And so begins the penultimate season of Star Trek TNG. The second part of Time's Arrow is funny and exciting and gets season six off to a good start.
It begins with Clemens telling a skeptical reporter that there are time travelers in San Fransisco and that he's on the case to expose them. He sees Data coming out of a building and begins to follow him. They both pass the Devidian couple with the snake-head cane without giving it a second thought. So, it seems like it's picking up at the exact point that the last one left off since the last thing we saw in this time period was Clemens listening in on Guinan and Data. But when it continues after the first commercial, you notice that they don't begin the adventures of Picard and company in the same way as they began Data's. When the script was first written they'd intended for the story to take place over a couple of months in the past during which time Picard would be running a diner and everyone would complain about how bad the food is.Obviously that's not the direction they went with it. But you have to assume that at least a few days have passed at this point because Riker and Crusher are walking around in a morgue, fully clothed in attire appropriate for the year. (And you have to wonder how Riker came by a police uniform... it's not like they took costumes with them from the holodeck, although that would've been a smart thing to do since they knew the approximate time period that Data was taken to.) Beverly is examining the bodies that have all been declared cholera victims and is puzzled because it seems like an awful lot of people in one place. She then discovers that their nervous systems had been depleted of neuro-chemical energy and that most of them died that way. They return to report their findings to the captain, where we see more evidence that some time has passed. Not only are they all fit to blend in, but they've also acquired a room. Riker reports that they'd discovered triolic activity in the bodies which connects them to the Devidians. Geordi has set up a tricorder to broadcast on all the frequencies that Data can sense, but no sign of him yet. And then they're interrupted by a knock at the door, so Geordi has to hide his visor, substitute dark glasses, and become truly blind. The woman is the landlady of the facility and has come to remind them that the rent is due tomorrow. This is such a funny scene because you realize that they've come up with the perfect cover story to blend into the time period - they are a troupe of actors. It explains everything. Why they're behavior is strange and why the landlady is suspicious of them without having reason to think that they are anything unnatural or supernatural. Why they're so many of them hanging out together with two women and a blind, black man. They didn't have to spend months there establishing trust with the locals. Only enough time to find clothes and, somehow, playbooks. In no other time travel episode or movie within the Star Trek universe (that I've seen anyway) has there been a better cover story. Picard sends her away with assurances that she'll get her money because their acting troupe has performed worldwide.
Clemens has Jack the bellhop let him into Data's room under the pretense of looking for a letter of intent. Young Jack, always the eager beaver, is too busy trying to sell himself to Clemens as a biographer to realize that he's only there to snoop around. He looks over some of the things on his desk and removes a piece from a machine, causing it to stop functioning. At that point Data and Guinan come in, so Clemens hides in a wardrobe. Data is asking Guinan to help him get into the cavern where the artifacts were found in the future. She's certain that she can't because it's on an army base, but Data expresses full confidence in her persuasive abilities. He then sees a piece missing from his machine and explains that without it he won't be able to track time shifts. Guinan immediately thinks of Clemens since he's been following her too. (More indication that a little time had passed.) Data warns that prolonged exposure to the lost piece of equipment could be toxic. They then hear something drop from within the wardrobe and discover Clemens there. Data tries to tell him that he's working on a part for a horseless carriage, but Clemens doesn't believe it, especially since he'd heard everything he was saying about tracking time shifts. He's certain that Data has come from another time period with nefarious purposes and declares that it's his job to protect humanity from whatever he and Guinan are up to.
Meanwhile the crew has managed to infiltrate a hospital. Picard is outside messing with a gas lamp. When questioned by the doctor, he claims to be changing it with something safer in case of an earthquake, which the doctor thinks is ridiculous because at that time there hadn't been a major earthquake in San Fransisco. He tells him he can leave and then tells his nurse, who is Beverly, that he's leaving as well. Everyone else is scattered in various places throughout the ward. Geordi has his visor on and reports that he could see a remnant of triolic waves on the bed of a patient that had died the previous night. But Troi has the most useful information when she reports that a patient had seen a strange doctor and nurse hanging around and that they may still be in the building. We then see that Picard's gas lamp was an alarm that is set off when the Devidian couple turn up. Beverly surreptitiously pushes her com badge and tries to engage them in conversation, complimenting the snake cane. But they've been suspicious for a bit too and move to attack her with the bag that the woman carries. The others show up just in time. Geordi takes the cane while Riker fires a phaser. It doesn't affect the Devidians and they disappear. Elsewhere Data detects a time shift and hurries away. At the hospital a real cop shows up and they can't lie their way out of it, so Riker knocks him out and they run out only to find Data wheeling around the corner driving a carriage. They pile in and the crew is reunited.
Back at the boarding house they discover how the cane works. There's a lot of technical jargon in this episode, but it's applied skillfully by the actors to explain that the cane is how the Devidians are making distortions in space-time. They tune a tricorder to simulate triolic waves to make it transform into the electric viper that it appears to be when the Devidians are phased into their own space. Geordi explains that they'd need to concentrate this effect to do all the traveling they're doing. That's where the cave comes in. It's rife with natural elements to help do this. Data tells them that he knows where the cavern is and they can finally start piecing things together. One more interruption from the landlady demanding the rent. They appease her ego by offering her a part in the play - a great comic scene! Picard then meets with Guinan in Data's room. Picard knows her but she doesn't know him yet, adding more mystery to Guinan's species. But there's immediate trust and affection. Meanwhile, Clemens turns up at the scene of the hospital where the reporter tells him the rumors of people vanishing into thin air, a policeman being attacked,and the outlaws running off in a carriage driven by an albino. Clemens now suspects the worst...a full out invasion. So he hurries away promising to come back and give the reporter the story of a lifetime. Guinan takes the crew to the cavern. Geordi confirms that it has been configured by crystalline fractures in the rock to focus the triolic waves like a lens. Riker suggests trying to activate them with a phaser so they can get home. They don't know if it'll be enough power and they don't have time to try. Clemens turns up holding them all at gun point and threatening to turn them in to the authorities.
And then he is promptly interrupted when the Devidians show up and grab the cane. Data takes the cane back and it surges, knocks everyone down, and blows Data's head off his shoulders. Guinan is hurt and when Picard tends to her he sees that the portal has opened. The female Devidian is also hurt, but the man doesn't care and runs through the rift followed by Riker, Troi, Crusher, and Geordi with Data's body. Picard doesn't want to leave Guinan but before he can make any decision Clemens rushes through the portal as well just before it closes abandoning them both. This was an unexpected and refreshing twist for me. I thought they'd just resolve everything and then come back, which is how time travel episodes have been classically handled.. They reappear in the cave on Devidia II in their own phased space. Riker is angry and Clemens is excited to be in the future. They have no choice but to take him back up to the ship with them.
They beam Data's body back as well, and Geordi sets about getting it attached to his 500 year old head. Riker tries to get some answers from Guinan but she refuses to speak since that may change history. Riker wants to go back for Picard, but Worf says that the cavern on Devidia II should be destroyed immediately. Troi concurs. They all want Picard back but there's more at stake than just him. So they start making preparations to torpedo the cave. This entire section of the episode is a little dicey. For some reason it takes a long time to prepare those torpedoes which are always normally on hand at the touch of a button. Then as Troi is taking Clemens on a tour of the ship she explains how they've eliminated poverty and that people are no longer power hungry like they used to be. Ugh.. I'm sorry, but I'm never impressed by their attempts to paint humanity as a scourge and that their socialistic utopia has fixed everything, even though the references aren't as direct in this script. But the whole conversation has that simplistic, childish ring to it that makes me squirm with the embarrassment I often felt watching episodes in the first and second seasons. The point of it though is to change Clemens' mind from thinking of them as an invading force, to knowing them to be the good guys that were protecting the past. He apologizes to an unconscious Data. Yes, this was a weak set of scenes that take away from the flow and consistency of the episode. But there's still Picard in the 19th century taking care of Guinan. He also checks in on the Devidian female who is phasing back and forth from her human form to the true form as she lay dying. He knows what his crew will do in spite of his being left behind and tells her that their cavern will be destroyed. She tells him before she dies that their torpedoes will only amplify the distortion and destroy Earth, via that portal. So, it gets exciting again.
They're only moments away from firing on the cavern. Geordi can't figure out why he can't reactivate Data when he's done everything he's supposed to. Then he finds an iron filing in his head. The camera cuts to Picard etching something into an iron filing that he plants into Data's head. While the seconds tick down, Geordi removes the filing and is able to switch Data on again. After a moment of reboot, he explains that Picard had left a binary message in his static memory and that they should not fire on the cave. I don't know how that would work either, since Data's circuitry would be too small to hold anything that Picard could've written on by hand, but because we love it we go with it. The full message explains that they'll need to phase the torpedoes so that they hurt only the area on Devidia II. Naturally, Geordi needs some time to pull that off, so Riker decides to use that time to go get Picard. As they were discussing in the cavern in San Fransisco, they can use the snake cane to open the portal with a phaser,but it would only have the power to transport one person. Clemens enters the room with Troi to hear that main point and volunteers to go back since that's his proper time. They prepare to get him briefed on how to use the cane and phaser and what to do after that. He shakes Data's hand and thanks him for a the greatest adventure anyone's ever had. We return to Picard and Guinan in the cave marveling at how it'll be 500 years before she'll know him. I didn't spend as much time talking about their unique relationship because it's something you have to see for yourself to get the full effect of. The scenes with them together are very special, indeed. They tie in lines that they'd given Guinan in previous episodes of an old man showing her kindness in the past and a bald man helping her once in a time of trouble. But she's not in good shape and just as Picard makes up his mind to leave the cave to find water for her, Clemens comes running in with the cane, agitated and out of breath. The portal had taken him to the middle of town. He gives Picard the cane and tells him the frequency he's to set the phaser to in order to make it work. He then agrees to take care of Guinan and pay Picard's bill at the boarding house. Picard says his goodbyes and travels back to the Devidia II cave. On the Enterprise they are detecting massive triolic waves and can no longer wait to fire the torpedoes. Upon their launch they detect a life sign in the cave. Picard is watching the Devidians phase in and out as they beam him up just before the torpedoes hit. Picard goes to Ten Foward and he and Guinan share a look of knowing between them while Guinan on the surface is being carried off on a stretcher. Clemens notices his watch on the ground that had fallen off in the scuffle and picks it up but then remembers that he'd seen it among the artifacts on the Enterprise, so he sets it down next to Data's head so the whole process could repeat itself.
It's a great ending. It's a great two-parter episode. I'm only going to give this one four and a half stars though because the lag in the middle kind of ruined it for me. Not just the propping up of the socialistic utopia, but also the questionable science fiction regarding the iron filing and even the fact that they beamed Picard up while he was still phased into the Devidian's space. I guess I shouldn't think about that stuff so hard or let it bother me, but consistency is part of a perfect episode. Even if it's consistently wrong, it should at least be consistent. But I love the episode as a whole with the two parts together and have no real complaints otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment