Times Arrow

[Elephant999]

Rewatching this and I have found myself fast forwarding through Mark Twain. Personally I find his presence does not advance the story in a good way and his voice to me is the equivalent of “nails on a chalkboard”. I find the actor so hammy and ott he just ruins any scene. The writers could have fleshed out the story in another way, by explaining a bit more about the aliens. I know people will disagree with me, but like a lot of TNG stories, the guest stars often ham it up to a ridiculous degree. The difference between Times Arrow and one of the best TNG episodes (Inner Light) is remarkable. Inner Light is beautifully written, simple and understated.

 

[HGN2001]

I personally thought that Jerry Hardin did a remarkable job recreating the character of Mark Twain. There's a YouTube of the only known motion picture film of Mark Twain, and the look and actions of Mr. Hardin mirror the real one amazingly. The voice? Well yeah, it was a bit annoying. Hardin might have been a bit too sing-song-y.

I liked "Time's Arrow" a lot when it aired and still like it to this day. I regret that when they combined some two-part episodes onto one Blu-ray, they never did this particular one. And because it's a season-ending cliffhanger, it requires getting up and changing discs when you play the Blu-rays.

 

[Mojochi]

Well, I tune him out mostly... Jack London too. Apart from that, it's a wonderful ensemble piece for the regular cast & I still quite like it

 

[Ragitsu]

I enjoy all of TNG's historical figures...Twain, Einstein and Moriarty chief among them.

 

[Mojochi]

With the exception of Moriaty, who is quite good, & not actually historical, they're all kind of hammy actually... Also adding Freud to that list.

 

[Ragitsu]

With the exception of Moriaty, who is quite good, & not actually historical

Close enough.

they're all kind of hammy actually... Also adding Freud to that list.

I savor moderate portions of ham. One reason I'm not so keen on Brooks' Ben Sisko is because the guy is dishing out Black Forest with every other sentence...like a bizarre rendition of Shatner attempting Stewart.

 

[Oddish]

One of the best aspects of the story was Data starting to come to terms with the idea that he was, in fact, mortal.

 

[Ragitsu]

One of the best aspects of the story was Data starting to come to terms with the idea that he was, in fact, mortal.

"differently mortal"

 

[Oddish]

But that his life had an end. It didn't end when he thought it did, of course. But it did make him look harder at the human constant of death.

 

[Orphalesion]

I savor moderate portions of ham. One reason I'm not so keen on Brook's Ben Sisko is because the guy is dishing out Black Forest with every other sentence...like a bizarre rendition of Shatner attempting Stewart.

As much as I like both Sisko and Brooks, but yeah sometimes he was played a bit bizarrely..

"She was wearing....REEEEEED"

"It is easy to be a SAINT [Pause. Full stop. It seems the sentence is over. And then suddenly] in PARADISE!"
(I could very related to Kira's confused expression in that scene)

 

[NCC-73515]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Guy Gardener]

I was wondering how this origin impacted on Yesterday's Enterprise?

It's not exactly the same Picard.

Either alt Picard went back and saved Guinin, or Guinin wonders why regular Picard never mentioned the Klingon war that's going to get in the way of Times Arrow on this end of the time bridge.

 

[Vger23]

I feel that Time's Arrow and Descent are TNG's two worst 2-parters (including the "telefilm" presentations of Encounter at Farpoint and ...All Good Things).

The set-up for Time's Arrow was interesting, but the story that followed was really quite grating. It's not as outright awful as Descent...but it's really close.

 

[ThankQ]

"differently mortal"

Alternative mortality.

 

[Kor]

Interestingly, there are no known surviving sound recordings of Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens' voice.
The closest we can get is impersonation by the actor William Gillette, who personally know him.
A recording from 1934 is here at 1:50:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

And here is the film footage of Mark Twain himself (embedded playback is disabled on this video).

Kor

 

[Ragitsu]

As much as I like both Sisko and Brooks, but yeah sometimes he was played a bit bizarrely..

"She was wearing....REEEEEED"

"It is easy to be a SAINT [Pause. Full stop. It seems the sentence is over. And then suddenly] in PARADISE!"
(I could very related to Kira's confused expression in that scene)

There's a certain moment in "Rocks And Shoals" that is worthy of mention.

REMATA'KLAN: I have my orders.
SISKO: Keevan doesn't deserve the unwavering loyalty you're giving him.
REMATA'KLAN: He does not have to earn my loyalty, Captain. He has had it from the moment I was conceived. I am a Jem'Hadar. He is a Vorta. It is the order of things.
SISKO: Do you really want to give up your life for the order of things?

He doesn't just say "order of things"...he says "the ORE-DAHH of things" in this unnecessarily overly-dramatic fashion.

 

[Sci]

Avery Brooks is perfect as Sisko and you will never convince me otherwise.

 

[Ragitsu]

Avery Brooks is perfect as Sisko and you will never convince me otherwise.

I found his performance in American History X to be better and he wasn't quite so subtly bombastic in Spenser For Hire. Anyhow, you are correct: he perfectly played Sisko, off-kilter mannerisms and all.

 

[Orac]

I enjoy all the historical figures on TNG too, although I thought the guy who played Stephen Hawking was a bit rubbish.

 

[Orphalesion]

Avery Brooks is perfect as Sisko and you will never convince me otherwise.

As I said I like Sisko and Brooks' performance as a whole, I just think that sometimes he got a little weird.