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From: ottoh3@cfsmo.honeywell.com (Otto Heuer #3)
Date: 2 Dec 93 07:53:08 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: FAQL: TIME LOOPS, YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE, AND TASHA YAR EXPLAINED
Archive-Name: faql.rec.arts.startrek.time.loops
TIME LOOPS, YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE, AND TASHA YAR EXPLAINED
(last updated 15 October)
This posting is intended to cut down on the "often asked questions" that
seem to pop up every few months in the rec.arts.startrek.misc newsgroup
concerning "Yesterday's Enterprise" and Tasha's life and death. It is one
of a number of periodic postings posted to r.a.s.*. Please refer to the
"LIST OF PERIODIC POSINGS TO r.a.s.* NEWSGROUPS" article for a full list of
periodic postings.
I've expanded this list a bit more (it originally only explained Tasha Yar)
so if anyone wants to contribute to the new sections, feel free to send me
a note. I've added a few contributions, have a few more to sift through,
and still welcome more explanations to possible points of confusion in TNG.
===========================================================================
INDEX
===========================================================================
1. TOS: The Guardian of Forever ("City on the Edge of Forever")
2. TOS: The slingshot effect ("Tomorrow Is Yesterday")
3. TOS: Cold-starting the warp engines ("The Naked Time")
4. TOS: Mr. Atoz's time travel system ("All Our Yesterdays")
5. TOS: Isis' time-space transporter ("Assignment: Earth")
6. TNG: Time hiccup ("We'll Always Have Paris")
7. TNG: Picard from the future ("Time Squared")
8. TNG: Enterprise from the past ("Yesterday's Enterprise")
9. TNG: Riker thinks he's in the future ("Future Imperfect")
10. TNG: Aliens from the future ("Captain's Holiday")
11. TNG: Visitor from the past ("A Matter of Time")
12. TNG: Time loop ("Cause and Effect")
13. TNG: Data in the past ("Time's Arrow")
14. TAS: ("Yesteryear")
15. NOV: ("Killing Time")
16. NOV: ("Ishmael")
17. NOV: ("Entropy Effect")
18. NOV: ("Home Is The Hunter")
19. NOV: Tasha & The Guardian of Forever ("Imzadi")
20. MOV: BoP goes to 1980s for whales ("ST4: The Voyage Home")
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1. THE GUARDIAN OF FOREVER IN TOS: CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER
a) Why did everyone disappear when McCoy went back in time?
Because he saved Edith Keeler from being his by a vehicle.
b) Why didn't the people on the planet disappear when the Enterprise did?
They were protected by the Guardian of Forever.
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2. THE SLINGSHOT EFFECT IN TOS: TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY
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3. COLD STARTING THE WARP ENGINES IN TOS: THE NAKED TIME
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4. MR. ATOZ'S TIME TRAVEL SYSTEM IN TOS: ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
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5. ISIS' TIME-SPACE TRANSPORTER IN TOS: ASSIGNMENT: EARTH
a) Q: When the Enterprise crew looked at their records, they found out that
the rocket did explode 104 miles above the earth. Wouldn't their records
have been "changed" as soon as they interfered? The records would have
"always" shown that, even though they JUST made it happen.
A: The Enterprise, being in the past, is not retroactively altered. Her
records are unchanged. When they return to the future, their records will
no longer match what Starfleet's records say.
b) Isis' transporter *may* have gone through time. Scotty wasn't sure.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. THE TIME HICCUP IN TNG: WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS
a) Why were there multiple copies of Data in this episode?
Presumably the "hiccup" is more pronounced the nearer you are to the
source. The first time it was small (Picard and his fencing partner
realise they saluted TWICE), then bigger (Picard, Worf and Data in the
corridor see their duplicate selves in the turbolift for several seconds
before the "hiccup" passes), and in Manheim's lab it's major, hence three
of Data.
b) Why was one of the copies more accurate than the others?
The Manheim effect was never known to double-up on itself. For example,
there would never be a you, a you from 5 minutes in the past, and a you
from 10 minutes in the past (or, likewise, two from the future). If either
of the end Datas had been the "real" one, the effect would have had to have
doubled-up. The only choice left was that the middle Data was the one
(having just one past aspect and just one future aspect).
As for why it was important to know which one was which, my guess would be
that if the present aspect waited for the future aspect to pour the
antimatter, the future aspect would never do it because the present aspect
would be waiting the whole time. A similar argument could be constructed
for the past aspect.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. PICARD FROM THE FUTURE IN TNG: TIME SQUARED
Why were there two Picards in this episode?
The original version of this episode had it as a two-parter with "Q-Who",
and it was Q who (noticing that the Enterprise had destroyed itself) threw
Picard in the shuttle back six hours to let him try to change what had
happened.
As a result of being thrown back in time, Picard2 is "out of sync"--unable
to move or speak at first, but slowly returning to 'normal' as they
approach the time at which the Enterprise will apparently be annihilated.
Shortly before zero hour, a big hole in space appears under the Big E,
drawing it in. One by one their attempts at escape are thwarted - an
energy bolt destroys their probe, and the pulling force easily outmatches
the warp engines.
The solution finally appears when Picard2, now fully conscious, heads
towards the shuttlebay. Picard follows him, ordering Riker to stay put on
the bridge. In the shuttlebay, Picard asks Picard2 why he is abandoning
the ship. Picard2 answers that it is "the only way". At this point Picard
figures it out - he stuns Picard2 and orders the ship to turn around and
fly at maximum speed *into* the hole. As a result, Picard2 vanishes and
the hole with him, leaving them where they were originally.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. TASHA YAR AND TNG: YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE
FIRST TRY AT AN EXPLANATION (ottoh@cfsmo.honeywell.com):
A lot of people seem to be having trouble understanding the time travel
involved in this episode (and cluttering up the net every few months
because of this). I'm not the best at explaining these sorts of things,
and if anyone else can in less space, feel free to email me.
Anyway... in "YE" they start out in the "peaceful" timeline indicated by
the top line in the diagram below (A)-->(B)-->(C). When the Enterprise-C
broke through the barrier (due to an explosion in a battle between the
Enterprise-C and Romulans that were attacking a Klingon outpost), it
changed history as we know it (from the time of the battle onward) to a
more hostile one (in which the Klingons are at war with the Federation and
Tasha didn't die at the "hands" of Armus (b)). When they sent the Ent-C
back through the rift, it fixed whatever went wrong with the
Klingons/Federation, and restored the timeline to the one we know
(including Yar being dead at the hands of the slime beast in a Glad Bag
(B)). So no, Yar isn't still alive these days. And also no, Yar didn't
"never exist and thus couldn't have died due to Armus". *Everything* we
know about the time before "YE" happened exactly as we saw because sending
the alternate-Yar back repaired all the damage to time. The only change is
that somewhere between (A) and (B), the alternate Tasha had a daughter
Sela, and was apparently killed trying to escape.
The line from (c)--->(A) represents the Enterprise-C being sent back in
time through the rift.
(A) is the time of the Ent-C's battle with the Romulans
(B) and (b) is the time around "Skin of Evil"
(C) and (c) is the time around "Yesterday's Enterprise"
(D) is the later seasons of TNG
Armus kills Tasha
----------------> (B) ----------------> (C) ---------> (D)
/
/
/
Ent-C (A) <--------------------------------------
battle \ \
\ \
\ \
----------------> (b) ----------------> (c)
Armus doesn't
kill Tasha
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SECOND TRY AT AN EXPLANATION (stolen from someone else):
There is one real timeline - the one where Tasha gets killed by a mud
monster AND where an alternative time-line Tasha has a daughter called Sela
(apparently - I haven't seen Redemption but I think I've got the idea).
The only alternative time-line (well, as far as Tasha is concerned) is the
alternative one we see in Yesterday's Enterprise.
Time for an ASCII-diagram! :
Real timeline :
---------------
Alt Tashsa gets
sent back through Alt Tasha Real Tasha Alt Tasha Real Tasha Sela
wormhole into the gives birth born dies (old killed turns up
real timeline. to Sela. | age?) | |
| | | | | |
V V V V V V
...-----------------------------------~~--------------------------------...
<-------- Alt Tasha lives -----~~--------->
<-------------~~------- Sela lives -------------...
^ <-~~- Real Tasha lives ->
|
|
+-------<---------------<-----------------<--------------+
|
^
Alternative timeline : |
----------------------
Alt Tasha
Alt Tasha decides to go
born through
| wormhole
| |
V V
...----------------------------------~~--------------------------------...
<-~~- Alt Tasha lives ------>
Yes, there are two Tashas alive at the same time, living seperate lives but
this doesn't mean that they are constantly mucking up history. They are
simply two seperate people - maybe they have the same DNA structure but so
what - you can think of them as clones if you like. History wasn't even
changed - history has always been like this. During the first season we
saw the real Tasha walking about, but the Alternative Tasha was around as
well, we just didn't see her.
Just to clarify this point let's look at the Enterprise-C's history. The
E-C starts off in the real timeline, gets transported through the wormhole
into the alternative timeline. Then the events off Yesterday's Enterprise
occur and the alternative Tasha decides to go back through. The E-C then
returns to the real timeline and gets captured by the Romulans.
The problem is what was the wormhole that the "real" timeline crew saw
right at the beginning of Yesterday's Enterprise? According to my chart
nothing special happens at all at that point in the real timeline.
My theory is that the wormhole just happened to occur at the same time in
the real timeline as it did in the alterantive one. The real Guinan then
somehow projected her conciousness through the wormhole (not on purpose)
and into the alternative Guinan, making her believe that everything was
wrong. This just happened to be at the same time as the E-C came through.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THIRD TRY AT AN EXPLANATION (batemanc@p4.cs.man.ac.uk):
AMA, There are Three timelines involved, not two. The first timeline is
the Trek timeline prior to YE ( NORM ). In this timeline, the Enterprise-C
is destroyed and everything proceeds normally. However, something
interacts with a superstring to create a temporal rift. This rift extends
back to the events of the Enterprise-C battling the Romulans and in doing
so creates a new timeline: Alternate time line 1 ( A1 ). In this
timeline, the high energy interaction with superstring material ( quoth the
Raven... ) throws the Enterprise-C into the ( subjective ) present and -
BANG! New timeline. Alternate time line 2 ( A2 ). This timeline has been
caused by no- Ent-C in the past and is the Militaristic timeline from YE.
In this timeline, the Ent-C is sent back to A1 - but with Tasha Yar on
board. This is the timeline which all episodes from YE onwards are set in
( allowing us to explain a number of Trek inconsistancies with the
Butterfly effect, provided the insonsistancies occur in pre and post YE
episodes ).
Now for the important bit. There is only ONE timeline 'active' ( as I
believe this is how Star Trek time is intended to function ). The reason
for this is: The wormhole in NORM creates A1 and then destroys A1 and NORM
to create A2. A2 then recreates A1 and destroys A2 ( the shrewd among you
may point out that there are hence two different A2's, but to all intents
and purposes they are equivalent ). Guinan's senses extend across time and
space and hence she can realise that the A2 timeline is `wrong' ( in that
there was a timeline in which no such war occured ). Sela appears in A2
only.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FOURTH TRY AT AN EXPLANATION (robinson%elux3@cs.umass.edu):
This explanation is more valid than any you have (IMHO), though not as
comforting. We start our journey in the timeline that is common to both
the normal and the alternate timelines. The Enterprise-C is on route to
Narendra III in response to a distress call. Four Romulan warbirds ambush
her and a fight ensues. This fight creates a temporal rift to the future.
I believe it was Data who attributed it to a massive discharge of weapons
(probably by the Romulans). The Enterprise-C flees through it, so she in
effect time travels forward about 22 years. We continue on with the
Federation and the Klingons going to war, and so forth. THIS IS THE
CORRECT TIME LINE.
In this timeline, Tasha Yar does not die. So she is on the Enterprise-D
when it finds the rift 22 years later and the Enterprise-C comes through
it. At this time, Guinan, who can see beyond linear time, now 'sees' that
Picard will send the Enterprise-C back, so time will be changed. The two
timelines are both in her mind (I assume it appears now because the
presence of the temporal rift somehow activates this sense in her race.)
She sees the other timeline as far preferable, so she naturally assumes it
is the correct timeline, but it really is an alternate timeline. This
explains why she waited until then to inform Picard that 'Everything is
wrong.' Because there is nothing wrong, at least until the rift showed up
allowing the Enterprise-C to go back in history and change time.
Now, the Enterprise-C time travels back through the rift, thus altering
time and creating an alternate timeline. There are two Tasha Yars in this
timeline. The two Tasha's are in no way connected. As far as the universe
is concerned, they are both just matter, regardless of what meaning we
assign to that matter (we call both chunks 'Tasha Yar'.) One Tasha, on the
Enterprise-C is captured, has a daughter, and dies. That has always been
the case, we just never knew it. The capture of the Enterprise-C might
also explain why the Romulans have been able to catch up in technology, now
have phasers and photon torpedoes, etc. The second Tasha lives a normal
life, until she dies at the hands of Armus.
Thus, the most 'valid' timeline is the one in which the Feds and the
Klingons are at war. The last comment I want to make is about the
Enterprise-D seeing a rift in the 'peaceful' timeline. This is a logical
mistake, shown only because otherwise everyone would be confused. Ok, more
likely the writer was confused. Guess that's the problem with writers
having little technical background, but we already knew that :) Since the
rift did exist in the past (i.e. was created by the actions at the battle,
not the actions of the Enterprise-D 22 years later), it always existed.
The 'normal' timeline in which the Enterprise-C showed up, was destroyed,
caused peace with the Klingons, etc never existed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. RIKER THINKS HE'S IN THE FUTURE IN TNG: FUTURE IMPERFECT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. THE ALIENS FROM THE FUTURE IN TNG: CAPTAIN'S HOLIDAY
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. THE VISITOR FROM THE PAST IN TNG: A MATTER OF TIME
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. THE TIME LOOP IN TNG: CAUSE AND EFFECT
Wasn't The Boseman ship in the loop for several decades? Why don't they
have a *really* bad feeling of deja vu?
No, the general consensus is that the ship shot forward in time to the
point that the START of the Enterprise's loop began.
Thanks to Mike Kelsey for this next part:
The situation in "Cause and Effect" can be described similarly to that in
"Yesterday's Enterprise": a space time anomaly is connecting two points
which are spearated in space-time, thus:
Point A
(Bozeman) >-----------------------+
2278 AD |
|
^
Point B
(Enterprise) 2369 AD (I think!)
The Bozeman encounters a space-time anomaly at some location in the galaxy
(presumably explored Federation territory) in 2278 AD. It is sucked
through the anomaly (like the Enterprise-C), and appears at a different
location in the galaxy (point B) in 2369 AD. At that location, the
Enterprise has encountered a space-time anomaly, and observes a ship come
out of it and collide with them.
The Bozeman was therefore only at point B for the 36 seconds from the time
it appeared to the time it collided with the Enterprise and was
(presumably) destroyed along with the Enterprise (although we are *not*
shown that).
The loop for the Enterprise lasted about 12 hours (evening poker game
through morning briefing). According to Worf's check of the Starfleet
timebase beacon, their clocks were desynchronized by 17.4 days. Therefore,
the Enterprise went through about 35 iterations of the loop before getting
out.
On the other hand, the Bozeman need not have gone through *any* iterations
at all, since it was coming from somewhere else in the Galaxy (point A).
>From the point of view of the Enterprise's *internal* clocks, it enters the
temporal anomaly region, travels for about 12 hours, sees the Bozeman
appear, then is destroyed. The Enterprise travel *back* in time according
to its *interal* clocks (while the Starfleet timebase beacon keeps ticking)
along with the local region of space-time anomaly. It travels for about 12
hours, then sees the Bozeman appear and is destroyed. And so on, for 35
repetitions. Note that at each explosion, it is at the *same* location in
external space-time (within the anomalous region), so it is seeing the