Re:
That given all the time travel/interdimensional stuff the series used, Riker probably had a list of commands to turn down.
Poul Andersen was big on that theory, as I recall.
David Weber has a lot of fun with playing that idea straight and tweaking it, so you end up with things like a star nation which is, for the most part, ethnically Han Chinese, but speaks and dresses in the German style (a group of German mercenaries took over a struggling Chinese colony and helped them prosper over time), or a planet where everybody is a bunch of white fundie Christians (“Space Mormons” wouldn’t be far from the mark), and love the things that white fundie Christians love, like baseball, neckties, and settling matters of honor in Japanese style katana fights.
There’s even a planet settled by Mafiosos. Known, ironically, for the strictest law enforcement in the known galaxy. If you brake the speed limit, they remotely shut down your car. Your flying car. 
But I digress.
I seem to recall disliking “Arsenal of Freedom”
That’s a personal favourite of mine and, I figure, a vastly underrated episode. As with “The Royale” (and TOS “A Piece of the Action”), the characters are trapped in some ludicrous situation and the only solution is to just play along.
Arsenal of Freedom: Hologram wants to sell a weapons system. Stages a series of increasingly dangerous “demonstrations” as part of its sales pitch. Picard’s solution: “All right, I’ll buy it.” Hologram is satisfied, problem solved.
The Royale: Landing party trapped in simulation of bad novel. Riker’s solution: We’re now characters in the book who deus ex machina come in, solve the problems and (most importantly) disappear at the end.
Piece of the Action: Landing party trapped on planet modeled after 1930s gangland Chicago. Kirk solution: “WE’RE in charge now, see? nYeah!”
No, cats are simply hyperevolved humans.
At least, that’s what my cat tells me.
I also enjoyed the creative solution to the problem, but one thing kind of bugs me. Once Picard agrees to purchase the weapons system, the small drone attacking the ground party instantly deactivates, but the larger one going after the Enterprise keeps on trucking. It seems like both of them should have been affected or not affected in the same way.
The episode where Worf found out his parents might be alive bothered me. Not because of that, but because they were on DS9 and only Bashir made a small appearance. They should have used several DS9 and TNG members and done a real cross-over.
Yeah crucher was hotter, but Pulasky was the only one who wasn’t all the time “oooohh, we’re special, we have the prime directive, we interact…”
I like no no-nonsense doctors (that’s why I married one)
They ran the episode tonight with Data getting a girlfriend. I guess he had to get the screw on equipment out of the cabinet. It had been awhile since he did it with Tasha Yar. 
Wonder where he gets batteries for that thing?
So…Hans Chinese. 
This didn’t bug me half as much as the plot point of Data’s cat Spot, whom he has consistently referred to as a “he” throughout the six previous seasons, becoming pregnant!
Data: “Lt. (whatshername) has just given me what might be referred to as a…passionate kiss in the torpedo bay.”
Best Trek double entendre ever. Made even better because the writers clearly never realized it.
Anyway, three pages in and nobody’s mentioned the Outrageous Okuna? Or was this one SO painful that you’d all blocked it out of your collective consciousness? (If so, I’m sorry for reminding you.)
Think I’d have to go for “where no man has gone before”, purely on the fashion stakes. Not only does Wesley wear the worst sweater I’ve ever seen in it, there is also a guy in a dress wandering around the corridors.
Plus it has the stupid “you can go faster than warp ten if everyone thinks about it”, and a “theres no place like home” ending. You can get away with that sort of thing on Dr Who, but not TNG.
I hear that the actor who played Okona is a pretty cool guy, so I’m willing to cut that one a little slack.
Well, personally, I can’t really say much for Emergence, except that it had a really nice opening scene with Data and Picard discussing Shakespeare, and that it’s the TNG episode that most reminds me of a Voyager episode, and all that it had in store in the years ahead. That last part isn’t nice at all.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, I admit. Did La Forge defeat the big drone with some technobabble?
From www.memory-alpha.org:
Less than usual: the Enterprise plunges into the atmosphere; the drone follows; what’s hard to spot in the vacuum of outer space leaves a visible wake through the air.
Oh but that Outrageous Okuna is so outrageous! He’s like a cad, a rogue, a real maverick he is.
data was especially bad in his prolonged synonym-ing that episode since it was also the one where he learns about comedy from joe piscapo
That was Birthright, Part I, which was excellent, because the related B-plot is the one where Data finds his ability to dream. Unfortunately, Part II was awful and consisted of an hour of Word awkwardly singing Klingon battle hymns to a bunch of people who don’t give a shit.
The reason they didn’t have more DS9 people on it was because they were shooting a DS9 episode simultaneously. In fact, the role that Bashir played in that episode was originally intended for Jadzia, but scheduling didn’t allow it.