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TNG Season 2

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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)

Contents

[edit] Episodes

Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
The Child 2x01 40272-127 42073.1 1988-11-21
Where Silence Has Lease 2x02 40272-128 42193.6 1988-11-28
Elementary, Dear Data 2x03 40272-129 42286.3 1988-12-05
The Outrageous Okona 2x04 40272-130 42402.7 1988-12-12
Loud As A Whisper 2x05 40272-132 42477.2 1989-01-09
The Schizoid Man 2x06 40272-131 42437.5 1989-01-23
Unnatural Selection 2x07 40272-133 42494.8 1989-01-30
A Matter Of Honor 2x08 40272-134 42506.5 1989-02-06
The Measure Of A Man 2x09 40272-135 42523.7 1989-02-13
The Dauphin 2x10 40272-136 42568.8 1989-02-20
Contagion 2x11 40272-137 42609.1 1989-03-20
The Royale 2x12 40272-138 42625.4 1989-03-27
Time Squared 2x13 40272-139 42679.2 1989-04-03
The Icarus Factor 2x14 40272-140 42686.4 1989-04-24
Pen Pals 2x15 40272-141 42695.3 1989-05-01
Q Who 2x16 40272-142 42761.3 1989-05-08
Samaritan Snare 2x17 40272-143 42779.1 1989-05-15
Up The Long Ladder 2x18 40272-144 42823.2 1989-05-22
Manhunt 2x19 40272-145 42859.2 1989-06-19
The Emissary 2x20 40272-146 42901.3 1989-06-29
Peak Performance 2x21 40272-147 42923.4 1989-07-10
Shades of Gray 2x22 40272-148 42976.1 1989-07-17

[edit] Summary

Season 2 saw the departure of Dr. Beverly Crusher to head Starfleet Medical and her subsequent replacement by Dr. Katherine Pulaski. A number of stories focus on the development of Data, introducing him to his "grandfather," revealing his interest in Sherlock Holmes, determining his status as a living being, and revealing to him the moral implications of the Prime Directive. He also clashes several times with Dr. Pulaski, who does not initially regard him as a living being.

Commander William T. Riker is also a focus of this season, settling his differences with his estranged father, deciding to give up an offer for his own command so that he can remain on the USS Enterprise-D, becoming the first Starfleet officer to serve on a Klingon vessel, and nearly dying after becoming infected by a deadly alien parasite.

Lieutenant, J.G. Worf becomes chief of security and meets his mate, K'Ehleyr, and their son, Alexander, is conceived. Guinan comes on board the Enterprise-D to serve as bartender in Ten Forward, and significantly, Q introduces the crew of the Enterprise-D to the Borg, their most dangerous adversary yet.

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Production

  • Due to the Screen Writers Guild Strike in 1988, Season 2 only contained 22 episodes, opposed to the usual 26 episodes with "The Child", the season premiere, airing initially in late November 1988. Because of this, the script for the premiere episode, "The Child", was 'borrowed' from Star Trek: Phase II, and the finale episode, "Shades of Gray" was featured as a 'clip show' -- as it primarily contained clips from the previous 47 episodes.
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was released during the run of this season.

[edit] Cast and characters

  • In the second season, Lieutenant, J.G. Worf serves as chief security officer and begins wearing a gold uniform, although he will not be promoted to full Lieutenant until the beginning of season 3. Also, La Forge is promoted to full Lieutenant and chief engineer during the break between seasons 1 and 2 and begins wearing a gold uniform in "The Child". The Ten Forward set appears with Whoopi Goldberg in the recurring role of Guinan; Riker starts wearing a beard; also, during this season, Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski replaces Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher. Out of all seven seasons of The Next Generation, this is the only one in which Gates McFadden does not appear.
  • Guest star Diana Muldaur is generally considered a regular cast member, as her character appears in all but two episodes and otherwise fulfills the role of a main character.
  • Regarding Riker's beard: because of the long hiatus between the first two seasons, due to the writer's strike, Frakes grew a beard, mainly because he dislikes shaving. Roddenberry liked it, and the beard became a permanent part of Riker's character. (Trek: The Next Generation Crew Book) Frakes would not be seen again, beardless, until Star Trek: Insurrection; additionally, he was seen wearing only a circle beard or moutee (a type of goatee) in DS9: "Defiant". "Growing the beard" has since become a term for when a show turns "good" (a reverse of "jumping the shark"), in reference to this.[1]

[edit] Settings

  • The Enterprise bridge set was modified for the second season. The bridge features new storage lockers on both sides of the set, which would remain with the set until the end of the series' run. In addition, Picard's chair was modified, with the panels on the armrests permanently opened, and two additional small seats added on the sides of Riker's and Troi's chairs. The conn and ops station chairs are replaced with new swiveling chairs. There is also an additional station at the rear of the bridge, an engineering control panel for the newly promoted Geordi La Forge.
  • A new sickbay set was constructed featuring portions of the set from the first season combined with a new intensive care ward, freeing up the portion of the set that also doubled as the observation lounge.
  • The Ten Forward lounge makes its debut this season, being the last TNG set designed by Herman Zimmerman before he left for Star Trek V. He was replaced by Richard James.

[edit] See also


Previous Season:
TNG Season 1
Seasons of
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Next Season:
TNG Season 3
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