Star Trek: The Next Generation
Hollow Pursuits
TV Flash files “Hollow Pursuits” as hour 69 of 178 in the TV Flash guide — Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) on Syndication, season 3, episode 21, aired 1990-04-30, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E21: listed hour 69 of 178 in the Star Trek: The Next Generation guide, hour 21 of 26 in season 3. It aired 1990-04-30 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Tin Man” (S03E20). Next is “The Most Toys” (S03E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Stardate: 43807.4 A nervous and insecure officer, Lt. Reginald Barclay, places the Enterprise in great danger when he neglects his duties in Engineering, and instead spends his time acting out his fantasies on the holodeck.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Hollow Pursuits sit in the Star Trek: The Next Generation guide?
S03E21 is listed hour 69 of 178 — hour 21 of 26 in season 3, season 3 episode 21.
When did Star Trek: The Next Generation S03E21 air?
Hollow Pursuits aired 1990-04-30 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Should I skip season one?
You can sample it, then jump. The pilot and early hours wobble; fandom's own catechism is that the series finds its voice mid-run. Stewart's Picard is already the instrument.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Peak optimistic space opera with philosophical teeth — Stewart's Picard is a master class in quiet authority, and Data, Worf, and the Borg made franchise television feel weekly and serious. First-run syndication revived Trek without Kirk. Start with mid-run classics if the pilot feels stiff; Make it so is still a management style.
First-run syndication is a window, not a shrine. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) regenerated Gene Roddenberry's universe without Kirk by putting Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard on a new Enterprise and selling **178 hours across seven seasons** outside a single network night. Rex can keep the original series in amber. This was franchise television learning to drop weekly at scale: idea-driven starship hours, a more ensemble bridge, prestige sci-fi as appointment TV that did not need a peacock to…
Open the Star Trek: The Next Generation package · Season 3 hub
Filed against
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- Brent Spiner as Data
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- LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
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- Michael Dorn as Worf
Michael Dorn’s Worf gave Star Trek: The Next Generation its ridge-and-honor bass — 1980s first-run syndication, Stewart’s Picard as quiet authority, Data, the Borg, optimistic space opera with philosophical teeth. Franchise television…