The mystery of how Commander Data (Brent Spiner) lost his head five hundred years ago is answered in this second of a two-part story. Which one did the Enterprise crew bring back to the ship with them, the old one or the present day one? They're both the same, which demonstrates how time travel stories can really get convoluted. Throw in a pair of cannibalistic aliens harvesting corpses to feed their planet's inhabitants with the neural energy derived from dead humans and you have a pretty gruesome story when you come right down to it. At least we learn how Jack London (Michael Aron) was inspired to become a writer when Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain (Jerry Hardin), encouraged him to write what he knew about. London changed the characters and setting for "Call of the Wild", but it's likely he got his ideas from this episode. I have to admit, sometimes these time travel stories get to be a bit too much for me. This one moved at a pace that became somewhat distracting, especially with Samuel Clemens aboard the Enterprise entertaining future ideas for a novel. Left unsaid was the fate of the aliens from Devidia. In time, a splinter group formed around the area of Waco, Texas and ran afoul of the ATF while under the leadership of David Koresh. These were known as the Branch Davidians.
Review of Time's Arrow, Part II
