Star Trek: The Next Generation--"A Matter of Time"

Consider “A Matter of Time” a chance to catch your breath after the most recent sequence of darker episodes. It is a fun, lighthearted episode best viewed without implications future Trek forced upon it. Yes, ENT ruined everything.

A man named Berlinghoff Rasmussen shows up claiming to be a historian from the 26th century sent to observe what will apparently be a memorable result of the Enterprise’s effort to save the damaged ecosystem of a colony hit by an asteroid. Rasmussen refuses to say what the result will be because of some time travel rules, but the ecosystem drama is a red herring for the skepticism of who and what Rasmussen really is.

Turns out he is from the past, not the future. His goal is to steal future technology just as he stole his time ship and slowly introduce the items as his own inventions. He is stopped. He he is stopped by data when he attempts to steal the android. Rasmussen is trapped in the 24th century when the time ship leaves without him. It seems like rather cruel fate fate for a thief, but there you go.

Like I said above, it isa fun, relatively inconsequential episode. Matt Frewer, Max headroom himself, plays Rasmussen with perfect eccentricity while slipping into sinister mode when necessary. The role was originally supposed to go to robin Williams, but he turned it down to play Peter pan in Hook. I have never heard whether Williams has expressed regret turning down a trek role for a dud movie like Eddie Murphy has for turning down the biologist role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to star in The Golden Child, but I suspect he has some.

I can only speculate what Williams’ Rasmussen would have been like. Williams has played a goofy professor in Flubber and a surprisingly psycho in One Hour Photo, so he might have elevated the episode. However, I like Frewer he is unfairly considered a gimmicky actor for his attachment to the Max Headroom mythos, but he is too good an actor in comedy and drama to dismiss so easily. Since I am the only one to remember how good the sitcom Doctor, Doctor was.

But I did say ’A Matter of Time” was best viewed without future Trek’s meddling. It is. A major plot pint is no one has ever heard of historians traveling through time to observe past events. In ENT, we learn there is such a thing and the 22nd century Earth Starfleet knows about them. The 22nd century is when Rasmussen is from. Worse yet, one of ENT’s cutesy ties to the rest of the trek franchise was to be that Archer and Rasmussen were roommates at MIT. Meh. Forget about suh things and just enjoy the episode.

Rating: *** (out of 5)