TNG Season Three Was an Absolute Banger
I've been doing a re-watch of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's a corny show, but it's also a great show. Season one had a lot of stinkers, though. Season two had bright spots. But they really hit their stride in season three:
Who Watches the Watchers: First Contact goes way, way off the rails, and the planet's inhabitants worship the captain as "The Picard," who only convinces them of his mortality by dying. But just for a little while.
Booby Trap: La Forge is not very good with non-holographic ladies.
The Vengeance Factor: A peaceful planet with a dark underbelly. Riker falls in love with a lady, and then shoots her.
The Hunted: Another peaceful planet with a dark underbelly. The Enterprise crew stage a revolution.
The High Ground: Wouldn't you know it, another planet dealing with rebels. This time, the rebels die. Except not from the thing Dr Crusher was trying to make them stop doing, but from guns. Also, they predict the Irish unification of 2024. Tick tock, emerald isle.
Deja Q: The best Q episode, hands down. There's a mariachi band and cigars.
Yesterday's Enterprise: It's almost a shame the season ends how it did, otherwise this would easily be its best episode. Tasha gets to go out in a blaze of glory instead of for no reason, which they directly reference in the episode.
The Offspring: Data kindly but sternly asks that Riker stay away from his daughter.
Captain's Holiday: Riker pulls the greatest prank in the history of Starfleet.
Hollow Pursuits: La Forge thanks Barclay for making everyone forget about his holodeck girlfriend issue.
The Most Toys: Even in the future, rich people are just the pits.
Sarek: Picard and Spock's dad swap brains, and we get to see what Patrick Stewart can really do.
The Best of Both Worlds: Better than most of the TNG movies.
Of course, there are some stinkers. Every season of Star Trek has stinkers. Troi's mom shows up. There are trade negotiations. There's a bad courtroom episode. And they established that every season had to end with a two-parter. But season three started the unambiguous good times of TNG.