AG Monday! TNG Season 2: The Final Part

October 12, 2026

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We wrap up our discussion of the pivotal second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation with our reviews of the rest of the episodes we didn’t cover last week. There are some definite gems, but also some definite meh episodes, and some stinkers. But what does it mean to be a bad TNG episode? Whatever the Platonic ideal of badness is, Steven is more forgiving than Tom. Hear us put the rest of season two on the diagnostic table.

Picard squared! We make things go! We reach our peak! We have people follow us around and interpret for us! We’re outrageous! We have short refractory periods! Someone’s embarrassing mother visits us! If the Enterprise isn’t working, just unplug it, and plug it back in again! Hey look, another super-being! 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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2 responses to “AG Monday! TNG Season 2: The Final Part”

Kathy

October 12, 2026 at 10:21 am

I was impressed with the mention of the Diefenbunker. It’s an item on my bucket list. Sebastian Major over at Our Fake History did en ep on it. Not as a historical myth, as he usually does, but as an interesting relic of old times.

Though the way the rules based order is being destroyed these days…

As to the Pakleds ep, I rate it as meh. But it’s worth mentioning Lower Decks did a decent run of eps with them decades later.
Kathy

October 12, 2026 at 12:20 pm

I do have an issue with “Elementary, Dear Data.”

I forget how it happened, but I caught the ep when it first aired only near the end, exactly when Pulaski is having tea with Moriarty. I had little idea what was going on, other than it had to be the holodeck, or even that it was related to Sherlock Holmes (I’ve never read a single Holmes story), until Data was referred to as Holmes.

I managed eventually to read a summary online, years later. I caught a rerun of it in the off season, exactly when Pulaski was having tea with Moriarty 🙂

It was years until I could see the full episode. I think I watched the sequel ep, “Ship in a Bottle”, before I saw the whole Elementary ep.

The good old days of appointment TV, when we just called it TV.