Star Trek The Next Generation: Every Season One Episode Ranked From Worst To Best

6. The Big Goodbye

Star Trek The Next Generation The Big Goodbye
Paramount

This episode serves as the first big Holodeck episode and it is one of the most fun episodes that the first season had to offer. The basic idea came from Gene Roddenberry, who wanted to have a detective show set on the holodeck. Writer Tracy Tormé then reworked the idea, adding plenty of film noir elements.

The plot is inspired by The Maltese Falcon, down to the design of the office and setting. This episode falls roughly midway through the first year and would be a great example of the strengths of both the actors and writers. Where the Naked Now had stumbled by introducing silliness a little too early in the season, this had the right balance of built up character traits and camp to pull it off.

Maurice Hurley described the episode as a breath of fresh air, breaking away from some of the seriousness that had built up over the season. It won several awards and the Dixon Hill program was revisited again in Manhunt, Clues and of course Star Trek: First Contact.

The episode also features a new (or in this case old) take on how holograms interact with the real world. Although the characters realise that they are holograms here for the first time, they exist briefly in the real world after stepping through the doors. This aspect of holographic matter would be corrected in both Ship in a Bottle and the Voyager episode Projections.

Contributor
Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"