Title: Time Squared
Airdate: 4/3/1989
Plot Summary
The Enterprise is heading towards a routine stop when they detect a shuttlecraft, far from any other ship or planet. They bring it in to the hanger bay and find it’s their shuttle, with a duplicate of Captain Picard. He’s delirious and can’t speak as his life signs are all out of whack. The shuttle craft is too, everything they try to do with it to get working is reversed from what it should be.
Turns out that this Picard and shuttle is from 6 hours in the future and the logs show the Enterprise was destroyed, with him possibly abandoning the ship. Shaken by this knowledge, Picard begins to doubt himself as they continue forward with what may be their ultimate destiny.
Make It So
Picard is really shook up by the very idea he would abandon his crew to certain death. But it soon becomes clear he must’ve had a good reason. He’s also brutal, electing to kill the other Picard rather than stun him.
Number 1
Riker’s attitude toward the whole thing is much like the rest of the crew, but he begins to feel a bit like Picard when it’s shown in the shuttle’s recordings him clearly seeing Picard off on the shuttle in the future. He was on-board with what was going on and that subtlely unnerved him too.
He also cooks eggs for the senior staff, which does not go over well. Except for Worf. Dude will eat anything.
Fully Functional
Data works with Geordi at getting the shuttle working. They have to basically do the equivalant of touching your jumper cables together and he warns Geordi to stay back.
Today Is A Good Day To Die
Worf is stubborn in his belief that Picard did not leave the ship due to cowardice. Of all people, Worf is the one who comes up with the idea of a time loop, invoking the theory of the mobius strip.
Phase Inducers
Geordi for his part does leave the shuttle but admonishes Data that he’s not indestructible.
Counselor Cleavage
Deanna tries to read Picard-2 and has a lot of pain trying to do so. Or an orgasm, hard to tell with Sirtis at that moment.
Doctor Not Bones
Pulaski does her best keeping Picard-2 comfortable and trying to nurse him back. She figures out he’s getting better and better as they get closer to the time he must’ve jumped back.
Shut Up, Wesley
Wesley sits this one out.
Guinan?!
Newp.
Canon Maker
Believe it or not, this was the first episode that the Enterprise did any time travel. Well, it didn’t, Picard’s shuttle did. I think. Maybe. Well, anyway, this is the first time any time travel has been introduced into the show. Yes I know Manheim’s experiments, but that was more about messing up the fabric of the universe rather than traditional time travel.
Speaking of which, slingshotting around the sun is mentioned, a nice call back to the original series.
Canon Breaker
Why does going back in time reverse everything on the shuttle’s systems? Why does it completely fuck up Picard’s biology? And why doesn’t it stay going backwards instead of getting better the closer he gets to when he moved back in the first place? Nothing makes sense and we’ve never seen anyone have ill effects from time travel in the past or going forward… no puns intended.
At one point the two Picards are walking down a corridor. From one shot to the next, they switch sides.
A Little Bloody Nose
Picard-2 is killed. Possibly a duplicate Enterprise was destroyed with all hands aboard. Or a different timeline? Or perhaps all an illusion.
Technobabble
I’m not sure if this is correct or not but Geordi says they have to maintain warp 8 or something just to stay above the vortex. But they aren’t moving at all. Is it like a car with it’s wheels off the ground? Step on the gas and get the wheels spinning to 55 mph but in truth you’re not moving? It just felt weird. I’d would’ve liked him to stay something more like “We’re having to push the equivalent power of Warp 8 just stay in place, captain.” But then I’m a pedantic asshole.
This is a shuttlepod as opposed to a shuttlecraft. I guess they have only room in front for one person. It’s a little nebulous on how shuttlecrafts are designed throughout the series. Some are fairly tiny, some are big, it really depends on the script needs.
Please Repeat Your Communication
Picard: Release him.
Pulaski: Do you know what you’re doing?
Picard: No. Release him.
— Picard ordering Pulaski to release Picard-2 with uncharacteristic honesty.
Library Computer
Shuttle #5, the El-Baz, which Picard used to escape the Enterprise, is named after Farouk Elbaz, a geologist who helped train the Apollo astronaut Command Module Pilots to observe the Moon from orbit.
I Know That Guy:
No notable guest stars in this one.
What It Means To Be Human – Review
I love me a good time travel episode. Unfortunately this is not a good time travel episode.
Along with the canon breaking questions I have on time travel effects in equipment and biology, why does future Picard act the way he does? Is he delusional, brain damaged, or something else? He knows it didn’t work before, why doesn’t he try to warn present Picard what’s going on? He single mindedly wants to get off the ship but why? To watch it blow up again? They mention that he’s locked into a loop, but why?
Then he and the shuttle disappear. Why? We know later on that people can cross timelines. I guess because it didn’t happen? I wonder if it was actually Picard or a made up construct. This leads to my second question, there is something that’s attacking both Picards. Who? What? Why? It seems to want Picard-2 a lot, implying that it only wants that Picard. Is that “Picard” actually Picard? Was it all a weird test? Picard vehemently says he’s nothing like Picard-2, maybe he’s more right than he knows.
In any case, none of it makes a lick of sense on how it’s working. With Picard-2 basically a drooling vegetable for most of the episode, he adds nothing for the crew to bounce off of, just some vague clues from a messed up flight recorder.
In any case, there’s just nothing compelling about this episode, and it makes very little sense, bordering on Alternative Factor nonsense.
