PATRON TIER LIST - TNG S6E20 - The Chase

E for the premise. It has a few nice moments, but nothing redeemable. Why create an in-universe explanation to explain the limitations of the make-up department? It's like creating an episode that explains why every Star Trek mission is 45 minutes long. Or why more of the background characters don't have speaking roles.

A-Tier for me. Most SciFi shows go that route eventually. Doctor Who had some kind of "morphic field" in the universe, influenced by the first, sapient species in and native to the universe, ancient Gallifreyans (if memory serves well), which then shaped countless other species into a similar bodyplan, including humans. Farscape had a distant relationship between humans and the Peacekeepers, Stargate also had an ancient race seeding humanoids. It's an attempt to explain away why so many alien species look like humans and depending on the explanation given, it might help with the suspension of disbelief. Still, we got way too many humanoid aliens in most TV-SciFi-franchises and this explanation gets kinda old eventually. As for if a comment I saw on youtube, that this is a question which is not needed to be asked, I'd say "I disagree, it is totally to be asked". I for example still wonder where the humans in the Star Wars franchise come from, as it's supposed to be a different Galaxy from our own, and also way in the past. Still, they call themselves "humans" as we do and are everywhere. The question for the origin makes sense, at least for someone who don't just casually watches the shows or movies but also wants to know about the lore. And whoever made the show or movie in question had their own ideas about the subject, so it's reasonable to ask this question. Sonetimes this idea also sets up the mythos, like in Battlestar Galactica, where those extraterrestrial humans are who actually colonize our Earth in the ancient past in the end. Another feat in Star Trek is, that different humanoid aliens seem to have no biochemical barriers. They can consume the same types of food and are even genetically compatible. That would be way too much of a weird coincidence, given that species on Earth cease to be genetically compatible if the drift from their common ancestor becomes too large. But they should, given they have the same origin still be way more similar than any alien species ever encountered. This would just be unbelievable, unless those species were made similar by design. But given a few million years since seeding the species, I'd assume that they still drift away enough to not be genetically compatible anymore. But that's a mixture of TV-science and lego-genetics, I guess the explanation in this episode might have to be good enough. Humanoid aliens all have the same common ancestor, therefore they are so similar, that's the story. So, I totally don't see how this is a question that not needed to be asked, as another commenter on youtube suggested, as there are a number of fairly good and valid reasons to ask those questions. At least those shows provide us with an in-universe explanation, although I also would have prefered a slightly more thought true explanation. The whole story might have worked better as a mini story arc, but TNG was an episodic show, that wouldn't do story arcs, apart from the occasional two-parter and some continuity nods. What I liked about the episode was the attempt to explain humanoid aliens as well as the display of another one of Picard's passions: archeology. Execution could have been better though, so not entirely S-tier for me, but still an enjoyable, relatively good A-tier.

B. B- maybe. I enjoy the lore in this one, and I do kinda like the guest stars in a "so bad they're good" kind of way. But the script is clunky and could've been much better.

Yeah, the execution was imperfect, and the question of why all ST aliens look like humans with stuff glued to their foreheads didn't need to be answered, but the idea was so cool and Picard emotion is always so good that this episode is elevated to A.

Ok I agree, when I saw this the first time I liked a lot about it, but considering all the others from season six I like the story has left me, the concept would have been better but that’s the writer in me. Gave a b for effort

A-tier for me, if only for the one scene down on the planet featuring the Progenitor hologram and the copacetic scene between Picard and the Romulan captain. I found it very moving as a kid and honestly never really remember the details of the rest of the episode. I also like archeology/paleo-biology related scifi mysteries. The idea is honestly massive and probably too big for a single ep of TV. I think it was also mostly spurred by the urge to retcon/explain away in universe why so many Trek aliens are "forehead aliens." But I still cried like a baby at her saying her race was lonely and that's the reason they seeded life everywhere.

This used to be a B-tier episode for me, but after watching it again I can't give it more than a C. The second half has too many (unhinged) characters, and a rushed ending given the universe-shaking revelation. The idea was cool, but it's a bad translation from the page to the screen.

I remember enjoying this episode as a fun adventure back when it originally aired, but I agree with the criticism that it was too big of a story to cram into 40 minutes and would've made a better two part episode. It's still an A from me though.

C tier. Didn't have as a big an issue with the Klingon's performance. Personally liked the scene with Data, just to show that this guy is meant to be taken as a Klingon that is less than 'honorable'. The cosmic mystery isn't really my cup of tea, but it is saved slightly by the idea of Federation, Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans all on the hunt for this program. Good ending with Picard and the Romulan commander.

S tier for me. An excellent episode.

I upped it an extra tier because I love the professor's portrayal and the whole discussion about the relic he brought along as a present.

Rat Race in space, but not funny.