Why weren't they more concerned about the unmanned time pod returning to the 22nd century ?

At the end of A matter of time, Rasmussen gets caught, and Picard says, dramatically: Trying to make my history unfold in a way other than it already has, eh, Professor?

But they let the pod itself return to the 22nd century, without even remarking on it! Perhaps they couldn't stop it, but they didn't even try. And within that pod were still al those 'trinkets'. Who's to say that someone else wouldn't find it and open it? Anyone doing that and exploiting the finds still could alter history. Or were they so confident that, since they couldn't open it, no-one from between the 22nd century and their own time would be able to, either?

 

There was nothing they could do

 

IIRC, it required his handprint to open it? Therefore, It appears where and when it appears and nobody can ever get inside because future magic tech.

 

29th century humans knew when and where it would appear and nabbed it.

 

My question about this episode has always been: this guy just show up and says he's from "The Future". A bit later Picard states he's examined the guy's "credentials" and is legit. So just exactly what sort of credentials does someone from the "future" provide that would/could conclusively prove his veracity?

 

Yes.

All of which had been deactivated anyhow

 

Which brings up the question how Rasmussen succeeded in 'imprinting' his handprint on the device to obey him in the first place. If nobody can 'because of future magic tech' it follows that he must have coerced the original occupant. If that was a genuine historian however, that person probably would have rather died than help Rasmussen. (Given how Starfleet morale has already developed in the 24th century). But perhaps the original occupant wasn't a historian? Suppose that it was a kid who simply stole the timepod and went on a joyride?

Anyway, if they can open the pod without Rasmussen's help, a person in the 22nd century could probably, too. If they can't, they still can coerce Rasmussen the way he coerced the original owner - if they had presented him with the ultimatum immediately. Both possibilities eliminate the need for orphaning a mysterious pod in the 22nd century for too long.

Unless Rasmussen really couldn't reprogram the pod, and it was just on a preprogrammed trajectory, ultimately returning it to the time where it belongs, of course. But we don't know all that for sure.

Yes, but what does that mean, exactly? All we know for certain is that it prevents immediate use. If I could send back a 'deactivated' (drained) smartphone to the 30's, they probably still could at least figure out how to recharge it. It's a different story if it is actually blocked and encrypted. But still, deactivation does not necessarily mean it can't be studied and learned from.

Given the abysmal state starfleet "security" seems to be in during the TNG era though, I wouldn't be too sure some clever 22nd century folks couldn't circumvent it

 

I took it to mean exactly that. After all, if someone wanted to take your tech, & you shut it down because of that, you'd probably be doing so with the intent of making it as completely unusable as possible

 

^that would be reasonable, yes, but in that case I would expect them to say something like 'thoroughly scrambled and damaged beyond repair' instead of simply 'deactivated'.

Anyway, we know how safe those Starfleet protective measures usually turn out to be

 

Man, I hate this episode, for essentially this reason: nothing connects, just from one story beat to the next my mind is a constant refrain of "that doesn't make sense, and that doesn't make sense, and also that doesn't make sense, etc" I applaud anyone brave enough to try to find an explanation that brings coherence to this storytelling mush.

 

I always wondered how their equipment disappears and they just seem to be fine with it remaining missing.
Seriously, like at the end of the year dies Beverly have to return to Earth for a case of Tri-corsets because all of the Tri-corders from the ship have disappeared?
(In addition to whatever else he took)

 

I realize it's just a typo, but now I kind of want to see what turns up on deviantArt in searching for 'tri-corsets'. Please stop me. It won't go well.

 

That Rasmussen can't operate the timepod at all might be supported by quite a few datapoints:

1) He has to ask Picard to step aside for transport. A classic making-lemonade-out-of-rotten-apples moment if any: he can't alter the settings of his gear, but he can make it look as if he's merely eccentric.

2) He ends up right next to the E-D and basically immediately knows some key detail about the E-D. Sure, he's a flexible con man, but he actually knows the skipper is named Picard before anybody tells him so (and no, Picard's ready room, uniform, or a random page on his Shakespeare book does not have that name spelled out as far as we can tell!). This IMHO suggests the previous owner had preset the pod at this very target and done the necessary legwork, which "Rasmussen" here was merely exploiting.

3) He never even suggests piloting the pod himself when Picard wants it brought aboard.

4) He pretty much 'fesses up to the very thing to Data. Why lie about it at that particular point?

Timo Saloniemi

 

I'd say the only thing that even suggests he knows anything at all about the time pod is that he reprogrammed the security system to accept his hand print, but that isn't much. He is an "Inventor" after all. Maybe he found a thing or two that he did understand

 

It's just a sort of nickname for when you put your head through the armhole on your bra in the morning and don't realize it until lunchtime.

 

You know if it went back to the past then that means that it might still be around in the 24th century. What if one of the real ways Picard found out he was a fraud was because he contacted Starfleet and they told them that it had been discovered years and years ago and people have always wondered where it had came from. Also we got to consider the Historian wasn't killed, he just got tricked and was stuck in the past or would have until the ship returned and he got back into and returned to the future.

Jason

 

So let's assume Rasmussen really doesn't know how to program the pod. Then it follows that the original occupant or someone else from the 26th century (let's call him X for short) must have programmed it. But that brings up a new question.

If X's purpose is only to observe history, why would he first travel to the 22nd century, then to the 24th century in a very different sector, and then intend to go back to the very spot and time he just left? (Why preprogram the thing at all, for that matter?)

That seems like a travel plan more appropriate for someone who is trying to meddle with history in the 22nd century, check in the 24th if his actions had the desired result, and then go back to the 22nd to adjust his plans somewhat .... I checked the script and nowhere does it say that X was a historian. That may have been just made up by Rasmussen. Perhaps X was even part of the temporal cold war?

Hmmm, that's a possibility I never thought of.

 

Since the E-D spotted the time pod with ease, I see two chief possibilities regarding X.

The first is that X knew exactly where and when to catch Picard and wanted to be brought aboard, probably under the very same excuse/pretense "Rasmussen" used. Perhaps his aims were equally sinister, or even more so, as the temporal tither-and-yon suggests - but aimed specifically at Picard's person. Perhaps he wanted to talk Picard into helping him in the past, knowing Picard had similarly helped Cochrane. Perhaps he found out something interesting about Shakespeare in the 22nd century and wanted to check Picard's rare surviving book before it perished on Veridian.

The second is that X was interested in the fate of the planet, either in the benign or sinister sense, but did not want Picard to interfere. He would thus have utilized the stealth features of his pod; "Rasmussen" had no knowledge of the features, or at least no skill for activating them.

In both cases, the pod would be provided with a suitably thorough briefing on the E-D and her skipper. In both cases, the pod would hit that exact moment, in the first case because that's when Picard is especially isolated and vulnerable (and doing evil deeds to him would also nicely lead to the natural elimination of a planetful of witnesses, while doing benign personal deals would have minimal repercussions), in the second case because that's when interesting things happen to the planet (and in the sinister case this is a good time to do theft down there - who knows, had "Rasmussen" not pestered Picard, perhaps our hero would not have dared use the technique he did, and the planet would have died?).

Timo Saloniemi

 

Yes, this always bothered me too. But I think this was a plot device to trigger Rasmussen's utter grief at his fate decisively. I think the Enterprise should have kept the pod. Its technology would have changed the balance of power against the Romulans and the Borg. But Picard is always so worried about altering the timeline. Maybe integral to causality, are the outcomes of feedback / feedforward time loop dynamics. Also, as noted, just allowing it to go back to an uncertain fate is inherently risky. So I say, keep it, learn from it, use it carefully and wisely. But the opportunity is past.