Encounter At Farpoint

[Takara_Soong 4]

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season: 1

Episode #: 1

Production #: 101 and 102

Episode Name: Encounter at Farpoint

Original Air Date: 09.28.87

 

As the new Federation starship USS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean Luc Picard begins its first mission, it is confronted by an entity know as Q who puts humanity on trial. To prove that the human race has learned from its past and are no longer the barbarians Q is accusing them of being, Picard and crew must discover the secret of Farpoint Station within 24 hours or it will mean the death of the Enterprise crew.

 

 

Cast:

 

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes as William Thomas Riker

LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge

Denise Crosby as Natasha "Tasha" Yar

Michael Dorn as Worf

Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher

Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi

Brent Spiner as Data

Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher

 

Guest Cast:

John de Lancie as Q

Michael Bell as Zorn

 

Director: Corey Allen

Written By: D. C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry

 

Related Items:

Altair III

Bandi

Deneb IV

Battle Bridge

battle section

cloaking device

master systems display

PADD

saucer module

stardrive section

Captain's yacht

Enterprise-D, U.S.S.

Hood, U.S.S. (NCC-42296)

Bandi

Q

Algol

Kabatris

Galaxy-class starship

combadge

Holodeck

Farpoint Station

Galaxy, U.S.S.

[HRH The KING 0]

A pretty good opening episode for this series.

 

The concept of Q was something that made this episode memorable, but curiously the rest of the episode was pretty weak.

 

I hated the "Space Jellyfish" idea, and when they held hands???

 

Blerghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

 

The only thing worse than that was Troi "talking" to Riker telepathically.

 

Troi: "Can you hear me Imzadi?"

 

Riker: "Erm...no, because I'm not telepathic".

 

:lol:

 

And that horrible line when Troi sees the two jelly monsters holding hands and she says:

 

"Captain...I sense great joy..and gratitude....GREAT JOY...AND GRATITUDE!!!"

 

Sickening isn't it?

 

I wonder, if she's so powerful she can sense the thoughts of two space monsters who like holding hands, could she sense that the collective audience hearing her say that line vomited en masse?

 

Anyway, still it was the first Trek series episode since TOS ended so I can cut them a break.

 

I give this a rating of 2

Edited May 29, 2005 by The King

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

I thought it was a great episode, especially the Space jellyfish. Of course, you can;t really blame them for some bads things, because it was their first episode and they were still getting used to the roles. All in all, it was worth the four i gave it.

[Yillara Skye 1]

I thought it was a pretty good start to the series, and of course it was the episode that got me into Trek (ok, ok... so it did have a lot to do with a certain character. But then...lol). I watch it now, 18 years later and have to vote it a 3 when I compare it to the other episodes. It definately had episodes that were better than it... but also did have some that were below it too.

[Takara_Soong 4]

Encounter at Farpoint marked the return of Star Trek to the small screen. In its original format, this episode was to be a one-hour episode until Paramount came to Gene Roddenberry and told him they wanted it to be a two-hour movie instead. Mr. Roddenberry resisted at first before agreeing and all Star Trek fans are thankful that he did. In order to add the second hour, a storyline was created involving Q, who went on to be one of the biggest fan favourite characters in Trek history.

 

Encounter at Farpoint had its good moments, mostly involving Q but it also had its not so good moments. The opening walkabout by Picard seemed visually cheesy to me for some reason, the portrayal of Tasha Yar was rather over the top and the alien life forms that looked like jellyfish in space were a bit much.

 

However, the good definitely outweighs the bad. The introduction of Q and the trial of humanity was wonderful. The chemistry of the cast was evident despite their unfamiliarity with each. The special effects were good, from the new warp visual, to watching the saucer separate, to our first look at the holodeck.

 

Overall, a good beginning for a great series.

[MANVERU 0]

I have never seen the first episode until 6 months ago.

 

I think it shamed the series.

 

I really hated this episode.

 

I honestly think that the Q idea is very annoying,

The 2 space jelly blubers were PATHETIC!

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I have seen this episode many times, and I have never hated it. On the contrary, I feel it's one of the best episodes of the season. A great introduction of Q and the rest of the cast. Agreed, the jellyfish idea wasn't the greatest idea, but it was unexpected.

 

***** out of *****

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

I think it was great for a few reasons.

 

So what if they were jellyfish? Why must all alien species be humanoid? We encounter many species who exist in some spiritual or microscopic form, but seldom in a form that resembles a non-human animal. The fact that it WASN'T humanoid is what made it optimal for Q to use in the trial. Could humanity recognize and deal with a species that could survive and drift through the nothingness of outer space?

 

I also find it noteworthy that the creature first looked like the stereotypical UFO of reports. I think there's a hint of spoof in that.

 

It also was a great philosophical point with which to kick off a series. Was humanity ready to deal with new and different species? Could humanity look to the future of diplomatic relations with other species when confronted with its past. As we find out, all species were like this for awhile, and some still like that.

 

Q may be the coolest character in the history of Star Trek. Especially as he appeared in TNG.

 

Great episode.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

The alien jellyfish exists!

 

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

And oh yeah, since I didn't say it in my previous post, I'll say it officially now. 5.

[oldfan1 0]

I think it is a great episode, introducing Q, my favorite character in my opinion was the best thing they could have done. In later episodes besides the sense of menace he portrayed he was also a bit of comic relief. It is a perfect fit John DeLancie is one of the funniest people I have ever met.

 

The only thing I didn't like about the episode was the jellyfish, a different form might have been better, the hand/tentacle holding didn't bother me as physical contact between mates is normal after separation. I liked them better before the tentacles unfolded.

[TJ Phaserman 2]

The alien jellyfish exists!

 

 

please tell me you didn't actually use photoshop...

[A l t e r E g o 9]

The alien jellyfish exists!

 

 

please tell me you didn't actually use photoshop...

 

I promise I didn't, I found that pic on the web; I think on the Coast to Coast website. I suppose someone could have faked it though.

[Gummy 0]

TNG was the only thing about the Eighties that I actually enjoyed.

The rest of it was stink on ice.

[Charface 0]

Looking back and comparing to all future episodes, I really don't like it that much.

 

However it did introduce the soon-to-be greatest character on television ever.

 

If only the series could have begun with Q having the unique panache he later developed, he could have been the Frasier to Star Trek's Cheers.

[TJ Phaserman 2]

i didn't enjoy the first episode at much. i mean you couldn't tell if troi was having a orgasm or actually feeling the emotions she felt while in that lifeform. but it got better once i found out mccoy made admiral and was old as hell lol.

[DaboGirl 7]

I gave it a 2.

 

It had Q and that's worth a couple of stars, the rest was pretty weak. It set the tone for wrecking Wesely's character, too bad because I think he might have been a decent chacter if they handled better in these 1st few episodes.

[KIMIMELA 1]

I found this episode to be absolutely pathetic. The point of the Q was to annoy the audience and make us switch over channels until the end, to see, JELLYFISH?

 

I like the other alien races because they looked Trek, but these seemed to be a last-minute thought before they shot the damn episode.

 

And Troi's reaction was obvious... I like it when she uses her ability to sense something useful but we all sensed the gratitude at the end.

 

2/5 I give it.

[poppyseed 0]

A good episode. I liked the first time we see the TNG crew together. It only got better from here. I give it a 4.