From: tlynch@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Lynch's Spoiler Review:  "Time's Arrow, Part II"
Date: 26 Sep 1992 21:43:44 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu
Summary: Not up here.
Keywords: TNG, Data, head, time-loops

WARNING:  The following post contains critical spoiler information regarding 
the sixth-season premiere of TNG, "Time's Arrow, Part II".  Those not wishing 
to have already seen spoiler information at the time of viewing are advised to 
remain clear at this time.

Well, that was...strange.

There were quite a few things they did, many of them good...but there were 
also a lot of things they *didn't* do, and a few things they did that I 
didn't like.  More after a synopsis:

Sam Clemens, convinced by his eavesdropping that Data and Guinan are invaders 
from the future, tells a reporter of the broad strokes of his theory that the 
19th century is in as much danger as King Arthur's time was in his novel _A 
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_.  He abruptly stops, however, when 
he sees Data emerging from a building and walking down the street.  He moves 
to follow Data, whom we see passing a well-dressed couple (known to us as the 
true "invaders").

Some time later, Riker and Dr. Crusher (both in appropriate garb) are searching 
the morgue for signs of the aliens' presence.  Beverly finds that many of the 
so-called "cholera victims" died, not from the disease, but from having their 
neural energy completely drained; their souls were stolen, if you will.  She 
and Riker theorize that the aliens have traveled back to this disease-ridden 
time to use the epidemic as a cover for murder.  They return to the apartment 
where the entire team is staying and report their findings, and the team 
plans to infiltrate the charity hospital from which many of the victims have 
come.  Additionally, they note that the aliens should be detectable at close 
range via tricorder thanks to their triolic emissions, and note that they 
have not yet managed to contact Data.

Meanwhile, Sam Clemens is let into Data's hotel room with the help of Jack 
the bellboy, and in return advises Jack to follow his dreams and write about 
them.  (Jack, his last name now revealed to be London, vows to do so.)  
Clemens takes a piece of Data's strange construct for safekeeping, then hides 
in the closet as Data returns with Guinan.  Data and Guinan discuss ways to 
enter the cavern where Data's head will eventually be found, until Data 
suddenly notices the absence of the missing part.  Guinan immediately 
believes it to be Clemens, and Clemens then accidentally reveals himself.

As Data replaces the transceiver, Clemens angrily defends his actions by 
claiming to be defending the interests of his race and his century.  He 
challenges Data to explain his journeyings all over the city in search of the 
cavern they have now located, and accuses the pair of scheming to foul the 
19th century with future technology.

Some time later, the away team is working in the charity hospital, 
surreptitiously setting "alarms" to react to the aliens' presence.  Beverly, 
as a nurse, is the first to notice an alarm going off and moves to intercept 
the strange doctor and nurse that have just appeared.  Without a word, they 
begin to move toward her, but she is saved by the arrival of the rest of the 
team.  Overmatched, the two aliens phase away, but without benefit of the 
man's cane.  The team tries to explain themselves to an arriving policeman, 
but eventually are forced to assault him and escape, fleeing in a cart driven 
by the arriving Data, whose device alerted him to the aliens' phasing.

Back in the team's apartment, the team tries to activate the cane.  Phasered, 
it turns into the ophidian they've been searching for and causes small 
time-shifts.  However, the shifts are both very small and very short-lived; 
it becomes clear that a focusing mechanism is needed.  The rest of the team 
heads for the cavern, as Data and Picard detour to Guinan's home.  There, the 
true "first meeting" of Picard and Guinan takes place, as Picard for once 
finds himself with the advantage of foreknowledge.

As Clemens, tipped off by his reporter friend as to Data's involvement with 
the team at the hospital, heads for the cavern, the team arrives there.  
Geordi finds that the walls of the cave have effectively been turned into a 
giant focusing device for the ophidian's power; a triolic "lens", if you 
will.  Assuming the cavern on Devidia Two is similarly designed, destroying 
that cavern should stop the aliens' presence on Earth.  They decide to 
attempt to use the ophidian to head back to their century, but are stopped by 
the sudden arrival of Clemens, who threatens them all with his gun and 
demands they leave with him.  Just at that time, however, the aliens phase 
back in and attempt to recover their cane.  Data grabs it back and subdues 
the man, only to have the cane flare twice.  The first flare seriously injures 
the female alien, and the second blows off Data's head and blows everyone 
else to the ground.  When they revive, they see the cane vanish and a 
time-gate open.  The male alien runs through, and all the away team save 
Picard (with an injured Guinan) follows.  Just as the gate closes, however, 
Clemens revives and also follows through.

Back on Devidia Two, everyone seems all right, but Riker harshly upbraids 
Clemens for following.  They find Data's headless body (still holding the 
cane), and all six people beam aboard the Enterprise.  There, Geordi begins 
attempting to reattach the head they currently have, while Troi volunteers 
herself as Clemens's escort.  

Five centuries earlier, Picard tends to a seriously injured Guinan.  When she 
seems puzzled by why he would do so, he reveals something of how close they 
will one day become (well beyond friends, he says).  They spy Data's head, 
which Picard refers to as history fulfilling itself.

Back in the 24th century, Guinan tells Riker that history must be allowed to 
fulfill itself, and refuses to tell him anything about what he should do.  
After Troi tells Clemens a bit more about her century (and convinces him that 
many of his century's baser elements such as poverty and greed have been 
eliminated), they arrive at Geordi's lab, where nothing constructive has 
happened yet.  Clements finds his broken watch and talks of having misjudged 
Data.

Back on Earth, Picard interrogates the dying alien, who insists that they 
needed human energy and had no choice but to do what they did.  When Picard 
tells her of their plan to destroy the Devidia Two cavern, she gloats that 
the Enterprise's weaponry will only amplify the time distortion and destroy 
Earth as well.  Dying, she fades into nonexistence.

While Worf (over Riker's initial objections, then with his grudging support) 
prepares a photon spread to destroy the cavern, Geordi finds an iron filing 
causing intermittent problems in Data's input polarizers.  Puzzled, he 
wonders how it got there.

Picard, meanwhile, uses an iron filing to encode a message in Data's head.  
With one minute left in the 24th century until the torpedoes are launched, 
Geordi successfully revives Data, who comprehends Picard's message and aborts 
the torpedo launch.  The problem revealed, they begin modifying the torpedoes 
in ways that would destroy the aliens without causing time-shifts.

However, that doesn't solve the problem of how to recover Picard.  Beverly 
explains that their weaponry could open a gate, but only powerful enough for 
one person to go back and then one to go forward.  Clemens offers himself as 
the obvious choice to return to his own time and allow Picard to return to 
his.  He thanks Data for allowing him to begin a new adventure and recover 
from his own bitterness, then departs.  

As Picard readies to leave the cave and help Guinan, Clemens rushes in with 
instructions.  With less than five minutes until the torpedoes are launched 
against Devidia Two, he explains the situation to Picard and agrees to help 
Guinan get proper care.  Picard bids both farewell (telling Guinan that he'll 
see her in a few minutes) and prepares to leave. 

However, with no trace of him in the 24th century and signs that the aliens 
are becoming active, Riker orders the torpedoes fired.  Picard arrives just 
as the first torpedoes hit, and is transported aboard barely in time.  The 
cavern is destroyed, and Picard returns to a new understanding of his 
relationship with Guinan.  Finally, Clemens gets Guinan help and, knowing 
what lies ahead, deliberately avoids picking up his 19th century watch, 
leaving it to gather dust just a few meters away from Data's head.

Well, that should do it.  Now, onwards.

As I said before, there are good and bad things here.  Perhaps I just wasn't 
particularly in the mood for Trek this week, but I found this somewhat 
disappointing.  Not *awful*, mind you; just disappointing.  

One of the things that disappointed me is that very little about the actual 
reason for all this got *answered*.  The basic storyline about these aliens 
works out to be:  Picard and company find signs of aliens in the 1890s, 
assume they're hostile, attack them when they find them in the past, and 
eventually destroy their base in the 24th century.  We're never given any 
evidence that they *must* be hostile, or that they have a choice in the 
matter (remember the Crystalline Entity?  "It is not evil, it is 
*feeding*."), and I find that disturbing.  Even more annoying is that we 
found out precisely zero about why they picked Earth at that time, or at all. 
Riker and Bev gave a theory which might work, but we have no sign that it's 
the case.  Finally along these lines, the particular aliens involved more or 
less ended up drifting off screen rather than being resolved somehow.  Yes, 
the female presumably died and faded offscreen, but the male jumped back 
through the portal.  Where is he?  Did he remain on Devidia Two with the 
others?  We don't know.  Too many unanswered questions that *should* have \
been answered.

Here's another, for instance:  Why, *why*, did the away team not try to 
simply find Data via communicator?  We're given the clear impression from the 
hospital scene that they work; why not try it?  If in fact Data *had* lost 
the communicator in last show's poker game, then we'd be the wiser for it, 
and the show would look very bright for having thought of *and blocked* that 
easy way out.  Instead, it looks like they forgot.  Sigh.

As long as we're on the away team, we are told absolutely nothing about how 
they got from the situation at the end of part one to the apartment they were 
in now.  There are several easy answers, but nothing obvious; how did they 
get, not only a room, but an apartment large enough to hold the whole team?  
How did they get, not only clothing, but *precisely* the clothes they all 
needed to do what they had to (Riker's policeman outfit, Beverly's nurse 
garb, etc.)?  That felt decidedly like ducking the issue to me, and I'd 
prefer something more honest.

Another one that just occurred to me:  the soul-searching about whether the 
portal would open and get Picard back was completely unnecessary.  The 
Federation has had the knowledge of time travel for a *century* now, and I 
cannot believe that a situation like this would not at least allow them to 
consider using it.  The Devidia Two cave was hardly the only way back to 
1893.

I also thought the whole resolution was too...well, just too *easy*, or too 
obvious.  The surface interpretation some people had at the end of part 1 was 
that the aliens were some sort of soul-vampires, and that Data would be 
revived by having the discovered head reattached.  A great many people, 
myself included, scoffed, saying "they're not going to go with something that 
obvious".  Unfortunately, they did; and it feels like a gyp to me.  If the 
head could be reattached, why was there a big worry about it being 
*disattached* in the first place?

Another thing that got to me slightly was the end of the Jack London riff.  I 
*liked* it in the first part:  very quietly and subtly done (to the point 
where I didn't even notice it myself first time around).  Even most of this 
part of the story was all right; if we'd been left with Clemens encouraging 
Jack to write about his experiences and Jack determined to go to Alaska, that 
could have been nice.  But instead, we get the answer thrown up in bright 
neon letters:  "Look, I'm Jack London!"  Maybe it's just me, but that sort of 
soured the deal for me.  I prefer things said a little more softly than that.

On to some of the good things, though.  Far and away, the best part of the 
show had to be the several meetings in 1893 'tween Picard and the young 
Madame Guinan.  From the first moment those two met, I felt the bond between
them jump into sharp focus.  (It helps that the actors involved are among the 
best TNG's got, of course.  :-) )  This whole sequence of events brought so 
many memories of past TNG home ("A bald man was kind to me once"..."once, 
when I was in trouble, a *lot* of trouble...somebody helped me"..."we'll 
*never* meet"...) that this felt like a kind of...well, like a circle 
closing.  I was very impressed.  ("Do you know me?"  "Very well."  "Do I know 
you?"  "Not yet...but you will."  That hit home; I've no idea why.)

(I do wish, though, that someone had let slip to Guinan "oh, by the way, 
don't schedule any visits home in the mid-23rd century" and thus started up 
another informational loop about the Borg.  :-) )

Speaking of time loops, that's another thing the show did quite well.  Lots 
of little loops were set up, and the big one was resolved *without* changing 
history in any significant way.  Let's see if I can catch all of them:

1)  Picard has now made himself known to Guinan, so she can make herself 
known to him when she's ~470 years older and he's 20 (perhaps) years younger. 
Er...check, please.  :-)

2)  There is one uninterrupted timeline both for Clemens's watch and for 
Data's head.  The watch traveled a linear path from its beginnings until 
2368, then traveled back to 1893 with Clemens and continued on at the usual 
speed.  There are two watches post-1893 (at least until he junks the broken 
one he's got now :-) ), but these things happen when you start mucking with 
time travel.  (Look at Kirk's glasses.  :-) )

3)  Same goes for Data's head.  It traveled a linear path from its origins to 
the beginnings of "Time's Arrow", then had a long stint from 1893 back to 
2368, then reattached itself and continued on.  One head, just with a very 
long down time in the middle there.  

Yes, it looks like there are two heads and two watches, but these things do 
happen.  I've always liked stories that manage to manipulate time-travel 
while keeping their wits about them, and this definitely won that.  (Those 
who want an example of a much deeper paradox that could *really* make their 
head spin are strongly advised to pick up a copy of Heinlein's short story 
"By His Bootstraps".  You won't regret it.)  

Back to some bad news, unfortunately.  While I thoroughly enjoyed Jerry 
Hardin's turn as Sam Clemens in part 1, it was used way too much here.  More 
than that, it was in some ways used *carelessly*.  Twain jumping through the 
gate to arrive in the 24th century is all well and good, but having everyone 
be so nonchalant about it is quite definitely not.  You don't want someone 
heading back with lots of knowledge of the future, even if it's Mark Twain.  
(*Especially* if it's Mark Twain, now that I think about it.  Someone that 
outspoken and that prominent is not someone you want with the power to change 
history, folks.)  And while a couple of minutes of Clemens' speechmaking is 
fine, after a while it gets very wearing, *especially* when it's countered by 
a speech about 24th-century Utopia.  (I don't mind having the show take place 
in an optimistic future; I've gone on record about that many times.  I *do* 
mind having the extreme optimism that occasionally shines through tossed in 
my face.)

The basic feeling I got after watching was that the show was very *clever* in 
clearing up all the time paradoxes, but that except for the Picard/Guinan 
elements, I was given very little reason to actually *care* whether they did 
so.  Aside from the aforementioned scenes (and the scene where Data actually 
lost his head), very little stands out to me as memorable, and that's rather 
rare.

Onwards to some more short takes.  Maestro:

--For credits-watchers:  Brannon Braga and Rene Echevarria are now story 
editors, replacing Peter Allan Fields.  This seems an extremely good sign to 
me, given both the talents of Braga ("Cause and Effect", "Reunion") and 
Echevarria ("The Offspring", "I, Borg"), and the real qualms I have about 
Fields ("Cost of Living").  Congratulations to both.

--Also for credits-watchers:  Poor William Boyett is doomed always to play a 
San Francisco cop, it seems.  First he ends up as a cop in a fictional 1941 
SF in "The Big Goodbye", and now we see him again as the cop Riker slugs here 
in 1893 SF.  If I didn't know better, I'd think we were seeing a whole family 
line of Frisco cops.  :-)

--I thought the bits with Picard's landlady were decidedly fillerlike.  Bits 
of the first one weren't bad ("Ah...Milan."), but the second one had my teeth 
on edge.  (On the other hand, it *was* cute to see how Geordi avoided having 
questions asked about the VISOR.  :-) )

--I did enjoy the scene where Riker was "convinced" to destroy the cave 
rather than try to go back.  Voiceovers from the room were easy.  
("Permission to speak freely?"  "Granted, Mr. Worf."  "You're acting like an 
idiot, sir."  :-) )

I think that's really about it.  I wish I liked it better than I did, but it 
was not to be.  That might bode ill for the season...but then again, last 
year we had "Redemption II", which I also found disappointing, followed up by 
"Darmok", which I've found to be one of TNG's strongest shows.  We shall see!

So, the numbers:

Plot:  4.  The main plot points were answered and well-woven, but we had 
	absolutely no answers to all but the most crucial of questions.
Plot Handling: 4.  Too much padding and too little subtlety.
Characterization/Acting:  7.  Had Clemens been either less annoying or less 
	present, this would be higher, as Spiner, Stewart and Goldberg all 
	did terrific jobs.

TOTAL:  5.  That feels about right.  Not bad, but decidedly disappointing.

NEXT WEEK:

Barclay returns, this time with a phobia of transporters.  Or is it really 
that irrational a fear?

Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET:  tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET:  tlynch@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP:  ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.caltech.edu@hamlet.caltech.edu
"I'll see you in five hundred years, Picard."
"And I'll see you...in a few minutes."
--
Copyright 1992, Timothy W. Lynch.  All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...