S1E12 The Big Goodbye

Season 1 Episode 12: The Big Goodbye

Watchability: Extra Credit
Short Answer: More of a fun episode than anything else.
Notables: Introduction of the Holodeck episode.

This episode is the first in a long line of episodes that take place mainly on the holodeck. Picard has just acquired a holodeck program that is essentially an interactive novel of one of his favorite characters. The story follows a Private Eye, named Dixon Hill. Picard and a few of the crew participate in the program, and the episode takes place almost entirely inside the holodeck. As seems inevitable with these episodes, the "holodeck safeties" fail and what started out as a pleasant diversion, turns out to be a deadly threat to the crew (dun dun DUUUUN!).

It's hard to say whether this episode is an intentional commentary on video games, movies and other forms of entertainment. At the time the episode aired (1987), there were certainly games that involved interactive storytelling. Sierra, Infocom, and other companies were making the adventure games that made them famous. If nothing else, Zork had been out for over five years. Whether, intentional or not, I think this episode stands up as a being relatively prescient. At one point, Picard raves about how realistic and immersive the experience was for him. It is surprisingly similar to the way that people talk about the latest Xbox game or 3D movie.

Besides that aspect, I am not sure if there is any other serious point. There is an episode later on that explores the dangers of holodeck addiction in a much more obvious way. In large part, I think this episode is just a fun way for the writers/actors to explore the entertainment of the future. For that reason, though I like this episode a lot, I would say that it is not essential.