Masks (Star Trek: The Next Generation) the entire "Star Trek: The Next Generation" series. Technically, it was chosen as second-worst, but Empire decided that ""—its initial choice for worst episode—didn't count, because "Shades" was a flashback 'clip' episode. Masks (Star Trek: The Next Generation) "Masks" is the seventeenth episode of the of the American science fiction television series "", the 169th episode overall. An alien archive, like an alien Library of Alexandria, initially appearing as a rogue comet because of accumulated matter, transforms the "Enterprise" as well as adapting Lieutenant Commander Data for a re-enactment of its culture's mythology, including the creation of two masks which
Star Trek: The Next Generation viewers. "TNG" premiered the week of September 28, 1987, drawing 27 million viewers, with the two-hour pilot "Encounter at Farpoint". In total, 176 episodes were made (including several two-parters), ending with the two-hour finale "" the week of May 23, 1994. The series was broadcast in first-run syndication with dates and times varying among individual television stations. Several "Star Trek" series followed "The Next Generation": "" (1993–1999), "" (1995–2001), "" (2001–2005), and "" (2017–present). The series formed the basis for the seventh through the tenth of the "Star Trek" films, and is also the setting of numerous novels, comic books,