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By Chris Snellgrove
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Do you know that top-of-the-line episodes of Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology owes its existence to one of many weirdest ones? In “Samaritan Snare,” the alien Pakleds are so memorable that it’s simple to neglect the B story during which Captain Picard bonds with Wesley Crusher over many issues, together with the subject of Starfleet Academy. Picard mentions laughing when he acquired stabbed within the coronary heart as a cadet, and the later episode “Tapestry” confirms that he has been caught in a time loop, one that the majority followers have by no means even seen.
All As a result of Of Q
The rationale we all know Picard is in a time loop goes again to “Samaritan Snare,” when he advised younger Wesley Crusher how he laughed when he was stabbed within the coronary heart. “Tapestry” lets us see this complete incident in larger element, together with the truth that Picard is laughing as a result of Q has successfully restored his timeline. “Tapestry” is a season 6 episode, one which retroactively clarifies that Picard is in a time loop and that Q’s restoration has successfully all the time been part of his life.
Revealed In Tapestry
Even by Star Trek requirements, this Picard time loop revelation is bizarre to grasp, however don’t fear: we’ll break it down faster than Geordi La Forge can repair the warp core. In “Tapestry,” the Enterprise-D captain practically dies, and he sees Q, who claims to be God. Finally, the alien goads Picard into admitting that he has some regrets in his life relating to his synthetic coronary heart…particularly, the irresponsible barfight the place he acquired stabbed via the center and made the factitious alternative mandatory.
All of the sudden, Picard is alive once more and in his younger physique, and that is the start of our time loop. True to his phrase about regretting that bar combat, the long run captain holds his pal again from combating some burly Nausicaans, a transfer that averts battle however shames his friends. This retains Picard from ever getting stabbed within the coronary heart, however when he awakes in his current day, he’s now not captain of the Enterprise-D…as an alternative, he’s an unambitious junior science officer who by no means actually impressed Riker or Troi.
Quickly, the would-be captain realizes the life lesson that Q was attempting to show him: that just about getting killed in that bar combat taught him that he couldn’t all the time play it protected and that some dangers (like sticking up for a pal) are value it. Defiantly, he tells Q that he would somewhat die as the person he was than dwell as this lesser man. Picard is distributed again to that evening, and he goes forward and fights, laughing as he falls to the bottom after being stabbed.
Confirmed Earlier In Samaritan Snare
Because of “Tapestry,” we all know that his laughter is tied to his aid that his unique historical past has been corrected. Nevertheless, the truth that he laughs at this second was established again in season 2 with “Samaritan Snare.” Which means Picard is successfully in a time loop during which he had all the time laughed and Q had successfully already intervened, sending his future self into his previous physique and prompting the uncharacteristic chuckling.
On this planet of Star Trek, Picard’s journey is a milder instance of a time loop, particularly in comparison with loopy occasions like the whole ship always reliving the identical day in “Trigger and Impact.” That makes the loop simple to overlook in your first watch via TNG. As for us…nicely, we’ve lost rely of what number of rewatches now we have performed, resulting in a realization that we didn’t even want a godlike alien to offer: fandom is, on the finish of the day, a time loop unto itself.
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