PATRON TAKES - Star Trek TNG - Season 2 Episode 1

I'm curious what you'll think of Pulaski, given how much you guys love Gates McFadden. Diana Muldaur played two guest roles in TOS and now is a regular on TNG. Over the years, I grew to really like her, but the Spock/McCoy bickering works because they both dish it out. Data is so child-like that Pulaski just seems mean at least to start with.

I'm on my free time. I do plan on doing at least the first month and I'll go from there. Just wanted to say hi everyone.

Give Dr. P a chance.

Upon rewatching this episode to react to this thread, I tried looking up the actor at the end of the episode. Couldn't find him having done much else. Definitely not a bad person to be named after!

I was named after the child in this episode...something that my dad kept hidden from my mom for literal years. When my mom found out, she was pissed. They've been divorced for about fifteen years now. In the words of my father, "worth it." Lol.

Welcome to Season 2! It’s…well, it’s season 2. Considering how much you enjoyed season 1, I think you’ll really be in for a treat this season! This one is originally a leftover script from “Star Trek: Phase II”, and the fan series by the same name actually produced the original script if you care to see the comparisons. Engineering forgotten never more, Now Lieutenant Georgi La Forge is your new Scotty! I’m very curious as to how you’ll react to the whole cast dynamic shake up! Fun Fact: The opening music cue for this episode was specifically written as a triumphant “we’re back! We made it!” theme for the show. It also becomes the Enterprise’s theme for this season quite a bit

I predict quite the reaction to the missing Dr. Beverly Crusher! The story arc of her character will unravel (as it should).

During the hiatus between season one and two (which was extended by the writer's strike), the TNG cast started doing conventions. I met john De Lancie (De Lancie was especially shell shocked since to him Q was just yet another of his guest rolls he's been doing for a few years) , Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn and Jonathan Frakes. When I met Frakes, that was the first time I saw him with the beard. The fans really liked the beard and he was asked if he was going to be able to keep it for the show. He said it was under consideration but it would add more time to his hair and makeup because essentially you had to work on the beard just like you had to work on hair. He did a show of hands on who would like him to keep the beard for the show and practically the whole room raised their hands. Anyway, one of the things I wondered when new episodes came about was if Riker would have that beard... And the rest is history.

I’ve always found it weird that they just chose a few Star Trek Phase II scripts and adapted them for TNG. Like Riker takes Decker’s place and Troi takes Ilia’s. But the other parallels don’t work quite as well because of how different the characters are. Also Pulaski is a curve ball character because her inclusion is because of some BTS shenanigans involving Crusher and a producer. I have to be vague because of spoilers.

I always liked this one. You guys will like it I believe...not just for the new Characters but it is I think the best Ep. for Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) so far. Great Ep. for Data too, love that look on his face when the Baby is born. Now...the new Doctor, I'm sure Josh will be Bummed about it but I hope you recognize her. Diana Muldaur was in 2 TOS Eps. as Miranda in Is There in Truth No Beauty? who was blind and you guys were Shocked. Also as Dr. Ann Mulhall in Return To Tomorrow. Wesley has changed a bit too. That's it! 😀🖖

(Accidental spoilers, which bairly counted as a spoiler have been deleted) You've made it to Season 2 Toneally the show begins to resemble a mix of season 1 & refined later seasons The characters have now assumed their proper places: Jordi is now chief of Engineering, Worf is Chief of Security with his yellow shirt, Riker has his beard, & Guinan has opened the 10 Foward bar (the place where she does Troi's Job better) Now for the Galaxy class sized Elephant in the room... Doctor Pulaski So Gates McFadden was essentially fired after some non disclosed disagreements with the shows producers. The writers tried to characterise Pulaski similarly to Dr. McCoy (doesn't work as well) Pulaski does have her good moments

Personal Opinion on Pulaski; When I saw this "live" I thought she was just "too much", and did not have any depth of character established to be as cantankerous as she was portraying it. They intentionally pitted her against the series favorite Data, and that was a kiss of death. Data is the mascot, everyone has to love Data, or you are never going to last. In retrospect, I "get" what they were going for with a Bones analog but it was just poorly written AND executed in my opinion.

The question is if a made Phase II would have brought down Star Trek with scripts of this "quality".

I'm curious to see your reaction and your opinion on the introduction of Dr. Pulaski, now and over the course of this season. The episode is okay. Starting with the positives: Marina's performance is great in my opinion, she's convincing in making me believe how quickly she bonded with the child although it all happened so rapidly. I also like that despite the awful way the senior staff handled the revelation of Deanna's pregnancy they supported her decision later on. Which brings me to the scene that make me cringe so hard every time I watch it. Imo when the senior staff was informed of Troi's pregnancy they couldn't have handled the situation any more indelicate and insensitive. Hell. Poor Deanna! Also the way everyone seems to be able to just walk in during the delivery of her baby, idk, there should be some more privacy at least in this kind of situation. :D But I love that Data was allowed to be there and the wonder he witnessed and his curiosity about it, it's endearing to me. That kind of brings me to the point why I struggle with Dr. Pulaski. The scene in which she's alone with Data and can't even be bothered to pronounce his name correctly and then starts to 'mock' him when he corrects her. Urgh! :D I feel like they tried to recreate the dynamics between Spock and McCoy (which I love!) but with her and Data, it just rubs me the wrong way because I can't help but feel protective of Data. I'm curious to see how you view this scene. Last but not least: introduction of Guinan! I know she's kind of a blank page here but there's a lot to look forward to!

So overall, I think this is a mediocre episode. The only real positives I see are the Season 1 -> 2 changes. Worf's promotion! Geordie is Chief Engineer! The 10-Forward lounge! Guinan the bartender! Doctor Pulaski! Chief O'Brien is back! What sucks about this episode is its actual A plot. Riker is immediately creepy (his "who's the father?" line might be one of his worst moments. His tone is all possessive-ex-boyfriend who is angry "his girl" is dating again. Everyone tries to pretend Troi's sexual assault is just a wonderful thing! The "mystical pregnancy plot" that has never been good in any show that ever tried it.

Thanks for not reading the episode titles -- there are even a few episodes this season where the title itself spoils the cold open, and it's fun to go in and be surprised.

Despite being a leftover script from the aborted Star Trek Phase 2 show, I think this plot worked fairly well for TNG, allowing Marina Sirtis a chance to expand her range, and providing a kind of 'day in the life' story that allows the viewer to ease into all the changes of the new season.

A lot of changes! New job for Geordi, new doctor, new Captain's chair, new lounge bar, enigmatic new bartender. Ten-Forward answers your wish to see more of the crew when they are off-duty.

I only love this episode for demonstrating the power of industrial action. This rancid old 1970s sloppy-seconds immature twaddle, pretending to be a TNG script, was rushed out due to a writer's strike. The strikers made their point well.

You'll love the beard, dislike the new doc and think the overall plot is a reach.

I remember when they first announced Whoopi’s joining the show I was like “stunt casting”, but she really blends well with the show and the cast. I really like Guinan.

Another episode that I probably have never seen twice. All I remember about it is cringing.

Season 2 really does feel like a new show. Riker grows the beard, Geordi gets a promotion. New uniforms for Worf, Geordi, Troi and Wesley, the loss of one character and the addition of three new ones. Add in a brand new set they really rang the changes!

OMG I hope the Chief Engineer survives a few more episodes!!!

Gates McFadden was fired because she challenged Maurice Hurley on what she felt were sexist aspects to the show. Rick Berman also said that he “had a bone to pick” with Gates as a person and as an actress. Others disagreed but he was the S2 showrunner.

Everyone notices the uniform change for Geordi and Worf. But did you catch that La Forge also got promoted to Full Lieutenant. (2 Pips)

Yannick M., above, mentioned Whoopi G being a Trekkie from a young age.... an interview with the late Nichelle Nichols finds Nichelle talking about that - and that upon seeing her as Uhura upon the show's First Run on NBC in the mid-1960's, Whoopi (her real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson) ran in the kitchen to tell her mom "Mama, there's a black lady on TV and she ain't no maid!" Nichelle's hearty laughter brings us all in on the story, and the rest is history. Goldberg often states Uhura is her inspiration for going into the entertainment business. Yes, indeed, Nichelle (and Lucille Ball and Gene R, of course) broke television barriers with TOS, and it just got better with ever iteration of Star Trek that came to be.

It's hard to talk about this episode and season without spoilers, but suffice it to say that season 2 is my personal favorite season because it SEEDED the rest of the seasons with recurring ideas (that I will not name or describe here). This is an important season. You'll know why by the end.

I wonder which will shock you guys more. The new doctor? Or the new beard?

Hi guys. I've been eagerly awaiting season two, I think overall you'll enjoy it more than season one. The writers really started to hit their stride near the end of season one, and it carries over into this season. BTW, Due to a writers strike which delayed the start of production on this season, this first episode is actually from a script written for the abandoned "Star Trek Phase II" in the mid '70s. Question: How do you like the new doctor, and do you recognize the actress? I'd like to make a suggestion, please go back to listing the episode names. I know all the episodes by their names, not where they fall in the season. I'd prefer not having to go to wikipedia to look up which episode is season # episode # every time to know what we're watching today. Just a suggestion. Keep up the enjoyment! Loving your channel :)

Redacted comment to avoid spoiler; I expect they will notice the most important person in Starfleet history soon enough 😂

Does anyone have any idea what plasma plague really is? :-D

How did you two like the scene in Ten Forward with Wesley and Guinan watching the ship depart?

I one hundred percent see and hear you. But by typing S03E15 and S03E23 you accidentally proved my greater point - I know and love those episode and would love to participate in commentating on them…but I just now had to look up the numbers to have any inkling of what they were, and I’m sorry but I’m not gonna spend one single second of my time on a homework assignment. Alex and Josh are getting my money, that won’t change. I just won’t be participating in this aspect any longer because I know my personality and I know if someone wants my input the least they can do is not throw up roadblocks. I hate spoilers too. But the real way to tighten up spoilers is to get your commenters to behave. Alex and Josh should want to experience this stuff as we all did. And we all saw trailers for next week, or participated in speculation on bulletin boards. None of that spoiled anything. Besides half the time the trailers were cut completely to show action, or to make a B story look like an A story. I’m a video editor, they were laughable. And I’m not even objecting to skipping the trailers anyway. If the producers wanted you to see X person and put them in the trailer it was for a reason - to get you jazzed. Anyway, it’s their channel.

Fun fact: Whoopi Goldberg is the only EGOT winner – a winner of the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards –to have appeared in Star Trek.

I'm in the minority that liked Pulaski, and I think her character gets a raw deal from fans. She had big shoes to fill, and Diana Muldaur did what she could with what the writers gave her. As for the other changes, let me say that I liked Wesley's season 1 sweater/black pants costume 100% more than the all gray onesie they stuck him in here. They should have just stuck the communicator badge on the existing outfit.

Season 2 is in some ways... worse than season 1. While there are a few classics mixed in there, there's also a lot of bad, with this episode being one of the worst. Oh, and I HATE Pulaski with a passion.

A new doctor (both were great actors and I liked Crusher and Pulaski), a new chief engineer and a new bar with a new bartender. Whoopi Goldberg was a fan of Star Trek when she was a child (because of Uhura) and she asked for a role in the new Star Trek series. One of the best side charakters

You've probably heard the phrase, "Jumping the shark" which comes from a notorious episode of the show Happy Days and basically means the quality of a show has dropped... Well TNG is the origin of the opposite phrase, "Growing the beard" which is the point where the quality of a show improves.. (I know others have commented this. But I've been looking forward to commenting this for a couple years now so I'm commenting it dammit)

I think this is a really strong episode! Great performance from Marina specifically and what a wild experience for Troi to now have in her backstory. An alien who's curious about us so it just tries out our life cycle first hand is a very cool idea, but the episode doesn't give this motivation away too early. We get to wonder 'why?' and maybe fear it a bit first.

My question is what are your thoughts on having a full time engineer (finally), and do you think Geordi is a good fit for the job?

Jonathan Frakes got married between season 1 and 2, and it obviously agrees with him. He just seems so much more confident and relaxed at the same time (and the beard of course). Roddenberry told Marina at Frakes wedding that she would be the focus of the season premiere and she was thrilled. FYI:Marina Sirtis least favorite episode 🤷‍♂️

Guys! What happened to “no spoilers”? Let’s please let them experience this without ruining it for them. I can think of at least 7 different surprises that the two of you will comment on, with at least three, in unison, “Whoa” moments. This was a where the next generation starts to hit its stride. I think you’ll like it.

I really enjoyed the work Jonny Frakes had to do here, he had to walk a really fine line between low level jealous and hurt, and loving and supportive, what a great reflection on his character.

This was originally written for Star Trek Phase 2 and it highlights how Roddenberry carried over character traits from Iilia and Decker to Troi and Riker. This episode is where we start to get the Troi that became a fan favourite especially among women I know. Doing a rewatch I think Marina Sirtis was able to have more freedom from this episode onwards.

I mean, the puppies were nice at least, and the shots in ten forward leaving orbit and going into warp were cool. It gets better, we promise.

Dr. Crusher is gone, boo! She left Wesley behind, boo! But she's replaced with a character played by an actress from one of your favorite TOS episodes "Is There In Truth No Beauty" Yay! But she's kinda rude and unfriendly, boo! But Frakes has his beard now, yay! Also a new bar and Whoopi Goldberg too, yay! Worf and Geordi promotions, yay! Also, the episode just kinda sucks, boo! 🙃 Welcome to Season 2!

Fellow patrons, beware of spoiler comments. This episode in particular has one thing that I know people will be tempted to make jokey comments about a future spoiler. But stay strong. :)

Give Dr. Pulaski a chance. I did a rewatch of Season 2 about 4 years ago and was surprised how much she had grown on me by the end of the season.

I think it's safe to say Pulaski is a character that got mixed reactions from the fans. She's seen as an attempt to give us a female McCoy. Some people like her but others didn't like Crusher having a replacement. Note that for some reason she is only credited as "Special Guest Star."

We're in to Season 2! Worf is on Tactical, and Geordi is Chief Engineer. Things are starting to fall into place. Even if this episode isn't anything memorable, it gets the audience up to speed on the new cast, and new roles for some of the established cast. Two things I want to mention: The first being Pulaski. I'm interested on your initial thoughts about this sudden switch-up. Some of us actually prefer her over Crusher, especially as her character gets some development. The second thing is the first appearance of Ten Forward. I think it's my favourite Enterprise set piece in TNG, even more so than the D Bridge which typically gets all the love. P.S. Guinan is awesome.

In the wrap up for Season 1 I posted my breakdown of the season according to how I ranked them. I made up another list for Season 2. There are absolutely no spoilers in the list since I don't use any episode numbers. I'll go ahead and post it here: Best of the Best: 5 Excellent: 3 Enjoyable: 5 Time Filler With Good Moments: 5 At Least It’s Only 40ish Minutes: 3 No. Just…No: 2

Welcome to season 2, the beard has finally arrived! There’s a new doctor to try to bring the sprit of Bones to the Enterprise. Guinan joins the crew with a new area, 10 Forward, for everyone to hang out. And finally new gold shirts for Worf and Geordi!

Nice to see Deanna finally let her hair down, literally. I think it's much more flattering on her than the samurai hair helmet, as I always called it. The style will be tweaked through the seasons but will stay basically like this. BTW, she's usually wearing different outfits than anyone else because supposedly it makes her more approachable and helps her patients relax and open up more. Like skin tight catsuits will make the average man relax and the average woman not be slightly intimidated.

You will of course miss Dr. Crusher, but I think that will be tempered by the fact that her replacement is a veteran of two great Ralph Senensky episodes. Dr. Pulaski seems to be even more hated by some TNG fans than Wesley, but I would just say she is very different from Beverly. Curious about your thoughts on Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan.

According to Gates McFadden she was fired because some of the writers including co-executive producer Maurice Hurley didn't like that she often criticized the writing of the first season and suggested changes, she was considered to be difficult. She had an extensive theater and teaching background and was used to collaborative environments and found out the hard way that a Hollywood tv set wasn't that kind of environment.

Well, First season was up and down with no truely great/memorable episode. There's a writer's strike that just ended (I think), at least we have some old Phase II scripts, how bad can it be? oh Well, at least Riker has a beard now.

Aside from all the obvious changes, what do we think of this actual episode? Seeing it later on I wonder if this might be what you’d call now “problematic.” We have one of the shows few female characters who only got maybe one episode about her last season. And then her first major episode is about a mysterious unwanted pregnancy. I could see some women maybe not appreciating this one.

While episode 1 & 2 are often lumped together you’ll see here that even these two seasons are very different. Lots of changes. Even in such an episodic TV era changes happen.

Fun fact: After the production of Season 1 Jonathan Frakes (Riker) grew a beard, though he intended to shave off again. At a convention Roddenberry asked the audience for their opinion of Frakes' beard. They cheered, and so Roddenberry told Frakes to keep it for Season 2. This later coined the phrase "Growing the Beard" , meaning a show starts to turn good.

LaForge’s and Worf’s uniform changes are cool. I feel like Picard finally found a Chief Engineer after having so many bad chief engineers who weren’t up to the job or to narcissistic Also subtle set changes around the bridge and I think but won’t swear this was the season where someone stole the captains chair between seasons.

I love that after the chief engineer came to the bridge to take his job in 'Arsenal of Freedom', Geordi not only told him what to go do with himself but he went to engineering and took his damn job too!

This episodes starts out with the new Status Quo, with Worf fully the Tac/Security Chief and Geordi becoming the new Chief Engineer. (And Riker's Beard) It also introduces Kate Pulaski, who has taken over for Dr. Beverly who's gotten a promotion. As for Troi's "Mystical Pregnancy"...well...It's kind of weird that the being that forced itself to be born from Deanna is actually benevolent.

I feel like we missed out on too much between seasons. I wasn’t prepared for that.. especially Beverly being absent! And a strange season opener, but I really felt for Troi here.. to have a child out of nowhere within days and then taken from her felt cruel with her unconditional love for him. I felt really sad for her.

Yeah after how they reacted to Tasha, who , let’s be honest, was dispensable I predict much hate, plus the fact this ep blows, especially as a premiere, and they hate kids. The fact this is a repurposed phase Ii script due to the writers strike didn’t help

What do you guys think of the new Doctor, Diana Muldaur who you might recognize from the TOS Episode in truth is there no beauty? I like the interplay between Dr. polaski though it tends to be too predictable, other times very good

Guys, respectfully, not including the title only makes it harder for us to play along. We have to go look up season 4 episode 9 to have any idea what it is. Your entire goal with patreon is engagement with the audience. Why throw up a roadblock and give a patron even a single second to bail because they don’t feel like hitting wikipedia? Also, knowing the titles won’t spoil much, if anything at all. First of all they are onscreen right in the beginning and secondly would you have known anything from “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky?” For example. Sorry, I love you guys but this is a very silly move.

I predict the boys will hate that "Doctor Beverly" is gone, will love that Riker grew the beard and will be like "finally" when we learn about Geordi's promotion. Dr Pulaski isn't exactly many people's favorite, but she does get some good moments, like her mispronunciation of Data's name.

This episode was originally going to be in Star Trek Phase 2, with Ilia in Troi's position.