STAR TREK:
THE NEXT GENERATION:
Season Six:
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Time's Arrow
Season Five throws its final gimmick at us as Data's dismembered head is found to have been sitting in a cave on Earth for 500 years. Though the scene leading up to the discovery is rather dull due to excess technobabble, the reveal is still effective. We then get a decent story-beat concerning Data's mortality, resulting in some worthwhile scenes of the crew dealing with this belief. Too bad this is sourced in the mistaken idea that Data must eventually make a choice that leads him to become decapitated in the 1800's. He could actually choose a different path, and it wouldn't "change" anything. It would simply prove that it was a version of him from an alternate future that came back to that past. Of course, had the writers played with the concept of choosing new paths through time, they probably would have messed up the temporal theory through on-screen events, which would have been disastrous. As it stands, temporal theory is only messed up in the characters' heads in this tale, which actually leaves "Time's Arrow" on safe ground. This story's real problem is its lack of an engaging central drama. Our Star Trek regulars believe here that they either cannot or must not make decisions that are any different from the "pre-ordained" ones that will neatly tie up all the loose ends of this time loop. Naturally, they end up second-guessing themselves, and it's dull. The one good element of the time loop that just might make it worthwhile is the whole concept of finding out what's at the heart of Guinan's relationship with Picard, and exactly how convoluted their "first" meeting was... or is. Doctor Who has recently gone on to do something similar with the character of River Song, only with a far greater sense of mystery and anticipation. The best bits on this subject in "Time's Arrow" are actually in Part One, as Data discovers that Guinan is on Earth in the 1800's, fearing her father might send for her before she's finished listening. Nice little tease, making us want to learn more.... Star Trek deserves some points here for the introduction of the aliens of Davidia 2, because they really do make a good effort to create something other than beings who are identical to humans except for a bit of prosthetics. These creatures are weird, with a lifestyle we would find difficult to begin to comprehend, much less see, and communication is not automatic, which helps keep a respectable distance between them and the regulars. We also have an opportunity for some fun interaction between our unusual Star Trek regulars and some more typical 1800's characters, which can prove rich when handled right. I would call attention to the old 49'er that Data encounters early on, because I think he was an entertaining character who got just the right amount of screen time: a humorous defining scene with Data that lasted only as long as it should, plus one additional scene that enhanced plot. Sadly, most of the other characters from the 1800's become highly irritating, as they only seem to serve to get in the way of the plot and slow down the investigations of the Star Trek regulars.
Screen time actually ends up getting spent on 1800's characters who only delay the story in uninteresting ways. The landlady's scenes contain no hope of going anywhere relevant, aren't particularly believable, don't show our regulars at their best, and are only slowing things down. Scenes with the bellboy aren't bad in part one, as he assists Data with the plot, but they descend into pure writer's self-indulgence by the end, until he is revealed as an obscure reference to something many fans will never have heard of before, and will probably be quite put off from trying to learn more about. While I'm a great admirer of Jerry Hardin's work in many films and shows, not least of which is "The X-Files", I really don't like the Samuel Clemens character here. He turns out to be loud, grating and irritating, and until the last ten minutes, only serves to slow down the plot or bring it to a complete halt. The story desperately needs to build to confrontation with its main adversaries - the aliens - yet spends its time throwing Clemens in the regulars' faces again and again, until there's no time for anything else. I think if they had figured out a way to use him properly (and probably more sparingly) in the main plot so that he didn't feel like an indulgent distraction each time, the voice and performance might have worked. And I do have a minor pet peeve in that, during the sequence where Troi convinces him of all the good things that have developed in 500 years, she talks all around ideas of poverty disappearing and people working for good, without mentioning the lynch-pin of all these ideas: the Earth no longer uses money. It's pretty hard to be singled out as poor when no one has money, and you don't need it to get your basic needs met. But that's a whole other topic; see "Monetary Reform" for more if that intrigues you. It's too bad most Star Trek writers really couldn't grasp how that would work and became reluctant to pursue it.
Instead we have scenes of Guinan adamantly refusing to answer any of Riker's questions about the past - and what really is that all about anyway? If you think about it, it doesn't even make sense on the level of any of their non-interference fears. If Picard can put a message in Data's head for the team to find 500 years later, it seems equally acceptable for him to give Guinan the same information and let her pass it on to the crew 500 years later. Granted, she may not recall the specifics as precisely as Data, but it seems right for Picard to employ both options, hoping at least one works. Having Guinan argue against it is idiotic, and shows once more how this show wasted precious screen time on nonsense instead of building a proper drama. The story's final bit of tension is a complete contrivance, with Worf just happening to fire at just the right time to create 30-seconds of worry over whether they'll be able to beam the Captain up in time. Does the audience remotely have any doubts that they would be successful? No, the writers really didn't have this one working right.
"Time's Arrow" - PART ONE ONLY - is available in the standard season five box set. Click on the Amazon symbol for the desired disc format and location nearest you for pricing and availability:
"Time's Arrow" - PART TWO ONLY - is available in the standard season six box set. Click on the Amazon symbol for the desired disc format and location nearest you for pricing and availability:
Article written by Martin Izsak. Comments on this article are welcome. You may contact the author from this page:
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