Groundbreaking in what way, you may ask?

Groundbreaking also does not mean good.

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10.

Can you imagine Kirk being captured and tortured for an entire episode?

Maybe if it gave him a chance to get his shirt off…

The more things change, the more they stay the same:Picard doesnt break, of course.

Defining moment:There!

Quotable:See above.

Picard uses one of Earths oldest stories to connect with Dathon.

(Dathan; Tamarian way of saying By George, I think hes got it!)

Defining moment:We have all been dancing around the basic issue: does Data have a soul?

I dont know that he has.

I dont know that I have.

But I have got to give him the freedom to explore that question himself.

Are you prepared to condemn him and all who come after him, to servitude and slavery?

Your Honour, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life; well, there it sits!

Waiting (Picard)

7.

Cause and Effect

Captains Log:The Enterprise is trapped in a time loop.

The Enterprise is trapped in a time loop.

The Enterprise is trapped in a time loop… Quotable:All hands abandon ship!

Planet of the Space Nazis!

Planet of the Space Gangsters!

Planet of the Space Romans!

(thoughA Fistful of Datasdoes pretty well).

Without the basic run-around that isThe Big Goodbye, there could be noShip in a Bottle.

The more things change, the more they stay the same:Westerns and Depression-era mobsters.

There areStar Treks favourite options, out of all of history and all of literature.

This is the first episode ofStar Trekthat will make you weep for the death of an expendable ensign.

Apparently Starfleet exists in a world without mechanics (though they do have a barman).

I bet he sleeps in his uniform (Sam Lavelle)

4.

The Inner Light

Captains Log:Captain Picard is knocked out for twenty-five minutes.

Its also rather brilliant.

Skin of Evil

Captains Log:Deanna Troi tries to negotiate with an evil oil slick.

But more to the point, first it kills Chief of Security Tasha Yar.

Its sudden to the point of abrupt and happens for no grand cause or special reason.

Defining moment:That thing just sucked the life right out of her.

When you watch this at ten years old, there is nothing more shocking.

But thats as it should be, and hes pretty traumatised by the whole thing.

Defining moment:I am Locutus of Borg.

Your life, as it has been, is over.

Also, something involving giant space jellyfish.

It also proved that making moreStar Trekdidnt have to mean making carbon copies of the original 1960s series.

Defining moment:Space… the final frontier.

For those of us who are children of the 1980s, thisis Star Trek.

WithoutEncounter at Farpoint, there is no modernStar Trek.

Im sure most will be much more interesting (Picard)