All Our Yesterdays (Star Trek: The Original Series)

"All Our Yesterdays" is a third season (and the penultimate) episode of the science fiction television series, Star Trek, first broadcast March 14, 1969, and repeated on August 5, 1969. It is episode #78, production #78, written by Jean Lisette Aroeste, and directed by Marvin Chomsky. It guest-stars Mariette Hartley as Zarabeth. The title comes from a well-known soliloquy given by Macbeth in Act V Scene V.

In this episode, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are trapped in two parts of another planet's past—a world threatened with destruction when its sun goes supernova.

Plot

The USS Enterprise arrives at the planet Sarpeidon, whose star is soon to go supernova. Surprised to find the surface devoid of humanoid life, Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Spock beam down to investigate. They encounter one last Sarpeidon resident, a librarian named Mr Atoz who scolds them for being very late. Aware of the imminent destruction, Mr Atoz tells the perplexed landing party that he will soon escape to rejoin his own family. Atoz shows them the Atavachron, a time portal that connects to Sarpeidon's past documented on the library's discs. Suddenly, they hear a woman scream. Kirk instinctively runs through the portal and McCoy and Spock follow. Mr Atoz tries to warn them all that they were not "prepared".

Kirk finds himself alone in a period similar to England in Earth's 17th century while McCoy and Spock are 5,000 years back in Sarpeidon's ice age. They cannot locate the portal's entrance to return but the three are able to speak to each other. Spock correctly surmises that the Sarpeidons have all escaped to their planet's past.

As McCoy and Spock search for shelter, Kirk tries to bring the woman who screamed back through the portal but is unable to find it. The woman is a thief, and the policemen who soon come to arrest her also arrest Kirk. They hear Kirk speaking to his friends and suspect him of dealing in witchcraft. In the jail, Kirk mentions the Atavachron to the interrogating prosecutor. This visibly startles him, and Kirk suspects he is also from the future. The prosecutor panics and leaves. As Kirk later attempts an escape, the prosecutor returns and confirms Kirk's suspicions but explains that returning to the future would be fatal. But Kirk points out that Mr Atoz says that they had not been "prepared" before going through the portal, and the prosecutor warns that an "unprepared" person can survive in the past only a few hours. The prosecutor quickly leads Kirk to the portal and he returns to the present.

McCoy and Spock are saved by Zarabeth, a woman who takes them to a sheltered cave. As McCoy recovers from severe exposure, she explains to Spock that she too is from Sarpeidon's future, but a tyrant banished her to this era after some of her relatives were implicated in an assassination plot. She also explains that the Atavachron is a one-way trip. Spock uncharacteristically accepts this and becomes increasingly hostile to McCoy's continued desire to return to the present. Spock also begins to fall in love with Zarabeth, and physically attacks McCoy when he accuses Zarabeth of not telling the full truth. McCoy realizes that Spock is reverting to the barbarism of the ancient Vulcans, and this shocks Spock into controlling his emotions.

Back in the library, Kirk tries to enlist Mr Atoz in the search for his friends. Despite explaining that they are not even from this planet, Mr Atoz stuns Kirk and tries to force him back into the portal. Kirk awakes just in time, overpowers Mr Atoz and forces him to help find McCoy and Spock. Eventually Kirk is again able to talk with Spock and McCoy, and with the portal reopened Spock and Zarabeth bid a tearful farewell. Upon their return, Atoz places his own data disc in the Atavachron and bolts through the portal to his chosen escape. Back in the present, Spock quickly reverts to his normal self, and with hardly any time to spare the three are beamed back to the Enterprise which warps out of the system as the star explodes.

Sequels

Author A.C. Crispin wrote two novel sequels to this episode, titled Yesterday's Son (#11), and Time for Yesterday (#39) (Simon & Schuster).

Notes

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "All Our Yesterdays"

• "All Our Yesterdays" at StarTrek.com
• "All Our Yesterdays" at the Internet Movie Database

• "All Our Yesterdays" at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• "All Our Yesterdays" at TV.com
• "All Our Yesterdays" Remastered version at TrekMovie.com
• "All Our Yesterdays" December 12, 1968 draft; report & analysis by Eric Paddon
• "A Handful of Dust" precursor to "All Our Yesterdays"; story outline and analysis by Dave Eversone