Time Squared 

The Enterprise comes across its own shuttlecraft adrift in space - a duplicate - with an unconscious duplicate Capt. Picard inside.

Director:

Joseph L. Scanlan

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (created by), Maurice Hurley (teleplay by)

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Patrick Stewart	...	Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Cmdr. William Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	...	Lt. Worf
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data
Wil Wheaton	...	Wesley Crusher (credit only)
Diana Muldaur	...	Doctor Pulaski
Colm Meaney	...	Chief Miles O'Brien

Storyline

Deep in space, the Enterprise comes across a Federation shuttle craft floating aimlessly and without power but exhibiting one human life sign aboard. They tow in the craft only to find it is one of their own, with, to their amazement, a duplicate, but unconscious, Captain Picard inside. Data and La Forge manage to restore power and determine that the craft comes from six hours into the future, with its shuttle log revealing the Enterprise' total destruction. As the Enterprise enters a dangerous vortex, and events in the recovered shuttle's log seem to be coming true, Picard and crew must find a way to break the time-warp cycle they seem to be in.

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Plot Keywords:

personal quarters | bearded man | setting a table | door chime | beating an egg | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 April 1989 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the filming of this episode, future writer Ronald D. Moore had a tour of the sets, and handed in his script for Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Bonding (1989).

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Goofs

In the opening scene, when Riker cooks eggs for a small group of shipmates, Dr. Polaski compliments him on his cooking style, to which Riker gives credit to his father. Dr. Pulaski then asks, "Your father liked to cook?", indicated that she either didn't know his father, or at least didn't know he liked to cook. In the following episode, we find out that not only did the good doctor know Commander Riker's father, but knew him intimately.

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Quotes

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [interrogating his future self] What went wrong? You know, don't you? What did you do? What happened? Why did you leave the ship? Don't turn away. Look at me! Picard! Look at me!

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Connections

Edited into Star Trek: The Next Generation: Descent (1993)

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Soundtracks

Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User Reviews

Time sorta well spent?

'Time Squared' opens with a sweet hook when the Enterprise rescues a shuttle containing . . . another Captain Picard! Turns out it's the 6-hours-from-now version, leading to a lot of questions – and just as much hand-wringing. That's the drag of this episode, we never really stop talking about it. TNG has its share of time loop stories, but this isn't one of the best.

But I will say this: what Jean-Luc decides to do to fix all of this, I really can't say I saw that coming.

It's a ballsy ending.

6/10