What can I say, one of my favourite TNG episodes and I can't think of anything to really criticise - even Crosby worked for me in this one, which is a bit of a minor miracle :lol:

Interesting that the Klingons have the Federation on the run in the alternate timeline, the balance of power is clearly different to that of say DS9, although I won't elaborate too much as Steve is only just getting to signs of this :)

Had one of those slightly tipsy thoughts watching this one - given how battered the Enterprise C was when it came through the rift you could argue that there's a bit of a paradox going on. Without the Enterprise D's help the C would have been swiftly destroyed and may not have done enough to placate the Klingons, so with the D's help she was able to go back and put up enough of a fight to impress the klingons and avert the war. Hoever at the end of the episode they state that it looked like something was going to come through the rift but didn't, so does this mean that the C didn't get repaired and thus would have failed in her mission :blink: :blink:

Or was it just the Pedigree talking :lol: :lol:

Why would you want to think of anything to criticise? :shrug:

This is one very special episode. I remember reading about it before the video was released over here, and feverishly waiting for that release, then - after I'd seen it - calling Brian (Skibore) up and telling him I'd just seen the greatest Star Trek episode ever. I never was one for understatement :lol: :rolleyes:

I've seen it 20 or more times now (this was the first time in ages) and I'm still amazed by how its impact never seems to diminish. It has a cinematic quality to it that the years haven't dulled, in terms of the script, the look and the acting, at least. Granted, the effects seem a bit... slow in comparison to the likes of B5, Farscape and BSG but, at the time, they seemed amazing.

Admittedly the whole episode hangs by a rather slender thread: the unexplained ability of Guinan's to sense that something is wrong. In storytelling terms it's a conceit that has to be made in order to give Picard and co a reason to put things right, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense, and seeing as the whole principle requires suspension of disbelief I guess it's not too much of a hardship. It even leads to some fantastic interplay between Whoopee and Patrick Stewart, who trade blows like the phenomenal actors they are.

Stewart's Shakespearean training is on full view at several points, not least when he gives his speech imploring the crew to make sure history remembers the name Enterprise, and the scene where he lets rip at Guinan ("Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!") is still one of my favourites of this or any series :thumbsup:

And then there's Tasha. Yikes, she was never my favourite character and I haven't got much time for Denise "I'm great" Crosby, but it's hard not to get a lump in the throat when she takes her seat on the bridge of the Enterprise C and gets the heroic send off that she never really did anything to deserve. I like that it's her final appearance (or, at least, it should have been :rolleyes: ), leaving the final act exclusively to the remaining crew of our Enterprise.

I also think that Tricia O'Neill does a fantastic job as Captain Garrett, giving her so much feeling and nobility in such a short time on screen.

The framing scenes, with Worf and his now infamous prune juice (was that the first time he laughed on the series?) and, latterly, Guinan asking Geordi about Tasha are brilliantly done.

Even Dennis McCarthy manages to pull off easily his best score for any of the Treks. Still not on a par with Ron Jones, though, and that could be the only thing that would have improved the episode for me.

As time travel stories go this ranks up there as one of my all time favourites, along with "The City On The Edge Of Forever", B5's "War Without End" and - in a rather roundabout way - Farscape's marvellous "...Different Destinations". As TNG episodes go it is very nearly my top episode, with only a couple of other contenders to dislodge it.

Damn near perfect :thumbsup:

Think I'll go and watch it again right now B)