All Our Yesterdays

DVD, Star Trek S3 (All Our Yesterdays)

The only disappointment with this one is that the other characters, apart from the big three, aren't in it (apart from Scotty's voice). The rest is rather good, with surprises and some especially varied and well made sets. We get variety in location, with snowy mountains, hot underground caverns, a cobbled street from a parallel history and the library with its time machine, the Atavachron! These are all presented very well, with special effects that all look good - from little things such as Kirk being shot by the small tube-like weapon, to the eye-catching effect as they step through the doorway, with a change in look and tempo. I admit, when Kirk heard the scream and ran through I thought it was happening outside, so it was quite a surprise when he ends up in some ancient musketeer land.

Mr. Atoz (or, since he's in charge of the library, Mr. A to Z!), and his duplicates are a fun addition. He doesn't seem to understand that Kirk and crew aren't from this planet, and busily goes about getting them into the past. Another excellent idea, having every historical period represented and available as a refuge from the coming annihilation. But where did they get such technology when they aren't advanced enough to build starships? Perhaps the Atavachron was a natural development from some unique source on their planet, which led to these discoveries, and all their resources were used in developing this technology. My favourite Atoz moment is when he gets the stunned Kirk on a sled and pushes it into the portal, the Captain rolling off just in time. It was somehow funny, despite the implications.

Spock's degeneration into the uncontrolled ancestors of the time he had returned to began so slowly and subtly it's hard to know when it began! I definitely noticed it before McCoy pointed it out, but it was so slight I thought it was strange, rather than understanding he was becoming affected by the time period, and passing through the Atavachron unprepared. It was surprising to see him eat meat, and lose control a bit. Just as surprising was Zarabeth, who promptly takes off the majority of her clothes when inside the cave. It's later explained the cave is near a hot spring, but to begin with it seemed a bit odd. She was remarkably sane, despite her situation, though I wonder how she would be after they left.

I'm sure there have been other Trek episodes when a character is alone except for one other, who keeps them there until they realise they can escape. Zarabeth wasn't quite like that, she just didn't think too hard about how they might return. McCoy gets a good ranting at the end, and it feels right that they didn't end with a laugh.

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