Star Trek: The Next Generation — 6x25 — Timescape

Aired 1993-06-14

SpaceOpera.com rating:8

Average reader rating:7.12

Synopsis

The Enterprise is frozen in time on the brink of annihilation.

Remarkable scenes

Riker describing that his injury was the fault of Data's cat.
Troi describing being seduced by an alien at the seminar.
Picard: "There was no pause. He just kept talking in one incredibly unbroken sentence moving from topic to topic so that no one had a chance to interrupt it was really quite hypnotic."
Everyone freezing in time except Troi.
Troi freezing. I like the camera work.
Picard's hand aging faster than the rest of his body.
The sight of the Enterprise and the Romulan Warbird frozen in time.
I love the eerie sights abord the ships, making it look as though the Romulans were trying to take over the Enterprise.
Picard drawing a smiley face on the warp core breach.
Time starting back up, the Enterprise exploding, then time reversing...
The crew positioning themselves in key spots within the ship before they run time backwards to fix things.
I like how Data has to step out of the way of one of the backward walking crewmen.
The teapot scene in the end. Very well done.

Review

This is one of the more unique TNG episodes, and certainly one of the most exciting. There's good continuity too with regards to Troi's acquired knowledge of Romulan technology from TNG: Face of the Enemy. The science of this episode is a little shady. For example, how can the life support systems of a slowed down starship support the normal-speed characters? It's best if you don't think about it too much I suppose. Time travel gives me headaches. While the excitement remains high, another detail I liked was the ending. In the end, no, it wasn't a Romulan attack on the Enterprise but in fact the Enterprise assisting a Romulan ship in need. They lost their ship, but the Enterprise saved most of the Romulan crewmembers and returned them to Romulus. A shame the Romulan Empire didn't seem to appreciative of this act. Nevertheless, the episode demonstrated the Federation's goodwill toward the Romulans despite past hostilities, and it presented a very unique and memorable story.

7 reader comments

One of my favorite episodes EVER. The whole concept was really cool, the story was engrossing, and I enjoyed the romulan-federation cooperation. The only thing keeping it from a 10 is that it's not profound or anything. Only episodes that move me deeply get 10's. But certainly a 9.
by Pete Miller | 05/22/2006 at 1:42 am

This episode is fun from beginning to end. The plot moves along nicely with enormous challenges for the characters involved, such as the warp core breach, Beverly receiving a point blank phaser shot from a Romulan, and the difficulties with working in a suspended environment. There are a lot of memorable scenes, such as when Picard draws the happy face. The science portion is also well explained.
Deserving of a 9.
by Orion Pimpdaddy | 06/04/2006 at 8:52 pm

Problem: I could be wrong about this, but when Picard, Troi, Data, and Geordi first see the Enterprise and the Warbird frozen, their descriptions don't seem to match up with what is shown. The refer to a second beam, but there is only one beam visible. I don't think they are talking about the photon torpedos that the Warbird is firing.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
by Orion Pimpdaddy | 06/04/2006 at 8:57 pm

I'm pretty sure the warbird was firing disruptors and that that's indeed what they were referring to, Orion.
by Eric Newport | 06/05/2006 at 4:56 am

I don't think there's an issue with the life support per se. What would it need to do? (1) Keep the Enterprise warm enough and (2) provide enough air. The first wouldn't be affected by time, and the second wouldn't matter so much because there would be plenty of oxygen in the spaces available to last for the "fast" characters' short visits. The bigger problem is where the O2 that they breathe come from, since the air molecules would also have been slowed.
by Evan | 05/26/2008 at 2:36 pm

A very fast moving episode packing a lot in to the time available.
One of the actors playing a Romulan can't help swaying slightly in the background when Picard is making a speech on the Bridge on the first visit (no - not one of the aliens). Must have been tough to hold a freeze pose for that length of time.
by Jeremy Reffin | 08/05/2009 at 8:34 pm

This is one of my favorite episodes. It's just a classically well-done piece of science fiction. Like "Darmok" and the finale, this is TNG sci-fi at its best. This one comes down to the crew experiencing something entirely unexpected as a result of encountering a life form they had no idea existed.
While the plots of some episodes tend to crash in the final minutes, this one kept it together until the end. Yeah, there are some problems. For example, I don't know how they managed to save Geordi…granted, they said they were beaming him directly to sickbay, but quite a bit of time elapsed between the resumption of normal time and that, and he was seconds away from dying when they removed his armband. Overall, though, this is brilliant and one that doesn't lose its suspense with repeated viewing.
by Mike L. Jackson | 04/24/2017 at 1:53 am