The Cage
Where No Man Has Gone Before
Encounter at Farpoint
Emissary
The Caretaker
Broken Bow
The Vulcan Hello
Trying to compare and contrast these pilot episodes is like trying to compare and contrast apples and oranges. They are all pilots, but they are as different as can be. Why? Because they are all a product of their times. The only two that can even come close are the two TOS pilots, The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before, but even those two were extremely different. The second was created in response to network executives believing that Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future was “too cerebral” and too tolerant of diversity and not enough sexist. A female second in command? Never! Make her a nurse instead and put her in a mini-skirt!
TNG’s pilot sat in judgment of the human race, should we be allowed to infect the universe as we had infected our home planet or should we be condemned out of existence? Emissary showed us we’d be exploring the intersection between science and myth, reality and religion. The Caretaker introduced us to a female captain who would lead and nurture her family through unknown perils. Broken Bow was more interested in solidifying Star Trek mythos than storytelling and The Vulcan Hello comes after nearly two decades of non-stop warfare and incongruously asserts that the Vulcan way is to smack first and ask questions later.
A sign of the times.