I’ve always been a defender of Star Trek TNG Seasons 1 and 2. They at least tried things.

Did it always work? Almost never.

But there’s this episode from season 1 that always haunted me. It’s kinda a popular one: The Big Goodbye. It features legendary actor Lawrence Tierney and it’s about the holodeck malfunctioning. After they fix the problem and the episode is about to end, one of the characters realizes that he’s simply a computer program. As Picard is about to leave, the program asks the Captain a chilling question:

“When you leave and this world still exists, will my wife and kids be waiting on me at home?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

Picard departs and the program ends. End scene.

It gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.