Star Trek The Next Generation Ruminations S5E09: A Matter Of Time

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[@IshikawaGoemon]

Though far from perfect, Hook was an awesome movie from my childhood.

[@maflipse]

I always kinda assumed that him being an inventor, he stumbled across the time traveler who was probably cloaked. Some failed experiment that just happened to have the side effect of decloaking the time traveler. I also assumed that the trip to the enterprise was pre planned. As in the time traveler planned to go here next. So he only figured out the autopilot, going back and forth between two locations. Just so things make a little more sense.

[@jani11]

Robin Williams was tailor made for Hook. One of my favourite movies.

[@Ozzy_2014]

Beta cannon on the TDI goes in depth. Ramussen is from the 22nd century, the traveling historian is from the 27th. Rasmussen is a con man and tinkerer. He found the time traveler. Found his home. The machine was in a garage. He stole the machine ( presumably by towing it) and locked it in a warehouse. The traveler came home to a missing time machine. Rasmussen forced his cooperation. The traveler had a chronic life threatening condition that required regular scheduled medicine to treat. ( like insulin for diabetes) but worse. His medicine was in the machine. The disease he suffered from won't be encountered for a couple centuries let alone the treatment. He was left alone too long without the meds. He died of natural causes in the hotel room. To hide his crime he put the time traveler's dead body in the machine. He blackmailed the historian into giving him access. Rasmussen ia scum, stupid, greedy, lazy and treacherous. Not a cold blooded killer or sadist. Presumably he intended to " create" the tech and then sell the rights to manufacturing it to someone in return for $.

[@andrewkyriacou6405]

I definitely enjoy this episode. I never actually noticed Rasmussen in the background before, I'm going to have to go back and rewatch that scene. I do love that whole interaction though between him and Picard. Patrick Stewart is fantastic at portraying passion when he's taking a stand or debating someone. And that line at the end of it all, I'm surprised you didn't mention it, the bit of 'I've never been one to play it safe, I choose to try.' This brings to me to what I feel is one of the biggest problems with the threat of the week which I'm surprised you didn't bring up. I'm with the threat all the way up till the end it sounds good, until the life or death choice of burning up the atmosphere. Why is that a threat at all? There's 20 million people on the planet and they're about to try something very risky, ok. They're not going to freeze to death over night, it will take time for the planet to cool to temperatures dangerous to the people down there, and they have advanced tech to keep themselves safe. So therefore my question is: Why didn't they evacuate everyone first? There's nothing stopping the transporters working and yes there are 20 million people but are you telling me with all transporters and shuttlecraft operating at full capacity you couldn't evacuate that many people in maybe a few days, a week? Now you can argue that the enterprise can't hold that many people. My rebuttal is two fold: First the ship can house 6000ish people key word is 'house'. There is so much floor space on that ship. Cargo bays, recreational facilities, schools, hell cram them into peoples quarters. It'll be uncomfortable but would you rather suffer a few days of discomfort while they try this dangerous thing, or stay on the planet and risk dying? Second more ships. Surely Starfleet can get other ships there in relatively short time, within days or even a week or two I would be shocked if you couldn't at least get another 2 or 3 ships over there and even if they are smaller ships that's still more space and more transporters to put to use for the evacuation. Even to act as transports like transport a few thousand people over to those ships, let them get carried to another colony, drop them off, come back and get more. Again this all comes down to the fact that there is no time limit on this threat, at least not a short one. Even if they take a few weeks or even months to evacuate everyone, take them to another colony, then come back and try it with more safety measures there will be no damage to the planet in that time. It will have cooled sure but as soon as they succeed in stripping the ash and dust you give it a week or two and it will warm back up again and you can move all the people back. So the only reason they put 20 million people's lives on the line was because the episode needed there to be a risk here for no particular reason. That is something that's always bugged me about this episode, the rest of it is fun even if there's some holes but yeah that's my rant over. Oh yeah and while I doubt Rasmussen could figure out Data or any of the trinkets he did get provided some of Data's schematics (and potentially therefore schematics for the other stuff too). So I expect that if Data had been successfully captured the off button would eventually be found (hopefully) before the phaser ran out and therefore he could keep Data off while being studied. Nothing else really to add that you haven't said. Anyways I still enjoy this episode.

[@rafetizer]

Yep, have to agree that even with zilcho sunlight they likely could have set up enough shelters and equipment to keep people alive long enough to arrange a full evacuation. I don't think you're fitting 20 million people on the Enterprise, but they could certainly manage to fabricate enough heaters and temporary power generators to buy time for an evacuation.

[@Stardust_7273]

I also wanted to mention that I just noticed the other day, upon re-watching this episode, how terrified Rasmussen seemed when he was sitting on the Bridge while the action took place, and my thought was that he was terrified of both what was gonna happen to the ship, aka himself, AND for the people on the planet. It’s basically like you said, he is not a good person but he’s not a murdering psychopath

[@normanbuchwald]

Your questions about how Rasmussen would know what to do with these objects, etc. In Voyager, Starling was simply a hippy out camping in the woods when Braxton's ship collapsed, and he became a "computer genius," our Bill Gates, so to speak. They may have been crude but still phenomenal. Either Rasmussen or some organization he'd sell some of these objects to would have a similar effect.

[@jamespepper8671]

There was a nuclear accident in New Jersey at Fort Dix mcGuire Air Force Base where a nuclear missile burned in the silo. This was in 1962 and it really has not been cleaned up so you can get Plutonium pretty easily if you know what to look for. Perhaps he was looking for photons like how Quark and family when they went back in time. It was not a nuclear explosion, but the plutonium was spilled all over the place making the site useless but there is a road that goes through it.

[@leatherpunk]

Rasmussen back story: In the book, Indistinguishable From Magic, we learned that he did not overpower with brute force the time traveler from whom he stole the time machine/vessel. He met the guy and became suspicious and followed him, and finds the time vessel was parked in a garage. When the time traveler walks out, Rasmussen then hires someone to tow it away so that he can leverage it against the time traveler. The traveler is bound to strict code of conduct and refuses to comply, but the vessel has a medication for a condition not curable in the 22nd century, and so the guy dies from being denied his meds. Although this book isn't canon, it is the only literature detailing Rasmussen's past, so we'll take it!

[@JimPlaysGames]

Given how Rasmusen referred to the time traveller as "the poor fellow", that suggests something nasty did happen to him. I think the timeship ended up in the 22nd century as part of an accident and something grisly happened to the time traveller as a result of a temporal anomaly caused by a malfunction in the time pod. Something like what happened to Daniels in that Enterprise episode where he gets all screwed up and mutilated. So Rasmusen probably tried to help him, but couldn't, and then figured he might as well make use of the poor fellow's ship. I think his goal is actually more crass and pathetic than he's even willing to admit. I think he's got a deep inferiority complex and he just wanted to con some of the most celebrated people in history (after going through the archives and learning about how awesome the Enterprise crew were). That's why he was taunting them and playing games. He wanted to prove he was smarter than them. Of course he couldn't admit that to himself, so he concocts a stupid fake motive for doing it all, which he convinces himself of, because the truth is really too pathetic to accept. That makes everything he does make a lot more sense from a character perspective I think.

[@normanbuchwald]

The time ship is no longer there at the end. It went back to the past as it was preset to go. That's how Rasmussen got "welcome[d] to the 24th century." And there by the way may be the answer what happened to the original owner. He reclaimed it after it went back to the past and then he went back to his own time.

[@starwolf99]

I like SF Debris's guess on why Rasmussen stole a knife, namely of the unique way it was forged and assembled. (It does have two prongs that snap out if it's the kind of Klingon blade I remember.) I remember a plot point in the first Highlander film in which MacLeod's sword should not have existed because the metallurgy involved in forging the blade (particularly in folding the steel) was centuries ahead of its time.

[@Schmirrgl]

I really liked the reveal that he is from the past, because he claerly acted like a fake but the temporal phenomena was real, so I was interested in the solution of the puzzle. Second, I think he didn't kill the timetraveler, because now we have a happy end with time machine back in 22th century where tíme the traveler can use it to go to his time again

[@stevemanart]

My father and grandfather were both geeks about religious studies. Not just your normal religious dudes who have faith and study the bible, but full on geeks about it. Just enthusiastic to talk to anyone willing to listen, and not proselytizing on the content. It was stuff like the differences between printing of the bible, the nuances of translating from Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. Inconsistencies between different parts. They love it all. Oh, they'd both definitely preached if you'd let them, but they were just as happy to geek out on the secular nuances of bible study. My dad was also an automotive, Tolkien, and Vietnam war geek. My mom can go on for hours talking about needlepoint, beading, and late 60s/early 70s Rock and Roll. My wife is the same in regards to Sailor Moon and crochet. Me, I'm just cursed. I can go off on... D&D and 40k, my own RPG projects, SNES and PS1-era jRPGS... whatever piece of media I am currently consuming... which right now is more D&D since I'm gearing back up for my campaign using a modified form of D&D I made coming off hiatus.

[@neilfmoore]

NGL, when I first saw this episode, I was half-expecting Rasmussen to try and sell me New Coke.

[@Paul-jy8cv]

honestly the phaser and the knife was the least of the treasures. The tricorder was the real prize on the fact that they all seem to have the same database on them whether medical technical or science. So if he goes back to the present he has a technical database to invent all the crap he wants (or play doctor for the rich and famous)

[@EnvisionerWill]

If we want to be very fair, we could assume that the D'kh-Tang (howevever you spell that) actually is a very technologically sophisticated knife. That is a thing that exists; I've seen a lot of infomercials on H&I while I'm watching their All Star Trek reruns, where they talk about these highly engineered kitchen knives that can slice through a raw pineapple or a block of frozen meat in one stroke. I suspect the claims of these ads are exaggerated, but if it is true, then that is actually an impressive feat of invention. So maybe Klingons make knives that are to 20th-century steelwork what Damascus Steel was to the Bronze Age.

[@ohgoditshimrun1346]

I like the notion that Rasmussen isn't actually capable of murder, and just took the clothes out of a storage compartment inside the timeship. As for his gaining biometric verification credentials for use of the ship, I assumed that he befriended the actual historian and assisted him in some way, possibly helping him get back there to be treated for an injury suffered while in the past. But the bigger question is why the temporal authorities allowed him to encounter the Enterprise at all. And for that, I can find no answers.

[@SeruraRenge11]

When I last saw this episode I kept thinking "where do I know this guy from, his voice is so familiar". Then I looked him up and realized he was Jackal on Gargoyles.

[@kusoneko7531]

I'm surprised you didn't bring up how strange it was that Picard and the crew just let Rasmussen roam around the enterprise wherever he wanted, especially the bridge. Even if they believed him 100%, which they shouldn't, why is he allowed bridge access?

[@rafetizer]

My take on Rasmussen is that he's just bright enough to hatch a criminal enterprise (pun intended), but not bright enough to properly execute his plans. When the 26th century dude arrived in 22nd century New Jersey, I'm guessing it was unintentional. Rasmussen doesn't actually specify anything about the real time traveler's intent, but somehow the guys crossed paths. He would have divulged at least the bit about being from the future before Rasmussen caught on and decided to steal his pod. The way Rasmussen talks about him having "the misfortune of meeting me", and the way he tries to blast Data without a second thought make me believe he killed the original owner. (and sure, he was planning to stun Data, but it shows he has little to no regard for another sentient being) Add to that he'd have to manage the guy if he was simply held captive, it seems he probably killed the poor sap after gleaning the information he needed. I'm not convinced Rasmussen actually intended to arrive near the Enterprise at all. I'd surmise it was shear coincidence. He tells Data that he's fairly certain the pod has an auto-return timer that's about to activate, and seems to indicate via confession that this is his first foray with the time machine. (He's stealing their devices and plans to "invent" them; rather than saying that it is something he is already doing, he speaks of it in future tense) I'd hazard a guess that was picking up people's names on the fly, and bullshitting his way through everything. He probably had some help in information gathering from the time machine, since it was able to tell him right where Picard was standing and then beam him there right after Picard moved. I figure he did more cold reading in some of the off-camera time, and maybe had some help from scanning their computers or something ahead of time. (or the craft had a bit of historical information on the command crew of the flagship, and he had done some prep work before choosing a time to pilfer) When he was [forcefully] hitting on Crusher, I think his primary goal was actually to butter her up to have a proponent of sorts, should someone like Troi put him under the spotlight. He recognized that Crusher was the most fascinated by his time travel story, and probably let his ego convince him he was suave enough to win her over long enough to accomplish his little mission. Obviously, his inappropriate approach to this was there to reinforce this aspect of his character, or lack thereof. He probably hoped to get an ally in his corner, and maybe a more intimate checkup from the lovely doctor as a bonus. Side note; it cracked me up when Rasmussen was praising the injured crewman in that somewhat snooty manner, and the crewman made that face like, "Hell yeah bro." I'd say we just have to write off the inconsistent logic of his theft and how he seems to be getting away with it as either Picard letting him go on thinking he's in the clear, or just the writers wanting to get to that sweet reversal at the end. And boy, was it satisfying watching him get pwned so hard. (after all, he _was_ superbly annoying the entire time, even as he was fairly charismatic doing so)

[@mr51406]

Matt Frewer is most famous for playing Max Headroom. It’s an ok episode but maybe it’s one you can’t watch too often? That time ship is going back empty to the 2100’s… What then? Another job for the Temporal Integrity Commission… If Rasmussen was successful in a previous attempt, maybe he stole successfully from a less savvy crew and brought back stuff, travelled to Montana and helped Archer et al with the tech needed for the NX01?

[@clearmountain28]

Oh I assume that the Klingon dagger was made on kronos either by an alloy they dont have in the 22nd century or from a compound that hadn't been invented yet and Rasmussen was hoping to copyright it.

[@rafetizer]

I read the ready room scene as Picard playing it both ways. If Rasmussen is telling the truth, perhaps Picard can get some measure of help. If Rasmussen is lying, as Picard seems to suspect, the more time he spends grilling him, the more ways Rasmussen has to try to sneak out of being pinned down. When Rasmussen is on the bridge, I think he's tense because of the obvious problem that all those people might die, but also that maybe something else entirely happens and they go right back to sweating him for information. I'm leaning mostly toward him feeling guilty that he is pretending to be someone with potentially useful knowledge, while everyone else is being genuine and trying to help the people in the colony. Nothing makes you feel like a real jerk for lying quite like seeing everyone else demonstrate completely opposite morality in a grave situation. Here's all these people working together, even risking their lives to help the people on the colony, and Rasmussen has spent the entire time lying to everyone to cover up his selfish, petty plot. I'm not sure the Enterprise crew could have stopped the time machine from returning, since they only had less than a couple of minutes before it did. It didn't seem like anyone but Data knew that little factoid anyway, but maybe he should have warned Worf to hurry the heck up in retrieving their equipment so Worf wouldn't get stuck in New Jersey. (I assume the pod was soundproof enough to keep everyone else from hearing Rasmussen)

[@danielyeshe]

There is an episode of the Orville where a woman from a less developed planet steals technical specifications for the ship's technology. This would have made considerably more sense.

[@starwolf99]

As for how a time traveling fan would react to being on the bridge of the Enterprise, we now have a better example thanks to the Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks crossover. (I highly recommend it.)

[@Yura-Sensei]

I walk into a Star Wars film and immedietly say "omg, the feeling of being here is indescribable!" and then find a place to sleep

[@andrewthorne3570]

I'm of the opinion that Rasmussen did kill the original time traveller. He calls him a "poor fellow" in a almost regretful tone, said the Time Traveller had the 'misfortune' to meet him and he stole his clothes

[@rafetizer]

And he doesn't hesitate to blast Data, basically turning a sentient android into his property. (sure, he plans to stun him, but I think it's more in the _way_ he "fires") He hits the button as he gives the phaser a short thrust toward his intended victim, with a devious little grin on his face. (no doubt picturing his fame and fortune after "inventing" an android) Wouldn't have worked out well for him, as Data would have got him sooner or later even _if_ he was initially successful.

[@Eelco_de_Boer]

Mem-summary: A time traveler claiming to be from the 26th century arrives to witness an attempt to save a doomed planet. (when Lore mentioned the name Rasmussen, a lamp lighted up :-)

[@RippingJack76]

Rasmussen couldn't help himself. I've worked loss prevention in several stores. The one characteristic of a shoplifter, is it they think they're so overweening Lee more intelligent than the people they are dealing with, they do downright stupid stuff that gets them caught. I had no problem with Rasmussen. I've actually spoke with a few police officers. And they say that what gets a con man caught. Is they are so overwhelmingly impressed, with their own intelligence. And believe everybody else, is as dumb as a bag of rocks. And the cop freely admits. He's not the sharpest knife, in the Cutco 10 piece set. But when somebody thinks you are exponentially more stupid than you really are, they tend to do stupid things in front of you. Rasmussen was merely a victim of his own narcissism

[@randms2fake]

I missed a bunch of stuff when I watched this as a kid. Which made it better actually, as while watching I presumed that Rasmussen was genuine historian and that the reason why he was visiting Enterprise right then, was because they would soon perish while trying to save the planet. Thus allowing him to visit the past very openly while having no real impact on the timeline.

[@clearmountain28]

Well it's obvious why the time traveler was in New Jersey in the 22nd century. Did no one else see Steven Spielberg's A.I.? 😁

[@SchneeflockeMonsoon]

I really like this episode, and I’m glad you seem to have a fond opinion of it as well. Honestly, I don’t think Robin Williams would have been a good choice for such a lackluster character though. Maybe he could have elevated it, I don’t know, and it’s a pity he and Tom Hanks never got their spots in the ST hall of guest stars. I like to think that whichever temporal agent watches Picard didn’t interfere because this is a closed loop. This guy’s from Archer’s time or thereabouts. I like to think he was either a) killed during the Xindi War/Earth-Romulan War as a nameless nobody who time literally forgot, so when the time pod went back and it’s original pilot took it home: nothing changed. Or b) the Time Pod specifically can be set to Type-1 time travel to prevent alterations during study, and this just happened to be something meant to happen, and then the OG time traveler gets back in, goes home, and swears off time travel like a bad drug.

[@class87fan54]

I remember taping this episode off Sky 1 in 2005. Watched it through many times. The scene with Picard and Rasmussen in the ready room is a great scene, top class acting from Stewart and Frewer there. One thing that's occurred to me, Picard doesn't consider the possible alterations to the time line caused by keeping Rasmussen in the 24th century. This episode also makes me wonder what a cross-over between Star Trek and Dr Who would be like. They did do a comic cross-over between TNG and Dr Who, with Matt Smith's Doctor meeting the Enterprise crew. It's funny because Rasmussen reminds me a bit of David Tennant's Doctor.

[@rafetizer]

Well, ignoring the initial intrusion by the 26th century guy, Rasmussen's story didn't change. He was always going to wind up stuck on the Enterprise, or, essentially, missing in his timeline.

[@Stardust_7273]

There have been many instances of things in episodes that should have been a major change to how things were handled in other episodes or should have changed the whole understanding of major problems in universe, but as never mentioned again. In the real world, I think this is because of the episodic nature of these franchises at the time. We have some of this still now with franchises like Star Trek, maybe just not as much.

[@destructionator17]

On the original time traveler, I too would prefer to not have him be a murderer... perhaps he just got ditched somewhere... though if he was just tied up in the "present", wouldn't he be a recurring threat trying to take back the time pod? gives motive for murder :( I wonder just what happened to Rasmussen at the end. I guess the books have a story for him, where he gets out of prison in a year and does more time antics. Makes enough sense. But what would I do? His crimes in the episode amount mostly to theft. Lying per se I don't think is a crime as he did it. The other stuff has no real threat - he surely can't time travel again whether in prison or not. So it makes sense the sentence wouldn't be terribly harsh, and even his time in prison would probably have a lot of interviews with academics like Picard threatened. But I can still see why he wouldn't want to be there! As much as I can talk about living in the TNG world being pretty great.... I still probably wouldn't actually do it, given the chance. Think about everything we'd leave behind at home. I can't even be convinced to move to a nearby city because I'm so attached to people, places, etc. right where I am. So leaving all that behind - especially totally unplanned like Rasmussen would be - is not desirable. All his family and friends would just think he disappeared without a trace all of a sudden. As great as life in the Federation can be... honestly, would you drop everything in your life to live there alone?

[@rafetizer]

Yep, I assume he was frantic because he had friends and family he wasn't ready to give up. Essentially, for him, they all just died.

[@athrunzala6919]

He's an idiot at the inter-personal stuff (Going for Crusher over Troi, come on what a wanker) and a genius at the science stuff (figuring out the time machine and knowing exactly where Picard would be standing). I do love this episode and Matt Frewer, you should have spent an extra ten minutes gushing over Matt Frewer.

[@rafetizer]

What a wanker! Lol! I would totally agree based solely on babe-factor, but she already disliked him and he knew it. Also, I think he overestimated Crusher's interest in him to be something beyond a fascination with his supposed future knowledge.

[@kitbashbob6426]

Remember Rasmussen said it took him months to figure out the time pod. If he only incompassitated the time traveler the poor guy would have been tied up for MONTHS. Do you think Rasmussen would care for him while trying to steal the shio? He probably wasted the guy for convenience. Unfortunately.

[@tonebonebgky2]

I think the prime directive needs to be a hard base line only broken under very very good reasons.

[@quasimodojdls]

"Why did he take a knife?! Do they not have knives from where he's from?" Jesus. Why do I always have to talk about this whenever this episode is discussed? That isn't just a knife. It's a metal alloy from an alien planet that just happens to be shaped into a knife. Are you honestly trying to say that there would be no financial reward for Rasmussen if he went back and said "I've just discovered a new alloy."? Just think of all the possible uses that could have. But, hey, it's shaped like a knife so - "why steal a knife?". Facepalm. "That" scene between Picard and Rasmussen really rubs me the wrong way. While I agree with the sentiment of "how can you be comfortable watching people die?", coming from Picard's lips it rings awfully hollow. Isn't he guilty of the exact same thing? He was willing to let Sarjenka's people die back in "Pen Pals" until Data for intents and purposes forced his hand. And, just a little over two seasons from now will be the episode "Homeward" - I hate spoilers so I'll wait to spew my venom at that detestable episode for now. Rasmussen is also so damn annoying that it's grating to watch. That's not an indictment of the actor, just the writers. Maybe Robin Williams could have done a better job with it, but I doubt it. It was probably a smart move for him to go with "Hook" instead. 3/10

[@francoislacombe9071]

I think Williams would have improvised a lot of improvements for the character.

[@rafetizer]

Why every time? I'll tell you why; you are the lone smart person on planet Earth. Better hop your butt down to the nearest nuclear power station and keep us all alive, pronto!

[@Inignot12]

Episode flaws aside, Matt Frewer is a gem and I love seeing him in any role. I think he's endearing enough to pull off his admittedly flawed plan. Edit to answer your thoughts on what he did with the time traveler: I also believe he didn't murder the OG time traveler, doesn't fit his character, I always imagined the traveler either had an unfortunate accident and Rasmussen, being the opportunist, took over the ship and persona.

[@RippingJack76]

Actually I thought returning the time ship was a great idea. I didn't believe Rasmussen killed the time traveler either. So I figure he got free, got his ship back, looked at the security log. And took the appropriate steps so he wouldn't be flogged in the future. As for the knife, as I said in my earlier post, Rasmussen is essentially a shoplifter. So he's going to steal some stupid useless things. Shoplifters love shiny. Even if they can't move it.

[@timf7413]

Some thoughts: In my view, Rasmussen may have been a stupid con man because he wasn't really a con man at all. Rather, he was likely just a regular guy who had what he saw as the opportunity to pull a really great con fall into his lap. His plan doesn't hold water precisely because he hasn't thought through all the angles. Regarding Picard's argument about the prime directive: While I agree that the scene plays well by itself, it's never really worked for me within the context of the series as a whole because it stands in stark contrast to how we see Picard treat the prime directive at virtually all other times. More than any other captain we've seen in the franchise, he tends to treat it as a sacrosanct and inviolable principle and it would have seemed more in character to me if he grudgingly accepted someone else operating under similar guidelines or at least had a moment where he realized the tables were turned and he was hoist on his own petard as it were. Regarding Robin Williams: From a business standpoint it would seem obvious that accepting the lead role in a major theatrical motion picture (even one with a lackluster reception) was a better move than doing a guest shot on a syndicated TV show.

[@davidhelmer9124]

In defense of the hypothetical gentleman from 1901, i think most people right now in the present, don’t know how a smartphone works and would probably break it while trying to study it. :-)

[@rafetizer]

lmao

[@DrownedInExile]

Damn. You're right, this episode is pretty dumb! If I could change only one thing, ditch the "remote weapon deactivation", and simply have Data disarm Rasmussen with his superior reflexes. The threat-of-the-week was more interesting I agree.

[@deadvex]

I feel the way he acted when he was caught tells that he isnt the type of person to kill. He probably just knocked out the other guy. When i first saw this episode thats what i thought.. I feel like the writers thought this too especially since they wanted to have robin williams play this role. I liked this episode when i was younger and still do.

[@malvane8061]

I find it hard to suspend disbelief watching a 600m long starship reconfigure an entire planet's atmosphere within a minute. This episode is another example of how the writers condense phenomena that play out over months and years into minutes and hours.

[@jamespepper8671]

Wouldn't the time ship people leave some method on how to contact them,, some database that would survive future events. burying a time capsule n a place that would be difficult to find but easy for them to find? something that they would monitor

[@jasoncrowell8863]

I'm guessing it was an Abin Sur moment where he found a dead or dying time traveler and took his stuff. I don't see him as a killer either. As far as the palm print? I got nothing.

[@harpercole5321]

I got the impression that Crusher was meant to be attracted to Rasmussen, though it didn't really play out on screen. The characters are definitely "off", though the actors do their best to sell it - nice speech from Picard, but I don't think he'd go in that hard on one side of the argument after seeing him in "Pen Pals". Having Data board the time ship was a bit of a risk - he could have been lost in the past if it had been programmed to leave a bit sooner.

[@frazerrhughess]

I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just throw a time traveler in the brig if he showed up in your spaceship. You’re going to let him walk around?

[@wangbot47]

What he SHOULD have stolen was a replicator. That would have been the only thing that would make sense, because he could just replicate things like a tricorder

[@videogenics86]

Do you know how much power a replicator would need? E=MC squared. Just for a cup of coffee it's a lot. Just 1 kg of mass would be 24 billion kilowatts of power.

[@rafetizer]

@@videogenics86 holy hell that's a lot

[@EnvisionerWill]

By "Kirk was a woman" do you mean Turnabout Intruder? I have never thought there was any reason to de-canonize that episode. If anything I wish it had been followed up on. Much as I love Jim's womanizing ways, it would be interesting to see him consciously pulling back on that after having experienced the "Sixties Attitude" with regard to women (not too much of the casual sexualization he does a lot, but rather a lot of "you silly girl, don't try to do useful things!" which I would imagine would actually have annoyed him and he just never really noticed or thought about it). I still think he'd have wanted to mash on all the green-skinned alien babes, but he might have put a little more thought into whether his various yeomans and such actually felt that they had personal agency and were duly appreciated for their contributions. (I say all this as a proud masculist, by the way. I'm not opposed to the concept of women's lib, I just think the way it's currently being handled is deeply wrong, to the point that I exaggerate my attitudes in the opposite direction as a sort of protest. I'd love to have something resembling real equality, but I think that current political attitudes are achieving the opposite. That's as much as I'll say, out of respect for Lore's desire to avoid politics on his channel. I invite anyone who questions my perspective to come debate me on my own channel.)

[@videogenics86]

On the original time traveler. I think he had a legitimate accident or something that Rasmussen took advantage of. Also, on his stupidity thing if money was all he was after why not just look up sports results and win at gambling? Of course if he wants to be lauded as a Thomas Edison why didn't he download the schematics and the 24th century version of How it's Made? Those would be infinitely more useful. Or how about the Enterprises suite of educational classes. Sure the K through 3rd grade equalivant wouldn't be useful but past that might be. Especially high school and college level. That's what he really needs, not artifacts from the future.

[@EnvisionerWill]

I am mostly a Star Trek, D&D, and ASOI&F geek.

[@damastamindz]

my goodness, Lore uses a name as an example that isn't "Bob"?!?!

[@francoislacombe9071]

It would have been fun if the time ship had returned moments after its departure, with its legit and not too happy owner onboard come to recover Rasmussen and bring him to justice. 😂

[@Ozzy_2014]

Sadly he was laying dead in a motel room after being denied his medicine. Back in 22nd Century New Jersey.

[@kellinwinslow1988]

It would be interesting to see you do the original Star Trek. Surprised you didn't start out with that. I don't think I've seen any of the other shows as much as that one.

[@Ozzy_2014]

Wish granted

[@Species1571]

He could have just replicated all the stuff he was nicking.

[@1300l]

That episode has it neat moments, but it's weak. For me, TNG season 5 and specially on 6 and OMG SPECIALLY on 7 took a big nose dive. Even Season 1 and 2 had better concepts i feel. What i think about him in deep space is that the ship was trying to find a federation vessel with the tech that he prob see in the computer database and when it found, it was automatic thing to pop up in front of the enterprise before warp. It was the computer searching and acting. About him being a idiot he is.. but some idiots are tech savy, he sure was. About his plan, he should just use the 26th century shop, that make the enterprise ancient and stupid to prob teleport the things he want, as i'm positive they were shields down before he got in front of it. About in the end where he was afraid on the bridge, i think that he kind of knew he was caught, hence why he wanted to flea after they "fix the planet". I'm positive if he didn't feel threatened by Picard, he would stay for longer. I think that he would know how the devices work with his ship from the future. Or maybe he would just resell on the 24th century. What he did with the Time Traveler? Well, he killed him, but i think it was an accident. I feel that he as a COM artist offered a partnership and when he tried to take control of his ship or his gear, an accident happened and the traveler was killed. And the part of the offered partnership (and the Time Traveler who is another idiot prob accepted), is how he knew how to use the ship. About the time ship, since TOS they can time travel, so i guess that after take him to the closer star base the Enterprise went back to get it. Now what happen with it.. i speculate that the Federation locked it in a raiders of the lost ark place where they swear to only study or use it once the 26st century come and there for it isn't future tech anymore... how ever, as the higher admirals on the federation are corrupted as hell, they started dissecting it ever since it was "locked"

[@Tuning3434]

+1300l A Section 31 agent stole it, travelled to the 26 Century to swipe a time suit, and went back to the 2258. It is only logical!

[@nickokona6849]

I think this episode is a great example of Trek living or dying on the guest stars. If Frewer was only an annoying putz this episode is just terrible imo. I’m not a huge fan of the premise in general. Very few time travel stories really do it for me, because I find time travelas a really hard to do concept Am I the only one who, at the end was thinking “Ok. So, now there’s supposed to be a 26th century time travel pod left vacant in 22nd century New Jersey, and it wasn’t found by anyone? This is one of time travel thing that takes me out of it. It would have been smarter plan would have been to steal a replicator unit from some backwater outpost. Wouldn’t be the best and brightest obstacles of Starfleet in your way. I agree that the danger of the week was pretty good. Not necessarily the aliens they came up with, but the situation. I think the big reason people think he didn’t murder the time traveler because Frewer voiced the pink panther.

[@grantlloyd9131]

16:52 Also Ocean liner historian geeks

[@nycsguy]

Interesting analysis. Too bad you didn't include any clips. I mean any. They would have helped illustrate your points.

[@murpho999]

Well he would be facing copyright issues if he did that.

[@Norvo82]

Some valid points about Rasmussen's harebrained scheme to get rich from retro engineering future tech. It would never work, unless he used the tricorder and it's semi-infinite knowledge to learn all he needed to. This episode makes Voyager's two parter Future's End all the more ridiculous. If a man from the 2100s couldn't figure out 24th century tech, how would Henry Starling use a 30th century timeship in 1968 to jumpstart the tech boom? Madness.

[@Tuning3434]

+Jef Willemsen Well, the Starling story makes a bit more sense, cause he was only able to replicate the 'tech boom' technology, not al at the level of 24th Isolinear chips or 30th century time travel. I suspect he was able to learn concepts, and replicate the technology that was present in the disposable hand sanitize or something like it. Or he was sufficiently able to work out the equipment and read logs, to help him create the tech-boom equipment. Besides taking 30 years and a huge corp. to repair the time machine (and still failing to operate it properly), his impact was still on 'Vulcan Velcro' level and in my head canon is more like 'being inspired' and ripping off concepts. That and Sterling was arrogant, but not an overt idiot. He was able to be sufficient of a threat to challenge Starfleet officers (ok, it being Voyager, but still) that acted somewhat in character, where Rasmussen only worked by lobotomizing every single character in the show. While the concept might have worked, they needed at-least a rewrite or two to get all the overt kinks out. You can't only rely on the acting props of Stewart and Matt Frewer.

[@radioflyer68911]

The typical Hollywood depiction of a conartist, an over flamboyant stereotype used car salesman wouldn't make for an actual successful con artist.

[@GenghisKhanBruseySkyz]

lets go back in time and get rid of Rick Berman😂

[@KnightRaymund]

I like Hook.... I think the character is still a little too obnoxious. He doesn't seem like a very good con artist. But the actor does help make him tolerable. He's very good in the role.

[@rafetizer]

He's both annoying as hell and fascinating to watch. I figure they were on to him pretty quickly, and just keeping tabs to see what he was going to try. Considering they had an actual problem on the planet to contend with, Rasmussen was probably relegated to "keep an eye on him" status.

[@Tuning3434]

Rick Berman pushed the story? Then it is bad writing and everything is just "b'cause! Who CARES?! Payday is coming soon and I want to be home by 14:30!"

[@jeffreymiller9438]

The actor/Rasmussen was so annoying it detracted from the episode. Lorerunner is actually praising his performance (to a degree)..I thought it was grating. I think Robin Williams would have extemporaneously come up with his own material, and done much better. Saul Rubinek did such a great job in 'The Most Toys' but if David Rappaport (may he rest in peace) had played the part, based on the clips I saw, the episode would have been a disaster. I agree with Lorerunner that Rasmussen didn't act like a 'history geek' at all. I am a history geek.

[@jaygee6738]

Oh this dumb episode.... Matt frewer is awful.