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Fans are used toStar Trekseasons ending on a high, but it took a while for the franchise to set the template. TheOriginal Seriesdidn’t end any of its three years on a particularly strong note, which carried through toStar Trek: The Next Generation.TNG’s second year was hit by the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, an exodus of writers, and despite being reduced to 22 episodes, it was short of budget at the year’s end. While it would only be a year untilTNGset the bar forStar Trekseason cliffhangers withThe Best of Both Worlds, the second year ended with a bottle episode.
Even today, beyond the syndication model that shippedTNGout to networks and effectively blocked story arcs, the bottle episode format is famous. The budget-saving format that used reduced cast, sets, and footage from previous episodes has been parodied in shows likeCommunityandTeen Titans Go!Still, it’s pretty uncommon at the end of a series.TNG’s second-year finale, which sees Commander Riker contract an alien infection, has the odd distinction of not just ending the year weakly but with what’s regarded as one of the worst episodes of all time.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2
Main Cast
Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Wil Wheaton
22
Where To Watch
Stream onParamount+; Buy onApple TV+.
Season Two ended withStar Trek’s first clip show. In ‘Shades of Gray,’ fans catch up with the USS Enterprise as it carries out the first geological survey of a jungle planet, and Riker has already picked up an injured. As thetransporter’s useful biofilterscan’t screen out the unidentified microbes in Riker’s signal, Dr. Pulaski beams down before clearing him for sickbay. As Riker says in the episode:
I’m surprised they don’t happen more often — after all, we are exploring the unknown.
As Riker’s leg goes numb, Pulaski confirms that a microorganism with elements of bacteria and virus is spreading through the commander’s body. She warns that it’s fused to his nervous system at a molecular level and could kill him if it reaches his brain. Geordi La Forge and Data head to the planet to find the culprit, a predatory vine that strikes at animal life with giant thorns.An ever-entertaining patient, Riker has one-to-ones with Picard and then Troi, proclaiming, “I haven’t given up” before he falls into a coma.
Pulaski keeps Riker’s brain stimulated with electrical impulses, triggering memories (clips) from previous stories until she discovers that different memories can stop the infection. After a clip from ‘The Last Outpost’ shows Riker lost on an ominous alien planet, ‘Encounter at Farpoint’ has him meeting Data for the first time, and ‘The Dauphin,’ oddly recounts his coaching of Wesley Crusher as he roleplays some comedy roleplaying with Guinan.Inspired, Pulaski stimulates Riker’s romantic memories, much to the discomfort of Troi, who’s reading her Imzadi’s emotions.
A clip from ‘The Icarus Factor" recalls Riker saying goodbye to Troi before being led away for some pleasure in the paradise of ‘Justice" and practices his Humphrey Bogart patter with self-aware hologram Minuet in ‘11001001’. As Troi bristles at the “erotic memories,” he seduces Beata, the leader of an alien world in ‘Angel One’ and is then seduced by Brenna Odell aboard the Enterprise in ‘Up the Long Ladder.’When Pulaski deduces that passionate memories are doubling the organism’s growth rate, she stimulates Riker’s brain endorphins to induce darker memories, much to Troi and the audience’s relief.
The first memory isTasha Yar’s pointless death in ‘Skin of Evil,‘followed by the demise of Troi’s child in the bizarre Season Two opener ‘The Child.’ Riker stands up to the second officer aboard the Klingon Bird of Prey Pagh in ‘A Matter of Honor,’ before parasite-infected Admiral Quinn soundly beats him in ‘Conspiracy.’ When Riker only has half an hour to live, Pulaski is forced to stimulate even darker memories.
Quick-fire clips show Riker being tortured in ‘Symbiosis,’ attacked by Ferengi in ‘The Last Outpost,’ and dragged into the malevolent oil slick Armus ‘Skin of Evil.’ After setting the Enterprise self-destruct in ‘11001001’ and narrowly helping Klingons escape the exploding vessel Batris in ‘Heart of Glory,’ the iconic phasering of Commander Remmick’s head in ‘Conspiracy’ eradicates the infection.The episode quickly wraps up with the awake Riker demonstrating his marvelous sense of humor as the Enterprise soars away from the planet that almost killed him.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2’s Biggest Story Arcs
The finale of season one left fan expectations high. It signaled theRomulans’ in-universe return with a new lookand powerful addition to their fleet in the D’deridex warbird. However, creator Gene Roddenberry opposed too many appearances by the alien race, and they only appeared once in the second year.
There were no massive storylines in the second year ofTNG, which is typical of its syndicated release, but there were notable first appearances.Big introductions includedProfessor James Moriarty in ‘Elementary, Dear Data,‘most recently seen again inStar Trek: Picard. Lwaxana Troi, played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, provided her first comic relief before subsequent appearances inTNGandDeep Space Nine.
Most notable was the first onscreen appearance of the Borg. The eerie episode ‘Q Who’ saw the mischievous Q propel the Enterprise thousands of light years into the Delta Quadrant forStarfleet’s first engagement with the Collective.This paved the way for the Borg to become the definitiveTNGthreat on the small and big screen and play a significant role inStar Trek: Voyager.
Other episodes provided threads for major stories that would be picked up and explored in later series. A notable example is ‘The Measure of a Man,’ which explored Data’s rights of self-determination and would form a significant part ofStar Trek: Picarddecades later. The finale, ‘Shades of Gray,’ wouldn’t prove so influential.
What do fans think of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2’s ending?
The clip show that ends TNG’s shortest season has struggled to conjure up much love. In fact, ‘Shades of Gray’ fails on almost every level. Fans and critics have cited multiple genre shows that have handled clip shows far better, including many examples inStargate SG1. Other episodes ofStar Trekare considered to have handled the threat of alien infection far better. They includeStar Trek: Voyager‘Resolutions’ and ‘Operation – Annihilate! Which closed the first season of theOriginal Series.
The writer of ‘Shades of Gray,’ and Season Two showrunner Maurice Hurley didn’t have kind words for the story inCaptains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages. He called it “Terrible, just terrible, and a way to save some money,” and a few other choice words.It was Hurley’s final episode ofStar Trek, just as it was for Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski. Both departures went relatively unnoticed.
On Reddit, ‘Shades of Gray’ is central to a lively and colorful debate aboutthe worst episodes ofStar Trek. While there are several contenders inStar Trek’s hundreds of episodes, theTNGSeason Two finale is undoubtedly up there and will likely remain. As Riker says in the episode:
This bug is persistent, I’ll admit that.
At the very least, theSeason Two finale is considered boring. While the episode insists that facing death is an ultimate test of character, ‘Shades of Gray’ falls foul of many pitfalls that come with clip shows. For one, the meta potential of clips from episodes showing events from an audience’s point of view doesn’t work as a character’s memory, even when they are stimulated to fight infection.
It remains incredible that the second year ofTNGended with a clip show and a clear indication of the tumultuous couple of years the series overcame to become a legendary TV show.As the cliche goes, it’s always darkest before dawn. Apparently, that’s even true in space. The vast improvement seen inTNGSeason Three and the cliffhangers the show would pioneer a year later owe a lot to ‘Shades of Gray.’
