The second season of the American science fiction television series
Star Trek: The Next Generation commenced airing in broadcast
syndication in the United States on November 21, 1988, and concluded
on July 17, 1989, after airing 22 episodes. Set in the 24th century,
the series follows the adventures of the crew of the Starfleet
starship Enterprise-D. Season two featured changes to the main cast,
following the departure of Gates McFadden. Diana Muldaur was cast as
Dr. Katherine Pulaski for a single season before the return of
McFadden in season three. Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg also
joined the cast after pursuing a role from the producers.There were
significant changes backstage to the writing team. Maurice Hurley
became head writer, and following extensive re-writes to "The Royale"
and "Manhunt", Tracy Tormé left the writing team. Likewise, following
the submission of a script for "Blood and Fire", David Gerrold allowed
his contract to run out due to issues with Gene Roddenberry and
Leonard Maizlish, Roddenberry's lawyer. Other departing writers
included Leonard Mlodinow and Scott Rubenstein, while Melinda M.
Snodgrass, Hans Beimler and Richard Manning joined the team. At the
end of the season, Hurley also left the team. Production designer
Herman F. Zimmerman left the show to work on Star Trek V: The Final
Frontier and was replaced by Richard James, who remained with the show
for the rest of the series.The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike
caused the season to be shortened to 22 episodes, the lowest amount
for any season in the series. The strike was later blamed for the lack
of quality of the first few episodes. The strike also resulted in the
writing team using an unused script from the aborted Star Trek: Phase
II to open the season, entitled "The Child". Budgetary changes allowed
for individual episode funding to be carried between episodes, but
this resulted in a lack of funding towards the end of the season which
the crew attempted to solve by creating a clip show, "Shades of Grey". Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 2) Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter