Star Trek Has Become Too Dependent On Time Travel

[Dayton3]

It seems to me that Star Trek overall has become too dependent on the notion of Time Travel.

IIRC, the original series featured time travel as a key part of an episode roughly 4 times out of nearly 80 episodes.

ST:TNG didn't need Time Travel much at all the first three or four seasons.

If I counted correctly, about four episodes.

But it seems that from about the midpoint of ST:TNG onward, time travel episodes (or alternate universe episodes which are very similiar) became almost the most common type of Trek story.

The last series, Enterprise was basically built on the idea of time travel (Temporal Cold War).

How did this happen?

Can't they find enough interesting things to write about in the main time line in our galaxy?

Personally, I think that for whatever reasons, many of Treks television writers had a very poor imagination.

 

[boognish]

I like time travel stories, even ones that are poorly written or executed because they make the well executed ones even better by comparison.

 

[Cyke101]

I thought it would be interesting if an entire ship and crew travelled to the future. Not just a few decades like DS9 would, but full centuries (or more!) beyond. It'd be a twist on the old time travel formula. Sadly, that never happened.

With that said, I don't have a problem with time travel stories per se, as long as they don't become formulaic. I loved the idea of a Temporal Cold War, because that meant that Starfleet was dealing with something beyond their comprehension. The execution was horribly off, but the concept was sound. And I agree to an extent with the OP, as time travel was sorely overused in Voyager. If time travel is the story, give it a twist.

Something like the Braxton stories were horribly blah. Something like Star Treks IV and VIII, or All Good Things... or Trials and Tribbleations were superb. Or even sideways-time stories like Year of Hell.

 

[zenophite]

One of the things that has been a constant in all of the TNG+ trek is a near total lack of character development and actually putting the characters in a situation where you areb't sure they'll survive. Time travel and reset button type stories allow some of these things to be explored without reprecussions. That said i agree there is too much time travel. of the 4 trek series 3 had finales that involved some sort of time travel

 

[Count Zero]

I used to be skeptical of time travel stories, too, mostly because of the way it has been abused by Trek. But in principle, time travel stories aren't bad per se. They can be great if done well. I used to think I had a general problem with the concept but I love Doctor Who, a show that's based on a guy travelling through space and time, so that's obviously not the point. And as someone pointed out, there are some great episodes involving time travel. So I guess, the problem I have really boils down to the reset button and formulaic character of many of these episodes. I think Star Trek has become too dependent on formulaic story telling.

 

[Michael]

I don't care how much time travel they use as long as the stories are entertaining. And as most of the time travel episodes are quite enterteining I see no reason to complain ...

 

[Broccoli]

The last series, Enterprise was basically built on the idea of time travel (Temporal Cold War).

How did this happen?

UPN demanded that Enterprise have something futuristic. The 22nd Century wasn't futuristic enough for the network.

I thought it would be interesting if an entire ship and crew travelled to the future. Not just a few decades like DS9 would, but full centuries (or more!) beyond. It'd be a twist on the old time travel formula. Sadly, that never happened.

Voyager's "Relativity" did this somewhat.

 

[Cyke101]

Voyager's "Relativity" did this somewhat.

"Somewhat" being the sad kicker. After a certain point, I was tired of the crews travelling back in time. That's why I prefaced that comment by wishing a crew and the vessel itself go forward in time. Sisko, Archer, or Seven? What about all of Voyager itself? Bah.

 

[Dayton3]

Voyager's "Relativity" did this somewhat.

"Somewhat" being the sad kicker. After a certain point, I was tired of the crews travelling back in time. That's why I prefaced that comment by wishing a crew and the vessel itself go forward in time. Sisko, Archer, or Seven? What about all of Voyager itself? Bah.

Back when I was for a Star Trek series based upon the Enterprise-B in the 2320 decade, I had a suggested two part episode called "Faces of the Future" where while conducting an experimental engine test, the Excelsior class Enterprise-B is transported over 100 years into the future.

The first part was seen from the point of view of the Enterprise crew.

The second part was seen from the point of view of the U.S.S. Fearless crew, the ship that encounters the Enterprise.

It played out similiar to "Yesterdays Enterprise" in reverse.

 

[STIntergalactic]

Time travel eps are my favorite. A lot of fans often suggest a Trek show based soley on time travel. I'd watch it.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

The last series, Enterprise was basically built on the idea of time travel (Temporal Cold War).

How did this happen?

UPN demanded that Enterprise have something futuristic. The 22nd Century wasn't futuristic enough for the network.

Not quite. Braga had been wanting to do an entirely time-travel based Star Trek show. Sort of an anthology that would jump around to any period that he found interesting.

When the decision was made to do a prequel to TOS, the "Temporal Cold War" was Braga's attempt to keep his time-travel series around as a component of the new show.

 

[AlanC9]

But it seems that from about the midpoint of ST:TNG onward, time travel episodes (or alternate universe episodes which are very similiar) became almost the most common type of Trek story.

Did anyone check this? It doesn't ring true for me except for ENT, which doesn't count since the TCW was part of the series concept.

 

[Forbin]

Trek did indeed overuse time travel, to the point where I was sick of it. More to the point, though, was that after a while their time travel stories were not only tiresome but ... just not good.

It seemed to be the only thing Brannon Braga could think of any more, and he was burned out, and the stories were lame, dull, or just plain bad.

And oddly enough, I love Dr. Who, where time travel is a part of every episode, and it's done well and made fun.

 

[anais]

As I remember them, Star Treks time travel episodes were generally well done and entertaining. Year of Hell's take on time travel was refreshing.

 

[Dr_Daystrom]

One of the things that has been a constant in all of the TNG+ trek is a near total lack of character development and actually putting the characters in a situation where you areb't sure they'll survive. Time travel and reset button type stories allow some of these things to be explored without reprecussions. That said i agree there is too much time travel. of the 4 trek series 3 had finales that involved some sort of time travel

I agree. Time travel stories allow anything and everything to happen without repercussions because it can all be undone. It's a very poor writers crutch that doesn't require any real thought or plotting. And it's frequent use doesn't really make any sense because no matter how careful everyone is eventually permanent changes to the time line would creep in and the "reset" button would not fully work. I really wish they would give time travel a rest in Trek and spend more time on character driven stories. Let's explore alien cultures, Federation history, principle characters backgrounds, etc.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Should have just renamed it Time Trek and be done with it.

 

[greenmystik]

While I don't like the reset button ending for some of the time travel episodes I don't have a problem when they actually use time travel.

 

[Mistral]

I've always been fascinated with time travel. However, a deeper understanding of Federation culture(s) would have been nice too.

 

[Dr_Daystrom]

I've always been fascinated with time travel. However, a deeper understanding of Federation culture(s) would have been nice too.

I mentioned the line "An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications" from your signature to my coworkers yesterday and got a big laugh.

 

[Dayton3]

I don't see how anyone could want a Trek series based around time travel.