Want an Indiana Jones-style adventure? How about a gumshoe detective mystery? Impassioned military courtroom drama? Heated light-counting debate? Ignoring the prime directive? Chances are, there’s a The Next Generation episode with Captain Picard at its center. From the goofy to the serious and everything in between, there’s something for everyone.

10 S1 Episode 25: Conspiracy

While not high on a lot of The Next Generation lists, Conspiracy really showcases Picard’s strength of character early on in the series. An old friend invites Picard to a secret meeting (along with two other Starfleet captains) to discuss a farfetched plot hatched by Starfleet Command to replace captains who died under strange circumstances. Picard doesn’t indulge the idea and returns to the Enterprise only then to see his old friend blow up. He then returns to Earth to investigate what’s going on with the Federation and finds that alien worms have taken over the minds of Starfleet Command’s upper echelon.

At any point, Picard could have let the threat of losing his career get the better of his principles, but he forges ahead nonetheless to root out the conspiracy and avenge his friend. This episode also has one of the most surprising (and surprisingly gruesome) death scenes of any Star Trek villain.

9 S1 Episode 12: The Big Goodbye

Another lighthearted episode, but an important one nonetheless, The Big Goodbye begins The Next Generation’s longstanding tradition of holodeck adventures. It also introduces us to Picard’s fascination with pulp mysteries similar to that of Sherlock Holmes.

This episode is so foundational to The Next Generation’s makeup, in fact, that the episode’s holodeck program makes a cameo in the 1996 movie, First Contact. And, if the idea of a Picard-as-Sherlock adventure isn’t enticing enough, he also delivers an incredible (and unintelligible) monologue in an alien language.

8 S3 Episode 19: Captain’s Holiday

Only a man of Jean-Luc’s tireless work ethic would have to be forced to take a vacation on Risa, and that’s exactly what Captain’s Holiday is all about. After negotiating a difficult treaty, Troi and Riker successfully convince Picard to take a breather on the famous pleasure planet. However, Picard being Picard, he’s immediately drawn into a mystery surrounding an artifact known as a Tox Uthat, a quantum phase inhibitor powerful enough to halt the fusion process of a star.

Picard does his best Indiana Jones impression in the episode: he digs holes, explores caves, finds the treasure, and eventually gets the girl (kind of).

7 S2 Episode 16: Q Who

No top 10 The Next Generation episode list can leave out Q Who, which features the first canonical appearance of the relentless and terrifying Borg. Picard’s arrogance is tested by Q, an extradimensional being of extraordinary power, who teleports the Enterprise thousands of lightyears away to an unexplored quadrant of the galaxy. There, they find the remains of an industrialized civilization that the Borg had assimilated long ago, not to mention a Borg cube, which nearly destroys the Enterprise in dramatic fashion.

Picard is forced to admit that humanity isn’t prepared for everything in the universe, and he’s humbled as a result. This episode also marks the beginning of Picard’s complicated relationship with the Borg.

6 S3 Episode 26: The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1

A year later, the Borg show up on humanity’s doorstep. While the Borg have changed over the years, they’ve always been a force to be reckoned with, and this episode perfectly encapsulates that constant threat. How? Well, a single Borg cube enters Federation space and proceeds to wreak havoc, then heads directly for Earth.

The Enterprise can do nothing to slow the cube’s progress. To make matters worse, Picard gets captured and forcibly turned into a human Borg hybrid, a liaison between Earth and the Borg to facilitate the assimilation process. Picard assumes a new name, Locutus of Borg, in this new, perverted role of “diplomat.”

5 S4 Episode 21: The Drumhead

When Picard’s not busy moonlighting as Locutus, solving mysteries, or discovering ancient artifacts, he’s usually doing what he’s best at; talking. Some of Picard’s best character moments are found in episodes heavy on dialogue. It’s a credit to Patrick Stewart’s performance that Picard is remembered fondly in the Star Trek fandom.

In The Drumhead, an ongoing conspiracy coincides with a warpcore accident that’s misidentified as sabotage; Admiral Satie comes aboard to root out the conspiracy and begins pointing fingers at anyone unfortunate enough to cross her path. After imploring the Admiral to drop the hearings, Picard is accused of treason and put on trial. What follows is a military courtroom drama wherein Picard is forced to defend his actions throughout the series thus far, and the arguments between him and Admiral Satie are some of the best dialogue in the series.

4 S4 Episode 01: The Best Of Both Worlds, Part 2

One of the things Satie brings up during Picard’s trial is, in fact, an incident from this episode: the massacre at Wolf 359. Remember when Picard was forcibly transformed into Locutus of Borg? Well, the Federation sent an armada to deal with that pesky Borg cube (again, a single Borg cube), and Locutus led the Borg in annihilating that armada. The battle took place in the Wolf system, near its primary planet (hence Wolf 359).

Not only does Picard’s experience as Locutus inform his character as the series goes on (the trauma has lasting effects, most notably expressed in the film First Contact) but it also informs the captain of another Star Trek show: Captain Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine.

3 S5 Episode 02: Darmok

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. What does it mean? Why is this alien speaking in riddles? And how is Picard supposed to get back to the Enterprise if he can’t understand what’s being said to him?

This episode is one of The Next Generation’s most celebrated entries, and for good reason; it features Picard and a humanoid alien named Dathon as they try to outwit a monstrous creature that’s stalking them. The twist? Picard’s handy universal translator can’t decipher Dathon’s language. The adventure that follows is better seen than read, so no spoilers!

2 S5 Episode 25: The Inner Light

One of the more introspective episodes of The Next Generation is also one of its best. The Inner Light follows Picard as he’s incapacitated by an alien probe and “reborn” as a man named Kamin on a planet called Kataan. While the rest of the Enterprise crew try to wake their captain, Picard lives out this new life, spanning decades, as the planet slowly becomes unlivable. It turns out that these are the finals years of this civilization, and for some reason, Picard is there to witness them.

Though Picard initially rejects his new life as Kamin, he eventually comes to accept it as his own. He settles down with Kamin’s spouse, has children, raises them, and starts playing the flute. Picard awakens aboard the Enterprise at the end of the episode, having lived a whole lifetime in the span of minutes. We see him mourn the loss of his family, but on the bright side, he’s finally mastered the flute.

1 S6 Episode 10: Chain of Command, Part 2

At this point in the series, tensions between the Federation and the Cardassian Union have reached a crisis point. Military conflict appears inevitable, especially so with Captain Picard being held prisoner and tortured by a Cardassian officer named Gul Madred.

How many lights are there? Four? Five? Picard’s mental fortitude is once again tested and pushed to its absolute limit, culminating in one of Picard’s most triumphant moments in the series.

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