TNG Season 2

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

This article is written
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1 Episodes
2 Summary
3 Background Information
- 3.1 See also

[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 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 Worf receives a promotion 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

Out of all seven seasons of The Next Generation, this is the only one in which Gates McFadden does not appear.
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.
From the second season Worf serves as chief security officer and La Forge (promoted to full Lieutenant) as chief engineer, both wear gold uniforms instead of red; 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.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was released during the run of this season.
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 and his replacement by Richard James.