Well here we are again, another one of my favourites. This sort of episode is perfect for me for all the reasons you mention: ship in peril, time loop: all we need is some portals and a time traveler and it’d be perfect. It’s also Dr Crusher heavy (as you say) which provides strong “Remember Me” vibes.
I don’t love the way that Data figures it out and communicates with himself: I was never really convinced by that. On the other hand, I haven’t been able to come up with anything better he could have sent round the loops: however, I’m not a Trek writer.
I also wish that they had been stuck in the loop for a lot longer: 17.4 days isn’t long enough, it almost makes it seem too easy. “Groundhog Day” (the film) didn’t answer the “how long?” question”, but it made it clear it was a long time, and “Groundhog Day” (the regrettably short-lived musical) really leant hard into the “Phil’s been going around this loop for a really long time” aspect whilst also never answering the fundamental “how long?”.. It’s not really reasonable to expect Trek to not immediately know “how long”, so I just wanted it to be longer.
In a more modern version of this, they would have been stuck in there for years and then there would be some background repercussions from that in the subsequent episodes. But this was a different time.
Great commentary, Ian! I'm glad you share my feeling that the resolution is a little too pat... it doesn't ruin the episode, but it just feels like there was a more satisfying escape that could have been teased out of all the moving parts.
And very interesting remarks about the length of time inside the loop! You're quite right - if this were a contemporary show, they would have been in the loop for years, and had to deal with all the dramatic repercussions and hand-wringing consequences of their disappearances and reappearances. Thank goodness TNG was in the 90s and could breeze all over these issues! 🙂
Embarrassingly, it was only after I posted the above that I remembered the obvious difference between this and many other timeloop things ("Groundhog Day", as cited, and also "Palm Springs", "12:01 PM", "Edge of Tomorrow", and probably more I can't remember now) is that in "Cause and Effect", the people in the loop don't know they're in the loop. The standard plot for a time loop is that the person or people retain their memories, so they know they're looping: the "hey, maybe we're in a time loop..." bit goes quickly at the beginning, and the narrative arc is typically dominated by "how do I/we get out?".
In this case, the "how do I/we get out?" question is sort of coalesced into the "hey, maybe we're in a time loop..." part.
Well here we are again, another one of my favourites. This sort of episode is perfect for me for all the reasons you mention: ship in peril, time loop: all we need is some portals and a time traveler and it’d be perfect. It’s also Dr Crusher heavy (as you say) which provides strong “Remember Me” vibes.
I don’t love the way that Data figures it out and communicates with himself: I was never really convinced by that. On the other hand, I haven’t been able to come up with anything better he could have sent round the loops: however, I’m not a Trek writer.
I also wish that they had been stuck in the loop for a lot longer: 17.4 days isn’t long enough, it almost makes it seem too easy. “Groundhog Day” (the film) didn’t answer the “how long?” question”, but it made it clear it was a long time, and “Groundhog Day” (the regrettably short-lived musical) really leant hard into the “Phil’s been going around this loop for a really long time” aspect whilst also never answering the fundamental “how long?”.. It’s not really reasonable to expect Trek to not immediately know “how long”, so I just wanted it to be longer.
In a more modern version of this, they would have been stuck in there for years and then there would be some background repercussions from that in the subsequent episodes. But this was a different time.
— inw
Great commentary, Ian! I'm glad you share my feeling that the resolution is a little too pat... it doesn't ruin the episode, but it just feels like there was a more satisfying escape that could have been teased out of all the moving parts.
And very interesting remarks about the length of time inside the loop! You're quite right - if this were a contemporary show, they would have been in the loop for years, and had to deal with all the dramatic repercussions and hand-wringing consequences of their disappearances and reappearances. Thank goodness TNG was in the 90s and could breeze all over these issues! 🙂
Always great to hear from you - stay wonderful!
Chris.
Embarrassingly, it was only after I posted the above that I remembered the obvious difference between this and many other timeloop things ("Groundhog Day", as cited, and also "Palm Springs", "12:01 PM", "Edge of Tomorrow", and probably more I can't remember now) is that in "Cause and Effect", the people in the loop don't know they're in the loop. The standard plot for a time loop is that the person or people retain their memories, so they know they're looping: the "hey, maybe we're in a time loop..." bit goes quickly at the beginning, and the narrative arc is typically dominated by "how do I/we get out?".
In this case, the "how do I/we get out?" question is sort of coalesced into the "hey, maybe we're in a time loop..." part.
-- inw
Very good point! That's because this is a 'true' temporal loop and not a morality tale framed through repetition of events.