Television Review: Yesterday's Enterprise (Star Trek: The Next Generation, S3X15, 1990)
Yesterday's Enterprise (S03E15)
Airdate: February 19th 1990
Written by: Ira Steven Behr, Richard Manning, Hans Beimler & Ronald D. Moore
Directed by: David Carson
Running Time: 45 minutes
Star Trek, as a franchise, has weathered its fair share of questionable casting decisions throughout its storied history. However, arguably the most perplexing choice was made not by producers, but by an actual cast member. Denise Crosby, portraying Security Chief Tasha Yar, saw little future for both the series and her participation in it during the early days of The Next Generation's first season. Her dissatisfaction led her to approach production staff with the extraordinary request to have her character killed off—a request that was shockingly granted in the ill-fated episode Skin of Evil. This moment, wherein Yar met her ignominious end at the hands of an amorphous alien entity, remains one of the most jarring and poorly executed deaths in all of Star Trek history. For six subsequent seasons, TNG continued without her, yet a palpable void remained—one that the writers attempted to fill with numerous references and half-hearted explanations. Given Star Trek's enduring fascination with time travel and alternate realities, it was perhaps inevitable that Tasha Yar would return, at least temporarily. This long-awaited resurrection finally materialised in the third season's Yesterday's Enterprise, an episode that has since been elevated to near-mythical status, frequently cited as one of the finest—if not the finest—installments across the entire Star Trek canon.
The episode opens with the USS Enterprise-D encountering a mysterious temporal rift, from which emerges another starship: the USS Enterprise-C. Almost immediately, the Enterprise-D undergoes a startling transformation, with the vessel itself appearing subtly different and Picard finding Lieutenant Tasha Yar occupying the tactical station where Lieutenant Worf should be stationed. This disorienting shift cleverly establishes that the two phenomena are intrinsically connected, suggesting the Enterprise-D has somehow crossed into an alternate universe created by the temporal incident. The narrative wastes no time in plunging viewers into this unsettling reality, where the familiar comforts of the Enterprise have been replaced by a more militaristic, battle-scarred vessel operating under the constant threat of war.
The Enterprise-C, heavily damaged and crewed by survivors barely holding on, is commanded by the formidable Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neil). As Garrett receives medical attention in sickbay, she explains that the temporal rift appeared precisely as her ship was engaged with four Romulan warbirds in a desperate attempt to defend a Klingon colony at Narendra III. Picard's expression darkens as he realises this battle occurred twenty-two years prior, with the Enterprise-C presumed destroyed. He delivers the grim news that in this timeline, the Federation has been locked in a devastating war with the Klingon Empire for two decades—a conflict that has claimed forty billion lives and is progressing catastrophically for the Federation.
What makes this alternate reality particularly compelling is how Guinan, the mysterious bartender from Ten Forward, becomes the sole crew member who senses something fundamentally wrong with the ship, its captain, and most significantly, with Tasha Yar's very presence. Unlike the others, Guinan possesses an intuitive awareness that Yar should not be alive, having perished years earlier in the original timeline. Her quiet certainty regarding the timeline's corruption becomes the catalyst for Picard's investigation, ultimately leading him to conclude that the Narendra III incident was the pivotal moment that fractured history. The logical solution—to send the Enterprise-C back through the temporal rift to face certain destruction—creates profound ethical dilemmas. Captain Garrett initially hesitates at the prospect of condemning her crew to their previously recorded fate, but ultimately consents after Picard convinces her of the greater good at stake.
The narrative tension escalates dramatically when both Enterprises come under attack by Klingon cruisers. During the initial assault, Captain Garrett is killed, and command passes to her first officer, Lieutenant Castillo (Christopher McDonald). In a poignant subplot, Castillo and Yar develop a connection during his brief time aboard the Enterprise-D, leading Yar to make the extraordinary decision to accompany him back through the temporal rift. Her choice represents a form of redemption—a chance to meet her original fate with purpose rather than the meaningless demise she previously suffered. The Enterprise-D valiantly holds off the Klingon attackers, sustaining heavy casualties, to allow the Enterprise-C to return to its proper time. Just as destruction seems inevitable for the Enterprise-D, the timeline resets, returning everything to normal—with Guinan's simple query to Picard, "Is everything all right?" serving as the gentle confirmation that history has been restored.
The script for Yesterday's Enterprise originated from two distinct concepts that miraculously coalesced into television gold. Trent Christopher Ganino envisioned Picard's Enterprise sending the original Enterprise back to certain destruction, creating profound ethical quandaries. Meanwhile, Eric Stilwell developed a concept involving a "wrong" timeline created when Vulcan scientists eliminated the ancient leader Surak, resulting in violent Vulcans at war with the Federation—a storyline that would later influence the two-part episode Redemption, which was initially conceived as the season three cliffhanger but delayed to accommodate The Best of Both Worlds. Crucially, Stilwell had met with Denise Crosby, who by this time expressed regret over her premature departure from TNG and desired a more heroic conclusion for her character.
These disparate ideas were masterfully woven together by a quartet of writers—Ronald D. Moore, Ira Steven Behr, Hans Beimler, and Richard Manning—in late 1989. The resulting narrative stands as one of Star Trek's most impressive time travel stories, drawing clear parallels to the classic Original Series episode The City on the Edge of Forever while establishing its own unique identity. What elevates Yesterday's Enterprise is how it moves with remarkable speed yet remains comprehensible even to viewers not well-versed in temporal mechanics. Like its TOS predecessor, the plot maintains rigorous internal consistency: once the error in time is identified, it must be corrected, regardless of the personal costs involved. Furthermore, the episode wisely ensures that once the timeline is restored, none of the regular characters retain any memory of the alternate reality—a narrative choice that preserves continuity while enhancing the emotional impact of the sacrifice.
Guinan's character proves indispensable to the narrative structure, serving as both the audience's anchor to the "regular" Enterprise and a moral compass guiding Picard's difficult decisions. Her Q-like perception allows her to sense the timeline's corruption where others remain oblivious, making her the crucial link between realities. Without Guinan's intuitive certainty, Picard might never have recognised the need to restore the timeline, highlighting how the episode thoughtfully integrates established characters into its complex temporal mechanics.
Yesterday's Enterprise stands out as one of the darkest episodes in Star Trek's history up to that point. It presents a Federation teetering on the brink of annihilation, with the Enterprise-D transformed into a warship bearing the scars of relentless conflict. The episode doesn't shy away from depicting graphic violence by early 1990s broadcast standards, disposing of significant characters like Captain Garrett and even Riker in the final battle with unsettling realism. This willingness to confront the brutal realities of war marked a significant maturation of the franchise's storytelling, challenging the notion that Star Trek must always present an optimistic, conflict-free future.
Director David Carson deserves considerable credit for the episode's success. His use of contrasting lighting schemes effectively conveys the more militaristic, darker Enterprise-D of the alternate timeline. Patrick Stewart delivers a masterful performance as a Picard visibly aged by war—subtle differences in his appearance, including "just a few deeper wrinkles," communicate the toll of two decades of conflict without a single word being spoken. The entire cast rises to the occasion, relishing the opportunity to portray alternate versions of their characters. Denise Crosby seizes her brief return with remarkable intensity, crafting a Yar who feels both familiar and transformed by the circumstances of this darker universe. Even Christopher McDonald, later known for his role as the hapless "Shooter McGavin" in Happy Gilmore, delivers a surprisingly affecting performance as Lieutenant Castillo.
Dennis McCarthy's musical score significantly enhances the episode's emotional impact, complementing the impressive special effects and space battle sequences to create what many consider the most cinematic episode of TNG. The production values are so high that David Carson later expressed he would have chosen this episode's plot for his feature film Star Trek: Generations had he been given the opportunity. The brief scene in Ten Forward where Worf establishes his preference for prune juice—something that would become a defining character trait throughout TNG and DS9—demonstrates how even small moments of character development were thoughtfully integrated into the narrative.
Airing during February 1990 sweeps, Yesterday's Enterprise achieved the highest viewership of any third-season episode, instantly recognised as a classic by both critics and fans. Its reputation has only grown over time, with many considering it the pinnacle of Star Trek's "Golden Age." Denise Crosby herself cited it as her favourite TNG episode. The episode's legacy extends beyond its initial broadcast, as it retroactively established crucial lore about the Klingon-Federation peace process—something that wouldn't be fully explained until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country the following year.
The narrative threads introduced in Yesterday's Enterprise found continuation in the two-part episode Redemption, which explored the aftermath of the Enterprise-C's return to its proper time and the political ramifications within the Klingon Empire. This sequel further cemented the episode's importance to Star Trek continuity, demonstrating how a single, self-contained story could have far-reaching consequences across the franchise.
Yesterday's Enterprise represents Star Trek storytelling at its absolute finest—combining compelling character drama, intricate temporal mechanics, and profound ethical questions within a tightly constructed narrative framework. It successfully resurrects a character whose departure had long been a sore point for fans, providing not just closure but genuine redemption. The episode's enduring appeal lies in its ability to balance spectacle with substance, action with philosophy, and darkness with hope. Even decades after its initial broadcast, it continues to deliver that "wonderfully queasy first scene with Guinan" that reminds viewers why Star Trek remains such a powerful and enduring franchise.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
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