The Timeline after Yesterday's Enterprise...

[Ginners]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I had a thought after watching Yesterday's Enterprise...

The episode starts in a timeline where Tasha Yar existed once, then died. When Enterprise C comes through the rift, we enter a timeline where Tasha existed once but never died. When Enterprise C returns to the past, the timeline returns to "normal", as confirmed by Guinan, and the series continues on...

But, at the end of the episode have we not entered another alternate timeline? It's not the same timeline as at the beginning of the episode. Tasha now existed twice, died twice and had a daughter. The episode emphasises throughout that Enterprise C must return and everything happen EXACTLY as it did before in order to fully restore the timeline. However, as Yar goes back and survives, this doesn't happen. The timeline does return to a non war state, but it's different due to the alternate Yar's survival and the later appearance of her daughter.

So, does that mean that the last we see of the "original" timeline is at the start of this episode, and from the end of the episode onwards we enter an alternate timeline based on the choice made by Picard and Yar to allow her to go back with Enterprise C? Technically the timeline we follow for the rest of the show shouldn't have happened either. It was only because Picard allowed Yar to go back (assuming she would just die with the others) that another alternate timeline was created which erased the original timeline at the beginning of the episode (and the timeline we'd been following up until that point for the first two and a half seasons).

 

[The Wormhole]

It's close enough to what was supposed to happen.

 

[Ginners]

Yar's daughter appears later in the series, though, which wouldn't have happened in the original, unaltered timeline. It's obviously not radically different but it's technically on a different path to the one that existed at the beginning of the episode.

 

[Makarov]

Technically Yar's daughter could have been in that original timeline all along. Just like Guinan always knew Picard would go back and meet her in that Mark Twain two parter - it didn't split into another timeline.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The timeline at the end of the episode is exactly the same one as existed at the start.

It's a classic predestination paradox.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I've always assumed that the events of "Yesterday's Enterprise" were merely part of what was supposed to happen; thus, the return of the Enterprise-C to the past maintained the status quo rather than changing anything.

--Captain Terrell

 

[Ginners]

Technically Yar's daughter could have been in that original timeline all along. Just like Guinan always knew Picard would go back and meet her in that Mark Twain two parter - it didn't split into another timeline.

I take both points, but the suggestion then is that the Star Trek universe is ultimately based on a pre-determined model. All decisions have already been made, even if the characters don't realise it at the time. In this episode Picard never had any choice - he was already going to send Ent C back with Yar because that was simply how it had to be.

Taking pre-determination out of it, alternate Picard had three real choices:

1) Keep Enterprise C in the future. This would cause the alternate timeline to continue.
2) Send Enterprise C back to the past, but refuse Yar's request to transfer. One assumes this would take us back to the 'original' timeline at the beginning of the episode.
3) Send Enterprise C back and grant Yar's request. As far as I can tell, this creates a totally new timeline where Yar existed twice. It probably has no major impact on anything, which might be why Guinan believes things are back to normal, but could alter the Romulan Empire in various ways, as well as directly influencing the Enterprise later on.

Of course, if you assume the ST universe is pre-determined then the above three options are irrelevant. Picard was always going to choose 3, he never really had a choice. I suppose it just seems a little more fun if it's not!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I've always assumed that the events of "Yesterday's Enterprise" were merely part of what was supposed to happen; thus, the return of the Enterprise-C to the past maintained the status quo rather than changing anything.

Exactly. The brief 'detour' to the alternate timeline as seen in the episode, was necessary in order for the original timeline to ever exist in the first place. Like I said: predestination paradox.

 

[somebuddyX]

I think Star Trek uses what ever time travel model fits the story. Time definitely changed in City on the Edge of Forever, Future's End, Children of Time, E², Time Squared, First Contact and so on. It also has time loops like Assignment Earth, maybe Trek IV, Yesteryear, Captain's Holiday. They have alternate universes created like Trek 09. And they have weird shit like whatever happened in Relativity.
I like this idea of YE being a time loop but I've always been bothered why this alternate timeline only sprung into existence in 2366. Shouldn't this have been the real timeline once Enterprise-C left the 2340s and travelled to the future, and Seasons 1-3 should have been set in that future? Or is there some kinda ripple effect like Back to the Future, in that it took a while for the effects to take place? I just don't see how any changes to the timeline happened until E-C returned to the 2340s...

 

[somebuddyX]

I'm probably just not thinking fourth dimensionally!

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^Seasons 1-3 could not have taken place in the alternate future created by the Enterprise-C's disappearance because the vessel returned to the past at almost the same instant she left, allowing her to defend Narendra III and preserve the normal flow of history.

It only appears as though the alternate timeline sprung into existence in 2366 because the events in question were seen from the POV of Picard and company as the Enterprise-C emerged from the rift. Had we been to see the intervening years between the ship's disappearance and reappearance, we'd have seen history unfold differently in her absence.

One thing I have wondered about is how seemingly no time passed in the "normal" timeline during the episode. It makes sense from a storytelling perspective but doesn't hold up otherwise. Several hours/days should have elapsed between when the Enterprise-C arrived and departed.

--Captain Terrell

 

[Ginners]

I actually found Picard's decision to allow Yar to go back with Ent C a little baffling. She tells him she doesn't belong here, but she's wrong. She does belong in the current timeline, but not in the one she's asking to go back to. I assume that's why Picard tells her that her request has no logic. She then makes an emotional plea based on her 'meaningless death' and Picard suddenly agrees, although the manner in which he does it is bizarre. It sounds like he's about to argue against it again, but then he pauses and reluctantly says "permission granted."

I always found that a bit odd. Picard is generally quite logical and isn't easily swayed by arguments based on emotion. He's adamant that Ent C must return as close to normal as possible. Sure, it's 99% certain Yar will die when she returns to the past with Ent C, but why would Picard even take a small chance that somebody from the future could survive and live on in the past? Even more so alternate Picard, who generally seems even colder than normal Picard. The relationship between alternate Picard and alternate Riker is noticeably frosty throughout this episode.

It would have made more sense, imo, for Picard to refuse her request, then have Yar sneak on board Ent C somehow anyway. It ends up being a bad decision regardless, as even if we assume the timeline wasn't changed and was always meant to be as it was, alternate Yar basically becomes a Romulan sex slave and is betrayed by her own daughter and then executed. Original Yar meanwhile still dies in the same way she did before.

The writers of this show really didn't like Yar, did they?

 

[Terok Nor]

 

[Richard Baker]

Outside of having two Yars, one thing I wonder about is the Enterprise C itself.
The Romulans see it disappear while in combat, heavily damaged.
It suddenly reappears with damage fixed (for the most part), restocked with torpedos and new battle tactics (now with Yar at that position).
I am not surprised they wanted some prisoners, just to help figure out WTF happened. Yar would have especially useful because of her knowledge of the technical advances made not only by the Federation but her knowledge of the future Klingons as well.

 

[Timo]

One thing I have wondered about is how seemingly no time passed in the "normal" timeline during the episode. It makes sense from a storytelling perspective but doesn't hold up otherwise. Several hours/days should have elapsed between when the Enterprise-C arrived and departed.

Why? The past end of the time tunnel could be fixed in time as well as in space, allowing for no other entry or exit moments besides the exact one where the Romulan torpedoes create the rift.

I'm in the "close enough" camp here. We're dealing with three timelines, original, war and altered original - but just as usual, the altering does not matter because time in Trek is incredibly robust and doesn't mind little changes.

It's interesting to speculate how the original timeline would have been different from the Yar-contaminated one between 2344 and 2366. Did Starfleet know what happened to the E-C or not? (In the altered timeline, they do know, more or less, as per "Redemption".) Did the ship score ill or well in the battle? (We know that it's the thought that counted.) Did the same set of Klingons die or survive? All sorts of little things could be different in the two versions of pre-2366 TNG.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Why? The past end of the time tunnel could be fixed in time as well as in space, allowing for no other entry or exit moments besides the exact one where the Romulan torpedoes create the rift.

I'm in the "close enough" camp here. We're dealing with three timelines, original, war and altered original - but just as usual, the altering does not matter because time in Trek is incredibly robust and doesn't mind little changes.

It's interesting to speculate how the original timeline would have been different from the Yar-contaminated one between 2344 and 2366. Did Starfleet know what happened to the E-C or not? (In the altered timeline, they do know, more or less, as per "Redemption".) Did the ship score ill or well in the battle? (We know that it's the thought that counted.) Did the same set of Klingons die or survive? All sorts of little things could be different in the two versions of pre-2366 TNG.

Timo Saloniemi

I've occasionally thought about taking it another step further, what might have happened to Federation/Klingon relations if the E-C had been "improved" by the Battleship Enterprise's crew (such as better torpedoes, and 'tweaks' to the shields while still using the same hardware) enough that they actually defeated the Romulans (this would probably work better when it was Garrett and Castillo, rather than Castillo and Yar) and where still in "fighting condition" when Klingon and/or Federation reinforcements arrived? Would Garrett and Castillo be lauded as the "Saviours of Narenda III"? would this lead to closer relations with the Klingons, maybe even the Klingons being part of the Federation (or at least much closer allies ala the Dominion War and later era)?

 

[tharpdevenport]

Correct me if wrong, but everything timeline wise is okay. The problem is two Tasha's without ramifications.

The Enterprise D with Tasha dead is what I'll call the prime timeline, and the alternate timeline is the one created when the Enterprise C came through. So the Tasha that went back into the prime past, was the alternate Tasha. So the normal prime timeline was restored, with the addition of one alternate timeline person.


The real issue to me is as I said: two Tasha Yar's. The Romulan Star empire didn't notice this? Their espionage never found records indicating a Tasha Yar that is identical, served on the Enterprise and was killed during duty? Or maybe they did and that was part of their mistrust, founded and unfounded, of the Federation -- alterations on history.

But the prime timeline doesn't stay prime forever. Once Sela is spawned and effects events, the timeline is now polluted and not how it would have been.


There's probably an off-screen scene very much like the Deep Space Nine episode where Sisko tells of what happened when they were back with hte original Enterprise, wherein they think everything is okay and asked if that was all that happened[/i], and then he says, "Well, commander Sela tells me I sent my cheif of security back in the past, irepably altering the future", and both guys slap their foreheads.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If the Romulans happened to stumble across any records of the real Tasha (i.e. the one who died at Vagra II), I doubt they thought much of it. Names are probably re-used in Romulan culture just as often as they are on Earth. There'd be no reason for the Romulans to immediately suspect time travel just for that reason alone.

In fact, Tasha-C (the one from "Yesterday's Enterprise") may well have had a cover story ready to give to her interrogators, for just this reason - I mean, she already knew that she wasn't supposed to exist and that her real counterpart was already dead, so she had to tell them something, right?

If Tasha-C says that she's an aunt, for example, whom the younger Tasha was named for, would there be any reason the Romulans wouldn't take her at her word?

 

[tharpdevenport]

Sela knew her mother was Tasha Yar. Either she found out before Tasha was murdered, or told by somebody else after the fact. What ever lie Yar may or may not have told, didn't work.

Picard: "Tasha?" (upon seeing Sela)

Sela: "No, Captain. I am Commander Sela. The woman you knew as Tasha Yar ... was my mother."
("Redemotion: Part II")

 

[WarpFactorZ]

It's close enough to what was supposed to happen.