Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (episode)

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

La'an travels back in time to twenty-first-century Earth to prevent an attack which will alter Humanity's future history – and bring her face to face with her own contentious legacy.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

"Security officer's log, stardate 1581.2. Nobody told me when I took this assignment just how many friends it would make for me. It is a well-known fact that people love it when you bring them bad news... and quite frankly, who doesn't find having their belongings searched endearing?"

As the USS Enterprise travels to her next mission, La'an conducts her business as chief of security. First, she is forced to step between a Denobulan cadet and transporter chief Jay, the former accusing the latter of using the transporter to steal a ring given to him by his matriarch. Then she informs Spock of an anonymous noise complaint as he practices with his Vulcan lute, and he promises to practice "less vigorously". Finally, she confronts Pelia about the provenance of a number of priceless artworks and artifacts she is bringing aboard, some of which are marked "property of the Archeology Department". Pelia waves it off by saying she used to work there, and tells La'an to live through the calamities of Human history without becoming a "packrat" before she judges her, commenting that she maintains a bunker in Vermont in the event the Federation's "no money, socialist utopia thing" turned out to be a "fad". She notes one particular work is a fake – so she suggests La'an tell the Louvre to stop calling her about it. La'an tells her she can take it up with Captain Pike.

La'an and M'Benga in athletic wear — La'an spars with Dr. M'Benga

Afterward, she engages in a furious sparring match with Dr. M'Benga in the ship's gym. The doctor clearly sees something is on her mind, telling her to ease up before she takes his head off. He tries to reach her as her physician, but she pointedly replies he's not there as her physician; he amends by saying as her sparring partner, he advises her to talk to her physician. As she rushes at him, M'Benga uses her own energy to hurl her to the floor. He points out that she didn't attend the party for Una in the captain's quarters the previous evening. He can see what whatever she's handling seems to be a "lonely" business, but asserts it doesn't need to be. La'an doesn't reply directly, simply saying she will see him the next day.

As she patrols the decks, a strange light catches her eye, followed by a grey-suited Human staggering to the deck. As she demands to know who he is, she sees a large bloodstain on him, and recognizes his mortal injury as a bullet wound rather than a phaser burn. The grey-suited man says there has been "an attack" in the past, and urges La'an to stop it. He hands her a device from his pocket and tells her to get to the bridge, after which he dies. A wave of energy causes his body to disappear, followed by the klaxons signaling red alert. She makes her way to the bridge, approaching who she assumes is Captain Pike. But the man who turns in the chair is unfamiliar to her – and she to him: "Ma'am, not to be impolite, but who are you, and what the hell are you doing on my ship?"

Act One[]

Uhura reports that the nearby Vulcan ship is hailing them. The captain orders a channel open, identifying himself as James T. Kirk of the "United Earth Fleet ship Enterprise". La'an is surprised to see Spock on the viewer, identifying himself as captain of the Vulcan vessel Sh'Rel, and requesting assistance from the Earth vessel. Vulcan is in a losing war with the Romulan Star Empire, and quotes the Human adage that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Kirk replies that this adage does not apply here, as the UEF has its own problems with Romulus and can not afford to fight a war on two fronts. Spock pleads with him that without their aid, the last of the Vulcan fleet will soon be destroyed, and their home world left defenseless. Kirk is apologetic, but is firm that there is nothing he can do, before having Uhura close the channel. All eyes then turn to La'an, who suggests she and Kirk should speak in private.

In the conference room, Kirk is incredulous at the idea that La'an is from some kind of alternate timeline, though he admits scientists have said the idea was possible. He thinks it more likely that La'an is insane, though he can find no record of her anywhere in the ship's database. La'an tries to explain about her own Enterprise, and her encounter with the grey-suited man who gave her the device and told her to get to the bridge. She suspects the man wanted Kirk to help her in some way, and points out Starfleet's protocols for dealing with such things. Kirk, however, has never heard of Starfleet, and demands she give the device over to be studied by UEF Command. La'an refuses, and Kirk attempts to take it from her. In the ensuing struggle, he accidentally pushes her thumb down on the device's button, activating it and thereby taking both of them off the ship.

Toronto Eaton Centre — La'an and Kirk emerge into downtown Toronto

Kirk and La'an materialize in unfamiliar territory, the captain jabbing at the device again trying to activate it, but it does not respond. He suspects it might be broken, but La'an thinks it brought them precisely where they needed to be – to stop the attack the grey-suited man had warned her about. Neither of them have any devices to aid them – no tricorder, communicator, or phaser – so La'an elects to scout ahead. It soon becomes clear they are on Earth; Kirk thinks they are in New York City in the 21st century, but La'an corrects him by pointing out that they are in Toronto, the largest city of what was known as Canada, known for "maple leaves, politeness, poutine." Kirk confesses he has never been to Earth, and that it was nothing like this in his timeline; he was born in space aboard the USS Iowa, and Earth was first a battleground, then occupied territory, and now a ruin. Kirk shivers, wondering if it was always so cold on Earth. La'an is unfazed, saying it is not that bad for Canada, but will get colder at night, and they need to change clothes before they freeze.

La'an and Kirk go to a clothing store and find suitable attire to allow them to blend in, but realize that people still used money in this time, and they will be caught if they try to leave without paying. Kirk asks if La'an is a fast runner, but La'an has a better idea; taking an item from a nearby shelf, she slips it into some inattentive shopper's shopping bag, and it trips the alarm as she leaves the store. As the alarm continues to blare while the security guards take the unfortunate shopper aside, La'an and Kirk make their discreet exit. As they dispose of their uniforms, she warns they can't do that again, and Kirk suggests getting some money, asking if La'an has any marketable 21st century skills… before he spots something that gives him an idea. He engages in a series of chess matches with some gambling chess players at a local park, and proves to be a formidable player, winning a substantial sum.

As they walk away with their winnings, La'an is surprised, and Kirk can guess why: she doesn't think of him as a "thinking five steps ahead kind of guy." He admits he used to play with his first officer until she got tired of losing and has been looking for an opponent ever since. He finds the three-dimensional chess of his era more challenging, calling the standard two-dimensional board "idiot's chess." He then spots a hot dog stand and buys two, offering one to La'an, who refuses. He tries to make it an order, but she points out she is not part of his "United Earth Fleet" and therefore not under his command. She is concerned with the circumstances, particularly given that they have no clues what they are supposed to be doing: why the two of them, why this place, and why this time? Kirk, however, is momentarily distracted by watching the setting sun; from the videos he's seen, Earth in his time is coated in a cloud of ash that won't clear for a thousand years, and people live in underground lunar colonies with no view of the Sun. He advises her not to skip out on a good hot dog if she can help it, and she finally relents. As he takes a bite of his own, Kirk enjoys his hot dog so much that he decides to buy another.

Photonic bomb — La'an and Kirk witness the destruction of the Lake Ontario Bridge

That night, as the two have set themselves up in a nice hotel suite, La'an is unable to sleep, stepping out to the living room and lingering over the couch where Kirk is sleeping. He awakens when he realizes she is there, and she seems to be considering saying something to him, but is unable to bring herself to say it before returning to bed.

The following morning, La'an is attempting to put together a list of what she remembers of 21st century Earth history, but Kirk is nonchalant about it. He has a vague understanding of temporal science, knowing that they were at a fork in the road: repairing her timeline would end up destroying his, erasing his entire existence. Though Earth is a ruin in his time, Humanity has settled on the Moon, Mars, Venus, and Europa, just to name a few.

La'an wonders aloud why he should be content with simply surviving: where she came from, Earth still had sunsets, and Humanity had spread out across dozens of worlds, part of a greater Federation. She concedes that 21st century Earth history was bad in her timeline too, but after first contact with the Vulcans, Earth became a paradise. She thinks him as being nothing but a soldier in a losing war, when he could be an explorer.

Kirk wonders aloud whether he even exists in her timeline at all, but La'an knows that he does, having heard stories about him from his brother Sam. Kirk is stunned to hear that Sam is alive in her timeline. As this sinks in, the bridge over Lake Ontario suddenly explodes. La'an realizes this is what the grey-suited man meant when he told her to "Get to the bridge."

Act Two[]

First responders converge on the scene of the ruined bridge. Arriving, La'an realizes that this scene is familiar to her because it happened in her timeline. Kirk knows it happened in his, too: the largest suspension bridge ever built, destroyed just after it was complete. This was not the event they were sent to prevent, but La'an sees something from a piece of wreckage that gets her attention.

Borrowing a camera from a nearby onlooker, she is able to see for herself. She tells Kirk the damage was from a photonic bomb, a weapon that is not to be developed anywhere on Earth for at least another century. She suspects the bridge's destruction may indeed be the work of the enemy they're pursuing. The Toronto City Police load the chunk of rubble into a van, and Kirk knows they will not be able to follow on foot.

La'an points out that vehicles in that era have private ownership, but Kirk is well aware of this reality. Approaching the driver of a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, Kirk applies the Vulcan neck pinch to disable him and takes the man's keys. La'an asks where he learned to do that; Kirk replies he spent some six months in a Denobulan prison with a Vulcan cellmate, cheerfully adding that he also learned how to make plomeek soup in the toilet.

Though initially unfamiliar with the 21st century vehicle's controls, Kirk learns quickly enough to follow the van through Toronto as snow begins to fall. She urges him to drive slower, and more discreetly; he replies that "discreet" was basically his middle name, even as he fishtails wildly through the streets. La'an, however, has seen his personnel file, and remarks that "Tiberius" was probably the "least discreet middle name" she's ever heard; he defends it by saying it was his grandfather's name. He points out she hardly has the subtlest name either – mistakenly referring to her as "La'an Noonien Soong." After she corrects him, La'an is silent for a moment as she realizes he doesn't recognize the significance of her last name, remarking on her "infamous" lineage.

As they reach a police detour, the van suddenly turns without warning, forcing Kirk to take a "scenic route" through the city to intercept it. The high-speed pursuit brings them to the attention of the police, who proceed to pursue them. The van escapes, and the police are soon apprehending Kirk for driving without a license and breaking numerous other traffic laws while Kirk protests that his license is in his "other pants."

Meanwhile, the photographer from the bombing scene suddenly arrives, claiming to be streaming the arrest live from her cellular phone as evidence of "police brutality" and persecution of the (supposedly) famous civil rights attorney (meaning Kirk). Just then, the police dispatcher calls for more assistance at the bomb site, and the hapless police begrudgingly decide to let Kirk off with a warning. La'an and Kirk introduce themselves to their rescuer, La'an using the name "Vanessa", while Kirk sticks with "Jim."

The photographer, Sera, spoke out because she was also in pursuit of the van with the bombing evidence. As they chat, La'an and Kirk observe that Sera is apparently some kind of conspiracy theorist who believes the bridge attack was intended to force Human governments to back off from their plans of international cooperation so they would not be capable of noticing and dealing with extraterrestrial threats. Kirk tries to humor her not-so-inaccurate speculations by saying that his "wife" has also been a victim of an extraterrestrial abduction. La'an plays along, claiming (truthfully, though deceitfully) the aliens had advanced technology beyond anything Humans possessed; she then looks a bit incredulously at Kirk when he states she specifically saw "something called a photonic bomb" and he's certain that's what destroyed the bridge.

As they proceed through the streets, Sera continues explaining her belief that an international cabal is responsible for covering up aliens' attacks in order to steal their technology for its own use. She believes there is a facility somewhere in Toronto where they keep their stolen technology, powered by a cold fusion reactor, and that the aliens have been making these attacks for years in order to slow Humanity's technological advancement. As they stop to eat at a restaurant, La'an is uncertain what to make of Sera, thinking her rather "unhinged."

Kirk, while indulging a plate of poutine, is more understanding, pointing out that this was an era where Humans thought aliens were science fiction, but Sera knew in her gut they existed, and were not friendly. Sera returns a moment later, bringing her digital tablet, showing pictures of what she had uncovered. Kirk takes particular notice of one picture of an alien spacecraft captured by an astronomer attempting to get a picture of the International Space Station, though he says nothing more about it to her. Meanwhile, she talks excitedly about having also obtained surveillance footage from a hookah parlor near the bridge explosion site showing a man in a dark suit watching and waiting nearby, fifteen minutes before the blast… as if he knew it was going to happen.

After they part ways, La'an admits to feeling sorry for Sera, being so close to the truth but without the proof she needed. Kirk, however, knows Sera was even closer than she thought, explaining that he recognized the ship in the picture as a Romulan vessel, a Bird-of-Prey. He also recalls what Sera said about the cold fusion reactor in the city, because in a few days, it is going to be destroyed in a Romulan first strike that wipes out Toronto; they need to find it first.

La'an concedes doing this would be trivial with a tricorder, and Kirk pointedly agrees that it would be, if "someone" (namely La'an) hadn't brought them back in time without one, and wonders if she learned something from any engineering courses at the Academy that would help them build one… or perhaps knows some engineer from these "stone ages" who could build them a cold fusion detector without asking too many inconvenient questions. Seeing a news report about unseasonable temperatures in Vermont, La'an recalls a certain conversation she had in her timeline, and tells Kirk she may in fact know such an individual.

La'an and Kirk arrive at "The Archeology Department" which actually proves to be an antiques shop. Kirk is unsure what to make of it, but La'an asks him to trust her. As she knocks on the door, the sound of breaking glass (and a muffled curse) heralds none other than Pelia, who tells them in a sing-song voice that the store is closed. La'an tells her that they've been driving all day to meet her, having had to bribe a border guard and take several modes of transport to get here; then she surprises Pelia by identifying her by name, explaining that she knows her secret.

Act Three[]

La'an knows that Pelia is in fact a Lanthanite, not a Human at all, and that one of the paintings in her collection is (supposedly) stolen from the Louvre. She had thought when Pelia had told her she worked at an "Archeology Department" it was at a university, but then discovered the antiques shop (Kirk remarking that someone at the Apple store taught him how to use "DuckDuckGo" to find places like hers). Without giving away too many details about herself, she explains that they secretly share common knowledge that (in this day and age) would break most people's perceptions of reality, and that she and her friend are "on a mission to protect something... beautiful: the future of Humanity," something Pelia must know from experience is incredibly fragile.

Pelia concedes that "brain-melting secrets" are a good enough reason to help someone; but when La'an says she needed an engineer, she is taken aback, remarking that she hadn't taken a math class "since Pythagoras made the crap up", and she thought that cold fusion was fiction like Bigfoot and lasers. Kirk points out that lasers are quite real, earning another rant from Pelia about how she can't keep up with Earth's scientific achievements.

Kirk is rather bemused that this is the person who in two centuries is going to be the chief engineer of the Enterprise. La'an assures Pelia that they don't need to understand cold fusion to detect its byproducts – excess heat, neutrons, and tritium. Pelia recalls that tritium was once used in diver's watches back in the 1980s, and she may have some in the back of her shop; Kirk is convinced that whatever solution she offers them is bound to be "insane."

Examining the watches, La'an explains that tritium gives off trace amounts of radiation, and the dials of the watch were coated in a reactive material, like phosphor; Kirk also knows tritium has a short half-life, meaning it decays rapidly, which is why the tritium in the watch is depleted and the hands are not glowing now. La'an pries off the glass casing covering the watch in her hand, as they both realize that if the reactive materials of the watches are exposed to active tritium again, the hands will start glowing anew. La'an thanks her for her help, stating her to be more of an engineer than she thinks; Pelia is inspired by this, thinking it would be nice to have an honest living – not that any of the items she has are stolen, she continues to insist.

La'an and Kirk return to Toronto, where they proceed wander the streets for several hours without detecting any tritium. Kirk wonders aloud why he can't be the one to wear the watch, stating it's a "man's watch"; to which La'an banters with him that he just wants to be the one in charge of the mission. She admits that if she had been in his place, she would not have gone along with it, and believes it was better with him there.

Kirk concedes that if only one timeline can be saved, he'd prefer to live in hers, though he knows that's not how temporal mechanics work. However, La'an wonders: what if he can? Kirk is not so sure, thinking one timeline might not be big enough for two of him, but La'an is serious, wondering whether perhaps the device could bring them both back to her timeline.

She confesses she finds people in general "difficult" and admits to being lonely in her timeline. She has felt the weight of her heritage her entire life, and thinks now she is letting those worries go; it helps that Kirk has never even heard of the "scarlet letter" she's been carrying all her life. Then she begins explaining about The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a story about a woman marked her whole life, like the mark of Cain.

When Kirk again shows incomprehension, she is incredulous, before he reveals that he has read Hawthorne and the Old Testament of the Bible and was actually "just messing with" her. He then steals a long kiss, and after a short moment's hesitation, she leans into it. He then points out the hands on her watch are glowing; the reactor must be close.

Entering a nearby building, they move out of a sight when a man approaches, and watch him use a hand print scanner to access a nearby locked room. Kirk wonders if they should wait for someone else to approach or emerge, and force that individual's hand onto the scanner, but La'an sees a sign that indicates they might not need to: the place to which they are seeking entry is in fact the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement. Gambling on her instincts, La'an places her hand on the scanner, and it unlocks the door; as she suspected, a marker in her DNA grants her access to the building.

The sound of a gun cocking behind them heralds the arrival of Sera, looking no less unhinged, but now a lot more focused as she levels the pistol in her left hand at them and demands they both accompany her into the institute. When Kirk recognizes her as the enemy who's planning to alter the timeline, she in turn admits her embarrassment at having taken so long to recognize him as Captain James T. Kirk. While she denies having perpetrated the bridge bombing herself when La'an accuses her, she insists everything she told them about extraterrestrials trying to slow down Humanity's social and technological advancement was generally true – her people have been doing so for many years now, though she doesn't think they've been making enough of an effort.

Kirk now realizes Sera is a Romulan and compliments her on the "hell of a job" she did on her disguise; smirking, she admits she still isn't quite used to the ears, before grimly ordering them to get going. Kirk refuses, pointing out that if she shoots them, the building's alarms will go off, security personnel will swarm the building, and she will therefore fail her mission. Sera tells him she thinks he's bluffing; "Try me," Kirk replies.

She promptly shoots him in the chest, and he collapses to the floor. Kirk was indeed "...not bluffing" as he points out when the alarms promptly go off, but his is a Pyrrhic victory at best: La'an pleads with him to stay with her, but he can only tell her to say hello to Sam for him as he dies. The increasingly unhinged Sera admits that shooting him was a rather impulsive move on her part, but insists it was worth it to be the one to kill James T. Kirk. When La'an tries to attack her, the hideously strong Sera simply grabs her by the throat with her right hand and shoves her through the unlocked door.

Act Four[]

Sera all but drags La'an through the corridors as a hostage and Human shield, casually gunning down any and all security personnel who try to stop her. La'an points out that she'll never be able to get past all the security guarding the reactor now, but Sera has had a change of plans: destroying the reactor was "Plan A," but now they're going to "plan B," which involves her heading directly to the building's genetics lab. She declares something cryptic about how, if she can't use a "grenade" to complete her mission, she'll use a "scalpel" instead.

As they reach a nearby locked room, the meaning of her words becomes all too clear: La'an sees a child's drawings on the walls and a nameplate with an all-too-familiar name on the door. Now she realizes Sera intends to kill Khan Noonien Singh and demands to know why. An increasingly unhinged Sera replies, without any trace of irony, that a computer simulation told her to, explaining that time's mechanics are too complex to leave to intuition, so the Romulans built computers to calculate how changes in the timeline would affect them.

She points out that since the computer indicated Khan becoming a brutal world-dominating tyrant is evidently a necessary part of the Federation's rise, perhaps Humanity needed the "dark age" he brought in to reach its own enlightenment, or perhaps it was just random. Either way, Khan's death will ensure the Federation never forms, and the Romulans will lose their greatest adversary. Sera begins bitterly ranting that entire Temporal Wars have been fought trying to change these events, with the timeline itself seemingly resisting all such efforts, only allowing them to delay their inevitable occurrence; she herself arrived sometime around 1992 on a mission to eliminate Khan, but due to all those other attempts, she has been trapped on Earth for some thirty years – and now she's finally going to complete her mission.

La'an tells Sera her real name, explaining that Khan is her ancestor, and that his legacy was genocide, torture… and La'an herself. Sera replies that the device in La'an's pocket protects her from changes in the timeline; if Khan dies now, La'an can still live any kind of life she wants, and never have to hear her infamous ancestor's name ever again. Seemingly tempted by the offer, La'an turns as if to approach the door… and then whirls, slapping the gun out of Sera's hand, and engaging her in a brutal hand-to-hand beat-down.

Though La'an manages to land several blows, the Romulan Sera's strength and speed are greater, and she ultimately manages to force her enemy's hand onto the scanner to open the door. As the door opens, however, La'an manages to elbow her in the face and carry on the fight until she manages to get her hands on the gun and blow a couple of holes in Sera's chest. As she lies dying on the floor, the Romulan agent presses a button on a device embedded in her neck, and her body disintegrates along with her clothes, leaving no trace of her presence.

The device in La'an's pocket activates, permitting her to return to her own time… but now curiosity sets in, and she enters Khan's room, finding scribblings of advanced equations and drawings of urban landscapes on the walls. A child's voice asks if she's going to kill him, and La'an finds herself face-to-face with her infamous ancestor, Khan Noonien Singh, who appears exactly as he was at that time: just a scared little boy. Putting down the gun, she tells him she's planning nothing of the sort and he shouldn't be afraid of her, and proceeds to dry his tears with a cloth as she asks whether he's alone or there are others like him.

To answer her question, Khan looks over to a photo on the wall of himself with six other children. He then asks if she's here to take him away somewhere. La'an tells him that while what she has to say may not make any sense to him now or maybe ever, he is actually right where he needs to be. Stepping out of his room as she hears the panicked voices of several approaching security guards, she activates the device, and it takes her back to the hall of the Enterprise where this entire adventure began.

Returning to the bridge, La'an finds everything in its proper order; as instructed, Pelia is speaking with Pike and Una about the Louvre's demand for the return of its artifacts, saying the statute of limitations on them has long run out. Una wonders if "plundering antiquities" actually has any statute of limitations on it. Seeing his security chief is present, Pike wonders aloud whether Starfleet Security might want to weigh in on the topic.

La'an, still rather shaken and discombobulated from her recent experiences, tells them they should let the matter slide. Pike now notices she's out of uniform and asks whether something is wrong. La'an replies nothing is wrong, that she merely needed to check on something, and now she has.

As La'an returns to her quarters to change, someone else is there: Agent Ymalay from the Department of Temporal Investigations, a Federation agency monitoring changes in the timeline, who thanks her for her assistance. She's well aware La'an hasn't heard of them because the department doesn't exist yet in the 23rd century. La'an produces the device given to her by the grey-suited man, whom Ymalay confirms was a DTI agent.

Thanking her for completing the man's mission, Ymalay reiterates that La'an is not to reveal any of what she experienced to anyone, not even Captain Pike. La'an is upset at the idea of having gone back in time to protect a mass murderer, having had to kill to protect him, and watch a good friend (and potential love interest) die. Ymalay calmly tells her that none of that was supposed to happen at all and points out that she protected the timeline in a way no one else could have, asking whether she'd be willing to risk undoing all that.

After a tense moment of consideration, La'an admits she wouldn't. The agent thanks her once more for her assistance, and requests that the agency's device be returned to her. When she complies, Ymalay briefly examines the device's timeline display to confirm everything is in its proper order, and then pushes the button and vanishes.

Sitting alone in her quarters in mournful contemplation, La'an removes the watch she acquired from Pelia's shop and lays it aside before setting herself down on her bed and opening a channel on her PADD to James T. Kirk on the USS Farragut – where he's currently serving as a lieutenant. She identifies herself as the security chief on the Enterprise, leading Kirk to wonder aloud what his brother Sam has done this time. La'an bluffs by saying she was just trying to get some biographical data for Sam's security file, specifically his place of birth.

Kirk confirms that his brother Sam was born in Riverside, Iowa – as he himself was, thereby confirming her timeline's restoration. Noticing her odd emotional state, he subtly probes whether she has any ulterior motive for making this call, but she deflects by saying she's a stickler for keeping an orderly security record. Deciding to cut her some slack, Kirk then casually offers to give her the "real dirt" on Sam for her permanent file on him if she'll buy him a drink next time that they're at a starbase before signing off.

Alone again now with absolutely no one she can tell about all the grief and heartbreak her time travel adventure has brought her, La'an breaks down crying with no hope for consolation in sight.

Memorable quotes[]

"May I inquire as to who filed this noise complaint against me?"
"It was anonymous."
"I shall make every effort to practice less vigorously going forward."

- Spock, after Noonien-Singh informs him that someone has complained of the sound of his Vulcan lute

"Ma'am, not be impolite, but who are you and what the hell are you doing on my ship?"

- Kirk, to Noonien-Singh after she comes onto the bridge of the UEF Enterprise in an alternate timeline

"Do you have a tricorder?"
"No! Or a communicator or a phaser! Thanks for that."

- Noonien-Singh and Kirk, when they arrive in 2022

"Seems to be New York City. Mid-21st century."
"What?"
"What?"
"It's Toronto. The biggest city in what used to be called Canada? You know, maple leaves, politeness, poutine."

- Kirk and Noonien-Singh

"That old-fashioned, two-dimensional version, though, it's basically idiot's chess."

- Kirk, after winning a lot of money playing outdoor chess

"Just so you're aware, this is streaming live. Say hello to the entire, very judgmental Internet."

- Sera, persuading Toronto City Police officers to let Kirk go

"Drive more carefully in the future."

- Toronto City Police Officer Klauss, giving Kirk advice that he will not follow

"Wait, poutine has gravy? This is amazing!"

- Kirk

"I haven't taken a math class since Pythagoras made the crap up!"

- Pelia

"OK, a little impulsive on my part but maybe worth it to be the one to kill James T. Kirk."

- Sera, after shooting and killing Kirk

"Are you gonna kill me?"
"No, of–of course not. I… you don't need to be scared of me. Come here. You're just a little boy."

- Khan Noonien Singh, meeting La'an Noonien-Singh

Log entries[]

"Security officer's log, stardate 1581.2. Nobody told me when I took this assignment just how many friends it would make for me. It is a well-known fact that people love it when you bring them bad news... and quite frankly, who doesn't find having their belongings searched endearing?"

Background information[]

Title[]

22 June 2023: Title publicly revealed by Wil Wheaton on TRR: "Ad Astra per Aspera"
The title comes from William Shakespeare's Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5. The title of TOS: "All Our Yesterdays" comes from the same monologue. A part of this monologue was also quoted by Q in TNG: "Hide And Q".

Cast and characters[]

Jess Bush (Christine Chapel) does not appear in this episode and is not credited in the opening credits.
Paul Wesley plays a second alternate version of James T. Kirk following his appearance in SNW: "A Quality of Mercy" before appearing as the prime Kirk in the closing scene, marking that version of Kirk's first actual appearance in the series (and chronologically first true appearance in the Trek franchise).

Production[]

Photos of Paul Wesley and Christina Chong filming this episode on location in Toronto were leaked to the press in March 2022. [1] [2]
Paul Wesley was appreciative of the choice to have the episode be set in Toronto itself, saying: "Oftentimes, you're filming in Toronto and they're like, 'We're gonna pretend it's New York City.' Well, they actually landed in Toronto, which is awesome." [3]
Showrunner Akiva Goldsman revealed that the episode was initially supposed to be set in NYC, when originally conceived: "We wrote it for New York, right? We were gonna do this giant spectacle and take the show to New York, and we quickly realized we could not afford it. So then we went through the process of doing that thing that everybody does, which is, well, how do we make Toronto look like New York? And then we sort of thought, 'Huh, why don't we just let Toronto be Toronto?' And that was fun for us and probably lower impact on the city than you might imagine. So, you know, I don't think it was like trying to film 'Star Trek' in Times Square." [4]
Graphic designer Timothy Peel has revealed that none of the animated advertisements or news feeds seen in Toronto were rooted in real world products or events. "We had to replace any signage that could be a legal issue. We do this for many ad filled locations that feature wide establishing shots, like Times Square, Piccadilly, or Shibuya. Star Trek is no exception… Fun times creating fictional CP24 style news feeds…:)" [5] However, many fixed signs advertising real-world businesses or institutions are visible in the location shots, including for Toronto Eaton Centre, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the Harbourfront Centre, Ryerson University (since renamed Toronto Metropolitan University), CIBC, Dollarama, and several more. The Roots clothing store in the Eaton Centre, identifiable on screen by tags on the clothing being sold, was also used for filming.
The filming of the car chase was accomplished using AR walls and a stationary car. Wesley and Chong recalled experiencing motion sickness due to the disorienting effect of the technology. [6]

Continuity[]

Considering that the painting in Pelia's collection of antiquities is Johannes Vermeer's The Concert, which was actually stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (not the Louvre) in 1990, she may actually have been telling the truth about that particular piece in her collection being a fake. Since she's also established to have several rather large gaps in her memory and knowledge of Humanity's achievements despite (or maybe because of) spending many millennia living among Humans on Earth (e.g. not believing lasers were a real technology as late as 2022), it's also distinctly possible she simply misidentified which museum's personnel were calling her and/or which work of art they were demanding she return to them.
This episode is the first to definitively establish the prime James T. Kirk's hometown as Riverside, Iowa. Kirk had been associated with Iowa since Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek had previously established Riverside as the hometown of the alternate reality James T. Kirk.
- Like the alternate reality James T. Kirk, this alternate timeline's Kirk is also born in space, rather than on Earth (though on the USS Iowa rather than the USS Kelvin).
  - The alternate timeline Kirk being born on the USS Iowa is likely to be a reference to the original plan for the alternate reality Kirk to have been born on a ship by the same name before ultimately being changed to the USS Kelvin. [7]
The male agent from the Department of Temporal Investigations shows La'an a holographic TCARS interface, similar to the one first seen in VOY: "Relativity".
La'an indicates that Canada is no longer referred to as such by the 23rd century, despite references in other shows that refer to Canada by name (e.g. TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles" and TNG: "Lower Decks"). However, she may be referring to the fact that Canada, as part of United Earth, no longer exists as a nation state, meaning that the name is likely only used as a geographical designation.
This version of Kirk's proficiency for chess becomes instrumental for getting them access to local currency. According to this version of Kirk, his proficiency is derived from his familiarity with Three-dimensional chess, a skill that was often displayed with the Prime Timeline version of Kirk in the TOS episodes "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Charlie X" where he would often beat Spock.
La'an shows disapproval at this version of Kirk's methods of driving. This is similar to how in TOS: "A Piece of the Action", Spock was shown to be equally critical of Kirk's driving skills. In Star Trek, a young Kirk is also pulled over by police for reckless driving.
This episode notes that multiple temporal incursions have shifted the chronological events of the Eugenics Wars from the mid-1990s, where they were first established by TOS: "Space Seed". Now, the Eugenics Wars apparently happen in the mid-21st century.
- Aaron Waltke, executive producer of Star Trek: Prodigy, had previously offered a similar explanation for the confusing placement of the Eugenics Wars, saying that "the ripples of the Temporal Cold War [shifted] the prime timeline in Enterprise." [8]
- This supports (and explains) the reference to the Eugenics Wars and World War III being the same conflict as indicated in the episode "Strange New Worlds".
- Retroactively, and in a more profound sense, the fact the timeline has shifted due to incursions also serves to explain character and technological differences seen over the years in the various prequel series, plus the fact that in the original "Space Seed", no one seems familiar with Khan, despite his own descendant having been an Enterprise officer who served (or shared adventures with) Kirk, Spock and Uhura and episodes of SNW indicating the Khan name is well-remembered.
Kirk recognizes the starship in Sera's photograph as a Romulan Bird-of-Prey, but La'an does not. This adheres to the canon established in TOS: "Balance of Terror" (and again in "A Quality of Mercy") that prime timeline Starfleet has not yet encountered this ship class and would not formally do so until the Neutral Zone Incursion of 2266.
- In a similar vein, La'an chronologically becomes the second Starfleet officer after Pike to knowingly come face-to-face with a Romulan. However, beyond making a reference to having altered her ears, Sera's Human disguise prevents La'an from becoming aware of the Romulan/Vulcan physical similarity.
- Moreover, as established in TOS: "This Side of Paradise" and DS9: "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" Vulcan individuals have roughly three times the strength of any comparable Human individual; and due to their common racial heritage, so too must the Romulans. Hence Sera's being more than a match for La'an in hand-to-hand combat despite having a somewhat slighter build and none of her opponent's genetically augmented ancestry.
Kirk assumes at first that he and La'an have landed in New York City. Prime Kirk later finds himself in the real New York City in TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever".
Some aspects of the story parallel both TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever" and TAS: "Yesteryear", as well as Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard:
- A change in the timeline results in a sudden personnel change on the Enterprise – most notably the fact Spock is no longer a crew member. ("Yesteryear")
- Similar to in PIC: "Penance", the change occurs in the 2020's and results in the United Federation of Planets no longer existing.
- Kirk and La'an find themselves in a public place dressed in uniform and realize quickly that they need to obtain modern-day clothes. They do so by stealing them. ("The City on the Edge of Forever")
- Kirk and La'an encounter law enforcement and attempt to explain themselves (only unlike Kirk and Spock in "The City on the Edge of Forever", Sera assists).
- Kirk and La'an find themselves at a "fixed point in time" that must not be altered. Both cases required a World War to proceed as history recorded ("The City on the Edge of Forever")
- La'an encounters Khan, her young ancestor, much as Spock encountered his younger self in "Yesteryear".
  - This also resembles Jean-Luc Picard meeting his ancestor Renée Picard in PIC: "Fly Me to the Moon".
- La'an's newfound romance with Earthfleet Kirk is cut short by his death, much as Kirk lost Edith Keeler ("The City on the Edge of Forever")
- Although without any apparent impact to the timeline, at least two Humans are killed by Sera in the past; in "The City on the Edge of Forever", a 20th century man dies when he accidentally shoots himself with a phaser, but this has no apparent impact on the timeline, either. (At least, so it is assumed; Sera's revelation about the timeline being altered places a question mark over whether these events and others, such as Gabriel Bell presumably vanishing from history once Benjamin Sisko ceases impersonating him after the historic figure is killed prematurely (DS9: "Past Tense, Part II") may not have indeed contributed to the alteration of the timeline.)
- In addition, the idea of seeking out a long-lived crewmate who is expected to be on Earth in the past parallels how Guinan was utilized in both TNG: "Time's Arrow" and Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard.
- This is also the first of two times that Kirk has been one half of a doomed relationship because of time travel that ended in the death of one partner, in this case, the male (Kirk).
The license number on the Ford Focus, "JT22 K33", is a reference to Kirk's initials (JTK) and birth year (2233).

Apocrypha[]

By coincidence or by design, this episode bears some similarities to the 1985 novel Killing Time, which also features Romulans attempting to prevent the existence of the Federation through means of temporal sabotage. In that telling, the Romulans circa 2269 dispatch android agents to assassinate Humans who were crucial to the founding of the Federation in 2097, but Vulcan still ended up founding the Interstellar Alliance of Planets, including Humans as members and holding the Romulans' ambitions of conquest at bay. The Alliance fleet's counterpart to the USS Enterprise is the VSS ShiKahr, commanded by Spock, with Kirk as a disgraced ensign. When the Romulan project is discovered to threaten the unraveling of spacetime, Spock and Kirk travel back in time to ensure the correct course of history.
This episode also shares some similarities to the novella "A Less Perfect Union", part of the 2008 anthology Infinity's Prism. In that story's parallel reality, John Frederick Paxton successfully attacked San Francisco in 2155, prompting United Earth to withdraw from the Coalition of Planets, whose members instead go on to form the Interstellar Coalition. The Romulans decline to wage war against the weaker Coalition in the 22nd century, instead taking action a century later when Earth is finally on the verge of the joining the Coalition. Spock does not exist, but in 2264, Pike commands the UESS Enterprise, with Kirk as XO.