Does Daylight Savings Time beginning have your circadian rhythm thrown out of wack? Well, don’t worry: there are many Star Trek episodes that feature our heroes dealing with similar temporal issues.
For this week’s Trek Tuesday, we’re sharing eight Star Trek episodes in which time is out of joint. Did we include your favorite? Be sure and let us know in the comment section.
All Our Yesterdays
In the Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3 episode “All of Our Yesterdays,” James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Doctor McCoy (DeForest Kelley) end up trapped in a planet’s past. The planet is about to be destroyed by a supernova, and our protagonists are there to warn those who live there of the impending doom.
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However, it turns out the planet’s citizens already know about the supernova. To escape destruction, they have traveled back into time to various periods of the planet’s history. Soon Kirk, Spock and McCoy have been thrown into two different historical periods, as well. Can they make it back… to the future?
A Matter of Time
The Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 episode “A Matter of Time” sees the U.S.S. Enterprise-D crew dealing with a con man with a stolen time machine. It all begins when they meet Berlinghoff Rasmussen (Matt Frewer). Rasmussen claims he’s from the 26th century, and he’s traveled back in time to witness a historical event aboard the Enterprise-D.
But like all con men, Rasmussen is eventually revealed to be a liar and a cheat. Eventually, the crew determines that Rasmussen is actually an inventor from the 22nd century. He stole the time machine from a 26th-century traveler and planned to steal 24th-century tech and pass it off as his own invention. However, once he is apprehended by the Enterprise-D crew, the time machine automatically returns to the 26th century, leaving Rasmussen stranded in the 24th.
Children of Time
There were many time travel episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s seven seasons. One of them was Season 5’s “Children of Time.” In this episode, the crew of the U.S.S. Defiant crashes on a planet. There, they meet their descendants.
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It turns out that in attempting to escape the planet, the Defiant crashes and strands the crew there. Will the crew of the ship decide to repeat the crash in order to preserve their descendants society? And what if the centuries-older Odo (René Auberjonois) has other plans?
Eye of the Needle
On Star Trek: Voyager, time travel frequently became entangled with the ship’s mission to return to the Alpha Quandrant. One very early example is Season 1’s “Eye of the Needle.” In this episode, the U.S.S. Voyager crew locate a wormhole to the Alpha Quadrant. The first catch? When they send a message through, a Romulan, Telek R’Mor (Vaughn Armstrong), is waiting to receive it on the other side! Will he be willing to pass the message that Voyager is alive in the Delta Quadrant along to Starfleet?
But things get more complicated from there. It turns out it isn’t just a wormhole through space, but also a wormhole through time. The Romulan who received their message is in the past, twenty years earlier. To send the message would be to violate the Temporal Prime Directive. Ultimately he agrees to save the message until after Voyager has been lost. Unfortunately, he died four years before the ship went missing.
E²
Even the earliest U.S.S. Enterprise crew had to deal with time travel. Just one of many examples is the Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3 episode “E²”. In this episode, the NX-01 encounters a version of their ship that was sent back in time 117 years. Now, it’s crewed by the descendants of our heroes. Oh, and also an elderly version of T’Pol (Jolene).
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In this episode, both Enterprises must work together in order to get the Enterprise Prime where it needs to be. This episode is also remarkable for its inclusion of Lorian (David Andrews), the half-Vulcan son of T’Pol and Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer).
Face the Strange
The Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 episode “Face the Strange” follows Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her first officer Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) as they suffer the effects of a “chronophage.” This weapon from the Temporal War sends a ship skipping across its own history.
It’s not exactly the type of time travel you really want to take part in! However, it does give the show a chance to highlight just how much Burnham and the rest of the crew have grown over the years. Plus, it gives the dearly departed Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) a chance to appear in a small role in Discovery’s final season, which is a nice bonus.
Time Amok
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is all about time travel. However, time travel plays a more supporting role in Prodigy Season 1. In the episode “Time Amok,” a tachyon storm affects the USS Protostar’s protostar drive, causing each of the characters to be trapped in a different temporal frame.
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In order to return the ship to its original temporal frame, each crewmember must work together. Fortunately, Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is able to travel across the time frames to help them communicate with each other. But at the end of the day, it’s up to Rok-Tak (Rylee Alazraqui) to do what’s necessary to get time back in place.
Those Old Scientists
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, the show crossed over with Star Trek: Lower Decks in the time travel episode “Those Old Scientists.” When the USS Cerritos visits the Krulmuth-B portal, Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) accidentally falls through and finds himself transported back in time. There Then, he meets the Enterprise crew under Christopher Pike (Anson Mount).
Fortunately, the Strange New World crew are professionals, and they are soon prepared to send Boimler back to his time of origin. Unfortunately, their plans are foiled by Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), who tumbles through the portal after Boimler.
All of these episodes (except Star Trek: Prodigy) are currently available to stream on Paramount+. Meanwhile, Prodigy is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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