Yesterday's Enterprise (TNG episode)

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Star Trek: TNG episode
*"Yesterday’s Enterprise"*
The Enterprise-C emerges from a time rift in “Yesterday’s Enterprise”.
Episode no.	63
Prod. code	163
Airdate	February 19, 1990
Writer(s)	Trent Christopher Ganino Eric A. Stillwell Ira Steven Behr Richard Manning Hans Beimler Ronald D. Moore
Director	David Carson
Guest star(s)	Denise Crosby Tricia O’Neil Christopher McDonald
Year	16 Aug 2366
Stardate	43625.2
Episode chronology
Previous	"A Matter of Perspective"
Next	"The Offspring"

“Yesterday’s Enterprise” is an episode of the 3rd season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It contains some of the events surrounding the time-traveling Enterprise-C.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Synopsis
2 Plot Details
3 The Klingon War
4 The Military Federation
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Synopsis

In Ten-Forward, Guinan introduces Worf to prune juice, a drink which he enjoys immensely (calling it “A warrior’s drink”). He is suddenly called to the bridge.

The Enterprise-D encounters a rift in space-time that appears to have no discernible event horizon; it both is, and is not, there. After a brief moment a battered and damaged ship comes out of the rift, transmitting a distress call and identifying itself as the USS Enterprise-C, a ship lost with all hands twenty-two years in the past and the predecessor to the Enterprise-D. After the Enterprise-C emerges from the rift, a dramatic shift occurs on the bridge of the Enterprise-D: the bright, open-spaced bridge is replaced by a dark military bridge with multiple tactical stations, Worf and Counselor Troi are missing, and Lieutenant Tasha Yar, killed in the episode “Skin of Evil”, is chief tactical officer. The Federation is at war with the Klingon Empire and the Federation is losing; indeed, the Federation is barely six months away from surrender.

This episode is regarded by many fans as one of the best TNG episodes, along with “The Best of Both Worlds” and “The Inner Light”.

[edit] Plot Details

Guinan is the only one who appears to notice the change, not knowing for sure what is happening, but knowing that “something is wrong”. She approaches Captain Picard about her thoughts and, while not entirely dismissive of her feelings, he cannot act on them without more evidence.

Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O’Neil), commanding officer of the USS Enterprise-C, wakes up in sickbay and is startled at the modern Starfleet uniforms and the advanced medical bay the likes of which she has never seen before “even on a Starbase”, even though Captain Picard initially relayed orders that no one from the Enterprise-C is to know about “where, or when they are”, Captain Garrett’s perceptions of her surroundings force Captain Picard to acknowledge the inevitability of them discovering the truth.

Captain Garrett initially wants to remain in the future and assist the Federation with the Klingon War, but Captain Picard informs her that the Federation is on the brink of collapse and one more ship will not help, although most of Starfleet’s enlisted and non-command personnel are not aware of this. Captain Picard informs her that if what Guinan believes is true, that there was not supposed to be a war, then the Enterprise-C may have had a role in the peace that should be in place and is in place, in the alternate timeline.

It is decided, against the objections of Commander Riker, that the Enterprise-C should return to its own time and perhaps, by doing so, alter the course of history as it has unfolded in this alternate timeline. While Captain Picard and Captain Garrett are aboard the Enterprise-C supervising the final repairs, a Klingon scout ship locates the two ships, opens fire, and quickly makes her escape to inform the Klingon High Command of the location of the two Federation Starships.

The Enterprise-C is caught with shields down and suffers moderate damage. Captain Picard returns safely to the Enterprise-D, but Captain Garrett is killed in an explosion on the Enterprise-C’s bridge.

Lieutenant Yar notices the strange way that Guinan, the enigmatic and wise bartender, reacts to her presence for the first time seeing her since she noticed the ship’s change, and, against her objections, tells why she reacted so strangely. Guinan tells her that she never actually met Tasha Yar before coming aboard the Enterprise-D; all she knew about her was that she died a meaningless death. Because of this revelation, Yar asks Captain Picard for permission to transfer to the Enterprise-C as a tactical officer. Captain Picard emotionally acquiesces to her request when Yar objects to dying a meaningless death.

Lieutenant Richard Castillo (Christopher McDonald), the last remaining Enterprise-C bridge officer and a budding romantic interest with Tasha Yar, assumes command of the Enterprise-C and prepares to take the ship back through the rift—which is now growing unstable—to reenter combat with the Romulans attacking the Klingon outpost.

As the Enterprise-C is entering the rift three Klingon K’vort-class battlecruisers attack the Enterprise-D and outflank it. There is a battle in which the Enterprise-D manages to destroy one of the battleships. However, the ship suffers major damage and is close to destruction. The bridge erupts in fire and Commander Riker suffers what appears to be a fatal wound when a console explosion embeds metal fragments into his neck. The Klingons demand the Enterprise’s surrender. Picard sneers at this request and mutters defiantly to himself, “That will be the day”. He leaps up and takes over Riker’s station. He fires a last few rounds of phaser fire and buys the Enterprise-C more time. The Enterprise-C manages to enter the rift successfully and in another striking change, the Enterprise-D is returned to normal and the rift that altered time vanishes before the Enterprise-D can scan it. Worf and Troi are back and the Enterprise-D is on its way to meet a Klingon delegation. In the last scene, Guinan asks the bridge if all is well, and then says to Geordi La Forge: “Tell me about Tasha Yar.”

[edit] The Klingon War

We learn in this episode’s timeline that the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire have been engaged in a bloody and costly war for almost two decades, peace efforts having failed for the last time. This creates somewhat of a plot contradiction because Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country displays that the Klingon Empire is no longer capable of effectively waging war on the Federation. This is due to the destruction of Praxis which exacerbated the decrepit state of Klingon Economics; in fact, some Starfleet officers suggested that the Federation could easily win the war and dismantle the Klingon Empire. If the war continued in an alternate timeline it is unlikely, considering available canon information, that the Klingons would be able to defeat the Federation, especially in a protracted war of attrition that is shown in this episode. The Federation economy could sustain an output far greater than the poorer Klingon Empire. Alternatively, the war Picard speaks of is less than two decades old at that moment, which would have given the Empire plenty of time after the events of TUC to recover while at peace with the Federation.

It is revealed in this episode that the Enterprise-C was supposed to be lost twenty-two years ago answering a distress call from a Klingon outpost near Narendra III, which was under attack from Romulan warbirds. In the proper timeline, the sacrifice of the Enterprise-C’s crew in a valiant attempt to save the Klingon outpost, for which they had no prior contact or concern, persuaded the Klingon High Council that the Federation was honorable.

In the timeline created when the Enterprise-C entered the temporal rift during the Romulan onslaught, however, it appeared as though the Federation heard the Klingon distress call and abandoned them to their fate, an act considered highly dishonorable by the Klingons, who hold honor as the prime virtue. As a result of the failure of the Federation Starfleet to assist the Narendra III outpost, the Klingons abandoned peace negotiations and the subdued hostility that permeated Federation-Klingon relations for decades broke out into open war.

[edit] The Military Federation

This episode shows several pronounced changes from the normal way of life in the Federation Universe. The first noticeable change is that the bridge changes from the bright and open bridge of a Galaxy-class starship into a dark, military bridge with multiple tactical control panels and security personnel. Military dress differs also. Enlisted crewmembers wear white/silver belts and sashes over a uniform similar to that seen in the standard timeline of Season 3, but with a closed rather than open mandarin collar that peaks at the nape of the neck, larger pips on the collar, and black cuffs on the sleeves. The whole crew wear phasers as standard issue equipment (a chrome one in Picard’s case). In this episode, the ship is referred to as a warship, "capable of transporting over six thousand troops": the legendary “Captain’s Log” and “Stardate” are replaced by “Military Log” and “Combat Date”, respectively. Another noted difference is that there are no children present on the ship.

Also in the episode, Lieutenant Yar states the Enterprise was “the first Galaxy-class warship built by the Federation”, a change that possibly indicates the USS Galaxy was not built as a warship, but that the Enterprise and possibly other subsequent Galaxy-class ships were built as warships.

This episode saw the return of Tasha Yar, killed in the episode “Skin of Evil” by Armus, a malevolent being of pure evil incarnate. It is inferred that the war that engulfed the Federation kept Counselor Troi and her escorts away from the events that caused them to crash land on the planet Vagra II; therefore, Counselor Troi was never trapped in Shuttlecraft 13 and the Enterprise-D had no reason to go there. In the alternate timeline, we also see that Counselor Troi is never seen on the bridge or with the senior officers, as her presence would be inappropriate for a battleship’s tactical center. Also, we see that Lieutenant Worf is not aboard the Enterprise in the alternate timeline, for obvious reasons.

On the technical side, replicators are said to be on low-power reserves so more energy can be offered to the ship’s tactical and defense systems. The crew eats standard military rations called “TKLs” that are non-energy intensive to replicate, and Tasha Yar says the ship can transport up to 6,000 ground troops (possibly Starfleet Marines).

[edit] Trivia

During a scene in a hallway, an intercom can be heard paging Lieutenant Barrett.
Trent Christopher Ganino’s name can be seen on a tactical situation monitor showing the progress of the Klingons in their war with the Federation.