Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writing?

[eepruls]

As we all know, All Good Things... includes the huge error of the future Enterprise being able to see the initial formation of the spatial anomaly after they've scanned it (the anomaly grows backwards in time so there should be nothing when they go back to the Devron system). Was this a goof on the part of the writers or did they realize it but just felt it wasn't that important (the future anomaly was "close enough" to when the scan was performed; the anomaly being smaller than the other time periods was most important).

I think it would have been cooler if the episode opened with the future crew encountering the spatial anomaly in the Devron system. Then the future Enterprise would try to close it but in doing so, they create it and start everything. Then the rest of the episode happens. When we see Picard in the future timeline, he must convince them not to close the anomaly and to take the ship in (with the other two in the other time periods) to destroy it.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

The anomaly could've expanded in both directions from its origin point, forward and backward.

Though I'm inclined to dismiss the whole thing as an illusion created by Q. Because there's an even bigger plot hole here: the script says the anomaly was created by the same deflector dish firing an inverse tachyon pulse into those coordinates in three different time frames. But in the "future" time frame, it wasn't the Enterprise's deflector dish that fired the pulse, but the Pasteur's. So unless the Pasteur was using a hand-me-down tachyon emitter from the Enterprise, this is a contradiction.

 

[doublegoodprole]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

The anomaly could've expanded in both directions from its origin point, forward and backward.

Though I'm inclined to dismiss the whole thing as an illusion created by Q. Because there's an even bigger plot hole here: the script says the anomaly was created by the same deflector dish firing an inverse tachyon pulse into those coordinates in three different time frames. But in the "future" time frame, it wasn't the Enterprise's deflector dish that fired the pulse, but the Pasteur's. So unless the Pasteur was using a hand-me-down tachyon emitter from the Enterprise, this is a contradiction.

Maybe it was the same deflector dish company that created said deflector dishes. In any case, the deflector dish couldn't be exactly the same, as there was a discontinuity between the three timelines (i.e. different quantum signatures).

 

[Warped9]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

Though I'm inclined to dismiss the whole thing as an illusion created by Q.

Agreed. The whole episode was contrived from the start.

 

[Tom Riley]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I've heard the argument that it was more that the three tachyon beams were all fired by Data, and that perhaps it was his chosen beam configuration that made the three beams identical enough.

 

[toughlittleship]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I just try to ignore the insipid technobabble in that episode and just focus on the characters.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I never noticed it, but maybe that's because technobabble kind of makes my brain switch off.

Trek contains a fair amount of bad writing, but a minor goof in a genuinely great episode doesn't bother me much.

 

[Red Ranger]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

It's science fiction. You have to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy the stories. That's what I do and I enjoyed the series finale as a result.

I've heard the argument that it was more that the three tachyon beams were all fired by Data, and that perhaps it was his chosen beam configuration that made the three beams identical enough.

This.

I never noticed it, but maybe that's because technobabble kind of makes my brain switch off.

Trek contains a fair amount of bad writing, but a minor goof in a genuinely great episode doesn't bother me much.

And this.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

As we all know

And yet it's still a great episode (as we all know )

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I don't know how one can seriously call a bit of anachronism in a story about time travel and violations of causality a "goof" much less a huge one. Does anyone care?

 

[Destructor]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

Though I'm inclined to dismiss the whole thing as an illusion created by Q.

Agreed. The whole episode was contrived from the start.

I'm of the mind that there is no difference between an illusion created by Q and an alternate reality created by Q.

 

[eepruls]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I don't know how one can seriously call a bit of anachronism in a story about time travel and violations of causality a "goof" much less a huge one. Does anyone care?

I don't think you can just say, "oh, it's science fiction so it doesn't matter. Ignore it." Just because All Good Things... has time travel doesn't mean the audience should ignore obvious flaws in the plot. And I'm not talking about the basic things we accept (warp travel, phasers, time travel, etc.), even though they're far fetched. Those things are accepted within the fictional Star Trek world.

My problem is when you establish that something works one way (anomaly travels backwards in time), again, within the context of the fictional world, and then show otherwise in the same episode. To me, that's bad writing or a 'goof' because it could have been avoided.

 

[CoveTom]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

^ I would agree that it's a goof and that it could have been avoided. However, to me, it's a very minor goof in what is generally a great episode. And I cut Moore and Braga some slack. They were handed the assignment to write "All Good Things..." at the last minute and had something like two weeks to write it, after just coming off a marathon writing session for Generations in addition to their normal writing and producing duties. They must have been exhausted by that point and probably didn't put too much thought into the intricate technobabble details.

Indeed, I think "All Good Things..." is an example of Nicholas Meyer's oft-repeated quote that "art thrives on restrictions." When Moore and Braga had a year or two to write and re-write and re-re-write Generations, they came up with what most agree is a fairly mediocre Trek outing. But when they were under the gun and had to throw something together in two weeks, we got an almost universally praised finale. Indeed, both Moore and Braga themselves have said that if they had known then how the two stories would have turned out, they would have swapped them, and made "All Good Things..." the movie.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I don't think you can just say, "oh, it's science fiction so it doesn't matter. Ignore it."

Oh, it's science fiction so it doesn't matter. Ignore it.

See? Can so.

 

[Bishop76]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

^ HE'S A SORCERER!!!

 

[eepruls]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I don't think you can just say, "oh, it's science fiction so it doesn't matter. Ignore it."

Oh, it's science fiction so it doesn't matter. Ignore it.

See? Can so.

Damn you! LOL J/K

All Good Things... is still a great episode and I was never trying to imply that it wasn't. In fact, it has the best ending for all the Trek series. I love that they didn't feel they needed to kill someone off 'just cause'. You know, like Trip in Enterprise or even Sisko in DS9 (it was Brooks who wanted Sisko to live so hence the living with the prophets or whatever). I just love that they ended TNG with a scene that epitomizes what Star Trek is all about - friendship, hope, loyalty, etc. It felt good (sad, but good) when the ship flew away.

 

[Gary7]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

Whenever Q is involved, all bets are off on having to explain faults in plausibility/continuity. Q disrupts the entire equation in ways we can't rightly tell.

There have been numerous discussions about the extent of what Q did in various episodes. One prime example is with Picard in Tapestry. We don't know if the explosion really damaged his artificial heart to the point of impending death, or if Q just made it seem that way so he could enjoy throwing Picard through an alternative life path. In the end, it doesn't really matter. It's the story that does. So, I tend to look at the temporal anomaly in All Good Things as a Q orchestrated manifestation.

 

[Stoek]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

I think a couple of important clues from the episode are being forgotten. One thing is the statement that events from one time line don't seem to have any bearing on the others. This suggests that Picard is actually jumping into two other Picard's from alternate realities.

The other thing is the end where the anomaly is explained as a paradox. Part of that paradox is the fact that it did not exist until Picard created it, but once created it traveled backwards in time.

The beams from the other three "Enterprises" I personally regard as more of a genuine mistake.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

^ HE'S A SORCERER!!!

Please allow me to introduce myself...

 

[JB2005]

Re: Future Enterprise seeing anomaly in All Good Things...; Bad writin

^ HE'S A SORCERER!!!

Congratulations, that's the first time i've choked on a drink after reading an internet forum!!!