STAR TREK
TIME TRAVEL
FAN COLLECTIVE

Starring the casts of:
Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek The Next Generation, Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager

Series created by:
Gene Roddenberry

Out to buy on DVD 14/08/06

Tomorrow Is Yesterday
The Enterprise collides with a black hole and is thrown back to Earth in the 20th century, where they must find a way back and erase any trace of their presence. Matters become complicated when they rescue an Air Force pilot and cannot return him without changing history...but if he disappears that will change history as well. The

City On The Edge Of Forever
While investigating a time disturbance above an uncharted planet, Sulu is rendered unconscious when his overloaded console bursts into flames. McCoy hurries to the bridge and administers a few drops of cordrazine which immediately stabilizes the helmsman's heart flutter. Suddenly, the Enterprise lurches and McCoy is accidentally injected with a large quantity of the drug. In his cordrazine-induced frenzy, McCoy exits the bridge and manages to beam himself down to the planet below. After beaming down to find the doctor, Kirk and the landing party discover the object causing the time disturbances, the Guardian of Forever, which can show any point of time in galactic history. While watching Earth's history, McCoy leaps through the portal and as a result drastically changes history.

Yesterday's Enterprise
A rift in the space/time continuum brings the Enterprise-C 22 years into the future, and alters the timeline. In this timeline, the Federation is at war with the Klingons, Tasha Yar is on the bridge, Worf did not join Starfleet, and only Guinan's unique perception of reality may restore the timeline.

Cause And Effect
While exploring the Typhon Expanse, the Enterprise is caught in a time warp in which they are repeatedly destroyed while colliding with another starship.

Time's Arrow (Parts 1 & 2)
Data's head is uncovered in an archaeological dig on Earth, where evidence is also found that aliens may have been on Earth as early as the 19th Century. Using modified technology, an away team follows Data into the late 1890s to investigate.

All Good Things...
Captain Picard is shifting through three time periods: just before the Enterprise-D is sent on its mission to Farpoint station, the present, and 25 years in the future, when Picard has just been diagnosed with Irumadic Syndrome, a degenerative brain disease. Meanwhile, an anomaly appears in the past and present in the Neutral Zone that piques the interest of both Starfleet and the Romulans; the Enterprise is sent to investigate. On the way there, Q finally confirms Picard's suspicion that he is responsible for the time travelling and that the anomaly is related to the shifts. He tells the Captain that the trial of seven years ago never ended and that humanity has been found guilty of being inferior.

Little Green Men
While on their way to Starfleet Academy on Earth, Quark, Rom and Nog are thrown back in time and crash land in the small town of Roswell, New Mexico in the year 1947.

Trials And Tribble-ations
While returning to Deep Space Nine with the Bajoran Orb of Time, the crew is thrown back to the 23rd Century. They must infiltrate the original Starship Enterprise in order to stop an undercover Klingon from assassinating the legendary Captain James T. Kirk.

Year Of Hell (Parts 1 & 2)
Voyager comes under attack from a Krenim Temporal Ship that alters the course of evolution by wiping out entire species from the timeline.

Endgame
After a decades-long journey to reach the Alpha Quadrant, Admiral Kathryn Janeway makes a bold decision to change the past in an attempt to undo the toll taken on the crew during their arduous journey home.

When you think of a plot device that science fiction fans love to drive their favourite stories to new frontiers the first one that should spring to mind is time travel and no one does it better than Star Trek.

Over all the Star Trek series time travel have been an important and even essential way telling some of the best science fiction stories. The various Starship Enterprises, Voyager and the crew and inhabitants of Deep Space Nine have all travelled through time and had adventures in the past and the future. This plot device has also produced some of the best episodes of the series.

For the Next Generation time travel produced some classic episodes and even finished the series using the plot device. 'Yesterday's Enterprise' plays with the alternative future premise, where if one moment changed the whole universe would change with it. It also sees the return of a character we haven't seen since the first season. 'Cause And Effect' sees the crew stuck in a time loop that always ends with the Enterprise D been destroyed so it is up do Picard and the rest of the crew to find the solution to stop this from happening again and again and again. 'Time's Arrow' is a superb two-part story with Data travelling back in time to unravel the mystery of why his head was discovered in a cave with relics over 500 years old. The Next Generation ended its TV run with another two-part time travel story, 'All Good Things' as we see Picard dragged through time by Q as he stands trail again.

The inhabitants of Deep Space Nine also had their own brushes with time travel. Proving that Star Trek can also provide comedic episodes with a classic for the series in 'Little Green Men'. Here DS9's resident Ferengi are thrown through time and crash land on Earth in Roswell, New Mexico. Making Rom, Quark and Nog the Roswell aliens is hilarious for fans and shows the comedic talents of Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik and Aron Eisenberg. Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek, the crew of the USS Defiant are thrown back in time by a Bajoran orb in 'Trials And Tribble-ations'. A sequel of sorts to 'Trouble with Tribbles' we see Capt. Sisko and his crew interact and walk around the original starship Enterprise, meeting Captain Kirk and Spock. This is a classic episode and a brilliant homage to the original series. Also fans rejoiced as they saw the beautiful Terry Farrell in a blue, mini skirt uniform.

Captain Janeway and the crew of the starship Voyager also travelled through time. In the Year Of Hell two-part story, Janeway battles the Krenim, who have a ship that can actually change time. This is a gripping story that is Voyager at its best. 'End Game' sees Catherine Janeway use time travel to fight the Borg and finally get Voyager back to Earth. This brings the Borg/Voyager story to an end and is a rid roaring end to the series.

Setting the standard for the franchise however was the original series. 'Tomorrow Is Yesterday' sees the Enterprise thrown through a black hole back to the 20th century and change the past. Kirk, Spock and McCoy then have to try and correct the timeline before they can go back. By far the best and most loved episode in Star Trek history is 'The City On The Edge Of Forever'. This is classic science fiction as history is changed forever when Dr. McCoy, in a cordrazine-induced panic travels into the past after the crew discover the Guardian of Forever, a time portal that can show you or take you back in history. With a guest appear from Joan Collins as Edith Keeler, this is one of the best, if not the best Star Trek episode ever to grace TV. A classic.

Time Travel is one of the best plot devices available to a science fiction writer and this collection highlights the fact that Star Trek utilises it superbly. Across four of the five series, we see that the premise can be used for drama, tragedy and comedy to produce some classic episodes and some brilliant Sci-Fi television.

COLLECTION

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 4:3 full screen with Dolby Digital 5.1, the episodes look good on DVD

BONUS FEATURES

Text Commentary
Michael and Denise Okuda provide background information and trivia for the episodes 'Tomorrow Is Yesterday', 'Yesterday's Enterprise' and 'Little Green Men'

OVERALL

Gathering together the fan's favourite Time Travel episodes is a great idea if you back them up with supplementary material. If you had accompanied them with new featurettes, documentaries or commentaries the package might be worth buying for fans of the series but without them it is just a collection of episodes. Trekkers will already have these episodes anyway and the inclusion of 'End Game' again (it was also on the Borg collection) will mean that collectors will not want to buy the same episode twice. This is a real disappointment.

DVD


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