PATRON TAKES - TNG S6E1

Jerry Harden, who played Mark Twain in this episode was also the leader of the planet that wanted the children in season one When the bow breaks Jerry Harden actually had a revival in his career where he played Mark Twain on a national theatrical stage production tour

The more I try to remember this episode, the more I just have this vague sense of boredom and I remain mostly forgetful. Nothing about it offends me or drives me nuts, in fact I'd say Samuel Clemens is perhaps the most interesting or entertaining part to me, even though he's not fantastic, but it just doesn't really do much of anything good for me as a Trek / TNG fan, either. I guess it's "cute" to see the crew in this 19th century setting, but.... eh. It all just kind of happens and wraps everything up with a little bow, and it's done and forgotten.

The story on this one is pretty good, I’d probably give it a B but unfortunately Mark Twain’s voice is really annoying and takes it down to a C.

The more I watch these two episodes, the less I enjoy them. Twains grating voice, it was fun for the first few minutes of it in the first episode but after that..., I like the character and its always fun to wonder what someone from the past would think about the future if it was shown to them. I felt the Guinan/Picard tease ended up underwhelming, I dunno I felt like with how close they are on the Enterprise and the mystery around their relationship their first encounter would have been I dunno how to explain "more special". But I guess technically they have two first meetings. I rank these just C.

As for Mark Twain (Clemens), he is one of the very, very few writers before the 20th Century who wrote time-travel science fiction, so I thought his inclusion as a time traveler to TNG times kindof charming. But I bet back in Season 1/2, you didn't have "crew will chase actual Mark Twain around the Enterprise because he's such a nosy bitch" on your Bingo cards, to paraphrase the folks at Newbie Star Trek. That is not something I would have predicted.

This is only the third TNG two-parter (counting the pilot), and while Best of Both Worlds was perfectly paced, you may notice something with Time's Arrow and the Pilot episode, and will continue to be an occasional problem in two-parters: this should have been a 90m episode. There was too much plot for one episode, but not enough plot for two. But in the early 90s, you had to fill a specific amount of airtime; it's only a recent thing that TV shows could choose their own runtime.

All the ingredients are in place for a banger: time travel, period costumes, the old West, a mystery. But somehow it all fails to come together. Part 1 is way too slow and predictable and part 2 might have been fun to make but becomes a laughable caricature. It doesn't even seem particularly well made with poor special effects and wobbly sets. A "C" but could have been so much more.

The actor that played mark twain has a huge IMDb list but hadn't been in anything since 2014. But if you look at the upcoming section of his IMDb he's got a film in post production where he plays, I shit you not, Mark Twain. 😈 This is an S for me and I confess, I love the Mark Twain character.

My guess, if the Mark Twain character had been removed entirely, they'd give this two-parter a B, maybe B+. With it, I suspect they will still hate it. It seems to me that poorly received characters completely spoil the experience for Josh and Alex, even if the punch is excellent, they can't get past the rotting fish carcass floating around in it.

I love hearing y'all's reaction to trek and really hope to hear many many more. The question is do you sometimes feel numb or burned out that it may affect your grades or enjoyment?

I understand the hate this two-parter might get, but I don't feel it. It is not my least favorite two-parter. True, Twain is a tad abrasive, but he believes he is doing the right thing by trying to stop our crew. I like Picard and Guinan meeting and “history fulfilling itself”. That said, I am not fond of the scenes with the landlady. My ranking for this one is “Enjoyable”, for the most part.

B Tier for me. The second episode is so much more enjoyable than the first. If it weren't for the Mark Twain character I would like it even more. I do not blame the actor. there is no doubt he did what was asked of him.

I don't blame you for not liking the first part, nothing really happened. This is only a tiny bit better, for the call-back to 3rd season Booby Trap, when Guinan told Geordi a bald man was kind to her once

B tier for me. Could’ve been an A except for the over the top Mark Twain character. Also, I think it’s weird that data now has a head that’s hundreds of years older than the rest of his body.

All the action happens in this half, so it's better. The alien antagonists are almost after thoughts. What really saves this are the actors having fun with their characters being in the past, and Deanna talking with Samuel Clemens on the Enterprise. Once again, character moments shine through.

Were either of you familiar with Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain and/or Jack London prior to watching this two-parter? Does Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, White Fang, or The Call of the Wild ring any bells? 📚

Looking back on it, what do you guys think was on Guinan's mind when Picard got assimilated by the Borg? He hadn't gone back in time to save her life yet, right? So did she think him dying would create a paradox? Or did she assume he would survive? Regardless, this kind of changes how I view the speech she gives to Riker in Best of Both Worlds Part 2.

Honestly, it wan't until tbese takes that I stopped to wonder why Mark Twain is even in this. This two-parter is good in my opinion, but I can't really think of why he is in this beyond being the antagonist, which could have been anyone I guess. Actually, thinking about it, it does cause more problems with the whole altering the timeline thing, so why? With all the flaws, somehow I still like it. Opposite of an episode thats has few flaws but is just not enjoyable.

I would venture to say that this is a bit better than Part I, if only for goofy time travel shenanigans. Also, I think they found a good "out" for preventing Data from canonically dying. There's another Youtube reaction content creator who I watched comment on this episode, and--despite being a real cinnamon bun of a personality--she hated the ever-living snot out of Mark Twain's character. So I imagine you two will probably rage!bomb this episode deep into the depths of Hades. Maybe I've got weird American rosy-tinted nostalgia goggles, but I didn't personally find Clemens unbearable. I enjoy the character, and I think it's quintessential goofy!Trek to somehow shoehorn historical figures into plotlines (think Abraham Lincoln in TOS' Savage Curtain). All-in-all, an okay two-parter, not the worst but not the best either, imo.

I feel like it’s a satisfying conclusion to a slow-burning first episode. Feel like the guest stars are the ones who shine the brightest, Jerry Hardin being the number one standout as Clemens/Twain (he actually did a one man show tour that was moderately successful after his role here.). I like Twain’s journey from suspicious of the future to being excited about it. It’s no Best of Both Worlds nor Redemption, but there are far worse ways to start a season.

I really like these episodes. Are they perfect? No. Do they have flaws? Of course. But "time travel" is always tricky, and this one works pretty well. A lot more plausible than flying around the Sun really fast... 🙄 I love Jerry Hardin's portrayal of Sam Clemons, and he fits in the story so well. It's a pretty unlikely coincidence, but then so is Guinan in 1893; I can overlook them both. It's refreshing to get to see Guinan do something other than tend bar and listen. The connection of the start of Picard and Guinan's friendship is rather contrived and hard to swallow, but I can't think of a way to improve its writing, either. "A" grade.

I hate Mark fucking Twain in this. There's no reason for him to be there other than to send the staff back in time. That should have been Guinan. Think about that for a moment. We could have had Guinan talking with past Guinan. Instead, we get Mark fucking Twain ogling Troi.

I wish for death every time Twain is on screen. Just a stupid bad decision by the writers to include him in this story. This episode has no juice, no tension, and no one seems to be able sell the stakes involved in the story. This is such a long damn way from Best of Both Worlds or Redemption 2.

I was even more underwhelmed by part 2 than I was by part 1. Big yawner. D tier.

D - for wasted potential Picard and Guinan were written as having a special relationship before the writers ever stopped to invent 'why', then thought it would be a cool episode to finally reveal whatever that was, but it never occurred to them to first make sure that reason was interesting or profound enough to do the setup justice. Mark Twain is a cynic with a dim opinion of mankind, and the writers thought it would be cool to have him return to earth with a changed mind when it came to humanity's future potentials, but never stopped to develop an argument for it, so we get no meaningful conversation. I hate this episode because of what it could have been.

S tier. One of my favorite 2 partners and best time travel stories of TNG. Samuel Clemens is a great character who really showcases Star Trek's optimistic pholosophy

"If you want to learn more about Mark Twain or Jack London, take a voyage down to your public library. It's all in books!".

Question: was the payoff worth all the setup in part 1?

Part 2 I started to lose interest. It was still okay, but I found myself opening my laptop for a few minutes while this ran in the background.

This is my spiciest TNG take: Picard and Guinan should've fallen in love in the past. And then Guinan has to keep it a secret for centuries until Picard gets back from this mission. Has it been too long? Not for Picard. But Guinan's lived several lifetimes. So what happens next? I'm sorry but that's infinitely more interesting than Crusher or Vaush. Guinan and Picard should've been endgame, period.

I think you guys will like this episode a little more than the first but maybe not by much. Overall though I think it's a very good episode. Anyhow ..get ready for the uneven ride of season 6.

This one is just...okay. It's like a mediocre episode of "Doctor Who" from the 80's. But having Mark Twain on it is fun, and pays of waaay later in another series for laughs. IYKYK!

I found this one underwhelming.

There are some fun scenes in this episode, definitely more comedic scenes than the dramatic openers for S4 and S5. It's nice seeing the foundation for Picard's and Guinan's relationship. I'm not a fan of Samuel Clemens' character and its overuse in the two-parter. Overall, just a meh episode. C

My personal favorite season starts off with the second part of an admittedly weak 2-parter that I nevertheless enjoy. In a blink-and-you'll miss it line, the crew is said to have been looking for Data for some time. It's fine, but I like seeing the crew wander around in this different setting in period wardrobe, and I will take a middling episode if it has a scene that lays out the philosophy and nature of what the Star Trek future is supposed to be as Troi does with Twain. That scene should be any Trek writer's north star on how to write for this franchise.

I like Part I better. But this is okay. C-tier.

Up until this point, all the two parters (with the exception of Unification) have been written completely separately and this one perhaps suffers the most from that practice. Going forward in Trek, the policy is "know where your story is going first."

I think this the failure of this two parter is that it was supposed to be about Data dying and it turned into Picard meets Guinen and neither of those really hit. I do kind of like it, but they’re weak.

Guess i'm somewhat in the minority here, but I've always liked this two-parter, even if it's not as good as The Best of Both Worlds or Redemption. Part of that may just be that I like time loop stories that don't have any "changing the timeline" nonsense in them.

I absolutely adore a cleverly crafted or enjoyably written time travel adventure. Unfortunately Times Arrow is neither of those things.

The Data’s head time loop has always seemed like almost a parody of a Trek idea to me, and Clemens is my least favourite guest character in TNG. E.

Yup. I watched this

If "meh" was an episode.

I like that Whoopi got to do a lot more in both episodes. She was more part of the plot than she usually is.

The young reporter interviewing Clemens is played by Alexander Enberg, who is Jeri Taylor's son. This episode was also filmed at the same time as the DS9 pilot.

We finally know who that bald man was that was kind to Guinan many years ago.

I refuse to believe that Clemens was this annoying in real life.

Guess what? Part 2 is barely better than part 1. Worst season opener ever

I've always liked these two episodes together. I can understand that may stem from watching them back to back for so long. I think part 2 is superior to part 1 and can understand why part 1 may not be enjoyed in a vacuum.

Seeing the crew in the past is a bit more fun, but still kinda a meh episode.

Very entertaining episode and Whoopi is great as a younger and older Guinan.

Part 2 is more fun than part 1 but it does kind feel like they didn’t have a clue how to resolve the story. Theres a lot of scenes I love here tho

I've always had a mixed opinion on this two-parter. I think they set too much up last episode to properly wrap every thread in this second part. It's still a decent episode, but I would rate this a C at best.

Part 2 > part 1 and more fun to watch. But both are ones to watch in the background once in a while.

C+ for me - contract filler but with a few funny scenes. Fun fact: Sam Clemens/Mark Twain was born during an appearance of Halleys Comet in 1835. He always predicted (joked) that he'd pass away when it appeared again. He did, of natural causes, on the comets next appearance (in 1910). Forever linked to the heavens...