"The Child" - is season 2 awesome or what?

[CorporalCaptain]

I thought that "The Child" was awful.

For me, "Unnatural Selection" was the first episode that showed a marked uptick in engaging storytelling compared to S1. "The Measure Of A Man" continued that trend. "Q Who" was better still. In terms of character interactions, I think "The Emissary" is the pinnacle of S2. "Peak Performance" was good fun, despite its resolution by deus ex machina/WTF Treknobabble/plot hole.

Episodes like "The Royale" and "Contagion" weren't awful, but I didn't find them to be as good or outstanding as the others I mentioned.

Getting back to "The Child," I really thought that was the pits. First contact by rape and impregnation, ugh.

Some of the other episodes start out strong but have very weak endings...Where Silence Has Lease, Elementary Dear Data, The Emissary, and Peak Performance.

I really couldn't disagree more about the ending of "The Emissary." The scene with Worf beaming K'Ehleyr away is hands down one of my favorite of the entire series. It's one of the most dramatic usages of the transporter room set in any series or film. Good-byes are often emotional, and between lovers even more so. "I will not be complete without you." That's a deep admission of vulnerability. YMMV, of course.

 

[Armus]

I read some excerpts from The 50 Year Mission which sheds light on the chaos behind TNG's early years. Producer Burton Armus has said he and Maurice Hurley tried to give every episode some "edge" in season 2, which is what makes much of early TNG fun to rewatch. Case in point: "A Matter of Honor" and "Q Who".

Take the 2nd half of season 1 and add to it the best of season 2 and you have my favorite Star Trek season.

 

[Amaris]

I read some excerpts from The 50 Year Mission which sheds light on the chaos behind TNG's early years. Producer Burton Armus has said he and Maurice Hurley tried to give every episode some "edge" in season 2, which is what makes much of early TNG fun to rewatch. Case in point: "A Matter of Honor" and "Q Who".

Take the 2nd half of season 1 and add to it the best of season 2 and you have my favorite Star Trek season.

"Q Who" is a great episode, as is "A Matter of Honor." I also like "Unnatural Selection," and consider it a favorite, too. I can agree about the edge in season 2, also. Things felt just a little more dangerous, and I liked that.

 

[SAndrews10]

Seasons 1 & 2 are always super favorites of mine on rewatch.

 

[UnknownSample]

I love season 2, it's my favorite. I don't judge by lack of flaws, or polish. Later seasons got the routine down, they became able to crank out a lot of consistently respectable looking episodes... there were fewer glaring errors. There were also fewer awe inspiring ideas, less edge, fewer surprises.
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I believe very much in the idea of risk being needed for creativity, maybe even overreach. Better to push yourself out there, with wilder ideas, and risk falling on your face once in a while, than to play it safe and stay within careful boundaries.

That's season 2. It falls on its face occasionally, but it soars more than the other seasons, when it works. Even the "bad" ones have stimulating, cool moments. The one with Picard and his heart operation has that jarring scene where he tells Wesley about having been impaled.
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Season 3 is just about as good. After about 1/3 of the way into season 4 though, the somnambulism gradually sets in more and more.
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The Child is not a better one. It's strange and interesting though. It appropriates its basic story from Space:1999, but the different twist on it is that the being is benign, and is just out to learn about others in the universe. In Sp99, the kid becomes a Julian Glover villain!

 

[Lance]

I love season 2, it's my favorite. I don't judge by lack of flaws, or polish. Later seasons got the routine down, they became able to crank out a lot of consistently respectable looking episodes... there were fewer glaring errors. There were also fewer awe inspiring ideas, less edge, fewer surprises.
---------------------------
I believe very much in the idea of risk being needed for creativity, maybe even overreach. Better to push yourself out there, with wilder ideas, and risk falling on your face once in a while, than to play it safe and stay within careful boundaries.

That's season 2. It falls on its face occasionally, but it soars more than the other seasons, when it works. Even the "bad" ones have stimulating, cool moments. The one with Picard and his heart operation has that jarring scene where he tells Wesley about having been impaled.
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Season 3 is just about as good. After about 1/3 of the way into season 4 though, the somnambulism gradually sets in more and more.

This sums up my feelings, too. Season 2 is also a favourite of mine. It strikes the perfect balance between that ambitious, bold, anything-can-happen nature of season one, the makers of the show being willing to push the boat out there and see if they can sail or sink, but with the confidence and sense of purpose of Season 3 onwards, without the sense (as in later seasons of the show) of it running on the spot and 'playing safe' with unremarkable filler. To me at least, Season 2 represents a certain sweet spot for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The Child is not a better one. It's strange and interesting though. It appropriates its basic story from Space:1999, but the different twist on it is that the being is benign, and is just out to learn about others in the universe. In Sp99, the kid becomes a Julian Glover villain!

Yeah, the Space: 1999 episode is "Alpha Child."

Has anyone associated with Star Trek ever commented on the similarities? It could just be "one of those things," a coincidence.

TNG "The Child" was adapted from a Phase II script. Memory Alpha theorizes that the development of that script involved reworking a pitch from Summers to incorporate the premise of "Infection" from Roddenberry's original Star Trek pitch (1964) [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Phase_II]. From "Star Trek is..." (1964):

INFECTION. A female crew member discovered to be pregnant, and the growing realization it could be the larvae of an alien, using her body like some insects plant their eggs in other living insects.​

Yuck! Sounds like Alien.

 

[UnknownSample]

It's such a specific idea that coincidence never occurs to me, nor should it, really. TV shows reused each other's ideas relentlessly. Filling seasons is tough. There were very few SF shows, and Roddenberry would have watched them all.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It's such a specific idea that coincidence never occurs to me, nor should it, really. TV shows reused each other's ideas relentlessly. Filling seasons is tough. There were very few SF shows, and Roddenberry would have watched them all.

In that case, we should explore the idea that Space: 1999 ripped-off Roddenberry's pitch, right?

 

[UnknownSample]

In that case, we should explore the idea that Space: 1999 ripped-off Roddenberry's pitch, right?

"Alpha Child" was made in 1974.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

"Alpha Child" was made in 1974.

And Roddenberry's pitch was written in 1964.

 

[UnknownSample]

And Roddenberry's pitch was written in 1964.

He "pitched" an episode about an alien being becoming a fetus inside a human character, who develops at an accelerated rate, for ORIGINAL Trek? I'd always heard that this was just for Trek II, the late 70s project.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

He "pitched" an episode about an alien being becoming a fetus inside a human character, who develops at an accelerated rate, for ORIGINAL Trek? I'd always heard that this was just for Trek II, the late 70s project.

I guess you didn't read my post upthread.

 

[gakelly]

I doubt if anyone ripped the idea like that off. It isn't like it is that groundbreaking of an idea. In Greek mythology, women are always getting implanted by the Greek gods.
And the episode sucked anyway. One of the worst in the season, and that is a season that has Up the Long Ladder, Time Squared, Outrageous Okona, Shades of Gray, The Dauphin, The Royale, etc....

 

[Lance]

I like The Child, even if I also think it isn't perfectly executed. The most powerful scene in hindsight is that one where the crew are all having a conference to discuss the situation, and they're all arguing among themselves about what it means and the ramifications and danger to the ship while Deanna herself sits alone silently at the end of the table as though not included in the discussion at all, and she speaks up so firmly as if to reinsert herself back into the equation and remind everyone that this isn't some clinical discussion, but that there's a woman with feelings that aren't even being considered. Her declaration that she's going to have this baby, acts like punctuation. Everyone else in the room immediately falls silent, guiltily remembering that they aren't the ones who are in the middle of it and aren't the ones who get to decide what Deanna does. It's immensely powerful, and remains so today, despite the silliness of the rest of the premise