Part II, Chapter IV: "Where None Had Gone Before"
“Season 2 certainly a step in the right direction for the show. We got our hands burnt pretty badly with Season 1, and there were so many lessons to learn from it. We got in new writers, a couple of new cast members, and perhaps most importantly, I got a beard.”
- Jonathan Frakes, taken from
Where None Had Gone Before. [1]
The production of Season 2 of
Star Trek: The Next Generation would begin during the airing of the first season. The mixed reaction to the first season would result in many changes to the show. Firstly, the departures of both Crosby and McFadden would result in replacements being needed.
For Crosby’s character of Tasha Yar, it was decided that rather than to bring in a new cast member, the character of Lt. Worf would be made larger, and would retain his new role as chief of security. However, McFadden’s character, Dr Beverly Crusher, was a larger character in her own right, being the Chief Medical Officer.
Her replacement would come in the form of Diana Mulduar, and the character of Dr Katherine Pulaski. While initially planned as a long term replacement for Dr Crusher, Mulduar had little intension of remaining beyond a season. Mulduar’s decision early on to depart after the season would result in a replacement for her being sought out. [2]
Pulaski would be a character quite similar to that of Dr McCoy from the Original Series, and her interactions with Data would, in the eyes of many, be reminiscent of those between McCoy and Spock. [3]
New writers would be brought on to replace the many who had left following the first season, but there would soon be more trouble. In early 1988, the Writers Guild of America would go on strike, their longest in history. While this would have little effect on
The Next Generation’s main rival
Doctor Who, this would have a great many effects on Season 2. [4]
The main effect would be the reduction of the season by four episodes, with suggestions that the final episode of the season be made primarity of clips of previous ones, though ideas such as these were quickly shot down due to lack of originality. The strike would only serve to widen the growing rift between the writing staff and the main cast of the show, with one writer even going so far as to suggest that all of the cast be killed off, and replaced. [5]
The second season would bring in two new long running enemies, the adaptable Borg and the mysterious Iconians. The Borg were written to be the reasoning behind the disappearances from the Season 1 story “The Neutral Zone”. Able to adapt to almost any situation, and wishing to assimilate all life in the galaxy, they would prove to be one of the most important enemies in the series.
The Iconians, in contrast, were not even shown on screen. An ancient civilisation predating even the T’Kon Empire mentioned in the first season, they were hinted to still be alive, and manipulating events from behind the scenes, gathering intelligence on the powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, while plotting their own return to the galaxy. [6]
A minor character, known as Guinan, was to be introduced in the second season, to be portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg. A long time fan of the franchise, Goldberg was given a role at her own request. The character of Guinan would run Ten Forward, the bar on the Enterprise-D, and would act as a confidante for the cast members. [7]
The second season would also be the first to air after the return of
Doctor Who to television, and
Star Trek would take a great many lessons from it. Firstly, there were topics that had been suggested for episodes, but turned down due to Paramount’s fear of potential public backlash. Most notably, there was David Gerrold’s script “Blood and Fire”, which had been made for
Doctor Who after his departure from
Star Trek.
While
Doctor Who had suffered some backlash, the response was mainly positive, and had seemingly established the genre of Science Fiction as a safe environment for those who were so often discriminated against. While there would be no episodes tacking issues quite as important as those of
Blood and Fire, other matters such as whether a machine can ever be judged as alive were dealt with, and there would be no shortage of “social issue stories” in the future. [8]
And so, with many a lesson learned, a new doctor, and a beard,
Star Trek: The Next Generation would boldly go into its second season. [9]
[1] I had to mention "Growing the Beard" here. While the connotation of quality don't quite hit until season 3, the beard is here.
[2] Mulduar had no intention of staying past Season 2. Who replaces her is a question for another time, presumably one where I have an answer.
[3] The eyes of many, not me. Most of S2 is intact. I found her interactions with Data made her come across as rude and unlikable. I never really warmed to her, but then I did watch all of S2 in two days, and immediately went onto S3.
[4] Doctor Who is a transatlantic production, ergo, half the writers aren't on strike. It will have an effect, one that will be explored later, but not a massive one like it does here.
[5] Genuine suggestion from one of the writers. He felt that the cast's egos were too large. I won't do anything quite so bold/completely stupid as this, but suffice it to say that nobody is irreplaceable. This is Alternate History after all, we thrive off of replacement.
[6] They won't appear on screen for quite some time, but the hints made during the show will be a little more overt. You'll find that I'm going to take some ideas from the books and Star Trek Online, but anything major for a little while (with one exception in Season 3).
[7] Guinan will be potentially even more interesting as a character than in OTL. I shan't reveal my plans just yet, but suffice it to say that there is more to her than meets the eye.
[8] What with the writers strike, there are few scrapped episodes for this season, not like there are for the others at least. As a result, the major story changes happen from Season 3 onwards.
[9] Sorry, I appreciate that wasn't very funny, but I couldn't help myself. Apologies about the wait, I think my little sabattical is over for now.