The best and worst episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation according to IMDB

Star Trek fans can be surprising, especially when it comes to their favorite series. Star Trek: The Next Generation has legions of fans that are still as dedicated to the series as they were back when it originally aired. The third season of Star Trek: Picard proved that. Bringing all of the crew back together resulted in the finale being the highest ranked of the entire series, tying it with the best episode of The Next Generation according to Internet Movie Database [IMDB].

Not suprisingly, The Inner Light took the top spot as the highest-ranked episode out of all seven seasons of The Next Generation. Dramatic and heartbreaking, this episode took Captain Picard [Patrick Stewart] through an entire lifespan on another planet where he had a wife and children. He got a chance to see what it was like to have a family and be something else besides a Starfleet captain. Of course, it wasn't real, but it left a lasting impression on Picard who learned how to play the Ressikan flute. The musical instrument would return in other episodes of the series.

The lowest-ranked episode of The Next Generation does come as a surprise considering how many people, actors included, despised the season one episode, Code of Honor. Jonathan Frakes has gone on record to say the episode should be removed altogether. So one would think this would be the episode that received the worst reviews and rankings, but that dubious honor goes to the second season episode Shades of Gray.

A clip episode, Shades of Gray, has Commander Riker in a coma, trying to fight off an alien virus. In order to survive, he must relive past memories so the episode is stuffed with clips from previous episodes. Usually clip episodes are reserved for later seasons, but this one was tacked on at the end of season two, presumably because it was budget-friendly. It wasn't well-liked, but it's still quite surprising that it wasn't ranked higher than Code of Honor, an episode that is usually skipped over, or even Sub Rosa.