Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard takes command of the Enterprise-D and faces Q’s judgment of humanity during the ship’s first visit to Farpoint. The crew’s early missions test its rules in practical ways: Picard must decide whether saving Wesley Crusher is worth defying a planet’s lethal law, while Data and Geordi La Forge investigate the ruins of Data’s home and discover his android double, Lore. Wesley also earns the Traveler’s attention after recognizing that an alien assistant, not a propulsion formula, is driving a dangerous experiment.
Tasha Yar’s work as security chief brings the most lasting change. While the Enterprise tries to rescue Troi from a stranded shuttle on Vagra II, the malevolent being Armus kills Yar with an energy blast. Dr. Beverly Crusher cannot revive her, and the crew later gathers for a memorial in which a recorded message lets Yar say goodbye. Elsewhere, Worf’s encounters with renegade Klingons let him explore the culture he inherited while serving in Starfleet, and Geordi must command the bridge when an arms-dealer crisis leaves senior officers in danger on a planet.
The season moves among self-contained cases rather than one continuing enemy: Picard revisits his past with former fiancée Jenice Manheim as Data helps contain a time-distorting experiment, and the crew exposes an alien parasite inside Starfleet officers during an investigation of a suspected conspiracy. In the final assignment, Picard leads the Enterprise toward missing Federation outposts in the Neutral Zone. The officers revive three people found aboard an Earth derelict, then make face-to-face contact with a Romulan ship; the outpost mystery remains unsettled.