Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 3

Star Trek: The Next Generation really hit warp speed in its strong third season, where we see Capt. Picard and crew drawing on diplomatic and tactical skills in their encounters with entities often faceless and intransigent -- from the nanosymbionts and the Sheliac in the first two episodes to the cybernetic Borg onslaught in the season cliffhanger. [Disk-Episode] 1-1: Evolution (A scientist whose life's work has been to study a stellar phenomenon that occurs once every 196 years takes it personally when a symbiotic life form threatens the ship and his survey), 1-2: The Ensigns of Command (Data must evacuate a proud colony of humans long thought to be lost but found to inhabit a planet that belongs by treaty to the reclusive Sheliac, who will exterminate them), 1-3: The Survivors (Picard faces a puzzle when responding to a distress call from Rana IV to find the entire surface of the planet destroyed except for a single house and two elderly occupants who are not what they seem), 1-4: Who Watches the Watchers (A nascent quasi-Vulcan society turns from science and reason to fear and superstition when it idolizes Picard and nearly sacrifices Troi), 2-5: The Bonding (Picard and crew help a young crew member cope with the loss of his mother, killed on a planetary mission, even as he faces an alien mentality's attempts to comfort him with a surrogate mother in a replica of his home), 2-6: Booby Trap (Chief engineer LaForge finds hope for romance with a holodeck simulation of the ship's designer, Leah Brahms, as he races to free the ship from a seemingly inescapable energy-draining radiation field), 2:7: The Enemy (LaForge and a Romulan officer are lost on a planet of violent storms and must collaborate to survive), 2-8: The Price (Picard hosts negotiations for trade control of a new wormhole as Troi becomes emotionally involved with the unflappable opposing negotiator), 3-9: The Vengeance Factor (hoping to broker peace between two long-warring factions, the crew discovers a devious plan for revenge), 3-10: The Defector (Picard must discern the veracity of a defecting Romulan officer's warning of a planned invasion), 3-11: The Hunted (the crew learns a Federation candidate society has exiled a former warrior caste rather than rehabilitate them), 3-12: The High Ground (Dr. Crusher is taken hostage during a planet's civil war), 4-13: Déjà Q (Q is ejected from the Q Continuum and seeks protection from his enemies), 4-14: A Matter of Perspective (After Riker is accused of seduction and murder, the crew employs forensic simulations to determine the truth), 4-15: Yesterday's Enterprise (After the Enterprise C enters space/time rift and encounters the Enterprise D, Picard and crew enter a state of war with the Klingons and only Guinan discerns what is amiss), 4-16: The Offspring (Data creates his own offspring, Lal, but complications intervene), 5-17: Sins of the Father (Riker and a Klingon commander participate in an officer exchange program that's a model of culture clash but also learning), 5-18: Allegiance (Picard is beamed off-ship and confined with three aliens as a test while his doppelganger causes confusion), 5-19: Captain's Holiday (Picard hopes to vacation on Raisa with books not women but meets Jennifer Hetrick as the roguish Vash on an archeological adventure), 5-20: Tin Man (The crew attempts first contact with a space creature through a highly sensitive telepath), 6-21: Hollow Pursuits (Dwight Schultz as shy engineer Reg Barclay becomes addicted to a holodeck fantasy life), 6-22: The Most Toys (Saul Rubinek is the ruthless Kivas Fajo, who abducts Data as the ultimate priceless collection), 6-23: Sarek (Vulcan ambassador Sarek arrives to negotiate the treaty that will crown his illustrious career but he must mind-meld with Picard, stripping Jean-Luc emotionally, to succeed), 6-24: Ménage à Troi (Lwuxana Troi spurns the rogue Ferengi Daimon, who kidnaps Deanna, Lwuxana, and Riker until Picard feigns love and vengeance if they are not returned), 7-25: Transfigurations (the crew rescues and provides sanctuary for a crash landing's sole survivor who exhibits healing powers before he transforms into a higher state), 7-26: The Best of Both Worlds: Part 1 (the Enterprise flies from ground zero to the defense of Earth as the Borg begins its decimating attack on the Federation). [Bold are best episodes, italic are weakest.] 5 stars. (11-24-08)