Yesterday's Enterprise
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| Star Trek: TNG episode | |
| "Yesterday's Enterprise" | |
 The Enterprise-C emerges from a temporal rift in "Yesterday's Enterprise". |
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| Episode no. | 63 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 163 |
| Airdate | February 19, 1990 |
| Writer(s) | Trent Christopher Ganino Eric A. Stillwell Ira Steven Behr Richard Manning Hans Beimler Ronald D. Moore |
| Director | David Carson |
| Guest star(s) | Denise Crosby Tricia O’Neil Christopher McDonald |
| Year | 16 Aug 2366 |
| Stardate | 43625.2 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "A Matter of Perspective" |
| Next | "The Offspring" |
"Yesterday's Enterprise" is an episode of the 3rd season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It contains some of the events surrounding the time-traveling Enterprise-C.
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[edit] Synopsis
In Ten-Forward, Guinan introduces Worf to prune juice, a drink which he enjoys immensely (calling it "A warrior's drink"). He is suddenly called to the bridge.
The Enterprise-D encounters a rift in space-time that appears to have no discernible event horizon; it both is, and is not, there. After a brief moment a battered and damaged ship comes out of the rift, transmitting a distress call and identifying itself as the USS Enterprise-C, a ship lost with all hands twenty-two years in the past and the predecessor to the Enterprise-D. After the Enterprise-C emerges from the rift, a dramatic shift occurs on the bridge of the Enterprise-D: the bright, open-spaced bridge is replaced by a dark military bridge with multiple tactical stations, Worf and Counselor Troi are missing, and Lieutenant Tasha Yar, killed in the episode "Skin of Evil", is chief tactical officer. The Federation is at war with the Klingon Empire and the Federation is losing; indeed, the Federation is barely six months away from surrender.
[edit] Plot Details
Guinan is the only one who appears to notice the change, not knowing for sure what is happening, but knowing that "something is wrong". She approaches Captain Picard about her thoughts and, while not entirely dismissive of her feelings, he cannot act on them without more evidence.
Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O’Neil), commanding officer of the USS Enterprise-C, wakes up in sickbay and is startled at the modern Starfleet uniforms and the advanced medical bay the likes of which she has never seen before "even on a Starbase", even though Captain Picard initially relayed orders that no one from the Enterprise-C is to know about "where, or when they are", Captain Garrett’s perceptions of her surroundings force Captain Picard to acknowledge the inevitability of them discovering the truth. When asked how they got here, Garrett tells Picard of how they had responded to a distress call from the Klingon outpost on Narendra III. On arrival they found that the outpost was being attacked by 4 Romulan Warbirds which they engaged. The last thing she remembers is a fierce volley of photon torpedoes and a burst of bright light.
Captain Garrett initially wants to remain in the future and assist the Federation with the Klingon War, but Captain Picard informs her that the Federation is on the brink of collapse and one more ship will not help, although most of Starfleet’s enlisted and non-command personnel are not aware of this. Captain Picard informs her that if what Guinan believes is true, that there was not supposed to be a war, then the Enterprise-C may have had a role in the peace that should be in place and is in place, in the alternate timeline.
It is decided, against the objections of Commander Riker, that the Enterprise-C should return to its own time and perhaps, by doing so, alter the course of history as it has unfolded in this alternate timeline. While Captain Picard and Captain Garrett are aboard the Enterprise-C supervising the final repairs, a Klingon scout ship locates the two ships, opens fire, and quickly makes her escape to inform the Klingon High Command of the location of the two Federation Starships.
The Enterprise-C is caught with shields down and suffers moderate damage. Captain Picard returns safely to the Enterprise-D, but Captain Garrett is killed in an explosion on the Enterprise-C's bridge.
Lieutenant Yar notices the strange way that Guinan, the enigmatic and wise bartender, reacts to her presence for the first time seeing her since she noticed the ship's change, and, against her objections, tells why she reacted so strangely. Guinan tells her that she never actually met Tasha Yar before coming aboard the Enterprise-D; all she knew about her was that she died a meaningless death. Because of this revelation, Yar asks Captain Picard for permission to transfer to the Enterprise-C as a tactical officer. Captain Picard emotionally acquiesces to her request when Yar objects to dying a meaningless death.
Lieutenant Richard Castillo (Christopher McDonald), the last remaining Enterprise-C bridge officer and a budding romantic interest with Tasha Yar, assumes command of the Enterprise-C and prepares to take the ship back through the rift—which is now growing unstable—to reenter combat with the Romulans attacking the Klingon outpost.
As the Enterprise-C is entering the rift three Klingon K'vort-class battlecruisers attack the Enterprise-D and outflank it. There is a battle in which the Enterprise-D manages to destroy one of the battleships, while protecting the Enterprise-C. However, the ship suffers major damage and is close to destruction. The bridge erupts in fire and Commander Riker suffers what appears to be a fatal wound when a console explosion embeds metal fragments into his neck. The Klingons demand the Enterprise's surrender. Picard sneers at this request and mutters defiantly to himself, "That will be the day”. He leaps up and takes over Riker’s station and fires the last few rounds of phaser fire as he tries to buy the Enterprise-C more time. The Enterprise-C manages to enter the rift successfully and in another striking change, the Enterprise-D is returned to normal and the rift that altered time vanishes before the Enterprise-D can scan it. Worf and Troi are back and the Enterprise-D is on its way to meet a Klingon delegation. In the last scene, Guinan asks the bridge if all is well, and then says to Geordi La Forge: "Tell me about Tasha Yar."
[edit] The Klingon War
We learn in this episode's timeline that the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire have been engaged in a bloody and costly war for almost two decades, peace efforts having failed for the last time. This is in contrast to the Empire in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country which was close to collapse having devoted itself to its military.
It is revealed in this episode that the Enterprise-C was supposed to be lost twenty-two years ago answering a distress call from a Klingon outpost near Narendra III, which was under attack from Romulan warbirds. In the proper timeline, the sacrifice of the Enterprise-C's crew in a valiant attempt to save the Klingon outpost, for which they had no prior contact or concern, persuaded the Klingon High Council that the Federation was honorable.
In the timeline created when the Enterprise-C entered the temporal rift during the Romulan onslaught, however, it appeared as though the Federation heard the Klingon distress call and abandoned them to their fate, an act considered highly dishonorable by the Klingons, who hold honor as the prime virtue. As a result of the failure of the Federation Starfleet to assist the Narendra III outpost, the Klingons abandoned peace negotiations and the subdued hostility that permeated Federation-Klingon relations for decades broke out into open war.
[edit] The Military Federation
This episode shows several pronounced changes from the normal way of life in the Federation. The first noticeable change is that the bridge changes from the bright and open bridge of a Galaxy-class starship into a dark, military bridge with multiple tactical-control panels and security personnel. Military dress differs, also. Enlisted crewmembers wear white/silver belts and sashes over a uniform similar to that seen in the standard timeline of Season 3, but with a closed, rather than open, mandarin collar that peaks at the nape of the neck, and black cuffs on the sleeves. The whole crew wear phasers as standard-issue equipment (a chrome one, in Picard's case). In this episode, the ship is referred to as a warship, "capable of transporting over six thousand troops": the legendary "Captain's Log" and "Stardate" are replaced by "Military Log" and "Combat Date,, respectively. Another noted difference is that there are no children present on the ship.
This episode saw the return of Tasha Yar, killed in the episode "Skin of Evil" by Armus, a malevolent being self-proclaimed as evil incarnate. It is implied that the war that engulfed the Federation kept Counselor Troi and her escorts away from the events that caused them to crash land on the planet Vagra II[citation needed]; therefore, Counselor Troi was never trapped in Shuttlecraft 13, and the Enterprise-D had no reason to go there. In this alternate timeline, Counselor Troi is never seen on the bridge, or with the senior officers, as her presence would be inappropriate for a battleship's tactical center. Also, we see that Lieutenant Worf is not aboard the Enterprise in the alternate timeline, for obvious reasons.
On the technical side, replicators are said to be on low-power reserves so more energy can be offered to the ship's tactical and defense systems. The crew eats standard military rations called "TKLs," that are non-energy intensive to replicate.
It is interesting to note that when the Federation actually went to war during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's run, Starfleet did not seem to make any military-style changes (e.g., "Captain's Logs" and Stardates were retained), although the war in the alternate timeline would have been going on far longer than the nearly three-year-long Dominion conflict.
[edit] Trivia
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- During a scene in a hallway, an intercom can be heard paging Lieutenant Barrett.
- Trent Christopher Ganino's name can be seen on a tactical situation monitor showing the progress of the Klingons in their war with the Federation.
- In previous script revisions, as the Enterprise was under attack by the Klingons, Riker was not the only crew member to die a gruesome death. Wesley Crusher would be decapitated during the battle, and Data was going to be electrocuted. Due to budget constraints, these scenes weren't filmed.
- The running gag of Worf drinking (and liking) prune juice was introduced in this episode.
- This episode is notable for having one of the rare instances of the character Worf laughing (another being in DS9 episode Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places). It is in response to a comment by Guinan that some human women might actually think Worf was sexually tame.
- Dialog in this episode suggests that Tasha Yar joined the Enterprise directly after leaving the academy in this timeline.
- In a continuity error, the closing scene featuring Guinan and Geordi has the latter wearing the uniform design from the alternate timeline by mistake.
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