One of my favorite parts of this process of Trek watching is running across episodes I don't remember from the original run. This isn't one wasn't totally new to me, but I had no recollection of how the events turned out. I mean, I was pretty sure Picard wasn't going to kill millions of colonists, but how? And why do they keep putting up with this super obnoxious time traveler guy? Not for the first time Worf is totally correct about not trusting him but as per normal he is pretty much ignored.
While on their way to aid a colony that has been devastated by an asteroid strike Worf detects a temporal anomaly near the ship and then a small vessel appears where the anomaly had been. They receive a transmission asking Picard to move a bit which makes sense after he walks across the bridge an a quirking time travelling professor appears. He explains that he is from the 26th century and has traveled back to witness an important event in history first hand. He naturally refuses to answer any questions about the future while simultaneously constantly pestering everyone he meets to fill out his questionnaires.
They arrive at the colony and Geordi has a plan to inject carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to reverse the cooling caused by the impact, but when they try it a bunch of volcanoes go off changing things again and possibly dooming the planet. Back on the ship the time traveler is being a pain in the ass everywhere and has taken to stealing whatever he can put in his pockets. Nobody seems to really trust him, but at the same time they don't have a particularly good reason not to work with him. The new plan to save the colony involves somehow burning or injecting into space all the particulate in the atmosphere which will save all of them, but if anything goes wrong it will instantly kill everyone on the planet.
Picard has decided that he has to demand answers from the time traveler but he refuses to give Picard the information he needs so Picard decides to go ahead with the plan. To increase the odds of success Geordi risks his life by going down to the planet and directing the operation from there. Of course being Trek it works perfectly and the day is saved. It is time for the time traveler to leave, but when he gets to the cargo bay he finds the crew waiting for him. Picard demands to be allowed into the time travel vessel to find the stolen objects. The time traveler refuses but can't argue with sending Data in since he can actually be trusted if sworn to secrecy. But once they are both inside the time traveler pulls a phaser. He isn't a professor from the future, he is a con man from the past, and not just the past, from New Jersey! His plan fails and he is removed from the vessel only to watch it travel back to his time without him. He is arrested for his crimes and will likely spend his life being studied in just the way he pretended to study the Enterprise.
Review: This is a lighthearted fun episode. Well, I guess other than risking the lives of 20 million colonists, but come on, how could Picard ever be responsible for so many deaths? Also having the time traveler be a con man was a great twist.
7 out of 10
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