Star Trek: The Animated Series — 2x06 — The Counter-Clock Incident

Aired 1974-10-12

SpaceOpera.com rating:0

Average reader rating:4.2

Factoids

This episode is a candidate for my "Worst Episode of TAS Award."
This episode establishes that Robert April was the first captain of the Enterprise and that Sarah April was the first doctor of the Enterprise.
This is one of many episodes to mention Babel but never actually go there.
The Enterprise sets a speed record in this episode, traveling at warp 22+! Though not under its own power.

Problems

Sarah April claimed to be the first doctor on board a ship with warp drive. This is simply untrue. She's not old enough. Besides, the SS Bonaventure was established in a previous episode as the "first ship with warp drive," which also is not entirely correct. So her statement contradicts multiple conflicting episodes!
How could Sarah's flower have rejuvenated so completely? Did the pedals which fell off fly back onto the plant or did it grow new ones or something?
Among the numerous nonsensical qualities of the alternate universe, how can a woman give birth to an old man? A baby weighing less than 10lb is already painful enough. How would she give birth to a 100lb+ person?
According to the map of the galaxy shown in this episode, the Enterprise traveled an impossible distance in mere minutes or hours.
Why did the clothes of the crew members shrink with them as they became younger?
Once again the transporter is a miracle cure for aging...
Why would Robert and Sarah April choose to go back to being old?

Synopsis

A hyper accelerated alien ship drags the Enterprise into a nova and both arrive in an antimatter universe where time flows backwards.

Remarkable scenes

The Enterprise crew growing younger.

Review

A universe where time flows backwards is interesting, but the implementation in this episode is extremely poor. There are a number of logical and technical problems, some of the major of which I've documented in the problems section. Most interesting is the ship's crew growing younger, with Robert and Sarah April being given a chance to reprise their positions on the Enterprise. Once again the transporter becomes the miracle cure for an age related problem. Finally, I really don't understand Robert and Sarah April's decision not to remain young. Did they really want to die decades sooner than they had to? A totally unfit end to a series which never really found its way.