Fans and critics agree that the first and second seasons of ST:TNG were not the greatest, and although one could say confidently that the first few episodes were fun, they weren't particularly noteworthy.
This all changed with episode 5, Where No One Has Gone Before. S1 harkened back to TOS with The Naked Now, and this episode as well references the second pilot of TOS - Where No Man Has Gone Before - with more than just a nod to the episode title. In the original Gary Mitchell was given the power to make thoughts a reality, and this episode includes a similar theme.
This episode is extremely important for a couple of reasons, but the primary reason is that the enormous potential for the series was shown brilliantly with this episode. During the first season TNG was attempting to find its way with with varying results. Where No One Has Gone Before was big jump in storytelling, infusing a philosophical thread into a rousing adventure more based in pure Science Fiction than Space Opera. This is an example of the kind of episode that made TOS so great, and was a solid confirmation that great things were to come from the new series.
The episode also contains one of my favorite scenes in the entire ST franchise, where Picard encounters his long deceased mother, Yvette, whom he refers to as "Maman" (pronounced Mam-Oh) . Herta Ware's portrayal of Maman is quite simply magnificent, and the interaction between her and Patrick Stewart is nothing short of wonderful. Her dialogue where she acknowledges that she's dead but is always with him had an eerie, ethereal quality. The scene is also interesting in that it questions the very nature of reality when Maman asks her son if he sees "this place" as the end of the universe, or the beginning of it.
And so with the airing of episode 5, viewers were shown an example of the series' potential...a potential that was realized fully over seven seasons and many, many fantastic episodes with plots both adventurous and grand.
This all changed with episode 5, Where No One Has Gone Before. S1 harkened back to TOS with The Naked Now, and this episode as well references the second pilot of TOS - Where No Man Has Gone Before - with more than just a nod to the episode title. In the original Gary Mitchell was given the power to make thoughts a reality, and this episode includes a similar theme.
This episode is extremely important for a couple of reasons, but the primary reason is that the enormous potential for the series was shown brilliantly with this episode. During the first season TNG was attempting to find its way with with varying results. Where No One Has Gone Before was big jump in storytelling, infusing a philosophical thread into a rousing adventure more based in pure Science Fiction than Space Opera. This is an example of the kind of episode that made TOS so great, and was a solid confirmation that great things were to come from the new series.
The episode also contains one of my favorite scenes in the entire ST franchise, where Picard encounters his long deceased mother, Yvette, whom he refers to as "Maman" (pronounced Mam-Oh) . Herta Ware's portrayal of Maman is quite simply magnificent, and the interaction between her and Patrick Stewart is nothing short of wonderful. Her dialogue where she acknowledges that she's dead but is always with him had an eerie, ethereal quality. The scene is also interesting in that it questions the very nature of reality when Maman asks her son if he sees "this place" as the end of the universe, or the beginning of it.
And so with the airing of episode 5, viewers were shown an example of the series' potential...a potential that was realized fully over seven seasons and many, many fantastic episodes with plots both adventurous and grand.