Star Trek: Fan Collective - Time Travel

 

 

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As a casual fan (geek enough to be familiar with Trek, but not hardcore about it), and someone not interested in the expensive full season sets, I'm a little tempted by these smaller Star Trek collections, organized by theme.

The time travel collection begins with an enjoyable original series episode, Tomorrow is Yesterday, and The City on the Edge of Forever is generally considered the best of the original run. Following this, it's a number of well written Next Generation episodes: Yesterday's Enterprise, Cause and Effect, Time's Arrow (two parts), All Good Things (two parts). Next up, Deep Space Nine takes over with Little Green Men, and Trials and Tribble-ations, which famously and seamlessly revisited an original series story using footage of the original crew. From Voyager, Year of Hell (two parts) is a dramatic, engaging story.

What puzzles me here is the final disc, which uses only half its potential space, and simply adds Endgame (Voyager), the two-part series finale repeated from the collection dedicated to the villainous Borg. It happens to suit both themes, but assuming the casual fan might go for a few of these collections, it's a bit dense to repeat episodes already, in the first two releases, whether they were the result of some kind of vote or not. Meanwhile, clever stories like The Visitor (with Sisko appearing throughout his son's life, easily a great DS9 episode) and others are not to be found. Paramount needs to put more thought into these, because what could have been impossible to refuse is instead merely tempting.

I love these collections. Have the Borg and Klingon collection as well. I bought this one mainly because I wanted the final episone of TNG but the alternate realities have always been a favorite of mine. Too bad Amazon didn't have it in stock. I would have preferred it for the free shipping.

True "Star Trek" fans are going collect complete seasons on DVD. Consequently, thematic sets like "Star Trek Fan Collective: Time Travel" appeal to less rabid fans who might be attracted if more than half of these episode are ones they would like to own. The collection is solid, but you might already have the best of what is here:

"Star Trek" Episode 21, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" finds the "Enterprise" going back in time, courtesy of the gravitational pull of a black hole, to the 1960s. Kirk rescues an Air Force pilot, Captain John Christopher, he cannot let return with his knowledge of the future. But Christopher has to return to have a son who will be a famous space explorer (Warp 4).

"Star Trek" Episode 28, "The City on the Edge of Forever" is the most famous "Star Trek" episode. McCoy goes back in time through the Guardian of Forever and changes history. Kirk and Spock follow to set things right, ending up in the U.S. during the Great Depression. The focal point is Edith Keeler, a social worker. McCoy saved her life and Edith led a peace movement that delayed U.S. involvement in World War II, allowing Hitler to create atomic weapons first and win the war. Kirk is in love with Edith, but she must die (Warp 5).

"STNG" Episode 63, "Yesterday's Enterprise" is the "Enterprise-C," which comes through a temporal rift and changes everything changes. The "Enterprise-D" is now a ship of war, fighting a losing war with the Klingon Empire, so Worf is gone and Tasha Yar is back. Guinan knows something is wrong and has to convince Picard that the correct timeline must be restored no matter what (Warp 5).

"STNG" Episode 118, "Cause and Effect" finds the "Enterprise" trapped in a time loop ending with the starship exploding. This pattern is repeated several times, but each progression changes, offering clues for avoiding the ship's apparent fate. These changes are most notable in the poker game being played by several members of the bridge crew (Warp 5).

"STNG" Episodes 126 & 127, "Time's Arrow, Parts 1 & 2" find the "Enterprise" has returned to Earth where Captain Picard is shown an archeological dig in San Francisco that has uncovered Data's head among a bunch of late 19th-Century artifacts. Investigating a temporal distortion on Devidia Two, Data is caught in a rift and sent back to 19th-Century Earth. There he discovers Guinan in the company of Samuel Clemens. Back in the future, Guinan tells Picard it is very important that he go on this away mission. The funniest parts here are the attempts by Data to fit into the past. There is an explanation for why his head was buried for 500 years, but these episodes are only slightly above average (Warp 4).

"STNG" Episodes 177 & 178, "All Good Things, Parts 1 & 2" finds Captain Picard is shifting through time. One moment he is twenty-five years in the future, a retired ambassador tending his vineyard but suffering from a degenerative neurological disease. Then he finds himself seven years in the past when he first took over the "Enterprise." In the present the ship is sent to the Neutral Zone to investigate an anomaly that has appeared. Picard finally realizes who is responsible for his time shifting and finds himself once again in the courtroom Q created to try humanity in "Encounter at Farpoint." The trial never officially ended and the Continuum has finally reached a verdict. The human race should be destroyed, but the Q do not have to do anything for this to happen. The anomaly is going back in time, growing larger as it does, until it will arrive at Earth at the pivotal moment when life is created. Now there never be life on Earth and Picard will be the one who caused it. A very satisfying conclusion to the seven-year run of the series (Warp 5).

"Deep Space Nine" Episode 80, "Little Green Men" begins with Quark transporting Nog to Earth so the young Ferengi can be the first of his kind to enter Starfleet Academy. The next thing we know the shuttle has crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The military takes the trio into custody. Quark immediately starts scheming to make a profit, but the government wants to torture Quark to find out about the alien invasion (Warp 4.5)

"Deep Space Nine" Episode 103, "Trials and Tribble-ations" has the Bajoran Orb of Time being used to send the "Defiant" and its crew back over a hundred years to Deep Space Station K-7 where the U.S.S. "Enterprise," Captain James T. Kirk, commanding, is in orbit. Suddenly we find ourselves in the classic original "Star Trek" episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles" (Warp 5).

"Voyager" Episodes 76 & 77, "Year of Hell, Parts 1 and 2" begins when the starship is attacked by the Krenim with the Chronoton-based torpedoes. Seven of Nine works out shielding against the torpedoes, and the next time they are attacked the space-time continuum is changed. The Krenim commander, Annorax, tries to erase "Voyager" from history, but the badly damaged ship escapes. Keeping the command crew aboard, Janeway orders the rest to abandon ship. Meanwhile, Janeway must repair "Voyager" and put together a coalition to try and stop Annorax, who is changing the present to correct a past mistake (Warp 5).

"Voyager" Episodes 171 & 172, "Endgame, Parts 1 & 2" is the series finale. Admiral Janeway, ten years after getting her crew back, travels back in time to convince her younger self to take a desperate shortcut through a wormhole controlled by the Borg. Janeway and her crew, still committed to the idea of putting the needs of others before themselves that got them stuck in the Delta quadrant in the first place, refuse. But then the Admiral reveals the high cost that her younger self will have to pay, and suggests a new plan that will allow "Voyager" to accomplish both tasks (Warp 5).

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5.0 out of 5 stars Star Trek: Fan Collective- Time Travel
If you are a Star Trek fan with special interest in "Time Travel" then this is the collection for you. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Rene Jansen

3.0 out of 5 stars OK but not great {DVD-wise}
OK, I know I am going to flack for this, but I found myself wanting for more. I feel like Paramount has again pulled a fast one on the collectors of Star Trek merchandise. Read more

Published on July 22 2006 by Dr Doom

4.0 out of 5 stars Great cake, poor icing !
I completely agree with Alex, one of the previous reviewers for this release...
I have to mention the lack of BONUS MATERIALS. Read more

Published on April 25 2006 by Hilok

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