Quick Links
Highlights
- Despite having a shortened run of episodes, Star Trek: The Next Generation 's second season ended with Star Trek 's first clip show.
- 'Shades of Gray' features Commander Riker battling an alien infection with his memories, and is regarded as one of the worst episodes in Star Trek history.
- It's a strange way to end a year that introduced storylines that would last for decades and revealed the series' major alien threat, the Borg.
Fans are used to Star Trek seasons ending on a high, but it took a while for the franchise to set the template. The Original Series didn’t end any of its three years on a particularly strong note, which carried through to Star 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 until TNG set the bar for Star Trek season cliffhangers with The Best of Both Worlds, the second year ended with a bottle episode.
Even today, beyond the syndication model that shipped TNG out 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 like Community and Teen 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.
6 Coolest Weapons From Star Trek: The Next Generation, Ranked
Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced plenty of sci-fi weapons that kept audiences fascinated and kept the action high.
How does Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 end?
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 |
Number Of Episodes | 22 |
Premiere Date | November 21, 1988 |
Finale Date | July 17, 1989 |
Where To Watch | Stream on Paramount+; Buy on Apple TV+. |
Season Two ended with Star 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 the transporter's useful biofilters can’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.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Best Riker Episodes
Riker has appeared in multiple Star Trek projects, but his episodes on Star Trek: The Next Generation are the most definitive.
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.
Star Trek: What Happened to Thomas Riker?
William Riker was Captain Picard's well-known Number One, but he wasn't the only William Riker in Star Trek.
The first memory is Tasha 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: William Riker's Best Quotes
William Riker has delivered several memorable lines throughout the Star Trek franchise's history. These are some of the best.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2's Biggest Story Arcs
The finale of season one left fan expectations high. It signaled the Romulans' in-universe return with a new look and 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 of TNG, which is typical of its syndicated release, but there were notable first appearances. Big introductions included Professor James Moriarty in 'Elementary, Dear Data,' most recently seen again in Star Trek: Picard. Lwaxana Troi, played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, provided her first comic relief before subsequent appearances in TNG and Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: 5 Important Moments In The Borg's History
The Borg is a frightening alien race from Star Trek, and these are just a few of the most important moments in their history
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 for Starfleet's first engagement with the Collective. This paved the way for the Borg to become the definitive TNG threat on the small and big screen and play a significant role in Star 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 of Star Trek: Picard decades later. The finale, ‘Shades of Gray,’ wouldn’t prove so influential.
Star Trek: Data's Best Quotes
Data is one of the best characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation and his quotes showcase that despite being an android, he's extremely human.
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 in Stargate SG1. Other episodes of Star Trek are considered to have handled the threat of alien infection far better. They include Star Trek: Voyager ‘Resolutions’ and ‘Operation -- Annihilate! Which closed the first season of the Original Series.
The writer of ‘Shades of Gray,’ and Season Two showrunner Maurice Hurley didn’t have kind words for the story in Captains' 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 of Star Trek, just as it was for Diana Muldaur as Dr. Katherine Pulaski. Both departures went relatively unnoticed.
Star Trek: Who Was Dr. Pulaski, And Why Did Fans Hate Her?
Exploring the backlash to this character from The Next Generation, and whether or not it was justified.
On Reddit, ‘Shades of Gray’ is central to a lively and colorful debate about the worst episodes of Star Trek. While there are several contenders in Star Trek’s hundreds of episodes, the TNG Season 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, the Season 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 of TNG ended 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 in TNG Season Three and the cliffhangers the show would pioneer a year later owe a lot to ‘Shades of Gray.’
Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Release Date
- September 28, 1987
- Cast
- Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , Brent Spiner , Gates McFadden , Denise Crosby , Michael Dorn , Marina Sirtis , Wil Wheaton , LeVar Burton , Whoopi Goldberg
- Seasons
- 7
- Creator
- Gene Roddenberry
- Number of Episodes
- 178
