Star Trek: The Next Generation is the show that started it all for the modern renaissance of the franchise. From that one show spun off two semi-sequel shows, a semi-prequel series, a film line, and an eventual direct sequel nearly 30 years later. It was a touchstone in science fiction and a landmark in Star Trek history. Yet, its first few years were so marred, that people often forget how bad things were.
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The first several seasons didn’t do great when it came to fan support. Most of the great episodes started to truly pop up more often in the latter part of season three. While some of the worst resides in the first two seasons. It’s fair to claim that the first few seasons of The Next Generation were anything but great, but were they as bad as people think?
Long story short, yes.
Looking at the data that we have now, we can draw a pretty fair image of how the first few seasons are currently viewed. While it’s impossible to know how the fandom felt upon airing, we can at least say this is how the fandom thinks now.
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Starting with season one, the fans on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 71% across hundreds of reviews. The critics were more kind, but only a few dozen reviews exist, so it doesn’t truly reflect a reliable score and so, we won’t be using the critic’s scores. Yet, we can also look at how IMDB users graded the episodes. Largely, it was a bland and panned season with most episodes staying in the 6.0 area. Only one episode reached an 8.0 or higher.
In season two, things got better and worse. Fan support for Rotten Tomatoes rose to 78% but critic support nosedived into 57%. The IMDB scores bounced back some. While the season as a whole was up and down, and included arguably the worst episode in TNG history, it still had more “great” episodes than season one. Four of the second season episodes all hit 8.0 or higher, with a couple even hitting 9.0 as of the original publishing date.
The third season, however, was when things dramatically improved. The season has a 100% critics score and a fan score of 95%. The IMDB scores also show us that eight of the episodes hit 8.0 or higher with a few even hitting the 9.0 mark. While the second season ended on the worst-rated episode we can find, Shades of Grey, the third season finale ended with one of the highest; Best of Both Worlds Part 1.
Now, best and worst, those are subjective terms and if you prefer the first two seasons then that’s awesome. Yet, we did find enough evidence to support the notion that the first few seasons of The Next Generation certainly don’t hold up to the best the series has to offer.
