Weekly Geeky Question #2 – Star Trek Captains

Every week in 2018, the plan is that my friend Rod is going to ask me some geeky question that will answer in a post. This week is Week #2, and this week’s questions is…

Who is the best Star Trek captain?

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Seven Summary

It’s taken me a while to get to it, but here at last is the summary of the seventh and final season of Star Trek:  The Next Generation.   It’s a season that manages to leave a good taste in the mouth mostly because the finale, All Good Things, is so outstandingly enjoyable that it almost manages to wipe away the memory of all the sub-par episodes of the year.  But then you’re like, “Oh yeah, Masks, and Sub Rosa, and that one with the train on the holodeck….  And so it goes.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – All Good Things [7.25]

Picard finds himself mysteriously moving back and forth between three different eras of his life:  the day when he first came aboard the Enterprise as Captain, far future when he is long-retired, and the “present day.”  In all three time frames he becomes aware of a mysterious anomaly in space that threatens to destroy the universe.  He is also told by Q that he must solve this mystery in order to prove that humanity is worthy to exist. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Preemptive Strike [7.24]

Ro, now a lieutenant with advanced tactical training, is tasked to infiltrate the Maquis, whose aggressive actions are threatening to plunge the Federation and the Cardassians back into war.  However, Ro grows sympathetic to the Maquis cause–attempting to protect their way of life from Cardassian harassment after their colony was relegated by treaty to the demilitarized zone.  Ro grows particularly close to a Maquis leader called Macius, and after he is killed she betrays the Enterprise and warns the Maquis of an operation to capture them.

Which Season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was the best?

I am nearly at the end of my review of the entirely of Star Trek: The Next Generation, something I’ve been doing for several years now.  Occasionally, in conversation with others about the series, the question of which season of the show (it had seven) was the best in terms of overall quality?  I have decided to find out.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Emergence [7.23]

A life form begins to spontaneously develop aboard the Enterprise through a network of semi-intelligent circuit nodes.  The ship’s systems begin to malfunction as this emergent life form attempts to create a body for itself.  The crew discover that mish-mash of holodeck programs all running at once represent the life forms subconscious, and by interpreting the strange imagery in this “daydream” are able to help the life form and save their own lives.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Genesis [7.19]

A medical accident prompted by what should have been a routine sickness contracted by Mr. Barclay releases a disease in the Enterprise that causes everyone to genetically alter into different life forms:  Troi into an amphibian, Worf into a monster, Riker into a caveman-type humanoid, and so on. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Pegasus [7.12]

Riker’s former commanding officer arrives on board the Enterprise, using his rank as an admiral to usurp Picard’s authority on  a secret mission to recover their ship, the Pegasus, which has long been thought lost in an incident in which a young Riker protected his Captain from other mutinying officers.  This creates conflicted loyalties for Riker and strain in his relationship with Picard.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Phantasms [7.6]

Data begins to experience inexplicable nightmares that become waking dreams, and lead him to at one point stab Counselor Troi.  It turns out that Data is observing on a subconscious level parasitic organisms that are normally undetectable to Starfleet officers or technology which are feeding on the crew, and interpreting this information through his dreams.  Using the holodeck, the crew is able to determine what is happening and stop it.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Six Summary

Season Six of Next Generation is beginning to show a few signs of growing thin, but overall still makes for enjoyable viewing.  The thin-ness is really the same as for Season Five – there are no big story-arcs winding up.  Indeed, there aren’t really any big story-arcs winding down either.  Those all finished a couple of years prior, and the new ones are really being saved for Deep Space Nine.  We also see the roles of various regular fixtures on board the ship sort of peter out, such as Guinan, Alexander, Ro, and the O’Briens.  Though some will show up one more time next year, basically their presence as regular parts of the Next Generation landscape end on a whimper this year.

What we do get is a bunch of stand-alone episodes, including some great of ones.