Star Trek: 10 Best Holodeck Episodes
7. The Next Generation: The Big Goodbye
Captain Jean-Luc Picard has a lot of hobbies. He loves to read, play music and he's a big fan of archaeology. He's also super into Dixon Hill, a pulp detective holoprogram.
Needing some relaxation while preparing for an important diplomatic greeting, Picard decides to indulge himself in a Dixon Hill mystery. Naturally, he played the role of Dixon Hill with Data, Dr. Whalen and Dr. Crusher all joining him. Unfortunately, a scan from the species Picard would be meeting with caused havoc in many of the ship's systems.
If you watch enough Star Trek, you'll find problems like that come up frequently.
The Enterprise crew found themselves trapped in the holodeck. They also found out the safety features were off the hard way when Dr. Whalen got shot and started bleeding out on the ground. This just encouraged them to get out faster, which they needed help from outside to do.
It was interesting watching the normally reserved Picard cut loose in the holodeck and enjoy himself, which didn't happen often early in the series. This episode had a much different tone from others at this point, and gave fans a much better look at a captain who was still new to them.