by Emily Maesar, Associate Editor, TVJawn

Thirteen days after the United States 1988 election, the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation aired. But it wasn’t as though we were going into a leftist, or even liberal, political state with George H. W. Bush being elected. However, TNG was conceived of, and started airing, in Reagan’s America. It was a time of economic booms that were artificial in nature, though we wouldn’t know that until many years later, when everything started to collapse in a spectacular fashion. And it’s this false prosperity that sinks itself into the economic structure of the far future.

No one needs money, and yet the conflicts often involve a capitalist nightmare played out in a world outside of the Federation. They are not dealing with economic inequality, but everyone who isn’t under their control probably is. They shrug, fix it where they can, and then swiftly move onto the next issue. 

But, more so, the conflicts that aren’t money related are, more often than not, related to the structure of the paramilitary organization that is the Federation of Planets, and Starfleet, at large. There’s protocol that needs to be followed, after all, and remaining vigilant, or breaking the rules, will land you right in the middle of Roddenberry’s favorite type of writing in this time period: no internal conflict among the crew. Everything must be external to the crew members, their relationships to each other, and even their relationships to their jobs.

It’s a mandate that you can feel throughout the beginning of The Next Generation, that makes the week-to-week stories feel even more disconnected than they should. We have the serialization of character growth, which is great, but you can tell we’re in a transitionary period of television. And even the “growth,” such as it is, doesn’t really exist in a meaningful way because no one’s really butting up against anybody and having to compromise while still having to work together.

What that means for this season, and the previous one, is that there aren’t really big character arcs and it’s wildly inconsistent in quality. Some episodes are the most boring thing I’ve ever watched, and some are truly the most engaging. There’s no regulation yet for what makes this series feel like itself, and certainly no real thing that makes me think, “Ah, yes. I can see why this is people’s favorite.”

Except for, that is, Q and the Borgs. Because the former comes back and brings with him the potentially world-ending knowledge of the Borg, by placing Picard and his crew right in the path of our very first Borg Cube. It’s an introduction that is supreme (truly one of the great episodes of the Star Trek franchise), but won’t fully come into its own until later in the life span of Picard and the Enterprise. And it’s one I’m looking forward to seeing unravel. I’ve seen the images of Picard as a Borg, but my mind is a bit fuzzy on how we possibly got there, you know?

There is a cynical part of me that thinks that the main reason for the costume change, new color delineations for roles in Starfleet, and complete overhaul of the computer aesthetics of the Enterprise, as the Federation as a whole, is because of merchandising. Now, I don’t think that part is wrong, considering almost every single new version of Star Trek contains, at the very least, new costumes. 

Now, the less cynical part of my brain does understand that TNG takes place nearly 100 years after the finale of The Original Series. It’s the next generation for a reason, after all. So, I think it’s perfectly within the standard canon of both military and paramilitary organizations to spruce up the looks of their uniforms. Likewise with technological advancement and the aesthetic of that. There’s no real in-universe reason for the color changes, in particular, but you can probably add that to the pile of “why not?” and move on with your life. I cannot, though, and I find it infuriating even to this day.

Like, I know that Roddenberry was changing the Starfleet colors for the films because he thought the brightness that was needed on TV would be distracting on a bigger screen. And I know that it’s likely part of the change for TNG was simply because Stewart and Frakes looked better in red than traditional command gold and Spiner’s makeup for Data didn’t look good with science blue. These are all very logical reasons for changing the color palette, regardless of their validity, but it’s something that always takes me out of The Next Generation. And yes, I recognize that’s silly and reeks of the bias of loving TOS. But it’s, perhaps, my least offensive opinion. Remember when I said Wrath of Khan’s mainstream success was because it didn’t actually feel like a Star Trek movie? 

Anyway! Like any good season of Star Trek, there was a lot of behind the scenes drama to fuel some of the changes that came about on the Enterprise. Including, most notably, the firing of Gates McFadden, who played Dr. Crusher in every season but this one. Because, drama stacked on top of drama (like children in a trench coat), she was eventually rehired. Of the event Executive Producer Rick Berman said, “There were those who believed at the end of the first season that they didn't like the way her character [Beverly Crusher] was developing, vis-a-vis Gates's performance, and managed to convince Mr. Roddenberry of that.”

Dr. Crusher was replaced by Dr. Katherine Pulaski (played by Diana Muldaur). However, Roddenberry admitted that, despite their best efforts, Pulaski’s character wasn’t really connecting to any of the already established leads on the show. He invited McFadden to return, which she eventually did. Hesitant at first, understandably so, it was a conversation with Patrick Stewart that helped her make the choice. One that has her reprising the role of Beverly Crusher in two different, currently airing, Star Trek properties. 

Then there’s “Blood and Fire,” an episode that was written by David Gerrold (who wrote “The Troubles with Tribbles'' for TOS and the first version of the TNG show bible). The episode was notable for being created in response to something Roddenberry said at a convention, bought by producers only to be eventually shelved, and then (fandom) famously reworked for the fan series Star Trek: New Voyages. “Blood and Fire” contained an AIDS allegory and two openly gay crew members on the Enterprise. A novelty, since there hadn’t been any openly queer characters in the franchise before, and reports of Gene Roddenberry’s alleged homophobia during the 60s show weren’t unknown. 

Gerrold was at the convention when Roddenberry finally said it was time to add queer characters into Star Trek. He’s quoted as saying, “Times have changed and we have got to be aware of it.” However, it was the 1980s and… uh. I don’t know if you know this, but everybody was homophobic as fuck. Including people working on a show set in the most utopian universe imaginable. Allegedly, Paramount stepped in and felt that the episode would be “inappropriate for younger viewers.” Which is, of course, the cowards way of being homophobic loudly and with power. 

After a lot of back and forth with Gerrold about if he would be allowed to rewrite the script (he was not), him accidentally being given Roddenberry’s lawyer’s notes (literally why did that guy have a thought on this), and the script eventually being fully dropped from the schedule at all, Gerrold asked that his contract not be renewed for the next season of The Next Generation. At least three other major writers on the series also left after season two under other circumstances. Just because it was meant to be a utopia on the screen, didn’t mean it was behind the scenes. They were making TV, after all.

As the second season came to a close with what amounts to a clip show episode, it would be slightly more than two months before The Next Generation started airing new episodes again—with some more cast changes and fewer original writers in tow. And it was the season of the show that would see the transition from the 1980s to the 1990s, along with a relaxation of Roddenberry’s rule about TNG not mentioning The Original Series (DeForest Kelley’s cameo in the pilot notwithstanding). It was also the last season that Gene had any real hands in, before his declining health pulled him fully away from the franchise.

It seemed like it would be the beginning of the end, but the show was just getting started.