[Nate the Great]

January 30th, 1995, "Time and Again"

One of my biggest problems with this episode is that the status quo still hasn't been settled and all of a sudden we're doing a TNG episode as though we have all the time and resources in the world. This should stir up the Maquis again. Furthermore Seska should've had a proper introduction by this point.

Fiver by Zeke

The Episode



PARIS: People are going to start pairing off, and if we don't get to the Delany sisters in Stellar Cartography soon, somebody else will.
KIM: I've got a girl back home.
PARIS: So what? I've got five.
KIM: I plan on seeing mine again.
PARIS: Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry. You really think she's going to wait for you?
KIM: I hope so.
PARIS: Let her go. Let her have a husband and kids and a good life, while you and I have the Delany sisters.

Mourning the loved ones left behind is important, but Harry is being silly here thinking that he'll be home with Libby in a matter of months. Remember that the only known stable wormhole is nowhere near here. I'm not saying that he HAS to start dating right now, but he has to stop talking like his relationship with Libby is currently active.

Oh, and Voyager has been in the Delta Quadrant for a month. I'm amazed that Tom would wait a month before hitting on the Delaney Sisters, or that they'd still be a available at this point.

PARIS: Look, they come as a pair. It's a double date or no date.

Well, that's stupid.

JANEWAY: Take us into orbit.
CHAKOTAY: Density patterns on the surface show artificial waterways and a global aqueduct system. There is a civilisation down there, Captain.
JANEWAY: Or there was. What do we know about surface conditions?
TUVOK: Radiation is within acceptable levels. Atmosphere, breathable.

So we're not here to get resources, we're not here to make friends, we're just here for curiosity. This should've been another Starfleet/Maquis conflict.

TUVOK: A Romulan research colony was nearly destroyed during the testing of one these devices. It lead to the Polaric Test Ban Treaty of 2268.

It makes you wonder when Starfleet found out about these experiments because it was clear that the Romulans were relatively isolationist during the TOS days. Again I recommend the John Byrne comics where the Romulans were blatantly manipulating the Klingons during TOS.

PARIS: Are you sure? What do these numbers stand for?
SHOPKEEPER: Rotations, intervals, fractions. Same as any timepiece. Fourteen kalodas.
PARIS: A fair price. I might stop back later, if there's time.
(Paris rejoins Janeway.)
PARIS: If I understood correctly, this world is going to be destroyed sometime tomorrow.

Sure Tom, we totally buy that you can do conversions in alien time units in your head with minimal knowledge of it. It reminds me of SF Debris' farcical depiction of him as being the most capable member of Starfleet.

CHAKOTAY: How do we find them?
TUVOK: If I know Captain Janeway, she would activate a subspace beacon to assist us.
KIM: We're counting on it.

Yeah, because from what we know of the technology available on the planet it can be combined with their commbadges to create a subspace beacon. They'll totally be able to find the necessary tools as well to manipulate the tiny components. I'm reminded of when Doc Hyde in "The Darkling" tried to reprogram himself by tapping at his mobile emitter with a proverbial toothpick.

EMH: Missing. The Captain is missing. It seems I've found myself on the Voyage of the Damned. Very well. Please advise the highest ranking officer who is not missing, to see me at his earliest convenience.

Even from the start Doc was proving himself to be the breakout character.

JANEWAY: We can assume that Voyager will be looking for a way to reach us. I'll set my comm. badge to emit a subspace beacon.

So this is just a preset on the commbadge? It occurs to me that the commbadges should be programmed to emit a subspace beacon the instant it can't make regular contact with a ship or other Federation facility. It would've made episodes like "Time's Arrow" a lot shorter as well.

JANEWAY: Don't even think about it, Tom. The Prime Directive is clear. We cannot allow our presence to alter this planet's natural course of events.
PARIS: Even if the natural course of events is annihilation?
JANEWAY: Yeah.

I can almost hear SF Debris ranting in my head. I'll skip the PD screed, except to say that in this episode the Temporal Prime Directive would seem more applicable.

LATIKA: I know you're lying.
JANEWAY: Young man, we're here on a business trip and we have a lot of work to do.
LATIKA: The officer told me you came here on the continental transport.
JANEWAY: That's right, we're from Kalto Province.
LATIKA: Yeah? Well I just talked to the transport attendant, He told me four people came today from Kalto. Two of them were a lot older than you and they had a child with them.
JANEWAY: Well the attendant was wrong. That was us.

What is this accomplishing? Is the following joke really worth the screentime for this plot cul-de-sac?

LATIKA: So, where's the child?
PARIS: We ate him, because we are demons and we eat children and I haven't had my supper yet.
(The boy runs off.)

This screentime would be better used by having the Maquis crew telling Chakotay that this came from Janeway's obsession with exploration.