Enterprise is hurled back in time to the year 1969, where the US Air Force sights it as a UFO.
Summary
- "Captain’s log, stardate 3113.2. We were en route to Starbase 9 for re-supply, when a black star of high gravitational attraction began to drag us toward it. It required all warp power in reverse to pull us away from the star, but like snapping a rubber band, the breakaway sent us plunging through space, out of control, to stop here, wherever we are."
En route to Starbase 9, the starship USS Enterprise is hurtled through space and back in time to 1969 Earth by the effects of a high-gravity neutron star (referred to as a "black star"). The Enterprise ends up in a suborbital position in Earth's upper atmosphere.
Coincidentally this is just days before the launch of the Apollo 11 mission, and in an unfortunate location – directly over a military base in Omaha, Nebraska.
- "Captain’s log, supplemental. Engineering Officer Scott informs warp engines damaged, can be made operational and re-energized."
Damaged, the ship is unable to avoid detection, and an aircraft is scrambled to intercept them. When Spock warns Kirk that the aircraft's nuclear-tipped missiles pose a real threat, Kirk uses the tractor beam to hold the aircraft off – but the fragile plane begins to break up, and Kirk must bring its pilot, Captain John Christopher aboard the Enterprise.
- "Captain’s log, stardate 3113.7. Our engines are being repaired, but we are still locked in time and we have aboard a passenger whom we do not want and we cannot return."
At first, Kirk decides that Christopher cannot be allowed to return, because he knows too much about the future. His knowledge could change the future. Then Spock discovers that Christopher's son, Colonel Shaun Geoffrey Christopher, will one day command the first Earth-Saturn probe. If Christopher stays aboard, his son will never be born, also changing the future. To resolve this paradox, Kirk and Sulu beam to the 498th Air Base. They believe if they can retrieve the recordings and film from Christopher's interception mission, he will be left without corroboration and will be dismissed as yet another UFO crank, no matter how much he clings to his story.
They retrieve the audio tapes, but are interrupted by an Air Police sergeant on patrol. He takes their equipment, and inadvertently triggers the emergency signal – causing the Enterprise to beam him up, and doubling the problem. Now they must discover a way to return two men.
- "Captain’s log, stardate 3113.9. First Officer Spock recording. Due to an unfortunate accident, we have taken aboard another unwanted passenger."
Kirk and Sulu finish retrieving the audio tapes, and proceed to the photo section. They find the wing camera photos, and so now have all the evidence. But they inadvertently trigger a silent alarm, summoning Lieutenant Colonel Fellini and a pair of air policemen. Kirk manages to distract them long enough for Sulu to escape, but now there are three men in the wrong place. Spock is forced to return to the surface to effect a rescue. With Sulu and Captain Christopher, he overpowers Fellini and his men, and retrieves Kirk.
Spock presents his plan to Kirk: The ship will accelerate towards the sun, moving backwards beyond the time when they arrived. Then they will "slingshot" around it and begin to move forwards again. As they pass the points in time from which Captain Christopher and the Air Police Sergeant were removed, they'll be returned, essentially unwriting subsequent events.
- "Captain’s log, stardate 3114.1. We must make an attempt to break free of this time or we and our reluctant passengers will remain its prisoners. All we have is a theory and a few facts."
The plan works. Inside Mercury's orbit, their speed increases and they begin to move backwards in time. Then... breakaway, and rapid progress back forward in time, at a speed too fast to be measured. Soon enough, they return both of their inadvertent passengers to their proper places in time, erasing their presence. They manage to brake in the proper time – barely arriving in their own time, to the welcoming voice of Starfleet Control.
Memorable Quotes
"I am going to lock you up for 200 years..."
"That ought to be ... just about right..."
- - Colonel Fellini, Kirk
"Record ship's arrival, dear"
- - Computer
"And I never have believed in little green men."
"Neither have I."
- - Captain Christopher, Spock
"Feel free to look around, Captain. Don't touch anything, but I believe you'll find it interesting."
"Interesting is a word and a half for it, Captain."
- - Kirk, John Christopher
Background Information
- This episode was originally going to be the second part of a two part story that would have begun in "The Naked Time". This is why that story ends with a temporal displacement, and this story begins with one.
- The music played as Christopher observes the ears on Spock, heard in its entireity in "The City on the Edge of Forever", was written by composer Joseph Mullendore during his scoring for "The Conscience of the King", but it went unused at that time. It is a uptempo version of the closing theme for the show. Mullendore had also arranged the "lounge" version of the theme for the same episode, also heard in "Court Martial".
- Matt Jefferies designed the trophy with the soaring jet aircraft, seen in the case on the air base.
- The episode accurately predicts three astronauts taking part in the moon shot in the late 1960s, despite conservative estimates by NASA in 1967 that it would be well after 1970 before it would happen.
- The radio news broadcast says that the manned Moon shot from Cape Kennedy with three astronauts is scheduled for Wednesday - the real Apollo 11 carrying three astronauts was launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, a Wednesday.
- On the day after this episode was aired, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee tragically lost their lives in the Apollo 1 capsule.
- The events of this episode, which take place in 1969, occurred (from the point of view from the Enterprise crew) over a year before those of "Assignment: Earth" which take place in 1968.
- Footage of the Earth (going closer and further, inside the atmosphere) on the Enterprise viewscreen is reused from "Miri".
- It would not have been possible to call a black star a black hole (one can presume they are the same entity) in this episode as the term "black hole" did not exist at the time this episode was made.
- For some reason, in this episode "Starfleet Command" is consistently referred to as "Starfleet Control."
- Following Christopher's arrival on board the Enterprise, he is provided with a Starfleet uniform to wear. The uniform shirt is the green-gold command division color, consistent with his position as a pilot, and the rank braid on his sleeve is that of a lieutenant, equivalent to his USAF captain's rank.
- This episode is the only one in which the food synthesizer in the transporter room is used. According to D.C. Fontana, budgetary restrictions precluded taking the Air Police sergeant to a dining facility or having another actor in the scene bring him food.
- This episode is unique in that the last close-up is of George Takei.
- In Inside Star Trek, Robert Justman reprints a one-page story synopsis he submitted to Gene Roddenberry for possible consideration as an episode long before this episode was written. Almost beat for beat, Justman's proposed story is the same as this episode.
Production Timeline
- Final draft script: 21 November 1966, revised the next day
- Filmed late November 1966
Links and References
- VHS edition available through Amazon under ISBN 6300213250.
Main Cast
- William Shatner as Kirk
- Leonard Nimoy as Spock
- DeForest Kelley as McCoy
- James Doohan as Scott
- George Takei as Sulu
- Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Guest Stars
- Roger Perry as John Christopher (credited as "Major Christopher")
- Hal Lynch as the Air Police staff sergeant
- Richard Merrifield as Webb (credited as "Technician")
- John Winston as Kyle (credited as "Transporter Chief")
- Ed Peck as Fellini
Co-Stars
- Mark Dempsey as the Air Force Captain
- Jim Spencer as the Air Policeman
- Sherri Townsend as Crew Woman
- Majel Barrett as the computer voice (uncredited)
- Unknown actor as Bobby (uncredited)
- Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited)
- William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited)
- Frank da Vinci as Brent (uncredited)
References
498th Air Base; ADC Control; Air Defense Command; Alpha Centauri; Apollo 11; astronaut; black hole; blackjack; Bluejay 4; Cape Kennedy; Christopher, Shaun Geoffrey; Cygnet XIV; Earth-Saturn probe; interceptor; March, M.; nuclear warhead; quartermaster; RADAR; slingshot effect; Starbase 9; Starfleet Control; staff sergeant; sun dog; tractor beam; United Earth Space Probe Agency; UFO; USAF; weather balloon
External Links
- Tomorrow is Yesterday article at the Non-Canon Star Trek Wiki
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