Star Trek: EVERY Season Ranked Worst To Best

The Next Generation's fourth season saw Michael Pillar move the show toward a more emotional storytelling. He was commented 'the audience knows that you can't kill the regulars, but you can wound them'.

The Best of Both Worlds part two and Family both dealt with Picard's assimilation into the Collective, a storyline still having ramifications into Star Trek Picard. Reunion saw the introduction of Alexander and the death of fan favourite K'Ehleyr. The Wounded introduced the Cardassians and helped to further develop the character of Miles O'Brien.

Legacy, dealing at least spiritually with Data's relationship with Tasha Yar, was the show's 80th episode, thereby passing the Original Series' run of 79 episodes. Production and filming of The Undiscovered Country began as Redemption part one was filming, with Denise Crosby returning to the show for two episodes this season.

Dr. Crusher suffered two significant losses in this season. The first saw her meet, and then lose, Odan, the first Trill introduced in Star Trek. The episode ends with the symbiont transferred to a female host, a factor that Crusher cannot get around. While the episode has received mixed receptions, director Marvin Rush disagrees that there is any homophobia here.

He merely feels that it a comment on the nature of love. He saw it more as the challenge of dealing with a total change in appearance rather than gender.

Crusher's second loss came from the departure of Will Wheaton, who had asked to be let go following what he felt was the poor writing of his character in the third season, a decision he later regretted.