The Best Picard Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation: A Watch Guide

Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for seven seasons, which makes it hard to know where to begin when you want to understand Captain Picard. This guide picks eleven stories that show different sides of Patrick Stewart’s character: the advocate, the explorer, the survivor and the man behind the uniform. They run in broadcast order, and you can watch them as a short course or dip in wherever a title catches your eye. For the character himself, see our Jean-Luc Picard explainer.

A note on spoilers: each entry says whether it reveals a major turn. Where a story depends on a twist, we flag it before we mention it.

“Encounter at Farpoint” (Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2, 1987)

The series opens with a two-hour pilot that aired on September 28, 1987. Q, a being with godlike power, puts humanity on trial. StarTrek.com’s oral history of the episode recounts how the pilot was put together.

It is Picard’s first test as captain, and your first look at Q, who becomes the character’s most persistent foil.

“The Measure of a Man” (Season 2, Episode 9, February 1989)

Data, the android officer, refuses to be disassembled for study, and Starfleet’s position is that he is property. A hearing follows, and the twist is that Riker is assigned to argue against him, leaving Picard to defend Data’s right to choose. StarTrek.com’s retrospective sets out the question at its heart: whether a person can be reduced to something another institution owns.

For Picard, it is the episode that shows what kind of captain he is. He builds an argument out of loyalty and principle, and he makes the question larger than the case.

“Q Who” (Season 2, Episode 16, May 1989)

Q sends the Enterprise far across the galaxy, where the crew meets the Borg for the first time. If you plan to watch the Locutus story, watch this episode first. It introduces the threat that the Locutus story later pays off.

“Sarek” (Season 3, Episode 23, May 1990)

Ambassador Sarek, the Vulcan diplomat, is ailing, and Picard mind-melds with him, taking on Sarek’s emotions. StarTrek.com’s retrospective explains why it still affects viewers. It aired a few weeks before the season finale, and it shows Stewart playing a controlled character who is, for once, overwhelmed.

“The Best of Both Worlds,” Parts I and II (Season 3, Episode 26, and Season 4, Episode 1, 1990)

Spoiler warning. Part I aired on June 18, 1990, and ended on a cliffhanger. The Borg take Picard and assimilate him as Locutus, and Riker has to decide whether to fire on the Borg ship. StarTrek.com’s retrospective describes how that moment unfolded. Part II opened the fourth season that autumn.

It changes what Picard carries into every later story. The Borg turn him from a diplomat into a survivor, and the films and Star Trek: Picard keep returning to what was done to him.

“Family” (Season 4, Episode 2, 1990)

The episode that follows the Borg crisis sends Picard home to the family vineyard, where he has to deal with the aftermath, and with his brother. It is a quieter story than the one that precedes it, and it gives the audience a view of Picard’s roots. The vineyard returns decades later in Star Trek: Picard.

“Darmok” (Season 5, Episode 2, September 1991)

Picard and the captain of the Tamarian ship, Dathon, are stranded on a planet, El-Adrel IV. The Tamarians speak in references that the universal translator cannot make sense of, so the two captains have to learn how to communicate. StarTrek.com marked its 25th anniversary. It is one of the series’ most distinctive ideas, and it is a good showcase for Picard’s patience.

“The Inner Light” (Season 5, Episode 25, 1992)

Spoiler warning. An alien probe gives Picard the memories of a whole life as a man named Kamin, on a world that is dying. When he returns to the Enterprise, he has been unconscious for minutes and has lived decades. StarTrek.com’s Trek Class feature examines the episode.

It gives Picard something the series otherwise withholds from him: a family. The flute he holds in the closing scene is how he carries the memory forward.

“Chain of Command,” Parts I and II (Season 6, Episodes 10 and 11, December 1992)

Picard is captured by the Cardassians, and Captain Jellico takes command of the Enterprise. In Part II, which aired on December 21, 1992, the interrogation scenes between Picard and the Cardassian Gul Madred become the heart of the story. StarTrek.com revisited the episode on its anniversary. It is a two-hander that tests what endurance means for a character who has built his life on reason.

“Tapestry” (Season 6, Episode 15, February 1993)

Spoiler warning. Q gives Picard the chance to change a youthful fight, and the consequences reshape his life. StarTrek.com’s anniversary piece covers how it plays out. The story closes with a quiet conversation between Picard and Riker.

“All Good Things…” (Season 7, Episodes 25 and 26, May 1994)

Spoiler warning. The series finale aired on May 23, 1994. Picard shifts between the past, the present and a future in 2395 to solve an anomaly, and the story ends with him taking a seat at his officers’ poker table for the first time. StarTrek.com explores how the finale reshaped the franchise.

It closes the television series, and it is a good place to finish before moving on to the films and to Star Trek: Picard.

How to approach the list

If you have an evening, watch “The Measure of a Man,” then “The Inner Light.” If you have a weekend, add “Q Who,” both parts of “The Best of Both Worlds,” and “Chain of Command.” These cover the major sides of the character without requiring you to watch the whole series.

For more context on the actor, see our career guide and our tribute.