Ancient Geeks episode 86: Star Trek The Next Generation, season 2 part 1

We return to the 24th century for the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We start our discussion with an overview of this pivotal season. What did we expect, when we watched season two for the first time, after the few highs and frequent lows of season one? How well did it live up to our expectations? What were the critical improvements made this season? And what might have happened if this had been the last season of ST:TNG?

In the next two episodes of this podcast, we'll review individual episodes of ST:TNG season two. We'll also discuss, once again, what makes a good or bad episode of Star Trek, and how season two made us ponder whether we needed to rethink our ratings scale.

Iconic episodes! Pugnacious Pulaski! Relaxed acting! Improved characterization! Bottle episodes! Scientific conundrums! Fading Ferengi! Foregrounded Klingons! Major additions to canon! Higher stakes! A less annoying Wesley! Guileful Guinan! It's all here.

Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!

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© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor