"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Time's Arrow: Part 1 (1992)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Les Landau

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator)
Joe Menosky (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987)

Original Air Date:

13 June 1992 (Season 5, Episode 26)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Capt. Picard and his archaeological curiosity are called upon by scientists from Earth when they find evidence to support beliefs that aliens had visited Earth in the late 1800's. |

Plot Keywords:

Cliffhanger | Historic San Francisco | Captain | Security | Mother Son Relationship

Cast

Patrick Stewart	...	Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Commander William T. Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	...	Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Doctor Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Guinan
Jerry Hardin	...	Samuel Clemens
Michael Aron	...	Jack London
Barry Kivel	...	Doorman
Ken Thorley	...	Seaman
Sheldon Peters Wolfchild	...	Joe Falling Hawk
Jack Murdock	...	Beggar
Marc Alaimo	...	Frederick LaRouque

Trivia:

Executive producers Michael Piller and Rick Berman had at first not wanted to end Season 5 with a cliffhanger. But they changed they're minds when Deep Space Nine went into production at this point. Piller remarked: "Because of all the attention DS9 was getting and the rumours that TNG was shutting down, we wanted to send a message that the show was alive, well and continuing to grow."

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the episode Time's Arrow: Part 1, Data & Picard are examining artifacts in the cave when first arriving on earth. Picard picks up a Colt revolver which Data incorrectly identifies as a Colt "double action" revolver when it is in fact a Colt "single action" revolver.

Quotes:

Lt. Commander Data: It seems clear that my life is to end in the late 19th century.
Commander William T. Riker: Not if we can help it.
Lt. Commander Data: There is no way anyone can prevent it, sir. In some future, Data will be transported back to 19th-century Earth, where I will die. It has occurred - it will occur.

A trip to the past.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

ST:TNG:126 - "Time's Arrow, Part I" (Stardate: 45959.1) - this is the 26th and last episode of the 5th season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In this beginning part of a 2 part caper, The Enterprise is recalled to Sector 001 again (aka, the planet Earth), because archaeologists discovered evidence that aliens were inhabiting the planet 500 years before (in the 1890s) - the evidence being triolic waves and Data's head (which they deduce it really is his and not Lore's)! The mystery depends when the waves are traced to Devidia II. There, they encounter what seems like human life forms that are a fraction of a second out of phase.

Then, Data is transported via the Devidian's time distortion portal to 1890s San Francisco, where he (as a Frenchmen, and getting money through poker) meets Mark Twain, and more incredibly, Guinan (played by Whoopi Goldberg)!

Trivia note: Data speaks French! And Worf says a rare "Beam me up".