Entertainment
 

A Matter of Time (episode)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

(Redirected from A Matter of Time)
Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
"A Matter of Time"
TNG, Episode 5x09
Production number: 40275-209
First aired: 18 November 1991
← 108th of 176 produced in TNG →
← 108th of 176 released in TNG →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 176 released in TNG Remastered  
← 215th of 727 released in all →
Written By
Rick Berman

Directed By
Paul Lynch
45349.1 (2368)
  Arc: {{{wsArc0Desc}}} ({{{nArc0PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc0PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc1Desc}}} ({{{nArc1PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc1PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc2Desc}}} ({{{nArc2PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc2PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc3Desc}}} ({{{nArc3PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc3PartCount}}})  
  Arc: {{{wsArc4Desc}}} ({{{nArc4PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc4PartCount}}})  

A time traveler claiming to be from the 26th century arrives to witness an attempt to save a doomed planet.

Contents

[edit] Summary

A man named Berlinghoff Rasmussen appears aboard the USS Enterprise-D claiming to be an historian from the future, specializing in 24th century interstellar issues. His presence on board is quite disruptive since he refuses to reveal anything about the future, but he nevertheless drops many hints that something important is about to happen.

Simultaneously, the Enterprise is trying to fix extreme weather problems resulting from an asteroid collision on the planet Penthara IV, a colony with a population of some twenty million persons. Eventually, Captain Picard is faced with a huge dilemma: the Enterprise can initiate a chain reaction in the atmosphere that should fix the problem, but if calculations are ever so slightly off, life on the planet will be wiped out. Picard forcefully asks for Rasmussen's help: can he tell what happened to Penthara IV? While Picard concedes that there might be some sort of Temporal Prime Directive in the future that precludes Rasmussen from aiding him, he argues that this is a situation where the directive could be violated. Rasmussen refuses to help, but Picard nevertheless chooses the correct course of action.

Meanwhile, a number of small objects go missing and Picard suspects Rasmussen, who is confronted before he heads back into the future and asked to let Data inspect his time-travel pod for the missing items. Once inside, Rasmussen abducts Data and reveals that he is indeed from 200 years outside the Enterprise's timeframe, but in the opposite direction- he is actually from the 22nd century, stole the time-travel pod from the original historian from the future, and that he plans to return to his own time with the high-tech objects he has stolen, now including Data, and "invent" them. However, his attempt is foiled, as the stolen phaser he uses to knock out Data has been deactivated remotely. Picard orders Worf to arrest Rasmussen, despite his pleas to be let go. The pod vanishes, stranding him in the future. Worf leads Rasmussen to the brig, with Picard welcoming him to the 24th century and remarking there are "many legitimate historians that would be interested in talking to you."

This episode or film summary is incomplete

This episode summary has been identified as lacking essential detail, and as such needs attention. Feel free to edit this page to assist with this expansion.

  • Please obey copyright policy; do not copy material from other sources without permission.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Everyone dies, Captain! It's just a question of when!"

- Berlinghoff Rasmussen


"To try or not to try. To take a risk or play it safe. Your arguments have reminded me how precious the right to choose is. And because I've never been one to play it safe, I choose to try."

- Jean-Luc Picard


"I assume your hand will activate the door whether you are conscious or not."

- Data, after Rasmussen discovers the phaser he is holding Data hostage with no longer works


"Welcome to the 24th century."

- Jean-Luc Picard


"Yes Professor I know... What if one of those lives I save down there as a child who grows up to be the next Adolf Hitler or Khan Singh? Every first year philosophy student has been asked that question since the earliest wormholes were discovered..."

- Jean-Luc Picard

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Story and production

  • Rick Berman commented, "I am fascinated by all the episodes that have dealt with the implausibility of time travel. I have always had in my head the idea of an episode that had someone who was capable of time travel and professes he is from the future, and we find out he is actually from the past. It's part of that Mark Twain feeling of what Leonardo da Vinci could have done with a calculator or Alexander the Great with a shotgun." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)
  • The character of Berlingoff Rasmussen was originally written for Star Trek fan Robin Williams, who opted out in order to play Peter Pan in the movie Hook. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)
  • Regarding the episode's tech subplot Berman recalled, "To sit with the scene guys and research and develop it and to try and come up with with something that would work, you get lost in the technical elements of it. You need other people to come and hit you over the head and pull it back. Sometimes we succeed with that and sometimes we don't." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)
  • Several costumes and props from this episode were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including a scientist costume. [1]

[edit] Continuity

[edit] Reception

  • Michael Piller remarked, "Nobody ever just hands in a script – not me, not even Rick. It was a delightful change of pace and tone from the grimness and darkness of the Spock episode. It was just at the right time. Rick and I and the staff worked long and hard with him on the script and he had a lot of challenges to overcome. That fourth act where Picard and Ramussen have a one scene act is wonderful and I enjoyed that a lot." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)
  • Director Paul Lynch stated, "It was more of a comedy than a drama. Matt Frewer was wonderful as a space con man... He got the reputation of being large for his comedy roles, but he was a consumate actor and he found the level of comedy and realism of the character which is what makes him such a good character. He was never schticky." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)

[edit] Awards

  • This episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects, sharing it in a tie with TNG: "Conundrum".

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] References

Adrienne; apple; atmosphere; automobile; auto-phaser interlock; Bach; Beethoven; berylite scan; bioscan; Caesar; carbon dioxide; Celsius; colony; Corsica; crystal; d'k tahg; deflector dish; deflector shield; earthquake; electrostatic energy; empath; USS Enterprise-C; EPS tap; exothermal inversion; fly; The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works; greenhouse effect; Gutenberg Bible; historian; Hitler; Homer; Jupiter symphony; La donna è mobile; lightning rod; Lincoln; Livingston; Milton; Model A; Model T; Mozart; Monet; museum; New Jersey; New Seattle; nuclear winter; neural stimulator; O'Brien, Miles; PADD; Penthara IV; Pentharan; phaser; phaser drill; philosophy; plasma; plasticized tritanium mesh; poker; predestination paradox; Prime Directive; quarantine field; Redstone missile; Richter scale; Rigoletto; Risa; river; sector; sensor; shield invertor; Singh, Khan; Soong, Noonien; space-time distortion; spring dance; Starbase 214; Starfleet; Suzanne; Symphony Number Nine; Telurian plague; temporal logic; temporal distortion; terawatt; theft; Third Brandenburg Concerto; time-pod; tricorder; type C asteroid; Verdi; VISOR; volcano; warp coil; Wonder, Stevie; wormhole

[edit] See also


Previous episode:
"Unification II" 		Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 5 		Next episode:
"New Ground"
Retrieved from "http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/A_Matter_of_Time_(episode)"
Rate this article: