I got to thinking about how some fans think that time travel in Star Trek has been over-used thus becomeing a cliché. However I believe DS9 used time travel to great effect instead of just being "another time travel episode of the week" In looking at the time travel episodes in DS9 an interesting pattern emerges. They didn't do any time travel in the first two seasons (The Emissary doesn't count) and then seasons 3 to six they only did two time travel episodes. Finally, there were no time travel episodes in the final seasons. I don't know if that means anything but it's something that I noticed. As for what I mentioned about quality time travel episodes in DS9, "Times Orphan" is probably the weakest but at least the intention was decent if poor in execution. Anyway I'm pretty sure below I have all the time travel episodes listed, I don't think I missed one. "Past Tense, Part I" - Season Three "Past Tense, Part II" - Season Three "The Visitor" - Season Four "Little Green Men" - Season Four "Trials And Tribble-ations" - Season Five "Children Of Time" - Season Five "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night" - Season Six "Times Orphan" - Season Sixx
I really liked how they acknowledged Sisko's historical interference that occurred in Past Tense. Nog's guidebook to Earth had Sisko's picture under the writeup for Gabriel Bell. DS9 gets high marks for continuity.
Which begs the old time-travel question, was "Gabriel Bell" always Sisko? I suppose not, since Sisko would have noticed something strange in history books... But I've always preferred that version of time travel to the one about changing the past, which frankly just doesn't make sense to me, unless you create a different timeline/universe in the process... which, again, should mean that the other timeline always existed as well, and they are both equally real. The version of time-travel where people can actually change the past and the "earlier" past stops existing just always seemed illogical to me.
I do agree. Most of the time-travel episodes had clever twists -- my favorites have always been The Visitor and Children of Time. Well, if you've never seen Twelve Monkeys, its take on time travel will appeal to you. Me, I can go either way -- the stories where time can be changed (like A Sound of Thunder), or where it just ends up making the time line worse (like in The Butterfly Effect -- not the best movie, but it had an interesting view of time travel.)
Also, I'll add: Visionary, in which O'Brien experiences time shifts to five hours in the future, several times. In Accession, Vedek Akorem Laan travels from Bajor's past to the present.
It's one of my favorite SF movies, actually. I was going to mention it as an example of a time-travel story that worked for me. I don't mind the Back to the Future kind of stories, either... it's just that I find them too paradoxical.
The Sound of Her Voice has a time-travel element, though, personally, I think it's the weakest part of the episode. I'll second the recommendation of Twelve Monkeys, as long as I also get the chance to plug Chris Marker's original short La Jetée which the film is based upon.
The Back to the Future movies are among my all-time favorites. And their paradoxical nature is all part of their charm.
I agree. I like time-travel better if it's like in Time's Arrow. It's one of the few time-travel episodes/films that don't seem illogical. They could at least acknowledge the paradox more often or just explain time-travel always happens to an alternate universe. I also agree with the OP.
I enjoyed the time travel episodes in DS9...they seemed to be more than just 'temporal anomalies of the week' episodes. As for time travel itself, I find the idea of changing the timeline plausible, but in just about every sci-fi alteration of history, the characters REMEMBER that they've changed history...that I find annoying and illogical. I also like that DS9's time travel episodes seem to use less technobabble then say, Voyager's or Enterprise's...almost like in DS9 they just happen to travel back in time and accept it. It's a simpler story device that way.
I warned you for this crap in another thread. Please stop now - zero tolerance for this shit from now on.
Like it or not, time travel is a part of the Trek Universe. In the Trek Universe, it is common knowledge how to go back in time, just slingshot your ship around the sun at Warp 9 and you will end up back in time. However, going back in time is illegal and not allowed due to the changing of the timelines. I agree, they went to the well to many times with the time travel theme, but time travel is a part of the show.