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All Our Yesterdays (Star Trek story #78 in production order) written by Jean Lisette Aroeste directed by Marvin Chomsky

All Our Yesterdays

Star Trek's third season actually has some really fascinating episodes to offer at the very end of its run, not least of all is the original series' best time travel adventure yet. "All Our Yesterdays" keeps its nose clean with regard to healthy time travel theory, unlike "The City on the Edge of Forever" which messed up its temporal theory disastrously, and then made that theory more important than any of the more worthy philosophical principles that Star Trek wants to be proud of. "All Our Yesterdays" also stays way ahead of "Assignment: Earth", by not only keeping actual events in line with good temporal theory, but by also keeping dialogue and speculation in line as well, AND delivering an interesting dramatic adventure to boot. Mr. Spock gets some fascinating character development in this one, along with some unique, tense scenes. There is much variety and entertainment value amongst the story's various settings. The futuristic library is something that usually works well in science fiction, yet shows up all too rarely on the big or small screens. This one is kept lively thanks to a wonderful character creation - Mr. Atoz. Nice. The dialogue for his interaction with the crew feels a tad contrived to skirt around the hot porridge and keep the main premise of the story a mystery until the first act is complete, but this is done very entertainingly and with its own subtler surprise turns as well.

Kirk's sub-plot in a pseudo "Salem" town is the least successful of the three locations, winding down into all-too-predictable capture-and-escape routines after some initial good stuff investigating the time travel phenomenon with his subordinates. At least Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planet Development seems to have some validity here. But this part is not without interesting characters and clues, and its larger guest cast does help balance out the loneliness of the other two settings. Thankfully, Kirk trades the setting back in early on to go and have some more fun with Mr. Atoz.

The Ice Age territory that Spock and McCoy explore turns out to be only slightly less interesting than the library, yet compensates for this by having the richest character development for Spock, offering something that no other story has done before or since. Worth the price of admission alone.

Zarabeth's story of having only the bare essentials for survival is undermined by the fact that her hair and make-up have been so meticulously done, and she's had her legs waxed quite recently. Bizarre.

But one of this story's nicer points is the fact that we're not traveling into Earth's past. This is the alien planet Sarpeidon. There's no threat of altering the known history of Salem, it's brand new territory. Equally, Sarpeidon women like Zarabeth may not need to wax their legs. This territory has space for total creative freedom. Excellent. Go with it.

The main premise is still a bit weird - a whole society disappearing into their own past. It's a bit depressing that they've given up all hope of their collective future, instead chasing their tails and disappearing like the infamous oozalum bird. But somehow it seems appropriate as original Star Trek winds down, and begins airing in a continuous loop in syndication, with most viewers having no clue what came first or where the start of Star Trek was.

But then again, if you believe each journey from the past to the future must branch out differently according to each person's choice, how can they not now have a second chance to develop space flight and save themselves another way when the time eventually comes again?

Spock's character twist seems a bit at odds with the idea of the atavacron changing people to fit in with the time they enter. One is tempted to think it would have to have been used on Spock to get the result we see.... and perhaps it was in earlier versions of the script. Strange that no one else seems to be suffering their own version of this effect. Then again, McCoy seems a bit too uncharacteristically antagonistic and physical himself now doesn't he?

Perhaps Spock's bit is better explained as some kind of telepathic link he unconsciously has with all the rest of his race, which picks up different signals from them depending on the time period he is in. You see? Science fiction always has an explanation. :-) And I stood there pleased as punch with myself.

So there you have it. Season Three proves yet again that it's still got the Star Trek magic. You haven't appreciated the full range of Spock until you've seen this episode. "All Our Yesterdays" - the best Star Trek time travel story yet. Enjoy!

Star Trek Season Three "Purist" Standard DVD Box Set:
	Watch the legend mature to the end of its original run. Set contains all 24 episodes from the third season in their original wacky broadcast order, plus new bonus features including a specially restored version of the original pilot "The Cage". As someone interested in researching how the episodes actually looked and sounded originally, and when and exactly how certain musical cues first debuted, this was the DVD set for me, and it remains the most untampered-with full-season collection of Star Trek out there. Unique extras include pure text commentaries on select episodes. Sadly, these sets are starting to become rare, and prices are now rising as these become collectors' items....
DVD U.S.	DVD Canada	DVD U.K.	Standard DVD Extras include: To Boldly Go... Season Three featurette (22 min.) Life Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig (11 min.) Chief Engineer's Log (6 min.) Memoir from Mr. Sulu (9 min.) Star Trek's Impact (9 min.) Original Prop recreation featurette (7 min.) Text Commentaries on "The Savage Curtain" and "Turnabout Intruder" "Red Shirt Logs" Easter Eggs (19 min. total) Production Art (still menus) Original Trailers for every season 3 episode (1 min. each) "The Cage" (all colour, 63 min.) "The Cage" (BW/colour mix + Gene's intro, 71 min.)
Standard DVD remastered with CGI: Region 1, NTSC, U.S. Region 1, NTSC, Canada Region 2, PAL, U.K.		The Original Series Remastered Sets The re-mastered Star Trek set for season three, like that of season two, seems destined to be obsolete in very short order. Its content is easily surpassed by the more respectful presentation on Blu-ray, and unlike the "purist" DVD release listed above, appears to have none of its own exclusive content. Add to that the very gimmicky, awkward packaging that is prone to damage both during shipping and with light usage, and I'd have to recommend that all devoted Trekkers should consider other options for their ideal TOS season three product.
Season Three - Blu Ray
	24 episodes @ 51 minutes, plus pilot episodes... Star Trek sets are now available on Blu Ray. Picture and sound quality restoration has gone up yet another notch since the remastered version, as have the liberties taken with "upgrading" the episodes. Once again, even newer CGI effects and optical shots have replaced many space scenes, matte paintings, and phaser effects.... but this time the upgrades have the same respect and user-functionality applied to select Doctor Who DVD releases since 2002, as the CGI effects can now be turned off to see the original effects. Good show. It seems that the music has still been tampered with too much for my liking though.
Blu-ray U.S.	Blu-ray Canada	Blu-ray U.K.	Blu-ray features include: option to watch original or new CGI effects. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (unaired version, HD) Captain's Log: Bob Justman (HD, 10 min.) Behind-the-scenes 8mm home movies part 3 (HD, 11 min.) from Billy Blackburn (Lt. Hadley / DeForest Kelley stand-in) David Gerrold hosts "2009 Convention Coverage" (HD, 20 min.) "The Anthropology of Star Trek" ComiCon Panel 2009 (HD, 4 min.) "The World of Rod Roddenberry" ComiCon 2009 (HD, 7 min.) BD Live Portal main featurettes from previous releases "The Cage" pilot versions from previous releases

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