What happened to a GOOD time travel episode?

[Johnny]

I can feel a rant coming on...

It always bugs me that writers seem to have fallen into a trap with these. I don't think a simple time travel story works any more, because low and behold, they have to end up back where they started, or there's no consecutive episode. :s
If your going to write one then for it to work (for me at least) it has to show some form of transition, a link with history. Not just the 'i've driven one of those cars on the holodeck' lines, but something different. One of the best examples of gowth was 'All Good Things...'. All that talk about the the scanner that can scan beyond the subspace barrier, it showed that 7 years back they didn't have one, but they did in the present day. That gave me a wonderful sense of how much time has passed, and to this day its still one of my favourites.
The only other time I got that feeling was in Shattered (VOY) and the whole ship is split into different time zones. Seeing Icheb & Naomi older aswell, that was a real gem.
Relativity was good too, because it showed them in space dock, a completely different side to Voyager.

But any others, Before & After, Future's End, Time's Orphan, Children of Time, and even End Game for god's sake, we're just plain old go back to normal episode. It's like they've just wiped away any reason for it being there.

Also there's that 'talk' about time travel that everyone seems to have, like it's a normal. I dunno, maybe I'm just miffed, but I think time travel episodes have the potential to be more than what they are, and not just like nipping to the corner shop.

...and is there anyone in Star Trek who doesn't have a complete grasp of 21st Century history, who isn't human?

 

[Forbin]

What happened to a GOOD time travel episode?

Brannon Braga.

 

[Johnny]

Haha! Enough said!

 

[jgdst]

What happened to a GOOD time travel episode?

Brannon Braga.

I blundered straight into the thread hoping to make public this bombshell of evidence... Lo and behold I was beaten to it

I think it's a fairly popular opinion though...

 

[Forbin]

Thing is, Brannon has written good epsiodes, and his occasional early time travel eps were okay, but he Just. Wouldn't. Stop. Doing. Them!!!!

A was starting to expect to see Dr. Who sitting in the various captains' chairs.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Future's End provided character growth -- that's where the Doctor got his mobile emitter that let him walk around the ship and other places. 'Course, they probably didn't have to do a time travel episode to do that. One of the crew members could have invented it or an alein could have given it to the crew as a gift.

 

[Admiral2]

The last good time travel episode was the first time travel episode, "Tomorrow is Yesterday". From "Assignment: Earth" on, the time travel episode has been a horrendous cliche: go back in time, press the reset button. I don't care how poignant the rest of the story was.

 

[ChristopherPike]

I found ENT Storm Front entertaining and FUN.

But then, I suppose I'm not really here to make friends. Just argue mainly...

 

[Damask]

But any others, Before & After, Future's End, Time's Orphan, Children of Time, and even End Game for god's sake, we're just plain old go back to normal episode. It's like they've just wiped away any reason for it being there.

Well it's kinda the point with Children of Time actually. However there is the whole Odo and Kira thing which does make a difference.

 

[The Emissary]

I have absolutely no idea what happened to the concept of a good time travel episode. Time travel in itself is so flawed, but one can stomach it for the sake of sci-fi.

What I *really* hate about time travel in Trek is not the reset button, but the horrible introduction of that temporal federation nonsense. If they sit around protecting the original time line, where were these people in various episodes/movies? It was dumb.

Anyways, I don't want to change the topic. I think some of the episodes listed here as "bad" weren't particularly bad and that they were there just for a quick, fun episode.

 

[Sector 7]

What happened to a GOOD time travel episode?

Brannon Braga.

I blundered straight into the thread hoping to make public this bombshell of evidence... Lo and behold I was beaten to it

I think it's a fairly popular opinion though...

Were TNG rebooted, I would love to see B & B on trial by Q for ruining Trek.

 

[Johnny]

Brannon Braga.

I blundered straight into the thread hoping to make public this bombshell of evidence... Lo and behold I was beaten to it

I think it's a fairly popular opinion though...

Were TNG rebooted, I would love to see B & B on trial by Q for ruining Trek.

Wouldn't we all!

The last good time travel episode was the first time travel episode, "Tomorrow is Yesterday". From "Assignment: Earth" on, the time travel episode has been a horrendous cliche: go back in time, press the reset button. I don't care how poignant the rest of the story was.

I've not actually watched my TOS (and I call myself a trekkie :s), it's just sooo 60's I find it hard to sit through. Is "Assignment: Earth" the one with the Jet and that Air Force captain?

I have absolutely no idea what happened to the concept of a good time travel episode. Time travel in itself is so flawed, but one can stomach it for the sake of sci-fi.

What I *really* hate about time travel in Trek is not the reset button, but the horrible introduction of that temporal federation nonsense. If they sit around protecting the original time line, where were these people in various episodes/movies? It was dumb.

Anyways, I don't want to change the topic. I think some of the episodes listed here as "bad" weren't particularly bad and that they were there just for a quick, fun episode.

I think a lot needed more imagination. If they juggled up the cast a bit, I know I'd be happy to watch the lead character die if it was if dunno, a spock-like death. I think time travel is a good way to actually kill off a character, or if they were stranded there's always the possibility to bring them back or have them turn up later.

 

[Forbin]

Future's End provided character growth -- that's where the Doctor got his mobile emitter that let him walk around the ship and other places. 'Course, they probably didn't have to do a time travel episode to do that. One of the crew members could have invented it or an alein could have given it to the crew as a gift.

Character growth is when a computer program is allowed to move around more?

Is "Assignment: Earth" the one with the Jet and that Air Force captain?

No, that was "Tomorrow is Yesterday." "Assignment Earth" is the one where they intentionally go back to 1968 and find Gary Seven trying to sabotage a Saturn V. The one with an adorabley young and cute Terri Garr.

 

[Johnny]

I'm terribly out of touch with my TOS, think I'll get myself aquainted...

 

[Dane_Whitman]

I've not actually watched my TOS (and I call myself a trekkie :s), it's just sooo 60's I find it hard to sit through.

Really? Wonderful era, even though I wasn't there to experience it first hand. I frequently have a hard time sitting through stuff from the '00s...


Watch Forbidden Planet first, maybe that will make the 'generational shock' less potent.

 

[Shintaek]

I used to not want to watch TOS just because it's so 60s like. But after a while it grew on me, well since I don't know which episode order TVLand uses, I pretty much had to watch most of season 1 so my beloved Romulans show up.

The concept of putting back the 20th century Air Force guys back on Earth with no memories of the Enterprise in Tomorrow is Yesterday is just too amusing.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Future's End provided character growth -- that's where the Doctor got his mobile emitter that let him walk around the ship and other places. 'Course, they probably didn't have to do a time travel episode to do that. One of the crew members could have invented it or an alein could have given it to the crew as a gift.

Character growth is when a computer program is allowed to move around more?

Isolation can have really negative effects on a person/aritificial person's personality. Extended solitary confinement can even be considered torture for a human. Imagine if Data had been confined to one room -- he never would have been able to go to Ten Forward or poker games and see how people socizlied with each other. He probably wouldn't have evolved much from "Encounter at Farpoint" when he took everything hyper-literally.

Letting the Doctor walk about freely on the ship allowed him to interact with the crew just like any other crewmember. My memory is fuzzy but I'm pretty certain that let him go on away team missions too which let him experience alein landscapes and cultures. Although, I suppose it's fair to point out that didn't help the Doc's attitude problems any.

 

[Johnny]

I have to say though, I liked The Doctor better when he was still fresh faced. When he just said what was on his mind without thinking of the consequences, always made me laugh, and then he turned into a soppy emotional wreck......which was boring. Until he took over the ship with his mobile emitter, now that was ingenuity!

 

[Kpnuts]

All Good Things is still the best time travel episode I've ever seen. Nothing has lived up to that gem of an episode.

Finally something different than the typical "go back in time, change something, future is affected" storylines.

 

[Broccoli]

All Good Things is still the best time travel episode I've ever seen. Nothing has lived up to that gem of an episode.

Finally something different than the typical "go back in time, change something, future is affected" storylines.

You know, I really don't like "All Good Things...". I mean, I did when it first aired, it does have several great character moments, and it works for a series ender for a series like TNG, but it doesn't age well at all. I tried watching it last year for the first time in a long time and it just didn't hold up at all, imo. The science didn't make sense and it was strange hearing our TNG crew use so much techobabble. At least for me it was.