAT dumb to not notice its Lore? Oh, thats right, its to make Wesley look good 5. Code of Honor - YOU SHALL HAVE NO VACCINE AND NO LT. YAR!

Interesting choices - but I find Naked Now to be a good laugh;Skin if Evil has a lovely final scene on the Holodeck;and Code of Honour is enjoyably cheesy (albeit slow). My choices would be (in ascending order): The Last Outpost (poorly plotted;poor introduction to the Ferenghi);Lonely Among Us (obvious plot development, and too similar to 2nd rate TOS episodes);Angel One (Planet of Women - how imaginative);Hide and Q (cheap,as well as obvious);Home Soil (ridiculously silly attempt to remake Devil In The Dark).

There were so many episodes in the first season of TNG that were bad. Code of Honor was especially bad. Others I thought were bad that weren't mentioned were The Last Outpost (the new enemy of the federation, the Ferengi, are not one bit threatening, but silly), and Justice (Wesley is playing ball with a group of kids on the planet and breaks the glass on a greenhouse and is sentenced to death for the infraction).

For my own personal reasons that i dont want to get into now, i LOVED all of Season 1.

The only one I might swap is Angel One for When the Bough Breaks, although it’s really close. The “inorganic” line by Riker in Lonely Among Us hasn’t aged well, as organic is the way to go now

"Naked Now" was awesome if for nothing else but that sound Capt. Picard makes in his throat when he's standing close to Dr. Crusher.

Yeah the behind the scenes for the first two seasons sounded like a mess.

Here's my 5 picks for worst of season one and there's plenty to pick from but here are my selections. 5. The Naked Now. A lazy remake of the classic TOS episode The Naked Time and a poor one to start the show after the pilot. Fortunately we never had anymore remakes or otherwise we'd see a Tang's version of Errand of Mercy but without any of the bits that makes it a fantastic episode. 4. When the Bough Breaks. Dull and forgettable is what I call this episode. I'd consider this the Leisure Hive of Star Trek in terms of boring viewing. 3. The Last Outpost. Terrible introduction of the Ferengi and one of the worst attempts of giving the Enterprise-D crew a serious foe to content with on a weekly basis. It would take DS9 and Quark's creation to redeem them in the fans' eyes. 2. Justice. It just barely beat out Angel One in terms of ass but the whole obviously outdated 80's elements and generally the whole story with Wesley makes it worse than the latter. Also Yar's line regarding the syringe is just dumb man. 1. Code of Honour. Even if it the depictions of the "aliens" were less racist, it would still be a shit episode with cheap set designs and costumes. Sadly the only Yar centric episode we got for the character when she was still a regular on the series's early days and what a bad one it is.

What about Angel One? The worst TNG episode period.

code of honour literally makes me want to scream

Lonely Among Us should be called The Force Lightning Episode. Palpatine lives ?

Season 2 was pretty bad too besides some few episodes like the borg one. TNG acting wasn't fluid until season 3. Seems like ALL season 1 are bad for trek shows. Voyager&DS9 season 1 were terrible too.

I liked skin of evil and I have no idea why. Armus was not evil he was just an asshole, I don't buy any of the reasons that they couldn't just beam Deanna out of the shuttle, in later seasons they were battling the borg and time jumping and surviving that so you know they could have figured this one out before Tasha died. Also the worst part was the holodeck scene, in my opinion. She really said commander Riker you are the best and told Beverly she learned how to be brave or something like that, that was so generic because Tasha didn't learn anything from Beverly, they didn't even have any scenes together let alone a scene that even hinted they learned from each other. And while I'm on and on she didn't even tell data thanks for the time we had sex, it was awesome, but she managed to build Wesley's inflated ego up more. The only good part of that scene was Stewart's close up when he said goodbye to Tasha in French. That was touching. With all that being said I liked the episode. I liked the planet sets when it was clearly a set and not some earth park or mountain behind the studio. Controversial list and lots of defense for the naked now one of my favorite season 1 episodes. In all honesty you could make this list by writing all the episode titles from season 1 and closing your eyes and randomly pointing to an episode title and 9 times out of 10 it would qualify for this list.

I swear Gates kinda picked up Patrick's British accent.....Just me though....... This season Picard was REALLY a pompus ass.. "Shut that off!" "Is the whole ship deaf" "Shut off that damn noise "

Season 1 episodes were the first I watched as a kid. They certainly are cringe worthy at times but they have so much nostalgia attached to them that I watch them anyway. I'm a total nerd so I like to watch some season 1 and then some season 6, just to see how much this show changed over the years. Riker and Picard seem like totally different character from early to later episodes. Data is at the forefront in most later episodes and doesn't seem to be a fully developed character early on. Early episode were basically data trying to figure out the definition of basic English words and picard seemed annoyed by everything and there were only two episodes that I can remember from season 1 that focused on the women. Code of honor and haven...

Worst to best 1. The Naked Now 2. Encounter At Farpoint (part 1) 3. Too Short a Season 4. Code Of Honour 5. Skin of Evil 6. Angel One 7. The Battle 8. Home Soil 9. The Arsenal of Freedom 10. Lonely Among Us 11. Symbiosis 12. Heart of Glory 13. The Last Outpost 14. When the Bough Breaks 15. Haven 16. The Big Goodbye 17. Justice 18. Coming of Age 19. Conspiracy 20. Encounter At Farpoint (part 2) 21. Datalore 22. We'll Always Have Paris 23. 11001001 24. Hide and Q 25. The Neutral Zone 26. Where No One Has Gone Before

Loved the choice of Capt. Had no use for Marina Sirtis character nor Whoopies, nor Ensign who wore what looked a Fram Oil Filter. What I disliked most about these Star Treks spawns was the over-the-top prosthetics--ridiculous. My favorite episode was with Montgomery Scott of course.

Agree with "Code of Honor." I actually liked the others on the list. I would nominate "Too Short a Season," "Justice," "Angel One," & "We'll Always Have Paris."

the only thing bad here is this list.

The naked now was one of the best... How dare you 😂 Oh and yesterday's enterprise.... Was a COMPLETE mess

I think I'll go: When the bough breaks The Neutral Zone Justice Code of Honor Angel One

WHAT!? The Skin of Evil was a good episode.

I would've put Naked Now out and included another. I love Naked Now :3 (Maybe because The Naked Time is my favorite episode)

_Code of Honor_ would have been considered racist had it been a TOS episode. That's how bad it was.

Season #1? Pretty crappy. Season #2? Still pretty much sucked. #3? Wow, what a turnaround. Although I would say the show peaked with ‘Best of Both Worlds.” The rest was hit and miss, with the hits like “Inner Light” being amazing. But very good from ssn 3 - 6. Then they started running out of ideas. “Code of Honor” was just about the worst episode of any Trek, and being #3 here is a joke. “Lonely Among Us,” peak Troi dialog and acting, “this light is blinding me!” UGH.

5. I agree The Naked Now sucked. I being a fan of the original series sort of understood why Gene wrote it to so clearly reference the origanal series Naked Time episode. I feel Gene was trying to draw parallels between the two episodes saying IF the new Galaxy Class USS Enterprise encountered a situation exactly as known in Star Trek TOS here is how it would play out. The Naked Now was boring and uninspired Gene had a great idea but failed to breathe life into his idea. The naked Now fell flat largely for the reasons you cite. 4. I must disagree with you on Skin Of Evil. Somehow I understood Skin of Evil well. Skin of Evil was a mind game a mental journey. Skin Of Evil requires you to use your imagination because; it does not spoon feed you a predigested narrative that is easily understood and learned from. Skin of Evil was like a 1930's black and white movie that demanded you add the color, you add the bits that made the evil in this story. I MUST agree that Tasha Yar's death was pure Tripe, that had no meaning. I'm a fool in that I felt the memorial scene at the end was painfully touching. BUT then what do I know. I'm just an autistic werewolf. Yes Skin of Evil was weak but hardly the top five worst in STNG season one. 3. Code of Honor was racist and worst stupidly boring. Code of Honor reminded me of a very bad high school drama club performance in every way. The sets were cheezy. The dialogue was trite and stereotypical in ways that are not and were not subtle about their racist messages. There were no redeeming aspects to Code of Honor that I can find. 2. I disagree whole almost heartedly here in that I felt When the Bough Breaks Breaks was an acceptable if not great episode. Westley was good here especially when he had the children use non-violent revolt to force the issues to a head. The pedophile like moments adults had with the children were creepy and off putting enough that maybe this whole episode should be considered bad. Gene needed to establish that children were a part of this new Enterprise crew and that he did well. The plot was thin as were many STNG first year plots. Yes this story had a huge creepy factor but other than that it was a passable story. Not great not even good but passable 60 points of 100 possible points. 1. Lonely Among us was a real dog granted and it is easily the worst STNG episode season one. Everything you cited about what made Lonely Among Us bad was spot on. Dude you only stopped ripping apart Lonely Among Us because their is no fun shooting prey that is bad episodes moments in the target rich environment that is Lonely Among Us! Gene had lost his touch by the time STNG came along. Gene was still making Trek for 1960's sensibilities that had long sense evolved to a point Gene could not touch. STNG showed the great bird of the galaxy had lost too many of his best flight feathers! Worst of all it showed in his episodes.

Your channel is so amazing! You need more veiws

That horrible episode regarding Troi's wedding should have been on this list. God that was fucking painful. But too many clunkers for sure

Using the transporter to fix everything from Picard with no matter to Pulaski's uber-aging to the debacle of "Rascals" is just fucking dumb. tho at least there was the irony with Pulaski's fix even tho the ramification is transporter immortality (Scotty gets a pass cause he didnt fix aging just used one as a stasis unit, and his bro died.. and because he's fucking Scotty!)

Completely disagree with When the Bough Breaks. It’s a great episode with a interesting premise that’s well acted. The worst of this list should have been the 5th entry: Naked Now for the reasons you have stated, plus - it’s just embarrassing and lewd, and it doesn’t deliver on it’s interesting start once you realise it’s a rehash of cheesy TOS idea.

I've always liked Plato's Stepchildren.

There are two things that really stand out, about The Naked Now, sexually voracious Beverly Crusher and Tasha Yar.

Skin of Evil was really good! What are you on about??

Its a toss-up between Code of Honor and Angel One for me. I didn't mind the others (there are a few more Episodes of the first Season I didn't find *good* but which I didnt completely dislike either.

The first season felt like it was trying to hard to be os. However I believe Where No Man Has Gone Before is a very good episode.

I'd swap Lonely Among Us for Justice, an episode so shallow and unsophisticated despite a potentially interesting premise (from its original draft, not the rewrite)

having trouble with my list season 1 sucks

The native African garb reminds me of the Star Trek episode where a planetary species dressed in ancient Greek clothing .Quite ridiculous

for me the worst episode was code of honor binary, lonely among us, angel one, justicr encounter in farpoint was bad and good in the same time naked now was fun, but an odd choice for second episode conspiracy and where no man has gone before episodes are the most scheming and interesting

The 7th Season is really the worst. The 1st gets a pass for having to find it's sea legs.

I agree these are probably the 5 worst episodes in the first season but imo Code of Honor is by far the worst. I went into watching this show completely blind and CoH was the only episode I was unable to finish. It was only afterward I learned that, thankfully, many people share my feelings. I can deal with boring or a contrived plot but it just made me so uncomfortable. I felt like I was watching something made in the 1960s.

Season 2 has more downright awful episodes than season 1.

There were bits of When the Bough Breaks that I liked actually - it was a great episode for Patrick Stewart and that ending with him and that little redhead girl was incredibly funny and incredibly sweet.

For the record, I very much enjoyed "The Naked Now".

Skin of Evil will always have a special place in my heart for taking out Tasha Yar.

The lonely among us, is dull and plodding, much like you're critique of that episode.

My mans Picard finna lay the pipe

as bad as season one is, it does have one silver lining.. troi looks absolutely stunning. i dont know if its her makeup, or the fact she lost weight subsequently - but she definitely isnt as hot in subsequent seasons. naughty cockney girl as well, if the rumours are true ;)

The end of the very first episode, Encounter at Farpoint, practically ended my viewing. The crew all posed dramatically about the bridge while Troi drones on, "great joy and gratitude."

I like naked now. It was a fun episode.

The first season of TNG is arguably the worst season of any Trek series.

no season 2 WAS the worst Good choices here cept for Skin of Evil the only bad thing was that alien

I liked the Naked now. I don’t know why i just did

when the bough breaks was a great episode

All in all I thought the first season was pretty bad.........very childish! Glad it got better!

When the Bough Breaks is not a bad episode. It may seem so to trekkies, but that's because it goes completely against the ethos of the show. In fact, it is a Conservative nightmare. It shows a completely indulgent society that has stopped having children and cares about nothing except it's own pleasure. Sound familiar?

I actually liked Skin of Evil. The episode that introduced the Ferenghi and the episode where Q gives Riker Q powers are ones that I hated.

Oh come on dude Skin of Evil was dope.

I think the Naked Now is the worst episode of tng ever.

I hate the TNG series totally. Lousy plots, bad acting and unrealistic science.

lonely among us is fucking Citizen Kane compared to any episode of discovery

Some of my favorite episodes are in Season One and Two! Contagion, Time Squared, Q Who, Where no one has gone before, and Peak Performance are so good!

actually code of honor wasn't all that bad, couple good data scene's in this one

Based on each first season of each Star Trek (not counting TAS) this is how I would probably rank them from best to worst. The Original Series Deep Space Nine Discovery Voyager Enterprise The Next Generation