We'll Always Have Paris

Of all of the episodes of the original series, next-generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager and enterprise, this episode is Star Trek. This episode is in fact what Star Trek is about.

Maybe this is an homage to the original series episode with "Lazarus", the man from two universes- but where that episode deals with time in respect to alternate universes, this episode deals with time itself, The constancy of time, and what would happen if that constancy were interfered with.

It also deals with time in a relationship that Picard had with a woman played here by Michelle Phillips, Who he meets here 15 years after he walked away.

Picard's former love interest is married to a doctor Mannheim, who has discovered a crack in time, a crack which has to be sealed.

Where normal people would be confused by alleged time-hiccups, Data is not confused. So Data is the one who has to work with past and future iterations of himself to close this crack.

This episode is always fascinating to watch, it's one of Brent Spiner's greatest Data performances. There is a quality of believability here, suspension of disbelief is not a problem, it's a fantastic concept, we believe in it because of its uniqueness.

Episodes like this were rare in the Trek franchise, but when they were revealed, they were very refreshing. In fact next generation had a double roll with the very next episode "Conspiracy".

Of course the last few episodes of season one lacked the appearance of Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar- Who I admit I did not like in season one but I actually liked a lot more when she appeared in "yesterday's enterprise" and then later as Sela, the daughter of that alternate Tasha. And those future episodes of course also dealt with time and/or alternate time-lines.

When we watch episodes like this, we start to wonder if time is as immutable as we think it is.

This is an excellent episode, addressing unrequited love and the fabric of space. An old friend and super scientist invokes his old friend's good nature to try to repair the results of experimentation in time. Because of this rift, a series of events take place where things become sort of stacked. This also brings in the character of a beautiful woman that Picard loved back in the day. As with Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, she chose the great man, the man going places, even if she didn't love him. Because things are able to be repeated, Picard is given a second chance. He can let his friend die and get the girl or try to solve the problem. There are some wonderful scenes where events test the quick thinking of the crew as reality and time are chopped up. We get to see the lonely captain, wanting something so bad, an opportunity one never gets. We are also again able to see Beverly's true feelings for Jean-Luc. Of course, some believe that Picard's arbitrariness led to the doctor's husband losing his life. A very good episode with lots of implications.

This episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is a rather poor one--mostly because the show features two plots and one of them is frankly very dull. As for the other, it is decent...but nothing to get excited about either. Overall, it left me very flat.

The Enterprise notices a space wrinkle where things repeat themselves for an instant. This distortion is investigated--and it takes the ship right in the path of a woman who Picard abandoned many years ago in order to go to space. Michelle Phillips stars as the woman and this part of the show isn't bad. But the time distortion is so very dull and uninteresting. It really was just an excuse to bring Picard and his old flame together--and it should have been a lot better. Overall, sort of like a soap opera and as far as the sci-fi goes, it was a bust.

By the way, while many viewers will recognize the phrase "we'll always have Paris". If you don't, it's from "Casablanca".

Writing in 2021, it is great to see that I am not the only person taking a retrospective look at Star Trek, the Next Generation. When this series was first released in 1987, a little less than twenty years after the end of the Original Series, many people thought that, without Captain Kirk and his crew, it couldn't really be Star Trek. However, original creator Gene Roddenberry, was fully invested in the casting, writing and overall look of the new series, so let's see how it shaped up:

This episode was embarrassingly bad at the time and hasn't aged well, either.

Why did the crewmembers, confronted with a potentially universe-ending, race against time, interdimensional phenomenon, spend so much time talking about their feelings?

Why on earth did Michelle Phillips agree to do this piece if she felt so uncomfortable in the role?

Why did Patrick Stuart, who has the skills to romance a cardboard cut-out convincingly should he feel so inclined, turn in a performance so completely devoid of charm?

The screen realisation of the Cafe Des Artistes was about as Gallic as plate of cold French fries and an insult to the Parisians of any century.

Best forgotten.

(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)

This TNG story has the Enterprise racing toward an isolated planet where experiments in the space/time continuum are screwing up space and time, big time. Thousands of light years away the Enterprise is feeling the affects of these ripples in time.

There was a disaster at the experimental station and all were killed except the head scientist Rod Loomis and wife Michelle Phillips. She's an old flame of Patrick Stewart and the usual unflappable Captain Picard is having a hard time concentrating on business.

In this case good thing StarFleet's only android Data is part of the crew. Unaffected by the ripples he's the only who can do the job of repair.

Not a bad story. Of course Data does it or there wouldn't be a next week episode. Or our future descendants just wouldn't be.