109 – A Matter of Time

Grade: C+

Summary

A history professor from the 26th Century is visiting the Enterprise to witness how Picard will solve a seemingly unsolvable problem. The planet Penthara Four is about to enter a period of nuclear winter, and Picard must decide how to save their planet.

Commentary

This really isn’t a very strong episode – there are a lot of plot holes everywhere. For example, if Berlinghoff Rasmussen really is from the future, that means he doesn’t exist yet. How can Picard then say he extensively checked his credentials and found no problems? There are plenty other weak points with this episode as well. I don’t really want to list them all out, but there’s plenty that could have been done better here.

If there’s one thing I do like, it’s that Picard and Rasmussen have a reasonably interesting discussion about the Prime Directive and not interfering with history. It’s interesting because usually, Picard is arguing against messing with the timeline. This time, though, Picard argues in favor of messing with the timeline.

Overall, this is a mediocre episode. Funny in some places, and somewhat memorable, but not really that good.

Of Note

Apparently, Robin Williams was supposed to play the part of Berlinghoff Rasmussen, but he had to pass on it because he was filming the Spielberg film Hook.