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The Best Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5

Every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5!

Binge this in 19h 10m•Peaking at 9.4/10

Follow the intergalactic adventures of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and his loyal crew aboard the all-new USS Enterprise NCC-1701D, as they explore new worlds.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 25 - The Inner Light
    9.4/10(9656 votes)

    S5:E25

    Stardate: 45944.1. Picard awakes to find himself living in a small village where he is a well-known member of the community who is suffering from a delusion of being a starship captain.

    Director:Peter Lauritson
    Writers:Morgan Gendel, Peter Allan Fields

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  2. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 18 - Cause and Effect
    8.9/10(5622 votes)

    S5:E18

    Stardate: 45652.1. While exploring the Typhon Expanse, the Enterprise is caught in a time warp in which they are repeatedly destroyed while colliding with another starship.

    Director:Jonathan Frakes
    Writer:Brannon Braga

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  3. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 23 - I, Borg
    8.8/10(5105 votes)

    S5:E23

    Stardate: 45854.2. An injured Borg is discovered and brought back to the Enterprise where he is 'repaired' by Dr. Crusher and befriended by Geordi, who names him 'Hugh.' Soon, Hugh starts showing signs of individuality while Picard must choose between destroying him or returning him to the collective.

    Director:Robert Lederman
    Writer:René Echevarria

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  4. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 2 - Darmok
    8.7/10(6039 votes)

    S5:E2

    Stardate: 45047.2. Picard must find a way to communicate with the newly discovered Tamarians, who speak entirely in metaphors, when a Tamarian Captain is brutally killed.

    Director:Winrich Kolbe
    Writers:Joe Menosky, Philip LaZebnik

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  5. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 1 - Redemption (2)
    8.4/10(4131 votes)

    S5:E1

    Stardate: 45020.4. Picard suspects a Romulan influence in the recent Klingon civil war, and must force the Federation to intervene before the Empire collapses.

    Director:David Carson
    Writer:Ronald D. Moore

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  6. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 8 - Unification (2)
    8.3/10(4179 votes)

    S5:E8

    Stardate: 45245.8. Picard and Data find Spock and discover the reason behind the secret meetings. However, a darker scheme planned by the Romulans is also uncovered in the process.

    Director:Cliff Bole
    Writers:Rick Berman, Michael Piller

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  7. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 24 - The Next Phase
    8.3/10(4134 votes)

    S5:E24

    Stardate: 45892.4. While the Enterprise helps a Romulan science vessel, an accident occurs which forces Geordi LaForge and Ro Laren slightly out of 'phase', causing them to become undetectable to everyone but each other. As a result, the crew thinks they are dead and make arrangements for their funerals, even though they are closer than the crew realise.

    Directors:Robert Lederman, David Carson
    Writer:Ronald D. Moore

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  8. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 26 - Time's Arrow (1)
    8.3/10(4356 votes)

    S5:E26

    Stardate: 45959.1. Data's head is uncovered in an archaeological dig on Earth, where evidence is also found that aliens may have been on Earth as early as the 19th Century. Using modified technology, an away team follows Data into the late 1890s to investigate.

    Director:Les Landau
    Writers:Joe Menosky, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller

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  9. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 7 - Unification (1)
    8.2/10(4217 votes)

    S5:E7

    Stardate: 45233.1. Ambassador Spock has disappeared and intelligence finds him on Romulus. Captain Picard is sent to Romulus to find Spock. Meanwhile Riker and the rest of the crew investigate the fragments of a Vulcan ship discovered in the wreck of a Ferengi vessel.

    Directors:Cliff Bole, Les Landau
    Writers:Rick Berman, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller

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  10. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 14 - Conundrum
    8.2/10(4257 votes)

    S5:E14

    Stardate: 45494.2. The Enterprise crew unknowingly receives a new first officer who claims that the Federation is at war with another species.

    Director:Les Landau
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 5 - Disaster
    7.9/10(4281 votes)

    S5:E5

    Stardate: 45156.1. A natural disaster leaves Troi in command of the Enterprise, Picard stuck in a turbo lift with three small children and Keiko O'Brien stuck in Ten-Forward giving birth with an anxious Worf.

    Director:Gabrielle Beaumont
    Writers:Ronald D. Moore, R. G. Jarvis

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  12. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 3 - Ensign Ro
    7.8/10(4055 votes)

    S5:E3

    Stardate: 45076.3. Picard exposes a planned genocidal attack on the Bajorans with the help of a new officer, Ensign Ro Laren.

    Director:Les Landau
    Writers:Rick Berman, Michael Piller

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  13. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 19 - The First Duty
    7.8/10(4002 votes)

    S5:E19

    Stardate: 45703.9. Wesley is involved in a cover-up at Starfleet Academy when a cadet is killed and five shuttles are destroyed during a forbidden maneuver performed by Starfleet Academy's best cadets.

    Directors:Paul Lynch, Naren Shankar
    Writers:Ronald D. Moore, Naren Shankar

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  14. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 6 - The Game
    7.4/10(4210 votes)

    S5:E6

    Stardate: 45208.2. An addictive game is distributed among the crew of the Enterprise, however, it appears that this game interferes with a person's logic and reason, which leaves the crew open to manipulation. Only a young Ensign and a vacationing Wesley Crusher are able to think for themselves, and must find a way to reverse the damage before the ship falls into the wrong hands.

    Director:Corey Allen
    Writers:Susan Sackett, Brannon Braga, Fred Bronson

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  15. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 15 - Power Play
    7.3/10(3613 votes)

    S5:E15

    Stardate: 45571.2. While en route to the source of a subspace distress signal coming from a desolate moon, Data, Troi and O'Brien take over the bridge and force the ship to change course.

    Director:David Livingston
    Writers:Herbert Wright, Brannon Braga

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  16. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 21 - The Perfect Mate
    7.3/10(3969 votes)

    S5:E21

    Stardate: 45761.3. The Ferengi try to abduct an empathic Metamorph who could bring peace between two warring worlds.

    Director:Cliff Bole
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 4 - Silicon Avatar
    7.2/10(3748 votes)

    S5:E4

    Stardate: 45122.3. Picard attempts communications with the Crystalline Entity - a life form responsible for hundreds of deaths throughout the Alpha Quadrant. However, a scientist on board the Enterprise has plans of revenge over the death of her only son at the hands of the Entity.

    Director:Cliff Bole
    Writer:Jeri Taylor

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  18. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 9 - A Matter of Time
    7.2/10(3740 votes)

    S5:E9

    Stardate: 45349.1. While on a mission to help a planet recently struck by an asteroid, the Enterprise is paid a visit by a man who claims to be from the future.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Rick Berman

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  19. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 16 - Ethics
    7.2/10(3663 votes)

    S5:E16

    Stardate: 45587.3. When Worf is paralysed in an accident he must undergo drastic back surgery. However, this experimental technique may cost him his life.

    Director:Chip Chalmers
    Writers:Ronald D. Moore, Stuart Charno, Sara B. Cooper

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  20. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 17 - The Outcast
    6.8/10(4051 votes)

    S5:E17

    Stardate: 45614.6. While investigating the disappearance of a J'naii shuttlecraft, the crew finds reason to believe the missing ship is stranded in an abnormal pocket called "null space." Riker and Soren, a member of the J'naii race, begin preparing to rescue the craft, and the two strike up a friendship. Their relationship develops quickly as the pair question each other about mating habits, since the J'naii are androgynous and do not identify themselves as either male or female. Despite this difference, sparks begin to fly between them.

    Director:Robert Scheerer
    Writer:Jeri Taylor

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  21. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 13 - The Masterpiece Society
    6.7/10(3483 votes)

    S5:E13

    Stardate: 45470.1. A natural disaster in the core of a system's sun threatens to destroy a colony of genetically engineered people on an otherwise desolate planet. However, the crew's intervention may cause more harm than good.

    Director:Winrich Kolbe
    Writers:James Caan, Adam Belanoff, James Kahn, Michael Piller

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  22. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 11 - Hero Worship
    6.6/10(3567 votes)

    S5:E11

    Stardate: 45397.3. The Enterprise investigates the cause of an explosion that destroyed a small ship and its entire crew, except for a small boy.

    Director:Patrick Stewart
    Writer:Joe Menosky

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  23. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 10 - New Ground
    6.5/10(3396 votes)

    S5:E10

    Stardate: 45376.3. Worf's son, Alexander, unexpectedly arrives on the Enterprise to stay with his father. However, Alexander wants to stay permanently.

    Director:Robert Scheerer
    Writers:Grant Rosenberg, Stuart Charno, Sara B. Cooper

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  24. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 12 - Violations
    6.2/10(3388 votes)

    S5:E12

    Stardate: 45429.3. While escorting a group of telepaths, crew members on board the Enterprise suddenly start to slip into comas.

    Director:Robert Wiemer
    Writers:Jeri Taylor, Pamela Gray

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  25. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 20 - Cost of Living
    6.1/10(3448 votes)

    S5:E20

    Stardate: 45733.6. Deanna's mother pays a surprise visit to the Enterprise with even more surprising news: she plans to marry a man she has never met. After destroying an asteroid, the ship becomes infected with parasites that eat away at the ship's hull.

    Director:Winrich Kolbe
    Writer:Peter Allan Fields

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Season 5 Ratings Summary

"The Inner Light" is the best rated episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" season 5. It scored 9.4/10 based on 9656 votes. Directed by Peter Lauritson and written by Morgan Gendel, Peter Allan Fields, it aired on 6/1/1992. This episode is rated 0.5 points higher than the second-best, "Cause and Effect".