UNCUT - A Matter of Time (TNG S5E9) | Star Trek Journey 215

Sorry guys but Max Headroom was before Jim Carey

Fun Fact : This part was originally written with Robin Williams in mind

I've always thought he was a Jim Carey doppelganger, even when I was a kid. But no, he's Max Headroom, Pestilence in Supernatural, and a bunch of other stuff I can't think of right now.

D episode at best for me

This is one of those episodes that could be decent, fun, if it can get you to suspend your disbelief by how strangely the main cast of characters behaves, like Picard trusting him enough to allow him free rein of the ship. The only way to do that is with an extremely charismatic guest star playing the role of the future citizen. If Robin Williams had been the guest star, and nothing else whatsoever changed, I think you'd have given it a C+, maybe even a B. Personally it's just a C for me, enough redeeming fun that I can enjoy it but the guest actor is just meh.

what happened to the missing episode reactions?

Gates McFadden had a newborn baby during S5 which is why you don’t see her much.

He's not Ace Ventura. He's Max Headroom.

Well, they clearly still have meth in the 26th century.

I have to admit that this episode is one of my guilty pleasures. I just love how slimy Max Headroom is during the whole episode. And I actually enjoy how quirky and annoying he is, because the crew starts feeling the same way about him that we do. I think he played the part really well. I don’t buy that Picard would be taken in so easily though. Is not a great episode, but for some reason it makes me smile. Solid B from me for a guilty pleasure.

Sometimes I feel like you guys are too hard on the writers. They were trying to churn these out every couple weeks, which is a pretty insane pace. They can't all be home runs. There is a ton you can criticize about the writing of this show, but i also think they deserve a break sometimes.

LOL Bad Haircut!

Am I the only one around here who gave up on the wallet years ago? Everything I need is in my phone.

Also no love at all for Star Wars? I know Star Trek is good but wow. The Next Gen wallet is much nicer though. Sorry Mando/Baby Yoda...

The big part Matt Frewer is known for before this epiosde was Max Headroom. His character was an AI alias of the main character. Very 80s. The retro 80s diner Reagan AI from Back To The Future II was an allusion to him. Jim Carey was on In Living Color, which was a SNL skit comedy show. I never seen the similarities between the two actors before but now I can't unsee it! If anyone could save this episode, Robin Williams could!

Yes, this episode is just not interesting enough. The conflict with the planet, while dire, is very impersonal and dry. There was no way Picard was going to accidentally kill 20 million people. And Rasmussen's character would have been a lot more interesting if he wasn't so clearly unlikeable. Everyone, including the audience, knew this guy was a slimeball. If he was actually likeable as a person, Troi's distrust might actually mean something.

I actually like Matt Frewer’s weird persona, so I quite enjoy this episode. To me, the plot is weak, but I love every bit of smarmy, slimy Matt Frewer. I won’t go looking for this episode, but if it’s in I’ll watch it just for him. I’d give it a C.

Yeah gotta say, I'm with you guys on this one. Quite a let down after the two parter. Matt Frewer was a favourite of mine when he starred in a show called Doctor Doctor, which was hilarious. He's been around for years but lost me when he joined Eureka. As an Australian, what he did to our accent was downright abysmal.

Agreed with everything, guys. Stewarts performance was the highlight. Otherwise, meh. Low meh.

I hate this episode. Like I actively seethe watching it. Everyone is insufferable. And it's not really Frewer's fault because he's just doing what he does. I blame whoever cast him. No mercy for that person. Right out the airlock. Space 'em and throw a party.

Matt Frewer had been playing this persona at least as early as Max Headroom in 1984. He isn't copying Jim Carrey. They're both Canadian though in case that's a thing.

It was the guest star. Too sniveling, dorky, and annoying. Like, Dr. Stubbs just got bumped out of the no. 1 spot for me. Every time he opened his mouth I cringed or rolled my eyes. A different guest star that wasn’t as obvious, and a bit more likable would have made him more of a mystery. Whats his motive? Could he be legit? The “used car salesman” feel of this guy just gave him away. Max Headroom.

I think I gave this one a C, but honestly watching this again I was really bored, so I'm leaning toward D as well. I do like the ready room scene and Picard's speech, also Data's subtle threat to Rasmussen. But the thing on the planet is just such a generic obstacle for the crew to overcome, and Rasmussen does nothing for me. Now at the same time, it's not offensive to me. I don't find it painful to watch or anything(painfully boring maybe). But yeah I really don't care about it. I saw in the comments you were considering dropping the tier ratings. Maybe just save them for the end of the season once the discussions have been had and the episodes have had time to marinate.

Do you think that the ready room scene was actually Picard testing the con man? In the very next scene he is ready to arrest him, so it seems to me that he is already on to him.

I always got the impression that the ship’s flight recorders only record in the ship’s vital areas (engineering, bridge, sickbay) not the private areas. So it would be possible to steal things and barely be noticed (but NOT in Data’s quarters! He’s too observant)

I like that the plot doesn’t render the crew stupid. They knew something was wrong all along despite giving the guy the benefit of the doubt.

I guess it's because I'm old, but every time I see this guy, I see "Max Headroom" from the old HBO series...

The Orville did this episode better.

Mostly average episode. I do enjoy the twist that he's from the past rather that the future.

I just realized how close Worf came to getting stuck in the 22nd century. He got out with the items with less than a minute to spare.

But you know who I DO confuse Matt Frewer with, and always have? Dwight Schultz, a.k.a Murdoch from the A-Team and Lt. Barclay from TNG. Took me years to realize he and Frewer weren't the same guy.

At the time of this episode, Jim Carey would've been gaining fame as a standout on In living Color. On a side note, that wallet is pretty sweet. If I could get a Ridge wallet like that I'm all in

Your discussions are fantastic. That is what has kept me hooked for 2 1/2 years. I don't even remember your tier score after I stop the video but I remember the discussion.

So I realized something. The episode does kinda suck. But I still kinda like it. I think that's a product of having first watched it at 12 or whatever I was. My critical thinking wasn't that great and I wasn't going to see the issues. Now I can see the issues...but the positive feelings from being a kid are stronger than any negative critiques I may now be able to recognize.

What alax doesnt seem to understand that at least for this series, Roddenberry wouldnt have conflict between the crew so the only option the writers had was to have conflict with guest stars toward the crew, why does he get so bent when there are characters that give the crew crap

Max Headroom !

Gotta say I reeeally don't see the Jim Carrey thing. Like at all. But Matt Frewer was most famous at the time for being Max Headroom, which was already pretty old when this episode came out. Since then, he's been mostly doing character work like this. You might have seen him as Moloch in the Watchmen movie.

Mork's (Robin Williams') red uniform was a reuse of Col. Greene's uniform in TOS Savage Curtain.

I think it's telling that y'all (mostly Alex) were so intensely p'd off by the dude's antics around Data, Worf, Crusher, etc. It shows us how much you lurve the characters. And I gotta dig your mad respect for Picard too.

I’d give a C for this episode - the premise was quite good but definitely let down by how charmed everyone is by this dude. My rewrite would be for there to be a scuffle at the end and Worf to suplex the professor and break every bone in his body

I guess I’m in the minority since I enjoyed this episode and time travel episodes in general

I can see all the weaknesses but still I mostly enjoy it. But for me that's most of TNG.

This has sent me down a Matt Frewer / Jim Carrey rabbit hole. I’d say they were influenced by each other, helped by both being Canadian.

I'm going to have to give this one an E/D. It's one that should be erased from canon, or at least my head-canon. It was only written due to Robin Williams request to be on the show, and it doesn't feel like a lot of thought went into it. Even before knowing that though, I always skip this one when I revisit TNG. It just never did anything for me. It does get slightly better in the second half, with Picard's speech and the twist, so ehhh.....that's the only reason I may bump it up to a D. It's on the fence. Or maybe, first half a solid E and second half a D+

I can’t even remember what I voted this, probably a C or D. I just read that Matt Frewer as Max Headroom was the face of New Coke which was one of the worst marketing launches in history.

Matt Frewer and Jim Carrey are so alike, they're both Canadian! Though Frewer was born in the States to Canadian parents but was raised in Canada, whereas Carrey merely emigrated to the States later. Both from the province of Ontario, which kinda tracks... People say they copied each other's mannerisms, but having family from there, of that era, those are just two awkward Ontario boys.

Imagine if Robin Williams had been able to perform in this episode. With the ending leaving open the possibilities of further appearances by Rasmussen, TNG could’ve had it’s own version of Harry Mudd but with a legend. What could have been.

I’ve seen these episodes so many times and at my age this could very well be the last time I go through all 7 seasons like this, so it’s nice to have a couple of guys who are new to the episodes to watch them with so thanks for that. Looking forward to when you get to the next few series as well. I don’t know if this information is of any use to you but I generally don’t stick around for the discussion if you’ve had a negative reaction to the episode. Might be a good idea to keep the white boards until the end. There are of course exceptions but I always watch the whole thing when you’re positive. It just feels better to leave with a smile on my face. Hope you enjoy Trek VI - I want to watch the whole discussion! 😉

Alex, that wallet is awesome. I need one now.

Gates McFadden had a child in between S4 and S5 (she is heavily pregnant during “The Host”) I assume that’s the reason she wasn’t around too much this season. She’ll be back.

The Berman and Braga team are responsible for the worst trek produced.

Good Data imitation!

As far as plausibility, yeah its a stretch, but given TOS established that starfleet did in fact have time travel missions to study history, maybe that helped establish the legitimacy. The thing for me that was very silly is that in those missions they at least tried to stay out of sight, whereas here obviously his interactions would have had subtle effects on the past, and yeah, the crew seemed overly convinced. As far as timing, it also seemed odd that Picard called him to his office, had that interaction, then supposedly makes his decision off that interaction, then when the guy is going to leave he nods to worf. Meaning that the whole time in the ready room he already knew about the stolen items because there was no time break there. So... part of that speech was testing this guy or something? My hunch is that when Robin Williams ducked out (because his wife was 8.5 months pregnant) they had already committed to the episode and were like "damn, this is going to suck" so didn't try very hard since they already knew it was kind of a dud. That said, I found it a little more amusing then you guys did. I feel like the guest actor did a good job of "love to hate him" and played it differently then Williams would have had. As far as the security cameras thing, its pretty clear they arent recording all the time, only explanation i can come up with is some civil liberties thing or maybe records of operations would be too much of a security risk if it was stolen. What it should be is that everything is being recorded but a commander has to justify accessing it, which could have been a plot thing that would have worked like, we have an on ship judge who has to issue a warrant for that, and most times it would be fine but it could be enough of a loophole it could sometimes be an issue and it would make sense with the federation's value and you could even get some drama out of it. But I feel like there's been other times when things have been recorded so.... I don't know. It would make sense people at least have privacy in their quarters as there are civilians on the ship and since people are living on it they dont give up their right to privacy. This is the kind of thing that could probably be retconned to make sense.

I think the connection is that both were influenced by Robin Williams, and this episode was written for him. As people have mentioned Carrey was in In Living Color, but he had also been in a few movies including Earth Girls Are Easy and Once Bitten. So he was a known quantity but it was the period when Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber came out in rapid succession in the mid 90s that made him a superstar. I remember in middle school at the time kids would imitate his over the top physical style, which was the sort of thing that wore thin really fast. While Carrey continued to have some success, the comparable career arc was Pauly Shore, who had a very specific gimmicky style of comedy acting that got big fast and then also got old really fast.

Matt Frewer played the character of Max Headroom starting in 1985 on British television. The idea was that he was a "computer-generated tv presenter" and was kind of a satire of tv hosts at the time. "The Max Headroom Show" lasted three years, and later American tv tried a Max Headroom dramatic series which only lasted two seasons. Matt Frewer was pigeonholed as that character, and the annoying "wackiness" in this episode isn't much different than Max Headroom, and is much less interesting. Even when this was first shown on tv, I remember thinking "Oh, Max Headroom needed a job."

I knew you guys wouldn't like this one it was meh for me. The guest star Mat Frewer is actually a fair actor, this just didn't work with him. He played it too much like the Max Headroom character he originated.

A lot of people think he's a discount Jim Carrey but to me he'll always be Max Headroom who escaped into real life.

Incidentally, I dont know if you ever heard this... .but the second number in the stardates is the # of the season that the episode was made. I think there might be some exceptions or inconsistencies. And I think this was true of TOS as well. "Encounter at Farpoint" started on Stardate 41153. This one was 45349.1.

A tier for me I actually really like Matt Frewer’s performance and always felt sorry for his character at the end

I'm tired of Josh watching these episodes ahead of time and then pretending to guess the outcomes correctly. lol

The actor is Matt Frewer, age 67 now. He had a fairly consistent career, though his last movie was 5 years ago. A few recognizable titles, in both TV and film. I won't bore you with a list here. But "Max Headroom" was really big, a few years before this episode... and definitely was the role that put this guy on the map. He was the lead role.

There’s one moment in Picard’s speech when he’s going to amp it up even higher, and you can see Patrick Stewart fighting back a self conscious laugh before diving back into character.

This is a B- for me. I enjoy his performance and how annoyed all the characters are with him.

Alex, you really hate any new character that challenges our beloved TNG characters.

You guys don't recognize MAX HEADROOM?! (Well, now that I think about it... you youngins' wouldn't recognize him. At all.)

I have never thought of Matt Frewer in comparison to Jim Carrey before. It's so obvious! Good catch, guys. As for me, C- at best. Probably more a D level episode overall.

Jim Carrey was a regular cast member of the very popular "In Living Color."... From 1990 to 1994.... It was sketch comedy. His popularity started there, and then he went into movies.

Put your phones away when the episode is playing! Cheese & RICE!

I cheated and skipped to the end. D-Tier, Josh? Huh? Though not quite an "A," it's a B+ or A-. (EDIT: Okay, a B. ...... A- is also too generous, upon second thought.) I thought the writing was pretty good, the twist was cool, the guest star's performance interesting. But anyways, I'll watch the reaction itself, and then your discussion. I just skipped to the whiteboard ranking.

"If the Enterprise could scream" made me genuinely LOL.

To me, This season with Darmok and this episode and more, is when the show and writers started throwing Patrick Stewart a few more bones to keep him interested. Every actor there has their character down at this point, so-how do you keep them fresh and excited. That must have been like dessert when he read that exposition in the script. So if the story isn't an "S" then at least throw Stewart a few "S" lines occasionally. A different world back in the day when shows had so many episodes a season.

I don't think this episode is great by any means, but I feel softer about it than you guys. If I had to grade it right this second, I'd say C. I think I may have even voted B a few weeks ago with the poll, but upon re-watch I think that's too high even for me. I didn't find the guest actor charming, but nonetheless enjoyed him and his unusual 'vibe'. I really like the twist, and I'm always up for watching our heroes save people, so I generally like whenever they rescue a planet or colony. Plus a nice Picard speech is always a bonus. I do agree the crew was too trusting of this guy, but at least they caught him in the end. Previously noticing how Alex can get angry on Data's behalf when a guest character is rude to him, I couldn't help cracking up as he kept getting hotter at Rasmussen. lol.

I actually like this episode, and from the first time I saw it I said "yep that's Walmart Jim Carrey"

Matt Frewer is very much like Jim Carey but was about much earlier. In the late 90s he voiced the YOU DON'T KNOW JACK quiz games series, presumably because he was easily mistaken for Carey who was a bigger star by that point. Fans of both men insist each stole mannerisms of the other. In reality they're probably just two similar sounding men who were trying to get work in the 90s.

Am I the only one, who having seen all of these episodes countless times, skip to the whiteboard grades first, and then go back and watch the reaction?

Is that a Data Rawhide Wallet? This is a guilty pleasure for me. I enjoy a lot of the scenes and interactions, the picard speeches, etc. But I recognize how clumsy it is overall and have no interest in convincing others to like it.

Fun Fact: The part of Berlinghoff Rasmussen was written for ROBIN WILLIAMS but in the end was played by Matt Frewer whose birthday was yesterday, presumably the day you recorded this video!

I think this is a really good one, it's A from me.

Very much a c tier episode for me but I do love that scene with Picard in the ready room!

Robin Williams was a fan but his schedule prevented him from filming. So HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS/MAC'S HEADROOM's Matt Fewer took over.

Jim Carrey became a household name in the 1990s as a cast member of In Living Color. He was “the white guy”. That would have been airing for at least a couple of seasons when this aired.

Yeah ... Bad episode

the only thing of interest this episode is how Picard is on the other side of his normal position when it comes to the prime directive, he normally unwilling to break it regardless of the cost that position will cause, but here with the temporal equivalent he willing to try to get another to break their prime directive for his moral reasons

Matt Frewer was famous in the 80s for a character he portrayed named Max Headroom, I'm not surprised you don't recognize him, it was before your time, you should check it out

Jim Carey was quite famous on TV before Ace Ventura. His skits on In Living Color made the show a hit and his performances were often aped.

A Matter of Time sucks

Just happens to have been Matt Frewer's 67th birthday yesterday 🎂

Maybe I missed it but you guys are doing Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country then Ep. 7 & 8 together? You just skipped ahead?