The Good: Good use of the ensemble cast, Does what it needs to do
The Bad: Not terribly intriguing, No superlative acting, No character development
The Basics: When the crew of the Enterprise returned for a sixth season, they opened with a time travel mystery that simply resolves the prior season's finale.
When the fifth season of Star Trek The Next Generation ended, it was with a note of uncertainty and a vague sort of threat in "Time's Arrow" (reviewed here!) When the main bridge crew went through a spatial anomaly to arrive in San Francisco in the past, it left few people guessing how the sixth season of the show would begin. And the sixth season opened with "Time's Arrow, Part 2" and all that seemed surprising was there was a sense that some time had passed since we last saw our heroes and the beginning of the season. That is, the second part did not begin at the same instant the first left off.
Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) is stirring up trouble for Data and Guinan in San Francisco's past as they attempt to put a stop to the time traveling Devidian's plans to feed off Earth's populace. The main crew of the Enterprise has had little luck locating the Devidians, though they have found more victims, people thought dead from cholera. As Picard, Riker and Dr. Crusher monitor the situation, they finally encounter the Devidians and when the opportunity arises, they attempt to get back to the Enterprise, but the process becomes complicated when Picard is stranded in the past with Data's head and Samuel Clemens ends up on the Enterprise-D.
What "Time's Arrow, Part II" does well is finish the plot established in the season finale. Unfortunately, it simply does what it needs to do and that is all. Instead of exploring the origins of the Devidians or making them more of a menace, this episode simply finishes them off and is done with it; it's a fairly standard time travel adventure without much of anything else to it.
Beyond simply finishing the story begun in the first part, the second part of "Time's Arrow" manages to keep the same flavor of the finale by using the entire ensemble cast. All of the different characters have something to do here: Riker is hunting down the Devidians while searching for Data, Picard is negotiating with the landlord, Dr. Crusher is searching for evidence of the Devidians, Data is trying to stop the Devidians on his own, Geordi is coming up with a detection method and Troi is along for comic relief until Clemens comes into the picture when she becomes vital to adapting him to the 24th Century. Despite the weak feel to the episode, everyone does have something to do and that's nice for a balanced effect that keeps the pace from dragging.
But here, the joys of "Time's Arrow, Part II" end. There's only one performance of note in the episode and that is Jerry Hardin's portrayal of Samuel Clemens. He recreates Clemens with charisma and style, body language and poise that far exceed what one might expect for a guest actor. Hardin is the exception to the rule in this episode and the rule here is that no one is doing anything spectacular. That is not to say that the acting is bad; it's not. However, no one shines, no one steps out and pushes the limits of what they may do as an actor or actress.
Add to that, there is no real character development. While the first part had the potential menace of Data's death and inspired the crew to react to that potential, "Time's Arrow, Part II" lacks anything of significant character development. Instead, it's our heroes acting heroic. There's a stretch. The unfortunate aspect of this is that the first time Picard and Guinan meet is introduced in this part and it is largely glossed over and it lacks the magnitude that one might expect from this important event. Guinan seems more self serving in the future and more naive in the past in this episode.
The special effects in the episode are decent at worst. The Devidians move about using morphs that are fairly sophisticated for the time and are still entertaining to see. In the end, though, this is not a high special effects episode. The most special effect, however, is the costuming and it does stand out as worthwhile. The garb our heroes find themselves in in the episode's opening work quite nicely to convince us of their time and place. And Guinan's outfit is simply fabulous.
But there's not much to "Time's Arrow, Part II;" it resolves the time travel mystery begun in the first part and beyond that, it does not add new insight to the characters, challenge the actors, or say anything particularly meaningful. While essential, perhaps, to those who saw the first part, there is nothing to recommend this part to those who have not seen "Time's Arrow" or who do not like science fiction or time travel stories.
[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Sixth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the penultimate season by clicking here!
Thanks!]
4.5/10
For other Star Trek episode, movie and DVD set reviews, visit my index page with a complete list of all of this type of review I have written by clicking here!
© 2011, 2008, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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