Amazon.com: To the delight of Star Trek fans everywhere, the stellar second season of The Next Generation (1988-89) belonged to Lieutenant Commander Data. As the Enterprise-D's resident android, Data (in the Emmy-worthy hands of Brent Spiner) would gain legal sentience in the season highlight "The Measure of a Man," and his increasingly "human" personality would refine itself in such diverse episodes as "Elementary, Dear Data" (Data as Sherlock Holmes), "The Outrageous Okona" (a misfire, but worthy from the Data perspective), and "Pen Pals." While Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) took a sabbatical of then-unknown duration (gracefully replaced by original Trek guest star Diana Muldaur as Dr. Pulaski), the remaining bridge crew would match Data's vitality: Riker grew a handsome beard and proved his command potential; Worf became richly nuanced in "The Icarus Factor," and met his match (and mate) in guest Suzie Plakson's fiercely Klingon sexpot K'Ehleyr; Wesley matured admirably, despite continuing fan disapproval; Betazed culture emerged as Troi locked horns with her eccentric mother, Lwaxana (Majel Barrett, in a recurring role); and La Forge made good on his promotion to chief engineer while Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) flawlessly rode on Geordi's coattails.
In a crucial series development, Guinan (special guest Whoopi Goldberg) revealed a connection to Q in her helpful capacity as Ten-Forward's enigmatic host, while Q himself (John DeLancie) precipitated the Enterprise's first, fateful encounter with the Borg (in the suspenseful "Q Who?"). Through it all, Patrick Stewart brilliantly intensified all of Picard's renaissance qualities (especially in the dazzling "Time Squared"), exploring the captain's facets with equal measures of curiosity, fascination, amusement, courage, and philosophical insight. Despite its lame finale with the money-saving clip-show "Shades of Gray," season 2 charted a warp-nine course to the even better season 3. --Jeff Shannon
Description: 22 episodes on 6 discs: The Child, Where Silence Has Lease, Elementary Dear Data, The Outrageous Okona, Loud as a Whisper, The Schizoid Man, Unnatural Selection, A Matter of Honor, The Measure of a Man, The Dauphin, Contagion, The Royale, Time Squared, The Icarus Factor, Pen Pals, Q Who?, Samaritan Snare, Up the Long Ladder, Manhunt, The Emissary, Peak Performance, Shades of Gray.
Would give 4 stars but both sets had factory defects! I love Star Trek OK? That being said, this is the season where Next Gen really took off, starting with The Child, Contagion, the profound Measure of A Man, and culminating with Elementary Dear Data, the monumental Q Who?, and the exciting Peak Performance. Excellent writing almost across the board, excellent acting and superb chemistry between the actors. Can't beat it for Television. And they did all this for a mere 1.5 million per episode. Realize that this is upwards of 267 Million dollars for the Next Gen franchise. That is a huge investment, and in that context, 62.00$ is not too bad for 19 hours of enjoyment!
The one issue I have is Paramount's DVD quality control. If you order a set, FIRST THING YOU DO AFTER YOU UNPACK THIS YEAR'S SET IS INSPECT THE UNDERSIDE OF EACH DISK FOR SCRATCHES OR DEFECTS!! A must! One small flaw and you get skips, or freezes. Major scratches and your disk will come to a grinding halt and will lock up. Usually at the worst possible time, at a critical moment in your favorite show. For this kind of money, you don't need that. Now for the good stuff...
In my collection, you will find Season Three, Season Four, and Season Two, the best, most consistent quality oriented, thoughtful scripts, screenplays and compelling acting in my opinion, however, I had to go through multiple sets of Year 2 because there was at least one major flaw (I mean big ones) on the underbelly (laser burned side) of at least one disk in every set of Year 2 I owned.
Year two premiered the development of Riker's great Sir Walter Raleigh beard, and the debut of Ten Forward, THE place to go to blow off steam or just relax and be human, and have fun. While I thought a few of the first year's shows were indicative of potential, Year Two was when that potential began to be tapped. In Season Two, Troi's accent was not quite so pretentious, Riker became more of a real, vibrant, Machiavellian character, with a great humour, quick wit, and less of a stiff cartoon character. Picard really found his voice, and Beverly took off a year (and thereby, somehow, became a great actress) while she was away having her baby. Worf became a more handsome and believable Klingon, and everything just moved ahead by leaps and bounds. Dr. Pulaski was great in Elementary Dear Data and she sparkled in Peak Performance. This was just great fun, with some powerful philosophy thrown in for good measure, in typical Star Trekian fashion. Top quality entertainment.
Next Gen. really took off in year two. You might notice three or more decibels of additional bridge and engineering sub-bass and engine noise in year two's shows. Your higher powered subwoofer will confirm this. This also added to the moxy and the gravitas of the second (and subsequent) seasons, and added together, they spelled success in capital letters! No other Trek show had this unique idea.
Next Gen was destined for a big splash, and year two, the Second Season, was when it really began to coalesce. The crew became THE Crew. This season cemented the chemistry that made all seven years of Next Gen possible.
No Trek collection would be complete without The Second Season of Next Gen.
Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Second Season
Great Condition and Fast Delivery The set arrived sooner than I thought it would. Which always puts a big smile on a buyer's face. It was in great condition. It appeared new. All of the disks worked with out any skips, etc. My husband loves Star Trek and needs to finish his collection. I will certainly shop with the same buyer for future purchases.
gift this is a xmas gift for my daughter in law was in good shape an arrived fast thanks
Great fun, innovative, and a bit Darker This season is great. It has some interesting ideas, and takes Star Trek to where it hasn't been before, i.e. into the Klingon vessel chain of command. This season contains a couple of episodes that are quite dark, and stir up the good old morals that we all felt watching the old series.
We also get introduced to the good doctor Polaski, who, though she is not Crusher, brings an edge and her own flavor to this particular season.
one of the older ones Since this is one of the older ones, it is filled with lousy special effets and some bad acting. but, hey! it is still Star Trek, and you can't get much better that that, can you?!
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
