Star Trek: The Next Generation: 10 Most Important Episodes With A Moral Message
Star Trek was conceived by Gene Roddenberry as a vehicle to mask his own social commentary on various issues such as war, race relations, and human nature. Though the original series occasionally focused on these subjects, it was the follow-up series Star Trek: The Next Generation, which became the bolder platform.
Today's list isn't about the best or worst episodes of the series, but rather those vital stories that contained a powerful moral message. These are timeless reminders of the things that we as human beings need to focus on, not just for society's sake, but our own as well.
10 Encounter At Farpoint
The kickoff two-part episode "Encounter At Farpoint" wasn't perfect. In fact, it was downright awkward most of the time, but it did give the audience its first taste at social commentary from several different perspectives. The character of Q immediately put humanity into the crosshairs by questioning whether human enlightenment could trump its barbaric past, and gave Picard a chance to prove it.
The episode not only tackled humanity's innate aggression, but also its capacity for timidness, lucidity, and compassion. It would serve as an optimistic reminder that we can rise above our checkered pasts, and become better.
9 The Wounded
Star Trek never truly focused on the cost of war until the season four episode "The Wounded," which centered around a decorated and highly respected Federation Captain who wages a one-man war against the Cardassians. His attacks prompt Starfleet to send Picard and the Enterprise to apprehend Maxwell before the Federation/Cardassian treaty is thrown out in favor of all-out war.
Eventually, Chief O'Brien manages to convince Maxwell to cease his attacks and return to Starfleet to answer for his crimes, including the destruction of a Cardassian vessel and its crew. It's a solemn reminder of how the horrors of war, PTSD, and enduring hatred between enemies can change a person irrevocably.
8 Who Watches The Watchers
One of the most controversial (though you may not know it) episodes of The Next Generation was undoubtedly the excellent season three episode "Who Watches The Watchers." The story focuses on a Federation outpost hidden from view so that a research crew can monitor the development of a pre-warp proto-Vulcan race. When the outpost is revealed, it threatens to destroy their culture by introducing harmful elements into their social and cultural development.
The episode tackles the nature of religion and attempts to make the case that fear is often the primary driving force in theistic belief systems. When shown that Picard and his crew are not immortal beings with God-like powers, it forces the proto-Vulcans to rethink their entire religious structure much earlier than it should have happened.
7 The High Ground
With a spike in terror attacks around the globe during the 1980s, TNG's season three episode "The High Ground" couldn't have come at a better time. It is one of the most important social messages of its generation, yet it's just as relevant today (if not more so). When Dr. Crusher is taken hostage by a brutal terrorist faction on a war-torn planet, it forces the entire crew to step back and look at the conflict with a very large philosophical lens.
The episode isn't afraid to look at the nature of terrorism from both sides, to present both stories. It asks the difficult question of whether terrorism is ever justified at any time and if those who engage in it are truly as heartless as they're made out to be. Is it hatred, frustration, or desperation that drives the terrorist agenda? In the end, we're no close to a definitive answer, and that's probably the point.
6 Darmok
No other Next Generation episode stresses the importance of understanding and coming together as a species more than the season five episode Darmok. The story revolves around Captain Picard and his attempts to communicate with a Tamarian Captain to fight off a vicious beast. As the Tamarians speak in metaphors rather than direct language, Picard cannot understand him and believes he wants to fight.
The episode demonstrates how unfamiliarity with another race or culture can frequently lead us towards negative actions. In the end, Picard finally understands his comrade, and it allows the Federation to build a bridge with the Tamarian race as a whole.
5 Ethics
This season five episode features Lieutenant Worf paralyzed after an accident that shatters his spinal column. By Klingon decree, Worf concludes that his life as a Starfleet officer and a warrior are both over, and makes preparations for ritual suicide. This upsets his young son Alexander, forcing him to rethink his position, while a brilliant neurological specialist works with Dr. Crusher on a treatment.
"Ethics" is a two-pronged social message. The first involves the morality of committing suicide in the face of a tremendous physical challenge, while the other focuses on the lengths someone will go to in order to prove a medical theory. It's both poignant and relevant.
4 Chain of Command
This season six two-part episode touched on some very uncomfortable territory. A clandestine secret-ops mission fails, putting Captain Picard in the hands of a ruthless and dictatorial Cardassian officer who engages in a series of psychological and physical abuses in order to break him.
As the two battle each other on moral and philosophical grounds, Picard soon turns the table on his oppressor, rendering him powerless despite the torture he has inflicted. It's an unsettling episode that ends with the disturbing reality of what torture and mental abuse can truly do to a person.
3 Force of Nature
"Force of Nature" is one of the less transparent and veiled social commentaries that the show has ever produced. The plot involves the destructive nature of warp drive by revealing that it is causing damage to the very fabric of space. After being shown the inevitable dangers of the technology, the Federation issues a decree that all Starships need to reduce their maximum velocity to warp five until further technological developments can be made.
This season seven episode is undoubtedly an analogy directed at climate change. It's a potent message for our time, given the challenges we'll soon have to face over the rest of the century.
2 The Measure of a Man
It could be said that the Season 2 episode "The Measure of a Man" was the first true Next Generation episode with a focused social message. What begins as a fight for the rights of the android Lieutenant Commander Data soon turns into a disturbing philosophical debate about the dangers of slavery.
After being trounced with a devastating case against Data, Captain Picard consults Guinan for advice, which leads him to the truth of the matter. In one all-or-nothing counterargument, Picard makes Data the model for which humanity will treat sentient life forms of their own creation, and what it will say about us as a species.
1 The Drumhead
Younger viewers probably didn't understand what the season four episode "The Drumhead" was really trying to say, but they certainly realize it now. Picard goes up against one of his most insidious threats—a Starfleet Admiral who wants to sow the seeds of paranoia and distrust among the Enterprise crew rather than the pursuit of the truth. As the attacks grow unbearable, Picard turns the tables on his ideological opponent to remind everyone that censorship, insinuation and character assassination are evil tools wielded by wicked people who wish to stir up resentment and fear.
It's one of the most important social messages The Next Generation has ever tackled, and it would be nearly 25 years before we fully understood it. In an age of social media and out of control fake news, Admiral Satie's rhetoric has been taken to insane extremes within our culture, forcing us to once again examine our propensity for falling victim to conspiracy theories and nefarious agendas perpetuated by bad-faith actors.
Source: screenrant.com