A station on Deneb IV built by the Bandi, secretly a captured spaceborne life form, investigated by the Enterprise-D on its first mission.
Farpoint Station is a starbase on the planet Deneb IV, built by the Bandi people. In 2364 the Federation was keen to use it, and the USS Enterprise-D, newly launched, was sent to investigate how the Bandi had built it so quickly and how they could make objects appear at will. This was the first mission of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's crew.
The Enterprise crew learned that the station was a captured spaceborne life form that could change its shape and convert energy into matter. Its mate came to free it and attacked the Bandi city. Picard's crew freed the captured being, and the two creatures left together. At the same time, the entity Q put humanity on trial, and Picard's handling of Farpoint was a test of humanity's worth.
Farpoint Station is the setting of Encounter at Farpoint, the first episode of The Next Generation. It introduced the crew, Q and the series' themes of exploration and compassion, and Q's trial would echo all the way to the show's finale.