Special thanks to my longtime patron DevoutAgnostic for suggesting this video!

In my opinion I think that this should be a 7 part video exploring the progress of the entire series in its self.

Conspiracy is one of my favourite TNG episodes. It also has that B-grade horror movie vibe about it that just makes it a lot of fun.

The Tahsa Yar drug speech is surprisingly advanced for the time. As an addict who has been there I can say it is 100% accurate. Also telling young people that drugs make you feel good but with a terrible cost is far better than just say no. Most will see that Drugs aren't going to kill them or make them crazy either firsthand themselves or through the people around them who use. So they begin to doubt that they're harmful at all or that its an exaggeration. People think its hamfisted and cringe but I love it.

I always wondered why Q ignored O'Brian in the premier. Probably because even God-like beings know not to rouse the anger of an Irishman. "Oi! You're putting humanity on trial? I'll show you a trial!"

I would say 11001001 is required viewing for "who is Minuet?" "I didnt know Riker was a musician" and "how long was that Pareezee squares match anyway??"

In the episode The Neutral Zone, when Picard asks Data after he brought back the 3 people that were in cryogenically frozen "They were already dead, what more could have happened to them?" I wish Data had answered, "They are alive now sir, which means by definition, they were not dead." and then Picard thinks deeply and philosophically at that response.

I wanted to watch Star Trek First Contact with my wife but she had never seen Star Trek so my original idea was to give her a sampling of episodes to give her a feel for the series and get her ready for the movie but after we were done with Encounter at Farpoint she said, “that was interesting, let’s keep watching.” So we just watched the whole series from that point onward. And she is a full blown Star Trek fan now. She agrees with most that seasons 3 onward are the better ones (with the exception of Riker’s beard) but season 1 and 2 got her hooked so it’s certainly not impossible to get someone into the show when starting at the beginning.

I would love to see more videos like this talking about each season. Keep them coming. You could even do Deep Space 9, Voyager, Enterprise 👍🏾

An interesting fact about "Code of Honor" I learned was that Garrett Wang who played Harry Kim on Voyager attributed viewing the episode as the reason for getting cast as Harry as had he seen any other episode of TNG, he would have been a fan and then be too nervous to audition. Apparently, he tried on three separate occasions to watch TNG, and every time he tuned in, it would always be "Code of Honor" airing. He said that this was God telling him: "Do not watch Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Would love to see season 2 sooner than later!

Absolutely would love to see your take on Season 2 as soon as you're able and willing to do it! But as always, you do want you feel motivated to do, and not by the whims of us lurkers. *Slimes back to my corner*.

I always love the part of Encounter at Farpoint where Picard accuses Q of being self-righteous and smug. Because Season 1 Picard would go on to spend every other episode being self-righteous and smug. I swear he was like "how dare you be smug on my bridge! That's my job!" Damn it took a while for them to really nail the characterizations (I'll never forget Worf just going feral and attacking Riker for basically no reason)

I actually love the psychedelic, mind-bending wonders and New Age vibe of the earlier seasons; it made the universe of Star Trek feel mysterious and amazing. Later seasons felt more grounded, contemporary and familiar; a trend that we would see in the '90s. I call it 'backyard sci-fi'. P.S. "Where No One Has Gone Before" is also one of my favorite episodes; not just from season 1, but the whole series!

It was the 80s and the first attempt in reviving a series from the 60s and collaboration of the 4 movies that was out. It was a innocence about season 1 with the tight smelly spandex outfit with the huge Black and Decker vacuum phaser. I loved it.

+1 to the person that asked for this to be a seven part series covering each season.

I I genuinely believe you should be one of the larger sci-fi KZfaqrs and I would love to see a video on season 2

in Justice, I'm surprised they didn't bring up the defense that he didn't deliberately fall into the flower bed, he tripped and fell. If it had been a deliberate act, the punishment still didn't fit the crime, but they didn't even attempt to argue that it was accidental. I just found that odd. If they had at least made the argument and the aliens had said it doesn't matter, fine, but they didn't even try to make the argument.

Semi-unpopular opinion: It was mostly due to my very young age at the time, but when I first was exposed to Wesley Crusher when the episodes were in syndication, he quickly became my favorite because "a kid gets to save the day too?! Awesome!" My home life wasn't always that great, so the idea of a kid who saved the day like the adults did was very appealing to me. Now, I've since long grown up, so looking at this now, I certainly am and will be very fond of Wesley, but by and large the Star Trek setting is only _occasionally_ a place where a kid can realistically save the day, and you just can't inject the _Adults are Useless_ trope too often before more grounded individuals get a bit tired of it. XD

I would never tell anyone to skip s1 & 2. They just need to push through like the rest of us.

Judson Scott, one of the guest stars in Symbiosis starred as Khan's son Joaquim in The Wrath of Khan. He also guest starred in a season 4 episode of Star Trek: Voyager as a Romulan commander. He's best known for his role as Lt. James on V.

In Germany, the first 2 episodes are actually named what would translate to 'The Mighty [One]' and 'Mission Farpoint' in English.

This was great! Thank you so much for doing it! I personally appreciate season one. I was there, beginning my senior year of college and starving for more Trek. I remember the months of anticipation waiting for TNG to premier and religiously tuned in to watch every week. I could go on an on haha. Definitely do season two! With an option for the remaining seasons haha. But. Do it when you are ready. 🖖

I very much enjoyed this retrospective and look forward to part 2. I enjoy rewatching TNG and trying to recall what it was like watching it in its first run, Star Trek updated for the 80s. It is Interesting to see what stories they chose to tell and how they chose to tell them, the visual effects, which were probably the best that could be afforded for a TV show at the time. Yes, they sometimes stumbled, but sometimes they captured the Twilight zone-ish vibe of TOS, and those early seasons established things that later seasons, even the franchise as a whole benefited from, for example holodecks. TNG took what TOS had started and built on it.

To be honest i never had any problems with the first 2 seasons. To me they felt a lot more mysterious, unpredictable, experimental and a lot more like a really good transition phase from Star Trek TOS (with many episodes filmed entirely indoors, in the studio) and even a lot of original Star Trek TOS veteran actors returning for different roles. The mix of Synthesizer sounds (especially those amazing Roland D-50 pads) and Orchestral scores also added a LOT to the whole vibe. When i was a kid and watched Star Trek TNG for the first time, i felt like ANYTHING could happen and this is what got me hooked and on the edge during every episode. When Season 3 was around, everything felt a lot more settled and "safe". Yes the show had found its form (and personally i prefer the lighting of the Bridge from Season 3 onwards a LOT more) but it also had lost a bit of its unpredictable nature. That being said there's not a single season of TNG that i never liked. The first 2 seasons REALLY are amazing Science Fiction and deal with some really awesome concepts, like the one with the "Manheim Effect".

100% agreed on Tasha Yar. I am really glad that they bring Denise Crosby back in future episodes, alternate universe ones, the shitty abandoned human planet one (as her sister I think), and they regularly reference her (usually in reference to Data's crush after they all took MDMA in that one episode or w/e). There were a LOT of possibilities for social commentary with her character, and for analysis of the Federation and its reach, too.

One of the promises of Encounter at Farpoint that the show later whiffed on is the idea that they are actually really far out there on the frontier. Farpoint is years away from earth by the shows own limitations on the ships speed. At the very highest emergency speed (that it can only do for 12 hours) it's about a year and a half away. So outside of some creative writing the ship shouldn't be going back to earth ever, but they managed to go back on average about once a year. I wish they would have set the whole show out far from earth, with the ship being built near some outpost or colony, the human crew being mostly not from earth but born and raised on colonies and outposts.

Do not skip season 1, there are some great fun episodes, some frustrating ones and a bad one, but it's crucial to the development of all the regular characters and introduces some important reoccurring ones to know. Also, watching season 1 is crucial to fully enjoy some of the best episodes that come later. Don't skip season 2 either. Don't skip any season, they are all great.

To answer your question at the end: yes, please. And to answer any future similar questions: yes, please. Although I learned nothing new, it made it want to watch the whole series all other again. Thanks for this great recap.

roughly 100 years?? But there were guest appearances by Kirk and Scotty! I mean it's understandable that Spock would be alive since he's half Vulcan, but those guys? I don't believe it XD

That mention of "maybe this is building up to something in picard season 3" was a good call out.

Season 1 was uneven the cast was getting it's space legs but with a few exceptions ( Code of Honor) it was fun and Stewart's Picard holds it all together

I remember watching those first episodes of TNG and honestly wondering how it would survive beyond the first season, and I'm sure others here feel the same way. And it certainly didn't help that there was a Writers' Guild strike in the middle of 1988 that lasted all the way through what should have been fall season premiere time, resulting in the second season not airing until Thanksgiving that year. But in the end I do believe it was well worth the wait in terms of how the show ramped a lot of things up to get to where it was by the time of "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I."

A fun thing to keep an eye/ear open on a TNG rewatch is the writers are a fan of this anime called Dirty Pair and would name drop the main characters names Kei and Yuri a few times. Heck they even named dropped their ship Lovely Angel.

An important thing to add is that "Conspiracy" didn't come from nowhere. There were hints in episodes leading up to it that something was wrong at Starfleet Headquarters and one episode saw an admiral and his assistant board the Enterprise to see if there were hints of the problems there. Both the admiral and assistant are later infected by the Bluegills in "Conspiracy."

I don't know if it's because of his younger age, or maybe different makeup, or that he just carries himself different, but Brent Spinner's Data seems much more alien in this first episode.

I never realized until this year that Arman Shimmerman was in The Last Outpost. My husband and I were going thru TNG for the first time finally (all the way thru in order, that is). He was thrilled to have another chance in DS9 to be a better Ferengi. In watching these in order, I think I saw the actors for Rom and Nog too. Glad they had better development in DS9, although I do like the episode where they mess with Picard's mind, but at the end the criminals are dealt with by Ferengi & they are shown to be capable of honor

Thank you for the continuous star trek content. I've been coming to your channel almost every day for a couple weeks and didn't realize it until now. I appreciate your explanation on a universe that can be confusing to say the least for newer Trekkies. I grew up with trekkie parents but only just started my journey this last year. Through watching multiple series now and channels like yours, I've become a huge fan of the franchise. Star trek has become something else for me and I'm glad to have a channel like yours for a guide. Cheers!

Idk how I missed this, great recap! Keep going please.

Love this recap of Season 1! Been a long time since I've seen all of these. Your recap was both funny and informative- please make a Season 2 video soon! And beyond, please... thanks!

I actually like the first two seasons of TNG, but I do recognize they are far weaker than the later seasons and are essentially the shows growing pains and B movie era. But I do like seeing Roddenberrys philosophy unedited on screen, warts and all.

Thanks for this awesome and funny summary! I'd love to see your take on season two at some point, when it is convenient for you. I feel like the first two seasons in general don't hold up all that well now, but at the time I loved every single episode. I still remember how excited I was about Wil Wheaton coming over from his recent success in Stand By Me. I was a huge Stephen King nerd (and loved the source material for the film, "The Body"), so this was huge for me. I was in high school, and still able to watch tv with the uncritical blank slate of a child, and all I really wanted was another string of weird sci-fi concepts dressed up in a more modern and slick version of the Trek I had loved as a little kid. Next Gen provided that in spades. I mean, I think in looking back at it now, it is easy to forget that at the time, Star Trek was largely about the cast encountering weird stuff every week, and despite the failures of early Next Gen, it for the large part delivered on that expectation successfully by the standards of the 80s. (In my personal opinion, at least). We did not get character driven story arcs or dramatically intense emotional moments, but that is not what we were tuning in for. We wanted to see weird new aliens, energy beings, future diseases, godlike creatures, and crazy space mysteries. It was the high point of my day. I cannot express in words how much joy it brought me at the time. But yes, now, I find it hard to watch most episodes before season three, ha ha.

Rewatching season 1 with my child I realized how systematically it introduced the characters and ideas. As hard as the pilot is to watch (being so long) it’s fairly amazing at introducing concepts (like the parameters of Data’s android status) without relying on TELLING US directly. The conversation with Dr. McCoy contrasts Data with the Vulcans to immediately help setup expectations for TOS viewers.

Great video! Not too long ago I started a watch through of all of TNG after only having seen bits and pieces of it growing up. And boy, season 1 sure is rough, but I appreciate you going up to bat for it. I definitely look forward to a video covering season 2! Also all your content is great, I love it a lot!

I wouldn't say the first 2 seasons are bad.. but I would say that the show changed in season 3, for the better. Seasons 1 & 2 feel like a product of their time, where the rest of the seasons are more timeless.

It definitely feels like a remastering of all the elements from the original series. Gene, Fontana and the new faces we see. Of course Berman becoming highly important to the franchise. The old style is more heavily involved in these first two seasons. The rehashing of certain elements such as the naked now etc it also went out there with Q right from the start. I still quite like it. Like The Cage, it’s clear not everything or everyone is fully established. Unlike Enterprise, Voyager and DS9 which are mostly consistent for their run. They seem to stick more whereas TNG goes through some changes until season 3 and 4.

Been a while since I've watched season one. I truly don't mind it, but couldn't bring myself to recommend it if someone asked. I can't wait for your season 2 review! I know she's widely despised, but I honestly love Dr. Pulaski. She's literally one of my favorite TNG characters. Can't wait to see your take on her.

I'll be looking forward to the season 2 review whenever it comes out. Take your time; enjoy the holidays. I'm subscribed so I'll see it when it's posted. Thanks for posting this one! I've been trying to get a friend of mine into TNG, and this is a nice supplement to the "no filler viewing guide" I wrote out for her.

Honestly I feel long form videos with each episode being as detailed as the "Pilot" would be great, I LOVE stupidly long videos

Wow! Just noticed ya got over 40 k subscribers now and am looking forward to seeing a show soon celebrating when ya warp past 50 k .Congratulations to the ORANGE RIVER team and thanks for all the hard work this year!

"how soon would you like me to talk about it" as soon as possible!

fantastic video! would love to see one on season 2 soon! thank you for your hard work and amazing videos!!!

Excellent breakdown that greatly mirrors many of my own thoughts and perceptions on the first season. Glad I discovered you a couple months ago and subbed with little thought if this the quality of content I can expect! Looking forward to any more episodes in this series! Cheers 🍻🖖⛄

Just rewatched S1 randomly then I found this video. Perfect timing. Absolutely love all of your content man. Live long and prosper

Great video as always. TL:DW explainers of all the seasons would be pretty neat, especially with the sarcastic commentary. You should do a collaboration with Overly Sarcastic Productions to discuss some of the philosophical/moral/social themes of the show.

Thanks, first time viewer of your channel. I look forward to you covering S2.

This was so good, we're eagerly awaiting season 2! Season 1 in particular has so many memorable episodes for me that I could never skip it, but I'm not sure how I'll feel about season 2.

I'd love to see a vid on season two as soon as you could manage. New subscriber btw. Loving your vids.

Great video dude! Thoroughly enjoyed your meticulous attention to detail. TNG season 2 ASAP please!

This was a great watch. In fact I felt inspired to dig out my season one and give it another go. I would very much like to hear your take on other seasons.

Wow, I really love the presentation here. Very interesting, very engaging. I also seriously appreciate the footnote like comments that help give context, especially since I haven't seen much of season 1, and didn't know really any of the history of the show. This really was informative, entertaining, and I subscribed.

Once again a daring and ambitious video project! Wow…

Great timing with this video. I just started season 1 for another TNG run over the holidays. Season 1 is definitely not the best but I enjoy it and it’s brings me back to when I was 9 and would sneak awake and watch it on tv on school nights.

Yes, please share season 2 soon. I love your channel you do great work. I feel seasons 1 & 2 get more hate than is deserved. It was the beginning and there are bound to be growing pains. Sadly, Roddenberry was so set in his idea of the future that he let his show suffer so. Who knows what could have come from a more open mind? Good video and thanks.

Great video! Dr Pulaski! Season 2 video ASAP! I think season 2 is highly underrated and has some interesting implications w/r/t Federation genetic engineering. It will be fun! Thanks again for the great videos.

First time commenter here. Definitely would love to see season 2 sooner, time and energy permitting. And thank you for pointing out the fact about Shatner and Nimoy's salary demands being an impetus for TNG. Never realized that before. I grew up with TNG. Personally, I find season 1 to be highly enjoyable, cringe and 80s vibe notwithstanding. Admittledy it was still finding it's way and stumbled greatly at times. But, taking all the negative and accepting them for what they are, this is a blast of a season of Trek for my viewing taste. I agree with you that the meat of TNG is in the later Seasons. However, in my humble opinion you can skip the appetizers, but damn there are some pretty tasty morsels on that silver tray. One observation most people I've listened to have never mention how many ways this season has a distinct, almost TOS vibe going on with it, modernized to the 80's of course. Thank you for pointing this out. This is thanks in no small part to Roddenberry's high influence on this season. Love it or hate it, it's as close to a season 4 of TOS you could ever truly hope for back in the 80's. At least up until Skin of Evil. There is where for me the Berman Era truly begins. Thank you Tyler for this entertaining summary of, at least in this human's humble opinion, a fairly decent season of a great Trek series. Been enjoying going though your videos so far and can't wait to see what's on the sensor scan ahead. Happy Holidays, Qapla, and Live Long and Prosper!

29:30 no one ever talks about how Bill Gates stold the idea for the windows xp background from Tasha's funeral 😂

That Eureka reference had me in stitches.

awesome video as usual, I hope you do season 2 soon

Sooner rather than later please! I really loved your observations, esp about defending Tasha Yar and the waste of a character that had such an intriguing background.

It's easy to be critical of season 1 of TNG in retrospect, but when it first aired there were several factors that made it appealing to watch. At least from my perspective at the time. When it came out in the fall of 1987. I had watched pretty much all of the TOS episodes in syndication over the past several years. I had also seen The Voyage Home in theater, bits and pieces of TMP on TV and probably some of The Wrath Of Kahn and The Search For Spock on TV as well, although the latter two don't stand out in my memory as well as TMP for some reason. The Final Frontier had not come out yet and The Undiscovered Country wasn't even a glimmer on the horizon. I was unaware of TAS and there was no Internet to speak of to access fan fiction. Streaming for that matter was non existent as well. In short, there wasn't that much Star Trek content available, and what was available wasn't nearly as accessible as it is now. My point is that, under the circumstances, many fans, myself included, were starved for Star Trek content. TNG, however flawed, delivered.

Hope part 2 isn't too far away

Very well done. I look forward to more

yes please season 2 and more

Appreciated the sudden transition at the end of the Code of Honour segment 😂

Nice, good overall look at the Season. Attended a showing of Farpoint as part of our Local Fox Affiliate carrying TNG. It was quite the affair, local live bands, etc.

That Eureka sting was perfect. I'd totally forgotten about that show until now. I wonder if its still available anywhere?

Thank you for this!! I’ve felt for a long time that Season 1 does have more decent to good episodes than people give it credit for and I’m glad you listed them out at the end. I was worried for a second you wouldn’t include 10011001 cuz I’ve always loved that one, so I’m glad you added it on! I’m curious to see your take on Season 2, which is still shaky but definitely started finding its footing more and more as it went on.

I always enjoy listening to reviews or opinions of Star Trek episodes and seasons. I enjoy your opinion and you have a lot to say about each episode. It would be nice to see and hear you elaborate more on each episode without limitations on time.

First video of yours I've ever seen (thanks, algorithm!)... so I vote for season two to be done as soon as humanly possible 😂

Great vid. #2 soon please.

Without season 1 they wouldn't have figured out what not to do.

Thank you! I really enjoyed this walk down memory lane. I had just turn 17 when Farpoint aired and I dutifully recorded each episode of each season, which was tough when I was at college with bad rabbit ear reception. Haven't watched these shows in a long time. One thing to remember is that when TNG first aired, there hadn't been any good live action SF on American tv for a long time. Most of the 80s were shows like Manimal and Misfits of Science. 1987 brought us TNG, the underrated Captain Power, and the sadly short lived Max Headroom. Anyway, the point is when you're dying of thirst any water tastes good. There are still solid episodes in there, but it is very rough and finding its way. It is amazing that it managed to make it to season 3. Looking forward to the rest of your recaps.

What a great video. I'd love to see every season if you would. Maybe even do the other Trek shows!

I think your summary of "Encounter At Farpoint" struck a fine balance, given the subject matter! 😁 I've seen a fanedit of the pilot with all the Q stuff removed (@MetaTrek posted it for free on his Patreon for a while) and while it is a more cohesive story, it's still not a very gripping first adventure.

The blonde Ornaran from "Symbiosis" was played by Merritt Butrick who also pkayed David Marcus in Star Trek 2 & 3

I'm ready for the next episode in this series when your ready to give your time to it.

Making Roddenberry invent Q for more time may be one of the few times when network executives did something good for art.

Loved the video. Would love to see the follow up for season 2. When listing out my absolute favorite episodes. Season 2 has more than any other season. Go figure.

As a life long fan of Trek, having watched ever single episode of every series as well as movies, ( not bragging 😊), Ive always believed in watching it all, the good and the bad. You should definitely do season 2 review for the next episode 👍. Live long and prosper my fellow Trek family 🤘😁🖖🇨🇦

"How soon would you want me to talk about it?" ME: "NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW!"

Even though I think a lot of the earlier episodes were pretty bad, I still watch every single one whenever I do another binge of the entire series. I think I've binge watched the entire show at least 15 times over the past 2 decades or so. Probably even more.

amusing, educational (even to a hard core trekkie like myself) and well presented video, please do all seasons ;-) then do the same with all other shows haha. I would watch them all!

This is the reason I come to this love this channel. More TNG baby

I did like how Riker shows up and had to put the ship back together on the first day. :D

I enjoyed your season 2 videos so much, thought I'd look at season 1.

Would love to see part 2 sooner rather than later! And maybe other videos in this vein of discussion and analysis without necessarilly being a review. I personally don't really watch review videos

Happy holidays Tyler! 🖖

I’m definitely interested in these longer series/season reviews being a Thing, as much or as little as you feel like. A tip is watching old TNG episodes on one monitor while you edit the videos :P

Subbed. I grew up watching ST:TNG. Encounter at Farpoint premiered in September 28, 1987. Seventeen days after my tenth birthday. I could not have asked for a better b-day present. I look forward to more vids. Thanks. Live Long and Prosper.