10 Greatest Star Trek Courtroom Episodes

10. The First Duty

The First Duty is a favourite here at TrekCulture, as it not only contains that excellent dressing down by Captain Picard, but also introduces Robert Duncan McNeill to Star Trek. The courtroom drama concerns the accidental death of Joshua Albert.

This episode stands out as it shows the veneer of brilliance being stripped away from Wesley Crusher, who had been introduced as the genius child in the first season. While his character had grown beyond this, there were still few moments of him doing anything particularly wrong.

The cover-up of Albert's actual cause of death is something no one at the time saw coming. It still stings, more than thirty years after its initial, when Picard truly shows his disappointment in him. The climax of the episode sees Locarno stand up and take responsibility for being the ring-leader, earning him a swift dismissal from Starfleet Academy, and setting the stage for a man who looks awfully like him to end up piloting the USS Voyager.