Yesterday's Enterprise

This is another one of the episodes in STTNG where it is strongly hinted that Guinan has enormous powers. Her intuition is so acute that it can detect a change in the timeline. The premise is that some form of rift forms in space/time and the Enterprise C passes through it. In the normal timeline, it was lost with all hands, in fact it was destroyed by the Romulans. The Romulans were attacking a Klingon outpost and the Enterprise C was responding to the distress call when it was destroyed. When the Enterprise C passed through the time rift, there was a dramatic change in how history unfolded. In the normal timeline, the Klingons were impressed by a Federation starship defending them to the death and a peace treaty was signed between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Absent the treaty in the new timeline, the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been at war for over two decades. Guinan somehow senses this and convinces Picard that all is not right, for the Enterprise D is now only a warship. Tasha Yar is alive in the new timeline and she plays a major role in the attempt to reset the timeline back to what it should be. This episode is a strong one, indicative of what should have been given more emphasis in the series, what Guinan really is. While she clearly does not have the powers of Q, there are aspects of her existence that should have been more thoroughly explored.

Emerging from a dogfight 22 years earlier in a time rift is the previous Enterprise whose captain is Tricia O'Neill. Only problem is that the Enterprise then was destroyed and all hands lost.

Only the ancient and wise Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan knows there is something wrong. We know it too because former series regular Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar is on the bridge in her old job as security chief. And she gets a bit of romance from Christopher McDonald a junior officer on the previous Enterprise.

All the Star Trek franchise shows have a time paradox or three among their episodes, this is one of the best. McDonald and Crosby make a nice pair of ill fated lovers whose romance was never meant to be.

One of the better TNG episodes out there.

Enterprise encounters a time rift from which another starship emerges.

This is a classic episode that packs a lot of entertainment into a clever 45 minutes.

Like most time travel stories it has questionable plot elements but it is a highly enjoyable concept that hits you with something cool in the opening act and carries you through to the end.

Time travel adventures have been done to death over the years but when this was written it was a relatively fresh concept for television, albeit with a few recycled themes from the original Star Trek series. For me the concept of the past ship affecting the timeline is a great central plot and a past character returning within the altered timeline is a quite brilliant way of redoing something that was done exceptionally badly in a previous episode.

It's this guest character arc and a number of other moments for other characters that provide the best parts of the episode. Picard is put in a dilemma where he must make a difficult decision and has a number of excellent scenes in command. Guinan's role, although a bit contrived to make the plot function, does give her an air of wisdom and makes her an important member of the Enterprise crew. Geordie is in the thick of the action during the most intense scenes. Data has one quite subtlety good scene in the turbo-lift which I found quite memorable.

Visually it is one of the best Star Trek episodes with some excellent cinematography, editing, production design and sound effects. The look of the Enterprise is superb and this is further distinguished by the lighting. There is a very suspenseful action sequence towards the end which is one of the highlights of the franchise.

All performances are strong with Patrick Stewart excellent as ever. Others who stand out are Caryn Johnson (as Guinan), Denise Crosby, Tricia O'Neil, Christopher McDonald and LeVar Burton.

For me it's a 9.5/10 but I round upwards.

Top notch story, acting and battle scenes. Tasha Yar has the best performance in the series. High recommended.

Can't say enough good things about this episode, all the things that made TNG so great, and the entire franchise magical. Required viewing for any Trekkie.