TNG - "Where No One Has Gone Before"

Here's where TNG starts picking up steam. We've got a decent sci-fi plot, nice world- and character-building, nobody's acting stupidly out-of-character, and everything just works.

Here we've got Kosinski, apparently Starfleet's most arrogant and most useless scientist of all time, who is convinced that his mathematical tuning equations—which don't actually do anything—are somehow enabling ridiculous levels of warp speed. In reality, it's his weird-looking assistant, who we later discover is called only "the Traveler," that is enabling this warp velocity, using the power of his mind to increase the ship's speed.

There's some wonky science here, as we discover that apparently the concepts of space, time, and thought are all more closely linked than modern scientists realize. This is simultaneously a questionable and fascinating idea. In one sense, it's ridiculous, since thought is essentially just electric impulses in the brain and nothing more. However, if, as this story suggests, there is more to thought, then perhaps there's some kind of greater level of reality (what's commonly thought of as the spiritual realm?) that has not yet been charted by science.

What's more interesting about all this is that the Traveler claims that Wesley is to science what Mozart is to music, a prodigy with unimaginable intuitive ability. The fact that he only tells Picard this creates a very interesting dynamic. Now Picard is tasked with encouraging Wesley's growth, for reasons only he and the Traveler knows.

One of the greatest things about this episode is that, unlike previous episodes, this really feels like what Star Trek should be. It's an epic science fiction story involving humanity having to face the greater unknowns of the universe. It's not a perfect episode, and it's not exactly jaw-dropping, but it's the first real good episode we've gotten so far.