Another one of my childhood favorites that is still a solid episode! I admit I, like most children of the 80's, was kinda obsessed with time travel, and while they aren't explicitly traveling through time, they are certainly playing around with the space time continuum. I really enjoyed how they subtly showed progress being made, mostly through Dr. Crusher and her broken glass and she gradually started to remember that she had done this before. For some reason I thought that the problem with Geordi's visor was how they were sending the message from the future, but instead having it be sent into Data's subconscious was really cool. By having it be obvious to the audience that the message was "3" but not having it be clear how that would help made for fun, tense ending.
The episode opens with the Enterprise sustaining an impact to the starboard nacelle and then exploding killing everyone on board. Then we cut to the captains log as the ship enters an unexplored region and the senior staff are having their regular poker game. Crusher calls Rikers bluff before rushing off to sick bay to treat some dizziness Geordi has been experiencing. Beverley keeps feeling deja vu and when she returns to her quarters for bed she hears voices when she turns off the light. The next day at briefing she reports the voices by there doesn't seem to have been anything on sensors so they all move on until Worf calls from the bridge. They all rush to the bridge to see a space time distortion. The ship loses power and an old starfleet ship appears and is on a collision course. Riker suggest blowing the shuttle bay and Data suggests the tractor beam. Picard goes with the tractor beam and it almost works, but instead we find ourselves back at the opening and the ship is destroyed.
Back to the poker game only this time Beverley knows she is going to call Rikers bluff. The same sequence as the previous day repeats only this time both Beverley and Geordi remember the exam and the captain has been having deja vu as well. But nothing they do makes a difference and the ship is destroyed again. The next time through though Geordi figures out that maybe he is seeing time echos and Beverley manages to record the voices in her quarters. Data seperates out their voices just before the ship is destroyed and they realize the deja vu is real. Data and Geordi figure out a plan to send a message into Data's subconscious to try and save the day but we don't see the message.
Back to the poker game only this time Data starts with all three's. Throughout the day he starts seeing and making 3's everywhere and when they again figure out they are stuck in a loop they correctly figure out that the 3's are a message from the last time though the loop. But what does it mean? The same events repeat but just before the ship is destroyed Data notices Riker is standing right by him and his three rank pips are right it Data's face. Instead of just using the tractor beam he also vents the shuttle bay and saves the day. The other ship turns out to have been trapped in the same loop for over 80 years.
Review: I enjoyed just about everything about this episode. It doesn't have the grand character implications of some of the "bigger" episodes, but it will always be one of my favorites.
9 out of 10
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