The second season is a mild improvement over the first. It had a couple of outstanding outings (Measure of a Man specifically) and a few dogs (Shades of Grey put my wife to sleep).

I agree with you on season two having it pros and cons compared to season 1 and Measure Of A Man was a high note of the season.Also it introduced us to the Borg and brought back some of the "darkness"of Conspiracy of season 1.And yes I agree Shades Of Grey is probably the worst Trek show ever since it rehashed the first two seasons in a clip show (I know it was done because of the writers strike and all but still it is a good example of a bad clip episode).

I prefer Dr. Pulaski to Dr. Crusher. I know this may put me in the minority. She was abrasive, but she had a stronger personality.

I do not hate Pulaski but I've always found her to be a too obvious attempt to bring in a sort of McCoy character .And although I like many facets of her character I do always feel like they tried too hard to make her a part of the crew and herein lies the problem Pulaski was supposed to be a draw back to TOS with her characterisation which doesn't quite fit with the new type of characters they had with TNG. But in the end I think Crusher served that purpose better plus with her and Picard there was always that underlining and unspoken of tension (in a good way that is) plus I think that during the course of the series we get to discover many of the unexpected sides of Dr. Crusher making her a far more interesting character than let's say LaForge,Troi,Riker or Data for that matter.

Guinan added a human touch to the show even though she isn't, strictly speaking, human. In many ways, she makes a better counselor than Troi.

I agree and she thinks so herself since she applied for Troi's position in the episode The Loss

Wesley was not as cringe worthy. They edged away from the kid genius narrative and focused on teenager growing pain stories. It still had cringe worthy moments, but not so much as in season one. Maybe I'm just getting used to him.

Well Wesley got better over the years plus after season three I believe he goes to the academy and therefore only makes a few guest appearances per season so he becomes more palpable but he has actually a few good moments like the episodes The Game and Journey's End (remember this episode when watching Star Trek IX Insurrection ).But I gues most of the hate for his character comes from season 1 and part of season 2.

My wife despised Riker and the beard made it worse. (No, not that beard. She's fine with Troi.)

I never got why Riker was so popular in the first place either to me he comes off as an extreme womaniser(Kirk often erroneously gets that reputation but if one watches TOS you will find that is not true,but Riker is far far worse he actually let's ship's security get compromised because he had to shag some alien female)sometimes incompetent and too soft on discipline and his daddy issues make him even feel more like a dick(plus anbo-jyutsu might sound cool but when it turns out to be a combination of Tron and American Gladiator it is kinda disappointing).He seems more like activities handler on a pleasure cruise than as a first officer of the flag ship of The Federation..

I liked Polaski as well. I found the occasional butting heads she had with Picard to be refreshing when compared to the dynamic between Picard and Crusher which was pretty much will they or won't they get together. I agree she was a bit like Bones but I don't find that to be a bad thing, it's not like Bones was a bad character.

Don't get me wrong either McCoy is and probably will remain my favourite Star Trek character and for me his shoes are hard to fill .Sure the head butting between Picard and Pulaski was refreshing at first but it turned into a gimmick after a while.And although I love Bones' character his character dynamic actually clashed with the character dynamics of he established TNG cast and this is probably why Muldaur never felt part of the team and it does kinda show.

The fact that Pulaski is a very obvious attempt to duplicate McCoy is a valid point. She doesn't trust transporters. She is kind of mean to the Spock stand-in. She is deliberately obstinate. It is, nonetheless, entertaining to watch her on screen.

While it may be true that Beverly Crusher will eventually show some interesting character traits, it hasn't happened yet. I'm willing to wait and see.

The show already has a will-they-or-won't-they scenario with Riker and Troi. Another way that Pulaski is refreshing is that she is a female character who has no sexual tension with another crew member. Just because a TV show has a female character, it shouldn't mean she has to be hooked up with one of the regulars.

I thought Polaski, with the time she was on the show, was setting up a fairly interesting dynamic with the rest of the crew. They all seemed to just get along so swimmingly - everyone trusted each other implicitly, no one ever questioned someone else's motives. It was like person X experienced or witnessed something wildly bizarre, they'd tell the rest of the crew about it and everyone was just "That's interesting, we'd better investigate it." Whereas if it was real life, the response more likely would be "Um, you better get the doc to check you out, you must be over worked or stressed out or under some kind of alien influence." It was great everyone got along so well, but the dynamic was a wee bit boring.

Then along comes Polaski - she butts heads with the Capt. although she secretly greatly admires him, she has an interest in Klingon culture to the point where she's willing to drink some poisonous tea just so she can participate in a ritual, she's not too sure whether she thinks Data is sentient or not and doesn't mind teasing him about it, she had a fling with Riker's pop in her past. So she was an interesting character and it affected how she related with the rest of the crew. Not necessarily so that the crew couldn't trust her, but I think it would change how they'd interact with her.

@revengine said:

It was like person X experienced or witnessed something wildly bizarre, they'd tell the rest of the crew about it and everyone was just "That's interesting, we'd better investigate it." Whereas if it was real life, the response more likely would be "Um, you better get the doc to check you out, you must be over worked or stressed out or under some kind of alien influence." It was great everyone got along so well, but the dynamic was a wee bit boring.

Well, it was basically a military crew setting, both TOS and TNG. I wouldn't expect a serious crew member of a present-day military vessel to be imagining things etc, nor would I expect the commander or doctor or anyone else, to automatically question anything odd that came up. Which is why even Barclay, even with his history of... 'issues'... was pretty much implicitly trusted by the other crew members, even Picard, when he reported odd things.

@Knixon said:

Well, it was basically a military crew setting, both TOS and TNG. I wouldn't expect a serious crew member of a present-day military vessel to be imagining things etc, nor would I expect the commander or doctor or anyone else, to automatically question anything odd that came up. Which is why even Barclay, even with his history of... 'issues'... was pretty much implicitly trusted by the other crew members, even Picard, when he reported odd things.

Granted - it's not much of a crew if there's no trust between them, especially it being a military crew. And, let's be honest, it was an easy way for the writers to introduce the story. But I still think Polaski's ability to rub some people the wrong way generated some interesting friction.

Pulaski did have some good qualities in that area, but none of the stuff she got into with Picard etc, such as the testing on the genetically-altered child, was "far out." It was all based on real issues they could basically be on opposite sides about, at least to start with.

Granted - it's not much of a crew if there's no trust between them, especially it being a military crew. And, let's be honest, it was an easy way for the writers to introduce the story. But I still think Pulaski's ability to rub some people the wrong way generated some interesting friction.

But that was exactly my point although Pulaski as a character might have been interesting and like I previously said she has her good points,you can do only so many shows of her rubbing some people the wrong way and after a while it becomes a gimmick.Although I did like the scene between her and Worf drinking the poisonous tea while reciting Klingon poetry (what is with these Klingons can't they do anything artistic without having to kill someone or themselves? Well at least in their opera's they don't go around killing half the cast on the other hand Klingon opera's are an assault on the ears (that is for non-Klingons)