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| Rasmussen (Matt Frewer) and Dr. Crusher. |
THE PLOT
The Enterprise is on its way to Penthara IV, a planet suffering from sharp temperature drops in the wake of a meteor strike. Geordi and Data have devised a plan to use the ship's phasers to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, in order to stabilize the temperature while the planet recovers. They receive an unwelcome distraction, however, in the form of Rasmussen (Matt Frewer).
Rasmussen claims to be a historian from the 26th century, visiting Enterprise to study its current mission. With nothing to disprove his story, Picard grants him the run of the ship, even allowing this visitor to assign questionnaires to the members of the command crew. Because during a crisis, key personnel have nothing better to do than fill out a survey. Meanwhile, the situation on Penthara goes from bad to worse, as the ship's attempt to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere triggers an unintended side effect: massive volcanic activity, which will soon blot out the sun entirely!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: For the purposes of this episode, his brains appear to have dribbled out through his left ear. Picard declares that Rasmussen's "credentials appear to be in order." What credentials would those be? Does he have a handy-dandy Time Traveller badge? Picard then gives Rasmussen full, unrestricted, apparently unsupervised run of the ship during a crisis situation. Um, right. On their worst days, Archer and Janeway wouldn't be this gullible. Patrick Stewart is Patrick Stewart, so it's no surprise he escapes with dignity intact. But this is hardly the character's best outing.
Data: A mark of the way in which this episode frustrates me rests with the scene between Rasmussen and Data. Rasmussen visits Data's quarters. The scene starts by reinforcing what we already know - that Data, as a machine, can analyze multiple inputs at once, to the point of listening to four simultaneous musical performances while working on a complex equation for Geordi. Within this same scene, we see Rasmussen "subtly" slip some equipment from Data's desk into his pocket. Even if Data doesn't directly see this, shouldn't he instantly register that the item is gone as soon as his eyes happen to turn back in that direction? In fairness, this probably wouldn't have occurred to me... except for Data's capabilities being emphasized within the same scene!
Troi: Our resident empath doesn't trust Rasmussen. She senses that he's hiding something, attempting misdirection. So naturally, she alerts the captain... Oh, wait. No, she doesn't. She gripes about Rasmussen to Dr. Crusher, who all but ignores her. She then does everything she can to stay away from Rasmussen, rather than trying to... Oh, I don't know, keep a close eye on him to see if she can figure out what he's up to? Still, at least she maintains a healthy distrust, rather than practically panting after him like Dr. Beverly does.
Rasmussen: Matt Frewer guest stars as Rasmussen, the time-traveling historian. This role was originally created for Robin Williams, with Frewer cast when Williams had to opt out to film Hook. Frewer is a good television actor who has done some fine work over the decades. Unfortunately, he chooses to play Rasmussen very much as if he was playing Robin Williams playing Rasmussen. The results are downright irritating. Frewer hops around, all but bouncing off the walls with giddiness, all the while pushing his presence on the members of the command staff when he's supposedly there to quietly observe. My question isn't how the crew figured out he was lying. My question is why it took them 40 or so mostly tedious minutes to do it.
THE PICARD SLEDGE-HAMMER
Late in the episode, Picard calls Rasmussen to his ready room to try to convince him to tell him whether a precarious rescue effort will save lives or destroy them. When Rasmussen refuses, arguing that Picard is attempting to "manipulate the future," Picard rebuts that every choice every individual makes manipulates the future. Not content with that simple observation, Picard gilds it into a full speech, which Stewart delivers like the Shakespearian orator he is. It's suitably impassioned, but falls curiously flat - perhaps because I never believed Rasmussen was from the future, and therefore knew that this entire bit was just an exercise in theatrics.
THOUGHTS
Rick Berman's first solo script for the series was the excellent Brothers. A year later, we get his second offering. Unfortunately, it's a huge comedown, demanding viewers overlook massive amounts of Idiot Plotting to allow Rasmussen's deception to even appear to work.
There's a clever idea at the heart of A Matter of Time. The revelation of Rasmussen's actual agenda might well have formed a good episode. But this isn't that episode. For one thing, the story emphasis is off. The focus of interest should be Rasmussen and his deception of the Enterprise crew. But for the bulk of the running time, Rasmussen is simply an annoying commentator, with most of the actual focus being on the various Technobabble solutions Geordi is employing to save the planet. The time travel plot only really gets addressed in two scenes: Picard's confrontation with Rasmussen in his ready room, and the rushed tag in which we finally learn what he's been up to.
Rasmussen's behavior consistently clashes with his cover story. He should be studiously observing and doing everything in his power to not interfere. Instead, he is all but shoving his face in front of Picard's or Data's - save for when he's trying to get into Dr. Crusher's pants. The script seems to be grasping for comedy with the character. but I just find him annoying. He tells the others to think of him as "a fly on the wall." Well, I was ready for Worf to smash him with a rolled-up newspaper long before the ending scene arrived.
Some good effects shots and the sturdy performances of the regulars keep this from being terrible. Still, this one makes me almost miss the bad episodes from Season One. Sure, the series was much worse in every respect in those days. But at least the bad Season One episodes tended to be so cheesy they slipped into being funny. By this point in the series run, it's all very polished. Wonderful as long as the shows are good... but there's not much to compensate when a script just plain misses the mark.
Overall Rating: 3/10.
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