The Curious Case of Berlinghoff Rasmussen

[Oddish]

I can think of any number of situations where a time traveler might end up dead... eaten by a dinosaur, casually murdered by a human in a barbaric age (if you ever saw "Timeline" you know what I'm talking about), caught in a natural disaster they were investigating, subjected to "justice" in some brutal empire or other (Rome, Revolutionary France, the USSR), a casualty of a war they were trying to peek at, or taken out by the temporal equivalent of a carjacker (as presumably happened). I would think the time traveling historian's bosses would have taken precautions to retrieve the machine if its user died.

 

[Ragitsu]

(if you ever saw "Timeline" you know what I'm talking about)

I read it, as a matter of fact; not only are there an abundance of horror elements in a novel that probably wasn't conceived as a horror story, but those experiences of the travelers - in the aggregate - thoroughly dispel ANY romanticizing of the Middle Ages.

 

[Oddish]

I read it as well, but didn't quite remember the scene where the one person died. I remembered it in the movie, though, some native just ran that poor sap through, as casually as you or I would swat a mosquito. In a place that dangerous, there would almost need to be procedures for retrieving a lost vehicle. It's almost like the routine precaution of having shields on your starship.

 

[trekshark]

Also, I wonder what he could have done with those trinkets. I doubt the greatest inventor of the early 19th century would have gotten very far with reverse-engineering a 2022 microchip or a tablet, and Rasmussen wasn't exactly the best of inventors.

He'd have been better off taking blue prints and historical documents on the science that resulted in the inventions than the end products

 

[Oddish]

He'd have been better off taking blue prints and historical documents on the science that resulted in the inventions than the end products

And he probably could have gotten that data without too much trouble. The crew might have even given it to him.

 

[at Quark's]

He'd have been better off taking blue prints and historical documents on the science that resulted in the inventions than the end products

Which he probably could simply have asked for openly, claiming that 'the original documentation had been lost in his era', arousing no suspicion. The trinkets he stole didn't exactly seem like classified tech.

 

[mithril]

imagine how much more difficult this discussion would have been had the writers for ENT done what they considered, and made "Berlinghoff Rasmussen" Captain Archer's college roomate, as part of some throwaway lines.

 

[Mojochi]

God I hate prequels

 

[Ragitsu]

*resists urge to recite first few bars of that song*

 

[Oddish]

*Resists urge to retaliate by singing "Let it Go"*

 

[somebuddyX]

I wonder if they could have done a sequel to "A Matter of Time" on Enterprise, not a prequel. Berlinghoff Rasmussen comes to the NX-01 looking for info on how to steal another time travel pod, knowing that Archer found that one in "Future Tense" and tries to make off with the temporal observatory. You could even play it like a prequel at first and then slyly reveal that he's already been through the events of "A Matter of Time" and so the events of the episode are not something preordained. His fate is up for grabs.

 

[at Quark's]

If it's going to be a sequel and they want to reveal that, they'll also have to explain how he returned to the 22nd century without a time pod. He was taken captive in the 24th and the pod left without him, after all.

 

[somebuddyX]

If it's going to be a sequel and they want to reveal that, they'll also have to explain how he returned to the 22nd century without a time pod. He was taken captive in the 24th and the pod left without him, after all.

Oh shit, I didn't remember that. Oh well, there goes that story.

 

[JoseNoodles]

Assuming this machine and its former occupant were operating under the auspices of the 26th century Federation (a big assumption, I know), I would think there would be some way for the craft to be sent back to its original time. I can't imagine the Federation (and Starfleet) being okay with time machines being abandoned in the past (or future). The ending of "Future Tense" would seem to corroborate this.

 

[Mojochi]

I can't imagine the Federation (and Starfleet) being okay with time machines being abandoned in the past (or future).

I can't imagine anyone who might be responsible for this kind of operation being OK with it. So, unless you assume the original operator was an independent one, which is very unlikely, it's probably on recall somehow.

However, if our quirky imposter is still around whenever it is returned, it's pretty unlikely he'd ever find himself in a position to reclaim it.

 

[at Quark's]

I can't imagine the Federation (and Starfleet) being okay with time machines being abandoned in the past (or future).

I can't imagine the Federation (and Starfleet) being okay with time machines being abandoned, period. It seems like incredibly dangerous technology, regardless of whether they are in the past, present, or future.

 

[Oddish]

Agreed. Look at what McCoy did in "City on the Edge of Forever".

 

[publiusr]

I think some scans of the ship may have been taken--and this also helps to explain's future Janeway's ability to get back in time.

Rasmussen could have handled himself better. When Picard shot him the dirty look after the planetary rescue---he could have responded: "You owe your crew an apology, Captain. By insisting on asking me the outcome---you effectively disrespected their competency. I was told you had the finest crew in the galaxy---you should have had more faith in them."

That would have had Picard back on his heels.

To deal with Data, I would have told him that---in moments---The Borg were to rush in and destroy the Federation in hours--and we needed him and other technologies that had been lost....stall for time to make the jump.