FULL DISCUSSION - Star Trek TNG S3E15 - Yesterday's Enterprise

IMO best episode of TNG.

Late to the party I know but none thing I love about this episode is the circular nature of Tasha's relationship with Worf and the Klingons. Her last conversation with Worf before she died was him telling her he knew for a fact she would win some sort of Martial Arts thing because he respected her as a warrior. By travelling back in time with the C she did the same thing for the entire Klingon Race, they respected humanity as warriors after that battle and because of that were willing to become allies.

I had the lovely chance to talk with Denise last year, and what I will say without spoilers is that she left the show amicably, with Gene even letting her out of her contract early with no repercussions. I think the regrets are more along the lines of seeing what the show became, vs. how it started. Part of her reason for leaving was the fact that Yar wasn't as heavily used in the first season (at first) and she wasn't interested in a long-term commitment for it. BUT, her relationship with Star Trek has continued, both on-screen (as you've seen) and off-screen. When you guys get to around 1997 or so, you should consider watching Trekkies, a documentary starring Denise that explores, well, us: The fans. There's a sequel that came out in 2004, as well. She teased that there might be a Trekkies 3 at some point, though there's no guarantees. Also, Denise has performed voice over work for Star Trek Online, which while not canon, does allow her to continue participating actively in the community in at least one aspect. Though, I would recommend waiting to look into her STO tenure, as there are spoilers all over the place.

Josh and Alex. Please take a moment and respect how hard it is for Target Audience not to spoil these stories for you. And there is much more to come. Enjoy the ride.

I love the ending ... For the regular timeline people, nothing happened. The dramatic ending you described sounds kind of cheesy. Nothing happened, so nothing happened. We are told several times that if the Enterprise C is successful everyone will go back to where they were right before the timeshift and that's what we were shown.

... I love you gents. *chef's kiss* opening. Way to Go Jolex & Ash.

An exciting episode for sure....but its popularity has always bugged me....just like Wrath of Khan and one of the TNG movies...and lots of DS9.....the fans keep expressing that their favourite and most popular episodes/movies...are the pew pew war/battle ones or darker themes, war time, grim future etc....thats all ultimately NOT star trek....neat side track thing to see though

As far as what you call reaction "pops" this episode is certainly near-peak for TNG. That said, shock reaction isn't what makes great television, and that's where we're headed going forward - GREAT television. Not just great Star Trek, but there will be moments that transcend genre with deep levels of emotion and peak acting. It's a real shame that sci-fi was ignored back in the day and only received "technical" awards (A LOT of them, frankly) and were not even NOMINATED for a "serious" Emmy award until the final season as something of a farewell to the series. Watching the episodes with heart and emotion with you, maybe seeing some tears along the way - THAT'S what I'm in for. The next reaction you'll upload (and several more in this season alone!) is EXACTLY the sort of episode I'm here to watch with you. Great as always gentlemen, thank you.

I simply don't remember seeing the teasers while I was watching this show. I think I watched up to Season 4 with like videotapes right off the airwaves, but to my knowledge I usually switched right off the credits as soon as they rolled, not sure where I would have seen the teaser.

Others may have already noted this, but the plan originally WAS to have more crew deaths on the Enterprise-D, just as you two envisioned. It was scaled back to just Riker due to time and budget constraints. Time constraints are also responsible for the shifting effect happening when we change to the alternate timeline but not when we change back. That effect wasn't in the script, and originally it was done with a simple cut, just like at the end. The cut was felt not to be effective, so the effect was added late in post-production, but there wasn't time to add a similar effect at the end.

On the subject of “atmospheric lighting”- the standard “bright flood lighting” of the bridge was because of time and budget. The basic lighting is much quicker to block, so the shooting day isn’t slowed down. If it’s more atmospheric, then the actors need to be very specific with how they hit their marks or they step awkwardly in and out of shadows. I’m nostalgic but I kinda like the basic standard lighting- has the enterprise feeling homely, like an airplane in space. NOT A SPOILER: you’ll get more moody lighting in the TNG movies.

Captain Garrett was named after a pizza place in San Jose, The Garret, which I used to eat lunch at frequently.

Paramount's advertising dept was awful back then. They gave away the destruction of the Enterprise in Star Trek III in the first trailer, after months of Harve Bennett and Leonard Nimoy struggling to keep it under wraps.

I think one of the few things to take this out of the running for best episode is that it's a very atypical episode of TNG. It's not like a standard regular-time episode, and has much less meaning if you don't know the series that well.

I don't think one discussion video has gone by without some comment from the guys that makes me think, "Oh, I could say something here, but I can't!"

LMAO!! I just made it to the end. Your best skit/hook yet, guys. I literally LOLed when the music cues came up! Well done!

Great reaction, glad you guys liked it :D this ep is so great. it doesn't let up, there isn't a single wasted line

In the months leading up to this episode, various Sci-fi mags were reporting that the TNG producers were actively seeking script ideas to get Denise Crosby back on the show. So I knew it was happening, but just didn't know what episode... until I got my TV Guide for that week - it listed Denise Crosby as a guest star.

The reason they cut back to that shot of Picard revealing Worf, is because it is the same instant when the ship first appeared and altered the time stream, now completely undone. So that "scene" plays out as if none of that happened. But agreed they might have done some kind of effect, but would have had to have scripted some continuity there to get back to that instant.

I was one of those that really didn't miss Tasha Yar's character after she left the show. This is not a nod against the actor. But the dialogue and characterization of the characters dramatically improves (even in episodes where the plot is weak, or even when stories don't work, you see so much better character work). Because of that her character wasn't developed enough and allowed her to show range, enough for me to care. The one thing I did miss is the fact that for its time, it left TNG with two female characters that is geared more to caregiving (physical or mental). That is the only thing that I was upset about. And on a practical side, once Yar left, it really allowed Worf to get a sizable increase in screen time, and you have already seen some of the fleshing out of his character and the race of the Klingons as a whole. And that dramatically increases.

It is decaf Trek and I feel it is possible to articulate why this is the best: it has caf for starters. It has characterization within a story, we don't need huge speeches and tears to flesh that Capt out, her response to the events around her go a long way to telling us who she is, same with Tasha. That's a lot better writing than episodes where we know Worf is noble because he tells us ad nauseum without ever acting any more noble than anyone else other than "I light candles, isn't that noble?". Then add in this episode had actual stakes, danger, dramatic lighting and direction, music, and you get the best episode in my opinion. Next for me in The Bonding but that is totally different.

I think this might be where Ira Behr joins the team. They got an exemption from the WGA to have this many writers in the credits.

as far as Troi's absence/ prescence goes.... She might have been on the ship providing counseling, but the brdge's responsibilities centered around the military operations of a warship, versus things like diplomacy and such.

to me it was the impression of the enterorise just the moment before it was destroyed and the cut

i think most people loved the ending and Picard's last line

Might have been mentioned, but the original plan was to have Data electroucted, Wesley beheaded, along with the riker death, but they felt that was excessive and we only needed to see riker die to hit the right beat

I just appreciate that this episode gave us a definite answer to the nerdy debate of who would win between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. The Klingons would win. Lol.

It is worth pointing out that TNG did "swipe" a LOT from the Uncanny X-Men comics. The "Days Of Future Past" story was published in the early 80s. TNG also had a "Danger Room" in the Holodeck, for example. Worf was basically Wolverine, etc.

Definitely worth the wait for the reaction of seeing Tasha. And is this our first coolant leak on the enterprise lol

Wait… where’s the concern for Chief O’Brien?

You will DEFINITELY get 4 and what a four!

25:25 Yeah, you're over-thinking that.

Re: the “atmosphere”, I would describe TOS as having a “lived in” feel to it, while TNG feels more like a hospital.

15:40 Captain Garrett was fantastic. She wasn't no limp-wristed Starfleet captain!

4:18 "The Picard" was a different episode than that. 😉😂

The point about having to trust your memory about the past since we can't directly observe it anymore reminds me of Last Thursdayism - the idea that the entire universe, as it is, was created only last Thursday.

Dammit, missed Patron Takes. I could have said (at episode time 1:58 when Data says "nothing I have seen before") "Things That Never Happen In Star Trek #1: The Enterprise runs into a mysterious energy field of a type it has encountered several times before"

You guys hit it perfectly. There's a bunch of "best" episodes, all for different reasons. Probably 5 episodes in the top slot, and 20 in the top 5 slots. It's a warp bubble phenomenon that you can do that.

Behind the scenes reasoning on Yar as I understand it. Denise Crosby left in season 1 at her own request as she felt her character was becoming a background character with not enough development She was worried about what this may do to her career chances if she remained in that role long term, therefore requested to be released from contract. According to Denise Crosby, Gene Roddenberry was very supportive of this, and wished her luck pursuing other roles. He felt that the best send of he could give her was a dramatic, possibly heroic death, and Skin of Evil was written with that intent. Unfortunately, shortly before this point, Roddenberry had lost creative control of the series to paramount, whose legal team secretly re-wrote Skin of Evil to remove any dramatic effect or sentimentality behind Yar's death as best they could, in the hopes that it would avoid any chance of her returning as a permanent cast member at a later date, on a potentially very costly contract. (Effectively, they wanted TNG fans not to really care or have any desire for her return). I think this all lead to the rest of the cast and crew feeling pretty bad for her, and her appearance in Yesterday's Enterprise was a way to make up for that. To give her the meaningful send of she was denied in Skin of Evil. Also, pretty sure Guinan's comments about it being an Empty death were intended as a dig at those who re-wrote Skin of Evil.

Apparently no one thought the episode was going to be good until it was put together and edited. Rick Berman has said if he knew what they had, he would have saved the story for the first TNG movie. The only thing missing was a personal moment between Tasha and Data.

In 2008 "The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise" was published with 188 pages, that's probably the most accurate and detailed information about happenings behind the scenes. https://www.amazon.com/Making-Yesterdays-Enterprise-Eric-Stillwell/dp/1435702565

Surprised you guys didn't mention the score. It's one of the best of the series.

Its is such a good reminder of how a great actor can make you like a character like Whoopi does. However both her and Wheaton are also the perfect example of what happens when you decide they must be like those characters in real life, and try and talk to them on twitter. And you will find they are most assuredly not those characters and most certainly nobody you'd want to know in real life.

It's like listening to someone nitpicking the hairstyle of Michelangelo's David.

But ... it's not Thursday!

Something that struck me when this aired - the beautiful opening and closing scenes are pairs of African American actors

"No, we're not watching that shit." 😎

on the teasers, whenever they spent money on a new special effect they absolutely used it in the teaser.

Many people think that this is the best episode of the series, or in the top five. But there are lots that are just as or at least almost as good.

Only one question: Better than The Defector?

11:15 that harsh eyelight you guys are equating with TOS was a lot more common in the 60's and before. You can see it in lots of old movies and TV shows where characters are otherwise standing in shadow.

The ending was nothing because from the crew's perspective nothing happened.

The schedules for Denise and Whoopi required them to bump up production, and the script was nowhere near done. Basically the whole writing staff tag-teamed the script over Thanksgiving holiday to get it ready, which is why the writing credits are huge. Then there were some WGA disputes, which is why you see the clunky "From a Story By" credit. It's a miracle this episode came together not just well, but FANTASTICALLY.

Regarding the ending, I actually expected you guys to like the more subtle way it ended instead of giving us some more.

I've seen on YT and other sites where people were saying it should have been Worf again in Ten Forward with Guinan at the end. Um, he was kind of on duty at the time on the bridge.

I disagree with how you guys felt on the ending. I liked how nonchalant the switch back was. For our crew, nothing changed and no big deal was made of it. The only person to address the other timeline in any degree was Guinan with Geordi. All those events that occurred were just a blip on the sensors. Other than that, I'm very happy you guys enjoyed this one. I'd have to leave if you didn't at least enjoy this one ;)

I think I posted this elsewhere, but can you imagine if Ron Jones scored this episode?

I think Denise Crosby had a good time coming back in this episode. She said back then that if more of the episodes in season 1 had been like this one, she would not have left.

You know, given how different their mission probably was up to this point, how do we know that data is actually our Data and not one of the many mass assembled by Starfleet that serve on every ship in this timeline? Eh? Eh? There are a lot of thought processes you can run on this episode with details like that. RE: The Alternate Enterprise D. The door swish sound was replaced with something much closer to the TOS door swish. The TNG doors usually just go *hiss*, but the Alt D doors literally go *SWISH* with that little squeak. Just like the TOS doors. Just one more thing to make it clear, this world is different.

The go-to directors for most of TNG were Cliff Bole, Les Landau, Winrich Kolbe, Rob Bowman, and maybe 1 other dude.

Alex explained Troi's absence perfectly: no need for counsellors when you're in a war, fighting for your life. No one has time for therapy.

Don't worry, guys. The next episode is where the show really starts.

Nice, guys. Love the intro.

One thing you can see from these old promos, the remasters really bring out the gorgeous color that we never knew was there for 25 years

Let’s give Steve a hand for both of these excellent backgrounds 😮‍💨 👏🏻👏🏻 “Boo! You suck Steve!” Hey who said that? Someone get that guy out of here!