Plot Synopsis: A time traveler claiming to be from the 26th century arrives to witness an attempt to save a doomed planet.
Plot A and B Analysis: The teaser certainly does a good job piquing our interest. An unfortunate planet has just had an asteroid crash onto it, resulting in a dust cloud that could create the equivalent of a nuclear winter. Ho hum. What’s actually interesting is that Worf spots an object that turns out to be a small pod from nearly 300 years in the future, and someone who has traveled back in time to find the crew! Plot A is about Berlinghoff Rasmussen, plot B is about the planetary distress, though they are pretty integrated. The professor warns that he can’t answer any questions about the future, distributes questionnaires, and has the entire ship abuzz with curiosity. He’s a pretty eccentric character, and interesting to watch. The Enterprise tries to help the poor planet by drilling holes into it, but within a few minutes they cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, in general making the situation worse. Picard weighs a risky solution, and decides to take the risk after a failed appeal to Rasmussen for a peek at the outcome. The plot moves along at a reasonably brisk pace, and while it perhaps gives away too much about Rasmussen too early, otherwise it is enjoyable and comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Favorite Scenes: My second favorite scene is the Enterprise shooting at the atmosphere and then acting as a lightning rod, great effects! The best scene takes place starting in the 29th minute, where Picard asks Rasmussen to let him know what happens to the population of the planet. It starts out relatively cordial, but following Rasmussen’s reticence Picard turns up the pressure. He suspects Rasmussen has a ‘temporal equivalent’ of the Prime Directive and asks him to make an exception. He makes a final plea for Rasmussen to help him to choose:
Rasmussen: Are we just talking about a choice? It sounds to me like you’re trying to manipulate the future.
Picard: But every choice we make allows us to manipulate the future. Do I invite Adriana or Suzanne to the spring dance? Do I take my holiday on Corsica or Risa? A person’s life, their future hinges on each of a thousand choices. Living is making choices! Now, you ask me to believe that if I make a choice other than the one that appears in your history books, then your past will be irrevocably altered. Well, you know, professor, perhaps I don’t give a damn about your past, because your past is my future. And as far as I’m concerned, it hasn’t been written yet!
Use of Cast/Characters: Picard’s main job in this episode is to decide to take a gamble on making a second attempt to solve the planet’s problem when the first attempt made things worse. Riker and Worf don’t do much except a couple of comments on their questionnaires. Troi’s role seems to just be suspicious of Rasmussen. Data and Geordi help with the planetary distress, so they’re somewhat involved. Beverly is totally into the idea that he’s from the future, gets to treat a guy in sickbay and fend off the advances of Rasmussen. What I like is that the Enterprise itself is something of a character in this episode. It’s something of a character in most episodes, but even more so here as it is the actual instrument of salvation for the colonists on the planet. Matt Frewer is a lot of fun to watch. He is obviously enjoying teasing the characters (and us) with questions and comments, meanwhile insisting the crew treat him as a “fly on the wall.” His glib and callous attitude toward the populace of Penthara IV turn us further against him at just the right time.
Blu Ray Version: Pause at 23:36. The resolution in HD is so good we can see that some of Spiner’s makeup has actually rubbed off on the Ops console. Pause again at 25:42. Again due to high resolution, Data’s full name can briefly be seen on the door label. It’s NFN / NMI Data. NFN=no first name, NMI=no middle initial. The vibrant and tumultuously chromatic transformation of the planet toward the end of the episode looks more gorgeous than ever!
Nitpicks: In the teaser, shouldn’t Worf have done something a bit more proactive than just stand there at the sudden appearance of an intruder on the bridge? Later, why would Rasmussen take a Klingon knife with his other stolen items? Even worse, how in the name of all that’s holy did Geordi’s VISOR get in there??
Overall Impression: To me this is a memorable and enjoyable episode. Matt Frewer has a lot of fun playing Rasmussen and I had a lot of fun watching him. This episode is character and plot-driven, and while it’s not exactly an ensemble episode at least most of them have something to do. I never saw the twist (he’s actually from the past) coming, that was cool. Time travel episodes can get very messy, but this one was straightforward and effective. It was nice to have a “light” episode; it’s probably the lightest episode of an otherwise dramatic and serious season 5. I hope I’m not being too generous, but I did enjoy this episode a bit more than Unification II so I’m rating it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Behind the Scenes/Trivia: I like the mention of “New Seattle”, as it’s somewhat near where I live. At about 9:33, pause and look at the display that’s left of Rasmussen’s head. The replicator set piece was used in Kirk’s quarters in Star Trek VI; for the movie the regular display was replaced by a 23rd century version. When the replicator was returned to the USS Enterprise-D sets, the LCARS display from the film was not replaced by the regular 24th century version immediately but anachronistically appears in several season 5 episodes. This is the episode we learn that the maximum stun setting will successfully stun Data.
Children of the 80’s will recognize Matt Frewer from Max Headroom, which I remember watching. Here’s something I didn’t know: originally Robin Williams was going to play Rasmussen, in fact the part was written for him! He later passed because the schedule conflicted with him starring in the terrible film Hook. Oh,what might have been! Marina Sirtis hosted a promo for International Space University that was shot on the set of the Bridge one of the days while they were filming this episode. Here’s a link to the 11-minute video. While talking to Rasmussen, Picard makes a reference to Khan Singh (“Khaaaan!!”), the villain from TOS and Star Trek II. This episode won an Emmy Award for special effects.
Missable/Unmissable? It is missable, but it’s fun to watch and I recommend it. It’s certainly better than the next episode.