Episode of the Week : All Our Yesterdays
- Thread starter Botany Bay
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This was an episode that with maybe one more rewrite could have been one of the best of the series. Very haunting. Points also for an original spin on time travel, with Spock reverting to Vulcan savagery and their instruments not working. And points for the name 'Atoz.'
Seven.
Seven.
One of my hopes for the new series is that we return to episodes that are about space being weird and wild, where anything can happen. I'll be disappointed if we get a DS9 retread about politics and war.
6. I always thought of it as a poor man's "City on the Edge of Forever".
A 7. One of the more interesting concepts of season three.
This. Compared to most of season three, this one is somewhat memorable, but in the broader context of the series, it's eminently forgettable.
In retrospect I enjoy the one degree of separation between M*A*S*H and this episode; the Constable in this episode was played by Johnny Haymer, who played Sgt. Zale on M*A*S*H. Everyone who interacted with Zale is thus two degrees away from Captain Kirk.
I give it a 9. I never really cared for this episode growing up but now some of the subtleties have grown on me. In "Dagger of the Mind," Spock made a comment about how on Vulcan there is no emotion therefore no motivation for violence. That gave me an impression that Spock unfairly blames his emotional turmoil all on his human side and not the Vulcan side. In this episode, he reverts back to the mentality of his Vulcan ancestors and realizes that it comes from both sides. I believe this epiphany comes when McCoy confronts him and Spock says "I have lost myself. I do not know who I am." Spock has been unfairly persecuting his human half for all of his emotional demons rather like Kirk being unfairly persecuted for witchcraft. When I came to this point of view, then the Kirk storyline seemed like a mirror to reflect the unfair persecution going on in Spock's head and the episode just really came alive for me.
He called it, "Bones."
Oh, I absolutely adore this one. Such a sad ending!
"SPOCK: There's no further need to observe me, Doctor. As you can see, I've returned to the present in every sense.
MCCOY: But it did happen, Spock.
SPOCK: Yes, it happened. But that was five thousand years ago. And she is dead now. Dead and buried. Long ago."
One of the very few "reverse bottle shows" in the series (I believe the only other one that comes close is The Devil in the Dark): there is not a single scene aboard the Enterprise, just Scotty's voice over the communicator.
"SPOCK: There's no further need to observe me, Doctor. As you can see, I've returned to the present in every sense.
MCCOY: But it did happen, Spock.
SPOCK: Yes, it happened. But that was five thousand years ago. And she is dead now. Dead and buried. Long ago."
One of the very few "reverse bottle shows" in the series (I believe the only other one that comes close is The Devil in the Dark): there is not a single scene aboard the Enterprise, just Scotty's voice over the communicator.
I love this one, fully aware it's not "great" in context of the other 78 episodes in the run. However for this late in the game, it was pretty damned nice. I love the concept of being "prepared" for you to live in the past and how they didn't go back to pivotal moments in that planet's history, but just random places and had to get back. Granted, that lowers the stakes some and Spock is really only giving up a woman he's known for only a few hours, but for Spock to lower that guard, it's huge.
Honestly, you know what gets me? The final seconds of this episode. As soon as Kirk orders "maximum warp as soon as we're there," we cut to the Enterprise high-tailing it out of there. The two note sting from "Adonias" backs the very simple, but wonderful effects shot of Sarpiedon's sun going nova, with the "Kirk in Command" cue from "Elaan" taking over, sends a chill through me. I actually recreated this edit once I got the TOS music box set.
Had this episode actually been the final episode (and for awhile, back in the day, for fans it was), it would have been a fantastic way to close the series. The TOS-R shot is nowhere near as satisfying.
For all of this and Nimoy's fine handling of Spock's journey, I give it a 9.
Honestly, you know what gets me? The final seconds of this episode. As soon as Kirk orders "maximum warp as soon as we're there," we cut to the Enterprise high-tailing it out of there. The two note sting from "Adonias" backs the very simple, but wonderful effects shot of Sarpiedon's sun going nova, with the "Kirk in Command" cue from "Elaan" taking over, sends a chill through me. I actually recreated this edit once I got the TOS music box set.
Had this episode actually been the final episode (and for awhile, back in the day, for fans it was), it would have been a fantastic way to close the series. The TOS-R shot is nowhere near as satisfying.
For all of this and Nimoy's fine handling of Spock's journey, I give it a 9.
Ssosmcin, I sent you an email. I'm saying that on the chance that I get spam-filtered, and you have to go looking for it. 
Gotta be a ten from me! What red blooded male could have resisted the urge to stay in that cave with the gorgeous Zarabeth forever and ever and ever....
JB
JB
And even sadder to me - living alone in the wilderness, she was not likely even buried. She probably just died lying in her cave, all alone.
Pretty much sums it up.
6.
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