If TNG’s first season is the uncomfortable running in of a new warp engine, then its second is steady warp-five cruising with the occasional blast of warp nine. Still a show teeming with the original series’ (“TOS”) sensibilities, repurposed ideas (and this year, whole scripts too), and even a clip show that would shame The Simpsons, TNG’s second season would bring it to the brink of the groundbreaking character drama that would lift its next four seasons onto a pedestal. Here, key players assume their positions. Unstoppable foes are revealed. The stage is set for Michael Piller and his new writing staff.
When we meet the crew again in “The Child”, things have changed significantly. Dr Crusher has left to become the head of Starfleet Medical, leaving her teenage son aboard to continue his studies. The second pip on Geordi La Forge’s collar has been filled in with gold to match the colour of his new uniform, as after an inexplicable precession of bit-part chief engineers in the first season, the Enterprise-D finally gets its resident Scotty. Even more significant is the elevation of “Big, dumb, stupid Worf” to chief of security - a role so suited to his Klingon background that it’s incredible he didn’t start the show in it. And there are new faces too - one of them, a Hollywood star. Having been inspired by Nichelle Nichols’ role in TOS, Whoopie Goldberg requested a birth aboard the Enterprise-D, and would soon find herself there, serving as not only an exotic bartender, but also everything else from adolescent agony aunt to captain’s confidante.
In the same vein, the ship’s new doctor would find herself playing a role that revolved as much around character tension as it would medical matters. In a sharp contrast to the coquettish Dr Crusher, former two-time original series doctor Diana Muldaur would spend much of her time trying to put Data and Picard in their places with a hard edge and dry humour reminiscent of Bones’s. This might not have been what the writers originally had in mind for Dr Pulaski, but it certainly helped to promote the feeling of family upon which the show would build its success. It also helped that not every one of her patients died in her care - Beverly Crusher’s first-season mortality rates were shocking for someone soon to be promoted to such dizzy heights. Not that Pulaski’s diligence would be enough to earn Muldaur a spot on the opening credits...
Despite the run’s shaky bookends, which were borne of a writers’ strike at one end and a shortage of funds at the other, Season 2 does contain half a dozen world-beating episodes; a dozen or so good ones; and a small number that still don’t quite measure up to later seasons. Even these, though, aren’t the write-offs that the first season’s many flops were. “Where Silence Has Lease”, for example, is plagued by a surfeit of logical holes, but saved by moments of real finesse. Picard’s candid musings on the mysteries of existence in that episode offer a far more reasonable summation of humanity’s place in the universe than any religion or philosophy that I know of. “The Royale”, meanwhile, borders on the absurd, but is saved by the wry comic performances of Brent Spiner and particularly Michael Dorn, whose blunt reply to the “human female” asking if the away team require room service still tickles me today. Classic Worf. Even the inexcusably frivolous and borderline offensive “Samaritan Snare” is saved by a superbly written and charmingly played little subplot that sees Captain Picard open up to Wesley Crusher about his heart problem and the folly that led him to it.
And the season’s standout episodes are up there amongst the series’ finest, if not the franchise’s. From the action and intrigue of the explosive space opera “Contagion” to the unsettling sci-fi horror of “Time Squared” and thought-provoking courtroom drama of “The Measure of a Man”, Season 2 is not afraid to take chances with the format and the characters. Melinda M Snodgrass’ episode is an especially good example of TNG’s increasing confidence as it deals with a moral issue that is perhaps more complex than any ever tackled by Gene Roddenberry in TOS, and this is reflected in its hesitant outcome, which manages to successfully close the story without succumbing to the black-and-white sermonising of many a Kirk wrap-up. For me, this makes the 24th century a much more fascinating place than the 23rd as it is depicted in TOS.
One surprising highlight of the season is its obligatory holodeck episode, “Elementary, Dear Data”, which pits Data’s Sherlock Holmes against a holographic Moriarty who suddenly finds himself vested with consciousness. Daniel Davis does a terrific job of gradually softening the infamous criminal mastermind as sentience dawns and he grows beyond his programming (laying the groundwork for Star Trek: Voyager’s emergency medical hologram’s long-running quest for rights and recognition), but what’s especially arresting about the episode is that, much like “The Measure of a Man”, it’s brave enough to recognise that certain ethical quandaries do not have a perfect solution – at least, not one that’s immediately apparent. The episode’s close is criticised by many as a cop-out, but to me it’s exactly the opposite – an admission that, for all their brilliance, the crew of the Enterprise-D have their limitations.
Such limitations are brought into sharp focus by Maurice Hurley’s “Q Who?”, a deeply unsettling adventure that brings in a new big bad to finally put the series on the map. Undoubtedly the eeriest of all the franchise’s Borg episodes, “Q Who?” has a haunting, lonely sense to it that makes for exceptionally disturbing viewing, even today. Flung across the galaxy by Q, who’s intent on humbling the “arrogant” Picard, the Enterprise-D crew find themselves completely out of their depth in the path of a race unlike anything that they’ve ever encountered before.
With their colossal, cubic ships and hive mind, the Borg are an immediately overwhelming presence. What makes them truly terrifying though is their apathy - the Borg Collective isn’t evil, but dispassionate. It beams drones aboard the Enterprise-D not to threaten or cajole, but to hack into the main computer. It slices up the ship up just to learn about it, blithely slaughtering dozens of crew members in the process. Even without a clear interest in assimilating individuals, which would be introduced a year or so later to devastating effect, the Borg instantly elevate the series.
“Q Who?” also underlines this budding conception that the Enterprise-D crew, and even her captain, are not infallible. Q may have been the one to pull the trigger here, but it is Picard’s hubris that leads his ship into its premature showdown with the Borg. As such, all the horrors that would follow it are as much on Picard as his omnipotent antagonist. And, as Patrick Stewart’s furrowed brow and cracking voice make plain, the captain knows it. In HD you can almost see him sweat.
These days, “Q Who?” would have been the season finale – Discovery ending on a stand-alone episode, let alone a clip show is unthinkable – but Season 2 marched on past it regardless with fluff the likes of “Up the Long Ladder” and “Manhunt”, as well as hidden gems like “The Emissary”, which starts Worf down the long, format-shattering arc that would continue throughout TNG and into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The season nonetheless ends on a whimper; albeit a whimper retrospectively made bearable by the knowledge that better is to come.
As with the first season’s release, the audio and visual quality of the presentation is outstanding. The show’s spruced-up sets and fresh carpets dazzle and the uniform colours pop even more brightly than in Season 1, no doubt enhanced by the better quality film stock from which these HD transfers were taken. The sound is especially good, even on the quieter bottle shows which you wouldn’t necessarily expect to be impressed. The ubiquitous rumble of the ship’s engines – a sound now as synonymous with meditation and sleep apps as it is TNG – is always audible, yet dialogue remains crisp and small details like turbolift doors and combadges are always perfectly positioned. All round, it’s a triumph.
“Twenty-five years in the Royal Shakespeare Company for this!”
Fortunately for his fellow actors, Stewart eventually came around to the idea that fun “oiled the wheels of the schedule,” though to hear them all speak of their fears of first-season cancellation and then second-season sackings (following the outspoken Gates McFadden’s firing), it sounds like it took them a few years to reach that comfortable place. However, whilst it’s fair to say that the actors do not pull their punches when they discuss the more unpleasant aspects of working on the series, the cast’s reunification might well have been the actual crew’s, such is the strength of their evident bond. It’s clearly with great pride and fondness that these eight distinguished performers look back on their time on TNG – and their time with each other.
Despite being an instalment shorter than the previous season’s retrospective, Making it So: Continuing The Next Generation only clocks it at around ten minutes less when taken as a whole. Whilst there isn’t quite as much to cover as last time, the show’s second season was nothing if not tumultuous. TNG show already had three strikes against it – it was sci-fi, it was syndicated, it was a sequel – and going into its difficult second year, hopes weren’t high for its survival. Yet the writers’ strike was weathered thanks to some deft repurposing of old Star Trek: Phase II scripts. Beverly Crusher’s absence, and the abrupt end that it brought to her ongoing relationships with her son Wesley and Captain Picard, was turned to the show’s advantage as young Ensign Crusher had to find his feet without his mother, and her commanding officer had to deal with a doctor who’d sooner throttle him than make eyes at him. Better still, a darling of the box office would unexpectedly throw her oversized purple hat into the mix, increasing the series’ profile in the public eye as well as lifting the quality of the production as a whole. Whoopi Goldberg makes “The Dauphin” almost watchable. She makes “Q Who?” transcendent.
Another remarkable new offering is a special extended version of “The Measure of a Man” that Robert Lederman cut together with the existing film using original videotape rushes retained by the writer. Make no mistake, this is far from being another Wrath of Khan job where you’re trying to work out exactly where they’ve squeezed in the three minutes of elusive additional material; this extended episode runs to 57:35 – that’s around thirteen minutes longer than the transmitted episode. Of course, it’s apparent in a few places why certain elements were consigned to the cutting room floor, but overall the quality is such that most of the cuts seem to have been made simply to get the episode down to time.
Spread across the discs in the set are also all the Mission Logs included on the 2002 DVD release, about an hour and a half’s worth in all, along with the original episodic trailers for all twenty-two episodes and some rare deleted scenes from “The Icarus Factor” and “Up the Long Ladder”. This material is all presented in standard-definition, which in the case of the deleted scenes is a little odd, as later sets present their offerings in 1080p, but this time around the obligatory gag reel is in full HD. Rounding out the collection are a tech update looking at the HD remastering of Season 2 - essentially a continuation of the fascinating Energized! featurette – and a couple of short features in which LeVar Burton champions reading across decades and across media.
Season 2 of TNG was certainly a troubled season, but a promising one, and at least until the 64K holodeck edition of the series drops, this Blu-ray collection is by far the best way to experience it. Back when I started writing this review, and it was selling for the better part of forty quid, I would have strongly recommended adding this title to your collection – now that most places are flogging it for about a fiver, it’s an absolute must.
The Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Two Blu-ray is still available to buy, with today’s cheapest retailer being Base who have it listed for just £6.19 with free delivery. Alternatively, The Full Journey Blu-ray box set, which includes all seven seasons (but omits the separately released TV movies and their bonus material) is still available. Amazon are currently cheapest at £64.99 with free delivery, but if you are in no rush to buy, it’s worth bearing in mind that the price often drops to almost half that.
The season’s remastered HD episodes are currently streaming on Netflix, and digital copies are available to buy from both iTunes and Amazon Instant Video for £2.49 each or £39.99 for the whole season. The Blu-ray’s bonus material is exclusive to the physical release.
