Star Trek: The Next Generation
Future Imperfect
TV Flash files “Future Imperfect” as hour 82 of 178 in the TV Flash guide — Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) on Syndication, season 4, episode 8, aired 1990-11-12, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E08: listed hour 82 of 178 in the Star Trek: The Next Generation guide, hour 8 of 26 in season 4. It aired 1990-11-12 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Reunion” (S04E07). Next is “Final Mission” (S04E09).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
After an aborted mission to an uninhabited planet, Riker awakens in the future with no memory of the past 16 years.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Future Imperfect sit in the Star Trek: The Next Generation guide?
S04E08 is listed hour 82 of 178 — hour 8 of 26 in season 4, season 4 episode 8.
When did Star Trek: The Next Generation S04E08 air?
Future Imperfect aired 1990-11-12 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 4 hub
Filed against
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- Brent Spiner as Data
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- Michael Dorn as Worf
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