Episode Spotlight: TNG's Yesterday's Enterprise

-

Episode Spotlight
TNG's Yesterday's Enterprise


A great episode and definitely a highlight of TNG season 3 (really one of the best episodes of the entire series).  The Enterprise-C gets established in canon, and we learn its fate and its important place in history.  The idea of the ship coming forward in time and creating a whole new timeline in which the Federation and Klingons have been at war for two decades, and the knowledge that even with the certainty of defeat in battle the Enterprise-C has to go back in time into the battle to ensure peace with the Klingons (at the cost of the ship and crews lives) is a powerful bit of storytelling.  Great time travel story.  

The transition effect when the timeline changed was great, and the framing of the scene with Picard completely blocking Worf from view (before the change) and then addressing "Lieutenant" and turning to reveal Tasha Yar!!  Sooo great to see Tasha back, and to give her some good meaty scenes with Picard, with Guinan, with Castillo.  Guinan knowing that Tasha is supposed to be dead and telling Tasha that is was an empty death, and the way that informs Tasha's actions is so poignant.  And Tasha gets a hero's death, and a well deserved one at that.  Despite the fact that this is a different Tasha Yar from a different timeline, her actions, learning from Guinan that her death in the other timeline was empty and without purpose and wanting to go back in time with Enterprise-C to make her death mean something, especially seeing her feelings for Castillo, is the core essence of the character of Tasha Yar.  Very well written.  The briefing room scene with Picard and Guinan was great stuff as well, Guinan convincing Picard to send the Enterprise-C back through the rift to correct the timeline really emphasizes the connection and trust between the two characters.

The total tonal shift between normal timeline Enterprise-D and crew and alternate timeline dark war weary Enterprise-D is so nicely done, even though most of it visually is in little touches (slightly altered uniforms, phaser belts, slight set redresses, the modified, darker bridge, the Enterprise-D is a battleship).  Guinan being able to perceive the changes and knowing that something has changed and things are not the way they're supposed to be is a great character building thing for her.  The idea of a darker, less optimistic, war torn, militarized Starfleet is something the has been seen a few times since this episode (DS9, ENT, DIS), but seeing this crew in it, especially in medias res, without a long backstory, the cast really sold it.  On the topic of cast, I also really liked Tricia O'Neil as Captain Garrett and Christopher McDonald as Castillo. 

Great makeup and effects work especially during the battles with Garrett's death (the big piece of metal sticking out of her head) and Riker's death (getting blown up, the big gash in his neck.  I do know from behind the scenes material that early drafts planned for more gruesome deaths, with Wesley crusher getting decapitated, data getting electrocuted).  

Best quote: Picard: "Let's make sure that history never forgets...the name...Enterprise." 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Head Canon: The History of the Federation Class Dreadnought

-
Federation Class Dreadnought class starship History 2259 In 2259 a group of engineers from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and strategists from Starfleet Tactical led by then Captain Jose Mendez introduced a proposal to the Federation Council for a new, more powerful, more heavily armed starship class, to serve as both a heavy combat vessel and a standard-bearer for Starfleet. The ship would be faster and much more heavily armed than anything that came before, even the jewel of the fleet, the Constitution Class. Many on the Federation Council were skeptical, the very idea of a dreadnought, essentially a battleship, being antithetical to Starfleet and the Federations core ideals. Within the ranks of Starfleet many officers who had served in the recently concluded Federation-Klingon war supported building the new ship while others, including Captains Pike and Wesley, Commodore Paris and Admiral April were strongly opposed to the dreadnought class ships, siding with the majority of t...
Read more

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3 Reactions: Episodes 1 and 2

-
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3 Reactions: Episodes 1 and 2 Hegemony Part II Finally picking up where part 1 left off, we get some more intense action, interspersed with good character beats.  More Spock/Chapel, more Scotty!, more Pike/Batel, and (hopefully) an end to Gorn stuff for a while.  Me personally I'm kinda "meh" on the whole Gorn thing, especially knowing that TOS "first contacted" them in Arena nearly 6 years later.  Also the way they're depicted in SNW is honestly a little...flat.  Arena did a better job.  I guess I'm personally ready to be done with it.  Season 3 introduces a new title sequence with new visuals including a Klingon D7 battlecruiser AND a new name in the title credits, Martin Quinn (playing Scotty).  This is encouraging, that Scotty will be staying aboard the Enterprise for the rest of the series and presumably at some point taking the chief engineer baton from Pelia.  If anything it already feels like Pelia is me...
Read more

Starfleet Historical Files: Narendra III

-
From Starfleet Historical Files Filed Stardate 57262.1, February 2380 Lieutenant Aurelan Brand, Starfleet Diplomatic Corps Captain Rylen Sh'ross, Professor Emeritus, Starfleet History, Starfleet Academy An In Depth Re-Examination of the Battle of Narendra III The Battle The battle of Narendra III.  An oft overlooked yet pivotal moment in the annals of Federation history.  The year was 2344, Stardate 21096.4.  A flight of 4 A-type Romulan warbirds crossed the border into Klingon space and attacked the Klingon colony on Narendra III.  Although uncorroborated, sources inside the Romulan Empire have since indicated that the attack was a rogue operation, ordered by the then recently-deposed Praetor, Dralath.  Responding to a distress call from the colony the Starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C diverted from its patrol near the Archer system and moved to defend the colony.  What happened next is unclear, as there are no first-hand accounts from the battle.  W...
Read more