Time's Arrow

[Danny99]

I believe this is possibly the 3rd worst Trek season finale of all time, beating out Shades of Gray and These Are The Voyages, but that isn't saying much.

The Jack London character makes me want to throw my laptop clear across the room (watched it on YouTube). In addition, Jerry Hardin as Samuel Clemens made me want to stick knives in my ears, just so I wouldn't have to hear him.

The plot was also weak. Every other sentence is technobabble, but it isn't saved by a story around it that works.

Thoughts? Comments?

 

[Hober Mallow]

I thought Jerry Hardin was great, but the story was ridiculous. As usual for TNG, an at least somewhat interesting cliffhanger is setup for a major part 2 letdown. Data facing his eventual fate and the crew's reaction was interesting. It's all downhill from there.

By the end of part 2, after meeting Jack London, Mark Twain, Guinan, energy sucking aliens, and a time portal, you just wonder, what was the point of any of that?

 

[Newski]

Oh, I loved Time's Arrow. It was a real crowd pleaser, not to be taken seriously. It's like Star Trek IV.....

I liked it, alot.... It managed to be interesting while also off the wall crazy. The tone and feel of TNG with the "Yeah, we're just being silly" attitude of Doctor Who".

Doesn't help that Twain is one of my heroes, and they really did him a bit of justice.

 

[Alrik]

I find Time's Arrow kind of fun. I don't have any of the same problems that the OP has with it. I thought it was just kind of a light two parter. At least, unlike the other two Eps mentioned, I can watch this one.

 

[tomalak301]

Not the best season finale, but not the worst either. I liked it, even though Twain was annoying. I did love what this episode did with Guinan and actually showing how Guinan and Picard first met, keeping with what we learned from Booby Trap.

 

[Amaris]

I find Time's Arrow kind of fun. I don't have any of the same problems that the OP has with it. I thought it was just kind of a light two parter. At least, unlike the other two Eps mentioned, I can watch this one.

I have the same thoughts. I enjoyed Time's Arrow, and it is still one of my frequent favorites when watching the time travel compilation series.

J.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I'm not all that big on Time's Arrow, personally. I like the Guinan stuff, but the stuff with Mark Twain feels like major league filler. It feels like a story with just enough to be a standard one-hour episode, but then got stretched into two parts, complete with a season break in the middle - maybe if it had been a two parter with a placement similar to Unification, Birthright, Gambit, one of them, I might like it better.

Ultimately, though, the whole bit where the crew goes back to the turn of the century feels like an excuse for set-dressing and costume play without resorting to using the holodeck again. Not my cup of tea, really.

 

[GalaxyX]

Oh, I loved Time's Arrow. It was a real crowd pleaser, not to be taken seriously. It's like Star Trek IV.....

I liked it, alot.... It managed to be interesting while also off the wall crazy. The tone and feel of TNG with the "Yeah, we're just being silly" attitude of Doctor Who".

Doesn't help that Twain is one of my heroes, and they really did him a bit of justice.

I thought the episodes were great. One of the better TNG stories. Only the ending was a bit weak. If it ever gets remastered I'd redo that ending so it's meatier

I'm not a fan of Mark Twain, but I felt the actor played him EXACTLY as I would imagine the real person would have been like.

I loved the scene where Riker and crew confronts the Aliens in the Hospital, and the reaction of the Aliens when this 19th Century Policeman is firing a Phaser Gun straight at them. Great scene, only wish it would have been longer.

 

[WillsBabe]

It's not the world's greatest episode but I think it's enjoyable enough. I love the scene with the crew practising the play and the landlady bustling in. Troi turning over Geordi's script was amusing, not the kind of humour TNG does much of. The opening finiding Data's head and wondering what's happened to him is intriguing. It's fluff but I find it entertaining, if only for the costumes, and to keep telling Picard not to let almost his entire senior staff leave the ship - but he never listens!

 

[ManaByte]

I disagree. I think it's a great finale, and better than Descent. It was an epic story worthy of a finale, wheras Descent began the de-fanging of the Borg. Guinan and Mark Twain were great and I was extremely satisfied with the ending.

 

[Newski]

I disagree. I think it's a great finale, and better than Descent. It was an epic story worthy of a finale, wheras Descent began the de-fanging of the Borg. Guinan and Mark Twain were great and I was extremely satisfied with the ending.

The Borg just seemed to "be there" in decent as a way to start the plot, when the real story, the Data/Lore Story was better yet did not actually need them....

Just there because they are fan favorite villains....

With finales like "Descent", "Best of Both Worlds" and "Redemption" I'm glad to have one that's kinda light hearted.

 

[Daneel]

I wonder if this was brought up due to the episodes having just aired on Space...

Anyway, I quite enjoy "Time's Arrow". As others have said, it's certainly more lightweight than other season finales, and yes, nothing really comes of it afterward, but I find it very entertaining, even if I do have to stretch my suspension of disbelief a bit more than usual. I enjoyed Hardin's portrayal of Mark Twain, the initial mystery of Data's head in the cavern, the crew's interactions with 19th-century people, etc. All good fun.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I always enjoyed the first part. I thought the aliens were creepy walking around in a human form in 19th century garb with that snake carved cane with an almost spectre-like aura around them. I liked the presentation of Picard hearing phased Data describing in great detail what he was observing in the phased realm.

The episode also had some nice mystery elements that had me curious--what the aliens were up to, the shocking reveal of Data's disembodied head in San Francisco, Guinan's reaction to learning of this and her mysterious words to Picard.

It also had some nice character moments for Data facing his mortality and the crew's reaction to it. I also enjoyed Data adjusting to being in the past and how he went about finding lodging, money in order to function.

Part II, on the otherhand, was very disappointing. I thought it would have been nice to see more of the crew in their daily lives. I also thought the episode was plodding and yet also rushed as contradictory as it sounds simply because we knew we couldn't have the story become a mini-arc. We barely had an adventure in the 19th century before everyone is back in the 24th century back on the Enterprise.

 

[Xerxes1979]

I can't hate an episode with Gul Dukat playing poker.

 

[Hober Mallow]

I can't hate an episode with Gul Dukat playing poker.

It was right after filming this that Marc Alaimo did the DS9 pilot. Who knows, maybe this is what got him the job. "So who should play Dukat? Wait a sec, Marc Alaimo did a Cardassian, and he just did TNG for us, so I know he's a available. Call him up!"

Then again it's also possible he was already cast as Dukat by this time. Colm Meany was still appearing on TNG as O'Brien even after beginning work on DS9. (You'll noticed in his sixth season TNG episodes he's wearing his DS9 single empty rank pip, whereas on all previous TNG episodes he wore two solid rank pips.)

 

[Mojochi]

It's ok. A bit fluff, sure. That always did surprise me, that they ended season 5 with it, when they had just done Unification. That would have made a much better finale split, with Spock showing up right at the end of the season

but nevertheless, an entertaining episode. Bear in mind that once in a while TNG liked to test the waters of the TOS style, & this was their attempt at a time travel period piece, ala TOS. It was a singular example of that, for them

It wasn't the greatest, but I can still watch it, so it must not be too bad

 

[Piper]

I really enjoy Time's Arrow. As a season finale it's not very dramatic, but it's so much fun seeing our crew in the Nineteenth Century, Mark Twain on the Enterprise (even if he does just get to walk down a corridor) and some good stuff with Guinan that I think it's a bit better than its reputation. A bit of fluff, but very enjoyable fluff.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

I loved this episode. Really.

 

[Amaris]

^ Tons of great moments, and I love the scenes with Mark Twain. For me, he stole the show, and when, aboard the Enterprise, he apologizes to Data's silent form and pats him on the shoulder, well, a little dust got in my eye just then <ahem>.

J.

 

[RichMerk]

I love this episode. I love Mark Twain. Jack London was good comic relief. Guinan was cool. Riker punched a cop. I have this episode on tape and still watch it now and then.

I do have to make myself ignore the huge plot hole about the aliens needing to go back in time to find something to eat. That was just ridiculous. I know the point was to come up with some reason for our heroes to go back, I just wish they had come up with something a little more not-dumb.