In a nutshell, “A Matter of Time” is an episode that I have always more or less liked but that I have never felt particularly strongly about. It’s funny; three-star episodes come in such a wide variety of flavors! For instance, whereas the second half of “Unification” has an epic “feel” and some nice character moments balancing out its total mess of a plot and its disappointing abandonment of the larger ambitions set up in part one, “A Matter of Time” would be better described as a bit of relatively inconsequential, harmless fun. These are two very different episodes, but both fall squarely in the “enjoyable, but not great” three-star category.
I think the thing that works best for me about this episode is just the idea of a future historian showing up on the Enterprise to study our heroes, and perhaps witness them in action during a significant mission, firsthand. This is fun for a couple of reasons: On one hand, it sort of borrows its schtick from stories in which someone time-travels back to an actual historical setting/event. But it also gives us an in-universe character who mythologizes and geeks out over the Enterprise and its officers like a fan, and invites us to indulge ourselves by imagining that our beloved characters really are of crucial “historical” importance from a two-centuries-later point of view. I mean, for sure, the episode is very much aiming for slightly goofy fun over plausibility here. Rasmussen’s little “discoveries” about the size and layout of various parts of the ship, for example, make little sense, given that one assumes specs and blueprints would likely survive into the twenty-sixth century. (And although we never really see cameras on the ship, one has to imagine that video footage must also exist.) Surely future historians can reproduce any given Enterprise-D interior on a holodeck! A somewhat similar issue crops up when Rasmussen makes remarks like “we know very little about Data,” since this would seem to indicate that Data no longer exists in his time—yet the scene in which Data directly raises this question fails to acknowledge that, in a way, Rasmussen has already answered it. But these are nitpicks of a premise that, like I said, seems to be aiming for lightweight fun rather than full-on believability, so I’m willing to grant the episode some leeway. The fact that the regulars take Rasmussen seriously at all is honestly a bit of a stretch, and the episode also ignores that fact that his merely being there would (if he were really from the future, I mean) alter “history,” even if he refused to answer all their questions. But having him there treating the main characters like grand historical figures, and intoning things like “LaForge remained below” as though he were reciting a line from a textbook (and also as though it were deeply significant), tickles me.
I’ll say this, though: Even though I enjoy the things that I just mentioned, I kind of wish for a version of this episode that did take itself a bit more seriously…and maybe even for some other resolution than the one that we actually got. I mean, if Rasmussen had been serious about duping the Enterprise, he could have worked a bit harder at it. It’s hard to believe that future historians would really just travel back in time willy-nilly to chat up historical figures, so instead, why not pretend to have been trying to observe them covertly, then get yourself “discovered”? Also, honestly, the fact that he turns out not to actually be from the future ends up taking some of the fun out of the premise for me. What if he really had been a future historian? He could still be some kind of rogue who was acting on his own initiative and up to no good in some way, but it seems to me that the more closely his true identity resembles what he was presenting himself as, the more interesting the story. As for Rasmussen’s actual personality and demeanor: Some people, I think, find him entertainingly quirky, while others find him rather more grating and annoying…and personally, I find him a bit of both. He does get a little wearing after a while, and I could do without his smarmy pass at Crusher, but I enjoy his giddy, nerdy, absent-minded professor persona (and might have enjoyed it even more if it had not ultimately been revealed to be faked!). (As an aside here: Most people who write about “A Matter of TIme” have one take or another on the fact that the Rasmussen character was originally meant to be played by Robin Williams. Personally, I can imagine that having potentially been awesome…or, alternatively, terrible. I’m really not sure one way or the other.) Finally, in the episode as written, it almost feels like the resolution is tacked on like an afterthought. Things skip directly from the successful outcome of the “mission” revolving around the planet to the regulars detaining Rasmussen because they’re onto him, with no scenes establishing the latter. In fact, as presented, Picard must already have suspected him of being a thief and/or con man even before their big philosophical debate, because there was no opportunity for him to learn this afterwards—and that doesn’t really ring true.
That philosophical debate is the other main point of interest in “A Matter of Time,” and although one could argue that it’s mostly inconsequential (since there was never any possibility of Rasmussen divulging future knowledge), I still find it engaging. I empathize with Picard as he tries to reconcile his non-interference convictions with the weighty decision that he’s facing and the potential to peer into the future for answers, but at the same time, Rasmussen’s perspective (were he the real deal) also makes sense. To Picard, “the future is not written” (anyone in his position would no doubt see it that way)—but to someone from the future, it is, and all manner of aspects of his world may have been profoundly shaped by whatever happened, even if it was an unmitigated tragedy. (In theory, his own existence could even be dependent upon it.) I’m not at all saying that his (feigned) point of view is inevitable for a person in his (feigned) position; one could easily, for instance, come down in favor of saving millions of lives that would otherwise have been lost, no matter what it might do to “history.” But I think most people would at least by daunted by the prospect. Anyway, as a thought experiment and as a bit of characterization for Picard, I enjoy the scene. (It also kind of works as characterization for Rasmussen, when you know his deal; he’s backed into a corner and has to fake high-minded non-interference ideals to cover his ass, but as the scene progresses he slides from slick and self-possessed to whiny and desperate, and I get the sense that he has taken Picard’s earnestness to heart and really does wish he had anything to offer by the end.)
And that, I guess, is all I really have to say about “A Matter of Time.”
This episode might have been better if Rasmussen weren’t such an implausibly shitty conman. I mean, I kind of like (some of) his quirkiness to the extent it can be justified under the circumstances (his hitting on Crusher was kind of cringey and pointless, and doesn’t behaving so oddly undermine your story that you’re a historian?), but anyone who bought his flimflamery should go back to Starfleet Academy. Setting aside the silliness of choosing the Federation flagship as his target when much less well-guarded places would afford access to similar tech that is routine in the 24th century (a pretty big plot contrivance, but not one that makes him seem more suspicious at least), when all his showmanship leads up to nothing at the end, he should know that the crew would suspect he was full of shit. As you note, as someone who is pretending to care a lot about not disturbing the timeline, he gives away quite a bit about the hypothetical future he’s supposedly from (the conclusion anyone would have to draw, I think, is that something fairly disastrous happened between their two times, given how little info he has about what’s happening here). And his claim that time traveling historians don’t get caught because “we’re obviously very careful” is transparent hogwash, given that he himself obviously is anything *but* careful. Not only does he appear right in the middle of the bridge, he does it in a pompous and disruptive way that would likely disrupt the timeline in itself! The crew should be much more skeptical from the beginning of what’s happening here, that such an arrogant weirdo has showed up and stolen the show.
“as a thought experiment and as a bit of characterization for Picard, I enjoy the scene”
I have mixed feelings about this, since I’m not quite sure I buy that Picard, a man of principles and a lifetime of experience wrestling with these kinds of dilemmas, would immediately start questioning them as soon as he’s on the other side of the issue. I mean, there are times that the prime directive is applied an absurd manner that needs to be laughed out of the room (like when they let cultures get wiped out just because they don’t want to interfere with their development(!)), but if timelines really are easily unwritten with time travel in the way they are in, say, City on the Edge of Forever, Picard should realize that someone from the future would have a perspective that would involve preserving it, just like he would be expected to. Picard could have focused more on questions like “if the timeline is so delicate, why are you so fragrantly messing with it?” Of course, that would call attention to a plot contrivance that makes Rasmussen look like an idiot.
For all that, I agree with your rating, and this episode always did stick in my head, probably because I enjoyed watching it. It’s definitely an example of something that should have held together a lot better than it does, though.