Star Trek The Next Generation: Every Season Ranked

From rocky beginnings to arguably the best finale of the entire franchise to date, the Next Generation captured the hearts of fans quickly. They had trouble from the start as people were quick to point out that the Original Series was the only real Star Trek. This familiar argument pops up every time a new entry appears - there is no such thing as universal acclaim, true now and it was true back in '87 when work was underway on this first sequel series.

Each season of the Next Generation has plenty to offer in terms of high quality, though of course some have a stellar run of episodes while some were still finding their feet (no prizes for guessing which season is at the bottom of this list). However every series of Star Trek has struggled in the beginning so there is still a chance to shine lights on the diamonds in the rough.

With some of the longest running plot elements introduced in the Next Generation's seven year run, this show has risen from Sci-Fi sequel series to one of the most enduring and popular Sci-Fi shows of all time, dominating the early '90s and setting the stage for the franchise to continue evolving the heights it has since found.

Picard and his crew redefined what it meant to explore strange new worlds, adding gravitas, fun and emotional resonance to some of the best moments in television history.

While it goes without saying that the first season of the Next Generation is its weakest, that is not to say that there weren't strong entries here. Stories like Conspiracy, The Neutral Zone and Datalore are all excellent examples of the earliest outings of the new Enterprise crew. While many of the stories were unpolished, there was a keen earnestness to this freshman year that helped it rise above several of the issues dogging the production.

An excellent exploration of the early years, Chaos on the Bridge, shows that the Next Generation had anything but a smooth ride in the beginning. The producers and Roddenberry were often at loggerheads and the studio wasn't entirely sold on the show's success.

Encounter at Farpoint was originated by D.C. Fontana and then re-written by Roddenberry, stretching it out into an extended pilot. It is among the worst examples of the Next Generation, which is admittedly not the worst scenario - rather have the bad behind you than ahead. The effects, created by ILM, were however stunning and would be reused in countless episodes to follow.

Though it took time for the show to land on its feet and it would result in two of the main cast departing in the forms of Denise Crosby and Gates McFadden, the first season of the Next Generation does succeed in offering enough of a positive view of the future that they were given the greenlight for a second year, though this too would come with its own issues.