2x22 Shades of Gray - Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode Guide

Star Trek: The Next Generation

- Episode 02x22

Episode: 02x22
Title: Shades of Gray
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: 148
First Aired: Jul. 17, 1989

Season 2 » Episode #22 - Shades of Gray

Star Trek: The Next Generation - 02x22 Shades of Gray

Summary: Stardate: 42976.1 On an away mission, Cmdr. Riker is struck by a deadly thorn. As the crew fights to cure the virus or infection he has received, Riker must be subjected to very emotional flashbacks in order for the medical team to find the right medical path to take.

Who appeared in this episode?

Guest Stars:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard	played by Patrick Stewart
Lieutenant Geordi La Forge	played by LeVar Burton
Counselor Deanna Troi	played by Marina Sirtis
Lt. Commander Data	played by Brent Spiner
Wesley Crusher	played by Wil Wheaton
Doctor Pulaski	played by Diana Muldaur
Captain Kargan	played by Chris Latta
Lt. Konmel	played by Charles Hyman
Romas	played by Richard Lineback

	Season 2 / Episode 22: - Shades of Gray Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Put your foot where it didn't belong, hm? Commander William T. Riker: Doctor said she was getting bored; I just thought I'd give her a challenge.
	Season 2 / Episode 22: - Shades of Gray Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Vines infect animals, in order to kill them? Lt. Cmdr. Data: It is possible. For Commander Riker's sake, I hope my hypothesis is an error. Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Unfortunately, Commander Data, no hypotheses really are.

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

FAKE: Riker appears to blink even though he's supposed to be unconscious. You can see this after the infection has been eradicated from his system.
PLOT: In "The Battle", Dr. Crusher claims 24th Century science "...has mapped the brain." But despite this, Dr. Pulaski doesn't understand the endorphins the brain produces under different circumstances.
CHAR: Riker sees things in flashback that he couldn't possibly remember. Like scenes aboard the Enterprise while he's off ship at the time. He even sees subtitles in flashback at one point.
PLOT: One of Riker's memories includes a brief image of the Genesis planet construction sequence from the Star Trek movies, which has also been used for the test sequence put to Data in 'The Schizoid Man'. However, in none of those cases was Riker involved, and unless he had seen the footage of the Genesis program in some unknown, not shown part of his life, it can hardly serve as part of his memories.

TRIVIA

The final appearance of Dr Katharine Pulaski, played by Diana Muldaur, in the series.
This is a flashback episode. This was necessitated by the writers' strike which shortened the season from 26 episodes to 22.
When the producers made "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Q Who? (#2.16)} earlier in the season, the episode went way over budget. Meaning the money ran out at the end of the season. So in order to cut costs, they had to do a clip show. As such, Shades of Gray is often considered the worst episode of TNG, and even the producers admitted they were embarrassed by it.
Shot in only 3 days instead of the usual 7.