Tomorrow Is Yesterday
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "Tomorrow is Yesterday" | |
 USAF Captain John Christopher |
|
| Episode no. | 19 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 021 |
| Remastered no. | 29 |
| Airdate | January 26, 1967 |
| Writer(s) | D.C. Fontana |
| Director | Michael O'Herlihy |
| Guest star(s) | Majel Barrett Roger Perry Ed Peck Hal Lynch |
| Year | 2267, 1969 |
| Stardate | 3113.2 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Arena" |
| Next | "Court Martial" |
"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is a first-season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #19, production #21, first broadcast on January 26, 1967, repeated July 13, 1967, and was remastered in 2006 for syndication broadcast on May 5, 2007. The screenplay was written by D.C. Fontana and directed by Michael O'Herlihy.
Overview: The crew of the Enterprise travels back to 1969 Earth and must correct damage they caused to the timeline.
[edit] Plot
On stardate 3113.2, the starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is thrown back in time to Earth in 1969 by the effects of a high-gravity neutron star (referred to as a "black star"). Enterprise ends up in a suborbital position in Earth's upper atmosphere, and the ship is picked up as a UFO on military radar.
Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, scrambles an F-104 Starfighter jet interceptor piloted by Captain John Christopher, to identify the craft. The pilot cannot believe his eyes when he sees the bizarre spaceship floating above him. The pilot is ordered to stop the Enterprise from escaping before reinforcements arrive, and Kirk is forced to take defensive action. The ship emits a tractor beam toward the jet and the force accidentally tears the plane apart. Acting quickly, Kirk orders the pilot rescued from the doomed plane, and Christopher is transported aboard.
The man at first is confused with his new surroundings but is quickly amazed to learn all that the future has to offer. He learns such facts as Enterprise is one of 12 such starships, and why the computer started calling Kirk "dear", having been overhauled on the woman-dominated planet Cygnet XIV (who thought the computer needed a personality).
The problem quickly arises that returning this 20th Century pilot to Earth, after having seen a glimpse of the future, could contaminate the timeline. Learning the pilot's own son, Sean Jeffrey Christopher, plays an important role in Earth's future (as chief pilot for the historical Earth-Saturn probe mission), adds to the severity of the situation. Kirk must somehow return Captain Christopher to Earth without any knowledge of Enterprise.
Another problem is that Captain Christopher has taken photographs of Enterprise, which could be recovered by the Air Force, and also alter history. The first step is to steal the images and reports of the Enterprise's appearance from the airbase logs. Kirk and Mr. Sulu beam down to the base to locate the report files. Upon their removing the sensitive data tapes, a security guard enters and draws a pistol. Kirk and Sulu surrender their weapons and communicators to the guard.
Meanwhile, back aboard Enterprise, Mr. Spock contacts the Captain to check on his progress. When the guard "answers" the communicator, he accidentally activates an emergency recall to the ship, and is suddenly beamed aboard Enterprise, frozen in a state of shock. The Captain points out to Spock, "we have another problem" with yet another abducted native to deal with; they decide to confine him to the transporter room to limit his exposure.
Kirk and Sulu continue searching for the remaining evidence of their time intrusion. Sulu successfully locates the rest of the files and returns to the ship while Kirk creates a diversion as more guards stumble upon them. Kirk is subsequently captured and taken to the security area for questioning.
Spock, with the help of Captain Christopher, beams down to the facility to rescue Captain Kirk. They subdue Kirk's guards and are ready to return to the ship, only to find Christopher has gotten a gun, demanding to remain behind. Fortunately, Spock had anticipated he would make such an attempt, and sneaks behind him to subdue him with a Vulcan nerve pinch, and they all return to the ship.
Spock and Mr. Scott inform Kirk they have an idea for returning to the 23rd Century, by slingshotting their way around the Sun. The theory is, time will reverse as the ship races toward the gravity of the star, then, as the ship breaks away, quickly run forward again. With precise navigation, the theory should work; however, braking is a problem, since a mistake could destroy the ship, or make them miss their preferred time period.
Enterprise sets out to make the risky slingshot. As time moves backwards, Kirk has Captain Christopher beamed back to his fighter jet at the instant he first sees Enterprise, so he now only catches a quick glimpse of the "UFO", and the sighting is written off as such for the rest of history. The security guard is returned to his own time as well, just moments before he first stumbles upon Kirk and Sulu. Enterprise then successfully returns to the 23rd Century.
[edit] 40th Anniversary remastering
This episode was re-mastered in 2006 and was first aired May 5, 2007 as part of the remastered 40th Anniversary original series. It was preceded a week earlier by the remastered version of "A Piece of the Action" and followed a week later by the re-mastered version of "Errand of Mercy". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:
- Various exterior shots of the Enterprise, either in the Earth's atmosphere, or orbiting, have been enhanced with more cloud and landscape detail including the appearance of the Moon. According to an interview with Mike Okuda, many of the images of the Earth were taken from aboard the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. [1]
- Some exterior shots of the F-104 were enhanced. Views of the Enterprise are seen through the plane's cockpit window.
- A viewscreen shot of Earth in low orbit features clouds and landscape, instead of the original high-orbit North America shot.
- A rear-angle viewer shot showing the Earth receding with the warp nacelles visible on both sides.
- The bridge chronometer has been changed to a digital readout similar to the enhanced display shown in the re-mastered version "The Naked Time".
- The "temporal slingshot" sequence is upgraded to be more reminiscent of the same sequence in the motion picture Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home showing the Enterprise traveling at high speed towards the sun and going around it. It concludes the sequence showing the Enterprise going through its sluggish braking point and coming to a dead stop.
[edit] Notes
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The "slingshot-around-the-sun" time warp trick was reused in the second-season episode "Assignment: Earth" and the fourth Star Trek motion picture, The Voyage Home.
- This was originally conceived as part two to an earlier episode, "The Naked Time"; when the ending to that episode was revised, "Tomorrow is Yesterday" was reworked as a stand-alone story.[2]
- This episode is featured on the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Time Travel DVD set.
- The female voice of the altered computer is provided by Majel Barrett, who would continue to voice the Starfleet computers in subsequent spin-off shows and several of the feature films.
- When Captain Christopher is given a Starfleet uniform, he wears the rank of Lieutenant on his sleeves. This is accurate, since an Air Force Captain is equivalent to a Lieutenant in Starfleet (and the United States Navy).
- The opening scenes of the episode, with the Air Force Captain and his technician detecting the approach of the Enterprise, are never identified as to location. The base at Omaha, where Christopher is stationed, is most likely Offutt Air Force Base. Offutt, as the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command, would have been the very location where photographic evidence of the ship would have been taken.
- The second issue of IDW Publishing's comic book series Assignment: Earth (a continuation of the episode of the same name, drawing on the episode's status as a failed backdoor pilot for a spin-off television series) shows the protagonists, Gary Seven and his assistant Roberta Lincoln, becoming periphially involved in the events of "Tomorrow is Yesterday", acting on their own to prevent the Enterprise's presence from affecting history. Due to peculiarites of time travel, the Enterprise crewmembers have not yet met Seven and Lincoln at this point, but it is Seven's and Lincoln's second encounter with them (though they are careful to avoid direct contact, so as not to alter the proper course of events).
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[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Review of the Re-mastered "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" at TrekMovie.com
- Tomorrow Is Yesterday article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
| Last produced: "The Alternative Factor" |
Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 1 |
Next produced: "The Return of the Archons" |
| Last transmitted: "Arena" |
Next transmitted: "Court Martial" |
