star trek next gen season 2 episode 5

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2 (1988)

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22 Episodes

S2 e1 - the child, s2 e2 - where silence has lease, s2 e3 - elementary, dear data, s2 e4 - the outrageous okona, s2 e5 - loud as a whisper, s2 e6 - the schizoid man, s2 e7 - unnatural selection, s2 e8 - a matter of honor, s2 e9 - the measure of a man, s2 e10 - the dauphin, s2 e11 - contagion, s2 e12 - the royale, s2 e13 - time squared, s2 e14 - the icarus factor, s2 e15 - pen pals, s2 e16 - q who, s2 e17 - samaritan snare, s2 e18 - up the long ladder, s2 e19 - manhunt, s2 e20 - the emissary, streaming, rent, or buy star trek: the next generation – season 2:.

Currently you are able to watch "Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2" streaming on Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel or buy it as download on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store.

In season two, the Enterprise continues on its journey across the galaxy with the birth of a new member. Picard once again leads the team as unknown civilizations take notice of the ship and wishes to know more about the crew and their operations. Riker struggles with his loyalty to the Enterprise as his life is threatened and Data tries to become more human to understand his role upon the Enterprise. This season looks closer into the relationship of man vs. machine as Q once again tries to test Picard against a new enemy. The Ferengi threatens the Enterprise and the mystery of the holodeck pits the crew against the clock as lives hang in the balance.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 5, Episode 2

Where to watch, star trek: the next generation — season 5, episode 2.

Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 5, Episode 2 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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Cast & crew.

Patrick Stewart

Capt. Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes

Cmdr. William Riker

LeVar Burton

Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge

Michael Dorn

Gates McFadden

Dr. Beverly Crusher

Marina Sirtis

Counselor Deanna Troi

Episode Info

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode Guide - Season 5

By season 5, the Star Trek: The Next Generation creative team began stretching their wings a bit, extending upon ideas which had been slowly evolving through seasons 2 through 4: Data’s progression to humanity, Worf’s place in Federation society, and of course the bad ol’ Borg.

One or two clunkers (e.g. the inexecrable Violations) aside, ST:TNG season 5 is show-for-show one of the best Star Trek seasons of the lot, with typically strong scripts and a couple of bona fide classics (Darmok, The Inner Light) mixed in. Ohhhh, and about midway through the season are a pair of episodes devoted to some old dude named Spock…

1. Redemption, Part II – After starting with perhaps the best cold open in TNG history (it’s either this or “Cause and Effect”) featuring Captain Kurn acting as a totally insane badass, we get more space warfare and Captain Jean-Luc Picard getting the Federation involved – after all, if the Federation’s Romulan enemies are attempting to overthrow the Federation-based government, that’s of interest to the ol’ UFP.

The Duras clan-backing Romulan leader is revealed to be a half-human named Sela, whose mother is Tasha Yar – more paradoxically, a Tasha Yar who was captured from the USS Enterprise-C decades earlier (cf. “Yesterday’s Enterprise”). Sela’s tale of Yar’s final fate is even more grisly than her backstory or the alternate death of “Skin of Evil”.

Picard’s plan has been organized and put into operation: 23 Federation starships (two of which are helmed by Riker and Data) at the Klingon-Romulan border have formed a net of sorts that will reveal anything which attempts to cross, namely the cloaked Romulan ships carrying weapons, supplies and information to Duras’s troops. The Romulans find a way to sneak through the invisible barricade, but acting captain Data saves the day with some amazing tactics. As Picard says later, “Nicely done.”

This could be said for the entire episode. *****

2. Darmok – An all-time fan favorite, which is amazing in that “Darmok” is centered on language and linguistic concepts. Perhaps it’s down to the acting, with Patrick Stewart’s Picard playing off Paul Winfield’s Dathon, a member of an alien species that not even those handy universal translators can handle (aside from the pronouns and conjunctions, that is), just brilliantly. *****

3. Ensign Ro – The title character temporarily – then permanently with regular guest appearances – joins the Enterprise crew in order to help track down a Bajoran terrorist. ***

4. Silicon Avatar – Dr. Kila Marr, a scientist specializing in the study of the heretofore purely destructive “Crystalline Entity” once encountered on Data’s home world (cf. “Datalore”), now seeks to communicative with the being – but she holds a grudge. Considering the predictability of this episode, Picard et al really should have seen the rather obvious conclusion coming from a light-year away. **

5. Disaster – Most functions in the Enterprise are disrupted or worse when the Enterprise takes a couple hits from a “quantum filament.” O’Brien and Troi are the only officers left on the bridge; Dta, Riker, Worf and Guinan are stuck in Ten Forward; LaForge and Dr. Crusher are in the cargo bay, where highly explosive plasma threatens disaster to the entire ship; and Picard is trapped in an elevator with three crying children- epic stuff... ***

6. The Game – Sure, the video game of discs and cones that addicts essentially everyone on the Enterprise except the visiting Wesley Crusher and a friend seemed pretty lame in 1991, but tell me you couldn’t market that as a premium app for your iPhone 25 years later… **

7. Unification, Part I – Federation officials receive word that a certain Ambassador Spock has gone Romulan. Picard first meets with the not-yet-dead Sarek, who advises Picard as to whom Spock might be contacting on Romulus. Picard and Data are disguised as Romulans and take a cloakable Klingon ship to get to Romulus in another “Search for Spock.” (Spoiler They find him in the last minute of screen time.) ****

8. Unification, Part II – Talk about your clash of generations: As it turns out, Spock is seeking to reunify the Romulan and Vulcan people (though we should admit that ultimately he’s not very successful, given his exposition in Star Trek XI). When he is presented with an officer from a high-ranking Romulan official, Spock falls for the trap set by Sela. But, of course, not for long. ***

9. A Matter of Time – A historian from some 200 years in the future boards the Enterprise to witness some upcoming historical events. In the end, he turns out to be – repeat after me – not what he seems. Some very good bits turned in by guest star Matt Frewer. (Dude, he was Max Headroom!) ***

10. New Ground – Worf plays single parent, as his own foster parents return his son to him, explaining that young Alexander is not adapting to life on Earth. Meanwhile, LaForge’s experiment with the transporter causes a natural disaster. **

11. Hero Worship – Data rescues a boy from a nearly destroyed ship, and the boy emulates his new hero to the nauseating point of acting like a cute android. Meanwhile, a mysterious shock wave continuously hits the Enterprise and hey isn’t this episode a bit like the last one…? **

12. Violations – Now here’s one way to cleans the viewer’s metaphorical palate after two young boy-centered show: Do one about Counselor Troi getting mentally raped by a member of the privileged class. Seriously, with a “mystery” and “suspense” dumped by the end of the first half of this one, what’s the point of finishing it…? 0

13. The Masterpiece Society – A colony on Moab has been isolated for 200 years and has enjoyed the advantages of selective breeding, but must accept Federation help in diverting a potential planet-killing phenomenon. **

14. Conundrum – Nothing like a good head trip episode to the season back on track! Within seconds of opening the episode, the memory of every crew member (including Data) has been erased. Luckily, the bridge crew (including the prominent Commander Kieran MacDuff) are soon ready to rejoin their forces in the midst of the massive war they’re fighting. But something just isn’t right…****

15. Power Play – Disembodied aliens take possession of Data, Troi and O’Brien, mostly because these three are by far the most likely to be mentally taken over than any other characters in the entire Star Trek pantheon (well, except Kes, but we don’t need to talk about her here). ***

16. Ethics – A Worf-centric episode that may also be some sort of comment on euthanasia. Worf is paralyzed in an accident and requests that Riker help him perform an honorable ritual suicide; Dr. Crusher seeks medical alternatives. **

17. The Outcast – In a story probably about 20 years ahead of its time, Riker falls in love with an androgynous alien, who is ultimately brainwashed back to her society’s norms into believing that distinct gender identification (not to mention wanting to roll around in the sack with a very hirsute male male such as Riker) is a twisted aberration. **

18. Cause and Effect – The Enterprise explodes before the theme music comes up, then again before each of the commercial breaks. How can the crew get out of one hell of a time loop? Very cleverly. Stick around to the very end for an excellent cameo appearance. ****

19. The First Duty – All it took to make a good, solid Wesley-based script was to boot him out of the regular cast. In “First Duty,” Wesley is held accountable for a stunt he and some other cadets pulled at Starfleet Academy which left one dead. ****

20. Cost of Living – Now here’s a match made in Sto'Vo'Kor: Lwaxan Troi and Alexander Son of Worf. Such happens when Deanna’s mother makes her annual visit to the Enterprise to marry, what, her ninth potential fourth husband? ***

21. The Perfect Mate – An ambassador traveling to make trade negotiations has his cargo broken into by a pair of Ferengi also temporarily aboard the Enterprise. Among this crew is a pheromone-gushing woman set for arranged marriage (so like a 24th-century mail-order bride, then), who wreaks havoc on every male on the ship before getting off – I mean, disembarking. ***

22. Imaginary Friend – The Enterprise plays host to yet another disembodied alien, this one from a nebula (come to think of it, they’re always finding weird stuff in Nebulas; best steer clear next time, Mr. Crusher) who takes on the form of a young girl’s imaginary friend. **

23. I, Borg – A well-acted and decently suspenseful episode is marred by the wussification of the Borg (who wouldn’t truly recover their in badassery until Star Trek: First Contact film) and the fine tradition – carried on by Janeway throughout the last half of the Voyager series – of not utterly destroying the scary cybernetic menace when given a clear chance … ***

24. The Next Phase – LaForge and Ensign Ro’s head trip A bizarre accident seems to make LaForge and Ensign Ro noncorporeal, with Ro ultimately believing they’ve entered the Bajoran afterlife. ***

25. The Inner Light – A high-concept episode that’s an all-time favorite of Wil Wheaton and innumerable Star Trek fans. Picard finds himself living an ordinary life on a long-dead world. A simple, wonderful story that might have been made even better if the cutting back to scenes of the Enterprise crew hovering concernedly over Picard’s body were removed. *****

26. Time’s Arrow, Part I – “Time’s Arrow” certainly isn’t the best ST:TNG season-enders, but it’s gotta be the weirdest. A dandy grabbag of a story includes a temporal paradox involving a decapitated Data (!), Guinan’s first meeting with Picard, ominous aliens who drain humans of lifeforce, and Mark Twain. ***

The 10 Best Captain Picard Episodes in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' Ranked

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Star Trek: The Next Generation isn’t just one of the best installments in the Star Trek franchise, but one of the greatest drama shows of all time . While the original Star Trek series was sadly canceled after the end of its third season, Star Trek: The Next Generation was given the chance to keep pushing the story forward for over seven years.

Although there are many beloved characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart’s performance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard turned him into the greatest hero in the history of the Star Trek saga . Stewart crafted a complex, vulnerable hero who was defined by his dedication, principles, and willingness to hear both sides of any given dispute; he’s simply a character that everyone should aspire to be like. Here are the ten best Captain Picard episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Star Trek: The Next Generation

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10 “The Measure of a Man”

Season 2, episode 9 (1989).

There are few relationships in the Star Trek franchise that are more profound than the dynamic between Picard and Data ( Brett Spiner ), the android who serves as one of the most important officers on the U.S.S. Enterprise. “The Measure of a Man” featured Picard serving as Data’s defender in a legal case in which he must defend his right to exist. The discussion about the merits of artificial intelligence is just as relevant today as they were when the episode first aired in 1989.

“Measure of a Man” showed that Picard was willing to stand up for the rights of those that were mistreated , as Star Trek has always been an incredibly progressive franchise when compared to other science fiction properties. This episode solidified the fact that Picard was willing to risk his own livelihood if the safety of one of his crew members was ever placed in danger.

9 “The Best of Both Worlds”

Season 3, episode 26 & season 4, episode 1 (1990).

“The Best of Both Worlds” is one of the most important episodes of any Star Trek series, as the first installment of the two-parter that ended the third season had a massive cliffhanger that had viewers screaming at their televisions. The episode featured Picard being captured by the Borg, with his replacement Captain William T. Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) put in a position that could end his life.

“The Best of Both Worlds” was the first instance in which Picard felt completely vulnerable , as it was feasible that he could get killed off and replaced by Riker for the rest of the show. Although Picard ended up surviving the incident, his feud with the Borg as a result of his torture left him with a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder that he continued to deal with for the rest of the series.

8 “Family”

Season 4, episode 2 (1990).

“Family” was a critical episode that helped to humanize Picard and showed what his family life looked like for the first time. Although Picard rarely discussed his personal motivations and background with members of his crew during the first three seasons of the show, “Family” saw him returning to visit his family farm after his traumatic encounter with the Borg in “The Best of Both Worlds.”

“Family” was an important shift in tone for Star Trek: The Next Generation that helped follow up the action of “The Best of Both Worlds,” and did a great job at showing how Picard was dealing with his personal mental health in the series after such a frightening incident. Stewart is arguably at his most profound and emotional in “Family,” as the episode strips away all the duties of command from Picard and examines what it is like for him to live a normal life outside of Starfleet.

7 “The Drumhead”

Season 4, episode 21 (1991).

Star Trek has always been a very political franchise that touches on hot-button issues, and “The Drumhead” explores a scary situation about the denial of truth that has proven to be just as relevant today in an era of political divisiveness and fake news. After a member of his crew is accused of being a traitor, Picard is forced to prevent a representative of Starfleet from badgering everyone under his command and impeding their civil liberties.

“The Drumhead” plays out like a legal thriller, and feels just as exciting as the courtroom dramas that dominated the 1990s . While it is relatively light on action compared to some of the more intense episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Drumhead” proved that the series was capable of developing nuanced ideas about what the future would look like under Gene Roddenberry ’s vision.

6 “Darmok”

Season 5, episode 2 (1991).

“Darmok” is perhaps the most intimate episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation , as it sees Picard being trapped in a primitive world where he can only communicate with the native species using rudimentary language. The episode shows just how effective of a hero Picard can be, even if he seems to enjoy being in the company of a crew that supports him.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is well known for making interesting genre deviations, and “Darmok” feels like the closest that the series ever got to a Western adventure story . Although some viewers may have felt the same exact confusion and frustration that Picard did when the premise was first established, “Darmok” ends with one of the most powerful emotional revelations about the ability that Picard has to inspire others in all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

5 “Conundrum”

Season 5, episode 14 (1992).

“Conundrum” is one of the most imaginative episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation , as it takes place after a mysterious alien virus forces the entire crew to forget their memories, leaving them helpless in the middle of space. This was an episode that essentially showed how the Enterprise crew could be built again from the ground up, as Picard is the first one to assess the parameters of the mystery and start developing a solution to keep everyone safe.

“Conundrum” was one of the best episodes that showed Stewart’s generosity as an actor , as even though it is Picard’s moment to shine as a leader, every single member of the cast is given a standout moment. The success of “Conundrum” in combining the emotional with the practical is a major reason why the fifth season is often cited as the best that Star Trek: The Next Generation ever aired.

4 “Cause and Effect”

Season 5, episode 18 (1992).

Time travel is notoriously a concept that is very difficult to capture on screen in a compelling way, as it is very easy to get so confusing that viewers struggle to understand what the stakes are supposed to be. However, “Cause and Effect” presented a brilliant time travel storyline in which Picard and the crew of the Enterprise are trapped in a recurring loop that could doom them for eternity.

“Cause and Effect” was a great example of Star Trek: The Next Generation showing Picard’s abilities as a strategist . While many of the captains established in other shows and films in the Star Trek franchise earned their rank through military conquest, it's Picard’s intelligence and ability to make rational decisions while under pressure that make him such an all-time great character. “Cause and Effect” succeeds because Stewart understands this fundamental truth about the character.

3 “The Inner Light”

Season 5, episode 25 (1992).

“The Inner Light” is perhaps the most emotional episode of the entire Star Trek franchise, and would have earned Stewart a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series had the Television Academy not been so notoriously biased against science fiction and other genre shows. The episode takes place entirely in Picard’s mind, as he begins to live out different fantasies about what an alternate life could look like when he is unconscious.

“The Inner Light” revealed truths about Picard as a character , showing how his unflinching willingness to perform his duty against mitigating circumstances put a severe detriment on his ability to start a family. There isn’t another episode more tear-jerking as “The Inner Light,” as Stewart reveals how Picard is dealing with the burdens of his sacrifices, and how it has been taken for granted by those who serve under him.

2 “Tapestry”

Season 6, episode 15 (1993).

“Tapestry” was an integral episode that revealed that Picard himself was flawed , as his encounter with Q ( John de Lancie ) allows him to travel back to moments from his past and reflect on the mistakes that he made as a young man. Essentially serving as a coming-of-age story about Picard’s youth, “Tapestry” showed that even someone that noble had elements of their past that they had buried deep within their minds.

The dynamic between Q and Picard is one of the show’s most interesting, as the two have completely different outlooks on humanity and its potential. While Q uses the mistakes that humanity has made as evidence that they are beyond reason, Picard argues that humans are capable of being empathetic, compassionate, and willing to redeem themselves. It’s Picard’s faith in others and general optimism about the future that makes him such an inspiring character.

1 “All Good Things…”

Season 7, episode 25 (1994).

There aren’t many shows that end on a perfect note, as many acclaimed programs like Game of Thrones , House of Cards , Killing Eve , and Battlestar Galactica had such underwhelming series finales that fans questioned why they were ever loyal to the shows in the first place. However, Star Trek: The Next Generation ended on a perfect note with “All Good Things…,” an episode that featured a profound moment where Picard was able to thank every member of the crew for their dedication to the Enterprise .

“All Good Things…” showed that Star Trek: The Next Generation was more interested in developing great characters than overwhelming the viewers with action, as it takes a far more philosophical approach to a series finale than some may have expected. A final shot of Picard playing cards with various crew members was the perfect way to wrap up the show.

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• AV Club Zack Handlen After an increasingly self-assured third season, TNG upped its game in impressive fashion with one of the best cliffhangers in the history of genre TV.
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What were the Bell Riots in the greatest 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' time travel episode?

As history catches up with a pivotal moment in the "Star Trek" timeline, we look back at the events of "Past Tense," which took place on Aug. 30, 2024.

Along with First Contact Day on April 5, 2063, Friday Aug. 30, 2024 is one of the most important dates in " Star Trek " history. 

It's the day Commander Benjamin Sisko got to ask that immortal sci-fi question – "What year is this?!" — after he and fellow time travelers Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax and Dr. Julian Bashir made a bumpy landing in 21st century San Francisco. It's also the eve of the Bell Riots that would shape the future of Earth , the Federation and the Alpha Quadrant as a whole. 

First broadcast in January 1995, the "Past Tense" two-parter is widely regarded as one of the best stories from " Deep Space Nine ." It's also among "Star Trek's" most politically charged adventures, set in a compassion-free 2024 where Sisko and Bashir find themselves trapped in an internment camp-like "Sanctuary", and Dax gets to see how the other half live when she's taken under the wing of a media mogul. So, to mark the anniversary of the history-shaping (but fictional) Bell Riots, we explain one of the most important events in the "Star Trek" timeline .

What were the Bell Riots?

Described by Commander Benjamin Sisko as "one of the most violent civil disturbances in American history", the Bell Riots took place in San Francisco during the first week of September 2024. 

The disturbance was centered on the city's Sanctuary District A, one of many Sanctuaries found in major US cities in the "Star Trek" version of the early 2020s. Their original aim was to help unemployed or homeless citizens to find work or accommodation, but that vision was soon corrupted. The settlements were overcrowded and violent, and — with walls erected around them — effectively became internment camps. They also became a convenient way for wealthier members of society to ignore the problems on their doorstep.

Related: The best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes ever

Things came to a head when residents seized control of Sanctuary District A, taking guards and other administrative staff hostage in the Security Bureau. The government sent in troops to restore order, and hundreds were killed in the subsequent skirmishes.

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The authorities responded to rumors that the hostages had been killed by storming the building, but they soon learned that none of them had been harmed. They'd been protected by a certain Gabriel Bell, the man who gave the riots their name, and sacrificed himself to save the prisoners. 

He would become a national hero, his death generating such public outrage that the Sanctuary program was abolished. The riots would be seen as one of the pivotal moments in American history, as the US government acted to repair social issues they'd previously dismissed, paving the way for the more utopian future we'd see in TV shows and movies across the franchise. (We'll try to ignore the fact that "Trek" lore tells us World War III is just a few short years away.)

How did Sisko, Dax and Bashir end up in 21st century San Francisco?

It's down to the sort of transporter accident that makes you wonder why anyone in the 24th century risks beaming anywhere. Sisko, Dax and Bashir were on their way to a symposium in San Francisco to discuss the Dominion threat when they were transported back in time to 2024 — a case of right city, wrong century. 

Chief Miles O'Brien quickly identified the cause of the problem. The USS Defiant's hull was polarized with chroniton particles, a by-product of the ship's Romulan cloaking device. When an explosion in a microscopic singularity passing through Earth's solar system "shifted the chroniton particles in our hull into a high state of temporal polarization", the transporter beam was refocused back in time.

How did the Starfleet officers impact the events of the Bell Riots?

Starfleet directives state that officers must not, under any circumstances, alter past events. So when Sisko, a keen student of early 21st century history, realized they'd arrived in San Francisco on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024 — the eve of the Bell Riots — he told Bashir it was imperative that they avoid interfering with a pivotal period in American history. This order proved particularly distressing for the doctor, who pointed out how many people in the Sanctuary required treatment for mental illness.

This being "Star Trek", however, it didn't take long for Sisko and Bashir to make drastic changes to the timeline. While waiting for food, the pair were involved in an altercation with Biddle "BC" Coleridge, one of the ringleaders of the impending attack on the Security Bureau. They were ultimately saved by the intervention of another resident, who was stabbed by BC and subsequently died from his wounds. The name of that man? Gabriel Bell.

Back in the 24th century, the crew of the Defiant soon learned how pivotal Bell really was, as all evidence of the Federation — Starfleet headquarters, the spacedocks, the Utopia Planitia shipyards on Mars, the lot — vanished. O'Brien theorized that the explosion in the singularity created a subspace bubble around the ship that protected the Defiant from the altered timeline.

Following the real Bell's death, Sisko assumed his identity to ensure that history got back on track. He was shot in the military's assault on the hostage takers, but the wound was not fatal. He and Bashir were helped to escape by Sanctuary guards who saw what Bell/Sisko had done, planted Bell's ID on a dead body, and promised to tell the world what he'd done. Dax, meanwhile, successfully lobbied media mogul Christopher Brynner to restore computer access to Sanctuary District A, allowing residents to spread their story outside its walls. 

How did they get back to the 24th century?

O'Brien worked out how to use the chroniton particles to focus the transporter beam towards different points in history. Unfortunately, he had no idea when Sisko, Dax and Bashir had landed — beyond narrowing it down to "a dozen different possibilities" — and only had enough polarized chronitons to take five or six trips back in time.

He and Major Kira made several fruitless jumps, taking in (seemingly) the 1920s, the 1950s and a 2048 that was "nothing like the mid-21st century I read about in school". On their final trip they struck lucky, making contact with Dax's combadge in 2024. 

They all returned to a restored 2024, with one crucial difference: Sisko's face now appeared in the history books alongside Gabriel Bell's name.

What is "Past Tense"'s legacy in "Star Trek"?

As well as being widely regarded as one of the best stories from "Deep Space Nine"'s seven-season run, "Past Tense" continues to have an influence on "Star Trek" lore. Indeed, in "Prodigy" season 2 episode "Who Saves the Saviors", Vulcan cadet Maj'el makes a direct comparison with the events of 2024. 

Referring to the Protostar crew's interaction with their own history, she points out that, "it would not be the first instance of a causal time loop in Starfleet history: the Bell Riots, the Cochrane warp test..." (The latter event occurred in "First Contact", when the "Next Generation" crew intervened to ensure Zefram Cochrane's first warp flight in 2063 wasn't derailed by Borg interference.)

That said, "Star Trek" mythology may be more malleable than it initially appears. The 2024 Los Angeles visited by Jean-Luc Picard and co in "Picard" season 2 doesn't feel quite as dystopian as the San Francisco of "Past Tense", while the "point of divergence" mentioned by the Borg Queen is Renée Picard's space flight, rather than the Bell Riots. (Few "Trek" shows have embraced the past as "Picard" did, so it's surprising that show did so little to acknowledge the franchise's previous trip to 2024.)

Also, when La'an Noonien Singh visited 2022/23 Toronto with an alternative James T Kirk in "Strange New Worlds" episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", they rescued a boy named Khan from the Noonien-Singh Institute — even though the infamous Khan originally left Earth to escape the Eugenics Wars of 1996. This suggests that, even if the core building blocks of the mythology remain in place, the order they occur — and the specific dates — may be open to reinterpretation as the real-life calendar catches up with its equivalent stardates from the final frontier. 

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Richard's love affair with outer space started when he saw the original "Star Wars" on TV aged four, and he spent much of the ’90s watching "Star Trek”, "Babylon 5” and “The X-Files" with his mum. After studying physics at university, he became a journalist, swapped science fact for science fiction, and hit the jackpot when he joined the team at SFX, the UK's biggest sci-fi and fantasy magazine. He liked it so much he stayed there for 12 years, four of them as editor. 

He's since gone freelance and passes his time writing about "Star Wars", "Star Trek" and superheroes for the likes of SFX, Total Film, TechRadar and GamesRadar+. He has met five Doctors, two Starfleet captains and one Luke Skywalker, and once sat in the cockpit of "Red Dwarf"'s Starbug.  

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“ Yellowstone ” is almost back. The Paramount Network series has revealed a first teaser for the long-awaited second half of Season 5.

The beloved Paramount Network series, created by Taylor Sheridan — which has been running reruns on CBS — first launched in 2018. It has since become a cable phenomenon.

The eight-episode first half of Season 5 aired from November 2022 to January 2023; the six-episode second half is set to debut on Nov. 10, 2024.

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Season 5 Part 2 also got some first-look images released on Thursday. Newcomers can enjoy a “Yellowstone” marathon on Paramount Network this weekend, beginning on Friday, 8/30 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET all the way through Monday 9/2.

Last December, it was reported that lead star Costner would be exiting “Yellowstone,” choosing to focus on directing his two-part Western film “Horizon.” In June, he confirmed his departure ahead of the premiere of “Horizon: Part One,” which was a disappointment at the box office.

In September, Costner threatened to sue the producers of “Yellowstone” during a child support hearing, part of his divorce proceedings from Christine Baumgartner. The actor claimed that he should have still received $12 million for the second half of Season 5 due to a “pay or play” clause, noting that the “long, hard-found negotiation” led to his exit. Neither the studio nor the network has commented on Costner’s departure from the series.

“’Yellowstone’ has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits – from ‘1883’ to ‘Tulsa King,’ and I am confident our ‘Yellowstone’ sequel will be another big hit, thanks to the brilliant creative mind of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible casts who bring these shows to life,” Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement announcing “2024.”

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Episode list

Star trek: the next generation.

S5.E1 ∙ Redemption II

S5.E2 ∙ Darmok

S5.E3 ∙ Ensign Ro

S5.E4 ∙ Silicon Avatar

S5.E5 ∙ Disaster

S5.E6 ∙ The Game

S5.E7 ∙ Unification I

S5.E8 ∙ Unification II

S5.E9 ∙ A Matter of Time

S5.E10 ∙ New Ground

S5.E11 ∙ Hero Worship

S5.E12 ∙ Violations

S5.E13 ∙ The Masterpiece Society

S5.E14 ∙ Conundrum

S5.E15 ∙ Power Play

S5.E16 ∙ Ethics

S5.E17 ∙ The Outcast

S5.E18 ∙ Cause and Effect

S5.E19 ∙ The First Duty

S5.E20 ∙ Cost of Living

S5.E21 ∙ The Perfect Mate

S5.E22 ∙ Imaginary Friend

S5.E23 ∙ I Borg

S5.E24 ∙ The Next Phase

S5.E25 ∙ The Inner Light

S5.E26 ∙ Time's Arrow

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