Picard, Geordi, Troi, and Data are returning from a conference via runabout when they begin to encounter bubbles of space-time distortion where time travels at varying rates. After a brief search they find the Enterprise apparently locked in combat with a Romulan warbird, with both frozen in time. Upon further investigation, they realize that The Enterprise is in the process of a warp core breach. The four members must find a way to save the ship from the doom that has already happened.
This is yet another episode with an amazing premise that falls short in the execution. I love any story that involves playing around with time, and this is one of the most fascinating and creative of those such episodes. However, most time-warping ideas make no sense when you think about them, and this episode is sadly no exception.
THE GOOD
-The four main cast members featured in this epp all do a great job. Even Troi is useful for a change thanks to her knowledge of warbird layout and technology gained in "The Enemy."
-The idea behind this episode is so incredibly tantalizing. The storytelling possibilities of different pockets of space passing time at different rates excite the imagination like few others.
-The mystery and suspense are very well done and using the Romulans as a red herring is genius.
-Love seeing the runabout on TNG. I wonder why they never use the set for the aft compartment on DS9, though. It really goes to show how much nicer runabouts are than shuttles.
-Michael Dorn's performance as a statue is honestly incredible. That may sound odd, but compared to how all the other supposedly frozen actors constantly move and blink, Dorn's performance is flawless. I would 100% believe it if I learned he was actually played by a wax figure.
THE BAD
-The way the pockets of space time distortion are portrayed make no sense. The movements of the runabout and the characters in the first act make it impossible to reconcile them with the positions, shapes, and sizes of the supposed bubbles.
-The "time aliens" are not explained at all. Nothing about them make sense to me. Neither is it ever explained why the warbird is firing on the Enterprise.
-The ending, where they make time run backwards and then forwards again, is also nonsensical. They go well past the point of the warp core breach and yet are never engulfed, inexplicably giving Picard time to fly the runabout into the energy beam.
-All the excuses given for why they can't just shut off the beam seem contrived and far-fetched. Breaking the beam would tear the ship apart? Really, Riker? Maybe I'm just bitter that they thought it was necessary to destroy a beautiful and perfectly good runabout.
THE UGLY
-I know it's unavoidable, but most of the actors do a very poor job of appearing "frozen." The worst by far is one particular Romulan on the bridge. When Picard is pulling up data on the tactical console (in complete contradiction with Data's assertion only seconds earlier that the consoles don't work, another ugly inconsistency), the Romulan in the background is swaying dramatically and even blinks. I imagine this wasn't very noticeable when broadcast on 90's TVs, but in 1080p HD it is painfully obvious.
-The scene where Picard's fingernails grow to grotesque lengths within seconds is probably one of the most memorable in all of TNG, but you can see that he already has the fingernail extension props on when he walks into the room and again when he sits down at the console. Lazy, sloppy work on the part of the director.
-Data repeatedly asserts that objects frozen in time can't be scanned (which makes sense, since the scanning beams would also be trapped), but then on the Enterprise and again on the Romulan ship, the crew members use their tricorders multiple times with no apparent issues.
-Going off the above "ugly," there are many issues that would be encountered that the writers didn't consider. For example, communication transmissions would also be dramatically slowed within the bubble, making communication impossible. Same goes for transporter beams. In fact, even light photons would be slowed to the point that everything would probably look like a red blur (or may not even be visible at all) to those in normal time. Gravity would likewise be affected.
-It's interesting to note that the distortion bubbles seem to operate similarly to warp bubbles, as does the protective shield that the crew uses to operate outside the time distortions. This means that most likely a ship with an active warp field would NOT be affected by the distortions, since it is projecting a protective distortion of its own.
This is yet another episode with an amazing premise that falls short in the execution. I love any story that involves playing around with time, and this is one of the most fascinating and creative of those such episodes. However, most time-warping ideas make no sense when you think about them, and this episode is sadly no exception.
THE GOOD
-The four main cast members featured in this epp all do a great job. Even Troi is useful for a change thanks to her knowledge of warbird layout and technology gained in "The Enemy."
-The idea behind this episode is so incredibly tantalizing. The storytelling possibilities of different pockets of space passing time at different rates excite the imagination like few others.
-The mystery and suspense are very well done and using the Romulans as a red herring is genius.
-Love seeing the runabout on TNG. I wonder why they never use the set for the aft compartment on DS9, though. It really goes to show how much nicer runabouts are than shuttles.
-Michael Dorn's performance as a statue is honestly incredible. That may sound odd, but compared to how all the other supposedly frozen actors constantly move and blink, Dorn's performance is flawless. I would 100% believe it if I learned he was actually played by a wax figure.
THE BAD
-The way the pockets of space time distortion are portrayed make no sense. The movements of the runabout and the characters in the first act make it impossible to reconcile them with the positions, shapes, and sizes of the supposed bubbles.
-The "time aliens" are not explained at all. Nothing about them make sense to me. Neither is it ever explained why the warbird is firing on the Enterprise.
-The ending, where they make time run backwards and then forwards again, is also nonsensical. They go well past the point of the warp core breach and yet are never engulfed, inexplicably giving Picard time to fly the runabout into the energy beam.
-All the excuses given for why they can't just shut off the beam seem contrived and far-fetched. Breaking the beam would tear the ship apart? Really, Riker? Maybe I'm just bitter that they thought it was necessary to destroy a beautiful and perfectly good runabout.
THE UGLY
-I know it's unavoidable, but most of the actors do a very poor job of appearing "frozen." The worst by far is one particular Romulan on the bridge. When Picard is pulling up data on the tactical console (in complete contradiction with Data's assertion only seconds earlier that the consoles don't work, another ugly inconsistency), the Romulan in the background is swaying dramatically and even blinks. I imagine this wasn't very noticeable when broadcast on 90's TVs, but in 1080p HD it is painfully obvious.
-The scene where Picard's fingernails grow to grotesque lengths within seconds is probably one of the most memorable in all of TNG, but you can see that he already has the fingernail extension props on when he walks into the room and again when he sits down at the console. Lazy, sloppy work on the part of the director.
-Data repeatedly asserts that objects frozen in time can't be scanned (which makes sense, since the scanning beams would also be trapped), but then on the Enterprise and again on the Romulan ship, the crew members use their tricorders multiple times with no apparent issues.
-Going off the above "ugly," there are many issues that would be encountered that the writers didn't consider. For example, communication transmissions would also be dramatically slowed within the bubble, making communication impossible. Same goes for transporter beams. In fact, even light photons would be slowed to the point that everything would probably look like a red blur (or may not even be visible at all) to those in normal time. Gravity would likewise be affected.
-It's interesting to note that the distortion bubbles seem to operate similarly to warp bubbles, as does the protective shield that the crew uses to operate outside the time distortions. This means that most likely a ship with an active warp field would NOT be affected by the distortions, since it is projecting a protective distortion of its own.