The Good: Intriguing plot, Good acting, Nice character work
The Bad: Obvious setup episode, Villains without sensibility, General weakness in writing
The Basics: Closing out the fifth season of Star Trek The Next Generation is a piece where Data loses his head and the whole cast works to help him get it back.
Finding an appropriate season finale for a show may be a difficult thing. One wants to have a satisfying episode in and of itself, and yet, there needs to be a hook to bring the viewer back for the next season. Star Trek The Next Generation was inconsistent with its season finales; ending the first season with an awkward episode that did not lend itself well to inspiring the audience to return and a horrible second second season finale balanced with an amazing cliffhanger for season three and a similarly good end to season four. Season five's end, with "Time's Arrow" was not as strong as the previous two and not as weak as the first two.
The Enterprise is recalled to Earth when an archaeological team discovers Data's head in an abandoned cavern below San Francisco. Curious as to how it ended up there, the crew takes the head and leaves. As Geordi, Riker and Troi deal with the repercussions of knowing Data will die - and possible soon - Picard reassigns Data to lesser duties. When another clue to the mystery surfaces, the Enterprise arrives a Devidia II where they find temporal anomalies they cannot explain. Due to a piece of hardware Data has in his positronic brain, Data joins the Away Team and in the process, disappears. While the Enterprise crew searches for him, Data finds himself in turn of the century San Francisco sharing the company of Guinan and Samuel Clemens.
What doesn't work is the overall sensibility of the episode. It becomes clear that the time-shifted Devidians are harvesting human "souls" or energy for consumption. The problem with that premise is that when the Devidians exist out of phase with humans, they cannot even see us. This becomes a bit of a momentous stumbling block when one considers the implication of a race that feeds off the living energy of others. It is utterly unbelievable that a race could grow to feed on the energies of a race that is thousands of light years away and out of temporal sync with them. It's roughly equivalent to saying there's a fish on Earth that evolved such that it's only source of food is two-hundred year old Martian Algae. It makes no sense. The writers ask us to excuse this flaw and I am unable to.
And it is not the only obvious flaw the writers ask us to accept. While talking with Geordi about his potential death, Data writes the event off as something that might happen in the distant future. That would be a solid analysis if the Enterprise was not doggedly investigating the matter, a fact that substantially raises the odds the event will occur in the near future. Finally, this entire episode feels like it is working up to a cliffhanger and in that regard, it delivers exactly that.
The interesting aspect of "Time's Arrow" is that while it is setup as a Data episode, it ends up being a piece that utilizes almost the entire ensemble cast. So, while Data is back in the past, the crew is working hard to save him and Guinan is waxing philosophic with Picard. It's an intriguing idea to try a cliffhanger where the whole group is used and in that regard, "Time's Arrow" comes together nicely, even if Worf barely is in it.
The acting in "Time's Arrow" is spread around such that it feels more like a group effort as well and the cast is doing a good job here, though no one does anything terribly superlative. Marina Sirtis plays Troi impersonating Data in a scene that is quite memorable and she seems quite good at. Whoopi Goldberg is excellent, as always, as the quiet, mysterious Guinan. And leads Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner give worthwhile performances to allow us to believe in their characters.
The best acting, however, comes in the form of guest star Jerry Harding. Harding is best known to viewers of science fiction as "Deep Throat" on The X-Files. Here, Harding portrays Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain). Harding is a perfect match for the crotchety writer and his performance is the stand out of the episode, instantly capturing the attention and imagination of the audience. Harding dominates each scene he is in.
The one bit of writing to note is related to the Samuel Clemens character. The writers of Star Trek The Next Generation introduce Clemens by having him reciting a bit about oysters. It is to the credit of the writers of "Time's Arrow" that they chose one of Twain's most obscure works to cite. The passage he is quoted from is from Twain's oft-neglected great work Letters From The Earth (reviewed here!).
"Time's Arrow" is not ideal for those who are not fans of science fiction as the bulk of it revolves around attempting to solve a time puzzle. But for fans of Star Trek The Next Generation, it is a fair example of the entire cast and the crew of the Enterprise working together toward a common goal, even if it doesn't have a great hook to bring us back for the next season.
[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Fifth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the fifth season by clicking here!
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5.5/10
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© 2011, 2008, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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