All Our Yesterdays (Star Trek: The Original Series)

"All Our Yesterdays"
Star Trek: The Original Series episode
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 23
Directed by Marvin Chomsky
Written by Jean Lisette Aroeste
Featured music George Duning
Cinematography by Al Francis
Production code 078
Original air date March 14, 1969 (1969-03-14)
Guest actors

"All Our Yesterdays" is a third season (and the penultimate) episode of the science fiction television series, Star Trek, first broadcast March 14, 1969, and repeated on August 5, 1969. It is episode #78, production #78, written by Jean Lisette Aroeste, and directed by Marvin Chomsky. It guest-stars Mariette Hartley as Zarabeth. The title comes from a well-known soliloquy given by Macbeth in Act V Scene V.

In this episode, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are trapped in two parts of another planet's past—a world threatened with destruction when its sun goes supernova.

Plot

The USS Enterprise arrives at the planet Sarpeidon to evacuate its population as its star is soon due to go supernova. Surprised to find the surface devoid of humanoid life, Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Spock beam down to investigate. They encounter one last Sarpeidon resident, Atoz, collecting data from a sophisticated computer library. Atoz, aware of the imminent destruction, has been "prepared" and ready to join his family soon. He shows them the Atavachron, a time portal that connects to different eras of Sarpeidon's past based on data provided by data discs. As Atoz demonstrates the machine by opening the portal, they hear a woman scream. Kirk instinctively jumps through, McCoy and Spock move to follow despite Atoz's warning that they are not prepared.

Kirk finds himself alone in a period similar to England in the 17th century on Earth, while McCoy and Spock are in Sarpeidon's ice age, five thousand years prior. Though they cannot locate the portal's entrance to return, they are able to speak to each other, and Spock surmises that the Sarpeidons have evacuated to their past to escape the planet's destruction.

As McCoy and Spock search for shelter, Kirk finds that the woman that screamed was really a thief, and aids in her capture to the local authorities. However, the guards have overheard Kirk speaking to his friends, and they suspect him of dealing in witchcraft. He too is captured and taken to a prosecutor and interrogated. Kirk suspects the prosecutor is from the future, and mentions the Atavachron, causing the prosecutor to become nervous and order Kirk jailed. Kirk later attempts escape, forcing the prosecutor to visit Kirk, and reveals that Kirk was right. The prosecutor laments that the Atavachron is a one-way trip once one's body has been prepared to stay in the past indefinitely. When Kirk explains he was not prepared, the prosecutor is shocked and warns Kirk might die, and agrees to help Kirk return before it is too late. He takes Kirk to the portal and shows him the entrance, allowing Kirk to return to the present.

McCoy and Spock are saved by Zarabeth, a woman that takes them to a sheltered cave. As they recover, she explains she too is from Sarpeidon's future, but she and her family were punished to live in this era due to her role in an assassination plot. She reveals that the process of using the Atavachron is a one-way trip and if they attempt to return they will die. While McCoy attempts to find ways to return to the present, Spock slowly reverts to the barbarism of the ancient Vulcans, and falls in love with Zarabeth. Spock becomes increasingly hostile to McCoy when McCoy begins to suspect that Zarabeth is lying to them that they are trapped in the past.

Kirk, on returning to the present, attempts to coerce Atoz to help, but when Kirk refuses to prepare his body, Atoz knocks him out. Kirk eventually regains consciousness and overpowers Atoz. He forces Atoz to find the period where McCoy and Spock are trapped, and eventually is able to communicate with them, explaining that they must return. With the portal reopened, Spock regains his normal personality, and asserts he must return with McCoy and has a tearful farewell to Zarabeth. Upon their return, Atoz replaces the data disc in the Atavachron with one of his own and then disappears through the portal. The Enterprise alerts the three that the supernova is beginning, and they are quickly beamed off the planet and leave the system before its destruction.

Legacy

Allan Holdsworth's studio album Atavachron is named after the alien time travel device, which is also the name of the fourth song on the album, and the last song is named "All Our Yesterdays" in reference to the title of the episode as well as the cover art.[1]

The fifth track on Allan Holdsworth's studio album Wardenclyffe Tower, "Zarabeth", is named after the character of the same name in the Star Trek episode "All Our Yesterdays".[2]

Richard Sarver's 2012 book Taking the Heat - A Steelworker's Story contains a chapter titled "All Our Yesterdays." The text of this chapter contains the titles of several other Star Trek TOS episodes, an example of Spock speak, and the word "enterprise."[3]

Notes

    Sequels

    Author A.C. Crispin wrote two novel sequels to this episode, titled Yesterday's Son (#11), and Time for Yesterday (#39) (Simon & Schuster).

    External links

    Wikiquote has quotations related to: "All Our Yesterdays"
    1. ↑ Holdsworth, Alan. “Atavachron,” “All Our Yesterdays.” Atavachron. Enigma. 1986. CD.
    2. ↑ Holdsworth, Alan. “Zarabeth.” Wardenclyffe Tower. Restless Records. 1992. CD.
    3. ↑ Sarver, Richard (2012). Taking the Heat - A Steelworker's Story. Elliston, VA: Flatwoods Press, LLC. pp. 233–248. ISBN 978-0-9859481-0-8.
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