The Next Generation, Season 1: The Battle

The Next Generation, Season 1
"The Battle"
Airdate: November 16, 1987
9 of 176 produced
8 of 176 aired

Introduction

The Enterprise is sent to a remote sector to meeting with the Ferengi. They have a gift for the Captain. It's the derelict U.S.S. Stargazer, Captain Picard's former ship, previously thought destroyed. He was forced to abandon it after barely surviving a battle with a mysterious attacker. As it turns out, the attacker was a Ferengi vessel, and its commander was the son of the Ferengi Daimon now giving him the Stargazer. What secrets does the long-abandoned starship hold? Do the Ferengi have an ulterior motive for their apparent generosity?

Just where do Ferengi stand when they're making transmissions like this?

The Next Generation, Season 1: Justice

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1

"Justice"

Airdate: November 9, 1987

8 of 176 produced

7 of 176 aired

Introduction

After depositing colonists in the Strnad solar system, the Enterprise pays a visit to neighboring Rubicun, a system graced with one of the most peaceful, pleasurable planets on record, that of the Edo. All goes well until Wesley runs afoul of one of the Edo's laws, and is sentenced to death. Will Picard respect the law of the Edo or act in the favor of his own crew members?  

If you were this man, would you be smiling?

The Next Generation, Season 1: Lonely Among Us

The Next Generation, Season 1
"Lonely Among Us"
Airdate: November 2, 1987
7 of 176 produced
6 of 176 aired

Introduction

The Enterprise encounters a mysterious energy cloud en route to a peace conference to which it is transporting delegates. A mysterious form of energy comes aboard the ship and inhabiting members of the crew. Will the Enterprise crew figure out what is going on before it's too late?

It appears that the answer to this questio--IT'S BLINDING ME!!!

The Next Generation, Season 1: Where No One Has Gone Before

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1

"Where No One Has Gone Before"

Airdate: October 26, 1987

5 of 176 produced

5 of 176 aired

Introduction

Instructed by Starfleet to allow a propulsion specialist named Kosinski to alter their engines, the Enterprise embarks on a "sleigh ride" that takes them not only beyond the boundaries of the Milky Way, but beyond the boundaries that separate space, time, and thought. It turns out Kosinksi has been taking credit for the seemingly magical powers of the Traveler, a native of the mysterious Tau Alpha C. The problem: the Traveler is dying, and the Enterprise is stuck far beyond any point of return under their own power. Will they be able to escape the miasma of 'thought-space' in time, and what lies behind the Traveler's interest in Wesley?

"Wesley, you and other P.Y.T.s like you are the reason I travel..." 

The Next Generation, Season 1: The Last Outpost

The Next Generation, Season 1
"The Last Outpost"
Airdate: October 19, 1987
6 of 176 produced
4 of 176 aired

Introduction

The Enterprise is in pursuit of a Ferengi vessel which has stolen some equipment from a Federation outpost. The incident will provide the opportunity for the first face to face meeting with the Ferengi, a race that up to now is shrouded in rumor and hearsay. Chasing the Ferengi to a planet in the distant Delphi Ardu system, both ships become trapped in a mysterious force field that is draining the ships of energy. Does the planet below hold the key their predicament? Will the Enterprise be able to avoid combat with the Ferengi? Will the Ferengi turn out to  be TNG's answer to the Klingons?

Given the giant blue marital aids... I'm guessing no.

The Next Generation, Season 1: Code of Honor

The Next Generation, Season 1

"Code of Honor"

Airdate: October 12, 1987

3 of 176 produced

3 of 176 aired

Introduction

Rushing to find the cure for a deadly plague, the crew of the Enterprise encounters the Ligonians, whose culture is reminiscent of one of Ancient Earth "that we all admire." Will Captain Picard and his compatriots be able to navigate the rocky shoals of cultural relativism when the leader of this race kidnaps Lieutenant Yar?

"Thank you for your kind words, captain. Now where can I gets me some white wimmen?"

Would you like some AWESOME with your coffee this morning?

Then you need to click this link. It's a collection of photos from behind the scenes of TNG and a couple of the TNG movies. I hadn't seen any of them before, and they were all cool. My favorites are the season 1 pics of the crew being goofy together. A lot of them have talked about that in interviews, and it's nice to see candid supporting evidence. There are a lot of pictures on the page, but here's a few of my favorites...

It always cracks me up to see the actors in the wig and makeup but regular clothes. That first shot of Jonathan Frakes and Gates McFadden totally made my day, and it's only 8:30am. I have to give a shoutout to Betsy for posting this link on her facebook page, which is where I found it.

The Next Generation, Season 1: The Naked Now

The Next Generation, Season 1

"The Naked Now"

Airdate: October 5, 1987

2 of 176 produced

2 of 176 aired

Introduction

The Enterprise is sent to find out what has happened to the USS Tsiolkovsky, a science vessel that was observing the collapse of star. The Enterprise finds science vessel in time to listen to its apparently intoxicated bridge crew kill themselves by intentionally opening an escape hatch to open space. The crew finds that the rest of the crew has also died, as a result of the same madness. Before long, Enterprise crew members begin exhibiting the same signs. Between a crew that has lost control of their faculties and the nearby star threatening to explode, will the Enterprise survive this mission?

This outfit tests out whether the audience at home is fully functional, too.

TNG Giveaway Winner!

We are pleased to announce that "theimzadifan" is the winner of our first Treknobabble giveaway!

Our Methodology

We took all the comments on the giveaway page, and put the commenter's name on a list once for each type of entry they generated (e.g. following via Twitter, Google Friend Connect, cross-posting on blogs). Then, we simply numbered the list. A quick trip to Random.org later, we had a randomly generated number corresponding to said list. And in a scene reminiscent of Deanna's mystical psychic connection from across the galaxy with Thomas Riker in "Second Chances," it just so happened that "theimzadifan" popped up!

Just because we're dedicated to transparency, here are screenshots of the procedure:

We were kind of disappointed to get only 11 entries, but hey, that's the point of these sorts of giveaways.

And here we are, a "true" random number result, swayed by the force of a love that will echo through the ages...

It couldn't have gone to a nicer or more dedicated Deanna Troi/Marina Sirtis fan! Be sure to check out her blog as well: Sacred Chalice of Rixx and watch for her on Twitter @THE_Imzadi_Fan.

For the rest of you, thank you for playing. We will have more giveaways, so watch this space!

The Next Generation, Season 1: Encounter at Farpoint

The Next Generation, Season 1

"Encounter at Farpoint"

Airdate: September 28, 1987

1 of 176 produced

1 of 176 aired

Introduction

The movie franchise finally having convinced Paramount that Star Trek could be a money making property, Gene Roddenberry was courted by studio executives to create a new television show based upon it. This new show would be syndicated, meaning no direct network control or censorship. It would have a budget of $1 million per episode, relieving some of the dire financial pressure that squeezed TOS so harmfully. In effect, Roddenberry is promised a certain degree of carte blanche, and he takes it and runs with it. Re-uniting some of the key players from his TOS production crew (Bob Justman, D.C. Fontana, William Ware Theiss, and David Gerrold, among others), and adding great new talent discovered over the run of the movies (Andrew Probert, Rick Sternbach, Herman Zimmerman, and the incomparable Mike Okuda), Roddenberry sets out to "do it right," creating a show that aims to be superior in every way to TOS, better stories, better production values, more realism, fixing some of the problems of the previous show. Does he succeed? Time will be the judge. In this first installment, written by D.C. Fontana and Roddenberry, we meet our new crew, see their new vessel, and run into a chaotically omnipotent entity who threatens to mothball the whole new voyage before it even begins.

The mothballs are hidden inside the foofy hat.

Why I Love Star Trek, Essay #7: Glenda Kenyon

Why I love Star Trek
By Glenda Kenyon

My trek upbringing is one that starts from the beginning of the series.  I was not there from the beginning, but I’m a third generation trekkie.  The universe is a family heirloom.  It’s something I inherited, unknowingly, and have embraced.  So to understand why I love this fantastic sci-fi world, I should introduce you my grandfather.

Bishop King had proudly served in the Korean War as a communications officer. From what I’m told it was difficult.  He served honorably, and was a smart enough man for the job, but he wasn’t treated as an equal.  That’s to be expected when you were serving in the army as a black man in the 1950s.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Release Date: November 26, 1986
Directed by Leonard Nimoy

Introduction

After a second strong box office performance in a row, Paramount again green-lit a Trek sequel. This film takes up the story of our stalwart crew on Vulcan, following on the heels of their resurrection of Spock on Mount Seleya. Now, the crew must atone for their insubordination, and face stern justice upon their return to Earth. They are waylaid, however, by a mysterious probe that is heading for Earth (Earth seems to have the worst luck with mysterious probes), and disrupting all life along its path. The probe is looking for the intelligent whales it visited far in Earth's dim prehistory. The problem: these whales are extinct, hunted to death by human avarice. Kirk, faced yet again with a no-win scenario, pulls a rabbit out his TOS hat - time travel via gravitational slingshot in order to find some whales in the past.

I think our convention limo driver has made an error...