Nov 28, 2025
[#𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱𝗠𝗔𝗠𝗔] 𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘
𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑙 𝑅𝐸𝐷 𝐶𝐴𝑃𝑅𝐸𝑇 𝑜𝑓 2025 𝑀𝐴𝑀𝐴 𝐴𝑊𝐴𝑅𝐷𝑆, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑑.
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[#𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱𝗠𝗔𝗠𝗔] 𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘
𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑙 𝑅𝐸𝐷 𝐶𝐴𝑃𝑅𝐸𝑇 𝑜𝑓 2025 𝑀𝐴𝑀𝐴 𝐴𝑊𝐴𝑅𝐷𝑆, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑑.
Tiny Viewing Guide to Star Trek: The Next Generation
Just found out one of my oldest friends, a huge sci fi guy, has never actually seen TNG, or indeed any Trek. He asked if I wouldn't mind writing a viewing guide. Not all that tiny, but the blurb for each episode is tiny. YMMV.
S1
Encounter at Farpoint - Goofy but iconic, series premiere
The Naked Now - Bad but hilarious and a little important
Code of Honor - terrible racist horseshit
The Last Outpost - first time we meet the Ferengi, they're not impressive
Where No One Has Gone Before - interesting enough
Lonely Among Us - I have no memory of this place
Justice - terrible outfits, Wesley episode
The Battle - Picard episode, not terrible
Hide and Q - Riker-centric Q episode, not the best Q episode, not the worst
Haven - first time we meet Lwaxana, don't remember anything else
The Big Goodbye - first of many holodeck episodes, pretty good
Datalore - important!!!
Angel One - totally forgettable
11001001 - meh
Too Short a Season - weird, generally meh
When the Bough Breaks - Wesley episode, don't remember it much
Home Soil - no clue
Coming of Age - more Wesley (can you tell Gene Roddenberry liked the character?), but not bad
Heart of Glory - first time the Klingons get real character, important
The Arsenal of Freedom - automated weaponry is bad, mmkay
Symbiosis - nope, no idea
Skin of Evil - dark, nasty, generally unpleasant episode, important for character reasons
We'll Always Have Paris - genuinely do not remember this one but wiki says there's time travel and that's always fun
Conspiracy - real mixed feelings about this one, it's tense and interesting TV but not really good Trek and it has huge implications that are never revisited
The Neutral Zone - Romulans are reintroduced, pretty cool
S2
The Child - pretty decent Troi episode
Where Silence Has Lease - interesting space puzzle episode sprinkled with Picard philosophizing
Elementary, Dear Data - first Sherlock!Data holodeck episode, excellent stuff
The Outrageous Okona - weeeaaaak, but kind of funny
Loud As A Whisper - cool deaf character, cringey late-80s implementation
The Schizoid Man - Data episode, good acting, cringey dialogue
Unnatural Selection - Pulaski-centric, and I dislike Pulaski so this is a pass for me
A Matter Of Honor - Riker serves on a Klingon warship, some good stuff
The Measure of A Man - Easily a top 10 Trek episode of all time
The Dauphin - Wesley has a crush, receives terrible romantic advice from entire crew
Contagion - interesting lethal archaeology
The Royale - love this episode, it's terrible and bad science but I love it
Time Squared - weird time-travel stuff, not one of the best
The Icarus Factor - lot of good character stuff, terrible future martial arts
Pen Pals - excellent Data episode, thoughts about the Prime Directive
Q Who - WATCH THIS ONE
Samaritan Snare - bad episode, funny moments
Up The Long Ladder - holy shit the Irish racism
Manhunt - Lwaxana Troi at her best, love it
The Emissary - Amazing Klingon stuff
Peak Performance - good episode, lots of fun character bits
Shades of Gray - TERRIBLE CLIP SHOW AVOID AVOID AVOID
S3
Evolution - Wesley episode, not bad but not great
The Ensigns of Command - Mediocre Data episode
The Survivors - space puzzle episode, OK
Who Watches the Watchers - more prime directive stuff, mildly interesting
The Bonding - interesting stuff about grief
Booby Trap - another space puzzle, high stakes, cool payoff
The Enemy - Pretty good, Romulans
The Price - fun episode
The Vengeance Factor - ehhhhhhhh
The Defector - More Romulan stuff, is good
The Hunted - will 100% make you scream at how terrible security is in the future, not a bad ep though
The High Ground - ugh, just not great
Deja Q - good Q episode
A Matter of Perspective - let's use the holodeck to prove Riker couldn't have committed this crime!
The Offspring - WATCH THIS BUT BRING TISSUES
Sins of the Father - first of many Klingon Politics episodes, I love these with a fiery passion and my wife is bored to tears by them so YMMV
Allegiance - space puzzle, not a great one but not bad
Captain's Holiday - WATCH THIS, IS AMAZING
Tin Man - literally put me to sleep once
Hollow Pursuits - First of many Barclay episodes, my beautiful autistic space boi
The Most Toys - alright, worth one watch
Sarek - SO IMPORTANT WAAAAAAAAAATCH
Menage a Troi - bad episode, worth it for the payoff
Transfigurations - Jason Ironheart called, he knows he came after this episode chronologically but he was better
The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1 - YAAAS
S4
The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2- YAAAAAAAAAAAAAS
Family - So important
Brothers - Very Important
Suddenly Human - meh
Remember Me - very interesting space puzzle, one of the Crusher episodes where she gets to be awesome
Legacy - not the most jaw-dropping ep but important
Reunion - KLINGON POLITICS YEEES
Future Imperfect - interesting enough
Final Mission - Wesley episode, not bad
The Loss - v. good Troi episode
Data's Day - fun, wholesome Data times
The Wounded - SO GOOD AND SO IMPORTANT
Devil's Due - I love this episode even if it's not that important or good
Clues - Awesome space puzzle
First Contact - eh? okay? sure?
Galaxy's Child - fine, whatever
Night Terrors - uuuuugh, no
Identity Crisis - this one scared the fuck out of me as a kid and may be responsible for my deep-seated body-transformation-horror triggers, now it's just kind of weird
The nth Degree - BARCLAY, LOVE HIM AND THIS EP
Qpid - YES SO GOOD
The Drumhead - This is Michael Dorn's favorite episode and it is worthy of the title
Half a Life - Lwaxana is great, the episode not as much
The Host - introduction of the Trill, kind of cringey almost 30 years later
The Mind's Eye - brainwashing stuff, meh
In Theory - Data tries to date, hilarities ensue
Redemption Part 1 - GIVE ME THE KLINGON POLITICS
S5
Redemption Part 2 - MOOOOOOOOOORE
Darmok - One of my top 5 episodes in the series
Ensign Ro - so important, introduces the Bajorans and Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar - important for Data, not a terribly interesting episode otherwise
Disaster - Troi gets to shine! cool episode
The Game - by far the worst Wesley episode. everyone is seduced into acting like a brainwashed idiot by a terrible space future video game. fuck this episode and everyone who wrote it but especially Brannon Braga.
Unification 1 - WATCH
Unification 2- THESE
A Matter of Time - So good, waaatch
New Ground - I am not a fan of Alexander but he is so important to Worf's growth, so... yeah
Hero Worship - more stuff about grief, eh
Violations - I don't remember this one that much but I do not think I enjoyed it
The Masterpiece Society - read the above description
Conundrum - amazing space puzzle episode. easily one of my favorites in the series
Power Play - meh
Ethics - very important, good Trek
The Outcast - THIS EPISODE COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER IF THE LOVE INTEREST WAS MALE. JONATHAN FRAKES PUSHED FOR A MALE ACTOR. watch it anyway
Cause and Effect - fun space puzzle, a little repetitive but totally solid
The First Duty - one of the best Picard Speeches ever, watch
Cost of Living - fun Lwaxana episode
The Perfect Mate - pretty meh but Famke Janssen is fun as Kamala
Imaginary Friend - so bored
I, Borg - INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT
The Next Phase - interesting episode about the afterlife
The Inner Light - THIS IS MY FAVORITE EPISODE OF THE ENTIRE SERIES AND I CRY EVERY TIME
Time's Arrow 1 - Such good time travel
S6
Time's Arrow 2 - Such great Mark Twain
Realm of Fear - Yay more Barclay!
Man of the People - bad Troi episode
Relics - WAAAAAAAAAATCH
Schisms - space puzzle, kind of lame payoff due to effects limitations but the journey is worth it
True Q - By far the worst fucking Q episode ever written
Rascals - uuuuuuuugh. half the crew is regressed into children. Ferengi are involved. you are missing nothing.
A Fistful of Datas - amazing dumb holodeck episode, watch
The Quality of Life - boring episode, good message
Chain of Command 1 - So dark, so difficult, so totally riveting and important
Chain of Command 2 - See above
Ship in a Bottle - Sequel to Sherlock!Data, amazing
Aquiel - could have been written much better
Face of the Enemy - by far the best Troi episode, Marina Sirtis was incredibly happy when I told her it was one of my favorites
Tapestry - fantastic Q/Picard episode
Birthright 1 - Basically exists to set up DS9 but is pretty good and has important bits
Birthright 2 - See above
Starship Mine - DIE HARD ON THE ENTERPRISE
Lessons - Very important Picard episode
The Chase - amazing space puzzle episode, has one of my favorite one-off Klingon characters
Frame of Mind - is Riker's entire life a delusion he has created to mentally escape his imprisonment in a mental asylum? spoilers: no
Suspicions - Good mystery episode, Crusher gets to do stuff
Rightful Heir - Very important Worf episode, good Klingon stuff
Second Chances - uh, kind of bad, but it gets referenced later in DS9
Timescape - super interesting space puzzle, amazing character bits
Descent 1 - WAAATCH
S7
Descent 2 - as above
Liaisons - okay. not great. not bad.
Interface - OK Geordi episode
Gambit 1 - Amazing stuff
Gambit 2 - More amazing stuff
Phantasms - Psychological horror? in my Data? it's more likely than you think. watch
Dark Page - one of the few Lwaxana episodes I don't love
Attached - great Picard/Crusher episode
Force of Nature - environmentalism! is! good!
Inheritance - important Data episode
Parallels - SUCH A GOOD WORF EPISODE
The Pegasus - very important Riker episode
Homeward - Interesting Worf and Prime Directive episode
Sub Rosa - so cringey and terrible, oh my God
Lower Decks - a fun change of pace from the main cast
Thine Own Self - I don't love it, but it is good character stuff
Masks - weird space puzzle episode, I love it but I wouldn't call it Great
Eye of the Beholder - space mystery, it's not fantastic
Genesis - look. this episode is not good. but it has amazing costumework by Michael Westmore. and has some great Picard/Data stuff. watch it.
Journey's End - super important stuff. sets up a lot of stuff for DS9 and VOY
Firstborn - Good Worf/Alexander episode
Bloodlines - More Ferengi stuff, kind of lame
Emergence - space puzzle, weird but interesting
Preemptive Strike - So so so so important
All Good Things... - it's the series finale. and some of the best Trek ever. obviously you're going to watch.
So, you want to watch Xena, but 24 episodes in one season is A LOT?
I see posts once in a while saying how they keep meaning to get into Xena, but there;s a lot of episodes to get through (thank you 90s american television) and the first season in particular suffers from some “finding its feet”-ness.
Now, to be clear, if you’re up for it and can enjoy it for what it is, there is no reason not to watch every single episode of X:WP: Xena, if nothing else, is never boring. BUT, it occured to me it might help some people if the task was a little less...daunting.
So, here is my quick in easy “abridged” guide to season 1 of Xena: Warrior Princess. There are freakin’ 24 episodes in season 1, but in truth, imo, only about 8 of them are needed to get the vibe and be able to tell if the series is something you’ll want to explore more. I would say even that, strictly speaking, none of them are “required viewing.” With a little deductive reasoning, you’ll be able to get by alright going forward with the rest of the series staring right off in season 2, even with occasional references and callbacks. But, I’ve tried to pick out the most “Xena-ish” of the season 1 episodes, the ones that give the greatest indication of the the show really becomes.
Here’s the list:
Sins of the Past: The very first episode, and needed to set up the series. Plus, Xena and Gabrielle meet here and that’s great.
The Path Not Taken: A good example of a classic magic induced plot. References to Xena’s past and origin story, plus alternate timelines and part of the beginning of the establishment of Gabrielle>everything else.
The Reckoning: This and the above kinda go as a set in my head. This one is more directly confronting the implications of Xena’s dark past and the difficulties she faces in seeking redemption, and also introduces Ares, who will be a major character and antagonist throughout the series.
Hooves and Harlots: Introduction of the Amazons and Centaurs, who are super important to the world’s universe and lore. Plus Gabrielle gets her first mini-makeover, putting her on her path to “battling bard” rather than just “bard.”
Warrior... Princess: This is the comic relief episode in the bunch. It’s goofy and awesome. Also, this doppleganger thing is gonna be a thing.
The Greater Good: A great episode that does that Xena thing where you think it’s just gonna be some comic fluff but then gets quite heavy. Hits a lot of concepts that will become Xena staples in the future. Seriously badass performance from Renee O’connor. Just watch this one, okay?
Callisto: Intro to one the most iconic characters in the Xena-verse...Joxer! I jest of course, but just a little, lol. Both Callisto and Joxer are introduced here, which is a hell of a thing when you think about it. Joxer fills a comic relief, fool with a heart of gold need for years to come, and Callisto is, hmm, how do I put this? One of the greatest antagonists in the history of television and possibly the world.
Is There A Doctor In The House?: Not the first time we’ve gotten the “Xena as healer” thing established, but definitely the biggest example of it, and in a way that makes it a major aspect of the character. This episode also contains the scene that some writers of the show have cited as the moment they realized Xena was in love with Gabrielle. Plus: centaur baby. Which is, imo, a required rite of passage in the Xena fandom. It will haunt your nightmares forever, but it will be worth it. Cause Xena.
Aaaand, that’s basically it! Again, if you want to watch all 24 episodes, by all means do! There’s plenty of good stuff! But, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, these should get you started, and you can always go back and watch more later if you want. This is 90s television folks, so still very episodic for the most part, and watching out of order is actually not as catastrophic as with other shows (ahem). In fact, there are some episodes in season 1 that I very strongly suspect were aired out of order than they were filmed or originally intended.
In any case, hopefully this will assist some people in breaking into the Xena verse, because it is absolutely worth it.
Now go forth, watch Xena, and kick ass!
@attemptsupon said: nice writeup. might try watching it
The first few episodes of S1 give a good example of the rest of the series, even if they’re all a bit heavier on the monster of the week side of things, with less about the main overarching plot. Focuses more on the worldbuilding early on, in getting the audience to know the main duo and their world, really, so I get it. Keeps a campy feel that, despite the drama of the episodic situations and main narrative, you can tell the show doesn’t take itself too seriously, which keeps it pretty light.
Main grievance in the first few seasons is the fact that there’s a serious lack of strong women (and a tremendous amount of women in need of help in some way from episode to episode), and the women that are strong...close to half tend to be evil. So that’s frustrating. Some typical bro humour from Dean sprinkled around here and there will grate, but most of the homophobia and the few instances of transphobia come in the later seasons (7+) after the head of the show and main writers left.
All in all, it’s a bunch of generally lighthearted, easy to watch paranormal-supernatural themed sci-fi that’s well executed enough. At least for the first 3, but I enjoyed S4 and 5 as well mostly, even if the quality dropped a bit in spots due to the length of the seasons.
In terms of Season 1, if I had to give a bare-bones list of shows to watch to push past some of the more filler-aligned episodes, I’d say:
Pilot (ep 1) Bloody Mary (ep 5) Home (ep 9) Scarecrow (ep 11) Faith (ep 12) Nightmare (ep 14) The benders (ep 15) Shadows (ep 16) Something Wicked (ep 18) Dead Man’s Blood (ep 20) Salvation (ep 21) Devil’s Trap (ep 22)
Those should help you keep up on the worldbuilding and character development/histories, while focusing on the major stuff. That’s if you take a go at the show and if you enjoy it enough to continue through S1.
Cel’s Steven Universe Franchise Viewing Guide
Cel’s Star Wars: Rebels Succinct Viewing Guide
AKA “Lightspeed” guide—just the essentials. If you’re an adult, this is the way to watch this Y7 show.
Cel’s Black Mirror Viewing Guide
Cel’s Rick and Morty Viewing Guide