“Transfigurations”
A severely injured humanoid is found in the wreckage of an escape pod, but he recovers in only 36 hours. The man who suffers from amnesia is called “John Doe” by Dr. Crusher. He seems to have an amazingly salubrious influence on the crew: Geordi, for one, has the luck with woman he was missing so far. When Worf breaks his neck, John heals him in an instant. A Zalkonian ship appears whose commander demands John’s extradition. John’s memory returns and he explains that he is not a criminal, but one of the first of his people to take the next step in evolution towards a being of pure energy, chased by a government that fears the unknown. summary by Ex-Astris-Scientia
Uh oh! I guess this episode marks the beginning of my all-time favourites of Star Trek. While the beginning of TNG was enough to capture me years ago, the rest of the serious made me fall in love with all things Trek. I suppose it starts roughly here - the end of the third season and the beginning of the fourth. And then up until the end…
This one is wonderful. There is romance and mystery and fiction… and Starfleet acting as they should again. (I know Andreas will hate that! 
) Convincing the backward race they shouldn’t be afraid of changes… Yum!
August 30th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
LOL.
It’s not like I hate all instances of Starfleet being noble and idealistic, you know. Otherwise we would hardly have this conversation as I would have abandoned Trek (or at least TNG) years ago. 
It’s been too long for me to clearly remember any details about this episode, but AFAIR I thought it was quite okay. If there was anything in it that I disliked a bit, it must have been that the jump “up the evolutionary ladder” seemed a bit radical to me - too much too quickly. If John had just displayed some kick-ass psychic powers, okay - but him turning into an energy being in the end was just a little bit too much for my taste.
Still, I may have to watch it again one day, if only to see Geordi having some luck with the fair sex. That’s something you don’t get to see in TNG every day.
August 30th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Geordi? Hey, I thought this was a totally different episode. The only instance I remember him get along with a girl was the beginning of… uhmm… can’t remember the title. But it was Dr Brahms or something? When she was replicated on a holodeck? Still a few steps from here. Or am I wrong? LOL! Gotta watch it again tonight - I’ll get back to you later!
August 31st, 2006 at 6:19 am
LOL. You do read the episode summaries you post here, do you?
But I may have been something mentioned only in passing during the episode. I don’t think it was anything like a major plot point here.
August 31st, 2006 at 8:25 am
Uhm… nope. I usually don’t read the summaries. I try to rely on my own memory. Seems it’s leaking a little.
You’re right here, of course. I forgot about John’s miraculous influence on people. Must be because I wasn’t particularly thrilled about it. I mean, it was nice to see Geordi act like a hero (though a tad exaggerated for my taste) but…
Okay, contrary to your impression I didn’t have a problem with the change being so radical. It’s an alien race after all, who are we to judge what the evolution rights might be for them? What I resent a little is this “aura” of goodness around the man. Again, it’s okay that he’s a good person and it’s great we don’t get to know it from the start. But this power… well. Still one of my favourite episodes after all.
September 3rd, 2006 at 9:47 am
Hey, I think I never said you had a problem with the speed of his evolutionary process. It’s something I have a small problem with, nothing more.
Sometimes I find it amazing how we can disagree about so many details of the show and still both enjoy it.
And if you ever watch it again, please post something more about John’s “aura of goodness”. I would be interested in learning if you think that makes him just a step up the evolutionary ladder, or maybe something of a religious figure - a “Jesus analog” or something like it.
(Since you mentioned the “goodness” thing I can’t stop wondering if there wasn’t more… Christianity in this episode than I had thought at first.)