Boy the Enterprise sure can heal itself fast! After the incident at the end they are going to rendevous with a Romulan ship to deliver the Romulans they rescued to them. The part of the Enterprise that the Romulan ship fired on is completely fixed in the fly by scene! Considering the damage it took I doubt that this is possible.

Also I really wish they would have at least mentioned that Geordi was okay at the end. When it originally aired we had to wait until the next episode to see him again and know he was okay! Not a good move. (Riker could have said to Data that Sickbay reports that Geordi is going be fine.)

So if Troi, Picard, and Data had been on the Enterprise the time the core breached, would the split-second their armbands were destroyed put them into the timeline, or would they be dead?

A lot of people believe this was a special effects disaster, but I liked this episode. I think the writing was creative and solid.

I really liked this episode, more from a visual point of view than anything else. Did the film crew get new equipment starting with this episode? Suddenly the pictures, especially the external shots, seemed dramatically clearer. The frozen Enterprise and Warbird were particularly beautiful.

At the beginning when Troi was recounting her experiences at the conference, she said that the speaker at her seminar had "gathered together 200 scientists ... and then proceeded to put us all to sleep." Is Troi a scientist??

Perhaps she thinks she is.

Well doesn't she get up to the rank of commander at some point? Wouldn't it be essential she at least has some science background given Starfleet's charter?

Psychology is a science, so maybe she's qualified in that.

At the beginning, they are in a runabout that is moving, but when they cut to Picard and Co. the starfield in the window is still.

The German title of this episode is "Gefangen in einem temporären Fragment", "Trapped in a temporary fragment" So if it's only temporary, let's wait till it goes away, shall we?

Were they trying to find a word for "temporal"?

Exactly, the correct word would have been "temporal" in German as well.

A couple of 47s: The starboard nacelle had been running for 47 continuous days. Also a hidden one, when they show the scan of the temporal anomalies, the scan is numbered "52".

Picard says there are no security officers on the bridge, but what about the guy at tactical? He's wearing a gold shirt, and that is almost always a security post.

the scan is numbered "52"

For those non-math majors, that's 47, base 9.

Data says that the hull integrity doesn't seem to he affected but wouldn't it be aging 50 times faster? And what about any power conduits that run through that section, wouldn't there be a power overload just outside of the time bubble?

Data says that the sensors won't penetrate the time bubble, but they find a way to transport onto and off of both ships trapped inside the time bubble?

On page 387 of the NextGen Guide II, Phil questioned how the away team can see, stay warm and be affected by gravity. The light, heat and gravity are there already it does not have to be produced anew for them.

On the same page Phil wondered why Data can not determine that time is still moving when he looks at the energy beams. First, Data has probably never seen energy frozen in time before, so he has nothing to compare it with. Secondly, the explosion is constantly expanding, so he can see a difference, whereas the beams of energy are confined.

How can the away teams hear each other? Sound is vibrations sent through the air and once it leaves the subspace field it would slow down. There is only one possible way, I can see, how they can hear each other. The sound travels through the air within the subspace field to the communicator, it sends its signal to the runabout, which broadcasts it to the other communicators, then the sound travels through the air within the subspace fields to their ears. Unfortunately, Geordi said that the subspace fields would have to be nearly skin tight.

Later it is said that the Romulan was firing at an alien disguised as a Romulan and Dr. Crusher just got in the way. However, if you watch the actual scene where Troi discovers Crusher getting zapped, the female alien is quite a ways away from Dr. Crusher and the beam. The energy beam is not even aimed at the female alien. She would have to be standing behind Dr. Crusher for that dialogue to be accurate, but she is not.

So why didn't the Romulans react to Data, Geordi and Troi being on their ship when time gets 'restarted' the first time?

If Picard is on the Enterprise, where time has slowed to a crawl then how is he recording his "Captain's Log, supplemental..."?

Callie, I thought it was the speaker at Picard's seminar that put them to sleep, not Troi's?

I think the away team shouldn't be able to see anything. The Enterprise's lights are putting out N Watts of power. That's energy per unit time. It you slow time, then the power output of the lights should drop proportionately. Time is so slow here that the lights should appear dead.

Conversely, I recall a Larry Niven story where a character inside a fast time bubble points a flashlight at a guy outside the bubble, and burns the guy's face off, because all the flashlight energy comes out of the bubble in an instant.

When Picard moves Worf's arm, how come the arm isn't broken or dislocated? From Worf's perspective his arm has just been wrenched instantaneously from one position to another.

Picard reaches into a space of accelerated time and his fingernails grow rapidly. Actually, his fingertips should have died from inadequate blood flow during that time, turned black and fallen off. Eew.

--Later it is said that the Romulan was firing at an alien disguised as a Romulan and Dr. Crusher just got in the way. However, if you watch the actual scene where Troi discovers Crusher getting zapped, the female alien is quite a ways away from Dr. Crusher and the beam. The energy beam is not even aimed at the female alien. She would have to be standing behind Dr. Crusher for that dialogue to be accurate, but she is not.--

However, it is established that the aliens aren't affected by the time bubble, so time slows down in there, the Romulan fires at the alien, she moves out of the way. From the Romulans perspective, he fired at the alien, suddenly the alien moves, and the beam hits Crusher.

NANJAO: Yet another GRRREAT episode directed by Adam Nimoy

CREATIVITY AWARD: When the anomoly (sp?) ruptures, everyone goes forward, when it stabilizes again, everyone goes backwards. (walking, talking, etc) I haven't seen the film run backwards in "Star Trek" since "Obsession" (TOS)

COOL SCENE: The Enterprise & the BOP head to head...frozen in time. This scene reminds me of a "Twilight Zone" episode (the new series) in which a woman finds a medalion to stop / start time, and at the end she stops it for good because WWIII is in progress.

Why did the BOP disappear at the end? The ship was from our timeline. The story proves it because there was a rescue in progress.

GREAT LINE: "Where's that cat of yours?" Riker looking around then looking at Data

Why did the BOP disappear at the end? The ship was from our timeline.

You mean the Romulans were fed up of their D'deridex-class warbirds (much like the one that disappeared at the end of this episode) that they reverted to their 23rd Century BOPs again?

Well...I think you know what I meant...but to preserve my nit, I'll change it....

Why did the D'deridex Class ship disappear at the end? It was from our timeline?

Thanks, Sven. ;)

Maybe the Warbird itself was so in tune to the aliens' frequencies that it efectively became one with their continuum or something. That's the closest I can explain without resorting to technobabble I know nothing about. (besides, it's been years since I last saw this episode)

I assumed the loss of the Romulan ship had to do with the aliens freeing their young from the artificial singularity that the Romulans used as a power source.

I wonder if they call it an Eye Of Harmony? (Dr. Who ref)

Durring the opening scene, for several seconds Geordi, Data and the Captain all slip into Rigor Mortis.

Everyone on the Enterprise and the romulin warbird except for the aliens is in a state of rigor mortis.

The warp core breach is in a state of Rigor Mortis.

How come the animators chose not to animate so many people?

They were frozen in time. That was the point of the story. I think you need to watch it again.

John, he's not serious. key phrase "How come the animators..." (my emphasis)

He he, yep I was kidding. Was reading the batman nits and when I saw the rigor mortis nits for most of the episodes I thought of this episode .

One I saw the silly misspelling of "rules" for Vendetta ( http://64.33.77.146/discus/messages/8181/8332.html?1045551394 ) I thought of scpipt supervisor which made me think of trek which made me think of this episode

When picard reaches for the spoiled fruit, only his hand ages faster than the rest of his body. However, when Data scans the fruit, he says he is detecting a temperal disturbance "where time is moving 50 times faster than normal." He then mentions that the "disturbance is spherical in shape" and is "extending outward from the hull approximately 17 meters." If that were true, then Picard (and everyone else) should have been affected by the disturbance as soon as he entered the 17 meter radius (which seems like it would be larger than the room).

I'd think it would be 17 meters outside the hull, wouldn't it?

Good point. Data should've said that it was conical, not spherical, and that the fruit bowl was the apex of the cone.

My interpretation is that the majority of the temporal bubble is outside of the ship so it could be spherical with the bowl just inside it. So it could be spherical.

That would be my interpretation as well... nowhere is it said that the fruit bowl is at the center of the phenomenon.

Oh, I thought that that's what Space Goat was getting at.

It may have been... we're just saying that it's possible for the phenomenon to be spherical and extending 17 meters from the hull, with the fruit bowl inside the sphere and our characters outside it.

It all depends on where the center of that sphere lies.

what if it came through the floor of the runabout?
that could allow no one to be affected if it just barely hit the bowl. Of course they'd have to be standing in just the right part of the room...

or maybe everyone's legs fell asleep.

Or for that matter, down from the ceiling.

I don't remember for certain, but I didn't think it could be from the ceiling because thats where the antimatter and matter fuel is stored.

At least according to the contradictory tech manual for DS9.

Near the beginning of the show, Riker bestows the honors of feeding Spot to Dr. Crusher and tosses her a Phaser.

Why would Dr. Crusher keep a Phaser in Sick Bay?

(If you can't cure 'em, kill em?)

Regarding the question of whether or not Troi is a scientist, the standard of education in the Federation seems to be far above our own (compare Harry in "When the Bough Breaks" studying calculus at 12). Currently, psychologists (in the UK, at any rate) have to have either a masters degree or a PhD in psychology.

That's certainly scientific enough for me. While Troi is given the title of "counselor", she isn't actually doing a counselor's job but that of a trained psychologist (and bunny-suited captain's advisor).

Troi did study psychology, as established in Menage a Troi.

When Picard asked LaForge to beam the team elsewhere LaForge tells him that they have limited power and would rather not. Doesn't a runabout have a warp core? Sure the side that was effected by a "bubble" indicated it was running for 47 days but how fast does a vessil not at warp burn through its remaining matter/antimatter fuel? Perhaps I missed something that would clear this up but I would think a runabout could put out adequate power.

When LaForge notices that alien-Romulan he says "was this man here before," or something like that. Is it PC to call a male Romulan a man? It's my understanding that man is just short for human.

In the guide Phil points out that, according to the tactical officer, the Enterprise's shields are surprisingly up during the evacuation of the Romulan ship. He doesn't mention that the E-D also takes damage to its hull when the Romulans fire at them as well.

The only episode that indicates that "man" refers only to "human" is (ironically) Manhunt, but the idea promoted by the writer of that episode obviously didn't take hold, because the vast majority of other episodes refer to aliens of many different races with the word "man" (Redemption part I [three times], Birthright part I, The Host, Sarek, Second Skin(DS9), and Ethics). Other episodes have referred to aliens with the word "woman" (Devil's Due [twice]), "child" or "children" (Man of the People, Allegiance, Suddenly Human) and "person" (Half a Life).

What happens to Geordi on the warbird when time reverses? He has only been there for the slightest moment, so he has no history of actions that he can move backwards though, like everyone else. Does he just entirely cease to exist, and when time begins to move forward again, suddenly reappear on the floor?

Yes

but initally, he was protected, so wouldn't Geordi just revert to a protected state?

At first, I thought maybe he'd reappear on the runabout or something. But in order to revert to a protected state, he'd need the armband. Since the armband is not governed by that time distortion, it would not reappear on his arm. Likewise the runabout is outside the distortion so he could not reappear there from its influence alone. The only other option I could think of was him simply disappearing.

Yes

At last, we find out what's behind the door marked "Head" on the bridge. When the away team first beams aboard, they realize they have to use the Jeffries Tubes. If you watch closely, they are definitely heading towards that door right before the scene changes. Maybe they put the Jeffries tube inside the bathroom? (Now we have an explanation for why those couples were entering and exiting this door in "Best of Both Worlds")

This is one of Marina's favorite episodes because of her knowledge of Romulan technology and because of all the technobabble she rolls off....she remarked that she (Troi) seemed to know more than Geordi (The Chief Engineer) & Data (the android that knows almost everything)

Troy says that Romulan ships use artificial singularities as a power source, and that one of the disadvantages of this is that the engine can't be shut off. Romulans must have started using this type of core sometime after Contagion as the Warbird in that episode shuts its engines down just fine at the end.
Such a power core also raises other questions, such as;

What happens if the core breaches? Would the ship be pulled into the singularity?

How do the crew repair and maintain the engines if they can't turn the engine off?

How do you dispose of the warp core if you can't turn it off?


Since Data can tell that the warp core breach is moving this implies that time wasn't stopped, just passing very very slowly. This would also mean there is no reason there couldn't have been light and gravity on the Enterprise.

These Romulans are the most passive bunch we'll ever see on any Startrek series. For a start their commander doesn't so much as bat a pointy ear when he over hears Picard ordering someone to transport the chief engineer of starfleets flagship out of the Warbirds engine room.

The aliens fired on the Enterprise in order to cut off the energy beam, which is harming their embryos. OK, fine. So why then were they trying to prevent Data from shutting the beam off?

At the end of the episode Picard states that the Enterprise is proceeding to the neutral zone to drop the remaining crew of the Warbird off.
So, let me get this straight. The Warbird was on the wrong side of the neutral zone, in (presumably) Federation space and Picard is just going to send these guys home? What happened to 'Crossing the Neutral Zone is an act of war'?

say cybmortis, mind me asking what was your first Trek and how old? where you at?

LaForge; I grew up watching reruns of classic trek on the BBC and am just old enough to remember the Motion picture coming out - I had the Movie Enterprise created from the back of a cereal packet. (I didn't see the film, I was too young).

I can remember the second film coming out and talking about it with friends. But again I was far too young to have seen it. (The first Startrek film I saw at the cinema was ST V, which as it turns out was also the very first video I ever bought).

I got back into Trek when the BBC started showing TNG, and caught all the episodes they aired - The BBC refused to air two episodes, at least the first time around. DS9 I sort of got into, although I missed more than a few episodes due to work etc. Voyager turned me off, I've seen more than a few episodes, enough to decide the writers had ran out of ideas. I did sort of get back into Trek again with Enterprise and have seen all of the first and fourth series, some of the second but having managed to miss the entire third series.

I've seen only two of the films at the cinema (V and Generations) since I'm happier watching a DVD or video at home where I can pause it to get a drink. Well, that and my logic tells me that even at full price if I watch a video twice it works out as being cheaper than a trip to the cinema.

"Near the beginning of the show, Riker bestows the honors of feeding Spot to Dr. Crusher and tosses her a Phaser.

Why would Dr. Crusher keep a Phaser in Sick Bay?

(If you can't cure 'em, kill em?)"

Not only that, John, but why would Riker even want Crusher to use a phaser on a cat? Doesn't that seem, ya know, kind of harsh and cruel?

Also, in the 7th season ep. "Force Of Nature", Data and Geordi talk about disciplining Spot, and Data says "Geordi, I cannot stun my cat."

So there you have it. Data would not, but apparently Riker sees no problem with it! I wonder why this is...

In case sickbay was attacked. For example, Frist Contact. Not to mention that in "Starship Mine", Picard desperately needed a phaser. Which he found in sickbay.

Not only that, John, but why would Riker even want Crusher to use a phaser on a cat? Doesn't that seem, ya know, kind of harsh and cruel?

Ever dealt with a cat that doesn't like you? Phaser set to stun, please.

[i]Why would Dr. Crusher keep a Phaser in Sick Bay? [/i]

I've thought that phasers in sick bay make sense to a certain point. How many times have we seen people beamed directly to sickbay from an exploding ship or from a running gunfight? You have no idea how an injured person who was just beamed into sickbay from a combat situation may react.

Well, Scott, I'm a real cat person, all cats seem to like me. I've never been attacked by one!

My own cat, Jack, is six years old and neutered, and he is just so great to be with! He loves people, and will come to my visitors and let them pet him. He likes to lie beside me in bed in purr a lot, too.

But that's just one cat, not all others are so friendly. I still wouldn't use a phaser on an animal. That's me, though.

Why was Spot so mean and agressive to the Enterprise crew, I wonder? Was it just to create tension for the b-plots of various episodes?

That's probably it!

I'm also the indentured servant of a cat, and while she's affectionate with her family, when we go on vacation and someone has to take care of her, she is vicious.

Heck, the vet won't go near her unless she's fully sedated. So I have some idea why. Maybe Riker got that treatment from Spot once.

I've taken Jack to the vet just once so far, and he was fine there too!

Knock on wood, he's stayed healthy, no sickness or injury. And I also have not yet heard him hiss. I hope I don't.

Anyway, back to Trek. It seems that Spot was just a strange cat (a Somali at first, then became a DSH) and a sexually confused cat (was male at first, then became female later on). He/she just did not seem to like non-androids.

Oh well, it's a good thing Lore never got a hold of her, she would have probably tried to scratch out his optic modules (eyes)!

I just remembered - Spot liked Barclay!

And then she had kittens (after temporarily turning into an iguana!)

I've been real close to an iguana - they're cool, with really long tails. I was in a pet store in Germany, they also had a horned toad. I held it, and a small snake as well. That was cool, too!

Anyway, Spot survived the Ent-D's destruction, yay! But was she in the other movies? I do not remember.

Spot was in one or two scenes in Nemesis (both may have bee deleted). Worf inherets Spot after Data dies.

Oh, OK, DavidH. I remember now.

Data gets destroyed, Yar dies a senseless, meaningless death, Sisko leaves behind his physical form to become a Prophet (in order to forever trap the Pah-Wraiths), Kes "dies" but becomes an energy being, but Wesley is still out there somewhere doing who knows what. Who's running that Star Trek Universe anyway?

Oh yeah, I forgot Jadzia. Her death was pretty meaningless too, but the actress wanted off the show.

At least her symbiont was passed on, right?

Of course, Data did survive in B4, sort of.

Kirk's death was pretty meaningless, too.

Interesting how, in this episode, the time bubbles passing through the runabout do nothing to fry electrical systems, cause hull breaches, etc. All we get is the engine running out of gas (next time, don't by the cheap stuff from Arco, it'll cause that sludgy buildup in the old impulse engine).

Oh yeah, Kirk. His was the most meaningless of ALL Trek Deaths!

Did you know that for a while, the Tolian Soran actor, Malcolm McDowell, was periodically getting death threats? It may have had something to do with the fact that in an interview, he said that "killing Kirk made no difference to him", because he wasn't a fan of Trek, and that he would "kill them all, if given a chance."

This is from the man who acted in "A Clockwork Orange", "Caligula", and "Cat People" as twisted and demented characters. I had wondered for a while what he was like in real life, though.

Anyway, about this episode, I agree with the above poster that they should have confirmed that Geordi was all right, I was worried about him. They did say he was OK in dialogue, I believe.

Also, seeing the Enterprise explode, and then un-explode, was pretty cool.

It was nice to see a runabout for once. I love it when characters on this show go off on multi-day trips in those little shuttlepods that aren't much bigger than closets.

Doesn't suprise me that Malcolm McDowell got death threats. I heard that he took the role solely because he got to kill Kirk. Some fans get way too obsessive. About ten years ago, they decided to kill off Chewbacca in a Star Wars novel, and the author of the novel got death threats as well.

Actually I believe that the reason they used the Runabout was because the DS9 pilot budget didn't have enough money to build the Runabout model. So they quickly wrote one into a TNG script they were developing at the same time to justify using TNG money for a model that was going to mostly appear on DS9. I think I read that in one of those official Star Trek Companion books.