Star Trek: 25 Greatest Next Generation Episodes

16. Phantasms

One of the more tolerable Data-centric episodes in seven years and definitely one of the few standouts of season seven, a new positronic "dream chip" is implanted into Data and he adjusts to a human sleep schedule, but the only real dreams he has are incredibly strange nightmares including Dr. Crusher sipping brain goo out of Riker's head with a straw, a rotary phone in his chest compartment (the Android phone jokes are far too easy twenty years later) and the person on the other end tells him to kill everybody, being dismantled by three really creepy workmen, etc.

One of the oddly fun parts about this show was how they had actors play historical figures such as Newton, Einstein and Twain in cameo appearances. Take one good guess who said historical figure was in this episode? I'll give you a hint: one of Data's dreams involved impaling Troi with a sharp object. There you go. Easy, right?

One of the most entertaining scenes of the episode involved Data in Freud's office telling him about this dream and Freud basically has a field day. Finally, someone who actually lets Data finish his hilariously dirty thoughts.