"The Naked Now" was the first official episode of TNG, after the pilot "Encounter at Farpoint." It initially aired in 1987, and since a large number of people mercifully missed the pilot, it was the first glimpse of TNG for a lot of viewers. It says a great deal for them that they apparently continued to watch the series; this episode is widely considered not only to be the worst TNG episode, it's generally considered a strong candidate for the worst Trek ever. The basic plot is this: The Enterprise encounters another Star Fleet vessel, who, when hailed, respond with a sultry female voice inquiring after "pretty boys," and a statement that they're "having a blowout." This is followed by a loud explosion, identified by Data as an emergency hatch opening. An away team discovers crew members showering fully clothed, and signs of debauchery and bizarre behavior.

By this time, most of the viewers are already thinking of the ST:OS episode "The Naked Time," which was written by John D. F. Black, who also wrote this episode. Yes, it was a deliberate call out to the cult of Trek. Riker remembers reading something about a similar incident in the past, and Data manages to track down the instance; thus giving fans the first specific reference to Kirk in TNG. Dr. Crusher proceeds to work on a serum, and various crew members become infected and "intoxicated." This gives us a scene where Tasha Yar is assured by Data that he is "fully functional," and a number of "cute" moments for the rest of the crew. Wesley of course takes over the bridge, and manges to save the day when the Enterprise is about to be hit by the "core" of a nearby supergiant star (the reason for the first Star Fleet ship's presence in the area), which is about to collapse into a white dwarf. Wesley manages to save the ship, and Dr. Crusher manages to produce a vaccine.

This is, as Wil Wheaton notes in his review, quite possibly the episode that led to the creation of the UseNet news group alt.wesley.die.die.die. This episode has some flashes of good writing, but honestly, it's simply a direct swap for the OS episode that inspired it. There's nothing new here, and I'm embarrassed for both Roddenberry, and the writer, John D.F. Black. Black wrote at least one more episode, but that episode also has some of the same problems with half-witted dialog that this one has. A fair amount of the dialog—most noticeably the lines given to Wesley, Geordi and Dr. Crusher, are the sort of compressed dialog you expect to be in a comic, where such techniques work quite well.

Episode trailer for "The Naked Now"

The previous episode was "Encounter at Farpoint"; the next episode is "Code of Honor."