In the ninth episode of the fifth season of The Next Generation, this is a supremely messed up story. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
God, the more I think about this episode, the more I think it’s one of the best-written entries in the whole show. It is unbearably uncomfortable to think about, too, especially when you consider Rasmussen’s actions in light of the final scene. Throughout “A Matter of Time,” there was one huge behavior of his that made absolutely no sense to me, and I figured that it was a deliberate thing. When Rasmussen arrived on the Enterprise, I found him to be kind of hilarious and slightly irritating. I mean, a professor of history from the future! Here to observe an important moment in Federation history!
Which was… what? Something to do with Penthara Four, as far as we could tell. Whatever happened once the Enterprise tried to assist the ecological disaster on that colony would go down in history. But why observe it? And why do it in such an invasive way? Professor Rasmussen’s presence would not have been such a bothersome thing if he wasn’t such a gloating asshole. And that’s what bothered me: if Rasmussen was so committed to observing history without changing it, why did he constantly hover about the crew? Why did he frequently make reference to the importance of what was about to happen? Why even make his presence known when he could have ostensibly found a way to observe in a much less invasive manner?
I didn’t even really think of these inconsistencies as clues, though, because I bought his story so completely. By the time it became readily apparent that Rasmussen was waiting to witness the outcome of the phaser blast that would either save Penthara Four or obliterate it, I had accepted that he was truly a historian. He was just a really bad one, the kind of historian who is more interested in his own observations than reality. How often did Rasmussen seem to view history as if it had happened to characters instead of real people? His view of the past was so detached that it often felt offensive.
But that’s the whole point. He was a bad historian because… well, I’ll get to that in a second. Even if you analyze this episode without that final scene, it’s still an invigorating moral examination about Picard’s duty. I’m hard-pressed to think of a better written exchange than the argument that Rasmussen and Picard have. It’s electrifying, and I’m so thrilled that I got to watch these two actors perform it. But you know why it rules? Because Picard basically holds up his middle fingers to the Prime Directive.
Moral relativity has been a part of the canon for The Next Generation, and we certainly have seen these characters struggle with their own ethics and morals over four seasons. But there are plenty of times when certainty fills the decisions these people make. They have a fairly rigid framework they must follow as a part of Starfleet and the Federation; many times, specific situations have a very specific code that they can follow. Truthfully, we don’t even think about how many times these people just obey their training and everything turns out fine.
But what happens when training and moral codes might seemingly fail you? Here, Picard admits that the Prime Directive, the code he’s sworn to uphold, may actually harm the millions of live that it should save. This is him admitting that the Prime Directive is not immutable. It cannot be a solution to 100% of the crew’s problems. Does that mean Picard is right to demand to know what happens in the future? That’s not really the point here, as far as I’m concerned. Picard felt he was not doing his duty to the people of Penthara Four if he didn’t at least pursue the question, even if it resulted in the ending we see here. Rasmussen remains quiet, refuses to budge on his position, and Picard must make the decision by himself, as if the professor wasn’t there in the first place.
In hindsight, though, all the clues to Rasmussen’s identity are right there. His poor historian skills were one part of it, but you wanna know the most damning thing? It’s not the theft. It was Rasmussen’s reaction to the big moment of truth. He was riveted by it, but not because he was seeing the thing he’d been waiting for. HE NEVER KNEW WHAT THE OUTCOME WAS. For me, that totally explains why he behaved as he did. By constantly making those aggravating comments about how he seemingly knew what the future held, he gave the illusion that he knew what he was doing. BUT HE WAS LYING THE WHOLE TIME.
So I don’t feel bad about him being stranded in time. He was a fraud, and his actions could have unraveled everything up to that time if he’d invented those gadgets back in his own time. Good for him. Maybe he’ll feel differently about everything when he’s turned into a historical subject for the Federation.
Gods, this was such a great episode!
The video for “A Matter of Time†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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