The second season of Next Gen is actually better than I remember.
As I'm sure I've stated in these reviews before, particularly in regards to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, my opinion of some of this material is changing before my eyes. I remember the second season of Next Gen not being particularly enjoyable or much of an improvement over the first. Nearly every Star Trek series truthfully doesn't get very good until they manage to find their footing a couple seasons in. Which does make sense, since you want to give the writers time to decide exactly what kind of stories they want to tell as the cast starts feeling out who their characters are and start fitting together like jigsaw pieces. But surprisingly, as much as I recall disliking this season in the past, I actually rather enjoyed much of this season a second time around.
Before I get too far, this review is the latest in a series I'm doing for my mega Star Trek franchise rewatch! If you're interested in reading my thoughts on everything that came before this season, click here to visit the Complete Collection! Also be sure to follow me on Bluesky where I post live commentary while I'm watching along with thoughts and opinions all sorts of other stuff. Lastly, you can find my personal website by clicking here.
If you're paying close attention, the cast photo included here looks fairly different. Denise Crosby's character of security chief Tasha Yar was killed halfway through the first season, since Crosby wanted to pursue other acting projects. Reportedly, she felt that there wasn't enough character development for her on Next Gen, and wanted to feel as though she was doing more than being “just stage dressing.” Gates McFadden, who played chief medical officer Dr. Beverly Crusher, is also absent this season. Without much explanation, we're told that Dr. Crusher went to work at Starfleet Medical while her son, Wesley, continues his studies as an acting ensign aboard the Enterprise. Seems strange that a mother would choose to leave her teenage son under such circumstances, but that's all we really get. Turns out that, behind the scenes, McFadden had been a little critical of the episode “Angel One,” which she described as sexist. She also questioned her character Beverly, which seemed to anger Maurice Hurley, the head writer of the show at the time. This resulted in her not being asked to return for the second season. On actor Michael Rosenbaum's podcast Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, McFadden explained, “I definitely pissed off Hurley. Because I kept saying, ‘Why is it that I've raised this genius kid...and yet every time there's anything serious it's only the male characters who talk to him?’” Honestly, McFadden's entire absence this season is a real bummer.
Two new characters are brought in to bolster the number of women on the show in the absence of both Crosby and McFadden, which would have otherwise left Marina Sirtis as the only woman in the cast. In Crusher's place as the new chief of medical is Dr. Katherine Pulaski, played by Diana Muldaur. The actress already had a connection to creator Gene Roddenberry, having guest starred twice on the original Star Trek series1. However, Pulaski is the first character she's stepped into that had semi-regular appearances in the franchise. Her character in Next Gen is quite different from Crusher, as the writers intended her to be more of a parallel to the no-nonsense Dr. McCoy from the original series. She sometimes disagreed with Picard and questioned whether or not Data was much more than a toaster. Truthfully, I remember hating Pulaski, and that her presence in place of Crusher was a downgrade and let it really color my opinion of the entire second season. With this rewatch though, I've actually come to soften my feelings toward both.
In addition to Pulaski, though, the writers also introduced a new recurring character named Guinan, played by established film star at the time, Whoopi Goldberg. In a surprise move, it was actually Goldberg who was interested in appearing on the show, and contacted the producers through LeVar Burton. She had been a fan of the original series, particularly of Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, having found her to be a good role model and representative of black women on television during that time. She agreed to appear in 6 episodes of this season. In contrast to the introduction of Pulaski, Guinan is immediately likeable as the enigmatic bartender in the ship's new Ten Forward lounge. She is quiet, mysterious, and like many bartenders, serves as an unjudgmental ear to listen to the crew's woes during their off hours. She instantly became a fan favorite, and anytime you see Goldberg's credit during the opening scenes of an episode, you know that you're in for a good one. Especially if it involves her coming face-to-face with Q.
The season opener, “The Child,” features Counselor Troi becoming mysteriously pregnant with a child that is growing at an extremely quick pace.2 The episode also introduces both Dr. Pulaski and Guinan, and also informs us that Worf and Geordi have both been placed in their more well-suited positions as chief of security and chief engineer, respectively. While it is a relief to see an episode centered on a character other than the core trio of Picard, Riker, and Data, it still didn't really leave much of an impression on me. Data's first foray as Sherlock Holmes occurs in the holodeck during “Elementary, Dear Data,” which also sees the holographic version of Professor Moriarty nearly take over the Enterprise. I feel like Pulaski is finally given time to really shine in the episode “Unnatural Selection,” in which she races against time to save a research colony (and, eventually, herself) from an illness that causes them to age rapidly and then die.
Truthfully, Next Gen starts really finding its footing with the season's magnificent episode “The Measure of a Man.” This episode features a scientist by the name of Bruce Maddox3 who is trying to study Data and his positronic brain. He eventually reveals that his intent is to actually dismantle Data in order to better understand his construction. Although Maddox insists that it'll be perfectly safe and his memories will be saved, Data gets the impression that being fully taken apart may pose a catastrophic risk to his well-being. Data then refuses to participate in the study, and Maddox then requests that Starfleet involved. Maddox believes that Starfleet “owns” Data as if he, as a machine, is their property. Picard, who fully agrees with Data, requests a hearing to challenge whether or not Data should have his own autonomy or if he will be forced to participate in his potential destruction. The episode manages to bring up a number of interesting topics, including whether what exactly defines an entity as being “sentient,” and whether or not the issue at hand could be considered a form of slavery. The fact that this episode was later used as course material in computer ethics training at the University of Kentucky is proof that the complexities of such dilemmas can resonate, not just within the fictional universe Star Trek populates, but also here and now in the real world.
This is also the season when Star Trek's absolute best villains are introduced. In the episode “Q Who,” the trickster portrayed by John de Lancie reappears to the crew of the Enterprise, judging them to be too confident in their exploration of the stars. He then uses his immense powers to fling the Enterprise 7,000 lightyears across the galaxy where they first come into contact with the Borg. They were intended and designed to serve as a terrifying new antagonist for the Federation, especially after the introduction of the Ferengi last season wound up making it difficult to really fear any one of them. And they did an incredible job. The Borg refer to themselves as a “Collective,” a colossal group of cyborgs that act as one hive mind. Rather than taking the time to develop their own culture and technology, the Borg prefer to “assimilate” other species into their Collective and add their “biological and technological differences” to their own. The show needed a new bad guy, and these guys definitely qualify! This particular skirmish with a Borg cube ultimately ends with Q sending the Enterprise back to their original coordinates, but both he and the mysterious Guinan (whose species has encountered the Borg before) are sure to warn Picard & Co. that the Borg are now aware of their existence and will eventually find their way to Federation space.
Despite all of the season's complexity, it isn't all seriousness, thankfully! In the episode “Samaritan Snare,” we are introduced to one of the more hilarious Star Trek aliens, the Pakleds4, a dimwitted race who try and kidnap Geordi for his engineering skills as they search the cosmos for things to “make their ship go.” The queen of Star Trek herself, Majel Barrett, also returns to the show as Lwaxana Troi5, Deanna's overbearing mother from Betazed, in the episode “Manhunt.” The title is fitting since she comes to the Enterprise in search of a new husband, and both Picard and Riker wind up in her crosshairs. Neither wind up wedded to Lwaxana, but seeing her less-than-subtle attempts be thwarted, along with Deanna's annoyance, provide for some pretty good laughs. Technically, Lwaxana even saves the day! The season finale winds up being a clip show, which is weird and disappointing for a show that was only ending its second season, but again, they were suffering effects from a writer's strike at the time and couldn't really afford to do much more.
The good news about that disappointing finale, however, is that it is both the last episode written by Maurice Hurley, the lead writer who had joined Next Gen in the first season and who had issues with plenty of others employed on the show. He was satisfied with how the writing process seemed to improve in the last half of the season, but ultimately decided to leave during the strike. This opened up the opportunity for Gates McFadden to return as Dr. Beverly Crusher, which she does in the following season. This also means that this is the last time we see Dr. Pulaski, who by the end of the season, I had grown to actually tolerate a lot more than I used to. She was no Dr. Crusher, but I think she was an interesting character who could have been developed into an amazing one had she been given more time on the show. Muldaur was apparently aware that she would likely only appear in one season, so there wasn't too much drama with her departure, but it would have been cool if she had gotten to pop back up in a few episodes here and there. Maybe taking on Crusher's Starfleet Medical position in turn? Who knows??
Now season three awaits, and let me tell you, fellow Trekkies: This is when it all starts to really get good. It's all downhill from here! See you soon! 🖖