ST: I have no concept of time

This episode is Tomorrow is Yesterday, and in fact I have no concept of time. No, what I mean to say is I have no idea what this one is about. So off we go, into the unknown together then. Ah, we open with a "modern" US Air Force plan taxiing for take-off. I've seen clips of this before in special features. Apparently our heroes have gone back in time somehow and have to deal with us backward 20th century folk. Just to start with, the Enterprise is about the most unconvincing model ever when they put it in the "blue sky".

I have to admit, though, I like the time travel stories a good deal. Star Trek IV is a lot of fun. Ooh, a black star tries to pull them in and the slingshot effect sends them through space and they don't know where they are... Or when! Dun-dun-DUN!

I'm not sure what a "black star" is. Maybe they mean a black hole?

Oh, noes!11! They discover that they've gone back in time as a result of the "whiplash" and they're in "the late 1960's" because the radio news says the first manned moon mission is planned for later in the week. Could this have anything to do with the pilot that has been sent to intercept them?

Of course, the standard protocol of sending two planes has been ignored because it would make sense.

Did they really arm interceptors with nuclear tipped missiles? I don't recall that from my reading about the military of that era. I think any missiles that could carry a nuclear warhead would be a bit big for a single engine fighter.

"This is difficult to explain. We're from the future." There. That didn't seem that hard.

Yay! The Grandfather Paradox!

At least the fighter pilot seems appropriately baffled and fascinated. I'm always a bit off-put when people take something extraordinary completely in stride.

For you, ze time-stream iz over! They're threatening to keep him on board and take him... Back to the Future with them. Heh.

I'm betting that though he doesn't contribute to history in a significant way, I'm betting that one of his kids does though and they have to let him go.

Of course, the pilot is trying to escape. He won't know how to run the transporter, but Kirk doesn't think of that. Ah, bugger. He did try that. He ought to have tried for a shuttlecraft.

Yep, his kid is the commander of the first mission to Saturn.

Oh, it is to cry aloud with mirth, they're going to sneak into the base and steal his camera footage so there's no proof of their existence. But do they try to make their clothes inconspicuous? No.

Interestingly, it's Kirk and Sulu who go on the retrieval mission. Sulu, okay, you'd want a competent officer, but Kirk doesn't make sense.

Awesome-sauce. The MP catches them, sets off the emergency signal on the communicator and gets beamed up to the ship. Kirk gets an F at sneaking. He didn't keep a proper look-out.

Still, digging the episode. It's silly, but it's not ridiculously awful.

So they set off a silent alarm and Kirk gets pinched, but none of the MPs shoots him. Which would be a very quick decision once he decides to fight. Of course it gives Sulu time to beam out.

Oh. My. Goodness. They're doing it again. Once again Bones curses Spock for his dispassionate response to the crisis.

The MP colonel has a fancy-handled revolver. It looks like a Jesse James kinda thing.

Excellent. The MP is properly dumbfounded by their technology. Most excellent.

Double-cross! The pilot snags an MP's revolver and holds them hostage, but Spock has anticipated him and uses the Vulcan sleeper hold on him.

Oh the techno-babble about how they're going to get back. I won't summarize it, but it was a load of nonsense.

Why would the clocks actually move backward? That's just silly.

How does the pilot know which button on the transporter panel to hit to answer Kirk on the bridge? Particularly upside down.

And it all comes out in the wash. Hurrah.