star trek tng yesterday's enterprise cast

Yesterday's Enterprise (episode)

1.2 Act One
1.3 Act Two
1.4 Act Three
1.5 Act Four
1.6 Act Five
2 Memorable quotes
3.1 Production history
3.2 Story development
3.3 Production
3.4.2 Costumes
3.6 Continuity
3.7 Reception
3.8 Awards and honors
3.9 Apocrypha
3.10 Video and DVD releases
4.1 Starring
4.2 Also starring
4.3 Guest Stars
4.4 And Special Guest Star
4.5 Uncredited Co-Stars
4.6 Stunt doubles
4.7 Stand-ins
4.8.1 Library computer references
4.8.2 Unreferenced material
4.9 External links

Summary [ ]

Worf is sitting alone in Ten Forward when Guinan comes over to his table and hands him a glass and asks him to try the drink. Worf tries it and is extremely surprised to find that he loves the drink. Guinan tells Worf it's an Earth drink, prune juice , which Worf refers to as "a warrior's drink" after taking a sip. Guinan notes that Worf always drinks alone and suggests that he seek out some companionship. However, Worf says he would need a Klingon woman for companionship as he considers Earth females to be too fragile. He then laughs loudly when Guinan tells him there are women aboard who might find him tame, a thought he considers impossible. When Guinan playfully calls him a coward for saying he'll never know when she says he should find out, Worf says he was merely concerned for the safety of his fellow crewmates. Just then, a strange phenomenon appears outside Ten Forward's windows and Worf is called to the bridge . Guinan stands up and looks toward the phenomenon and simply utters " No ."

Picard alternate timeline transition 2366

The timeline changes

Arriving on the bridge, Worf is told that the USS Enterprise -D has encountered what appears to be a strange temporal rift in space. Investigating, the crew are unable to confirm exactly what and precisely where the phenomenon is.

Worf reports a change in sensor readings. Captain Picard turns his back on Worf and asks Data for more information, who begins to check the sensors. As a starship emerges from the rift, the bridge of the Enterprise changes. It now appears much darker and the crew's uniforms have more of a militaristic flair to them. No one present seems aware of the changes. Picard turns to the tactical station and asks if the ship that emerged is an enemy vessel. However Worf is gone, and Natasha Yar stands in his place. Troi has also disappeared.

Down in a much more brightly lit Ten Forward, as Guinan clears a table, everyone is in uniform and all are armed. She straightens up and senses something isn't right, that everything has changed.

As the starship clears the rift, Yar confirms it as a Federation starship and tries to access the ship's registry. Commander Riker notes the crew must have had a rough ride. Yar reads the ship's registry as NCC-1701-C, which causes Picard and Riker to turn toward her in astonishment as Yar finishes reading the name of the ship… USS Enterprise -C .

Act One [ ]

Two Enterprise s meet

On the altered bridge of the Enterprise , Data reports that the sensors confirm that the other ship's hull and engine components are of the Enterprise -C's time period. When Wesley Crusher mentions that the Enterprise -C was destroyed with all hands more than twenty years previous, Data corrects him, saying that the ship was presumed destroyed near Narendra III , a Klingon outpost. Captain Picard wonders if the ship was adrift for all the years it's been missing or perhaps traveled through time . Data says that if time travel does turn out to be the proper theory then the phenomenon they have encountered is a temporal rift, such as a Kerr loop in space which is most certainly unstable and capable of collapsing at any time. Yar then reports that she is able to scan the interior of the ship and she reports heavy damage but she does detect sporadic life signs . Riker calls sickbay to prepare emergency teams and orders the transporter rooms to standby, but Picard belays Riker's orders, reminding him that if the other ship has indeed traveled through time then they could be dealing with variables that might alter the flow of their history. At that moment, Yar tells Picard that the Enterprise -C is sending out an audio distress call , and Picard orders it put on speakers.

Riker mentions that there was no record of Romulans ever attacking the Enterprise -C and then Yar reports the voice message has terminated and they are now receiving only an automated signal from the vessel. Picard then orders a channel opened and tells the Enterprise -C that he is " Captain Picard of the Federation… of a Federation starship " and tells Garrett to stand by for emergency teams. He then tells Riker to assess the situation and attend to their wounded and above all, avoid all discussions of where and when they are. Riker says he will and takes Yar with him for the away team . Just then, Crusher tells Picard that Starfleet monitor stations are detecting Klingon ships in the area and on their way, and Picard orders Wesley Crusher to put the ship on battle alert , condition yellow .

Meanwhile, the Enterprise -C is in bad shape. The away team beams aboard the bridge and Dr. Crusher reports the rest of the bridge crew are dead and that the captain is seriously injured. Finding the captain nearly unconscious in her command chair , Crusher and Riker tell Garrett they are from a Federation ship and that they are here to assist. When Dr. Crusher tells Riker she must take Garrett back to Enterprise , Garrett demands an explanation, but Riker simply tells her they are from a Federation ship that answered their distress signal and that they will answer all questions, but for now they must get her to sickbay . With that, Garrett relents and allows Crusher to transport themselves back directly to sickbay.

At the same time, chief engineer Geordi La Forge tells Riker the ship is in pretty bad shape. Riker tells him if they can't stabilize life support they will have to evacuate the ship; La Forge says he can do it, but he'll have to go to engineering , so he calls a damage control party to engineering. Then Yar and Riker notice some rustling underneath some debris. They pull the debris off and discover another survivor, Lt. Richard Castillo , the ship's helmsman .

Picard arrives back on the bridge in time for a report from the away team. Riker reports back that they've stabilized life support and that La Forge is working on repairing the main power couplings . He also tells Picard that there are 125 survivors aboard the Enterprise -C. When Picard asks for recommendations, Riker says that he'd hate to have to lose the ship, as Starfleet could certainly use another vessel, even if it is old. While Picard agrees, he also cautions Riker that they can't stay in the area too long. Picard allows Riker nine hours to get the Enterprise -C underway to Starbase 105 . If they are unable to do so, then the survivors will be evacuated and the ship will be destroyed.

At that moment, Guinan enters the bridge. Seemingly disoriented, she walks up to Picard. When Picard notices her, she says she needs to speak to Picard, claiming: " This is not the way it's supposed to be. "

Act Two [ ]

In the observation lounge , Picard questions Guinan's perceptions. She tells him that things don't feel "right" to her, such as the bridge, the crew's uniforms , their attitudes. Picard counters that the bridge is just as it has always been, and asks what else has changed. Families, Guinan says. There should be children on the Enterprise . Astounded, Picard reminds her that the Federation is at war . Guinan responds that it is not, or at least is not supposed to be. She tells Picard that Enterprise isn't a ship of war, but of peace. And the only way to restore things is to send the displaced Enterprise -C back to its own time.

Picard arrives in sickbay to meet Captain Garrett, who has just undergone surgery. Garrett asks where they came from, but Picard deflects her question with wanting to know how her ship ended up here. Garrett tells Picard that they were responding to a distress signal from the Klingon outpost on Narendra III and asks if Picard heard it, but he says they didn't. Garrett comments she's never seen a sickbay like the one she's in, not even on a starbase, nor has she ever seen their uniforms before. She asks what ship she's on. Crusher urges Garrett to be still and relax, but she insists on finding out what ship she is on. Picard tells her that she is aboard the Enterprise 1701-D, a revelation that stuns Garrett. Picard tells her they have traveled twenty-two years into the future . Garrett wants to know if the crew has been informed and Picard says they haven't. Garrett says she should inform them and Picard hesitantly offers to do so. When Garrett inquires as to why, Picard explains his concern that if they return with future knowledge, it could upset the timeline even more than their current position has done. Garrett says that they barely escaped with their lives. Picard tells Garrett that history never recorded their last stand against the Romulans. Garrett says they responded to a distress call from Narendra III and engaged the Romulan forces attacking the outpost, but that there were four Romulan warbirds against the lone Enterprise . Picard tells her that the outpost was destroyed, and laments that if a Federation starship could have rescued a Klingon outpost, it just might have averted twenty years of war.

Back aboard the Enterprise -C, Castillo struggles with the news that he is twenty-two years out of time, as Lt. Yar works to bring the weapons systems up to spec, and attempts to rationalize the situation. Castillo wonders about his family and laments that they're probably dead, but Tasha tells him that that's not necessarily true. She then tells Castillo that he might not like the future as the war has been very long. She tells him that the Federation has lost more than half of Starfleet to the Klingons. Castillo remarks that negotiations for a peace treaty were well underway when the Enterprise left on her mission. Yar says there have been a lot of changes. Castillo suggests she fill him in on them.

Picard and Data confer

Back on the Enterprise -D, Data tells Picard that the anomaly is likely symmetrical. Picard asks Data about what would happen if the Enterprise -C were to return through the rift. Data tells him that she would emerge in the midst of battle, at almost the exact instant she left. Picard asks if there's any chance of the ship surviving and Data says there isn't. Picard realizes then that sending the Enterprise -C and her crew back would be a death sentence.

Act Three [ ]

Having returned to the Enterprise , Yar tells Castillo that it was the first Galaxy -class battleship built by the Federation and that Enterprise can transport as many as six thousand troops at once. Yar says she was lucky to get the Enterprise and Castillo says he was too, referring of course, to the Enterprise -C. They arrive at sickbay and brief Captain Garrett on the Enterprise -C's current tactical state. When Garrett tells Castillo to concentrate on the ship's weapon systems, Yar tells her that there are Klingon battleships in the area. With that news, Garrett sits up, asks Castillo why she wasn't informed, and then tells an intervening Beverly Crusher that she must resume her duties; when Crusher protests that Garrett needs another 24 hours of rest, Garrett tells Crusher that twenty-four hours might as well be twenty-four years.

Guinan once again comes to Picard in the conference lounge, now transformed into a strategic operations center. Picard asks if she has any more information, but Guinan doesn't. Without more information, without proof, Picard can't let them return. Guinan states he must. With barely restrained anger and slamming his fist on the table, Picard tells her the Enterprise -C crew would die moments after returning. Guinan tells Picard that she wishes she had more information but she doesn't. She only has a very strong feeling that this is wrong. Picard then asks who decides which timeline is the right one? Guinan says she does. That isn't good enough for Picard. He will not allow one hundred and twenty-five people to sacrifice their lives on her "feeling." Forty billion people have already been lost in this war, Guinan snaps back, a war that isn't and shouldn't be happening. She repeats that the only way to save those billions is to sacrifice that small group of people. But there is no guarantee of success, and everything Picard is tells him that the idea is wrong, dangerous, and futile. Guinan tells Picard that in all the years he's known her, she's never forced herself on anyone, or to take a stand based on whimsical triviality. Guinan tells Picard that she's told him what he must do and Picard only has his trust in her to base his decision on.

Guinan then returns to Ten Forward, where she runs into Yar and Castillo, discussing improvements to the deflector system, how her Enterprise could now probably last twice as long in a firefight than the Enterprise -C. Guinan feels extreme uneasiness at Yar's very presence as she moves towards the bar . There is a brief, awkward conversation between the two in regards to Yar ordering their food rations for the meal. Yar tells Castillo that is the first time she's ever seen Guinan like that. While Guinan goes to prepare their food, Yar and Castillo's conversation continues, with Castillo's head spinning a little due to the tactics that Tasha explained, which were more than what he learned at the Academy . Yar tells him he'll need it. Then the conversation heads toward more personal territory. Tasha asks what she should call him, now that they've decided they're probably past referring to each other by rank. Yar tells Castillo to call her Tasha and Castillo says everyone except his mother, who calls him Richard, calls him Castillo. But when Yar tries calling him Castillo, he decides he'd rather she call him Richard. Just then, their conversation is interrupted by a call from Picard, ordering all senior officers to his ready room . Heading out, Yar and Guinan share another uncomfortable glance.

Picard briefs the senior officers on his decision. Crusher is astounded that Picard is going to send them back based solely on Guinan's intuition. Riker says there's no way the Enterprise -C can save Narendra III. Yar then tells Picard that Captain Garrett reported four Romulan warbirds, leaving the Enterprise -C severely outmanned and outgunned. La Forge then presents the possibility of re-arming the Enterprise -C with modern weapons, but Picard vetoes it, saying if they do that they'll alter the past. Riker asks if that isn't what they're talking about but Picard says they're talking about restoring the past. La Forge wonders how Guinan would know history has been altered if she's been altered along with everyone else. Data suspects that possibly her species has a perception which goes beyond linear time.

Picard's senior officers are skeptical of his decision to return the Enterprise -C to the past

Picard says there's much about her people they don't understand but fundamentally she is correct as a ship from the past has traveled through time and there is no way for them to know what effect that might have on the present and that they may never know but Picard has decided the consequences are too great to ignore. When Picard dismisses them, Riker begins to offer his opinion, although Picard anticipates him, telling Riker that he's not seeking their consent and that this was merely a briefing. Riker respectfully tells Picard he's asking 125 people to die a meaningless death. Data disagrees that it would absolutely be meaningless, pointing out that since the Klingons regard honor above all else, that if the crew of Enterprise -C died fighting for the survival of a Klingon outpost, it would be considered a meaningful act of honor by the Klingon Empire . Picard notes that their deaths might prevent the entire war, noting if Enterprise -C returns to the battle and its mission is a success, it will irrevocably change history, creating a new future for all of them. Having considered all the alternatives, Picard decides to go with Guinan's recommendation and this time, rather emphatically dismisses everyone.

Natasha Yar and Data, alternate timeline

" If I interpret your facial expressions correctly, you are preoccupied with something… unpleasant. "

Preoccupied by a comment made by La Forge and Crusher about whether they'll even be alive in an alternate timeline as they depart the ready room, Yar joins Data in the bridge's fore turbolift . Yar comments that she's worried about what will happen to Castillo; Data points out that if history is restored, they will have no memory of these events, which disturbs Yar even more.

As the crew of the Enterprise -C continue repairs, Garrett and Picard discuss possibilities for the ship either staying or returning, and the probability of Guinan's accuracy. Garrett gently asks if Picard trusts Guinan's judgement. Picard answers that he learned long ago to trust his old friend's wisdom. He offers to arrange for Guinan and Captain Garrett to speak in person, an offer she declines. Garrett knows there is no chance for survival, and suggests the Enterprise -D return with them, and Picard says he can't. Garrett accepts this, saying Picard doesn't belong in her time any more than she belongs in Picard's. She then tells Picard how many of the Enterprise -C's crew want to return, some for not wanting to be without their loved ones and some because they don't like the idea of sneaking out in the middle of a fight. But Garrett has told her crew that the Federation needs another ship against the Klingons and they need to get used to the idea. Picard then tells her if she goes back it could be much more helpful. He then lowers his voice and reveals a disturbing fact to Garrett: the war is going very badly for the Federation, much worse than is generally known. According to Picard, Starfleet Command believes that defeat is inevitable and within six months, they may have no choice but to surrender. Garrett asks if this was caused by their presence. Picard says that one starship can make no impact in the present… but twenty-two years ago, one ship could have stopped the war before it even started.

Garrett tells Castillo to inform the crew they will return to their own time. She promises Picard that the Romulans will get a good fight, and that history will remember their actions. Picard tells Garrett he knows they will. As Picard beams back to the Enterprise -D, Yar and Castillo say their goodbyes but they are interrupted by an attack from a Klingon Bird-of-Prey , on a scouting mission. Yar mans the tactical station quickly and prepares to fight the Klingons. Garrett contacts the Enterprise -D and asks if Picard made it safely back and Riker acknowledges that he did. Despite fire from the Enterprise -D, the Bird-of-Prey scores some crucial hits on the Enterprise -C, causing a panel near Garrett to explode in sparks, sending her to the ground. As the Bird-of-Prey disappears under cloak , Picard hails Garrett and asks for a damage report but there is no response. After a second hail, Yar contacts Picard and reports that Captain Garrett is dead (having been killed by a piece of shrapnel embedding itself in her head).

Act Four [ ]

In the Strategic Operations Center, Castillo enters and tells Picard he is prepared to lead the Enterprise back himself. Riker, though, is skeptical, as Castillo is the last surviving senior officer, having limited support from ops , no tactical, and reduced staff in engineering. Castillo interrupts Riker and tells Picard he has good people who wish to do their jobs. Riker believes history didn't mean for the Enterprise -C to enter this battle without Captain Garrett and while Castillo can't speak to that extent, he knows he can get the job done. Just then, Data contacts Picard and informs him that likely due to the battle with the Klingons, the temporal rift is destabilizing. Tasha says they can't remain there as their coordinates have likely been transmitted to the Klingon Command . Castillo says then that he intends to return unless Picard orders him otherwise. He then tells Picard that he can have his ship ready in a few hours, that they sustained only moderate damage. With that information, Picard gives his assent and tells Castillo that they will provide cover.

A farewell kiss

Yar takes Castillo to the transporter room where they bid each other farewell again and then after joking about how they seem to have all the time one can afford to have, share a tender kiss, and then Castillo beams back to the Enterprise -C. From there, Yar goes to Ten Forward to confront Guinan about her fate in the other timeline. Guinan says she doesn't have alternate biographies of the crew, but Yar says there's something to the way Guinan looks at her recently and that they've known each other too long for these secrets. Guinan finally reveals that she feels like they weren't meant to know each other at all. Guinan then tells Yar that she's supposed to be dead and while she doesn't know how she died, she does know it was an empty death, that Yar was killed [!] without reason or purpose.

Yar meets Picard in his ready room and asks for a transfer to the Enterprise -C, which is in need of a tactical officer . Picard asks why and she says they need one, but Picard says they need her here. Yar then tells him she's not supposed to be there and that she's supposed to be dead. Picard allows Tasha to sit and is also disturbed that Guinan felt it necessary to give Yar that information, but Yar responds that she wanted to know. Picard tells Yar she doesn't belong on Enterprise -C. Tasha agrees, she says that Captain Garrett belongs there but she's dead. She then says there may be some logic in her request, which Picard angrily disagrees with, saying that, after he calms his voice, " There's no logic in this at all! Whether they succeed or not, the Enterprise -C will be destroyed. " Yar says that with someone skilled at tactical they might be able to make the difference in the conflict. It may only be seconds or minutes, but that could be the time it takes to change history. Yar says she didn't like the thought of dying for no real reason and that, knowing the risks that come with being a Starfleet officer, if she is to die being one, she wants that death to count for something.

Picard considers for a moment, and then simply and quietly, grants Yar permission to go. She stands, thanks Picard, and leaves the Enterprise -D for the last time.

Aboard the Enterprise -C, Castillo is making final preparations for departure, placing crewmembers at ops and conn , just as Tasha reports for duty at tactical. Incredulous, Castillo wants to know what she's doing and she tells Castillo about how Captain Picard approved her transfer request. Castillo tells Yar they're going back through the rift, into battle and not coming back. Yar says that's why she came. Quietly, Castillo then tells her he doesn't want her aboard, but Yar dares him to find someone in his crew better suited than her to do the job. Castillo knows she is right and welcomes Yar aboard the Enterprise -C. Starting to step away from her, he orders her to take her station. Yar does so as Castillo moves over and sits in the captain's chair…

Yar's history-changing moment

Act Five [ ]

Wesley reports three K'Vort -class battle cruisers are en route to intercept the two Enterprise s. Picard notes how the Klingons don't even bother to cloak themselves. Riker is surprised at their audacity, after the pasting they apparently gave the Klingons during a recent battle at Archer IV .

Picard nods, and then addresses the crew through the ship's intercom :

The battle is joined

The battle begins as the Klingon ships focus all of their firepower on the Enterprise -D, whose shields hold. Riker, manning the tactical station, reports photon torpedoes ready and Picard orders them fired using dispersal pattern Sierra. Data reports one enemy ship was hit with moderate shield damage. Another volley from the Klingons causes minor damage to the Enterprise 's secondary hull . As Picard orders a course change, Wesley reports one of the enemy ships is breaking off to attack the Enterprise -C. Picard tells Wesley to keep them within two hundred kilometers of the Enterprise -C, and Wesley turns course to intercept that Klingon ship, with Riker returning fire after the Klingons attack the Enterprise -C. La Forge reports from engineering that a starboard power coupling is down and antimatter containment fields suffered damage. Wesley reports the Klingon warships are flanking the ship in an attempt to draw them away from the Enterprise -C. Picard then orders continuous fire of all phaser banks.

The Enterprise fires its forward phasers…

… with deadly results

As the Enterprise begins to fire continuous phaser blasts against the Klingons, a focused attack breaks through the shields of one of the ships, destroying it in seconds; however, the remaining ships knock out the main sensor array and cause critical damage to the warp core . The shields collapse, and the containment field is failing. As La Forge works to shut down the warp core, plasma coolant leaks out of the core manifold and the warp core builds to overload, with La Forge unable to stop it; there are two minutes until a warp core breach .

Data reports on Picard's request that Enterprise -C is now fifty-two seconds from the rift.

The death of Will Riker

With his ship facing destruction, Picard orders all remaining power to defensive systems. Data reports power couplings have been severed in the main phaser banks and he cannot bypass. The Enterprise is hit again and Riker is killed when part of the tactical console explodes. The Klingons signal, demanding that the Enterprise surrender to them.

" That will be the day… "

" That will be the day " Picard sneers and leaps over the tactical rail, trying to fire the phasers himself. After several tries, the phasers fire on one of the Klingon ships, who respond by continuously firing on the Enterprise . Picard continues trying to fire as the bridge becomes engulfed in flames.

The Klingon ships relentlessly batter away at the Enterprise -D. As the ship is mere seconds away from being destroyed, the Enterprise -C makes it back through the rift.

The timeline is restored and Picard is standing on the bridge just as he was before the divergence, asking for a report. Worf reports that his sensor readings fluctuated and what appeared to be a ship has now vanished. Data reports the anomaly is closing in on itself. Picard then orders a class 1 probe left behind to monitor the rift's final closure. He then orders Wesley to set course for Archer IV . Just then, Guinan calls up and asks if everything is all right. Picard and Riker are surprised to hear her on the intercom. He then tells Guinan everything is fine and asks if there's anything wrong. In Ten Forward, Guinan says no, that nothing's wrong and she's sorry to have bothered them. She then smiles, and goes to a table and sits opposite from La Forge and asks…

Memorable quotes [ ]

" A warrior's drink! "

" Are you saying it is and yet it isn't there? "

" NCC-1701… C. USS… Enterprise. "

" Families. There should be children on this ship. " " What? Children on the Enterprise ? Guinan, we're at war! " " No we're not! At least we're not… supposed to be. This is not a ship of war. This is a ship of peace. "

" Is there any possibility she could survive? " " None, sir. " " Then sending them back… would be a death sentence. "

" Who is to say that this history is any less proper than the other? " " I suppose I am. " " Not good enough, damn it! Not good enough! I will not ask them to die! " " Forty billion people have already died! This war's not supposed to be happening! You've got to send those people back to correct this! " " And what is to guarantee that if they go back they will succeed? Every instinct is telling me this is wrong, it is dangerous, it is futile! " " We've known each other a long time. You have never known me to impose myself on anyone or take a stance based on trivial or whimsical perceptions. This timeline must not be allowed to continue. Now, I've told you what you must do. You have only your trust in me to help you decide to do it. "

" To be honest with you, Picard, a significant number of my crew members have expressed a desire to return even knowing the odds. Some because they can't bear to live without their loved ones, some because they don't like the idea of slipping out in the middle of a fight ."

" The war is going very badly for the Federation, far worse than is generally known. Starfleet Command believes that defeat is inevitable. Within six months, we may have no choice but to surrender. " " Are you saying all this may be a result of our arrival here? " " One more ship will make no difference in the here and now, but twenty-two years ago, one ship could have stopped this war before it started. "

" Mr. Castillo. " " Yes, Captain? " " Inform the crew we're going back. " " Yes, Captain. " " The Romulans will get a good fight. We'll make it one for the history books. " " I know you will, Captain. "

" But there's something more when you look at me, isn't there? I can see it in your eyes, Guinan. We've known each other too long. " " We weren't meant to know each other at all. At least, that's what I sense when I look at you. Tasha, you're not supposed to be here. "

" […] at least with someone at tactical, they will have a chance to defend themselves well. It may be a matter of seconds or minutes, but those could be the minutes that change history. Guinan says I died a senseless death in the other timeline. I didn't like the sound of that, Captain. I've always known the risks that come with a Starfleet uniform. If I'm to die in one, I'd like my death to count for something. "

" Attention all hands. As you know, we could outrun the Klingon vessels. But we must protect the Enterprise -C until she enters the temporal rift. And we must succeed! Let's make sure that history never forgets… the name… Enterprise . Picard out. "

" Federation ship Enterprise , surrender and prepare to be boarded. " " That will be the day. "

" Geordi, tell me about… Tasha Yar. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

Writer's third draft spec script by Trent Christopher Ganino (to be named either "Yesterday's Enterprise" or " NCC-1701-C "): 15 April 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 18)
Spec script received and logged in: 2 May 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 19 & 26)
Spec script read by Co-Producer Richard Manning : 24 May 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 19)
Script submission analysis by Andrew Davis : 21 August 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 26)
Spec script recommended in memo from Michael Piller : 18 September 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 33)
Piller requests deal memo to purchase story from "Yesterday's Enterprise" spec script: 26 September 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 34)
One-page pitch memo from Michael Piller (referring to story as "Old Enterprise"): 3 October 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 35; [1] )
Plot details suggested in one-page memo from David Livingston (referring to story as "Old Enterprise"): 9 October 1989 [2]
First draft story outline by Trent Christopher Ganino and Eric A. Stillwell : 10 October 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 39 & 45)
Treatment distributed to TNG writing staff: 13 October 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 45)
Second draft story outline by Trent Christopher Ganino and Eric A. Stillwell: 29 October 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 47 & 53)
Trent Christopher Ganino and Eric A. Stillwell receive payment, in checks, for their story: 2 November 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 59)
Third draft story outline by Ronald D. Moore : 9 November 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 54-55)
Start of work on first draft script, by TNG writing staff, with each participant assigned a separate act: 23 November 1989 – 26 November 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 65)
Beat sheet, by Ron Moore, and combining of acts of first draft script: 27 November 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 61 & 65)
Partial first draft script, enabling preproduction to start: 30 November 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 65)
Memo of script notes from Eric A. Stillwell, and "Technical Commentary" memo from Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach : 1 December 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 66)
Completion of first draft script, and preproduction meeting: 4 December 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 71)
Piller recommends this episode, amongst others, in a memo to John Wentworth, president of Paramount's Network Television Publicity department: 7 December 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 91)
Final draft script: 8 December 1989 [3]
Principal photography: 11 December 1989 to 19 December 1989 (7 days) ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 71, 73, 77)
Notice of Tentative Writing Credits memo from Eric A. Stillwell to Helen Phillips in Paramount's Business Affairs department: 21 December 1989 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 79)
Notice of Tentative Writing Credits officially issued by Paramount: 3 January 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 80)
Writers Guild of America objects to Trent Christopher Ganino and Eric A. Stillwell receiving "Story by" credit: 8 January 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 80)
Stillwell calls WGA about repercussions: 9 January 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 81)
Numerous phone calls, including between Piller and Business Affairs, as well as between Stillwell and WGA: 10 January 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 81)
Paramount arranges for Stillwell and Ganino to receive "From a Story by" credit, but refuses to issue them a revised contract: 11 January 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 81)
Stillwell receives phone call from Business Affairs about Paramount's decision: 12 January 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 81)
Premiere airdate: 19 February 1990
Piller recommends this episode but favors " The Offspring " in a memo to Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry : 18 April 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 91-92)
This episode is mentioned approvingly by David Livingston in one-page memo to Berman: 23 April 1990 [4]
Replying to Piller in a memo of his own, Rick Berman favors this episode over "The Offspring": 8 May 1990 ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 92)
First UK airdate: 29 January 1992

Story development [ ]

The original idea for "Yesterday's Enterprise" was generated by Trent Christopher Ganino and submitted to Paramount on 15 April 1989 , as a spec script submitted through the open submissions policy introduced by Michael Piller in that year. The document was logged in on 2 May 1989 , and was read by Richard Manning on 24 May 1989. ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 18 & 19) This original version featured the appearance of an Enterprise from the past in the TNG time period, and Picard having to face the resultant dilemma of whether to return the ship and its crew to their indigenous time period. In this version, the ship did not cause any changes in the future. Picard was forced to decide whether or not to reveal the crew's fate before sending them back. At this point, the captain of the past Enterprise was Richard Garrett, whose last name derived from a pizzeria in Ganino's hometown, San Jose. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 3rd ed., p. 116; The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 26-27)
At the same time, following a conversation with Denise Crosby at a convention, Eric Stillwell developed a story (along with Ganino) that would allow Tasha Yar to return to the series after a two-year absence. In this pitch, drawing from classic Star Trek episodes " The City on the Edge of Forever ", " The Savage Curtain " and " Mirror, Mirror " – among others – a Vulcan science team would inadvertently cause the death of Surak , the founder of Vulcan philosophy , when a trip through the Guardian of Forever into Vulcan 's ancient past goes wrong. As a result, the Vulcan people would never become the logical race that is known in the Star Trek universe. Instead, a Vulcan race more akin to the Romulan Star Empire would be engaged in war against the other powers of the galaxy , including the remnants of the Federation. As part of this alteration, Tasha Yar would be present among the crew of the Enterprise -D. Ultimately, Ambassador Sarek , who was on board the Enterprise to greet the returning science team, would sacrifice himself by returning to the past and taking the place of Surak, thus restoring the correct timeline. ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 23, 29-32) Stillwell commented, " We thought it would be really cool that someone from the future would replace someone in the past, and I always thought it was funny that their names were so similar anyway. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 3rd ed., p. 117) Although not used here, a similar theme went on to feature in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine third season episodes " Past Tense, Part I " and " Past Tense, Part II ", wherein Benjamin Sisko replaces historical figure Gabriel Bell .
When Stillwell pitched this idea to Michael Piller, Piller suggested combining it with Ganino's "Yesterday's Enterprise " story – which had also developed a Tasha Yar element by this point, largely on the suggestion of Piller, who had also wanted to find a way of bringing the character back – with Ganino and Stillwell retaining joint story credit. The Vulcans were replaced by the Klingons, and the Sarek/Surak plotline replaced with the idea that Yar would fill an absence on board Enterprise -C after the death of a female Captain Garrett. The finished storyline treatment was largely as broadcast, with the exception of Guinan's presence in the episode (in the completed pitch, an alien probe provided the crucial information about the timeline alteration). Some other minor plot points were lost between story and teleplay, including a Yar/Data subplot that was dropped, as Piller felt it was not the right arc for Yar's character. ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 34-46)
Production on the episode was originally scheduled for January 1990 following the Christmas hiatus; however, with the introduction of Guinan into the episode, the filming schedule needed to be moved up in order to accommodate both Crosby and Whoopi Goldberg . As a result, the pitched storyline needed to be turned into a teleplay over the Thanksgiving weekend of 1989, prior to filming commencing on December 11. Four members of the writing staff – Ira Steven Behr , Ronald D. Moore , Hans Beimler and Richard Manning – divided the episode amongst themselves in order to get it completed on time. In particular, Moore was responsible for the Yar-Castillo romance. Behr noted that although the writers were unhappy about the timescale pressure and having to work over a holiday, they enjoyed the chance to write an episode far darker than had been done in the past, with a great deal more tension – something many of the staff had felt was lacking in the series. Michael Piller added a final polish to the script, but agreed to be omitted from the credit to meet Writer's Guild rules which allowed only four names. (" Flashback: Yesterday's Enterprise ", Star Trek Magazine issue 122 ; The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 53-54, 65)
Given the unusually rushed nature of the script, the writing staff were skeptical that the episode would work. Stillwell recalled, " Most of the writers were not very happy with the script. They thought it was going to be horrible, because they don't like having to write [something] and make it work in three days. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., pp. 116-117; Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission hardcover ed., p. 116)
Eric Stillwell later released a book detailing the creation and production of the episode – The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise .

Production [ ]

Denise Crosby and Whoopi Goldberg between takes

Ron Moore noted, " We brought Denise back to kill off Tasha Yar a second time. It was a great opportunity to send the character off in a big heroic sacrifice because nobody was really happy with the way she left the series in the first season . Nobody on the show really liked it, the fans didn't like it, I'm not sure even she really liked it. So 'Yesterday's Enterprise' was a chance to kill her right. " ( Chronicles from the Final Frontier , TNG Season 4 DVD special features)
Time and budgetary constraints put an end to the much more gruesome climactic battle sequence that was originally envisaged in the script. The only death to survive to the broadcast episode is Riker's – others that were written but unfilmed included the decapitation of Wesley Crusher and the electrocution of Data . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 117)
The transition effect seen as the timeline changed in the beginning of the episode was unscripted and only added in post-production. Originally, the change was accomplished merely by a cut, but it was felt that this was too confusing. However, due to the late nature of the change, the post-production staff neglected to add a corresponding transition effect as the timeline was reset at the end of the episode. ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 192)
According to art department illustrator Rick Sternbach , the fatal shrapnel embedded into Captain Garrett's head was a wing from a VF-1 Valkyrie model kit from the Japanese animated series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross . [5] This was not the first time this particular model kit provided services for a Star Trek production; The same kit, in two different scales, provided parts for the production of both (the desktop model as well as the full-fledged filming model) studio models of the Constellation -class .
Both Christopher McDonald and Tricia O'Neil were Star Trek fans before appearing in this episode. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 117)
This was the second episode directed by David Carson . The first was " The Enemy ". Carson would later direct Star Trek Generations , which, coincidentally also introduced a past starship Enterprise (in that case the USS Enterprise -B ), featured the Enterprise -D battling and destroying a Klingon Bird-of-Prey , but suffering a coolant leak and a warp core breach in the process, and also featured the death of James T. Kirk .
This is the last episode of the series to feature all nine of its original regular cast members. Denise Crosby and Wil Wheaton both appeared in subsequent Star Trek episodes and films, but never the same ones.
Denise Crosby cited this as her favorite TNG episode, commenting, " It was a fantastic script and it really took me by surprise and I didn't see it coming! " ( SFX , issue 136, p. 028)
The shooting script indicated that the voice heard over the com demanding the crew's surrender could be "possibly Worf" however in the episode the demand ended up being made by an unknown Klingon.
This episode is the only on-screen depiction of an encounter between two different starships named Enterprise while both are active. Star Trek: Picard " The Bounty " would later show the USS Enterprise NX-01 and USS Enterprise -A on display together at the Fleet Museum , and " Võx " would show a restored USS Enterprise -D flying past the former, while all three would been seen docked together as museum ships in " The Last Generation ".

Alterations [ ]

The sets and atmosphere of the Enterprise -D were given significant alterations to reflect the more warlike nature of the starship:

The alternate bridge

The mid-level, covering the command deck and the ramp access to Tactical, was raised up to the same level as the "horseshoe" console – access to Conn and Ops was by a series of steps directly in front of the command position.
The chairs at the command deck were removed, and replaced with a single command chair for Picard (to give his alter ego a sense of authority) and is mounted on a larger strut. As a result, Will Riker joined Tasha Yar at Tactical. The command deck would be raised again, albeit with all three command chairs intact (and not quite to the level of the horseshoe), for Star Trek Generations .
The equipment lockers at either side of the set were replaced with additional displays, with two freestanding consoles located at the forward edges of the raised mid-level. Two similar consoles (as well as side stations) were introduced for Generations as well.
A mesh grille was added to the underside of the tactical console.
The set's ambient lighting was significantly reduced; the overhead lighting changed from a bright white to a dull blue.
Ten Forward's back wall, usually adorned by a stylized sculpture, was replaced by a functional gray bulkhead, with the Enterprise registry details prominently displayed. Here, the ambient lighting was reversed from the change made to the bridge, being made significantly brighter.
Picard's ready room received similar lighting treatment to the bridge. In addition, the accoutrements that were normally present – the Enterprise painting, the couch, the works of Shakespeare , the NCC-7100 model, and Livingston – were all removed, and replaced with status displays and tactical maps.
The conference room set was cut in two to serve as two apparently different rooms – where Guinan confronts Picard for a second time, and where Castillo meets Picard, Riker, and Yar at the top of Act Four. Smaller versions of the conference room table were created, the Enterprise models removed, and a large tactical display added – in the first instance, at the "front" end of the set; in the second, along the back wall opposite the conference room windows.
Main Engineering was also significantly darkened for its brief appearance towards the end of the episode, the lighting dominated by the warp core.
The ambient noise aboard the ship was increased; consoles and displays were made much more audible, the usually unheard engines were made into a dull roar, intraship communications were general announcements, rather than direct hails person-to-person, and the door "swoosh" was made more audible and more reminiscent of the sound effect used in Star Trek: The Original Series .
The darker atmosphere and metallic phaser belts are reminiscent of " Mirror, Mirror ".
In contrast to captain's logs and stardates , the alternate timeline Picard records a military log using "combat dates." However, an okudagram on Picard's desk, seen shortly before Yar enters to ask for a transfer to the Enterprise -C, shows "Captain's log: Captain J-L Picard." No text of the log is visible, however, instead, simply several long strings of numbers are displayed.
Red and yellow alert were not used, instead "battle alert" was used, followed by a "condition" which was either yellow or red.
As opposed to the leisurely state of the Enterprise 's corridors in the normal timeline, those in the alternate timeline were consistently crowded and full of jostling personnel, many running from place to place.

Costumes [ ]

The standard Starfleet uniform was also made more functional and military in design: the officers' uniform was changed to a band collar, instead of the usual wishbone collar of the ordinary design, and a black "cuff" was added to the end of the sleeves. The junior officers' uniform was largely unchanged. All personnel wore a stylized Sam Browne belt , with the Starfleet delta at the clasp, designed to carry a type 2 phaser prominently on the left hip. The officers' version omitted the double strap across the right shoulder and around the left flank.
The uniforms used by the crew of the Enterprise -C were those employed by the original series movies , sans the collared undershirts and the Starfleet insignia belts. This version of the uniform would be reused with Jack R. Crusher in " Family ". The insignia pins now doubled as combadges , and the type 2 phaser from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was used as the standard sidearm.
One of the silver belt harnesses was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [6] (X)
Composer Dennis McCarthy cited the score for this episode as his favorite score. Much of the score was performed by a contemporary orchestra with electronics sparingly used to speak for the time vortex. ("Dennis McCarthy – Music for the Stars", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 14 , p. 6)

Continuity [ ]

LeVar Burton wears the incorrect uniform costume in the closing scene

"Yesterday's Enterprise" marks the return of Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar to TNG after Yar's death in " Skin Of Evil " (Crosby's last episode filmed was " Symbiosis ", which aired before "Skin Of Evil"). The events of the episode allowed her to return as Sela , in the " Redemption " and " Redemption II " episodes (as well as later in " Unification II ").
Tricia O'Neil returned to TNG as the Klingon Kurak in " Suspicions ". She also guest-starred in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Cardassian Obsidian Order operative Korinas in " Defiant ". That episode was also written by Ronald D. Moore.
Picard addresses Riker as "commander" in the alternate timeline, instead of the usual "Number One", revealing Picard and Riker to be on less friendly terms with one another than in the main timeline. Ronald D. Moore remarked, " This was just another nuance we threw in to show the differences between "our" reality and the darker alternate reality. " ( AOL chat , 1997 ) Elsewhere, Moore commented, " [I]t was a lot of fun to… see Picard biting Riker's head off. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 192)
Yar tells Castillo that she has been serving on the Enterprise for four years, implying that in the alternate universe the Enterprise -D has been in service longer than its counterpart by at least a year. She also tells him that the Enterprise was the first Galaxy -class warship.
Castillo mentions that Federation had been negotiating a peace treaty with the Klingon Empire at the time of the Narendra III attack, though Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country later established that a peace treaty had been established over fifty years earlier .
When Yar is telling Castillo the specifications of the Galaxy -class starships, the loudspeaker in the background is calling for a "Lieutenant Barrett". This is a reference to Majel Barrett , voice of the computer and the actress who portrayed Lwaxana Troi . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion , 2nd ed., p. 117) Also, in the scene where Picard and Garrett meet in sickbay, a call for Dr. Selar can be heard.
The beginning of the episode, during the normal timeline, saw the introduction of Worf to prune juice , which became his drink of choice. The German synchronization mistakenly translated it to Johannisbeersaft – currant juice. Later on in the series and on Deep Space Nine the correct word Pflaumensaft is used.
This episode is one of only a very few where Guinan is seen on the bridge.
At the end of the episode when Geordi La Forge is talking to Guinan, La Forge is still in the alternate uniform.
The Enterprise -C personnel wear a late variant of the Starfleet uniforms introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan with the belt and the undershirt removed and the Starfleet Insignia badge modified into a combadge .
A computer display in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II " established that the planet Archer IV referenced in this episode was named for Jonathan Archer . Archer and his crew surveyed this planet in ENT : " Strange New World ".

Reception [ ]

The original airing of "Yesterday's Enterprise" earned ratings of 13.1 million viewers – the third highest of the series. ( "Flashback: Yesterday's Enterprise ", Star Trek Magazine issue 122 )
Rick Berman cites this episode along with " The Measure Of A Man " as one of his favorites. ( TNG Season 3 DVD )
Michael Piller remarked, " That was a classic episode. I never met Denise Crosby in person, but I am sure an admirer. She did a great job for us. That's just about as neat a show as we could do. It was as entertaining and unique a time travel show as you'll ever see. I don't know that there was a better episode third season . Hell, Picard sends 500 [sic] people back to their death on the word of the bartender. Come on, that's hard. I was very happy with it and, frankly, I give the credit to the director and the cast and the people who post-produced it. The script was not one of the best scripts we wrote that season. Conceptually, it was marvelous, coming out of the heads of some people here… There are little holes in the episode that we couldn't fix. It was such a complicated and fascinating premise, but it was ultimately the character material that really made everybody proud. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 192)
Jonathan Frakes admitted, " To this day I do not understand 'Yesterday's Enterprise'. I do not know what the fuck happened in that episode. I'm still trying to understand it – but I liked the look. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 192)
Roberto Orci cited this episode as a primary inspiration for the screenplay of Star Trek . [7]
Director David Carson cites this episode as one of his favorite episodes. Due to time pressure he also took part in the concept meetings for this episode. ( The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 19 , pp. 32-33)
A mission report for this episode by Will Murray was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 13 , pp. 15-18.
TV Guide ranked this as the seventh best Star Trek episode for their celebration of the franchise's 30th anniversary. ( TV Guide August 24, 1996 issue)

Awards and honors [ ]

This episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series and was also nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) ( Dennis McCarthy ).
The episode was voted the most popular episode of the series on six separate occasions – by Starlog readers in 1993 and by a viewer poll in 1994, and was voted as the most popular episode of all-time by UK Trek fans in 1996. The US publication TV Guide listed it as one of its top five all-time Trek classics in 1996 and again in 2002. Entertainment Weekly also ranked it as the #1 episode on their list of "The Top 10 Episodes" to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation . [8]
The episode was featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Viewers Choice Marathon in May 1994 , at #3 in the countdown.
The book Star Trek 101 (p. 72), by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block , lists this episode as one of the "Ten Essential Episodes" from Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Apocrypha [ ]

Diane Duane used this episode, along with The Mirror Universe Saga , as a guide in describing the ISS Enterprise -D in her novel Dark Mirror .
The novel Q-Squared establishes that in the military timeline from this episode, Deanna Troi's absence from the Enterprise was due to the Betazoids being wiped out by the Klingons. The novel also features another variation of the military universe where the Enterprise only discovered the Enterprise -C after the entire crew had already perished – life support having failed and the crew dying over a day before the Enterprise -D arrived in the area – and so Picard simply orders the ship's destruction. This timeline subsequently becomes caught up in the latest scheme of Trelane to merge three timelines together, the final temporal amalgamation resulting in Trelane manipulating the minds of Picard and Riker in the military timeline to escalate their desire for violence to attack other versions of the crew. As the crisis concludes, Picard and Riker are dead and an alternate version of Data has become trapped in this timeline (the other Data being a "Human-oid" of a positronic brain in an organic body).
The novel Engines of Destiny establishes that, because Guinan left an echo of herself inside the Nexus , she has a perception into various timelines and universes giving an explanation as to how she knew the timeline had been altered in this episode and the repercussions of the events in this episode seen later in TNG : " Redemption II ".
A very similar, if not almost identical, timeline appeared in the novel Q&A , in which the Enterprise -E had still been built, but where the Klingons had completely destroyed the Federation. Picard was the only known Human left after his entire crew had been killed, and he was chained to the bottom of his command chair as a sort of trophy of war for General Worf, the commander of this ship.
During the third anniversary of Star Trek Online , a new mission, "Temporal Ambassador", saw the Enterprise -C emerge (with Tasha Yar on board) in the year 2409 instead of 2344. The alternate timeline had continued, with the Federation losing the war but the Klingons in turn being conquered by the Dominion and the Tholian Assembly . The Enterprise was captured by the Tholians and its crew brought to a mining facility as slave laborers. With the player's help and the assistance of a future timeship , they managed to break captivity and return to 2344.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 32 , catalog number VHR 2552, 6 December 1991
As part of the UK video collection Star Trek: The Next Generation - 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition under the "Ensemble Cast" section, 29 September 1997
As part of the UK video collection Star Trek - Greatest Battles : 16 November 1998
UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 3.5 , catalog number VHR 4748, 3 July 2000
As part of the TNG Season 3 DVD collection
As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Time Travel and Star Trek: Fan Collective - Alternate Realities DVD collections
As part of The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD collection
As part of the TNG Season 3 Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker

Also starring [ ]

LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher

Guest Stars [ ]

Denise Crosby as Natasha Yar
Christopher McDonald as Richard Castillo
Tricia O'Neil as Rachel Garrett

And Special Guest Star [ ]

Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan

Stunt doubles [ ]

Donna Garrett as stunt double for Tricia O'Neil
Dan Koko as stunt double for Jonathan Frakes

Stand-ins [ ]

James G. Becker – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
Jeffrey Deacon – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner
Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Wil Wheaton

References [ ]

2344 ; 2346 ; 2362 ; " a rough ride "; aft ; " all hands "; alternate timeline ; Ambassador -class ; analysis ; antimatter containment ; antimatter containment field ; Archer IV ; area ; arrival ; assault ; attack ; audio ; automated distress signal ; auxiliary fusion generator ; away team ; Barrett ; battle alert ; Battle of Narendra III ; battleship ; billion ; biography ; bow ; bridge crew ; briefing ; bypass ; Captain's ready room ; Castillo's family ; Castillo's mother ; catalyst ; casualty ; Cetacean Ops ; children ; choice ; class one sensor probe ; choice ; cloak; combat information center ; communications ; companionship ; condition yellow ; containment field generator three ; coolant leak ; coordinates ; course ; coward ; crew ; cruiser ; damage ; damage control team ; damage report ; day ; death ; death sentence ; deck ; defensive system ; deflector shield technology ; destination ; design ; discussion ; " dismissed "; dispersal pattern ; distress call ; distress signal ; Earth ; efficiency ; effect ; engineering ; El-Aurian ; electrolyte ; electrolyte report ; emergency shutdown ; emergency team ; emitter ; engine core ; era ; evacuation ; evasive maneuvers ; event ; event horizon ; eye ; facial expression ; family ; Federation ; Federation-Klingon War (alternate timeline) ; feeling ; firefight ; fleet formation briefing ; food replicator ; fracture ; Galaxy -class ; ghost ; gravimetric fluctuation ; hailing frequency ; heat dissipation rate ; here and now ; history ; history book ; home ; honor ; hour ; hull ; hull bearing strut ; hundred ; hypothesis ; idea ; information ; instinct ; intention ; intercept course ; internal injuries ; intuition ; job ; joke ; K'Vort -class ; Kim, Joshua ; Kerr loop ; kilometer ; kiss ; Klingons ; Klingon Bird-of-Prey ( Klingon battle cruisers , Klingon scout ); Klingon Empire ; knowledge ; liaison ; life sign ; light ; linear time ; logic ; long range scanner ; lunch ; main phaser bank ; main power coupling ; main shuttlebay ; main war room ; mission ; mister ; monitor station ; month ; name ; Narendra III ; navigational sensor array ; navigational subsystem ; NCC ; " now hear this "; Null-G ward ; object ; odds ; opinion ; Ops ; order ; outpost ; pathology ; patient ; peace treaty ; percent ; perception ; permission ; phaser bank ; phenomenon ; photon bank ; photon launcher ; photon torpedo ; power system ; probability ; prune juice ; radiation anomaly ; radiation pattern ; ration ; reactor core ; reason ; record ; red alert ; registry ; repairs ; result ; risk ; Romulans ; Romulan warbird (2340s) ; Romulan warbirds, Unnamed ; room ; salute ; secondary hull ; sector containing Narendra III ; Selar ; senior officer ; sensor ; shields ; ship of peace ; ship of war ; space ; space frame ; specification ; staff ; starbase ; Starbase 105 ; starboard ; starboard power coupling ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Academy ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet uniform ; " stat "; statistics ; success ; superstring material ; surrender ; survival ; survivor ; symmetrical ; Tactical ; temporal rift ; " that will be the day "; thing ; Thomas ; thousand ; time ; time displacement ; time period ; timeline ; TKL rations ; torpedo bay ; torpedo launcher ; transfer ; transporter room ; triage team 2 ; tricordrazine ; troop ; trust ; variable ; voice message ; warp core breach ; warp drive ; warp field nacelle ; warbird, Romulan ; warrior ; warship ; warship, Romulan ; weapon system ; wisdom ; " with all due respect "; wormhole ; year

Library computer references [ ]

Tactical situation monitor : Alfin-Bernado ; Alpha Ataru ; Alpha Carinae ; Alpha Shiro ; Altair III ; Andor ; Antares ; Babel ; Beta Reilley ; Beta Simmons ; Carson ; Chess-Wilson ; Delta Vega ; Denkia ; Denkir ; Eminiar ; Foster-D'Angelo ; Gamma Hydra ; Ganino ; Genovese's Star ; Iczerone Stimson ; Janus VI ; McKnight's Planet ; Memory Delta ; Memory Gamma ; Murasaki 312 ; Omicron Ceti ; Rigel ; Sigma Nesterowitz ; Stillwell ; Theta Bowles ; Theta Mees ; Tsugh Khaidnn

Unreferenced material [ ]

accelerator coil ; Archduke Ferdinand ; Bel-Zon ; engine control processor ; Sarajevo ; Station Salem Four

External links [ ]

" Yesterday's Enterprise " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
" Yesterday's Enterprise " at Wikipedia
" Yesterday's Enterprise " at MissionLogPodcast.com
"Yesterday's Enterprise" script at Star Trek Minutiae
" Yesterday's Enterprise " at the Internet Movie Database
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Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Yesterday's Enterprise”

Air date: 2/19/1990 Teleplay by Ira Steven Behr & Richard Manning & Hans Beimler & Ronald D. Moore Story by Trent Christopher Ganino & Eric A. Stillwell Directed by David Carson

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

There aren't many episodes that announce themselves as instant classics, but "Yesterday's Enterprise" was one of them. It was an instant classic when it aired, and in the years since it has become an enduring one. It's one of the franchise's very best time-travel stories. (Every Trek series has had at least one that vied for similar thematic territory, whether it was TOS 's " City on the Edge of Forever ," DS9 's " Children of Time ," Voyager 's " Timeless ," or Enterprise 's " E2 .")

A rift in space and time allows the Enterprise 's predecessor, the 1701-C under Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neil), to emerge in an alternate version of the future and come face-to-face with the 1701-D. In this much different timeline, Starfleet has been at war with the Klingons for 20 years. The Enterprise -C's passage through time allowed it to escape a deadly battle with the Romulans after the Enterprise -C had come to the aid of a besieged Klingon outpost.

When the writers' were making their decisions in creating this story, perhaps the most crucial was their use of Guinan, who has a perception that transcends the timeline. She knows , with every fiber of her being, that the timeline is not right and that the Enterprise -C must go back, even if that means certain death for its crew at the hands of the Romulans. Because even their deaths could change history, as a gesture seen by the Klingons that could ultimately pave the way to peace rather than war.

What this does for the story is turn it into a moral quagmire with massive implications, where the characters must make impossible decisions. What we're really talking about here is playing God. More than 40 billion people have died in the Klingon/Federation war, and returning the Enterprise -C's to the past could prevent all of it. Picard, as one man, holds the power to make the decision. In a compelling exchange, Picard flat-out asks Guinan who's to say whether one timeline is more "proper" than the other? Her reply: "I suppose I am." To frame this as a 20th-century question: What if you could go back in time and kill Hitler? History would be, in Picard's words, irrevocably changed, but that would also mean undoing everything else that has happened since. Who knows whether you're alive or dead in the other timeline, and what implications that has on everything else unrelated to the variables you intend to change? (Of course, dramatic license means that this alternate timeline parallels the real one more closely than it ever possibly could; I myself subscribe to the chaos-theory/butterfly-effect school of thought.)

The question is of particular poignancy to Yar, who is alive in this version of the timeline and learns from Guinan that she died a meaningless death in the other one. This, along with her newfound camaraderie with Enterprise -C's Lt. Castillo (Christopher McDonald), prompts her to go back with the Enterprise -C and die a death that serves a purpose. It's impressive how much ground this episode seems to cover in a single hour. In addition to the moral and cosmic questions, it provides an interesting Trek history lesson that fills in gaps about one of the Enterprise 's mysterious predecessors, and it manages to somewhat mitigate the effect of the ignominious death that befell Yar in the first season.

As an exercise in tone, the episode is remarkable, featuring a stark contrast to the other timeline. The lighting, uniforms, and performances all indicate a darker military existence. Picard, in particular, is notably more grim and intense; Patrick Stewart conveys a different and powerful urgency but never goes overboard. The last act, in which the Enterprise -D must protect the Enterprise -C from Klingon attack as it returns through the rift, is one of TNG 's most intense and memorable battle scenes. As the Enterprise takes a pounding, it becomes clear that they cannot survive. Only by sacrificing the Enterprise -D does the Enterprise -C have a chance to rewrite history. Picard's announcement to the crew says it all: "Let's make sure that history never forgets the name ... Enterprise ."

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Comment Section

185 comments on this post, lee roberts.

I've not had the opportunity to watch these episodes for many years, but whenever I think about the best that Star Trek (any flavour) has been able to offer, I always come back to the masterpiece that is Yesterday's Enterprise. I still remember the power of the scenes between Picard and Guinan ("Not good enough, damn it! Not good enough!"), my genuine unease as Picard revealed to Enterprise C counterpart Rachel Garrett that "the war goes very badly for the Federation - far worse than is generally known" and the iconic image of our good captain manning the phaser controls to the last, with everyone around him dead and the bridge burning in the background. Simply magical.

Yesterday's Enterprise - I do agree that this is one of the epic TNG episodes, deservedly a classic. However, I do find a couple of things problematic. How many times in the past have we had main characters taken over by an alien presence or behave erratically due to some kind of infection or other? Lots. So now we have to take Guinan's word for the fact that 'something' doesn't feel right and that the new ship needs to be sacrificed to correct things, based on no evidence whatsoever. Despite Picard's so-called protestations, he nevertheless decides that Guinan's gut it right. Didn't even request a medical scan first. It just smacks too much of a belief in mysticism. Somehow Guinan transcends time itself. She's conveniently vague on specifics and yet knows that Tasha died a meaningless death. Hmmm. Adding to the mystical mumbo-jumbo is the notion of preferred destinies. Things weren't 'meant' to be like this. According to whom? If things are 'meant' to be in a certain way, then it means that we have no free will, that everything is preordained and we're just going through the motions. It is the use of these metaphysical plot devices which sours my enjoyment of what is otherwise an excellent episode.

RE : "Yesterday's Enterprise" I've never understood the stance that YE is an "instant classic" as you say. It's a decent episode to be sure, but there are some big problems with it. The largest has to do with the central moral dilemma you praise. You frame it in 20th century terms (if one could kill Hitler, etc), but this is a non-issue. Such an action is impossible. It is interesting from a purely tech/timeline perspective, but it has no real relevance. The issue becomes, is our future defined by our choices or by the random concurrence of events? Guinan's stance (and the episode's) is that the 24th century "correct" present is based largely upon a minor detail in the plot of its past rather than the espoused view that humanity worked its rear end off to build a quasi-paradisiacal future. Picard's choice to respect Guinan's intuition as some sort of trans-temporal mystic goes against character like few other things I've seen in TNG. And what is the lesson here? To whom are we supposed to allegorise her? It's a lot of new-age preachy nonsense about "trusting one's feelings" which distills the power of the Star Trek universe. I don't mean to imply I don't like the episode. The rôle of Yar in particular was excellent as were the mood and pacing, as you mentioned. I'd say it's a 3 star episode--solid and entertaining and thought-provoking, but hardly a classic.

Elliott I've endured your 'comments' on these threads long enough-for you to call this a 7/10 ( on a conventional scale) episode s really the final straw -unquestionably in the top three episodes across the board, I'd suggest you post on a 'Sesame Street' page as that seems more your style....

@Van-Patten : Yes, indeed, your heroic ability to endure opinions clearly demonstrates the hyper-maturity to denigrate others for thinking that an episode is good but not great, rather than just great. That's some high-level thinking. I can see why you feel justified in equating my "style" with a children's programme.

Elliott Apologies - think I'd got carried away and I should have more respect given how many reviews/comments you have put in. What I am curious about (and please indulge me on this) is to why you have such a downer on DS9 in particular but also other episodes that are considered seminal. I take your point that it's possibly somewhat out of character for Picard to make a risky decision based solely on Guinan's intuition but the episode is (primarily) set in a parallel reality-hence why it's so powerful. The change of tone, character and performances are noticeable and the guest cast is outstanding. I just don't see his thus can be anything under 4 stars on the Jammer scale. That said, I apologise again for the flippant comment ( sadly you can't delete it once it's there) and any subsidiary comments will be in the realms of genuine questions/debates ather than cheap jibes.

Thanks for the apology, Van Patten. Heartily accepted ! In response to what you say ... "What I am curious about (and please indulge me on this) is to why you have such a downer on DS9 in particular but also other episodes that are considered seminal." ...I'll answer by quoting one of my favourite authors, theatre critics and philosophical chroniclers, Bryan Magee from his book "The Tristan Chord." His text is referring specifically to a particular kind of vitriol spouted by Nietzsche against Wagner's last opera "Parsifal," but the anecdote is perfectly suited to express my feelings about DS9's and other series' so-called "seminole" episodes (and he's a much better writer than I): "[Nietzsche's criticism] is splendid stuff to read, but it is not so much uncomprehending as rejecting of understanding...They are profoundly disappointing, in fact; one would have hoped for the perceptive exposure of real faults and shortcomings, criticisms that strike home, palpable hits; but very few such are to be found. To anyone whom Wagner's work really speaks, none of Nietzsche's criticism of it has much validity or even a great deal of interest as serious criticism. Nietzsche rejects the pre-adopted Schopenhaurian attitudes and values with which Wagner's maturest works are saturated and attacks them with the same animosity as he attacks the philosophy of Schopenhauer--for the same reasons and with the same arguments. It is rather like a militant athiest of a music critic mounting an onslaught on Bach's 'St Matthew Passion' on the ground that it is saturated through and through with loathesome religious nonsense, and is for that reason a hateful work. ** Such criticism is not so much inadequate as superfluous, irrelevant, however brilliantly written it may be. It embodies a fundamental non-comprehension of what art is. As a result, what Nietzsche says about Wagner could be read as even remotely plausible only by someone who is either unacquainted with Wagner's works or is impervious to their artistic merits...The resulting situation puts me in mind of the illuminating experience I had, at one point of my life, of being a theatre critic. Having been to all the theatre press nights myself, I was in the unusual position of having already seen the plays when I read reviews of them. And I discovered, perhaps not surprisingly, that one or two of my fellow critics were consistently penetrating judges of plays, productions and performances, while rather more of them (in my opinion, at least) were not, and kept missing the point or getting things wrong. However, some of the latter were brilliant journalists, and wrote articles that were a delight to read, whereas the best of the former was a pedestrian writer, and wrote dull articles. And I found that the ninety-nine per cent of readers who were in the position of reading the reviews without having seen the plays tended to assume that the brilliant writers were the best critics. In the absence of independent knowledge of what was being written about I suppose this was inevitable. Even I sometimes got great pleasure from reading their articles, when I knew these were being grossly unfair to a particular performance (as John Gielgud once said about reading Kenneth Tynan's reviews, 'it's wonderful if it isn't you') or were completely failing to give a true impression of the artistic merits of the play....[The criticisms'] decisive flaw lies in the fact that he never addresses himself to Wagner's works as works of art. He engages with them, at least when he is criticising them, only on the level of conceptual thinking, as if the works were first and foremost vehicles for ideas." To translate into Star Trek terms (and I have insisted on this point repeatedly), to underrate a show or and episode because one does not agree with its ideas is both useless and cruel, but, conversely, to praise a work because one agrees with its ideas or its subversion of ideas with which one does not agree is equally useless and cruel. I do not idolise Star Trek because I am a communist or even because I hope for a future in which discrimination, poverty and greed-centric existence is all-but fossilised (although I happen to), but for the mythical resonance of this universe which happens to include those ideas. DS9 (and, to a lesser extent, "Yesterday's Enterprise") capitalised on the subversion of ideas integral to the Star Trek universe. If you remove those subversions, in some cases you're left with still great material (for example in DS9, Odo's character arc, or in YE, as I said, Tasha's character arc). In DS9's case, without those subversions, the series would collapse in on itself with insufficiently substantial characters or motivations. In YE's case, I don't believe that to be so. Nonetheless, it keeps the episode from being truly "great." You did not bring up Voyager, but this ties in rather presciently. Those who criticised the show (including Jammer) harp continuously on what are perceived to be the series' "failed" ideas rather than its artistic merits. "Reset button" complaints and missing continuity, etc are endlessly ridiculed because they conflict with assumed ideas about what TV and that show in particular were supposed to convey.

I thought "Yesterday's Enterprise" was the apex of great Trek. Every single moment is wisely utilized. The confrontation between Picard and Guinan is riveting. I'm surprised they didn't do a two-parter, but I'm glad it was contained in one episode. Brilliant how they worked that. Loved the ending, too, with Guinan and Geordi. "Tell me about Tasha Yar."

Interestingly, I think something was cut from this episode that could have made it even stronger. There's a LOT of tension between Riker and Picard, but there's never a full-blown confrontation. I think one was cut ... Watch the scene with Yar, Castillo, Riker and Picard. As Castillo and Yar leave, the camera has a brief shot of Riker looking at Picard. It LOOKS like he's about to start talking -- possibly objecting to the captain's decisions. Obviously, the episode is amazingly good, but Riker and Picard butting heads might have made for interesting watching. The Picard/Riker dynamic in the first half of the series is one of TNG's strengths, and I think Riker's marginalization in the latter seasons (particularly season 7) is one of the reasons TNG really ran out of gas.

I'm sorry, I just can't get behind the idea of this being a "classic." Are we to believe that in an alternate timeline, with years of terrible bloodshed, the Enterprise would be built entirely the same and with mostly the same crew? Preposterous! I give this one and a half stars, mostly for the performances.

Cormacolinde

I just rewatched this episode, and it is a classic - very good story, music and execution. The plot has its problems, as do most episodes dealing with time travel. Regarding the "mysticism" behind Guinan's hunches, I find it easier to accept than some other similar issues I've identified in my recent rewatching of the series. In the end, I conclude that Star Trek, TNG at the very least, is not Science-Fiction. It's Fantasy. It occurs in the future instead of the past, like other science fiction shows, but its mechanics are more akin to pseudoscientific fantasy mumbo-jumbo than more serious Science-Fiction. Take as an example the workings of the sensors. They can scan ships going at warp speed that are light-years distant? In seconds? Not only does this make no sense in a relativistic Universe, it's not even self-consistent! And Troi's "empathy" isn't more believable either, she might as well have magic powers! She can feel a person's emotions over light-years or in front of her at the same speed? How does that work exactly? So I take it as fantasy and enjoy the show.

I'm with kurgan...it's ludicrous that the greater setting is so different, but the immediate setting and the cast of characters are all the same. It's the same thing that makes the mirror universe episodes ridiculous.

I strongly believe that "Yesterday's Enterprise" was an instant classic in the true sense of the term. I am coming from the angle of the time in which it aired. I am a real old time Trekker. I was born in 1955, so I was old enough to remember first hand the original series first run, (on an old dial-in-the-color TV). I really became a follower in the beginning of the 70s when ST was carried daily on syndication. I was in my late teens going to the first ST conventions (accedently bumping into Gene Roddenberry backstage behind the curtain just before he was about to go on.....I was lost..really!) When the movies came out, we were in line for hours before showtime. I watched grown men crying when Spock died...which I thought was silly! That was until I was at the drive-in watching the Enterprise blow herself up...I was standing up in my sun-roof shaking my fist and yelling "you cant do that!!!" So when STNG premiered in 87, me and my friends where hoping for the best, watching each and every episode. However, the first 2 seasons did not really seem to be Trek. There were some episodes that where OK, but nothing that could compare with earlier TOS or movies. People were wondering if the series would actually stay on. Season 3 came along and there was a gradual improvement. When we arrived at the week before the showing of YE the commercials of the preview alone had us anticipating this episode more than all the previous ones put together. When it aired, we were not at all dissipointed. The story, characters, acting, music and special effects where so much better than anything previous on STNG. For the very first time, here was a Next Generation story that could hold its own against anything the original series had to offer. I still get chills listening to Picard proclaim " Never let history forget the name Enterprise". Next Generation took off from that and never looked back. By the end of that season, radio stations were debating whether Patrick Stewart would return for season 4 after the Best of Both Worlds. TNG was truly accepted as Star Trek. Shortly thereafter, I was at a ST convention at the Shrine in LA, which was the last time all the original cast gathered as one including Gene Roddenberry in a wheel chair. There was just as much next gen fans, merchandice, excitement there as was the orginal. I believe the turning point was Yesterday's Enterprise. PS...Van Patton and Elliot...thank you both for showing class in coming together to discuss your differences....refeshing in this age of dissing each other on the net Ye Olde Fort

unlike others, I have no problem with the so-called improbabilities of Picard making the monumental decision to send the Enterprise-C back through the rift based solely on Guinan's intuition. All it takes is adherence to the temporal prime directive. Guinan is right. That ship does not belong here. That alone justifies the decision to send it back. What doesn't make sense is that Picard allows Tasha Year to go back with the Enterprise-C. Picard resists all of Riker's protests against sending the E-C back but then gives into Yar? All that aside, yes, this is a classic and not only that, but essential viewing if you're to understand why there is a half human half Romulan commander name Sela seen later in the series. There is one minor goof. At the very end when all is well and Guinan asks Geordi about Tasha Year, Geordi is wearing the uniform from the alternate timeline!

YE is one of my favorite episodes of TREK and possibly my favorite episode period. It's always a toss-up between it and the first part of The Best of Both Worlds. I remember reading in a print interview where Rick Berman wish he had saved the idea of YE for a feature film. I'm sure that would have been awesome but as it is it's still a perfectly crafted dramatic hour of television.

The Romulans

I remember watching this episode when it first aired. I walked away on a high, wishing I could discuss it, or share it with someone. There aren't many episodes of any show that have made me feel that way. This episode has certainly stuck with me over the years since, a true stand out. The only episode, to my mind, that has approached this same level of quality so far is Q Who and A Measure Of A Man. Although I am just starting Season 3 now, so maybe there are a few other gems in there.

For an episode that begins with Worf dealing with constipation, it turned out ok. But the presence of Yar is an instant removal of 3 stars. Ugh, imagine how terrible this series would have been if Crosby stayed on.

I really enjoyed the female captain of the Enterprise C. I think she was marvelous in her role. Does anyone else also believe she could have made a good enough Captain Janeway? I wonder if she was ever mentioned as a possible candidate for the captain role on ST Voyager?

dipads... I'll second your nomination of Tricia O'Neil as Janeway. While she may have been among the contenders, those specifically named in Poe's "Star Trek Voyager: A Vision of the Future" are: "Blythe Danner, Linda Hamilton, Patsy Kensit, Kate Mulgrew, Susan Gibney, and--among the men--Nigel Havers of Chariots of Fire fame" (267). The possible confusion from O'Neil having played a different Trek role would not have been a strike against her; Susan "Leah Brahms" Gibney was Berman's favorite, even as a back-up for Genevieve Bujold. (The Paramount suits thought Gibney was too young. But that's another story.)

Jay said: "It's the same thing that makes the mirror universe episodes ridiculous." Well, "Crossover" was great...the only character we see "both" of is Kira, which makes a bit of sense since it's Bajor and one could accept that she would have the roles she played in each. We don't see mirror Julian because he'd have absolutely no reason to be near Bajor in that universe. Beginning with "Through The Looking Glass, though, it all becomes ludicrous as you state, with Benjamin and Jennifer married in both universes, and everyone in the cast (plus Tuvok!) coincidentally gathered together in both, which would simply be absurd.

@Sintek Really? I thought her perfomance in this episode was great.

What a fantastic episode! So far the only other ST episode that blew my mind in a similar way was The Menagerie. I'm still in awe. I think this would have made a great movie. For me, there are not enough stars for this one.

& Jack Actually, even Crossover is a bit absurd, since mirror O'Brien and mirror Sisko are there and would seemingly have no reason to be near Bajor in that universe. Mirror Odo is a little more plausible, but hard to imagine a Mora counterpart would have taken the time to raise him.

Well since "our" Sisko was later shown to have been brought into existence by the very specific machinations of "Sarah Prophet", the notion that this Sisko would exist in another universe stretches all credibility.

Maybe I need to watch it again, but I couldn't quite keep up with this particular episode's technobabble. I love Guinan's mysticism, that she for some reason knows what is and what is not supposed to be. Granted, this doesn't really go with the whole "alternate dimensions" thing, as in alternate worlds technically speaking all choices would be fate. Either way, this episode is fun to ponder over, and it was great to see Tasha Yar again.

SkepticalMI

I remember considering this episode as overrated. Not bad, of course, or even good. I thought it was a very good episode but not quite legendary, mainly because it seemed to try so hard for it. Like Jammer said, it seems to be written to be a classic, bringing back on old character and redesigning all the sets and having big explosions and showing an old Enterprise and just in general trying too hard to be epic. Well, after watching it again, I still think a lot of that. But I found the episode much better than I remembered. There's still some annoying parts. To some extent, they tried too hard to make things different ("Military log, battle date 43xxx.x" and such), although I liked some of the subtler aspects to make the ship look more militaristic (appearing much more crowded). There's also the oddity of Worf getting called to the bridge because of the big importance of the magic anomaly of the week, but apparently Geordi's still hanging around 10-Forward in order to talk with Guinan afterwards. More importantly, the romance between Tasha and Castillo was a bit forced and seemed unnecessary. I guess it was an excuse to give Denise Crosby more screen time, but it distracted a bit from everything else. But the rest of the episode works. To me, it seems to mirror Defector in some ways. Both episodes to some extent ask the question of what is worth dying for. In Defector, Picard was willing to die for the Federation, but was fortunately able to convince Tomalak that an escalation of the war was not worth such a sacrifice on his end. Here, he is willing to sacrifice his life, both in battle and in its very existence, in order to change the past and prevent a war from ever starting. In both cases, he gives a short uplifting message of bravado that makes one realize that they are a part of something great, something more important than one's own life. The bravery of Capt. Garret and her crew was similar. There's a real sense of honor and virtue in these episodes, which helps them along. And a real sense of things and events being important. "Let history never forget the name Enterprise." While the method of the Enterprise-C changing history was probably necessary to enhance the theme of sacrifice, it also works in this case. I'm glad Data brought up the (likely) method of how the Ent-C saved the peace between Klingons and Federation. Presumably, the Klingons were having quite a bit of problems with the Romulans at this time (isn't this roughly the same time as the Khitomer attack?). Presumably they solved that issue, as the Romulans were insular for another 20 years. So the Klingons now had a choice of what to do with the Federation. But the Ent-C displayed a tremendous amount of personal honor, something the Klingons would undoubtedly have respected. It was the Federation's committment to justice and mercy even at the expense of their own lives that led to a lasting peace. Regardless of the differences between the Klingon moral ethos and the Federation's, the Klingons could recognize that honor. And honored it in return. So I disagree with Elliott that this episode suggests "random chance" led to the wonderful future. It was a committment to values. Both in the past and in the alternate present. That still seems pretty optimistic to me. I do think that it was somewhat of a cheat to have the Federation on the verge of losing the war. To go back to the Hitler analogy, it would make more sense for us to go back in time to try to stop WW2 if the Nazis had won than the outcome we know. So it lessens the impact of Picard and Garret's decision a bit. On the other hand, it provides an in-universe reason for Picard and Riker to be so angry in the episode (great acting by both of them by the way). It may even be the reason behind their antagonism towards each other; Picard might know that the Federation is doomed, while Riker may think that there's still a chance and thus an extra ship would be useful.

Stelios Arianoutsos

Ethical bug: What if Federation was winning the war?

Count me in the "What a great classic" side. I loved almost every moment of it. From the difference in tone with your usual Enterprise crew, lighting, and the dialogue of everyone. Even Yar! She was pretty good here and I was glad to have her back (just for one episode). This is probably Denise Crosby's best performance so far (up to mid S4, I'm aware she comes back later on). I was also bugged a bit by the mystical reasons Guinan gave in order to come back to the "right" timeline. I'd have liked some more details, like "I can't say what's right or wrong, but I feel like there's a time when this war didn't happen, and the Federation is in an alliance with the Klingon empire". Well, maybe that's too specific, but still sounds more serious than just a feeling, no matter how strong. Now, it seems to me that Picard decision to follow through with Guinan's idea wasn't all that out of character, in this context. Everyone was so pragmatic and moody in that universe than when somebody came in and say there's a better way, even when it applies more to emotion than reason, Picard must have thought: "Ok, it's worth a shot since we're losing the war, anyway." Picard has a strong respect and trust in Guinan's words. And that's not out of character at all. Just remember the climax of "A Matter of Honor", when the Enterprise "surrenders" to the Klingon Ship. There was an unspoken pact of trust betweeen Captain and Number One for that to happen. This isn't any different. It's a leap of faith, but based on mutual respect and that's very Trek, imo.

This is traditional Star Trek's high point, a classic of hope, choices that matter, and the human spirit. @Elliot, Nietzsche's flaw was his unrelenting need to prove self despite the overwhelming truth of the "whole", not the group or the selective distinction human's place on their own beliefs and taste, but existence itself in his pursuit is pushed aside for a view. I want to warn you that applying Nietzsche without understanding his flaw to accept existence will reduce your ability, not expand it. In essence, TV shows are singular, but must also be valued with the sum of their parts. Yesterday Enterprise represents the sum of Star Trek in the 1990's TNG. There is a certain parallelism that holds the story together, but something that is parallel does not need to be different in order to be enjoyed. A parallel is a self-reflection and introspection on things familiar; though different based on perspective. If the Federation had been at War with the Klingons for 20 years, the war would have forced certain things to happen on a different path. However, based on Star Trek's own predestination paradoxes, there is an innate natural movement towards certain things and certain groups. The Enterprise exists as an anchoring point for this universe (In a fact, it is, since the show revolves around this ship and other ships like it. In essence, if one assumes the writers are God-apparent in the Star Trek universe, then the ship and crew will always come together to fit the meaning, which God, the Writers, would designate).

I didn't like this episode. First, I'm not a big fan of time travel stories. They tend to be full of paradoxes. At first, Picard is wary of interacting with the other Enterprise, stating that it may lead to a time paradox, but they do it anyway and there are of course no time altering consequences, as is usual in those types of episodes. Everything's back to normal at the end, ready for the next show. Kurgan said: "Are we to believe that in an alternate timeline, with years of terrible bloodshed, the Enterprise would be built entirely the same and with mostly the same crew? " Absolutely true. It reminded me of the DS9 alternate universe, which I hate. I can't say that I liked the idea of having Guinan's intuition play such an important role here. I like it better when the characters solve their problems through logic. And the episode never addressed the question that Picard 2.0 might not want to go back to being old Picard. Presumably, he's lived a completely different life and the Enterprise has never done anything featured in past episodes because the timeline is completely different and the Enterprise is a warship. So, wouldn't Picard 2.0, who has no idea who Picard 1.0 is, really want to go back to his original reality? He would be destroying himself and his memories. The more you think about these time travel episodes, the less sense they make. The alternate timeline is just treated as the gimmick of the week. And there's Tasha Yar. She's not horrible here, just bad, but we are reminded that TNG is much better without her. Her wooden performance doomed the little love story. I noticed that we don't see her face full on after the kiss scene, probably because the director noticed that she was completely incapable of conveying emotion. I also didn't like that the episode felt like a forced attempt to give Tasha a meaningful death retroactively.

@Trekker : "...applying Nietzsche without understanding his flaw to accept existence will reduce your ability, not expand it." I find this warning rather dubious considering I used Nietzsche specifically to demonstrate what Magee called the "rejecting of understanding." I applied Nietzsche in the negative which is perhaps still relevant, but I'm afraid I missed something in your post.

This episode's ability to instigate a debate on Nietzschean aesthetics is a clear testament to its status as a classic.

I remember vividly watching this in 1990 when it first aired. At that time I was pretty down on STNG as were most of my friends and family (big fans of the original series and who had high hopes for the new series). This episode totally blew the roof off STNG up to that point and really showed how good the program could be. I really see it as the turning point for STNG. After that, the series became much more interesting to me.

First off I enjoyed this episode thoroughly and have seen every TNG DS9 Voyager and Enterprise episode including all movies. The flaws: Space is vast. No one seemed intrigued that it was the ENTERPRISE D and no other starship that "happen to come upon" the ENTERPRISE C at that point in time in the vastness of space? Uncanny no one pointed this out. Secondly, why would a Federation battleship in a time of war be traveling alone and not part of a squadron or small fleet(4-10) vessels like a powerful navy would utilize. Apparently the Klingons use a squadron of vessels 3 vs 1 Federation vessel. Third, the way the ENTERPRISE D utilized it's firepower. Firing photons only once? If anyone watched episode 51 The Survivors the Enterprise D unleashed quite a volley on the mysterious and powerful attacking vessel. A couple volleys like this would disable or destroy 2 Klingon ships in the first 2 volleys leaving it as a 1on1. Any thoughts feel free to comment I look forward to replies.

Wow, finally someone, with my same name, that pointed out my biggest gripe of this show! You're tell me that the flagship of the Federation after episodes like the survivors, q who, the best of both worlds, couldn't mop up three 20 year old warbirds? Don't get me started on Generations...

They looked like warbirds but they were heavy battle cruisers. Why the Enterprise did not use photon torpedoes after the first spread? Perhaps the rift in space....they did not want to destabilize it? They knew the Klingons were on the way. No other Federation vessel could assist? Yes it is a time of war but this was an unusual event to put it mildly!! Comments welcome

Actually I distinctly remember the Enterprise-D firing a 3-torpedo volley at least once during the battle. And since Starfleet had suffered such severe losses they likley didn't have enough ships to put Enterprise in a squadron. But all that is secondary to the big moral question- If Enterprise-C did go back in time they *might* save a lot of other people's lives, but they'd be all but guaranteeing certain death for themselves. A lot of people couldn't make that kind of gamble.

I have to admit, this one baffles me. I hate to be such a dissenter, but I'd have a hard time giving this one more than 2.5 stars. I do think there is a decent idea at the core of this episode. But both the writing and the execution are just not good. You have Guinan driving the entire conflict of the plot. It's one thing for Picard to listen to her (even if he adamantly refuses at first, and is offered no reasons for changing his mind). But how is Picard listening to Guinan (or not) related to the EntC crew deciding/agreeing to return? There were lots of interesting ways this decision could have been reached, but what we actually got fell flat to me. Beyond that decision, the rest of the episode is fluff. The battle is intense, but it can have no lasting consequences for its characters if it's won. It's also a bit contrived for the warbirds to show up at the last minute, but not before. Minor complaint, but still there. Much worse is the decision by someone (writer? producer?) to give Yar the love story that eats so much of the screentime. The poor girl isn't an ATROCIOUS actress, but she's definitely not good, and putting her into such an emotionally complex situation only highlights her lack of acting abilities. And to what purpose? Yar deciding to go back would have worked just as well with nothing but the Guinan conversation (which itself was somewhat sloppy writing). Why did this love story need to be there? I'm sorry to rant so much on what seems to be such a beloved episode, but I honestly cannot for the life of me see why this one gets as much acclaim as it does.

So the Enterprise D, "our" Enterpise shifts into another timline. But the people on board are still of the same age. Wesley Crusher wears a Starfleet uniform, so that means a underage kid is a full member of a warship? Who would have thought Starfleet would make military use of children....

Surely "Twilight" would be Enterprise's equivalent, not E2.

A splendid episode with an epic story. Of course it's full of holes--you can't really do a time travel or "temporal rift" story without them, because the whole idea doesn't make sense anyway. I had to go back in the beginning to try to wrap my head around what I was watching: a darker-looking bridge, a similar yet very different ship, Tasha Yar standing where Worf was a second ago. Once I realized the ship had just entered an alternate existence simply by approaching the rift, I was riveted. I imagine the the impact of this episode was greater in its time, when it was a new high for TNG in many ways. It's clearly not perfect--the way Guinan convinces Picard to send the ship back on no evidence is weak. Why would Picard act solely on her gut feelings if he and others did not also sense something deeply wrong? But it's still a pleasure to watch. Memorable, emotional, and daring. I'd give it three and a half.

Michael, you're really gonna nitpick the battle based on how many photons the Enterprise fired? That's the worst attribute of Trek Fandom right there, thinking that technobabble should drive the story rather than serve the story. You can justify it easily enough, the limits of a TV budget and special effects technology at the time, but why bother? The ultimate point is that the Enterprise is fighting a hopeless battle for a greater cause. Three on One are long odds, she's doomed the minute they decide to stand rather than run, but they survive long enough to accomplish their mission and even take some of the bad guys with them. If you think this episode would have been better with a drawn out CGI rendered wank fest like Nemesis (or, dare I say it, Sacrifice of Angels) I'm afraid you've missed the point entirely.

I'm not a huge fan of this episode I'd say good not great. Time travel always loses a bit of luster and Denise Crosby was never a favorite of mine. It does have an epic quality to it. Patrick Stewart has some great acting in this, I also like the actress Enterprise-C captain. I do give credit for having an episode where the stars align; Tasha Yar's death and a temporally aware Guinan were well used. I know some people think this would make a good two-parter. Not really, a lot of it is padding to establish the Yar relationship anyway. I suppose they could have had Worf as one of the attacking Klingons as well as scenes in the time rift but I think a one parter is enough.

I love this episode as well, though there are a few plausibility issues. Many commenters have mentioned Guinan's "mystic" perception that the timeline is not right. But the question that I had on my mind is why Picard never bothers to ask her a very simple question: "Why haven't you had this feeling before? Why now?" After all, from Picard's and Guinan's perspective, they've lived in that timeline their entire life. Guinan suddenly deciding that the timeline is incorrect when the Enterprise shows up would seem odd to me, if I were Picard.

All right, let's just get it out of the way, shall we? I have a major problem with this episode. In fact, I've always thought that this was one of the most over-rated episodes in the entire franchise. Is it good? Yes, undoubtedly. Is it great? No. Is it the best of the best? Hardly. From some reactions to it I've seen and read (not just here but from other fan sites as well), you would think people would be willing to give this episode an infinity out of ten score. The reason I have such a problem with "Yesterday's Enterprise" is quite simple - what they did with Tasha Yar in it. Yar's meaningless death in "Skin of Evil" was easily the best moment in the god-awful first season and possibly one of the gutsiest decisions in all of Trek. Having a main character die a senseless death is something Trek writers seem adamantly opposed to doing. Spock gets a hero's death. Data gets a hero's death. Jadiza Dax gets a hero's death. Kirk gets a hero's death. Even nu-Kirk gets a, admittedly short, hero's death in "Star Trek into Darkness." You can say that you don't like the way in which those deaths were executed (no pun intended) but I can't see how anybody can say that they weren't intended to be chances for the characters to go out in blazes of glory. With Yar, on the other hand, we were given something we were never given before and haven't been given since. Her death was simple; it was common and ordinary. She didn't get to go out with guns blazing and she didn't get the hero's send-off. In my mind, that makes her much more of a relatable character. Not everyone gets to have a cliched hero's demise. In fact, it's pretty rare. Death can take anybody at a moments notice without warning. You can be completely at unawares and then BOOM - you're dead. That's life and I wish Star Trek (which prides itself on examining the human condition) would show that more often. A huge part of the human condition is senseless, meaningless death. Now, this isn't to say that Yar's death was handled perfectly in my opinion. "Skin of Evil" is by no means a perfect episode. Far from it! But the idea that one of the main characters could have a senseless death has always appealed to me. Then along comes "Yesterday's Enterprise" and completely ruins that. We can't, simply can not, have one of our main characters have that meaningless death. So, let's do a time travel story where she's still alive in an alternate timeline and gets to charge into battle with guns blazing and get that noble, heroic death that apparently every single person deserves. Well, every person except Captain Garrett and alternate-Riker, who die simply because they were near exploding panels. But not Yar! Oh God, not Yar! She MUST have her noble self-sacrifice! This absolutely destroys the one humanizing aspect they gave the character (because, let's fact it, they really didn't do anything else of note with Yar while she was on the show). I realize that most people don't share this opinion of mine and think that Yar's death in this episode is one of the things that elevates this into all-time classic territory. But, I'm sorry, this REALLY annoys me. Now, like I said, this isn't a bad episode, far from it. The acting is top-notch across the board (yes, even from Denise Crosby). The contrast between the peaceful Enterprise and the more militaristic Enterprise of the altered timeline is very well done and gives the episode an unbelievably evocative and memorable atmosphere. The question of whether it's preferable for 100+ people we know to die in order to save 40 billion people we only hear about second-hand is fascinating - a wonderful moral dilemma for our heroes to face. And the world-building of how the Federation and the Klingon Empire came to be allies is nicely executed (but then, I'm a sucker for world-building). If they had just let the Yar subplot out, then I probably would rate this episode close to a 10 out of 10. But, as it sits.... 8/10

You could say that Jadzia's death was pretty pointless. I mean she just happened to be standing in the way of Dukat and the Orb, not really a hero's death IMO. And because of this, Worf and etc. went on a dangerous raiding mission just a couple episodes later- because to him Jadzia lacked a death worthy of Sto'vol Kor. Other than that, I agree with you.

She died while attempting to capture a war criminal. I'll agree that the execution of the idea was lacking (couldn't they have had her put up something of a fight) but it's still something of a hero's death. She didn't just get zapped to death out of nowhere.

For what it's worth I think Jadzia was straight up murdered and that this episode doesn't take away from "Skin Of Evil", even though I totally agree with you :) Having a main character die the kind of death that is usually fit for a "red shirt" shows that this job is DANGEROUS. That's a good thing. That said... Tasha is still dead. She wasn't resurrected and made to die a new death. It didn't rewrite her death. And actually... if you think about fate... if Sela's story is true, this Tasha was straight up pointlessly murdered also :-(

I still remember when I first saw this episode. I remember being completely and utterly confused. Apparently I wasn't paying very close attention; I missed the start, the setup for it. And then the whole thing was lost on me. But I remembered it for being "very different" and not boring. Years later I got to see it again, and I was able to absorb all the subtleties of the plot in context. This is one of my favorite episodes of the series, namely because it was ballsy. It was ambitious and risky, and generally well written. I agree with a few commentator, few moments of screen time were wasted. But I strongly disagree in calling this a "time travel" episode. There was no time travel, just a giant, universal paradigm shift. I admit I'm easy to please. I tend to take the shows like STTNG that I watch at face value. As a viewer, the show is dictating the canon, and up to me to take it and interpret it for what it is. Over-thinking entertainment seems self-defeating to me. It's pretty hard for a plotline to "jump the shark" for me, or otherwise sever my suspension of disbelief and common sense. My least favorite episodes (e.g. Emergence) are few but demonstrate crossing that line. This episode never gets close. I even found the the "instant" return of Yar a delightful surprise (shock?), though I was never one to hate her character as others have. I think she was expertly weaved into the plot. In hindsight, is it logical that things would be so similar to how they were in the "normal" timeline? Probably not. But with all the strange things I've seen in my life, it doesn't press its luck with me. The only thing, in hindsight, that bothers me is that (in the "normal" timeline) it sets up Star Fleet going without a ship named Enterprise for nearly 20 years. That strikes me as grossly unlikely. The other-timeline Yar being captured by the Romulans is an intriguing concept in the context of the physics of universe and time. Unfortunately, I see it as in vain as Crosby's subsequent appearances didn't bold well with me. I guess that suggests to me she should have not traveled back wtih "C" to begin wtih.

I was blown away by this episode when i saw it over christmas when i was 16, it was episodes like this that turned me into a Star Trek fan for life, i think this episode works best when you watch it after the earlier episodes.

I think this episode would have made a great two-parter WITHOUT GUINAN. I'm probably one of the few Trekkies who never liked Guinan. But this episode would have been decidedly better without her. Picard is already speculating that a Federation starship being destroyed in the defense of a Klingon outpost could have prevented the war BEFORE the second confrontation with Guinan. And Data is making that observation as well in the briefing. What Guinan effectively does it not so much advance the story by telling Picard something is wrong, rather she is ultimately giving him the moral cover he needs to make the decision to send the Enterprise-C back. I would have loved a more pacing revelation of things. While they're getting the Enterprise-C ready for battle in the 24th Century -- which is futile, they already mention that if the Enterprise-D went back to the battle with 4 Romulan warbirds they'd have no chance against her weapons - so how is the Enterprise-C doing to make a dent into a modern Klingon warship?! -- they begin to discuss the possibility that escaping the battle caused an alternate history. Picard and Captain Garret will then have to make a truly brave decision to go back - not because some supernatural bartender tells them it's the right thing to do, but because logic dictates it. And logic is a cold mistress.

FlyingSquirrel

I think Guinan was probably necessary for Picard to think that the plan had any merit in the first place. I don't see Picard as someone who would normally endorse the notion of using time travel to undo an unfavorable event or series of events. Guinan made the case that sending the Enterprise-C back was actually *reversing* an accidental manipulation of the timeline rather than initiating the manipulation.

@ Roman / "so how is the Enterprise-C doing to make a dent into a modern Klingon warship?!" That's not the point though, it's to show the Klingons that a Federation ship would be willing to fight to the death in a lost cause (something most Klingons would respect of course). If you can respect your enemies, that might open the door to future negotiations for peace which is what likely happened.

@Del_Duio - Agreed. I always thought it was a butterfly effect story, not a direct cause->effect thing. Like, one Klingon ship found the wreckage of a Federation starship, pulverized with Romulan disruptor fire, found the "black box", figured out what happened and was impressed enough to collect the bodies and deliver them back to a Starfleet ship. The Captain of the Starfleet ship had a brother on the Enterprise C and the Klingon Captain and he share a moment of mutual respect. Years later they are both stodgy Admirals and meet to fight over something or other, remember each other and take a different path. One stone plopped in a lake makes a billion ripples and all that.

@Roman - I think you underestimate the trust Picard has for Guinan. Guinan's "hunches" are always spot-on, which I've always assumed, for lack of a better explanation, is because of the species she comes from. I honestly don't think Picard would have gone through with the Enterprise-C going back in time if it hadn't been for Guinan saying it was absolutely necessary. This nagged at him, and changed his perception enough that instead of sending the Enterprise-C into battle (which it was clear they WERE going to do, whether or not the ship would have been "hopeless" in such a battle), he actually took time to think about his decision at many levels, and then finally decided that if there was a chance that the Enterprise-C could "fix" the timeline, it should be sent back. As someone on the thread said before, the temporal prime directive would apply here, even if the concept itself didn't really exist at this point in Trek. Because Picard had an idea that he was FIXING the timeline rather than deliberately changing it, he was willing to do it. And the idea of fixing the timeline came directly from Guinan. Logic, in this instance, could have gone either way. It was Guinan's certainty that made Picard decide to do what he did.

Diamond Dave

Playing on those classic Trek themes of hope and nobility and self-sacrifice this is utter genius, establishing a pitch perfect alternate reality in which the standard contrivances of week to week TNG can be credibly tossed aside and we can watch our heroes fight and die for a greater purpose. While many have criticised Yar's return for giving the character a "TV death", for me it is worth it for the wonderfully queasy first scene with Guinan. There is a lot of quality acting going on here too - the tense, snappy, pressurised Picard standing apart from his command staff a particular highlight. Garrett and Castillo are also strong supporting characters (indeed, if there is one shame in the episode it is that Garrett is killed off too early). We're also given a wonderful battle scene conclusion, finally seeing the VFX fully step up to the plate, culminating in Picard leaping to the phaser controls as the bridge burns around him. The sets and lighting wonderfully portray the military Enterprise, not least of which for the single Captain's chair front and centre - this is not a command staff democracy, and there is no place for a ship's counselor... And, lest we forget in what follows, we have probably the funniest cold opening yet as Worf discovers prune juice ("a warrior's drink!") and laments the fragility of the crew's female contingent. With Q Who, this for me was the episode that re-defined what TNG was capable of - an unreserved 4 stars.

The storytelling, acting, pacing, and especially, the music here are absolutely incredible. This is the apex of science fiction television. For those quibbling about time travel or Guinan's so-called "mysticism", well, respectfully, it's science fiction! Of course there are some logical flaws. Mysticism and the supernatural are inherent to the genre. This is a story with heart. One of the best ever for the series. "Geordi, tell me about...Tasha Yar."

Ben Franklin

I'm not sure why people have a hard time with Guinan's ability to consciously transcend space-time and to have a glimpse of a parallel universe. The writers have consciously chosen to keep Guinan a mystery... a special character if you will... instead of giving her a proper backstory and character arc of her own. She is not a primary character, after all. The Q are able to do things that no one in the Trek universe can comprehend, yet we all love the Q episodes (most of them) and Q in general. The fact that Q and Guinan seem to have a very adversarial stance towards each other coupled with the fact that Q considers her to be "a very dangerous creature" tells me that Guinan simply has abilities that we, and the Enterprise crew, cannot readily comprehend. I love this episode. We get a little more Tasha, we get some play with dimensions and time. We get some moral ambiguity. And we get some great performances. The one thing that always irked me is the fact that Guinan was on the alternate-universe Enterprise *at all*. What was a bartender doing on a warship? They didn't even have access to the replicators (eating rations etc), what use would they have for a bartender? I was in the Navy and you better believe if there was a civilian on our boat, it wasn't a bartender... more likely to be CIA or something like that. Guinan should not have been on board the alternate-universe Enterprise at all. The story could've moved forward with Picard and Data's usual deference to logic and logical thought. As some posters have mentioned previously, Picard had already alluded to the possibility that the presence of Enterprise-C could have messed up their time line. Data could've assuaged any moral dilemma that Picard was dealing with. Again, I'd give this episode a solid 4 stars but I am definitely irked by the very presence of Guinan on a Federation warship during wartime when things are so bad that they have shut down replicators and are living on rations.

Luke Matrix

In regards to the issue of things being similar in the alternate timeline with ship and crew, I feel that's just a necessary thing for both budget and story usage. I don't want to see a bunch of characters I've never seen before and have no emotional connection with. I love seeing my favourite characters in a different world and seeing what might have been. And they're not going to build new sets or a new model of the Enterprise-D. They barely had time to get the C made and had to take some liberties with the studio model versus the conceptual art. Even simply redressing the bridge cost a bunch of extra money. At some point there just has to be a suspension of disbelief in order to tell the story they want to tell.

Latex Zebra

Stunning episode.

Wow I just realized that Federation ideals must be stronger than I originally. For 20 years this Federation fought the Klingon empire, and Starfleet never started conscripting citizens from across the Federation to try and fill its depleting ranks. I mean with 150 different species and thousands of colonies the Federation must outnumber the Klingons by the hundreds of billions and could simply devote their economy to making expandable Miranda craft to overwhelm the Klingons. But we see that Starfleet is still most likely an all volunteer force. besides the fact that training is clearly rushed (cough Wesley cough) they haven't totally devoted themselves to war. Rather than change their way of life and become more militaristic they chose to mostly remain the same(save censorship) I don't buy into the Starfleet isn't a military thing that Picard occasionally mentions. They have ships on par with military warships and Protect federation colonies from outside threats. at the least their a paramilitary force slightly better than space cops. This is an episode I can watch over and over again its well executed and makes a great use of Tasha Yar a character I only remembered as that woman who got killed by the Tar monster and gives her a proper send off. 4 Stars.

Klovis Mann

I'm with the dissenters on this one. Many of my reasons align with those already stated so I won't repeat at length but to name a few....galactic fate hinging on Guinan's intuition? Sorry, no way. All of the "love" stories on ST proceed at warp speed, not credible (again) Riker vs Picard = missed opportunity big time ! Many thoughtful posts here as always. Love the site overall. Many thanks Jammer and everyone. Suffice to say; I thought this episode was bullshit.......have a nice day.......

I actually quite like this episode. Guinan makes no sense in it, however. Guinan was always a superfluous character, and there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to have a "bartender" on a warship - much less to give a bartender apparently unrestricted access to the bridge. Without Guinan, Picard would have the ability to make a decision based on simple facts at hand - namely, one more ship will do no good here, but it has potential to make a difference in the past. Captain Garrett's crew could even have insisted that they return to the battle they accidentally left. I would have preferred that the Enterprise D be at Narendra III investigating the actual anomaly that C came from - perhaps believing it to be a weapon? Or, perhaps investigating the anomaly in what is now deep space - but it where Narendra III was 22 years ago? Again, not for purely scientific reasons, but believing the powerful energy signatures indicated weapons testing? I understand all the budget constraints that prevented the Enterprise D from really being a warcraft unlike the D we know. I also understand why the same basic crew was there. Except Wesley, who in no way should have been involved. Still, one has to accept this in a live action show. In an animated show, far more dramatic differences could have been portrayed, but would they have gotten to a third season to do this episode? Anyway, my main point is that Guinan is completely unnecessary, and that even sending Tasha Yar back into the rift could have been explained another way. For example, when Garrett died, Tasha could have insisted on going to act as tactical officer. Or - and this would have been really interesting - she could have defied orders, hijacked a transporter, and beamed aboard the C, leaving no choice but to let her go. It would have been something special then, don't you think? I do like the way this alternate timeline resulted in a child who grew up and encountered the man who her mother served under. It's nice when Star Trek remembers its own history, as this never seemed to happen on TOS.

"Let's make sure that history never forgets the name ... Enterprise." While this is an historic line in trek, I still to this day do not believe Patrick delivered it very well.

@ JustJim: I think Guinan sort of doubles as ship's councelor too. And a bartender on a warship makes about as much sense as a Bolean barber I guess :D

This episode is nothing short of an episodic masterpiece. A couple of things to note. The dynamic of the ship's bartender overriding the captain based purely on intuition sets the tone for the entire episode. Secondly, Guinan's intuition is revealed early on in the episode; this makes Guinan one of the best implementations of the "magical support character" trope, as the episode's protagonists have an entire act to wrestle with their decision. The dutiful decisions the crews make and that this temporal rift triggers is the real focus on the episode. 1. Thoughtful captain of a starship willing to bet the entire Federation on a friendship, against every instinct in his body 2. Ship's crew willing to return a fight they will definitely lose 3. Sacrificing the few for the many 4. Loved ones, dying together, in battle 5. Dying an honorable death versus an empty death 6. Engaging in tactical maneuvers that essentially sacrifice the D for the C, on faith Obviously a lot of this has Shakespearean roots. I have grown to admire the screenwriting of TNG and am not a fan of "one glaring problem" criticisms. For an episodic, the amount that is on the line, and the way out, is stunning. Guinan's "this isn't right" is literally the only piece of reality that the viewer of an episodic series can hold on to. Once you buy into this device, you realize this episode is about human self-sacrifice and faith as a means of salvation when at every turn there is an easier way out. And ultimately it gets you from one episode to the next. Incredibly self-aware stuff. Best of TNG.

Excellent review, phaedon.

I just rewatched this one for the first time in over a decade. There's a lot to love. Though, interestingly, what I loved this time around is a bit different from the highlights I remember. The lighting of the Enterprise -D and the grimness of Picard and the tension between him and Riker were outstanding. (This marks the second straight episode that I am impressed by Frakes's acting, after despising it season one. Maybe his beard has magic powers.) What I loved originally - the return of Yar, the moral struggle of Picard to make the right decision, and the doomed romance encapsulated in Castillo's line, "If you get back to earth and see a man of about fifty taking a long hard look across a crowded bar..." don't move me as much this time around. Not that they're bad. They just aren't the gut-punches I remember. On both viewings, the final battle scene shines, as does Guinan. And now, my complaint about Picard's moral struggle. This is presented to us as the main conflict of the piece: Should Picard order the Enterprise-C back in time on a suicide mission that may/may not prevent a war and save forty billion lives? Patrick Steward is amazing as always. "Not good enough! Not good enough, damn it!" will always be classic Trek. But. Picard has zero authority to order the Ent-C anywwhere. He is not Garrett's commanding officer and he is not the boss of the timeline. His moral quandary is simply whether to advise/pressure Garrett to go back. The decision - the real decision, the life-and-death-and-morality decision, rests entirely with her. And she has far more at stake than Picard. She is personally responsible for the one hundred twenty-five souls left alive on her ship - and these are people she knows and people who up until a few hours before were on a peaceful mission, simply answering a Klingon distress call. They were not at war and (while they knew the risks of Starfleet service) not expecting to be ordered to sacrifice their lives in battle. Not insignificantly, Garret's own life is at stake as well, whereas Picard's is not. In reality, it is she - not Picard - who carries the full burden of command and the grave responsibility to make the best choice. (It's worth noting that if the Ent-C goes back, Picard loses nothing and may gain a lot. Either the Ent-C will fail to prevent the war, in which case nothing changes, or the Ent-C will succeed and Picard will likely have a much better life - as he will be spared twenty years of being a soldier at war, suffering fear and loss of his friends, and the imminent defeat by the Klingon Empire that we are told is six months off. So again: Garrett's decision is much harder than Picard's decision..) Of course Garrett isn't the person we are invested in, so the writers cast the decision as Picard's. But this is a cheat. In the scene in which Picard tells Garrett he wants her to command her ship to go back, Garrett says something odd and, in terms of human nature, fairly hard to believe: she announces that many of her crew have already asked to go back. This is an odd choice on the part of the writers, since it cuts the ground out from under the burden of command felt by the two captains. (Hey, no big deal - those hundred twenty-five people are all cool with the suicide mission!) So why is it said? It seems to me that this was inserted so that Garrett's decision would not have to be a struggle. If we think her crew is aghast at the idea of going to their deaths, then we will also have to be shown the more *authentic* tale of Captain Garrett's struggle, after being shown Captain Picard's struggle. Having two different captains sequentially burdened with the timeline decision would have diluted the drama and cut the emotional weight of the episode in half. So Picard was given the weighty emotional struggle. And Garrett was given the heroic gesture of sacrifice. But it doesn't ring true, either to the command structure or to human behavior. Any captain - not just Picard - is going to struggle like hell with the decision to sacrifice her crew on a mission of unknown outcome. But Garrett doesn't struggle at all; doesn't even insist on talking to Guinan. It takes all of two minutes for Picard to convince her. Given that she is seeing how terrible a future she's landed in, it's very believable that she does go back. (If she doesn't, she and her crew are marooned not just twenty two years out of their time, but in the middle of a war their side is about to lose.) However, she has to weigh that returning is certain death, and may be utterly meaningless, and that staying in the future will at least give them a chance to survive and maybe see loved ones, etc. And I keep coming back to the fact that for the Ent-C, this is all a complete shock... unlike the Ent-D, they were on a peaceful mission just a few hours earlier with no freaking clue they were all about to die in battle. So I'm troubled by the show's unexamined conceit that Picard, not Garrett, is the person wrestling with the moral dilemma, while Garrett - who is Picard's counterpart - is willing to make the same monumental decision in a fingersnap. I understand that this conceit is necessary, in order to streamline the story and keep the dramatic focus on Picard, but it's not right. Along with Garrett, one other person in the episode makes a heroic sacrifice of her life. I am speaking, of course, of Yar. I remember loving her arc fifteen or twenty years ago when I first saw the episode. This time it fell a bit flat, but I think that's not the fault of the script but more due to Crosby's acting limitations. I was surprised by how soft-spoken she was, which I suppose is not much different from the Yar of season one. (I would have liked to see her, like Picard, be more brusque and military as befits a woman whose people have been at war since she was about eight years old, and who has spent her entire career being more or less a soldier.) She also didn't sell me on the anguish and struggle of her decision - though partly that's because she was never around long enough to become a character with friends and loves and a full life on Enterprise-D that I didn't want her to lose. None of this is her fault of course, or the writers', so I am trying not to let it detract from my enjoyment of the episode. I definitely appreciate that the show brought her back for a guest-star turn and a heroic ending. I just can't help imagining what a Patrick Stewart-level actor could have done with her role.... In sum: For reasons of drama, the focus of the episode is Picard.... when, actually, it's the other captain who makes the momentous decision. I love a lot about the story, but I can't quite forgive the license it gives itself. Three stars for the episode itself, and an extra half as bonus for bringing back Yar.

@tara "Picard has zero authority to order the Ent-C anywwhere." I don't know if the temporal prime directive states this specifically, but it's heavily implied throughout the series that the captain of the current timeline holds rank over time jumping crew-members. If it were otherwise, the Captain Picard in "Time Squared" could've started barking orders and lower officers as soon as he gained consciousness. The same goes for the captain of the Bozeman in "Cause and Effect". The bottom line is, you can't expect to jump ahead a century or so in time and expect to keep the exact rank and privileges you had a century ago.

Also, we should acknowledge that Picard never gave any direct order to Captain Garrett. In his conversation with Guinan, he said he'd be "asking" the Enterprise-C to go back. In the end, Picard persuaded Garrett to go back because she agreed it was the right thing to do. It wasn't a matter of chain of command or pulling rank.

I agree with Chrome about the command structure. But also, Picard may well be the fleet commander in the war timeline, in which case he would actually outrank her anyhow. Garrett doesn't have information to make an educated decision, and so on the balance that also makes Picard the correct person to make the call. This is furthered by Guinan being the one to tilt the scales, and her relationship is with Picard.

@Chrome If Picard has authority because it's his "real" timeline, that completely defuses my objections. Was it explicitly stated in this episode though? Because I didn't know it. And that gave me real problems. I agree that Picard never *ordered* Garrett to take the ship back. He merely leaned on her to do it herself. That was kind of my point. It seemed to me that her crew was still her crew and the choice to return was hers, not Picard's. The only order I saw given came from her: "Saddle up everyone, we're going back to face our deaths." Which struck me as a decision she made far too easily. If it were Picard's right to command her to return, I would have liked to see that command given. Because that would have been the real moment of reckoning. She says to him, "We don't want to die. And you have no idea if this will even change anything. You're really going to order us to throw away our lives based on your bartender's funny feeling?" He's ashen-faced but committed to his course. He tells her straight out: "Yes. I'm ordering you." That moment was needed. I didn't see it. Through my whole rewatch, I just kept thinking that if it were our beloved crew on the Enterprise-D that were hurled forward in time - if it were they who found themselves in a Klingon-Federation war alongside Future Enterprise-E, whose captain wanted Picard to take his crew back and accept a suicide mission that would end the lives of every character we're invested in - it would NOT be presented as a heavy decision on the shoulders of the Enterprise-E Captain, followed by Picard saying two minutes later, "Okay, we'll all agree to certain death because of your bartender's hunch." It would be shown to us as Picard's struggle, once again.

@tara Like I said, it's implied authority because of the logical reasons I suggested above. You see it talked about in "Second Chances", where the Riker clone isn't automatically promoted to commander like his counterpart was, but rather needs to undergo some serious debriefing to be caught up and capable as an officer. Let's take a real life example, though. If a Civil War general leaped into the middle of WWII, do you think they'd give deference to that general's opinions on how to take on Germany without some serious retraining from WWII-era generals? It should also be pointed out the episode painted a scenario where Garrett and her crew would die either way. In the "present", the Klingons were a threatening and real force that can make short work of the Enterprise-C even if it did stick around. Finally, you answered your own question about why an episode where Picard jumped wouldn't casually send him to his death. We're already invested in Picard, he's not a guest actor who the audience could let go of without a making a big deal out of it. I agree this episode could've spent more time on Garrett's decision, but with Denise Crosby guest starring, the episode instead ended up spending most of its time on that decision and what kind of sacrifices Tasha was willing to make.

@ chrome Yes, I don't protest your explanation of the command structure. Now that you and Peter G have explained it, I can see it's the only sensible way to run things in a universe where various commanders pop back and forth through time. What I am protesting now is that the episode didn't make it clear to me. My lack of understanding of the command structure kinda just ruined my rewatch. Maybe I'm the only dolt in the audience who didn't understand that Picard was Garrett's superior in the here-and-now... but speaking on behalf of myself and any potential fellow dolts, it would have been nice to have it spelled out. Different point, not so much an objection as a wish: Given that the decision was in fact Picard's to make, than I do say that the ep would have been weightier and grimmer and more fantastic if Garrett and her crew had been played as far more resistant to the suicide mission rather than being on board for it. Then Picard would have been forced to give her a direct order to take her people back to die, and she would have blanched but painfully and nobly submitted, and I would have seen the full anguish of Picard's command decision, and the full measure of the gamble he was making on Guinan's powers. (Final note: Now that I understand it really *was* Picard's decision, the focus on him and not Garrett makes perfect sense.)

And, lastly: thanks to you both for explaining it to me :)

It always bothers me when Guinan, or anyone else, says Tasha Yar’s death was “empty”, meaningless (in Skin of Evil). Yar died trying to help a crewmate. How in the world is that empty or meaningless? And since the Federation was losing in the alternate universe, it seems she was destined to die whether she transferred to Enterprise-C or not. But I agree the episode is way better than most of S1 or 2. "Let's make sure that history never forgets the name ... Enterprise." I’m pretty sure that Captain Kirk already made sure that history would never forget the name Enterprise. Though yes, that would be all for naught if the Federation lost the war in the alternate universe.

It was the mud monster of the week.

@Linda and DLPB Yes, I'd say it was meaningless in the sense that it was completely preventable and her death didn't help the captive Troi whatsoever. If you compare that to potentially preventing a Klingon-Federation war (which arguably needed Yar after Captain Garrett was killed), then Yar going on the Enterprise C seems much more meaningful. Guinan was also not present when the Enterprise encountered Armus, so she may have only heard about what a waste it was for Tasha to do die and that the crew regrets being unable to stop an untimely death.

I take issue with the idea that Tasha died a "meaningless" death. Life (and death) are given meaning by the character of the person and the ideals they pursue, (and how they are remembered) not by the random chance and happenstance of how they died. Incidentally, Yar's death did absolutely help her crew. But for her death, Armis would undoubtedly have killed someone else in her place. She quite literally died to save the life of one of her crewmates.

As an aside, if Tasha had lived to 90 and died of a stroke, would that too have been "meaningless"? Does everyone who does not die in battle or deliberately sacrifice themselves for some noble cause (ie. 99.9999% of the population) die a "meaningless" death? As I see it being murdered by an evil puddle of goo is no less arbitrary and meaningless than any other kind of death from heart disease to earthquake to transporter accident. I'd call the contrary view rather nihilistic to be honest.

I wonder whether saying that Tasha's death was "meaningless" isn't meant as a nod to how Crosby left the show, more so than the specifics of how Yar died on the planet. Rather than writing the character out, or creating a storyline to explain Yar leaving the ship, they just inserted "ok, she's dead!" in some random episode. And to be fair, this wasn't an isolated incident, because there was literally no mention at all of Crusher leaving the ship prior to being introduced to Dr. Pulaski. All in all I would say that the writers were still doing things in a very slapdash manner, and the "meaningless" nature of Tasha's death feels to me like a meta reference to that. It's not that her death literally meant nothing, as Jason points out, but rather that it was worth nothing on a narrative level because the writers treated it like little more than taking out the trash.

"As an aside, if Tasha had lived to 90 and died of a stroke, would that too have been "meaningless"? " If I live to 90 and then die of a stroke I'd consider that fairly devoid of meaning, sure. It will just sting less because my life will have been more finished. Most deaths are meaningless. Most deaths of officers who are in the line of duty are not though. Her death did not assist them in defeating Armus. I always thought that was the point.

"Most deaths are meaningless." :(

"And to be fair, this wasn't an isolated incident, because there was literally no mention at all of Crusher leaving the ship prior to being introduced to Dr. Pulaski." I dunno. Not to defend The Child overly, it devoted an entire B plot to Wesley trying to decide whether to join Beverly at Starfleet Medical. It was maybe in media res (Crusher already off the ship) but the show spent time establishing where she was and how that affects the regular most closely associated with her in the first episode where she's absent. Re the general topic, Armus specifically underlined that he killed her for no reason, and that's why he did it. It's not hard to see why the crew didn't exactly see the poetry in a death which wasn't even an accident but an act taken out of malevolent nihilism.

@Peter G. - Just because a death is meaningless isn't a bad thing. I don't really care if my death has meaning as long as my life did and I don't suffer. There's nothing particularly meaningful about nodding out in a rocker while watching your favorite TV show at 95 and never waking up, but if you lived a good meaningful life, who cares that the last 10 minutes or so weren't particularly purposeful? I didn't mean it as a depressing or bad thing.

Agreed. The better measurement is how well one has lived, not how well they died. In that final battle sequence, for a moment it seemed like the Enterprise-D was going to get blown to bits before Enterprise-C could go back in time. And I wondered, what if Enterprise-D would have failed because their chief tactical officer was not with them? That would have been ironic. Enterprise-C was getting badly beaten in their own time. They jump to a future where their side has way better weapons—and still is destined to get badly beaten. I think I can believe that some crew members might want to go back to their own time and participate in a battle where in the slim case if they survive, there’s a chance to reunite with loved ones. And maybe you don’t have to be Guinan to have the feeling that you’re in a place and time that you don’t belong.

My sad face wasn't a commentary on whether a person's death ought to be their defining moment as compared with their life, but was just a reaction to the bleak-sounding comment that most deaths are meaningless. The implication there seems to be that that only a spectacular or game-changing death has 'meaning' (whatever that implies), and that ordinary or accidental deaths are without meaning, even if the person's life can be said to be 'more meaningful' than their death was. This is more or less what Jason said above. If you want to qualify death as merely the end of material contributions then I suspect you'd have to conclude that all deaths are meaningless, since meaning could only be given by things done while alive. But then it's basically a distinction without content, akin to saying that death is the end of life. But if some deaths have meaning and some don't, by what criterion is that decided? How spectacular the death was? That would sound like a rather Klingon estimation to me. And so I agree with Linda and Jason above on this one. I also agree that even in terms of pure utility Tasha's death wasn't useless. In fact, I would argue that since signing up to Starfleet carries inherent risk, anyone dying in the line of duty for any reasons should probably be categorized as a noble death, if we're going to be making categorizations at all. Really, though, I think the usage of "meaningless" in the case of Tasha might be more related to the general mentality that "we can't make sense of *why* Tasha had to die" that her comrades might have felt, which in itself is interesting because I do suspect that humans have an innate need to assign purposeful teleology to things. "Why did that happen?" is a question only to be asked if one believes that all things have, or ought to have, a purpose. A materialist view of the universe doesn't permit for 'why', only for 'how', and so I do think that even the question of whether Tasha's death was meaningless in itself carries the premise that deaths do have meaning, provided we can dimly try to understand what they are. "It had no meaning" might be better translated, in this context, to "we can't glean its meaning, and this is upsetting to us."

Funny enough, this discussion of meaningless death is based partially on Linda misremembering the actual line: "TASHA: Where am I supposed to be? GUINAN: Dead. TASHA: Do you know how? GUINAN: No...But I know that it was an empty death. A death without purpose." Which I think reflects on William B's comment that Armus killed out of sheer malevolence and Tasha's death neither served a purpose of furthering the mission or appeasing Armus. Surely, if the crew talked to Guinan about the incident, they'd mention the senseless cruelty of Armus. Finally, the word "meaningless" does come into play later in this episode when Riker is describing the imminent deaths of 125 Enterprise C crewmembers. A statement which Data is quick to correct is indeed not meaningless.

Well, Chrome, I don’t know that I misremembered as much as I summarized, what Guinan said, and what I thought I’d seen in the comments, whether here or on the Skin of Evil comment section. And though it’s been a good discussion, I have no desire to go over all of the comments to see if my overall impressions of them were incorrect. But it does seem to me that once asked, Guinan’s words were designed to manipulate, to provoke a specific response from Yar. And it works. Shortly thereafter Yar goes to Picard and requests the transfer, citing Guinan’s words. In truth, I don’t think the writers needed Guinan to give Yar that extra push. They’d written the love story and also provided a need for a tactical officer on Enterprise-C. Actually I could go further: I don’t know that the episode needs Guinan at all. What if: Enterprise-D discovers Enterprise-C and, through minimal techno-babble, realizes time-wise neither ship is where it’s supposed to be and ultimately settles on the strategy of sending Enterprise-C back thru the rift? Done right, I think that could work, too. Enterprise-C traveled 22 years into the future. And here we are more than 25 years after the episode first aired still talking about it. Pretty amazing.

@Linda Well, I didn't mean offense I just want to point out that Guinan's words more accurately describe a fate of dying to Armus than you summarized. And yes, Guinan was trying to provoke Yar because she knew Yar would be left with an empty death in the prime timeline. Normally, Starfleet officers do not mess with the timeline by regulation (even for romance) but the Enterprise crew has faith in Guinan's species ability to understand time. Thus, Yar did need Guinan's push.

Chrome, I know most people will disagree with me, and I don’t hold that against them, but this is what I feel: Yar had shown her character by dying in a failed attempt to aid a crewmember, and by other missions where she honorably served. My personal opinion: Guinan does Yar a disservice by using that event to manipulate Yar. Yar doesn’t need to be manipulated into doing the right thing. Lay the cards on the table, Yar would have willingly gone to Enterprise-C. But only, of course, if the writers wrote it that way.

@Linda Guinan's talk with Yar wasn't just about giving Yar a reason to go back in time. Remember that Picard was unwilling to upgrade the Enterprise C for fear of what it would do to the timeline? He was also against Tasha going back originally until he realized it was Guinan's idea. The writers must've seen a need to address that. It was also nice to give Guinan and Yar a scene together since they never got to meet in season 1.

Well, Chrome, I’d have to go back and watch the episode again to be sure. But my recollection is that Picard was already convinced that Guinan was correct by then. I just did a little background research on the writing of this episode and according to that source, the writers regretted how they had written Yar out of the series and wanted to give her a flashier exit. And I suspect that’s my real problem.

@Linda Picard was convinced sending the Enterprise C back was correct, but not that Tasha would go on board. Those are two separate things. Denise Crosby voluntary left the show because she didn't like her role in season one. However, she requested to be put back on this show and even to be on DS9 and Voyager, so take of that what you will. "Yesterday's Enterprise" is apparently Crosby's favorite episode.

Hmm. Chrome, I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree. And I’m okay with that. You and I agreed that Guinan manipulated Tar. Your POV: you’re okay with that, for the greater good. I could argue that the ends don’t justify the means. But that sounds like too heavy a philosophical discussion for this forum. Looking forward to picking nits with you on some other episode.

I should mention thatI I (re)watched this episode as part of an unbroken binge which lasted into season four, without pausing to review each episode while it was fresh in my mind. Therefore I won't go into too much detail. Except this one, because for some reason it really stuck in my head: They carry rocks in the ceiling! Really, in the scene where Garrett's bridge is blown up, the ceiling gives way and out tumbles an avalanche of various sized rocks. I watched in slow-mo just to check, and I can't imagine what else they could reasonably be construed to be. It always seemed kinda ridiculous to me that every time they get in a firefight things blow up all over the bridge in showers of sparks and flames and smoke, as if the whole place was running on old radio vacuum tubes, but now a bunch of obviously heavy, irregularly sized but basically rock shaped rocks tumble out of the ceiling and cause grievous injury to the Captain. Did they position the Captain's chair directly beneath the ship's collection of small boulders? It's a spaceship - everything should be as light as possible without sacrificing strength, and by the 24th Century I should think that would be very light indeed, so don't tell me these things are inexplicably broken up bits of iron girders or concrete or something. Anyway, there's my main contribution to the analysis of this episode. I don't think it really needs much else from me by now, but I'll give it a fling: I guess I'm in the good, probably very good, but not an instant classic group. I'd be willing to buy that it was an instant classic in 1989 in terms of what had preceded it on TNG, but in the bigger picture of what came out over the following 15 or 16 years of uninterrupted TV Trek, I can think of enough episodes which are markedly better that if I give this my highest accolade, I have no room left at the top for them (1989 was, BTW, around when I started regularly watching the series. I'd been aware of it before then, but it didn't start to click with me til around this point). My biggest problem while watching this episode is really probably my own fault more than the episode's. I guess I'm insufficiently versed in Trek history, but I wasn't clear that there was an ENT-C captained by someone called Garrett, which had existed between Kirk's and Picard's Enterprise, and it therefore seemed to me as if there weren't one but TWO alternate timelines going on. I couldn't understand which universe this other ship had come from. This distracted me quite a bit, and if it's something I should have known about, or I'm missing something obvious, the fault, as I said, is mine. Apart from that I enjoyed the episode a lot, though it did seem at times to be a bit too contrived or vague. I think the arguments about Guinan's hunch dictating Picard's decision are very valid. I'd thought it a little atypical of Picard while I was watching it, but one tends to get caught up by the creepy atmospherics of this quite effective performance, and to not overanalyse it at the time. As has been observed, this is probably as much Twilight Zone or Fantasy as SF, but ST has never really been the sort of Hard SF which John W. Campbell would have approved of. It does wander into other genres fairly regularly (that's if you even consider SF a genre to begin with). All the same it's inevitable and probably not unfair that it is going to attract the sort of viewership who expect it to cross its T's and dot its I's at least where commonsense is concerned. All in all, not much to complain about here, and a good but not great episode. They should do something about that ceiling insulation, though.

Lupe: They apparently forgot about circuit breakers and surge protectors in the future too. I seem to remember hearing about a Trek parody where the ship throws one of their exploding consoles at the enemy to take it out. I forgot what it was.

Prior to watching YE for the first time just a few minutes ago, I had astronomically high expectations. I was well aware that many consider it one of the best TNG episodes, that it's been called a classic etc. etc. Having just finished watching "Yesterday's Enterprise", I'm a tad disappointed mostly because my expectations were so high. Time travel stories always have their holes and this one is no exception although it maybe has fewer of them. I have to agree with Elliott and Kurgan who posted a couple of the initial comments in this thread. YE does pull out all the stops with a different bridge, different uniforms etc. to reflect the changed timeline. There is also an nice battle scene and some good lines between Picard/Guinan & Picard/Yar & Guinan/Yar. They even threw in a bit of romance (which I didn't give a shit for) with Yar/Castillo. I found the episode difficult to get a reading on at first -- how did the transformation of the Enterprise-D come about? Then it made sense with Yar back that the Enterprise-C coming into the future changed history etc. Bit of an arbitrary circumstance. As for the moral dilemma, I didn't see it as so much of a big deal as is made out by folks calling YE a classic. OK, so Guinan has her feelings (I can accept that) but I also feel Picard should tell the Enterprise-C to go through the rift since that is where they belong. Guinan should do better in articulating her feelings re. Enterprise-C as she did re. Yar's meaningless death (which then makes Yar request a transfer to Enterprise-C). Data makes the most valid argument that dying in battle will be seen as honorable by the Klingons and is what turns out to make the timeline the way we all know it to be. In any case, this is a riveting episode, a well-thought out story with some great action scenes and a bit of moral/ethical stuff. I'd rate it a strong 3.5 stars - I'm not enamored with it and, for me, it is not one of the top 5 TNG episodes (certainly not up there with BoBW, for example).

Fyi Tasha isn't dead according to star trek online's latest ep. Sela's father lied to her. She was sent to a prison camp that ended up abandoned along with T'Nae and Castillo

I love this episode, really I do. But every time I watch it I can't get over the fact that Wesley had no business on the ship in the new timeline. Since the Enterprise was now a ship of war with no children on board, Crasher would never be allowed to take him with her in the first place.

Eric Stillwell

I would like to thank Jamahl Epsicokhan for the lovely review -- not sure exactly when it was written, but I'm assuming maybe a decade ago!?! As the co-writer of the story for Yesterday's Enterprise, I'd like to thank all of you who enjoyed the episode, whether you consider it a classic or otherwise. For those of you who enjoy the pastime of nitpicking, let me just say: It's a television show! If science fiction writing was based entirely on the proposition that everything must be logical and scientifically accurate, then Star Trek would not exist -- because traveling faster than the speed of light is not possible. And trust me, my writing partner and I struggled through several story drafts trying to find a way to logically, factually establish a basis for Picard's decision to send the Enterprise-C back through the rift, but given that the timeline has been altered and no evidence to the contrary exists, it was Michael Piller's idea to give Guinan the extraordinary alien gift of perception through time and space. Ultimately, I think it worked nicely and established the unique relationship that exists between Picard and Guinean, especially in future episodes and even Star Trek Generations. Peace to all! Thanks for the passion.

@ Eric Stillwell, Don't mind the nitpickers! Many of us consider this story to be one of the best ever told on TV, so thank you for your work on it.

@Eric Stillwell If that's you, I echo Peter's sentiments, and as this is some of the best Star Trek, resting in what's often regarded as the best season of TNG. I think the only reason we get so many nitpicks is that it's hard to sharply criticize what is genuinely a great episode.

@Eric Stillwell You know trekkies.... this is what we do!! :-) Your position in trekdom is secure no matter what is chatted about here or on any other trek site. Fantastic Star Trek! Thank you for giving it to us.

Erik Campano

@Eric Stillwell Thank you for checking in on this site, and for a fantastic script!

RandomThoughts

Hello Everyone! @Eric Stillwell Neat! I am glad you stopped by and it'd be cool if you posted some thoughts on other episodes as well, though not to nitpick of course. :) Oh, and I always have held this episode in the highest regard. Regards... RT

Another truly transcendent episode. The use of lighting was brilliant in subtly conveying the changed timeline. The moral dilemma and its personal dimension affecting the doomed Tasha is compelling and everyone loves a bit of heroic sacrifice. Guinan is used very well indeed and Whoopi Goldberg 's debate with Patrick Stewart may be some of their finest work on the show. There are a few matters that didn't spoil it but jarred : There is a retcon error that isn't this episode's fault but subsequently turns up in 1991 at the end of ST:VI: The Undiscovered Country when we discover that peace broke out 60 years before Narendra. We also have the amazing completely variable size and power of the Klingon Bird of Prey class ship again. I mean come on-those ships could have been swatted like bothersome flies.

That is so cool one of the writers stopped by. Now that I'm watching Season 3 again (good Lord when will it end), the moment that really stood out for me was Yar's plea to stay with the Enterprise C. (Also, Stewart's performance in the episode is nothing short of unbelievable.) Anyway, back to Yar. Every time I see that one scene where she sits down with Picard, I am immediately reminded of "Million Dollar Baby." (Imagine, this episode of TNG aired 15 years before.) A couple of similar elements at play. Notably, the warrior seeking a meaningful death. But let's talk about Guinan a second. She takes over the role of the "outsider," very similar to the role that Clint Eastwood plays in many of his movies, in that she (and she alone) ultimately knows or does the Right Thing, however her actions or thoughts cannot be fully explained, or moreover she operates in a way that is considered morally unjustifiable/reprehensible by society/normal standards. The cop that has to go outside the law to capture the serial murderer. The coach that takes his boxer off life support and helps her die an honorable death. The bartender psychic (still serving drinks on a warship, eh?) against all reason insisting this is the wrong timeline and sending her colleague to a certain death. This is, in a sense, a form of assisted suicide. Picard is very clear that she is going to die. I love that scene so much. "Lieutenant!... Permission granted." "People die every day, mopping floors, washing dishes. You know what their last thought was? I never got my shot."

I've watched Star Trek from the Salt Creature episode in the TOS. For many years Yesterday's Enterprise would come to mind at the thought of the best TNG episode. For those who question a civilian on a warship at war, you might google James Langley Dalton, VC, who was a civilian when he earned his award, albeit in the 19th Century. Many interesting comments that point out things that I had never considered. Very enjoyable.

TNG at its finest. A classic without question--4 stars.

Startrekwatcher

3 stars I must be in the minority of TNG fans who doesn’t see this as a masterpiece or classic episode. It’s entertaining but nothing really stands out to make me say its a classic It’s a pretty straightforward alternate universe/timeline storyline. The best parts involved Yar and there is where the emotional resonance occurs and that resonance is the one thing that elevated the hour beyond the routine action adventure premise. Yes there is some neat alterations from uniforms to the bridge to Ten Forward but nothing truly special.

Since TNG ended I’ve read several behind the scenes regarding story development and o always agreed with the ultimate direction the initial germ of a story idea goes EXCEPT YE. I found the original pitch for this episode more interesting where a Vulcan research team goes through the Guardian of Forever and Surak is accidentally killed resulting in a new timeline where the Vulcans have evolved into a very Romulan-like race who has declared war on what’s left of the Federation. Yar appears in that story as a result of the altered past but it is visiting Ambassador Sarek who realizes he must return to the past and assume Surak’s place to restore the timeline. That to me is a far more fascinating premise I’m also one of the few who was okay with Yar’s shocking and densely tragic demise in Skin of Evil. I saw no need for the writers to redress it however I also was okay with how YE handled Revisiting it by having Yar learn it was senseless and choosing to go out in a blaze of glory.

In this day and age of endless remakes and reboots, this is one TNG episode they should turn into a movie.

Sean Hagins

Now, I must confess, I did not read EVERY single comment, so forgive me if someone already said this, but as much as I like Star Trek TNG, and this episode in particular, something that bugged my friend Mike and I even way back then was how often the Klingons fired on the Enterprise-D and how few times the D fired back! In all battles it seems that way, but here it was ridiculous! The Klingons fire about 20 times whilst Picard asks for damage reports and casualities, and then he fires back about 3 times and blows up a Bird of Prey! If that is actually true, then the Enterprise-D should have been able to handle all 3 ships! I just deal with that by pretending that the 4 ships had a real blow for blow fight, and Picard's Enterprise was finally overwhelmed But don't think I don't like this episode. Star Trek is on the most part, good, clean entertainment, such a rarity even then with shows having sex, violence, cursing and other bad things in it. A good 45 minutes of trivial fun! I'm glad in a way that the show didn't dwell to much on the realities of the war-I just wish the execution of the Enterprise-D being overwhelmed was a bit more believable

A great show, no question. But why the hell did the Enterprise-C so conveniently appear right in front of the Enterprise-D? They could have tried to explain that somehow following out of the logic of the story. Wouldn't have hurt.

@Markus: I’ve pointed that same thing out before. It’s an incredible coincidence that the Enterprise-D is at the rift in both timelines when the Enterprise-C comes through. But that is a concept of television. It would make less sense to the viewer/or take up to much time to explain why “our” Enterprise-D suddenly shifts realities to the alternate timeline while it’s light years away from the right when the Enterprise-C comes through. @Sean Hagins: Yes, as many others have commented in the past, Ent-D is rather passive in this battle compared to what we know it is capable of. We can explain that away if we can imagine that a lot of it’s torpedoes have been depleted from previous battles and there phaser reserves are also lower; and that too many torpedo blasts would further destabilize the rift. In reality, I’m sure it was a budget thing. This was already an expensive episode and it has a lot of FX shots. And even this space battle, as passive as the Enterprise-D is, is still very exciting and well handled. To those complaining about the use of Guinan in this episode and how her mysticism wasn’t necessary, it’s a sci-fi show! It broadens her character and makes her even more intriguing to learn that she has powers to intuit changes in space-time. It is entirely possible that if she wasn’t used on the show then the writers could have retooled it so that Picard and crew would independently come to the conclusion that the Enterprise-C should return to its own time and make a noble sacrifice. But having Guinan there is great because it makes that character more interesting and alien, she gets to have dramatic conflict off of Picard, we see the bond of their relationship if he truly trusts her intuition, and Whoopi Goldberg was a major A-list star at the time and a great actress so it makes it more of an event episode. And I have no problem with a bartender being on this warship. Again, it’s Guinan! Haha. Regarding people’s issues with Tasha Yar/Denise Crosby being back/hurting this episode, I thought her return here was brilliant and exciting! What a great way to bring her “back to life” and highlight a major difference between the regular timeline and this alternate one. Crosby wasn’t the greatest actress in general on the series but this episode is probably her best work and in no way does she damage it. Plus, the love story is great because I totally buy into it despite how fast it happens. I see and feel the chemistry between Yar and Castillo and also, Christopher McDonald is an excellent actor and makes Castillo so charming and fleshed-out. There is a big debate on here about the whole “meaningless death” thing and I get both sides of it. A meaningless death is a very real thing that happens a lot in real life and to see it depicted in “Skin of Evil” is rather bold. But for TV viewers that can be underwhelming and depressing and considered a poor way to send off a character whether said character is beloved or not. But people can have their cake and eat it too: our Tasha Yar still died the meaningless death in “Skin of Evil” while the alternate Tasha got the heroic death in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (although she didn’t end up dying directly from those events after all lol). Anyway, this is still my absolute favorite episode of Star Trek ever and I can watch it infinitum forever. Everything is on point here: the acting, writing, direction, special effects, set design/lighting, incredible score, intriguing storyline, the action, the dread, the mystery, the love story, the guest stars, the brief bit of humor in the beginning, the filling in on the history of the Federation with the Enterprise-C. Just great stuff all around!

@Space Cadet Actually, that is something my friend Mike used to laugh about through the entire run of the show. A bad guy would shoot Enterprise half a dozen times whilst Picard looks up from his Earl Grey tea to ask for casualities and shield strength until finally mustering up the energy to return fire! (We used hyperbole quite a bit, but seriously, it is kind of amusing. Not that I condone bloodthirstiness or use of weapons, but in the context of the show, it never made sense)

One of the things that I really objected to in the recent Discovery trip to the Mirror Universe was how nearly every character had some kind meaningful counterpart in such a radically different setting, where the course of history would have been so different. I was even given to question how ruthless empire could even produce functionally identical ships with such optimistic / whimsical names such as Discovery, or Shenzhou (Divine Craft). Of course the Mirror Universe has always functioned this way throughout Trek, but until Discovery it never hung around long enough for me to start questioning its plausibility. It seems quaint discussing how the Enterprise ship and crew could be so similar given such a radically different course of history. However, in this episode it didn't trouble me at all; the adjusted aesthetics sold it to me and the story was solid enough that I didn't care about even thinking the details through. I found this version of the "present" entirely believable. I've always been a bit disappointed by the action at the end, I have to say. Much like the battle in Generations, the crew seem more intent on reporting the details of how the ship is getting battered, instead of bothering to return fire!

Sarjenka's Little Brother

I always have a difficult time deciding whether "Yesterday's Enterprise" or "Best of Both Worlds" is the best Next Gen show for me. The opening sequence is truly amazing with three epic WTFs. You get the wonderful little character piece with Worf and Guinan and the prune juice. Then the rift opens and Guinan issues that "no" of dread, knowing something is about to go very badly but not sure what. Then we get the stunning bridge sequence -- with Worf and Deanna deliberately placed in the shot -- as they are trying to figure out the rift. Then as it's announced a ship is exiting the rift, we get the blurred shot on Picard for a second, and THERE STANDS TASHA YAR ON A FAMILIAR YET VERY DIFFERENT BRIDGE. That's our WTF No. 1. I still remember my delighted shock on the original airing. Then there's zero reaction from Picard or any of the rest of the crew. That's our WTF No. 2. They aren't even phased that Tasha is there (or more subtly, that Troi and Worf are gone). Whatever the *uck is happening, the crew thinks Tasha standing there is completely normal. Then before you can even take in what has just happened and try to figure it out, the other ship completes the journey through the rift. I LOVED Denise Crosby's delivery of that line calling out the ship's letters and the dramatic pause before saying "U S S ... Enterprise." There's your WTF No. 3. We've been WTF'd three times and the crew has been WFT'd once! A true trifecta of mind-blowing moments, and we've just started! BRILLIANT OPENING. And the show engages you with every line until the beautiful ending line in Ten-Forward with Guinan: "Geordi, tell me about ... Tasha Yar." Everything was on fire: Acting, directing, musical score, writing. An epic piece of Trek storytelling. If I had one thing to "fix," I'd actually take the bold step of removing another character or two from the Altered Timeline bridge: Wesley for sure. And maybe even Riker. Think about it -- they've been at war for 20 years with the Klingons, and yet they've all made their way to the Enterprise except Troi and Worf. In this kind of crisis, Riker should have his own ship. Surely something as disrupting as a 20-year war would have propelled these people farther off track from their lives than for all but two of them to still be on the Enterprise. Dramatically, you needed most of them there. But it might have been interesting and bold to have an unfamiliar character as Number One. And my nomination would be Shelby! That would have made her moment on "BoBW" even more momentous. Anyway, that's a quibble, thinking-too-hard thing. I simply love this episode, and though it no longer holds any WTFs for me anymore, I love it all the same.

@Sarjenka's Little Brother Good observations and review. I think the reason why they wouldn't want to shake up the Enterprise crew too much with, for example, a new first officer is that they'd need to spend a lot of time introducing such a character. A new high ranked character would naturally have a lot of important scenes to facilitate the level of crisis depicted here. However, and rightfully so, most of the character development was going to the guest stars of the Enterprise C crew. Significant screen time was needed for us to sympathize with their struggle and maybe even their reasons for not wanting to go back to their own time even though it meant saving history. It's also important that the Enterprise C crew be well-established so it would be believable that Yarr would want to join that crew. If we only got a few brief lines from the C crew, it would seem outrageous and forced that Yarr would want to go die (again). So, while I like the Shelby character a lot and your reasoning works well in-universe, I don't think they could've done her justice by throwing her into this show. Plus, one of the interesting parts of the BOBW was that Shelby was a relatively unknown person, an upstart. That brash tenacity coming from newcomer was part of Shelby's charm and it contrasted well with Riker, who was arguably doing the opposite with his career.

It was necessary for the Enterprise-C to go through the rift to fix the timeline so that they wouldn't build Enterprise bridges with rocks in the ceiling anymore.

Yummy time distortion, butterfly effect, Klingon aggressors, … a smorgasborg (pun) for a scifi enthusiast like me. More More

I wonder if people know what mirror means. A mirror shows the same picture in reverse. Why wouldn't a mirror universe have the same people? Furthermore, the reason I like time travel stories is that they present infinite possibilities. If you understand the concepts of a multiverse and infinite timelines then it should be completely plausible that a universe or a timeline might only have subtle changes. With this in mind, could they have shown us an alternate timeline in which an entirely different crew was on Enterprise D? Sure but what fun would that be? Could they have shown a timeline in which the Enterprise C comes through the rift and meets the Excelsior rather than Enterprise D? Of course, but what would be the point? What they did was to show the most interesting and relevant timeline to the viewers who tuned in to see Enterprise D and the familiar crew. I don't mind nitpicking but I'd hate to watch some of the episodes that some people seem to want. "Tune in to our next episode of STTNG when we have an entirely different crew on an entirely different ship because it's a time travel story from an entirely different alternate universe." I pass.

Prince of Space

Dear Jovet: Your comment WAY up there on June 12, 2015 is lovely. It encapsulates all that is wrong with nitpicking ST eps to the Nth degree for every little science-fiction detail... while pointing out that some nitpicking over bad writing is perfectly normal. A seriously well-written and thoughtful comment, and much like Enterprise C I have gone into the future to give you kudos. Since I *am* 3 years in your future, pay heed: Facebook stock. Buy LOTS of it.

Re-watched this great ep recently. Did anyone else's ears perk up when before the final combat scene Riker mentions a previous battle that Starfleet won at a place called Archer-4 (not sure on the number)? I immediately wondered if this reference had any bearing on the creators of "Enterprise" naming their captain Archer. It's probably unlikely and I suppose we'll never know, but it did make me sit up a bit when I heard it this time around.

Mads Leonard Holvik

One of the very best epidodes of TNG. I don't see any faults with it. It's got everything. Picards makes the right decision to listen to Guinan. It's got nothing to do with new age. Patrick Stewart is amazing here. Tasha's legacy is forever secure in Star Trek lore.

Someone called Yar a bad actress that couldn't handle a love story. I totally disagree. She is a human being like millions other she is an individual, she reacts and show feeling the way SHE can! I think she does a very good job! Others complain about trivial details like why did the enterprise only fire 3 torpedoes or how come the Enterprise happened to be just at those coordinates? All besides the point. This episode has a much broader perspective.

Cesar Gonzalez

Superb epusode. Yar was handled beautifully in the episode and it was awesome seeing her character weaved into the story. It would have been cool if it had been Kirk coming through the rift.

@Cesar Gonzalez "It would have been cool if it had been Kirk coming through the rift..." When Lt Castillo was first pulled from the wreckage of the Enterprise-C, the way the lighting was and the angle of the camera, combined with the first glimpse of the older Starfleet uniforms, for a brief glorious moment I thought it might genuinely have been Shatner! Can you imagine?!!

Agree with those who think it's one of the best TNG episodes. Was the excellent acting mentioned in previous Comments? I never thought I'd still be watching and loving Star Trek since TOS!! Thank you, @Eric Stillwell for stopping by and commenting.

For anyone wondering why Picard would trust Guinan to such a level, remember that she is an alien who is several hundred years old at least and they have a very special relationship that has been explored in various episodes. Picard probably trusts her more than anyone else on the ship. I thought it was very in keeping that he trusted her enough to do this, and only enhanced the portrayal of their special bond.

I never understood this alleged "special relationship" between Guinan and Picard. In BOBW she claims that it goes deeper than family or friendship but what is she even talking about? The events of Time's Arrow? She spent a half day with him maximum. He (kind of) saves her life, but that's it? At least he slept with Vosh and went camping with her. I feel like something was left on the cutting room floor with that one and the whole back story behind their supposed deep bond got aborted somehow. As for Yesterday's Enterprise, I think the very fact of the Entetprise B's time travel was enough to lend credence to her claims. It's not like she was just pulling the idea from thin air. Picard would have been crazy not to seriously consider the possibility that history had changed, regardless of Guinan.

@ Jason R., I have to be honest, my head canon says that this was explained during ST: Generations. It actually wasn't! But it should have been. Imagine for the moment that the script was actually good, and that the notion of a Nexus *in time* was explored to any reasonable degree. What would that mean? For one thing, it would probably mean that the chronological time in which someone enters or leaves it means nothing from the perspective of the Nexus itself. Like perhaps the DS9 wormhole, it would just exist outside of linear time. So therefore anyone in the Nexus would quite possibly be in there concurrently with anyone else who entered "before" or "after" them. Picard may enter in the year 2374 or whatever, while Guinan and the El-Aurians entered and left again in Kirk's time, but that local time difference would mean nothing and they'd have been in the Nexus together. Not only together, but as time there has no meaning we might argue they'd have been in there for near-eternity together. I think that's the trap of the Nexus that they never bothered with: it's not that you stay because it's enjoyable, but that you stay because time has no meaning and you cease to have a reason to do anything. No time constraint = no motivation. So you'd basically just sit in there for eternity surfing the web or whatever, and never find the desire to return. So now imagining that Picard and Guinan spent eons together there, well, that would surely explain why they're closer than friends or family. Even more so if they helped each other finally get out, let's just say. But as the story went Kirk and Picard got themselves out with little difficulty, the entire premise was spoiled as a result, the Nexus meant nothing and consisted of a pony ride and not much more, and Guinan's relationship to Picard there was left unexamined. What a failure. Ugh.

9.5/10 I don't ponder the great mysteries of time travel so won`t be poking holes into this episode. It does make me want to pay attention more to the history of the Federation and the Klingons and I am sure when I go up and read Jammer`s review and the comments I will be flooded with both. +1 for Tasha getting a great story and a much better death. (a small -1 for her making out in the transporter room, seriously the relationship was touching as it was and they could have done that in an alcove to keep them in character as two dedicated lieutenants.) I enjoyed the discussion on the logic of time travel and what belonged where between Tasha and Jean Luc and wondered if it mirrored a similar discussion around the writers` table.

Re watched this again today, and again it's fabulous. I think I was too harsh about the battle at the end; it is actually pretty damn exciting (especially for this time in Trek's history where extended ship to ship combat sequences are really rare). Other things I love: how Picard very quickly and decisively comes around to the correct course of action. He may not know how it will play out, but he knows it makes sense, even if it's based on Guinan's intuition. He totally shuts down Riker's (reasonable) objections; his mind is made. The arc with Tasha Yar is brilliant. On rewatch of series 1 I found her to be a pretty insubstantial character, with not the best acting from Denise Crosby. Here she totally sells her character as a tough, pragmatic warrior. For all Crosby's previous shortcomings her scene requesting a transfer from Picard was spot on. On the whole the Tasha story really grounds the whole thing, giving us something deeply personal to invest in rather than pure focus on the temporal shenanigans. I'm glad this episode paved the way for more of Crosby; particularly when she reprises her role in All Good Things. It just made that episode complete for me.

Troi and Yar have the cringiest dialogue of all the characters in Sesson 1. It's doubtful that someone of Glenn Close or Meryl Streep's ability could have made something of that material. Crosby was hamstrung by bad scripting, I actually don't fault her for being annoyed by how Yar was written.

Masterful. Some truly wonderful performances, Whoopi, Patrick and the actress playing Captain Garrick, especially. Crosby was good, too. The quickie romance was done about as well as it could be - the extraordinary life-and-death circumstances and low key presentation made it believable and engaging (instead of nauseating, as in many the quickie ST romance). Though I gotta say, that actor playing Castillo looks so much like Joe Piscopo that I kept flashing back to Piscopo's awful turn as Data's comedy mentor. Yeeeeee. Loved the scene in the ready room when Picard tells then he's sending The Enterprise C back - fantastic camera work as we slowly pan through the players. The mood setting throughout was excellent. Perfect. Sadness. Sweetness. Right and wrong. Terror. Determination. Courage. Confidence. Sacrifice. Leadership. Trust. Time - lives so predetermined, so tethered, yet so completely malleable and free. So, so short. The quest for meaning and purpose in this well ordered, yet wholly random, Universe. The balance of instinct and intellect - so hard to do right, but so important to do right. The ending, as they fought off the Klingons and Geordi cleared everyone out of engineering, had my heart pounding and tears in my eyes. It didn't matter that I'd seen this one before, and I remember how it ended. Good stuff - a classic!

I noticed something I hadn't before, which I think I had previously ascribed to this being an alt-universe. Tasha is pretty different here than I remember her from S1, and it's not just the aesthetic of her slicked back hair. I feel more like the slick short hair is indicative of a character trait that she seems to also be acting for the first half of the episode: a no-nonsense stoic efficiency machine, who won't show emotions easily and is heavily on her guard. That's a cool concept and she played it well. So the question is: was this what they intended back in S1? Somehow I doubt it, or if they did then they failed miserably. Mostly her character had no definition at all, and very little to do in the episodes. I guess that's why Crosby quit. Frankly I think the show was a touch misogynist in S1 in terms of the roles it assigned to women: soft caregivers with 'insightful' but irrelevant contributions to episodes. Tasha should have been the counter-argument to that, except she really wasn't. But it would make sense: she survived a really tough planet wirh rape gangs, is the security chief (a fact that never makes sense in S1 when you watch it), and in The Naked Now takes the opportunity to take Data into her quarters. Why would she do this; is it ever explained? I could explain it if we assume she's supposed to be completely emotionally closed off and preferring efficiency over softness. We might suppose she likes Data because he doesn't offer annoying emotional complications, and because she digs his uber-efficient manner. And her closed nature would therefore be turned on its head by going to sexy-mode, fitting the theme of the episode. Except for one thing - she was never portrayed in those ways, so it doesn't make sense after all. Maybe they meant to portray her that way over time and the writers never got around to it? I dunno. It would fit much better than what we got, such as the much maligned penalty box scene. And even her overall behavior strikes me as being often reactionary rather than cold and stoic, which adds to her not really looking like a defined character. So I appreciate what we get in Yesterday's Enterprise, with (I think) the portrayal of Tasha as she should have been in the first place. My only gripe is that because of the quick need to expendite her romance with Castillo I think she gives way far too quickly with the smiles and flirting, and it's quite sudden too because earlier on she was professional and reserved with him and seemed to give way rather quickly after he smiled once or twice. I would have rather seen a romance portrayed as something other than cutesy flirting. Actually this is one reason I sort of like Worf/Deanna later on; not because it goes anywhere, but because their dynamic is unusual which I think is neat. Also. wow. Whoopie is so good in this one. Even blows Stewart out of the water, who required himself to push the tension "not good enough, dammit!" where she could portray all of that wrongness with that calm of hers.

A quick and perhaps not well thought out counterpoint, Peter: Perhaps it is actually S1 Tasha that is what her true nature should be, someone who can be prone to emotional moments (not as bad as S1 portrayed since S1 was terrible, character-wise, all around). I could see the cold, serious, "heavily on her guard" nature from YE as simply being a continuation of her life from the failed colony instead. In YE, she moved from one war zone to another. Thus, her cold demeanor is simply her being in survival mode, and she never grew out of it. One could even argue that, combining S1 emotional Tasha to YE cold Tasha, we have an argument that the Trek utopia had a positive impact on her. In S1, she is no longer cold and weary, but rather can relax and act naturally due to her new and improved environment. Perhaps she is able to still take her skills learned on her planet and use them for security (ignoring how incompetent Starfleet security is in general...) but without the crippling fear of home can do it without repressing herself. Enh, or it's just bad writing in S1... Hard to say what Tasha's true character would have been based off how bad it was. Remember, Picard was a grumpy old man throughout the entire season!

@ Skeptical, A counterpoint to your counterpoint: I like YE Tasha, and don't like S1 Tasha, therefore in my head canon YE Tasha is the correct one :) Or at least she's really something, even if it's not actually the original something they had in mind.

@Peter, Skeptical, Interesting points about Tasha. I think either could be correct. One thing that makes me tend to agree with Peter is that the big sacrifice of the episode is that Tasha doesn't exist in the other world. I wonder if we can interpret this as basically saying that this world's Tasha - - competent, icy, controlled, badass in a quiet way, heroic - - is someone who actually fits in better in the "war" world than in the peaceful version of the Enterprise. Obviously the literal reason she only exists in this one is because Armus didn't kill her, but maybe the symbolism in it is that this Tasha, who is genuinely admirable, is someone who is in some ways made for war, and cannot really exist in a peaceful world. I think this presents us with a pretty beautiful message about heroic soldiers, wherein Tasha willingly sacrifices herself for a world which not only she doesn't live in, but couldn't, but which is better for everyone else that she cares about. This maybe works if we take this episode as arguing (retroactively, of course) that s1 Tasha didn't quite come into focus partly because she wasn't actually in her element. And indeed the show didn't really need her. I'm not saying the show, at its post-s1 superior self, couldn't make good stories about a warrior adapting to relative safety (they do this type of thing with Worf, Ro, Kira, Torres sort of), but it might be that the best way for Tasha to shine is in this type of story, which maybe shows this is more the real Tasha (in a way).

I'm awestruck by this episode in a way that leaves me lost for words. How wonderful it is to have an episode truly centre itself on Guinan, rather than having her flit in and out of others' stories like an enigmatic butterfly in an excellent hat. Her firm conviction, even knowing she can never prove herself, is played beautifully -- and the way she looks at Tasha, dead woman walking, is heartrending. God damn though, Tasha. Back in S1 I found her character poorly conceptualised and poorly executed. Her backstory in particular always seemed overly grimdark to me (on the run from rape gangs since the age of *five*? good lord you could tell me that was parody edginess and I'd believe you in a heartbeat), but hey, here's a dark timeline where maybe that level of extreme survival comes into play a lot more directly. This is definitely a different Tasha. She's clearly a character with a relentless drive, not an often-formless crew-filler. And when presented with a moment where she can retroactively save billions, she seizes it with no hesitation and with a renewed sense of purpose. I can't imagine having cause to say *any* of this about the character as we knew her before. "Tell me about Tasha Yar." I feel we've now got a lot more worth telling.

One of the three or four great TNG episodes, for me. Very memorable. That said though, when you think about it - the premise is quite odd, isn't it? Picard agrees to erase the last 22 years of history as he knows it, on the advice of the lady who collects the glasses in the ship's bar (the real oddity of course is why someone of Guinan's wisdom and perception does that job in the first place). What's really striking isn't how different the two timelines are: it's how similar, 22 years after they diverged. Why, Worf and Tasha apart, are exactly the same people in the same jobs on the Enterprise, in such different circumstances? What's that sticking out of Captain Garrett's head, as she lies dead on the bridge of her ship? It looks like a miniature starship toy. Denise Crosby acts out of her skin in this one. In all honesty I don't remember her being a particularly good actor in the first series. Must have worked on her craft in the intervening couple of years. Anyway. Definitely one that rewards the necessary suspension of disbelief.

Why is it in yesterday's Enterprise the 3 battle cruisers are bird of pray.

I read this week is the 30th anniversary of this episode’s premiere. Eric Stilwell and Trent Ganino submitted a fan script which Michael Piller liked. Ronald D. Moore was tasked to rework that script to make this legend. Apparently, it was a minor miracle to get this made after the shift in writers in season two. What a different world it was for Star Trek with the open script submission policy. Thanks to everyone involved!

I rewatched this and I have the disdain for the battle scene as I did the first time I saw it. If this was how Starfleet ships fight, no wonder they were losing. 3:1 is long odds, but I always the sort of 17th century style combat of firing once, getting hit, firing once again, getting hit, and so on. We saw previous episodes where they fired a lot and repeatedly- Q Who, we'd see it used like crazy in Best of Both Worlds, and again in Darmok.

I always assumed 1701-D had depleted their photon torpedoes.

I watched quite a few episodes of TNG when it was originally aired and wasn't enough of a 'fan' to follow onto the spinoffs (and from what I've heard, Berman is definitely a mismatch for the material). As well, I haven't seen every episode nor care about the lore, only the concepts and how those concepts are handled on an episode by episode basis, with only really being nitpicky about character motivations, performances, etc. You know, 'does it hold up as part of the series and as a standalone?' And the sci-fi stuff...well, yeah, it's sci-fi. Literally every sci-fi movie/series (even the movie Primer which took itself a little too seriously on the sci-side of sci-fi) can be dismantled because really the story and execution of the story is more important in...storytelling. So I'm just commenting on my perspective as I drop a 9/10 review here. I'm rewatching the entire series front to back and so far, this has been my favorite episode. Most of them, I have playing in the background while I am working on something else, but this one I stopped what I was doing and actively watched it start to finish. To some of the commenters talking about Picard listening to Guiana, I don't think that was a hangup of writing as many people point out. I think Picard, knowing that the Federation was going to lose the war anyway found hope in 'this timeline isn't right'. However, I think where expanding the episode into more parts might have been interesting would be exploring how he lived a life of war that should have never happened. They do touch on this idea with Yar, but finding out you had an unnecessary existence inside of a 20 year war where you likely had many friends who died in it...I would think Picard would have a little trouble dealing with it. However, given the format of 45-ish minutes that the story must be told in, I don't mind it not being there. For the other comments that Yar shouldn't go back after Picard fought, well, maybe that's implied in the point I just brought up. Maybe Picard thinks his death would be pointless in this timeline and giving Yar a chance to correct her pointless death is something he thinks he can do given he is about to have a heroic last stand for something he thinks can prevent the war from ever happening. And finally, I think comments trashing the actress portraying Yar generally have no merit. I won't say she's the best thing to ever grace TNG, but people really overstate the negatives of her performance to the point of unreasonable vitriol. I simply don't get it. No one in the first season was doing all that great. As the series goes on, everyone in the cast begins maturing into their character. That's just how series work. Even in films, as shooting progresses, you can sense whether the movie was shot in sequence or out of sequence because of the longer time spent in character. At any rate, again, dropping a 9/10 on this episode. Not perfect, but is both energetic and poses interesting concepts in a concrete form that often are just silly discussions one might have while smoking a joint or having a beer with a close friend. Very cool and very Star Trek.

Jeffrey Jakucyk

I rather enjoy how every part of the ship got darker and more atmospheric. It really looks great, though I'm not sure that's the best idea for a place like Sickbay. The exception is Ten Forward, which got much brighter. They took the lounge and made it into a cafeteria/mess hall just by adding some light, bustling crowds, and background comm traffic, excellent work. Bummed we never got to see what a TKL looks like, since Guinan just kind of wandered off to clear tables rather than getting Tasha's and Castillo's orders. No prune juice available either I suppose. I always found Picard's hushed admission to Captain Garrett about the state of the war to be quite chilling. "The war is going very badly for the Federation, far worse than is generally known. Starfleet Command believes defeat is inevitable. Within six months we may have no choice but to surrender." *shudder* This is a truly outstanding hour of television.

I'm going through a partial rewatch of The Twilight Zone (original), and rewatched The Last Flight (season 1) the other night. I recommend it for fans of this episode; it has a pretty similar premise and plot mechanics, though its thematic weight is a bit pared down to personal courage and sacrifice rather than the collective courage and sacrifice of the Enterprise-C.

I agree this is among the best. However, through out the episode, I get the feeling that they are trying to escape their future and destiny rather than trying to change their past history.

There is a weird sort of Christian morality underpinning this episode, this idea that it’s good and right to be a sacrificial lamb, to put yourself “on the cross” so to speak and spill your blood to save others, but that’s kind of ridiculous. Yes, war is unpleasant (though not always bad, and before you ask — I am a veteran) but any sane person would rather be alive in the midst of a terrible war, where they have some chance of surviving until their natural expiration, if the alternative is to avoid the war by means of their certain death. You pose the question ‘would you go back in time and kill Hitler?’ and my answer is absolutely not. If there was no WWII, Hungary would not have been occupied by the Soviets, and then there would’ve been no uprising and invasion in 1956, which means that my grandfather would not have had to flee, which means that he would never come to the UK and thus I would not have ever existed. WWII certainly wasn’t worth it for all of the Germans subjected to mass rape by the Red Army or tortured to death by the Stasi or the Palestinians whose 70 year dispossession has been justIfied in the eyes of many by the Jewish Holocaust, but it was worth it to me because I owe my existence to it. Also, since Star Trek assumes a many world’s interpretation to be true (I don’t, I’m with Bohr and Heisenberg on this question) then there is no right or wrong timeline, they’re all right and Whoopi Goldberg’s assertion that this one is wrong is nonsense.

@ Jakob, "There is a weird sort of Christian morality underpinning this episode, this idea that it’s good and right to be a sacrificial lamb, to put yourself “on the cross” so to speak and spill your blood to save others, but that’s kind of ridiculous." While I wouldn't want to comment on why you do or don't like Christian-type morality, you really don't see how it would be a good thing to go to the defense of people being attacked by Romulans and die trying to save them? Having served, you would really argue that there is literally no point in participating in a rescue or defense action even if there is little chance of success? You don't see the value - both for morale and for honor - in finding it unacceptable to let defenseless people be gunned down, Klingon or otherwise? Because that's what this is about: how when the Klingons see Enterprise-C die fighting for them it cements the Khitomer Accords into a real alliance, because they realize it's not just a detente but that they're dealing with people with values.

Peter G. — The issue that I take with this Christian moral framework is that it is slave morality, the universalizing of the plight imposed onto slaves — a slave is forced to sacrifice himself for the good or his master, what a slave morality does is to create a virtue of this oppression so that instead of being a humiliation and causing the slave to feel pathetic and weak, it is reframed as a beautiful and virtuous thing. Essentially, most slaves could never hope to become a master, to use their strength to impose a set of values which serves them and their interests; instead, slave morality works by subversion, convincing the people to more or less enslave themselves by imbuing the indignities imposed on a slave with nobility. It’s this attitude that causes people to truly believe that the right thing to do is eschew what will make them happy, satisfied or even healthy/alive, to truly feel that it is better to fly into a losing battle voluntarily and die so that others might live is a superior option to living. It is better to have the master’s morality. That begins with the fundamental realisation that there is no moral phenomena in the objective sense, only moral interpretations of phenomena and from this derives the fundamental principle that wrong is what is harmful to me and right is what is helpful or advantageous to me. In the context of “Yesterday’s Enterprise” it means that for Captain Picard it is right that the Enterprise C should return to the past and for the crew of the Enterprise C it means that it is right to remain in the future where at the very least there is possibility for survival. “you really don't see how it would be a good thing to go to the defense of people being attacked by Romulans and die trying to save them? Having served, you would really argue that there is literally no point in participating in a rescue or defense action even if there is little chance of success? You don't see the value - both for morale and for honor - in finding it unacceptable to let defenseless people be gunned down, Klingon or otherwise? Because that's what this is about: how when the Klingons see Enterprise-C die fighting for them it cements the Khitomer Accords into a real alliance, because they realize it's not just a detente but that they're dealing with people with values?” All of this is moot because no advantage or good can come to me if I am dead. That one might believe that it is the right and noble solution to sacrifice oneself in the most complete way to give others that advantage is because they’ve been indoctrinated to the lionisation of the plight of the slave. I served partially because I was also indoctrinated into the morals of slavery, it took me awhile to realise that the safety, prestige, power etc of my country is meaningless to me if I am dead and that it is antithetical to the cause of *me* to die so that others can enjoy those things. That is not to say that all military service is a manifestation of slavery — the training, knowledge etc has and I suspect will continue to help me achieve my goals and ultimately I think that the experience of risking your life for that sake of others’ lives makes one realise that it is just not worth it, the sacrifice isn’t a noble ideal it’s the result of being more or less brainwashed into perpetuating your own smallness and powerlessness.

I'm as leftist (European leftist) and as atheistic as they come and condemn the intolerant leanings of religious people but where do you see a Christian connection here? Or to slavery? What happens here is a group of people deciding that things should play out as they did. In this case that means peace between the two most powerful realms in the known galaxy which saves the life's of an endless number. Sure it is sacrifice but if you are willing to live for something then that often means that you are willing to die for something. In what way that means slave mentality is not really clear to me.

Maybe there's some kind of Nietzsche 101 going on in that argument; master vs slave morality. Except for one thing: slave morality in that sense is about taking a bad thing that you can't change and pretending it's good because you can't change it. But that's not what's happening here: Enterprise C had a decision to make and chose what they saw as the best future for the Federation. That is not a 'slave' role, and any idea that sacrificing yourself makes you some kind of slave has the notion of leadership backwards. Being in charge is supposed to mean that *you* are the one who has to take responsibility for those under you. Sacrifice to protect your people is the sign of a leader; it's the slave's move to let your own people go to the wolves and save only yourself (PS - I wouldn't actually use that term, but in context I'm retaining it to make a point).

I have a pickle with this episode that I have never seen anyone else mention and it makes me so bothered! If the time incident happened 20 years ago, why was there ever an 'original' timeline to begin with? The Enterprise-D should have always been a war vessel - and it should have only been when they sent the ship back in time that time 'changed'. The timeline we know wasn't 'restored' it was created! How can the timeline 'change' when something from the past is brought into the future? There was no timeline in the first place! I really don't mind the elements within the episode, and I actually like the way Guinan is used here. I'm not normally bothered by time inconsistencies (of which Star Trek has many), but this one seems to rub me the wrong way. What, exactly, are we restoring, when the conclusion of this episode already happened twenty years ago? I suppose I wouldn't have that much of an issue with this if it were handled differently. See the episode from the Enterprise-C's perspective: Normal events happen, and then the Enterprise-C jumps through a wormhole. They are grateful to escape certain doom by arriving 20 years in the future. One of the characters on board the Enterprise-D notes that the Enterprise-C's absence is a critical event which results in the war with the Klingons. They see a brighter future if the Enterprise-C returns to their demise. Seeing this from the Enterprise-D's perspective, we have some notion that the Enterprise-C's presence has "changed" the present timeline (which we know to be false). In fact, the Enterprise-D is the one which changes the course of history, by demanding that the Enterprise-C alter the past. A thoughtprovoking situation might be Hitler travelling 70 years into the future and avoiding ever causing WWII, resulting (via the butterfly effect) in a nuclear wasteland. The remainders of European government send him back through time to 'fix' the broken future, but in doing so cause the suffering and genocide of a peoples! Truly a gray and no-right-answer scenario. I think partway through this rant I have grown to appreciate YE a lot more. I do think it has a problem with how it presents the time changes, but I appreciate the moral quandary at hand a little bit better. Still, I can't help but feel that there is too heavy a focus on 'restoring' a timeline which had never existed in the first place. Who are we to say what the correct timeline is? Did the Enterprise-D salvage the Federation at the expense of lives lost elsewhere in the world? We may never know, but surely such time-meddling should be forbidden. Timetravelling to the future can never meddle with destiny, but the Enterprise-D did so outright by sending the Enterprise-C back in time, in my opinion, a clear violation of the temporal prime directive (probably).

@ Turch, Have you seen the series all the way through? I think your problem with the timeline in this episode is best addressed by watching All Good Things. When considering time travel and causality at the same time, you'd best discard the idea of chronological causality.

@ Peter G. I have! Admittedly, it's been a couple years, though, and I haven't done any rewatches, still trying to work my way through Enteprise after having finished DS9. I think you're right that the quandary I have is more with the way I choose to interpret time travel versus the way the show chooses to present it, but that is probably my problem! Maybe a full rewatch will help put things in perspective for me.

10/10 episode for starters. Back in the 90s I used to look forward to Saturdays when TNG was aired as new episodes on a channel called RTE1... you've probably never heard of it. Every week I wouldn't miss it. But one week I did... and this was the episode. I forgot about it, I was only 12/13 and when re-watching the series, suddenly there was this. My reaction: WOW. This is an excellently crafted bit of writing of ST. (Eric, if you're reading!) The tone is perfect. Yes there are issues on close examination (which I'm sure the writers never predicted that it'd still be written about 30 years later). But hey, let's get them out of the way, in no particular order. Geordi wearing the wrong uniform... d'oh! Where did that come from then? 'There's no record of the Enterprise C fighting Romulans...' ok, what is the record then? Where is Captain Garrett in this timeline? Surely the captain of the D knows the fate of the C? Did it disappear one day? Really we needed an 'Ah, so this is where you went...!' moment. Guinan wanders on to a military bridge in civvie clothing. Well, what's that guy's job at the turbo lift if it isn't to prevent just that? At the moment the Rift appears, Worf has just left to go to the bridge, but hey, at the end, Geordi is just chillin'. Love that. That's all I got. Good bits. Briefing in the ready room, NOT the usual place for these discussions. Interesting dynamic change where Picard is telling them what's happening, whereas normally he's seeking advice and makes the best decision on that. Riker's attitude is excellent throughout, combative and desultory, he doesn't like any of this and wants to get off. In this episode, TNG took ownership of the name Enterprise and ST. This is where it got better than TOS. This is the exact moment. And it was in the phrase 'Let's make sure history never forgets the name... Enterprise'. Excellent leadership, plus a nod to us viewers that WE are the real Enterprise now. We've superceded Kirk and those other guys. Captain Garrett asked sensible questions. 'Your uniforms? This facility? How is it so futuristic?' Sometimes ST is guilty of not asking the obvious questions because they're not convenient for the plot. Admittedly Picard doesn't immediately answer this, or say what actually happened to C (see earlier) but it was realistic. No problem with the Castillo/Yar matchup. In times of war, you've got to act quickly. And after a 20 year war, I'm sure you don't waste time and just say how you feel. Admittedly Castillo was first to do this, but Tasha seemed to realise that she may as well act on her feelings. Dr Selar... where have I heard that name before... isn't it in ST 6 as a trap?

Oh yes, the C is for Carson... the director shares my name. Bit of a selfish one that.

Really dissapointed that noone has made a Shooter McGavin joke yet. Obviously a classic episode! It always gets me when JLP starts in on his “the war does not go well....” speach.

vanzespleen

Great episode featuring Guinan the alien mystic working in Ten Forward. More please! Big fan of Whoopi

Yes, fantasic in many senses. Normally the Character or the Ship travell in time, here the time is suddenly rewritten when the Enterprise-C puts its nose outside the rift. Genious. Very explicit and good acting from all actors. Goldberg is marvolous. Crosby is also great, a pity that this interpretation of the character was not present in S1. I never though really liked the Tasha Yar went over to C. The sceens, both in Picard's office and on the bridge later are good and it is also understanable that she wanted to die a meaningfull death, but I did not like it. It felt wrong.

The moment that the Enterprise bridge changes from normal to dark military timeline is fucking amazing. I didn't remember what this episode was all about but I did remember loving the episode with this title so I immediately got stoked. The main problem with this episode is really an issue with the time and the format. Specifically so we can get as much time as possible spent on dealing with what Guinan is saying rather than just simply trusting her. I'm ok with the idea of people feeling like something is wrong - we get that sense very strongly with Tasha especially - but we just needed more. Maybe even some sort of time leakage from the anomaly that results in weird stuff happening to proves that they are part of some weird time problem. Still, it is simply the best end-to-end plot heavy episode of the series so far. Great performances but the main character of this episode is the timeline and it is just really, really fun. A lot of tremendous little touches that really enhance it like the militaryesque announcements over the intercom to report to CIC and the like that stand in stark contrast to the Enterprise we're used to. I'm just a huge fan of this episode and S3 really goes a long way towards making the time investment slogging through so much of S1 and S2 much, much more worth it.

4 stars, or more if I could. No real comments to add to what is arguably the best episode ever… except to say to some of the nitpicking above, “Hey, it’s a TV show! You have to have the regular cast even if their presence is questionable in an alternate timeline.” Great Trek, great sci-fi.

Some here have said that the events portrayed show little evidence of the preceding 22 years of the alternate timeline. May I offer my own perspective on this? When the Enterprise-C came through the rift in spacetime, the alternate timeline came into existence all in one go. So although the characters on the Enterprise-D believe they have existed in a particular timeline for 22 years and can tell you all about what happened in that history, in fact it is an illusion, i.e. their memories are part of what was created when history was changed. That I believe is why Guinan has such a crucial role in the story : due to her particular species, she had a 'sense' that something was wrong, that things weren't 'how they're meant to be'. Picard, who knows her better than anyone else on the Enterprise, was therefore more inclined to give her feelings more weight and significance than if anyone else had verbalised similar concerns. Of course, he can't ignore his sense - a false sense - of who he is and has been for 22 years, but he cannot discount what Guinan tells him. If the timeline had been changed 22 years earlier, Guinan would have known THEN that something was wrong, but no - it's NOW that she has that feeling. In other words, the 'proper' timeline is the one we are familiar with, and everything got changed in an instant by the rift. Guinan - like Data in 'Cause And Effect' - retains something she can't quite put her finger on, but it's enough to tell her that there is an alternative reality and it's wrong.

@Tidd after the events of Timeless, Endgame, First Contact JJ Kelvin Trek, Time's Arrow and about 50 others Guinan should be bordering on catatonic with all the ripples in the force or whatnot she'd be getting bombarded with every Tuesday. But then again maybe those don't count since they must be part of the sacred timeline :)

For the people complaining about the inconsistency in the time travel plot, here is your problem. Time travel doesn't exist. Generally speaking this is why I don't like time travel stories. But this one is well done if you just accept it for what it is and stop pulling threads.

@b1gdon I agree with you about the total fiction of time travel but… what people here are possibly struggling with is the internal logic and consistency within the story. Something that is complete fantasy should nevertheless obey its own rules, yes?

After meetin Guinan again in Picard (sorry for the spoiler to all newbee's who wants to view it in th right order) I decided to rewatch this wonderful episode again. The concept of the El-Aurians was a good idea that opened up for many useful sceenes and in this case a very good episode. Whoppis acting is mostly very good. In Picard (and newer trek) unfortunately the characters get overexagurated in eariler trek they wehre mostly understated. I prefer the later.

Outstanding episode, with the exception of "Whoopi" Caryn Elaine Johnson "Goldberg." Even back in the 1990s when I watched this show in my early teens, I thought she was lackadaisical and plain boring. Now, after her past few years of political activism, I positively can't stand that creature. I fast-forward through every scene with her in it. Ugh.

How is it the Klingon Empire, already at war with the Romulans, ending up kicking the Federation's ass? They fought off the Romulans, Vulcans, Star Fleet and every other member of the Federation and were winning? As if...

@Scott, we aren't shown any backstory of the Klingons in this timeline. For all we know they could have an undisclosed ally. @Marianne, actually Wesley would be far more likely to be an officer here than in the original timeline. Recruitment ages can be (and have been) drastically lowered in times of war. What is way more unlikely is Wesley (and indeed all the regulars) being on this Enterprise. Of course all the contrivances are just pragmatic necessities for a ~25 episode a year tv show of this era. The one that annoyed me more was the 1701-D looking just like the original. It would likely look far more like the 1701-E.

(It's also worth noting that Deanna is absent. That makes a whole lot of sense and it's nice to see they didn't try to cram her in somehow as a wartime counselor or something. )

Picard to Guinan: "I would be sending them to their deaths based only on your intuition...every instinct is telling me this is wrong, it is dangerous, it is futile!" 2 scenes later, Picard to crew: "I will go with Gunians recommendation. I don't care what you fools say."

Did anyone notice that in the original timeline Worf was in Ten Forward drinking prune juice when the temporal rift appeared but in the revised timeline Geordi is in Ten Forward with Guinan and Worf is on the bridge. This means that history was changed and Worf never tried prune juice (or got to sample some hot human females).

Scary thought. Worf is so tense. Without prune juice he probably makes a poopy every 6 month with the density of plutonium.

I assume that in the alt universe they would prefer Worf to be exactly as tense as he is. By the way I should mention as an aside that it took me until me 30's to realize what was implied by Guinan suggesting prune juice to him, lol. How cheeky.

This is my favorite Trek episode. Period. It's not even close. The story is hugely compelling, and the execution flawless. Even the guest actors are perfect for the role. This is as good as a 45 minute broadcast can be. Five stars.

One thing that I find interesting about Yesterday's Enterprise is Guinan's sense that something was wrong with the other timeline. Her race can apparently sense when things change from a 'prime timeline' perspective. Maybe that's why the Q find them troublesome. But if not for Guinan's glimmer of a memory of the alt timeline, we could very well ask this question: did the events of this episode "ever happen"? At the conclusion of the episode the prime timeline continues right from where it left off, with no missing days. So we're maybe looking at a time loop where a pocket reality occurred and 'exists' but is not perceptible to almost anyone. The two things causing it to have manifest effects on the prime timeline are (1) Guinan's memory, and (2) Tasha going to the past. That's a writing choice, but let's suppose for the moment that there was no Guinan, and Tasha didn't go back. Let's say Picard used his own intuition and chose to send Enterprise-C back, sending none of his people with it, and the episode ended more or less the same way. In that case did these events 'ever happen'? What the question suggests to me is that the Trek stories themselves imply an effect on reality that makes a difference even if there's an in-universe reset. That effect happens to us, the viewers. That may seem trivial, since all TV shows have viewers. But the trope of having a story that resets (like Voyager's Year of Hell) seemingly should 'matter' to that universe, even if the characters forget it and there's no discernible effect in-universe. I think that these episodes posit that we, the viewers, are part of that universe, in a way more important than the mere brute fact that they're TV shows. I think the reason Yesterday's Enterprise resonates on more levels than just being cool is that *we* know it happened, and that's important. I think it means that, expanding beyond TV-land, we might be tempted to transfer this idea to real life, and to wonder whether everything that happens in real life also has 'viewers' who are affected by things. How many times in real life does something happen which makes us wonder "will anyone ever know about this? Has it been lost to history?" Yesterday's Enterprise seems to me to suggest that nothing important is ever lost, even if none of us alive is aware of it. That's pretty optimistic, I'd say.

Harry Kim Eats Worms

@Peter G That’s the problem with trying to relate any type of real world physics with Trek world physics. You wind up trying to reason out something that - and we all know this going in - is made up. And the types of traits Trek species often present us, ESP, magic powers, coherent tetrion waves, whatever, frequently break the most basic laws of physics.

Fun fact: Christopher McDonald grew up in a town in western/upstate New York called Romulus.

Yesterday's Enterprise is must-see TV.

I'd just like to point out that Bifur had an axe embedded in his head, yet he and the Dwarves went about their business as usual. So there was no excuse for Captain Garrett to cut out early just because she had a teeny weeny little wing from the Valkyrie model jammed into her head!

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Den of Geek

Revisiting Star Trek TNG: Yesterday’s Enterprise

James' Star Trek TNG look-back reaches Yesterday's Enterprise, widely considered one of the show's best episodes...

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This review contains spoilers.

3.15 Yesterday’s Enterprise

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Worf and Guinan are having an increasingly weird chat in Ten Forward (“Earth females are too… fragile.”) when suddenly a time hole appears next to the ship! Worf is called up to the bridge in case they need to shoot it, and Guinan is left looking concerned. As the Enterprise crew scan the time hole, a starship suddenly flies out of it. At the same instant, everything changes: the Enterprise is now a warship fighting the Klingons, Worf is gone, and Tasha Yar is back on the bridge! Back in Ten Forward, Guinan turns around and looks confused, like something weird has happened. It did, Guinan, it DID!

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The crew quickly confirms the identity of the ship: it’s the Enterprise C, the predecessor to the Enterprise D! This is pretty much the coolest thing that happens in seven years of TNG episodes, so take a moment to savour it. There we go. Now it’s over. Still, you’ve got that episode where Crusher falls in love with a candle to look forward to.

After confirming that it is indeed the ship that was thought destroyed over twenty years ago, the Enteprise D crew goes to rescue the survivors of the heavily-damaged Enterprise C. They find only two senior officers left alive: Captain Rachel Garrett and Lt. Richard Castillo. Everyone’s a bit weirded out and not entirely sure what to do with the new spare Enterprise when Guinan barges onto the bridge and pulls Picard aside for a word.

In a private meeting with Picard, Guinan attempts to explain that she has a feeling that “everything is wrong”, but struggles to offer any actual evidence of explanation of her hunch. Nevertheless, he listens to her suggestion to send the Enterprise C back through the time hole.

In sickbay, an injured Garrett wakes up and explains that the Enterprise C was being attacked by four Romulan warbirds while defending a Klingon outpost. If they go back, it’ll be to certain death. While she wrestles with this, Yar and Castillo start making doe eyes at one another, united by their love of… well, it’s not really clear, they’re just super into each other.

Guinan comes back to Picard to check that he actually heard her advice, and they have a big argument about which timeline is the “real” one. Who’s to say that the current universe is any less valid than the other one, Picard asks. “Me” says Guinan. He’s probably wishing Q had been more specific about her weird powers right about now. Assuming there’s a Q in this timeline. Even though Picard is upset that 125 people will die, Guinan points out that the war has so far killed 40 billion, which makes it even less likely that the regular gang would end up on the Enterprise.

Eventually, Picard decides she’s got a point. Guinan goes back to Ten Forward and bumps into Yar and Castillo, and Yar noticing she’s acting really strange, like she’s seen a ghost. Not the ghost from Ghost , a ghost from Star Trek , that is.

Picard calls a meeting (some things never change) and tells the crew that he’s going to send the Enterprise C back, because Guinan’s usually right about this stuff. Riker gets angry at the prospect of 125 meaningless deaths, but Picard pulls rank and tells him to shut up. Then Data points out that the deaths probably aren’t meaningless and might impress the Klingons enough to prevent the war (n.b. this is what did happen). Riker’s humiliation is complete, so he decides to acquiesce.

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Picard goes to discuss the situation with Garrett, who admits that most of her people already want to go back and finish the fight. Picard tells her in confidence that the war effort only has six months left in it before they have to surrender, so she might as well give suicide a fair try. She agrees. Yar and Castillo say their goodbyes to one another, but just before the Enterprise C can leave, some Klingons attack.

In the fight, Garrett is injured, and the doctors are unable to find the cure for a shrapnel wound directly to the brain. She dies, and Castillo is now the last competent man left on board the Enterprise C. He’s still planning to leave, though. As they prepare to enter the rift, Yar realises the reason Guinan was acting weird: she’s supposed to be dead! Guinan liberally salts the wound by emphasis how pointless the death was (mmm, metatext) which is understandably upsetting to Yar.

But then she figures out a plan: she’ll go back in time and help the Enterprise C. Picard, who has long since stopped caring about how badly they’re mangling the timeline, agrees. Yar boards the Enterprise C, reuniting with Castillo, and they slowly, slowly, very very slowly take the ship towards the rift while the Enterprise D holds off more attacking Klingons.

Unfortuntely, the Enterprise D is no match for the multiple attacking ships, and as they’re backed into a space-corner, Riker is killed and the warp core is seconds away from a breach. But they succeed! The Enterprise C managed to re-enters the time hole and everything suddenly goes back how it was. Worf is back, Yar is dead, Riker is alive and Guinan no longer feels slightly uneasy, which was the main driver of the story, let’s not forget. The crew of the Enterprise D will never know how close they came to death in an alternate universe. In Ten-Forward, Guinan sits down with La Forge and, somewhat insensitively, asks him to tell her about his dead friend Tasha. Tactful.

TNG WTF: It’s very hard not to watch this episode and think that it’s a little convenient that even in a radically altered timeline where everyone wears their collars popped and shouts a lot, the crew of the Enterprise still end up on the Enterprise. Except Worf, who can’t really be around because he’s a Klingon, and Troi, who most people don’t even notice is missing because she never says anything useful anyway. At the very least, in a war the Federation is losing you’d expect to see some the more competent officers in command of their own ships. Like Data, Riker and… well, Data and Riker, at least.

TNG LOL: Worf makes another of those first faltering steps to becoming the butt of Star Trek ‘s jokes when he describes prune juice as “A warrior’s drink!” to the collective mirth of the audience. By the time he turns up in DS9 he’s basically just a walking punchline.

Who’s that face?: Hey, that’s Denise Crosby! She was Tasha Yar in… oh, right.

Mistakes and Minutiae: There’s so much in this episode that’s worth pointing out about the way characters and sets have changed. My favourite difference is the way the painting of the Enterprise has been replaced with a tactical star chart in Picard’s Ready Room, but if you like small details, this episode is about 90% small details.

Time Until Meeting: In the future, there are no meetings. There is only war. Until 24:02, when Picard has a meeting to say Guinan’s hunch is worth acting on.

Captain’s Log: Ah, Yesterday’s Enterprise . Widely considered one of TNG ‘s best episodes, and rightly so. It’s not necessarily that accessible to new viewers, but if you’ve been following the show for some time it’s hugely rewarding and masses of fun. And hey, my first episode of Buffy was The Wish , which is basically the same story with a magic amulet instead of a wibbly time hole and that never put me off, so who’s to say what “accessible” really is?

Although it’s probable that what most people love is the alternate future and appearance of the Enterprise C, what elevates this episode above traditional time-travel fare is that they found the human stakes in the story. The idea that people might lay down their lives for a better future they’ll never get to see. The fact that the episode is incredibly tense and surprisingly dark definitely helps keep viewers hooked, but as with all good Star Trek episodes it’s ultimately about triumph of hope over pessimism.

And, of course, Tasha Yar gets the send-off she deserved, sacrificing her life to save the future rather than being chucked across a sound stage by a bad special effect.

This episode also has one of the best fight scenes outside a movie. It’s obvious that it’s all going to get undone, but that doesn’t change the fact that you care about the fate of the alternate universe crew just as much as the real ones, so when Riker dies it’s a genuine moment of surprise. Plus Picard gets to shout some defiant stuff while the bridge goes up in flames around him, so it’s a fun indication of what might happen in the “real” timeline. It really is gripping.

Watch or Skip? If you don’t know the answer, you weren’t reading closely enough.

Read James’ lookback at the previous episode, A Matter Of Perspective, here .

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Yesterday's Enterprise

Star trek: the next generation.

The Enterprise C enters the Enterprise D's time and space continuum, where they find Picard and crew in a constant state of war with the Klingons, and only Guinan knows it.
The Enterprise is observing a celestial anomaly, something akin to a wormhole when a starship appears having traveled through it. To everyone's surprise, the ship is an earlier version of the Enterprise, the Enterprise-C commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett. The instant the Enterprise-C arrives however, history is changed. Captain Picard and his Enterprise are battle weary with the Federation having been at war with the Klingon Empire for 20 years. Lt. Tasha Yar is alive with Lt. Worf nowhere to be found. Guinan knows something is wrong and Picard realizes that the Enterprise-C must return to its own time and place if their time line is to be restored. — garykmcd
The Enterprise is observing a celestial anomaly, something akin to a wormhole when a star ship appears having traveled through it. To everyone's surprise, the ship is an earlier version of the Enterprise, the Enterprise-C commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neil). The instant the Enterprise-C arrives however, history is changed. Captain Picard and his Enterprise are battle weary with the Federation having been at war with the Klingon Empire for 20 years. Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) is alive with Lt. Worf nowhere to be found. Enterprise C was supposed to have been destroyed 20 years ago near a Klingon outpost at Narendra III. C has massive casualties but has some life readings as well. Garrett sends a distress signal on audio saying C was attacked by Romulans and requires assistance. But D history suggests that C was never attacked by Romulans ever. Beverly beams Rachel over to sickbay D. Klingons approach. Yar and Riker find Helmsman Castillo (Christopher McDonald), alive on C as well. Riker reports 125 survivors as Geordi fixes the life support of C. Rachel is surprised to know that her ship traveled 22 years into the future. But she doesn't want to go back to her time as she barely escaped the attack. Rachel was responding to a distress call from Narendra III. But it was already destroyed by 4 Romulan war birds. Picard feels if Rachael had succeeded in saving the outpost that day, it would have averted 20 years of war with the Klingons. Guinan knows something is wrong (D is at war and there are no children on board D) and Picard realizes that the Enterprise-C must return to its own time and place if their time line is to be restored. Picard knows sending C back through the same wormhole would mean a death sentence as it won't survive the Romulans. Guinan is clear that this time line should not be allowed to continue. 40 Bn people have already died in a war that wasn't supposed to happen. Castillo and Tasha befriend each other. They work on the shields of C, but it still has limited armaments. Picard's officers are mostly against sending C back to its time. Only Data argues that even dying in battle to protect their outpost would be seen by the Klingon as an act of courage and would earn the gratitude of the race. Picard tells Rachel that the war is going badly for the Federation. They may have to surrender within 6 months. More than half the star ships have been lost to the Klingons already. One more ship today will not make any difference to the war. But 20 years ago, that one ship could stop the war before it starts. Picard returns to D, while Tasha stays to say goodbye to Castillo. Klingons attack and Rachel dies on C. Castillo wants to lead C, but Tasha asks Picard to transfer her to C to help Castillo. She knows that in the alternate time line she is dead (she speaks to Guinan and learns the same). hence her going back in time and dying to the Romulans won't have any impact. 3 more K'Vort class Klingon battle cruisers are on their way. D decides to cover for C, till she enters the rift. D destroys one battle cruiser, even as the Klingons go after C. D is damaged badly and has 2 mins till a warp core breach. Riker dies in the continuing attack. C enters the temporal rift. Suddenly everything is back to normal. Rift closes.

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Yesterday's Enterprise

An Enterprise from the past breaks through a time rift, altering the course of history.

Whoopi Goldberg

Denise Crosby

Christopher McDonald

Tricia O'Neil

Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Cast appearances.

Patrick Stewart

Jonathan Frakes

LeVar Burton

Michael Dorn

Gates McFadden

Marina Sirtis

Brent Spiner

Wil Wheaton

Episode discussion.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Yesterday’s Enterprise”

Season 3, Episode 15 Original air date: February 19, 1990 Star date: 43625.2

Mission summary

The Enterprise -D runs across an anomaly that may or may not be there. While they try to sort through their confusing, contradictory sensor readings, something emerges… As another ship crosses the threshold, everything and everyone shifts on the Enterprise -D: Their uniforms now have high collars, belts with phasers, and black cuffs. Nothing gets by Guinan; in the suddenly bustling Ten Forward, the wise and cryptic bartender notes, “This isn’t right. It’s changed.” The mystery deepens: On the now thematically darker Bridge, Worf has been replaced at tactical by an old face, Lt. Tasha Yar, who reports that the other vessel is a Federation starship, registry NCC-1701… C : U.S.S. Enterprise .

Picard’s “military log” for “combat date” 43625.2, in which he refers to the Enterprise -D as a battleship, helps paint an even bleaker picture of the situation. Their records indicate that their predecessor disappeared–presumed destroyed–22 years earlier near a Klingon outpost, Narendra III, which suggests the Enterprise -C has traveled through a temporal rift to its future. A distress signal fills in some of the details: They were attacked by Romulans. Riker leads an away team to the crippled ship to recover its crew, render assistance, and get it battle ready.

Guinan makes a rare appearance on the Bridge and tells the captain that things aren’t “right.” She remembers things differently; there should be children on the ship, and its mission is meant to be peaceful, not waging a war against the Klingons. “That ship from the past is not supposed to be here,” she says. “It’s got to go back.” Picard is incredulous; if this information had come from anyone but Guinan, he would have discounted it entirely.

Dr. Crusher patches up Captain Rachel Garrett and her crew from the Enterprise -C. Picard finally admits to Garrett that she’s now in the future, and she explains that they were attempting to help the Klingon outpost, which was under attack by four Romulan warbirds. Picard gives her some bad news:

The Narendra Three outpost was destroyed. It is regrettable that you did not succeed. A Federation starship rescuing a Klingon outpost might have averted twenty years of war.

Why, things might have turned out so differently! While Yar liaisons with a senior officer from the Enterprise -C (nudge nudge, wink wink), Lt. Richard Castillo, Picard begins entertaining the notion that they should send them back to put right what once went wrong. Data confirms that it is possible–and that it would be a suicide mission. The captain tries to get more information from Guinan.

GUINAN: There is no more. I wish there were. I wish I could prove it. But I can’t. PICARD: Then I can’t ask them to go back. GUINAN: You’ve got to. PICARD: Guinan, they will die moments after they return. How can I ask them to sacrifice themselves based solely on your intuition? GUINAN: I don’t know. But I do know that this is a mistake. Every fiber in my being says this is a mistake. I can’t explain it to myself so I can’t explain it to you. I only know that I’m right. PICARD: Who is to say that this history is any less proper than the other? GUINAN: I suppose I am. PICARD: Not good enough, damn it. Not good enough. I will not ask them to die. GUINAN: Forty billion people have already died. This war’s not supposed to be happening. You’ve got to send those people back to correct this. PICARD: And what is to guarantee that if they go back they will succeed? Every instinct tells me this is wrong, it is dangerous, it is futile. GUINAN: We’ve known each other a long time. You have never known me to impose myself on anyone or take a stance based on trivial or whimsical perceptions. This time line must not be allowed to continue. Now, I’ve told you what you must do. You have only your trust in me to help you decide to do it.

Picard calls a meeting, but he’s already made up his mind: He’s listening to Guinan. It turns out the Federation is on the verge of losing the war, and this is their last, best hope for peace–by preventing the war from happening in the first place.

Garrett’s game, but she’s soon killed in a surprise attack by the Klingons, leaving Castillo in command to carry out their final mission. Yar sends him off with a passionate kiss, then seeks out Guinan to question her about the odd looks she’s been giving her. Yar pressures her to share her fate in the alternate timeline; all Guinan knows is that she was killed stupidly.

To avoid this unappealing fate, Yar convinces Picard to let her transfer to the Enterprise -C, helping to even the balance of Garrett’s loss and give herself a meaningful death she can, uh, live with.

Klingon ships attack as the Enterprise -C limps back toward the temporal rift. Enterprise -D takes a heavy beating while holding them off. The Galaxy-class battleship begins falling apart under the superior assault: shields are failing, a warp core breach is imminent, and the Bridge is burning. Commander Riker is killed in an explosion. Picard leaps into action to take down as many Klingons as he can before the ship is lost, and Enterprise -C crosses back into the rift…

And things change back to normal. In the restored timeline, the anomalous sensor reading vanish as abruptly as they appeared. The Enterprise crew prepares to resume a course to Archer IV, none the wiser that anything strange ever happened. Guinan calls the Bridge to check up on stuff, and reassured that reality is as it should be, she asks Geordi to tell her about Tasha Yar.

I’m sure no one is surprised to learn that this is one of my favorite episodes of TNG, and that hasn’t changed in the slightest. This is simply among the best episodes ever done, and it seems that many other fans and production staff agree with me; it’s made a number of “best of” lists, and most notably was featured in the viewer’s choice marathon that coincided with the final episode in 1994.

Okay, I’ll admit that there’s a lot of hand-holding in the script, as they painstakingly connect the dots so viewers would know what the heck was going on. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve seen it so many times before, or because I’m such a nerd about parallel universes, but I had no trouble following along–almost to the point of impatience. But hey, this was a pretty bold story, one that was quite literally darker than most we’d seen up to that point. I should be annoyed that Guinan’s strange intuition is never really explained in the series continuity, ever, or that we never find out what past she and Picard share. And to be honest, when I first saw TNG, I had never heard of the whole “ magical negro ” trope…

But I tell you, this episode is exciting , not least because it fills in some of the time between Kirk’s era and the TNG years, with the introduction of the Enterprise -C. (It hits some of the same buttons for me that “Babylon Squared” on Babylon 5 does, my favorite episode of the first season in which the Babylon 4 station reappears due to a temporal anomaly…) And I love this vessel, a beautiful melding of the best features of the Constitution-class and Galaxy-class designs. “Yesterday’s Enterprise” also has high stakes, gruesome deaths, and it looks and sounds more cinematic than anything on the show previously. I’m also a sucker for stories in which one ship or one person makes a huge impact for others–even in failure; we always root for the Enterprise to survive, but the idea that one crew’s sacrifice could still be a victory of sorts is gratifying.

The episode title even hearkens back to some of the original series-style episode titles, and this was the closest TNG ever got to giving us a “mirror universe” episode. There is so much attention to detail, with many subtle and not-so-subtle changes to the sets, costumes, sounds, even makeup to illustrate the differences in the timeline; it’s easy to miss some of them. (In fact, even the production crew missed one. The Nitpicker’s Guide by Phil Farrand first made me aware that Geordi’s uniform in the last scene still has black cuffs from the alternate timeline, and now I can’t unsee it!) It feels like a lot of work and money went into redesigning the Bridge for a one-off appearance, but I think it pays off.

If anything, all this loving attention might highlight the fact that perhaps more things should be different. Picard scoffs at the idea of children on Enterprise , but there’s one sitting right there on his bridge: Wesley Crusher, in uniform for the first time with the full rank of Ensign. I guess they promote people young during the war, or they made an exception for Dr. Crusher. But part of the charm is extrapolating what else might be different in this timeline. I was at first surprised that Picard would still be as just and moral as the captain we know, weighing the lives of the Enterprise -C’s crew. But then I realized the timeline had changed only 22 years before, when he was already an adult with his values in place. So really, Wesley should have been different, since he grew up knowing only war.

This episode also gives us our first woman captain, of the Starfleet flagship no less, though she isn’t long for the world. And it was unexpectedly great to see Tasha again, Denise Crosby’s best acting to date. And it’s pretty amazing that Guinan basically preserves the timeline, right?

Eugene’s Rating: Warp 6 (on a scale of 1-6)

Best Line: Picard: “Let’s make sure that history never forgets… the name… Enterprise .”

Trivia/Other Notes: The origin of this episode lies in two separate scripts, one from Ganino in which a past Enterprise returns with no alteration to the timeline, and one where a Vulcan science team messing with Harlan Ellison’s™ Guardian of Forever accidentally kills their philosophical leader Surak, and Ambassador Sarek must travel back in time to replace him. (Now that sounds a bit like “Babylon Squared” and “War Without End,” doesn’t it?) Either way, Tasha Yar would have returned to face a better death.

The episode was rushed into production to meet Denise Crosby’s and Whoopi Goldberg’s schedules, requiring the script to be written in a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday by four writers. Michael Piller did a final polish, but went uncredited because of Writer’s Guild regulations.

If the budget and time had allowed, Wesley would have been decapitated onscreen and Data would have been electrocuted. Now there’s an alternate timeline I’d like to visit.

Christopher McDonald (Castillo) had auditioned for the role of Commander Riker. He was also raised in Romulus, New York.

Tricia O’Neil (Garrett) returned to Star Trek as a Klingon in the sixth season of TNG and a Cardassian on DS9.

The consequences of this episode are seen in the two-part episode “Redemption,” in which Denise Crosby returns to play Yar’s daughter, Sela.

The discovery of planet Archer IV is seen on Enterprise (“Strange New World”). The planet is named after Captain Jonathan Archer, the first captain of a starship named Enterprise .

Roberto Orci cites this episode as the main inspiration for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek , though that film abandons the concept of a single alterable timeline.

Previous episode: Season 3, Episode 14 – “ A Matter of Perspective .”

Next episode: Season 3, Episode 16 – “The Offspring.”

About Eugene Myers

27 comments.

Absolutely one of the best episodes from the entire series. It’s astonishing that they cobbled it together from two separate stories over a long weekend. And the leftovers obviously gave them more ideas. Simply bringing back Sarek resulted in another excellent episode and the business with Sarek becoming Surak may have influenced the whole Spock becomes the apostle to the Romulans thing.

The weakest point is the business with Guinan. The whole “Ooh, she’s so mysterious” thing never quite gelled, no matter how hard they tried, and they went to the well of Guinan senses something is wrong too often. There’s also the problem of how Guinan first met Picard (though not necessarily the other way around; which of them is River Song?) if Picard doesn’t wind up in 19th century San Francisco. But then even the best time travel stories start to get shaky if you poke at them too closely.

Decapitating Wesley sounds like a bit of gruesomely unnecessary fan-service for the Wesley haters. The character had finally started to turn around this season and was by no means as awful as he had been. Plus, they decided he looked good in a real uniform and gave him one a few weeks down the line.

They must have found a source for those collars at some point. Kelsey Grammer has one in “Cause and Effect” in season five, and I think the future uniforms from the various Time Patrol stories on Voyager feature something similar.

Single. Best Star Trek Episode. Ever.

I’ve always been a sucker for alternative histories and timelines, but this episode just shines. Among its great qualities:

* An immaculate script, with hardly a line out of place or a flicker to spare. Clearly establishes a distinct world and world history in mere moments, but still has time to imbue the characters with additional depth. Though he’s only on the screen a few seconds, the script even has time to yield some humorous dimension to Worf.

* The Federation is at WAR. With a familiar enemy. And losing.

* Dark, dark. Battlestar Galactica dark.

* The captain is never more incisive and commanding than here. There’s a grim, no-nonsense fatalism to this war captain, yet he is still capable of compassion for his crew.

* Related to above, I get the sense it is the more the utter hopelessness of the current situation more than Guinan’s persuasion or Picard’s confidence in her gifts that girds the captain’s decision: Ultimately, this is not a reality worth preserving.

* Does anyone else on board know what the captain knows, that the Federation has only a few months of life remaining? He confides it in whispers to Garrett, as if the truth revealed would be unbearable to the crew.

* Do we ever see another woman on TNG in actual command of a Federation starship? I’m wracking my brains to think of one. There was a woman starship captain in Season One, but we see her only in isolation, and she barely speaks a word. At any rate, Garrett gives a believable, commanding tough-as-brass-nails performance. She strikes a tone of command Janeway would have to work at.

* Enterprise Captain Garrett brushes off the doctor, and the doctor snipes back. Some things transcend all realities.

* All the little details that tell us this is another reality. Hardest to accept among them is that the Enterprise D, lavishly configured as it is, could be a Federation battleship.

* The ONLY time Yar is portrayed in a flattering light. Subsequent yarns, where we learn she was taken alive and subjected to a life of daily rape and captivity, diminish this.

* Deanna Troi does not give advice, nor is she asked for advice. She does not appear at all in the alternate timeline. This is also her finest appearance in the series.

* Wesley never looks or acts better than here. If this kid was on our familiar Enterprise-D, no fanboy would’ve wanted him gone.

* This is not our Enterprise, and never was! This crew and their histories disappear forever never to be seen again, like the ‘Mirror Mirror’ Kirk and crew. No one from “our” Enterprise interacts in anyway with this crew. That makes it really unique among alt-timeline stories.

* Piller: “Hell, Picard sends 500 people back to their death on the word of the bartender. Come on, that’s hard.”

I loved this episode- but is 22 years really long enough for such drastic changes in uniform and ship design? Remember 22 years ago for us is 1991. While there are obvious technological changes, a member of our military from 1991 would still see the same aircraft carriers, most of the same aircraft, tanks, etc. Even uniform design hasn’t changed that much- watch videos from the first Gulf War.

Memory Alpha reminded me how this episode influenced Diane Duane’s Dark Mirror and Peter David’s Q-Squared –two TNG novels I loved. At some point I’ll have to reread them and post some thoughts, but I like this non-canonical explanation for Troi’s absence:

“The novel Q-Squared establishes that in the military timeline from this episode, Deanna Troi’s absence from the Enterprise was due to the Betazoids being wiped out by the Klingons. The novel also indicates that in this version of the military universe, when the Enterprise encountered the Enterprise -C, the entire crew had already perished- life support having failed and the crew dying over a day before the Enterprise -D arrived in the area-, and so Picard simply orders the ship’s destruction.”

I think the distinction here is that the timeline changed before the TNG-era uniforms were designed or the Galaxy-class starship was on anyone’s drafting board. In wartime, I believe there might be differences in aesthetics and ship construction. The uniforms are not too different; I mean, they even changed over the course of three seasons, when you think about it, and the addition of phasers and belts makes sense. But the Enterprise possibly should be more different. As Lemnoc points out, aside from some cosmetic changes, the ship seems to have about the same military capabilities in either timeline. Maybe it needs an extra phaser cannon or something, as in “All Good Things…”

You make some valid points, and in wartime technology (at least for the military) tends to advance at a more rapid rate than in peacetime out of necessity. I do agree that the Enterprise-D should have had some more advanced weaponry and a cloaking device in the changed military timeline.

@3 Scott Those are good points. Starfleet apparently has a history of rapid uniform changes, though. The jumpsuits of TMP are nothing like the TOS uniforms and it’s only been 10 or 12 years. Then immediately following that came the red uniforms with turtleneck/dickey, which did away with the old color coding scheme. TNG changed uniforms 3 times in the first 3 years. The original unitards could be seen as a callback to TOS, but red and gold were switched. Later on, they kept changing uniforms as a way to give the various series their own.

As for ship design, there really should have been a lot of old designs still around, but we didn’t see other Starfleet ships all that often. It was OK for Enterprise to be different, since it was meant to be a new ship with new technologies, but yeah we should have seen more ships like the C from time to time.

the Enterprise-D should have had some more advanced weaponry and a cloaking device in the changed military timeline.

You’re right that war would likely dispense with any pretense for the Federation not to employ cloaking technology. But the technology wouldn’t be applied herein any case; the D is pretty clearly (and appropriately) providing cover to the C. Maybe the D does have the capacity, wouldn’t use it here.

One other gem in this episode is when Guinan tells the captain he can either take her word or forget it. Leaves. In the following close up, Stewart is practically exploding, trembling with exasperation and no retort. Beautiful.

A fabulous episode. One of my favorites. One downside was that I found myself wishing the way the Enterprise D and her crew looked and acted in this episode was far more appealing ( and believable on a ship with hierarchal command structure ) than much of the series so far. Call me old school but it almost hearkened back to the TOS era.

Another interesting difference was that in this timeline, there was apparently less of a cozy nature to Picard and Riker’s relationship ( “I believe I’m aware of your opinion, Number One” ).

A final note; I find the score to this episode heartbreaking at times…one of the few TNG scores that I find memorable. The cue when Guinan reveals Tasha’s fate to her and when Picard let’s her go to NCC-1701-C make me well up each time.

The one thing I would have changed; During the final battle, when NCC-1701-D is taking so much damage and destruction is imminent, it would have been cool ( and perhaps shocking ) to see the Enterprise-D beginning to blow-up as the Enterprise-C enters the rift. Then have the jump cut to the original timeline. I think that would have added even more impact… knowing that in the altered history, the “D” and our familiar crew was destroyed.

Sorry, that sentence should have read: “One downside was that I found myself THINKING..” not “wishing”.

One thing we’ve forgotten in our gushing over this episode is that this is where Guinan introduced Worf to prune juice. It gave us a running gag that went across two series.

@11 DemetriosX

Am I mistaken that this is also the first time someone makes Worf laugh?

Can anyone not love this episode?

This hits all the right notes for me in all the right ways.

1. One person can make a difference. Tasha Yar gets a better send-off than she ever deserved (soon to be diminished, as Lemnoc mentions). I appreciate that she does this for her own reasons, and not for Picard’s or Guinan’s or anyone else’s. Sure she does it for Castillo, and to a lesser extent for the promise of a better history, but mostly she does it for herself–for honor. It’s basically the only personality trait the show ever gave her and they let it feel genuine for the first time. It’s… dare I say it?… empowered. I also like the sweet awkwardness of her and Castillo’s budding relationship, awkward goodbyes, and sad but resolute final decision. They both take joy in the same things and even in the end, Castillo has some hope, however small, that they would meet again (but of course he knows not then how soon).

2. One event can change history. #1 is perhaps tied to #2 here, but the show beautifully conveys the paradoxes and surprises and collateral effects of seemingly minor events. I love historical catalysts like this, ways in which one little thing changed everything. I was thinking about this recently with the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and how there were so many things that would have avoided or mitigated the disaster that took place. If there had been enough life boats, if they had turned into the iceberg instead of away from it, if they hadn’t been going at max speed, if only four compartments had flooded instead of five, etc. It’s not so incredible to believe that the Federation, in a single desperate act of human kindness, showed just the Klingon sense of honor that proved a friendship was possible.I love this idea.

3. Experiences shape people, but there’s also an unalterable innateness. Everyone here is different yet very much the same, Picard most of all. This Picard is shaped by war, and I agree with Lemnoc that he’s persuaded more by the sorry state of this universe than by a strong conviction in Guinan. And Dep1701’s comment makes me want to re-re-watch the episode just to track Picard again, because the final scene implies that the decision Picard was making–the real decision beneath the surface, all along–wasn’t whether to send Garrett’s crew to their deaths, but his own. I think he knew that it would be a suicide mission for the both of them, either at this moment or in the next six months or in the decades of submission to follow, and this is a last, desperate hope for a better future.

And like Dep1701, I also really like the moment where Picard shuts down Riker, showing the change in their relationship.

4. All successes have a cost. I like the zero-sum aspect of all this, which I think is critical to any kind of mirror universe story. They can’t both be saved. They can’t send an empty ship through the portal, they can’t preserve both the past and the future. There’s a point at which you have to weigh the bad choices and pick the one that helps the most. Picard sacrifices two ships to save tends of billions of lives. It’s very Star Trek II in that way, and again I admire it a great deal for taking that plunge.

5. Lighting is more effective than a good script. Okay so this isn’t a theme but even if this were a Tasha Yar/Data boink story I would love it anyway just because it’s a BRILLIANT primer on what lighting can do. As a (I suppose at this point, former?) lighting designer, I squee over the effective use of toplight to minimize atmospheric light and create eerie shadows, and the blasts of sidelight to add depth to the action scenes. The “good” times are frontlight, flat and consistent and neutral. But the side and toplight create a dynamism that works very well here, and most importantly, feels like a different place and a different space.

Sadly, my complaints: 1. Magical negro. This is just awful and looks awful and feels awful and no part of it works. The idea of Guinan as an embodiment of space woo is a depressing waste of talent and opportunity. We hates it, precious. It wouldn’t be so bad if it happened once, but the show winds up going to this well over and over again and it’s an embarrassment.

2. The rest of Garrett’s crew. Okay, so there’s a perfunctory “some of the crew want to go back” line, but I am having a SERIOUSLY difficult time imagining that all 125 people who narrowly escaped death would be eager to go back and finish the job. My guess is some would feel they had been given a second chance. And given that Picard is being hush-hush over the real reasons, I just don’t see a mass movement to die for a seemingly pointless cause. I wish the show had had the time and interest to find out what the non-Castillos felt about this, and the tension that must have created, and if there were any defectors, and if it mattered. Because if the only people who NEED to be there are in engineering and on the bridge, then can’t the other 100 stay on the D with a slightly better chance of survival?

3. Starfleet. Where are they in all this?! Don’t you think they’d be involved in this kind of thing?

Still, this is hands-down one of the best of the series. Warp 6.

—many of us–throughout our relationship with star trek–have come to our own conclusions about the best example of the canon—some are still ‘city on the edge of forever’ fans–or perhaps they hold up ‘wrath of khan’ as the best product—to me–this episode and ‘all good things’–are the two best trek episodes ever–the scenes in this, are relentless–from guinan and worf–(yes, i think this is the only time he laughs on tng)—two aliens having a conversation about prune juice?–that is roddenberry through and through—the darkness in the shots weighs on the mood—especially on the bridge–guinan’s scenes with the captain, at first worried then resolute—this is the point in the series where ms.goldberg starts to become that mysterious woman from that scattered race we all remember, i’m glad she’s around as a guide—the briefing in the ready room when the dots are connected–‘who knows if we’re even dead or alive’?—tasha and the captain—amazing job ms. crosby–your character is far more approachable and organic this time, this was your episode—pathos, and tragedy—you say this was written in rapid fashion?–it has the feeling of urgency– another reason to admire this work—

@12 Lemnoc I think this is the first time Worf laughs. I’m not sure he’s ever even smirked up to this point. Not that he ever laughed much in his entire run through 2 shows and all the movies, but he does seem to start to loosen up right here. (OK, I realized “loosen up” may have been a bit too apposite for the prune juice moment, but I decided to leave it.)

Something I keep forgetting to mention: Apparently, they’ve tried to retcon Guinan’s perception of time gone wrong in the later books as the result of her experiences with the Nexus. That’s a bit hard to buy really and certainly doesn’t give them any excuses here.

I wanted to mention the prune juice, but I figure we can’t mention everything — we need all of you to help! And look, it worked :)

Good point on Garrett’s crew, but on the other hand, would they want to live in such a bleak future, particularly if they knew their presence on the C might have helped prevent it? They made such a big deal about Garrett’s death, and how the ship wasn’t meant to go back without her… I was struck later by the fact that they essentially traded one woman for another, even if Yar didn’t take command. Not sure how I feel about that.

And yeah, good call about Starfleet. Maybe they were too far away to bother? Or it’s possible that they knew Starfleet would say, “Oh, another ship! Excellent. Get it back into service and forget this nonsense about an alternate timeline. Who do you think you are, James Kirk? The man was a menace.”

@15 DemetriosX

I keep waffling on whether to comment on the non-canonical Trek trivia, but I found that one interesting. I think episodes like this certainly suggested they put Guinan in the Nexus in Generations, but I just have to assume at this point in the series, they were just using her because she was conveniently mysterious.

Was it just the different lighting or my imagination, or were Data’s eyes different in the alternate timeline?

Starfleet. Where are they in all this?! Don’t you think they’d be involved in this kind of thing?

Does raise the question, if one wants to get picky, about why it is the Federation flagship is operating alone without an armada. I mean, that’s kinda what being a flagship is all about, leading a fleet.

OTOH, I’m glad the Higher Ups weren’t consulted; made the decision all Picard’s and he handled the duty well. in fact, most of the episode was him going from place to place gathering pieces of information that allowed him to make the decision. Most of the time in ST, the admirals are effete ignoramuses and busybodies; and the whole notion of consulting them vitiates the feeling of a remote and isolated cosmos.

As for why the admiralty was not consulted, the reasons could be many. One being a general order to maintain radio silence while operating in enemy space.

I’ve been hesitant to comment and mark myself as the odd man out but the truth is, I’m not particularly fond of this episode.

Generally, I agree that it was extremely well written and beautifully put together. Production value alone was better than almost anything else we’ve seen, even with the mistakes that were made due to the particularly tight production timeline. But the story itself doesn’t really do anything for me. Then again, Star Trek is generally responsible for my distaste regarding time travel stories in the first place, and by the time this episode showed up in my own personal chronology, I was outright disdainful of them.

Aside from that, I don’t like Denise Crosby or Yar and I can’t help but blame this episode for every annoying instance in which the actress crops back up again like a bad rash. I agree that it was a great opportunity for her character to get a decent death, but the thing is, I liked that her death was so casual the first time around because that’s so contrary to popular storytelling. I never wanted her to get a do-over death. To say nothing of the notion that she doesn’t actually die when she goes back and suffers who knows what sort of torture and torment at the hands of the Romulans.

Finally, I just don’t like dark warlike Trek. I’m not surprised at all that this episode inspired Abrams in his making of the reboot, and frankly that alone makes me like this episode even less. Abrams is all about the dark warlike Trek and I hate it so much I can’t even stand to watch the previews for Into Darkness . If going back in time and dropping this episode from the line-up somehow prevented Abrams from making Star Trek and Into Darkness (to say nothing of Denise Crosby in that crazy Romulan hairdo) then I’d consider it a noble cause.

Yes. This is a strong episode. So good that it almost seems out of place with the preceding episodes.

Others have commented on Wesley being in uniform, but I don’t think anyone has touched on this point. Seeing Wesley in uniform could be taken as a visual clue to the nature of the information Picard is guarding. When Picard finally shares that information with the viewers, Wesley being in the uniform confirms this. Star Fleet is desperate enough to do what Germany did during the declining months of WWII. They put uniforms on children and old men then placed them in combat situations. How many other teenagers might we see if given a chance to wander through the ship in this timeline?

For me, the most thought provoking line is Picard’s “Who is to say that this history is any less proper than the other?” What I find interesting is that that line can be used with equal resolve by beings in any timeline.

I just don’t like dark warlike Trek.

This is a great observation in general about the substitution over time of combat and violence versus exploration and human adventure in ST. I suppose what redeems this episode is that it ultimately is about avoiding a future of combat and violence.

The Enterprise-C perhaps makes the most noble sacrifice among all our Enterprises in this regard, another captain’s solution to the no-win scenario.

No one should ever hesitate to disagree with us! Of course these things are a matter of taste, and we all have certain things that we love in fiction (time travel and alternate universes for me) and things that we hate (for me, it’s wiping people’s memories).

Personally I do like an edgier Trek, which feels more dramatic and more real to me than an idyllic future. But you’re right that Tasha’s original death, as empty as it was, is more realistic. It wasn’t her death that bothered me so much as how little impact it had on her crewmates, and ultimately the series. She was just a redshirt who got to hang out with the rest of the crew and maybe lasted longer than most. Granted, no one will notice her sacrifice this time around, except for us and Guinan, though her crew will find out about it later.

And it seems to me that war (primarily, averting it) was always a big part of the original series, and it had some very dark moments, and this is especially true of the films. I guess dark time travel stories are what many other fans want too because if you look at the best films, they revisit these themes: Star Trek II (dark), IV (time travel), VI (war), First Contact (dark/time travel/war). I don’t blame you for being tired of time travel stories, but fortunately Star Trek found lots of interesting ways to do it differently.

@ 16 Eugene Garrett’s crew: I’m sure some of them would have preferred to go back, no question. But ALL 125? I just don’t buy that, and in any case I would have liked to see that as a struggle rather than just have it dismissed with one line from the captain that this plan is universally accepted.

@ 17 Lemnoc Maybe they’re alone because the war is really going that badly? It just seems weird to me. The command structure should be stronger, not weaker, during war.

@ 18 Toryx All completely fair criticisms. I don’t like WarTrek either, but I think this episode works because it doesn’t endorse WarTrek. In fact, every one there agrees that this alternative sucks compared to even a HOPE of non-WarTrek. It’s fun world to imagine–briefly–before we go back to the real ST.

And yeaaaah Trek Into Dimness or whatever is going to be a thing that happens that I guess I have to see.

@ 19 Ludon I wouldn’t go that far… Wesley would be in uniform right now if he had made it into the Academy that first round two years ago in Season 1. Maybe in this version the Benzites were wiped out by the Klingons so he got in? But he’s not a child soldier.

I like that line, too. It’s all a matter of perspective…

Just a heads-up that this week’s post will be delayed until next week. I’m entering finals and we’ll be on a less regular schedule for the next few weeks.

Best of luck in the exams.

I have to wonder if Gene Roddenberry couldn’t do the dark, warlike Trek a heck of a lot better than someone like J.J. Abrams because he knew what a god-awful tragedy it was. Roddenberry was in the army in New Guinea in 1942-43. This isn’t someone who learned what violence was from Hollywood – and probably explains why the older Trek is so committed to peace.

Chillingly enough, maybe that explains why they could have the whole crew of the Enterprise C head back? Roddenberry had the experience of being in a awful and brutal place at a awful and brutal time when people were knowingly ordered to their deaths, and went.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 3, Episode 15

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Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E15 "Yesterday's Enterprise" » Recap

"Military log, combat date 43625.2. While investigating an unusual radiation anomaly, the Enterprise has encountered what could almost be called a ghost from its own past – the Enterprise-C, the immediate predecessor to this battleship..." — Captain Picard ... but not the one we know.

The one where Denise Crosby gets the proper send-off she was denied two years before .

Original air date: February 19, 1990

Guinan is introducing Worf to the wonders of prune juice when the Enterprise comes upon some sort of space-time disturbance. Suddenly, a ship emerges—the damaged USS Enterprise (NCC-1701- C ), displaced 22 years in time. And it has survivors.

Panning back to the bridge of the Enterprise -D, things are... different. The lighting is darker, the design a bit more sinister, the uniforms are more militaristic, everyone is armed, Wesley is a full member of Starfleet, and Tasha Yar is standing at the tactical station! Deanna is nowhere to be found, but Worf's absence is easily explained: the Federation has been at war with the Klingons for over 20 years, a war which they are now on the brink of losing. They desperately need any ship they can get, and the Enterprise -C, though badly damaged, looks repairable.

They bring the survivors on board, including the moderately injured Captain Garrett. She tells Picard and Dr. Crusher that they had been responding to a distress call from a Klingon outpost at Narendra III when they were set upon by four Romulan Warbirds and were moments from destruction when they fell into the rift. Picard laments that a Federation rescue of a Klingon base might have tipped Federation-Klingon relations toward peace and averted some 20 years of war.

Alone of the crew of the Enterprise , Guinan's Bizarre Alien Senses lead her to pick up on the shift in the timeline, though she cannot fully comprehend it; she just knows that something is off . She talks to Picard about it, but isn't able to give him anything more definite than that this isn't what's supposed to be happening, and she implores him to send the Enterprise -C back through the rift to where it belongs. Picard balks at sending 125 people into certain death based only on a few cryptic remarks. Guinan begs him to think of the stakes: saving the lives of 40 billion casualties of war.

Meanwhile, Tasha has been liaising with the acting second in command of the Enterprise -C, Lieutenant Junior Grade Richard Castillo, trying to get the older vessel combat-ready once more. The pair quickly develop some chemistry, but the disconcerting looks that Guinan keeps throwing at Tasha distract them a bit from their budding romance.

Picard commits to sending the Enterprise -C back to the past based on Guinan's intuition. Crusher and Geordi are incredulous that Guinan could know what she claims, but Data suspects that her species has a perception that goes beyond linear time. Riker, meanwhile, questions the logic of such the act, arguing that the Enterprise -C has no possible way of saving Narendra III and the only thing it would really accomplish is sending the crew to their deaths, but Data points out that the Klingons have an awful lot of respect for people who die in battle, and dying in the defense of the Klingon outpost would likely be seen as a very honorable act.

Picard speaks to Captain Garrett about his decision. Garrett would rather fight in the "here and now" than return to a lost cause, but Picard confesses that she'd be facing a losing battle either way: the Federation is mere months from surrender. Just one starship is not going make any impact in the present, but 22 years ago, one ship could stop the war before it starts.

Garrett agrees to return to her own time and begins preparations for a suicidal last stand. But before they can leave, the two ships are suddenly attacked by a passing Klingon Bird-of-Prey on a scouting mission. The Enterprise -C sustains some damage in the fight, resulting in Garrett getting killed by a piece of shrapnel, leaving Castillo in command. Castillo makes preparations to carry out the mission in her stead, and he and Tasha share a tender goodbye. Before the ship can depart, however, Tasha confronts Guinan about the looks, having apparently surmised that her fate in the alternate timeline is a dark one. Guinan admits that in the "correct" timeline, she died horribly and pointlessly . With this news, Tasha decides to transfer to the Enterprise -C and take her chances with the Romulans, where at least her death might make a difference. This couldn't possibly have any consequences down the road at all.

These alternate-timeline Klingons aren't going away, though, and as the Enterprise -C limps back towards the rift, three Birds-of-Prey attack. The Enterprise -D devotes itself wholly to defending its doomed predecessor, suffering major damage. Riker is killed in an explosion, and the Klingons demand the surrender of the ship. "That'll be the day," scoffs Picard, and he leaps into the tactical station to continues fighting to the very last. The Klingon ships batter away at the now-helpless Enterprise -D, and with a warp core breach imminent, it looks like the end for both ships. Just as the Enterprise -D is about to be destroyed, the Enterprise -C makes it into the rift...

Tropes in this episode include:

Ambadassador : The Enterprise -C is Ambassador -class, and she and her crew are willing to give four Romulan warbirds a serious fight, even with it being a Heroic Sacrifice to strengthen the peace between The Federation and the Klingon Empire.
Anyone Can Die : The best thing about an Alternate Timeline episode. Captain Garrett and Riker are both killed by Exploding Instrumentation , and planned deaths of more of the bridge crew were cut for time.
As You Know : Somewhat averted when Riker says to Picard "If we lose antimatter containment—" and Picard cuts him off. Picard is well aware of what that means. Possibly justified in the heat of the moment, and Riker's Executive Officer role may well technically require him to interpret for the Captain statements from the Chief Engineer no matter how obvious to the Captain, considering the seriousness of the statement.
Backstory Invader : Lampshaded; all the other crew remember Tasha as having been with them all along, but Guinan, who joined the ship after Tasha died, can't remember her previously existing, or at least feels that she shouldn't still exist.
Bad Present : From the perspective of the main characters. As usual, it's a Bad Future from the POV of the Enterprise -C crew.
Badass Boast : From Picard in the alternate timeline: "Let's make sure history never forgets ... the name ... Enterprise ."
Boom, Headshot! : The means of Captain Garrett's demise on the Enterprise -C bridge; some Explosive Instrumentation sends a shard of shrapnel right into her forehead, and she Dies Wide Open , leaving Lt. Castillo in charge.
Butterfly of Doom : The premise of the episode; the Enterprise -C turns out to be a very important cog in history indeed. Without a Heroic Sacrifice on the part of a Federation ship in defense of a Klingon outpost, and instead the apparent cowardice of the Enterprise -C in vanishing from the fight, negotiations between the two sides break down into a 22-year war.
Call-Back : Worf's spiel about human females being too fragile for "companionship" is a call back to a nearly identical conversation he had back in the first season episode " Justice ", there with Commander Riker, but here with Guinan. It would be playfully revisited again later on in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .
Canned Orders over Loudspeaker : Heard when Guinan turns to find that Ten Forward has turned into a soldiers mess. Now hear this. Fleet formation briefing in main war room at fifteen hundred hours. Doctor Joshua Kim, report to Cetacean Ops. Ensign Thomas, please report to the Combat Information Center. Ensign Thomas to the CIC.
Captain's Log : Picard gives his usual voiceover, but in the alternate timeline he's recording a "military log" and using "combat dates" rather than Stardates.
Continuity Nod : In the alternate timeline, there's an intercom call for "Dr. Selar," the Vulcan member of Dr. Crusher's sickbay staff last seen in " The Schizoid Man ."
Costume Evolution : As one of many signs something is wrong, the Starfleet uniforms have a higher black collar, black cuffs on the sleeves and a white belt with the Starfleet insignia on it.
The Ambassador -class Enterprise -C. Notable in that the Ambassador only made three other appearances in the franchise and it remains an extremely popular ship in the fandom.
The K'vort -class battlecruiser. Basically a classic Bird-of-Prey on steroids, and powerful enough to give two Enterprise s some serious trouble.
The Chains of Commanding : It's subtle, but alternate timeline Picard has just a few deeper wrinkles than he does normally, showing the stress of being a warship captain in such a long war.
Critical Staffing Shortage : Riker points out that if the Enterprise -C goes back, Lt. Castillo will have "limited support from Ops, no Tactical support, reduced staff in Engineering ..." before Castillo cuts him off.
Picard, given the order to surrender to the Klingons, spits out a "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner , vaults over the Tactical rail to man Riker's empty station, and continues attempting to fire the phasers as the bridge catches fire around him.
The surviving Enterprise -C crew go on to embody this trope offscreen when they return to 2344, fighting the Romulans over Narendra III until the ship is destroyed and they're all either killed or taken prisoner.
Dramatic Irony : In the alternate timeline, Geordi talks to Crusher, after the briefing to send the Enterprise -C back, about how they have no way of knowing whether any of them are even alive in the original timeline. Tasha is behind them as they walk. The audience knows that Tasha is not alive in the original timeline. Geordi's words obviously stick with Tasha and spur her to ask Guinan about her fate.
Dying Moment of Awesome : The Enterprise -C is destroyed in defense of a Klingon colony, despite the Federation and the Klingon Empire being hostile to one another at the time. In doing so they prove to the Klingons that valor and integrity are core parts of The Federation 's ideals, leading the two governments to reconcile and become True Companions , preventing a war that would have lasted 22 years and saving 40 billion lives . Never forget the name Enterprise indeed.
Dynamic Akimbo : Picard puts his hands on his hips on the Bridge. Perhaps he got the habit from Captain Janeway in this timeline?
Expendable Alternate Universe : Discussed. Guinan: I can't explain it to myself so I can't explain it to you. I only know that I'm right. Picard: Who is to say that this history is any less proper than the other? Guinan: I suppose I am. Picard: Not good enough, dammit! Not good enough! I will not ask them to die! Guinan: Forty billion people have already died! This war is not supposed to be happening ! You've got to send those people back to correct this!
"Facing the Bullets" One-Liner : The Enterprise -D is crippled, with no chance of winning the battle. The Klingons order the Enterprise to surrender. Captain Picard: That'll be the day.
Fix Fic : Denise Crosby left the series unexpectedly while the first season was being filmed, which meant Tasha Yar had to be written out. Yar's demise in " Skin of Evil " was intentionally written as abrupt and pointless to highlight life's cruel realities, but it didn't sit well with fans. When Crosby returned for this episode, the writers got a chance to give her a more heroic death.
The original fate of the Enterprise -C, fighting four Romulan warbirds in defense of a Klingon colony before the Klingons and Federation were allies. Giving their lives in a doomed attempt to answer the colony's distress call was (as Data pointed out) an act of courage and honor so impressive that it made the Klingon Empire reconsider their decades of hostility towards the Federation.
The fate of the bad future 's Enterprise -D. To help the Enterprise -C reach the time portal, she and her crew stand between them and three Klingon battle cruisers.
Hold the Line : The Enterprise -D has to hold off three Klingon Birds of Prey long enough for the Enterprise -C to re-enter the temporal rift and reset history. Similarly, the Enterprise -C has to last long enough in the Battle of Narendra III to prove to the Klingons that the Federation can become True Companions .
With the storyline of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country coming out a year later, and the destruction of Praxis in 2293 happening before the point of divergence of the normal timeline and the Bad Future , in theory the Klingon Empire should have been crippled at this point and in no way able to fight a sustained conflict against the United Federation of Planets, and certainly not one where the Klingons are winning so much that Starfleet is considering surrendering. It's possible that the Khitomer Accords led to the Federation helping the Klingon Empire back up on their feet before relations degraded again to the point of war when the attack on Narendra III happened, making it an unwitting case of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero .
Given that the premise involves the prior twenty years of history to be drastically different, with the Federation entangled in a decades-long war, it's highly improbable that any of the original crew would have ended up on the Enterprise -D, and especially unlikely that more than one or at most two would have. Instead, with the exception of Worf's swap with Yar (due to the Klingon war), and Troi's absence, everyone else is not only stationed on the same exact ship, but also in their exact same senior staff positions.
It also seems very unlikely the overall design of the Enterprise -D's exterior would look the same, with all the very large windows, etc., since in the normal timeline, the -D was much like a luxury ship, whereas in the Bad Future , there would be a need for much more armour and fewer weak spots. Contrast her with the Defiant and the Enterprise -E, which were both designed to be much more combat-oriented in the face of the Borg and Dominion threats. Of course, the simple answer is that the producers didn't want to make a whole new Enterprise -D model for part of a single episode.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall : When Tasha decides that she wants a death that will count for something, it's easy to see it as acknowledging the Fix Fic nature of the scene in giving the character a more heroic exit than the "senseless" death the writers originally gave her.
Little "No" : Guinan says this when the Negative Space Wedgie appears, a few minutes before the timeline is altered.
Mars Wants Chocolate : Klingons want prune juice. After all, it is a warrior's drink.
Mildly Military : The fact that this trope is averted is one of the earliest indicators to the audience that something is off. All of the crew carry phasers aboard the ship, the lighting is dimmed for a darker mood, the ramp leading to the back of the bridge has been replaced with steps, there are fewer chairs on the Bridge for officers to lounge in ( Riker now stands behind the railing instead of sitting at the Captain's side), the replicators produce standardized military rations, the ship doesn't have a counselor on the bridge—Troi doesn't appear in the Bad Future at all—and the Enterprise is even repeatedly referred to as a "battleship" instead of a "starship". The Enterprise -C, meanwhile, is referred to as a cruiser. Even the uniforms are slightly different, now having a closed collar to make the final frontier just that little bit less friendly .
Mundane Made Awesome : Worf is quite taken by prune juice and proclaims it "a warrior's drink!"
My Significance Sense Is Tingling : Guinan senses that something's wrong when the Negative Space Wedgie first appears, and it gets worse when the timeline changes. It also flares up whenever she's near Tasha, since the latter's supposed to be dead.
Mythology Gag : According to Ronald D. Moore, Worf's fondness for prune juice was inspired by John M. Ford's The Final Reflection . Ford's pre-TNG take on the Klingons, among other things, had established that they loved fruit juices. Moore adored that little world-building detail and decided to incorporate it into the script and formally canonize it.
The Needs of the Many : The Enterprise -C must return to prevent a war which kills billions . Though they know they will likely die, their deaths will prevent a long and costly war.
There Are No Therapists : Since the alternate-reality Enterprise-D is a warship above all else, Troi is nowhere to be seen. If she is on the ship, she's apparently not seen as necessary on the bridge and consigned to a less prominent role.
Negative Space Wedgie : Apparently caused or exacerbated by all the weapons discharges during the Battle of Narendra III.
No Time to Explain : Riker resorts to this because he doesn't want to mess with the timeline by explaining to Captain Garrett they're from the future. Garrett orders him to explain now .
Oh, Crap! : La Forge delivers a well-warranted one. Doubly warranted if you consider that the Enterprise 's plasma coolant is horrifically corrosive to organic matter. La Forge: Coolant leak! Bridge, we've got a coolant leak in the engine core! I can't shut it down; I estimate two minutes until a warp core breach!
O.O.C. Is Serious Business : The stress of a twenty-year war is shown in Picard's abrupt manner and his terse interaction with Riker.
One-Way Trip : After discussing things with Picard, Garret and then Castillo agree to take Enterprise -C back into a confrontation they would likely die in if it means averting a war today.
Out of Focus : Given that there's not much use for a ship's counselor on the bridge of a war ship, Troi is completely absent from the bulk of the episode, She's only appears in the two short bridge scenes on the "regular" Enterprise —one before and one after the main plot of the episode—and has no dialogue. Worf makes up for his general absence by getting focus in the first and final scenes.
Red Alert : Picard orders a "Battle Alert — Condition Yellow" when told there are Klingons in the area. Though the trope is played straight when a Klingon Bird-of-Prey attacks the Enterprise-C and Captain Garrett, being from the pre-war timeline, orders "Red Alert". When the Klingon K'Vort Class battlecruisers arrive, after Picard has spoken his supplemental military log , the internal shot shows Enterprise-D is already at battlestations and it is unknown if he ordered "Battle Alert — Condition Red" or "Red Alert" when the ship detected the Klingon vessels incoming. note The audible Red Alert klaxon noise for the alternative timeline Enterprise-D is different for this episode in tone and pitch, while the Enterprise-C carries the same Red Alert klaxon sound as the prime universe Enterprise-D , but is sped up in comparison.
Reset-Button Suicide Mission : The Enterprise -D sacrifices itself to cover the return of the Enterprise -C back to its original time in order to prevent the alternate timeline it emerged into from occurring.
Ripple Effect Indicator : Worf arrives on the bridge, and announces something strange on sensors. Time Ripple ensues, and we cut to Tasha Yar (having died previously on the show) on the bridge in Worf's place. Once the timeline is restored, Worf is back where he should be.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory : Guinan only, and downplayed at that; she doesn't seem to know exactly what's wrong with the timeline ("I know it's the same bridge; I also know it's wrong !"), but she has a good idea of how to fix it. It also seems to apply to Guinan just being there in general, as she quickly notices that she doesn't really logically belong on the ship now or have a real purpose working on it. All of the civilian Ten-Forward staff are gone except for her, and her job at just seems to be replicating generic ration packs and handing them out — something everyone could easily do for themselves — yet she is still on board regardless. Perhaps Picard felt her advice was indispensable, which it definitely proves to be in solving the episode's central problem of what to do with the Enterprise -C and her crew.
Sacrificial Lion : One for each space battle shown, Captain Garrett and Commander Riker . Even then, they both fall victim to flying debris from Explosive Instrumentation .
Set Right What Once Went Wrong : The Enterprise -C's mission. The crew of the Enterprise -D set forth to help them and protect them until they can go back.
Shout-Out : When the attacking Klingons order the Enterprise to surrender and prepare to be boarded: Picard: "That'll be the day."
Subterfuge Judo : A small instance: When she is rescued from the Enterprise -C, Captain Garrett is taken to sickbay to be treated. She notices how advanced it is, even for a starbase. Dr. Crusher tries to calm her down with her bedside manner, but Garrett insists on an explanation, forcing Picard to reveal that the Enterprise-C crew have traveled 22 years into the future.
Trademark Favorite Food : This episode is the origin of Worf's passion for prune juice, which he describes as "a warrior's drink." The trope continues into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .
Yar reading off the registry data in the final line of the cold open: Yar: It's clearing now, Captain. Definitely a Federation starship. Accessing registry. [...] NCC-1701-C. [ Picard and Riker turn to stare at Yar, who looks up to stare at the main viewscreen ] Yar: ... U.S.S. Enterprise .
Picard explaining to Captain Garrett where and when she is, when she notices something is off about the sickbay she's in and the differences in the uniforms. Garrett: I must insist, what ship!? Picard: You're aboard the Enterprise , Captain, 1701-D . You have traveled 22 years into the future.
Picard's summation of the ongoing war: Picard: The war is going very badly for the Federation; far worse than is generally known. Starfleet Command believes defeat is inevitable. Within six months, we may have no choice but to surrender.
Wham Shot : Tasha Yar? Alive? Okay, something weird is going on here.
What You Are in the Dark : Inverted. If the Enterprise -D is successful in helping the Enterprise -C return to their time, the crew of the Enterprise -D will have no idea what they did and what it meant for the Federation. They still do it, because it's the right thing to do. Although, back in the fixed timeline, Guinan knows and later tells Picard.
With All Due Respect : Riker to Picard in regards to sending the Enterprise -C back through time to correct the past that altered the present. Riker: With all due respect, sir, you'd be asking 125 people to die a meaningless death.
You Are in Command Now : Lt. Castillo, the only remaining bridge officer, takes command of the Enterprise -C after Captain Garrett is killed.
You Have to Believe Me! : Picard's relationship with Guinan is strong enough for him to listen to what she's saying, but it doesn't help that Guinan only has her Gut Feeling that things are wrong.
The Enterprise -D's Heroic Sacrifice to allow the Enterprise -C to get back to her own time. Captain Picard: Attention all hands. As You Know , we could outrun the Klingon vessels. But we must protect the Enterprise -C until she enters the temporal rift. And we must succeed. Let's make sure history never forgets ... the name ... Enterprise . Picard out.
And of course, once the timeline is restored, the final fate of the Enterprise -C, destroyed after taking on four Romulan warbirds in defense of a Klingon colony. Never forget the name Enterprise , indeed.
Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E14 "A Matter of Perspective"
Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E16 "The Offspring"

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Star Trek History: Yesterday's Enterprise

On this day in 1990, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode premiered.

On this day in 1990, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," premiered.

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“this doesn’t look terrible:” the ‘star trek’ episode that saved ‘next generation’.

Fans have not let history forget 'Yesterday's Enterprise,' the classic episode of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' that saved the show.

By Phil Pirrello

Phil Pirrello

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“Let history never forget the name… Enterprise.”

Fans have not let history forget “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” the classic episode of Star Trek : The Next Generation from which that line comes. Thirty years ago this week, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the Enterprise crew encountered Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O’Neil) and the crew of the long-lost Enterprise-C, when a temporal anomaly altered the timeline and brought the two starships together. But the twist is, in this version of the 24th Century, the Federation is on the losing end of a long war with the Klingons. This war could be over before it started, Picard posits, if the Enterprise-C returns to its proper timeline — but not without her crew losing their lives to save millions of others in the process.

The only stakes as dire as those featured in the episode were those faced by the people that wrote it. While “Yesterday’s Enterprise” often ranks as an all-timer for both the franchise and science fiction in general, its development process was so convoluted and stressful that one of its co-writers, Ira Steven Behr ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , The 4400 ), still can’t believe to this day how well-regarded the hour is. Or that they managed to pull it off. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” co-writers Behr and Ronald D. Moore recently gave The Hollywood Reporter an oral history of sorts behind one of the greatest (and hardest) episodes they’ve ever made — one that would ultimately end up saving the series.

The Story’s Origins

“The original episode and pitch are very different from what we ended up writing,” says Moore.

A Next Generation production staff member, Eric Stillwell, and his friend and writing partner, Trent Christopher Ganino, originally submitted the episode as a spec script via TNG ’s famous “open door policy,” which was started by the then-showrunner, the late Michael Piller. (Before this draft, Moore recalled seeing another draft — one that “hovered somewhere around 90 pages or so” — from Ganino and another writer.) That Stillwell-Ganino draft is what Piller handed Moore to work with in early fall of 1989, as Moore was then brand new to the writing staff.

“It was my first year on staff,” Moore recalled, “and it was one of the first things Michael Piller handed to me and said: ‘See what you can do with this, it isn’t working, but I think there’s an episode in here.’ He gave me that and he gave me the episodes that became [the Worf episode] ‘Sins of the Father.’”

That draft Moore inherited did not include the two key elements that Moore would add that ultimately helped get the episode greenlit: The war with the Klingons and the arrival of the Enterprise-C altering the timeline. “Everyone on [Picard’s ship] in the original draft that I had, the crew, they all knew of the Enterprise-C and what happened to them, that they died in some incident,” Moore says. “But no one on the other crew knows this, so Picard and his people, they’re trying to get the C back to its timeline and keep all this a secret.”

Moore also made the other Enterprise’s captain a female when he took the first pass on the episode. (The return of the deceased Tasha Yar, played by Denise Crosby, to this altered timeline was already in play early on.) The original script also featured a senior officer from the Enterprise-C spending most of the episode “with Data on the holodeck, having some sort of epic pirate movie-type adventure, singing songs and — it was crazy. It was just so expensive, too — you couldn’t do it, budget-wise — so it was obvious we’d cut it.”

Thanks to Moore’s re-shaping of the episode into something more in line with the type of sci-fi Trek was putting out at the time, Piller approved it for production. But, had season three not been “in chaos,” as Behr put it, there’s a chance the episode would have never made it out of development hell.

“What’s important to understand,” Behr says, “is that we were so far behind on episodes [in season three], we were so backed up with shows, so it was just like putting out fires, you know? But there had been this story that there was interest in, from Eric Stillwell, and we needed to put something in the pipeline for production.”

“It Was Such a Clusterfuck”

Faced with a deadline to get the episode written in time to go into production before Christmas — in order to accommodate schedules for guest stars Denise Crosby and Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan — Behr was put in charge of overseeing completion of the final draft. He enlisted writers Moore, Richard Manning and Hans Beimler for the task, with each writer taking on acts. That meant that the writers had to spend Thanksgiving weekend of 1989 hammering out the script.

“That pissed everyone off to no end,” Behr says with a laugh. “But that was the job. Michael, at the time, was not able to — or didn’t want to — deal with the writing staff on a day-to-day basis, for something like this. He was, justifiably, too busy rewriting and dealing with everything else, because we were so behind that season. It was such a clusterfuck. He said: ‘Get them in, we gotta do this.’”

“I took the teaser and act one,” Moore recalls. When the alternate timeline kicks in, Moore really enjoyed writing that and calling out, visually, what that would like on the bridge.

The episode’s opening scene, between Guinan and Worf in the Enterprise-D’s bar lounge, Ten Forward, originally featured a very non- Trek exchange between the two characters.

“Originally, I had Guinan talking to Worf about the stars. About how, when humans look at the stars, they often ask questions of them,” Moore explains. In Moore’s original version of that scene, Worf’s reply was something to the affect of “when Klingons look to the stars, it’s more ‘what do the stars make us ask of ourselves’?” Executive producer Rick Berman ultimately cut that compelling exchange, but Behr made it known to the rookie writer how big a fan he was of that scene.

“What was great about it was, I remember Ira pulling me aside in the hallway to tell me basically he liked those lines,” Moore recalls. “He appreciated that there was a poetry to them and I remember that stuck with me for a long time because, again, it was my first year. I was a new writer, and I remember thinking it was so kind of him to take the time to do that.”

Moore relished the idea of working in an alternate universe.

“It was fun to me, this idea of a darker, Next Generation universe, to change the little things like — when I got to write the draft of the actual shooting script, I was describing the new bridge and I made a point of lifting the Captain’s chair up higher, more like [how it was] on The Original Series .” Moore also noted in his draft that the lighting would be darker on the bridge, and everyone would have sidearms. “Differentiating the Enterprise we knew for this alternate reality Enterprise, that was the most fun for me,” says Moore.

Moore also volunteered to tackle the fifth and final act of the teleplay, where the Enterprise-D’s crew goes out in a literal blaze of glory defending the Enterprise-C’s trip back in time from attacking Klingon Birds of Prey. This act infamously features an explosion that horrifically kills alternate timeline Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Originally, the plan was for all of the bridge crew — Data (Brent Spiner) and Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) included — to go out in similar grizzly fashion.

“My memory is that Rick Berman [ TNG executive producer] pushed back on that and didn’t want to see everyone on the bridge die,” Moore says. “So I pulled back on what my original intention was, but [writing it] was a ball.” (Behr recalls that they actually did shoot those death scenes, which were spurred on in part by the frustrations the writers faced having to work over the holiday weekend. According to Behr, he believes those scenes were cut because “they were too violent and didn’t really sell as well [the drama] in the final cut.” And that Rick Berman wasn’t a fan of them because they “could have felt too depressing for the fans” to end the episode on.)

A fun beat for Behr during the climactic battle was having Picard as the last man standing on the bridge, at the tactical console, literally going down with the ship as flames and smoke consumed the bridge.

“That is a callback to the last shot of Bataan ,” Behr reveals, referring to one of his favorite World War II movies from 1943. Behr also is quite fond of Stewart’s line during this scene — “That’ll be the day” — as it delivers on the John Wayne-like tone Behr intended for the line to be delivered in.

The Hardest Scenes to Write

“The Guinan scenes were always impossible,” Moore says. Both he and Behr agreed that that was the case, no matter what episode the Enterprise’s enigmatic alien bartender (played by Whoopi Goldberg) appeared in. Here, they are referring to Guinan and her sage-like interactions with Picard, where she explains the timeline has been altered without fully explaining it.

“Michael personally wrote the Guinan-Picard stuff,” Moore says. “He loved the character of Guinan, he loved the idea that Picard had a relationship with the bartender.”

Both Moore and Behr remember Piller did the final pass on those scenes, after a constant back-and-forth notes process. Those scenes went through a lot of rewrites — “What is she saying, what is she not saying,” according to Moore. The struggle was how much exposition could Guinan dish out before it felt too much or made Picard’s job too easy in regards to the fate of the Enterprise-C. So Piller was the closer on those beats, but that’s not to say Piller only focused on those.

“He did a [showrunner’s] pass on the final draft,” Behr said. “It was all hands on deck, but out of that chaos came kind of a […] cultural touchstone, I guess, in terms of the genre.”

“This Doesn’t Look Terrible”

That’s what Behr said during post-production, while watching footage from “Yesterday’s Enterprise” come in.

Behr remembered that TNG was just coming off one of the hardest episodes, the Rashomon -style murder mystery “A Matter of Perspective,” and “morale was low, things were — they weren’t looking too good.”

“The thing that started to give us hope, that this was actually going to be good — and Ira has said this many times before — was seeing the dailies,” Moore adds. “And seeing that lighting on the bridge. It was just so interesting to see this darker take on what we all knew take shape and the performances were great, the action… it just looked like it was going to work.”

The end result ultimately reinvigorated both the show and the creative staff at the time. And while the episode deservedly has its fans, among them was not the man who gave it the go-ahead.

“I don’t think [Michael] loved it,” Moore says of his former boss. “Michael, like me, was still in his first year, too. He wasn’t sure how bold you can be on the show, of the feel of the show yet. I think the notion of the alternate universe was a little daunting for him on some fundamental levels. He was still kind of figuring out not only science fiction, but Star Trek ‘s take on science fiction. I don’t think he was overly enthusiastic about [the final episode], but again, from the beginning, he did see the potential of the script. And that’s why he gave it to me and that’s why he put it into the pipeline.”

Thirty years later, Piller’s decision more than holds up. And as great as “Yesterday’s Enterprise” is, it is a source of some regret for one of its key creative architects.

“I wish we did this as the plot for Generations ,” Moore says, referencing the first Star Trek feature film featuring The Next Generation crew that he co-wrote with Brannon Braga. “If we hadn’t have done that episode, then [the movie] would have been the Enterprise-A coming through that wormhole, and you’d have Spock and Kirk and everyone on that ship, we’d play the same story. They — the original crew — they had to go back to their deaths. And Guinan knew Kirk, and Guinan knew Picard, and that would have been an amazing movie.”

Guess we will just have to settle for having an amazing episode.

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10 Best Star Trek Moments

As the venerated franchise reboots on the silver screen with the May 8 premiere of Star Trek , TIME's John Cloud runs down its greatest moments.

TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise

Star Trek: The Next Generation , Yesterday's Enterprise . First aired Feb. 19, 1990.

Based on a spec script by an outside writer who was also a Trek fan, this episode explores the fate of a previous Enterprise (the NCC-1701-C, if you were wondering, as compared to Kirk's original NCC-1701 and Jean-Luc Picard's NCC-1701-D). The Enterprise -C travels through a temporal rift and just so happens to appear not far from Picard's Enterprise -D, which instantly morphs from a ship of peace to a gloomy war craft. Only the bartender Guinan — a delightful Whoopi Goldberg — knows that something is wrong. Four Paramount writers — including Ronald Moore, later of Battlestar Galactica fame — polished the episode into a taut, unpredictable thriller with an exhilarating complement of phasers and photon torpedoes. The episode also reveals some key elements of Starfleet "history" and makes a deeper point about how just one ship (ours, of course) can change the universe.

Next Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" Finally Allowed Denise Crosby To Play The Tasha Yar She Auditioned For

Lt. Tasha Yar was a compelling character with untapped potential on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Denise Crosby's return in "Yesterday's Enterprise" allowed for a deeper exploration of Tasha Yar.
"Yesterday's Enterprise" is considered one of TNG's best episodes, showcasing a more complex Tasha Yar.

The classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Yesterday's Enterprise," gave Lt. Tasha Yar actress Denise Crosby the chance to play the version of the character she had been presented with in her original audition. Denise Crosby's Lt. Tasha Yar was a member of TNG's original cast, but she was unhappy with her limited role and left the series. Tasha was abruptly killed off in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, episode 23, "Skin of Evil." In 2023, Denise Crosby joined The 7th Rule podcast to review Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1.

Tasha Yar was a fascinating character with a tragic backstory who never reached her full potential. Yar rarely took center stage in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, and the lone episode in which she did, TNG season 1, episode 4 , "Code of Honor", is widely regarded as one of the series worst outings. Nearly two seasons after Denise Crosby left the show, she returned to play an alternate universe version of Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 15, "Yesterday's Enterprise." Not only does this episode fill in some important elements of Star Trek canon, but it's also a phenomenal episode of television.

TNG: Tasha Yar's Death, Alternate Reality & Romulan Daughter Explained

Tasha yar got more depth in "yesterday's enterprise" than all of tng season 1, "yesterday's enterprise" is widely regarded as one of tng's finest hours..

Denise Crosby returned to The 7th Rule podcast co-hosted by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Cirroc Lofton and producer Ryan T. Husk to discuss Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise." When speaking about Yar's characterization in the episode, Crosby said the following:

You see a depth to her that is youre able to share in. You know, theres not a lot of episodes in the show in the first season where Tashas contemplating those kind of deep ideas - the self-worth, the self-purpose. Shes reactionary, shes doing her job, shes taking care of business, but in this episode, it gives her time to be reflective and ask the deep questions of herself. And the writers allow those answers to come out and for us to touch upon that.

In "Yesterday's Enterprise," the USS Enterprise-D encounters a rift in spacetime from which the heavily damaged USS Enterprise-C emerges. Suddenly, everything on the Enterprise-D changes — the ship becomes a warship involved in a conflict with the Klingons and Tasha Yar is back as the ship's tactical officer. Only Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) , the enigmatic Ten Forward bartender, notices anything amiss. Guinan tells Captain Picard that the Enterprise-C must return to its own time period to restore the proper future. In the end, Tasha goes back in time with the Enterprise-C and the future rights itself.

Prior to the podcast episode, Crosby, Lofton, and Husk all watched "Yesterday's Enterprise," and Crosby remarked that this was the first time she had seen the episode since it first aired in 1990.

Denise Crosby's Original Audition Presented A More Complex Tasha Yar

Crosby read a scene during her audition that never made it into a tng episode..

Denise Crosby also spoke about her audition process for Star Trek: The Next Generation , during which she read a "beautiful" scene that never appeared in the show. Read her quote below:

You know, Ive mentioned before that my audition piece was a very, very beautiful piece written for the Troi and Tasha characters that was never Its almost like they lured me in, you know? That was the carrot they dangled and said this is what this is going to be, and then the show wasnt that. They never had a scene anywhere near that.

Crosby did the best with the material she was given in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, but that material didn't always live up to the character she had originally been promised. Crosby mentions a scene between Tasha Yar and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) , and it's true that TNG failed its female characters in some ways, especially when it came to friendships between them. Most of the stories that centered on TNG 's women focused on their relationships with men or featured weaker storylines. Thankfully, modern Star Trek shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have remedied this oversight, and Star Trek: Picard season 3 even allowed some of the women of Star Trek: The Next Generation to play more complex versions of their characters.

Source: The 7th Rule

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Cast Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden

Release Date September 28, 1987

Showrunner Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Rick Berman

Where To Watch Paramount+

Star Trek: TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" Finally Allowed Denise Crosby To Play The Tasha Yar She Auditioned For

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Star trek: the next generation's crew did something that would've baffled captain kirk.

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Every Star Trek Captain’s Son Or Daughter Explained

I hope star trek's forgotten enterprise captain is back for good after their upcoming movie return, why star trek: the next generation's enterprise had a rarely-seen second bridge.

The crew of the USS Enterprise-D on Star Trek: The Next Generation did something that would have baffled Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). As Captain of the USS Enterprise, Kirk devoted his life to Starfleet, going above and beyond to look out for his ship and his crew. Although Kirk had a son with Dr. Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), she chose to raise their son David (Merritt Butrick) alone, as Kirk was always off traveling the galaxy. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), too, chose to focus on his Starfleet career rather than starting a family.

Both Kirk and Picard came to see their USS Enterprise crews as their family, but Jean-Luc later got a chance that Kirk never did. In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) crashed back into Jean-Luc's life, revealing that she had given birth to their son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), twenty years before. After the shock wore off, Jean-Luc took the time to get to know his son, something that Kirk never really had the chance to do. Tragically, Kirk's son, David, was killed by the Klingons in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

Captain Kirk Would Be Baffled Star Trek: TNG’s Crew Had Children

Kirk couldn't understand how starfleet officers found time to have children.

In Star Trek Generations, Captain Kirk visits the bridge of the USS Enterprise-A to send the ship off for its shake-down cruise. While there, he's introduced to helmsman Ensign Demora Sulu (Jacqueline Kim), the daughter of Hikaru Sulu (George Takei). Kirk says it "absolutely amazes" him that Sulu ever found time to have a family, but Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) points out that "if something's important, you'll make the time." Unlike most of the crew from Star Trek: The Original Series, many of the USS Enterprise-D crew members found time to become parents.

Starfleet is a family business, and many Star Trek Captains have seen their sons and daughters pursue similar career paths across Star Trek history.

Dr. Beverly Crusher was already a mother to Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) when Star Trek: The Next Generation began, and she was still a skilled doctor and intelligent scientist. Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) became a father to Alexander (Brian Bonsall) on TNG, although he will not be winning any father-of-the-year awards. Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) became parents after Riker took over command of the USS Titan. Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) had two daughters by the time of Star Trek: Picard, and even Data (Brent Spiner) spawned newly upgraded androids, including Soji Asha (Isa Briones).

Why Captain Kirk Didn’t Raise A Family Of His Own

Kirk never came across as a family man anyway.

Captain Kirk was relatively early in his Starfleet career when Carol Marcus gave birth to David, and she did not want to follow him across the galaxy. Carol felt like David would be better off with her, and he eventually followed in his mother's footsteps to become a scientist. David was already a young adult when Kirk met him in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , and both returned to their work after the events of the film. There were other times when Kirk attempted to settle down, but something always brought Jim back to Starfleet.

In Star Trek Generations, Kirk found himself in the Heaven-like Nexus realm , where he had the chance to live a life with his lost love, Antonia (Lynn Salvatori). Although Kirk once considered sharing his life with Antonia, he instead chose to return to Starfleet. Even in the Nexus realm, Kirk could not settle into a domestic life, choosing instead to return to the real world with Captain Picard. Although Star Trek: The Next Generation's Picard got the chance to have a family late in life, Kirk was killed in the fight to stop Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), robbing him of any opportunity to settle down.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

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"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Yesterday's Enterprise (TV Episode 1990)
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"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Yesterday's Enterprise (TV Episode
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Yesterday's Enterprise (TV Episode 1990) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Yesterday's Enterprise (TV Episode
Yesterday's Enterprise: Directed by David Carson. With Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn. The Enterprise C enters the Enterprise D's time and space continuum, where they find Picard and crew in a constant state of war with the Klingons, and only Guinan knows it.
Yesterday's Enterprise
"Yesterday's Enterprise" is the 63rd episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the 15th episode of the third season, first airing in syndication in the week of February 19, 1990.Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D.
7 Star Trek: TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise" Details You Missed
With an impressive guest cast, an entirely new Starship Enterprise, and a climactic final battle scene, "Yesterday's Enterprise" required a larger budget than most Star Trek: The Next Generation ...
Yesterday's Enterprise (episode)
The original airing of "Yesterday's Enterprise" earned ratings of 13.1 million viewers - the third highest of the series. ("Flashback: Yesterday's Enterprise", Star Trek Magazine issue 122) Rick Berman cites this episode along with "The Measure Of A Man" as one of his favorites. (TNG Season 3 DVD) Michael Piller remarked, "That was a classic ...
"Yesterday's Enterprise"
There aren't many episodes that announce themselves as instant classics, but "Yesterday's Enterprise" was one of them. It was an instant classic when it aired, and in the years since it has become an enduring one. It's one of the franchise's very best time-travel stories. (Every Trek series has had at least one that vied for similar thematic ...
Revisiting Star Trek TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise
Worf and Guinan are having an increasingly weird chat in Ten Forward ("Earth females are too… fragile.") when suddenly a time hole appears next to the ship! Worf is called up to the bridge ...
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Yesterday's Enterprise (TV Episode
The Enterprise is observing a celestial anomaly, something akin to a wormhole when a star ship appears having traveled through it. To everyone's surprise, the ship is an earlier version of the Enterprise, the Enterprise-C commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neil). The instant the Enterprise-C arrives however, history is changed.
Yesterday's Enterprise
"Yesterday's Enterprise" is the 63rd episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the 15th episode of the third season, first airing in syndication in the week of February 19, 1990. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Yesterday's Enterprise
Episode Guide for Star Trek: The Next Generation 3x15: Yesterday's Enterprise. Episode summary, trailer and screencaps; guest stars and main cast list; and more.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: "Yesterday's Enterprise"
Eugene Myers. - April 11, 2013 8:00 am Posted in: TNG Re-Watch. "Yesterday's Enterprise". Written by Ira Steven Behr, Richard Manning, Hans Beimler, & Ronald D. Moore (story by Trent Christopher Ganino & Eric A. Stillwell) Directed by David Carson. Season 3, Episode 15. Original air date: February 19, 1990.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
An Enterprise from the past breaks through a time rift, altering the course of history; Guinan is the only one that senses that the timeline has been altered. Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation ...
Yesterday's Enterprise
Yesterday's Enterprise Sci-Fi Feb 19, 1990 43 ... Cast & Crew WG Whoopi Goldberg Guinan DC Denise Crosby Lt. Tasha Yar TO ... Star Trek: The Next Generation Yesterday's Enterprise Sci-Fi Feb 19, 1990 43 min Paramount+ Available on Paramount+, Prime Video ...
Recalling "Yesterday's Enterprise" with Eric Stillwell
Recalling "Yesterday's Enterprise" with Eric Stillwell - Part 1. " Yesterday's Enterprise " is widely considered one of the best-ever episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, not to mention one of the most-memorable hours of any Star Trek series, period. And, from the file called "Scary but True," the episode debuted almost 21 ...
The Trek Nation
Star Trek: TNG; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Star Trek: VOY; Star Trek: ENT; Star Trek Beyond; TrekToday archive; ... Yesterday's Enterprise By Michelle Erica Green Posted at June 21, 2008 - 3:23 ...
Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E15 "Yesterday's Enterprise"
Original air date: February 19, 1990. Guinan is introducing Worf to the wonders of prune juice when the Enterprise comes upon some sort of space-time disturbance. Suddenly, a ship emerges—the damaged USS Enterprise (NCC-1701- C), displaced 22 years in time. And it has survivors.
S3 E15: Yesterday's Enterprise
Star Trek: The Next Generation Featuring a bigger and better USS Enterprise, this series is set 78 years after the original series -- in the 24th century. Instead of Capt. James Kirk, a less volatile and more mature Capt. Jean-Luc Picard heads the crew of various humans and alien creatures in their adventures in space -- the final frontier.
Star Trek History: Yesterday's Enterprise
On this day in 1990, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," premiered.
'Star Trek': The Episode That Saved 'Next Generation'
Enterprise.". Fans have not let history forget "Yesterday's Enterprise," the classic episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation from which that line comes. Thirty years ago this week ...
TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise
By John Cloud Friday, May 08, 2009. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Yesterday's Enterprise. First aired Feb. 19, 1990. Based on a spec script by an outside writer who was also a Trek fan, this episode explores the fate of a previous Enterprise (the NCC-1701-C, if you were wondering, as compared to Kirk's original NCC-1701 and Jean-Luc Picard's ...
List of Star Trek: Enterprise cast members
Connor Trinneer (pictured far left) and Scott Bakula (pictured far right) in costume alongside three members of the crew of the USS Enterprise.. Star Trek: Enterprise is an American science fiction television series that debuted on UPN on September 26, 2001, and ran for four seasons until May 13, 2005. [1] The show was the fifth live-action series in the Star Trek franchise, [2] and was ...
Star Trek: TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" Finally Allowed Denise ...
The classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Yesterday's Enterprise," gave Lt. Tasha Yar actress Denise Crosby the chance to play the version of the character she had been presented with ...
The Backstory of How Tasha Yar Returned to "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
Paramount Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar. It was a pivotal moment in the first season of this new version of " Star Trek.". In a moment of crisis, a member of the Enterprise crew took the brunt of ...
Star Trek: The Next Generation's Crew Did Something That Would've
In Star Trek Generations, Captain Kirk visits the bridge of the USS Enterprise-A to send the ship off for its shake-down cruise.While there, he's introduced to helmsman Ensign Demora Sulu (Jacqueline Kim), the daughter of Hikaru Sulu (George Takei). Kirk says it "absolutely amazes" him that Sulu ever found time to have a family, but Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) points out that "if something ...

Yesterday's Enterprise (episode)

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