#8 for Top 12 Picard Episodes of star Trek TNG

Tapestry

The crew of the Enterprise is a cohesive unit that works and lives well together. they have managed to form a tapestry of their own, but what happens when a member of that crew is given a chance to change something from their past? How will that impact the present?

As the starting element of the story, Captain Picard discovers that he has died as a result of the malfunction of an artificial heart that was implanted during his days at Starfleet Acadamy. He had been in a fight with some Nausicaans and gotten stabbed through the heart.

Well, we assume that he dies because the next thing we know Picard is standing in a large, empty white space with Q. Picard rejects the notion that Q is God or that Q has any benevolent reasons for bring Picard to this space.

Q makes an offer to prevent this accident from happening. All Picard has to do is go back in time and stop himself from being in the fight with the Nausicaans. Picard agrees since the man he was isn't someone that he is complete proud of.

This episode is great because we get to experience Picard as a young cadet and get to know some of the people that shaped his career in Star Fleet. Picard does change his past, and avoids getting stabbed, and annoys his friends. Picard then finds himself in the present, but a very different present.

He is just a junior officer working in Astrophysics. Riker and Troy inform him that there isn't much chance that his career will ever advance beyond that point. Q explains that the fight with the Nausicaans was an important point in Picard's life that taught him about his mortality, forced him to be proactive in his life.

Q gives Picard the chance to go back a second time and put history back on the correct path. Picard accepts and gets in that deadly fight. This solves the mystery at the end of the fight because young Picard laughed as he saw he'd been stabbed, and the reason was because it was the older Picard relishing making things right.

Picard then wakes up have been saved by Dr. Crusher. He then wonders as he recovers if he actually went back in time or if it were all a dream. Probably only Q has the answer to that question, and I'm sure he wouldn't give a straight answer.

#9 for Top 12 Picard Episodes of Star Trek TNG

Time travel has been a part of the Star Trek universe for almost since the beginning. The same can be said for parallel universes and overlapping of people. This can get confusing for characters and viewers alike.

This story only suffers because the writers don't know the crew well enough to understand what they are going to do. In fact, it seems like it is an attempt to force characterizations, at least for Picard.

While travelling along in space, the Enterprise encounters a lone shuttle craft far from any base or home star ship. After pulling the shuttle craft into a cargo bay, they discover that it is actually one of the shuttle craft from the Enterprise that is actually in the same cargo bay, and it has a single inhabitant-Captain Picard.

This Picard is disoriented and confused. His shuttle craft uses energy differently and although the Captain on the Enterprise does not believe this new Picard is himself, all evidence point to him being from very the very near future.

Investigations, show that the Enterprise is going to be destroyed in an antimatter explosion. It also shows that Picard fled the Enterprise before it exploded. This information causes Picard to be confused and distracted from his job of leading the ship. 

One of the great parts of this story happen when both Picards are walking through the ship talking about the situation, and how to solve the problem.

I won't say anything more about what happens except to say that Picard has to make a very tough decision in order to save his ship.