In the Foster novelization, this incident is revealed at the end to be a trick contrived by a group of Beings similar to the Q. Spock, of course, is the one who sees the illogic of reverse evolution. How would elderly people be born? How would they be conceived? Would they just suddenly appear in a grave, only to youthen and die inside the wombs of their daughters? This was also a problem in one of Voyager's episodes. It just doesn't make sense!

There is a ST:TNG comicbook dealing with a very similar concept (may actually be the same planet). It was #6 in DC's first ST:TNG miniseries (the one before their long running series that began in the 2nd season of the show).

You might be interested in reading a short story by Damon Knight called "Backward O Time." It doesn't have anything to do with Trek, but it does take place in a universe that goes backwards. People rise out of the grave, come back to life, grower younger, etc. One of the more amusing scenes consisted of the main character and a philosopher speculating about a universe where time ran forward and you grew older instead of younger....

They also did this in the Red Dwarf epsiode, Backwards

A question in a TV magazine quiz referred to this episode. Tell me if you think it was a badly worded question:
Q. Who was the earliest captain of the Enterprise seen in any Star Trek series?
A. Captain Robert April, in Star Trek: The Animated Series.
It wasn't until I worked back from the answer I figured out how to interpret the question.

How old is the Enterprise? In Star Trek III it's said it's more than 20 years old. In The Menagerie (I think) the events with Pike are supposed to be 11 years previous. Making the Enterprise 30 years old or more?
If Robert April captained the ship before this time, how old is the ship?

From the Cronology:
2245 Enterprise launched under April
2253 The Cage/Menagerie
2285 ST 2/3 (The ship would be between 33-40 years old.)

That doesn't seem to be too out of line with the way we build ships today. Does anybody out there know how long the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise has been in service?

Odd coincidence--I heard NPR interviewing a crewmember from the Enterprise today, but they were talking about Operation Desert Fox, not the Dominion War....

I think it became operational in 1964.

The Big E served in the Pacific in WWII. However, I believe it was sunk at one point (Coral Sea?) and had to be rebuilt. Any WWII buffs out there who can help?

The Current Enterprise (CVN-65) was comissioned Sept. 24, 1960. The ship from WWII (CV-6) was comissioned in 1938. It was severly damaged in 1945, by a Kamikaze. It was repaired, later it was scrapped on July 1, 1958. I found this at the Enterprise Home page at http://www.ncts.navy.mil/homepages/cvn65/

So we have a 20th century ship still on active duty more than 38 years after it was comissioned. I think it's safe to say that the Star Trek Enterprise could have be in use 40 years after it's commision.

Is this the first time in Star Trek that the transporter (specifically a stored transporter pattern or some such piece of technobabble) is used to return people to their normal age after they are altered? It seems to me that this feature reapears in Next Generation I forget the episode (one of first with Pulaski genetically engineered kids who create a disease with their super immune system), and it is mentioned in the Guides, because no one seems to be using it to attain immortality.

FYI The scrapped ENTERPRISE, WWII vintage, was sold to the Japaneese. A little irony with your history, anyone?

Amusingly enough, if you've read Diane Carey's novel "Final Frontier", that fact is in fact mentioned, when George Kirk is reviewing the history of the name. So most of us who read the books already knew that :) As do the historians in the audience :)

I don't know if anyone noticed, but Captain Robert April sounds a little bit like Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott...
[Sorry to break it to anyone who didn't know, but James Doohan has a natural American accent; he is "definitely not Scotch" as his character once said in "Relics" (TNG).]

Doohan is Canadian.

His native accent, though, is vaguely Irish.

Now I come to think about it, I do believe you're right, "mf".

When Kirk is talking to Robert April's wife, he calls her Mrs April, not Dr April. Wouldn't it be protocol to call her by her title?
Spock ages slower than humans - noted in the original series and ST: TNG - so why is reverting to become a child almost as quickly as everyone else? I would have thought the April would become younger sooner.
How come there are no Commodores in the Star Trek of today? Or am I mistaken?
Hmmm... and Dr/Mrs April kinda sounded like Nichelle Nichols, didn't she?

*sigh*. So much to say again. 'Final Frontier' reveals that the Enterprise's first [though unofficial] mission was in 2245. 'Star Trek: Log Seven' tells about the building of the ship from the first plans through to 2245 when April took it on it's first official mission. The Cage[TOS] was 2254. TOS/TAS was 2265 [TMOM-t; WNMHGB] to 2269 [TI; 'PD' novel]. Star Trek II and Star Trek III are 2285. Morrow's line of "20 years old" is a mistake and should not be delved into for an interpretation.

Maybe Morrow meant that it had been 20 years since Enterprise was refitted as seen in TMP?

I know this would result in Short Show Syndrome, but it seems to me that when the Enterprise is locked onto the other ship and heading for the star that the logical thing to do is to destroy the other ship. It's more important for Kirk's crew to survive than let some crazy person (at the time) drag you to your death.

Spock ages slower than humans - noted in the original series and ST: TNG - so why is reverting to become a child almost as quickly as everyone else?

Because he's roughly the same age as the others (early '40s, IIRC).

By Mike Konczewski: "So we have a 20th century ship still on active duty more than 38 years after it was comissioned. I think it's safe to say that the Star Trek Enterprise could have be in use 40 years after it's commision."

When the USS Ronald Reagan was commissioned, it was mentioned that her intended service life is such that her last Captain has yet to be born. I believe it is typical of a US Navy Captain to be 40-50 years of age.

I have to admit I was hoping at the time NASA brought them out that the Space Shuttles would last as long as Forrestal type aircraft carriers.

Given the way these spacecraft and Star Fleet 'wessels' are constantly being refitted, I would assume a greater service life than 50 years.

The USS Enterprise (the "nuclear wesswel" CVN-65) was comissioned in 1965 and is expected to be in service until 2018. That's 53 years.

As an aside, I'd also point out a novel where people age in reverse: "Cryptozoic!" by Brian Aldiss, posits that we actually live in reverse, emerging from a grave after flesh aggregates around our bones, growing younger, etc., and that the whole thing is so weird that our minds perceive it the other way so we can deal with it. What we call "memory" is really limited psychic ability to see the future, and those we call "psychics" are really the only ones with true memory. Not related to the episode, really, but I thought I'd throw it in in response to Mike and Neil's posts of 1998.

Ugh, this is such a dreadful and absurd episode, even for TAS. An even worse finish for TAS than "Turnabout Intruder" was for TOS. Much worse.

It's bad enough that the basic premise is laughable, but even worse that it's so full of internal inconsistencies.

Having said that, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained. After all I bothered posting here to diss it, over 3 years after the last post, right?

Yup. The entire second season was directed by Bill Reed. Despite the fact the end credits for all six eps credit Hal Sutherland.

In "Journey to Babel", didn't Kirk pronounce the planet's name "Bay-bull"? In this ep, he calls it "Bab-bull".

Robert T. April is the only officer in TAS to hold the rank of Commodore. As a matter of fact, he is the last STAR TREK character to hold that rank.

Drs. McCoy and April apparently enter the Bridge from the right side of the deck, that is from the side Spock's science station is located. We see them entering from left to right. And Kirk and Commodore look at the medics on the right side. So. There's another turbolift on the right side of the Bridge?

The flower Dr. Sarah April has is a native of Capella IV, a planet the Enterprise visited in "Friday's Child". In "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth", we see a Capellan power cat, making that two references to the Capellan star system in TAS.

The Beta Niobe nova mentioned in this ep was first witnessed in "All Our Yesterdays". At that time, the sun had yet to go nova.

Spock tells Kirk there's an object on a collision course with the Enterprise and the Captain simply orders the ship on Red Alert. Gee, Jim, you don't suppose ordering evasive maneuvers would be a good idea, too, do you?

A ship travelling at Warp 36 and Kirk wants to open hailing frequecies with it? By the time Uhura make contact with it, it'd've already been burned out by the Beta Niobe supernova. No wonder Uhura said it wasn't responding.

Kirk then orders Sulu to put a tractor beam on it. Even assuming the tractor beam could travel fast enough to catch the ship, at Warp 36, it's probably several dozen light years away by the time Kirk gave that order. And even if they did by some miracle catch it, the stress of such a sudden stop would probably have destroyed the ship and killed everyone aboard it.

Arex says the tractor beam had a small affect on the alien vessel. Its speed was reduced to Warp 32. Again, it's very doubtful the Enterprise could send a message much less lock a tractor beam on anything moving that fast.

And even if they did lock a tractor beam on it, shouldn't the alien vessel be dragging the Enterprise with it? That'd be like me lassoing a car at the Indy 500. Even if I'm running, its momentum is going to jerk me off my feet.

"Lt., play that tape backwards. Which should sound forward to us." That's for those of you too dumb to figure it out for yourselves.

Look. If Scotty isn't screaming bloody murder that the ship can't take much more at that speed (Warp 20), then there's something wrong with the Chief Engineer. And shouldn't we be hearing the sound of the Enterprise straining under such a high speed?

"Full breaking power" at Warp 22? I'd say you can kiss that starship goodbye. Or the crew at least. I doubt even the inertial dampeners could take that sudden a shift in speed.

Commodore April says finding a simultaneous supernova in both universes would be a "remarkable coincidence". Well, not really. Karla Five has apparently done it twice. Once out of her universe and again to return to it.

It isn't just that time flows in reverse in this universe, it also flows faster. It shouldn't take a matter of hours for the crew to be reduced to infants unless time elapsed much more swiftly in the Counter Clockwise Universe.

For those of you too slow on the uptake (like me. I just figured this out.), "Arret", Karla Five's home world, is "Terra" (Earth) backwards.

Karla Five is quite generous. VERY generous. She offers Kirk the use of her ship to get the Entreprise back to its own universe. I'd imagine that spaceship are quite expensive. Something like a few million dollars or more. That's one helluva loan, considering it isn't likely she'll get it back. K5 must be very rich to casually make that offer. (She later refers to it as a "small sacrifice". I tell ya, this lady is rich enough, Bill Gates looks like a pauper.)

The Minara nova mentioned in this ep is the same one mentioned in the TOS ep, "The Empath". (This ep may be the most reference happy ep of all of the Animated Series. So far, it's refered to four previous TOS eps.)

Commodore April orders his wife to watch after the youngsters. Did he mean all 429 of them? Or were the ones in Sickbay, the Engine Room, etc. left to fend for themselves. And if not, how could Sarah April watch over all of those children?

Captain April orders Spock to take the navigation console. The Vulcan however, takes the Helm position.

Wow, it's amazing that as the crew grew younger, their clothes not only shrank with them, but aged, too. You'd think everybody on ship would have been older than their uniforms, and thus running around in the altogether after awhile. But nope. The uniforms stayed with them.

It's also amazing the Enterprise itself didn't reverse its age with her crew.

Wow. Young Spock doesn't look the same as he did in "Yesteryear", does he?

Is this the first time in Star Trek that the transporter (specifically a stored transporter pattern or some such piece of technobabble) is used to return people to their normal age after they are altered? - Allan Olley

Nope. The third. The first time it was done was in "The Lorelei Signal". Next came "The Terratin Incident".

"Live long and prosper."

According to the text commentary, Capella IV was first encountered in "A Private Little War". No, it debuted in "Friday's Child". The planet in APLW was Neural.

"Live long and prosper."

>For those of you too slow on the uptake (like me. >I just figured this out.), "Arret",
>Karla Five's home world, is "Terra" (Earth) >backwards.

Although I don't think it's ever stated in the episode, the live-action "Return to Tomorrow" also had Sargon's world referred to as "Arret" in some reference sources.

>Wow, it's amazing that as the crew grew younger, >their clothes not only shrank
>with them, but aged, too. You'd think everybody >on ship would have been older
>than their uniforms, and thus running around in >the altogether after awhile. But
>nope. The uniforms stayed with them.

You could also apply the same nit to "The Terratin Incident", although as I recall they mentioned a scientific explanation for the uniforms shrinking (they were made of organic material).

I liked how Kirk couldn't accept Sulu's claim that the Enterprise couldn't break free from the tractor beam, and worked the controls himself-- just like when M-5 couldn't be disengaged and Kirk tried to stop it himself.

The Enterprise returns to its own universe, but where's Karla 5's ship? Shouldn't it be flying ahead of the Enterprise?

The Aprils are the only adults on the ship when it returns to the proper universe, which means they would have had to fly it themselves to the nearest planet, and then they'd have to use the transporter dozens and dozens of times to restore everyone to their proper age.

Kirk would be in his mid/late thirties in this episode, but Uhura is younger and so is Sulu, so when we see Kirk as a toddler, what condition are Sulu and Uhura in if they've aged 30-something years? Do they stop aging to the point of a year or several months, or did they disappear completely?

They should have electronically altered Spock's voice when he had changed back to his teens because Nimoy's deep voice has changed with age, and should have sounded younger. At least Shatner spoke in a slightly lighter tone to denote his youthful regression.

Spock says, "As a Vulcan I age the slowest!"
Huh? Shouldn't he age at the same rate as everyone else? 1 second a second? If the line had been that he was so much older then it would make sense.

So why the heck did Karla 5 fly her ship into a newly forming star in the first place? Was it an accident & she just happened to find herself in our universe?

Shouldn't the crew have been de-aging once they got into the other universe rather than just when it was convenient to the plot?

So what happened to Karla 5's ship when they got back to our universe? You'd think Starfleet would love to know how to make a ship that goes warp 36.

The Aprils' decision to be restored to their proper ages didn't make much sense. Although I did amuse myself with the thought that the Aprils realized that staying 30-40 years younger meant they would have that much longer to stay together & decided it would be better to be returned to their normal ages so that death would be that much closer. ;-)

Anonymous on 11/15/98 - There is a ST:TNG comicbook dealing with a very similar concept (may actually be the same planet). It was #6 in DC's first ST:TNG miniseries (the one before their long running series that began in the 2nd season of the show).
Actually that issue is more like The Time Trap, there was no de-aging, just a planet outside of regular space that had members of various races living in peace.

How exactly is the white void of the alternate universe illuminated,what accounts for all of their stars being totally black? At one point Kirk refers to the other universe as "The anti-matter universe."He should know that if that was the case then there would be total annihilation of the Enterprise & crew once contact was made.I realize that Commodore April needed to take over command of the Enterprise because of the reverse aging effect upon the crew.Still,at 75 was he truly up to date on the mechanical operation of the Enterprise as compared to his era? While April's comment about not needing to remain young because both he & his wife had fulfilling lives is touching,I'm thinking most folks faced with this opportunity aren't going to really want to return to their senior citizen status via the Transporter if possible.

>>>Still,at 75 was he truly up to date on the mechanical operation of the Enterprise.>>>

Probably not, but he would do a better job than a 9 year old Captain Kirk. Not to mention a 1407 year old Scotty, despite being hopelessly out of date, saved the day in "Relics". (PS I recently bought "Relics" on VHS.)

Weirddave on Thursday, February 13, 2003 - 8:20 pm Maybe Morrow meant that it had been 20 years since Enterprise was refitted as seen in TMP?

WRONG! The Enterprise refit mentioned in TMP, which resulted in Enterpirse being almost completely rebuilt, and thus becoming 'an almost new Enterprise', as per Decker's description of the refitted ship to Kirk, took place circa 2271. Morrow's '20 years old' comment was made circa 2285 - a gap of about 14 years.

I'm not aware of any mention of him or her in the novels, but I wonder if Captain and Sarah April ever had children?
Kind of a missed opportunity, if you ask me, since they'd be old enough to serve in Starfleet by the time of the movies.

And imagine that kid serving on the same ship their father once captained.