Top Ten Time Travel Episodes

10

TAS: Yesteryear

"Yesteryear" ties deeply into Spock's back story, delivering an impactful and bittersweet story, which is unusually mature for The Animated Series. It stands out as a highlight of the show and as a more than worthy sequel to TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever". Written by D.C. Fontana, the story explores Vulcan culture through Spock's childhood rite of passage, the kahs-wan. Ultimately, in a predestination phenomenon, Spock becomes the man he is because of his own interference with the past. Read the full review.

9

DS9: Little Green Men

In the funniest time travel episode of classic Trek, Ferengi visitors crash on 20th century Earth, only to encounter "savage" humans that are chain-smoking and polluting the atmosphere with nuclear weapons. The story comments on the Cold War era that, at least in the late 1990's, felt as strange to us as it would have been to aliens. It also cleverly satirizes UFO hysteria and the alleged true 1947 Roswell incident. Beyond the comedy, it shows heartwarming Ferengi family dynamics as Quark, Rom, and Nog unite. Read the full review.

8

TNG: Timescape

"Timescape" builds an eerie atmosphere as the runabout crew explores the Enterprise-D frozen in time, creating tension from the sheer lack of motion and their speculation about what is going on based on "still images". The episode also has its funny moments, such as the hilarious recounts of the conference and the face that Picard draws into the warp core breach smoke. In the end, nothing is as it seemed, with alien lifeforms causing the fractured time and with Romulans facing an emergency rather than plotting a takeover. Read the full review.

7

TOS: The City on the Edge of Forever

This is the definitive time travel episode of Trek. "The City on the Edge of Forever" dwells on the tragic story of Edith Keeler and its inevitability over flashy effects and action. The episode's moral dilemma - sacrificing personal happiness to preserve history - sets the tone for many future "past incursion" incidents in Star Trek and arguably remains unsurpassed in its profound emotional impact. Read the full review.

6

VOY: Relativity

"Relativity" unfolds as the perhaps most convoluted time travel story ever, prompting me to sketch a complex "track diagram" to map its many branches. This mind-bender juggles multiple versions of Janeway and Seven in encounters that cleverly challenge causality. Yet, the story is structured to be followable and wonderfully entertaining (perhaps increasingly so in rewatches), ending in a curious resolution where punishment comes for crimes committed in the future. Read the full review.

5

TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise

This is the classic time travel episode of TNG. Despite a troubled production, the final product is seamless, with outstanding dramatic presentation. Tasha Yar returns not just for the emotional impact but proves pivotal in the inevitably tragic resolution as the old Enterprise is sent back to the past only to be destroyed. This is captured in Picard's iconic line "Let's make sure history never forgets the name... Enterprise." Read the full review.

4

VOY: Blink of an Eye

I don't think it is exaggerated to call the premise of "Blink of an Eye" one of the most intriguing in the history of the franchise. It is a bit like the video game Civilization as a Star Trek episode. The planet advances in time much faster than the rest of the universe, with Voyager becoming the mythical "Skyship" in their lore. This influences generations of inhabitants and causes civilizations to rise and fall - all witnessed by Voyager's crew and recorded by history buff Chakotay. Read the full review.

3

TNG: Cause and Effect

"Cause and Effect" is Star Trek's Groundhog Day - produced even before the famous film and just as exciting. The story urges us to stay more focused than usual, as each time loop varies slightly, with the crew's ever more worrisome déjà-vus building suspense. Probably one of the most carefully written and directed Trek episodes, it turns a simple premise into a captivating puzzle that rewards close attention. Read the full review.

2

VOY: Year of Hell I/II

Voyager's perhaps darkest journey pits the crew against Annorax, a man obsessed with restoring his lost wife. He has developed a way to alter history selectively - or so he thinks. Voyager is battered beyond repair and the situation is hopeless - until it is not, and the evil weapon erases itself from history. The ending in which time is reset and Annorax is reunited with his wife is ingenious in its ambiguity - is he going to start all over again? Read the full review.

1

DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations

The crew of the Defiant travels back to the world of TOS in the best crossover the franchise has ever produced and the best time travel episode. With amazing technical perfection for its time, "Trials and Tribble-ations" blends old TOS footage from TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles" with newly filmed scenes and puts a new spin on the old story - which is just as insightful as it is hilarious. This episode is a wonderful love letter to the franchise and its rich continuity. Read the full review.