Series: Star Trek (The Original Series)
Episode: 3.23 All Our Yesterdays (03-14-1969) (er…Finale?)
Rating: 4/5
Redshirt Status: 0/9/58
Notable Guest Stars:
Ian Wolfe – Mr. Atoz. He is a popular character actor with over 400 credits to his name. He appeared earlier on the series as Septimus in Bread & Circuses.
Mariette Hartley – Zarabeth. She is an award-winning character actress as well as the founder of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Kermit Murdock – The Prosecutor
Johnny Haymer – The Constable. He is known for his role on M*A*S*H
Review:
This will be my last review of TOS television episodes as I do not plan to rewatch the series finale, Turnabout Intruder. Its another episode I rather didn’t enjoy, so feel no need to re-watch it. It doesn’t seem to have much of a impact on the inner continuity of the franchise, but I could be wrong. By stardate, this episode takes place later anyway, so lets pretend that this one is the real finale.
Since TOS tended to be more episodic then overall arcs, it doesn’t have a wrap up episode. In this episode, The Enterprise travels to a planet to find that everyone has already fled the impending destruction of the system by fleeing to their pasts. Not quite understanding this yet, Kirk runs to rescue a woman being maltreated in the planet’s past and ends up stuck there. Spock and McCoy follow only to be stuck in the ice age, the last reference disc that McCoy had picked up in the library they had landed in.
Kirk finds himself stuck in the 1700s or whatever their version of it was. McCoy and Spock however are forced to seek shelter because its cold and McCoy is starting to have frostbite. Vulcans apparently have more resistance to cold, although that doesn’t really hold true any where else in the franchise. Vulcans typically like warmer climates, since Vulcan itself is very warm.
They eventually find out that Mr. Atoz was supposed to ‘prepare’ them by altering their cell structure and DNA to feel more comfortable in the time period they are going to. Kirk finds this out by running into The Proceuter who is also from the future. If he stays too long without alteration, it will kill him just as those who are altered would die returning.
Meanwhile Spock is having a quarter-life crisis and McCoy is there to watch. His emotions are closer to the surface and in general is out of sorts. McCoy is too for that matter. Spock however has the better time of it, finding Zarabeth to be a love interest. McCoy sciences instead and gets angry thinking Zarabeth had lied to keep Spock there.
This is basically Spock’s Edith Keller The issue with this show, and how they did TV shows in the 1960s is that everything is tied up in one episode. Aftermath is never shown because you have a new adventure the next week. So we don’t get to see how Spock deals with the aftermath of his love affair, or how he and McCoy fix things between them.
Interesting Notes:
- Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky
- Written by Jean Lisette Aroeste
- There is a two novel book series that continues from this episode by A.C. Crispin. They are not considered canon but look interesting regardless.
- Title references MacBeth
- The Librarian’s name is a play on A-To-Z
- This is the only episode with no scenes on The Enterprise.
Pros:
- Kirk characterization – apparently, he knows something of fencing.
Cons:
- No follow up.
Sokorra Lewis 