from Tracy Tormé's script, to Joseph Scanlan's direction, to Ed Brown's cinematography, to every actor's performance. There's a reason 'The Big Goodbye' is the only Star Trek episode to win a Peabody." He gave the episode an A grade. Writing for Den of Geek in 2012, James Hunt said that the risk of disintegration on the holodeck was "insane" and was rectified in later episodes. He thought that the episode stood out from the others in the first season due to the prototype holodeck story. "The holodeck will break again and again over the years, but rarely in a way any more interesting than this. Not that The Big Goodbye was particularly interesting, but it has the rare fortune of being first," Hunt wrote. Michelle Erica Green of TrekNation praised the dialogue but felt the episode did not "hold up to a lot of logical analysis". She also said it was a "fun" episode that "set the stage" for holodeck episodes featuring the sentient Professor Moriarty hologram in "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle". Writing for The A.V. Club, Zack Handlen observed "a certain flatness" in parts of the episode and considered it "very silly" for the characters to slowly disintegrate after leaving the holodeck. Although he said the holodeck in "The Big Goodbye" was similar to "an Xbox that periodically eats your cat", he gave the episode an overall grade of B−. In 2016, Syfy ranked this the 7th best holodeck episode of the Star Trek franchise. In 2017, Den of Geek listed "The Big Goodbye" as one of the top ten ground-breaking episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, noting how it was first 'holodeck episode' on the show and "set the precedent"; it "established how the holodeck could be used to liven up the show and expand its horizons." They note its influence on later holodeck episodes such as "Ship in a Bottle" and "Hollow Pursuits". In 2019, CBR ranked this the 11th best holodeck-themed episode of all Star Trek franchise episodes up to that time. In 2019, Den of Geek recommended rewatching this episode as background for Star Trek: Picard. In 2020, Looper listed this one of the best episodes for Jean Luc Picard. Media releases "The Big Goodbye" was released on VHS cassette in the United States and Canada on August 26, 1992. The episode was released on the Star Trek: The Next