Two Hours
From Hidden Frontier
| "Two Hours" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: Hidden Frontier episode | |||
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| Episode # |
Season 1 Episode 4 | ||
| Directed by | Jennifer Cole | ||
| Written by | Rob Caves | ||
| Produced by | Rob Caves | ||
| Cinematography by | Rob Caves | ||
| Editing by | Rob Caves | ||
| Production Code | HF 1.04 | ||
| Original Air Date | 2000 | ||
| Running Time | 23:34 | ||
| Streaming Video Link | Link | ||
| Guest Stars | |||
| Season 1 episodes | |||
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| Episode Chronology | |||
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| HF Season 1 Page | |||
Contents |
Episode Summary
Synopsis
The Independence is caught in 29th century intrigue when the crew discovers a legendary event in the past may have occurred due to tampering with the timeline.
Investigation
Captain Knapp discusses information collected by a probe passing through a remote area of the Briar Patch with Commander Johns. It is suggested that it might be a Federation signal, and Starfleet has ordered an investigation. Commander Johns reports that the Excelsior is still undergoing repairs after the last Grey attack. With Knapp aware of the situation and also concerned with negotiations with the Tzenkethi, he sends the Commander with the USS Independence to investigate. Johns reports that the Independence lost most of her crew during the last rotation, so with permission from Knapp, Johns reassigns some of the Excelsior's crew to join the investigation.
Upon arriving in the remote area of the Patch, Lieutenant Martinez begins to scan the anomaly. He immediately detects gravitational shear from the anomaly. When viewed on-screen, it looks like a bright ripple. Counselor Elbrey asks if this could be a subspace rift. Commander Johns questions the possibility given they are in the middle of the patch itself. Martinez then reports a vessel approaching from behind. Immediately, Johns takes the ship to red alert and raises shields. When Martinez is asked to identify the vessel, he notes that it is a Federation vessel of unknown design. He is unable to scan its interior.
Johns orders the unknown vessel scanned. Elbrey indicates that she has been trying to hail the ship and received no response. As the ship closed with the Independence, it opened fire. After a few shots, Martinez reports that shields are down to 50%. Johns, acting quickly, orders the ship's course reversed and to go to maximum warp. As they prepare to enter warp, the port nacelles is hit and begins leaking plasma. Johns orders to return fire, but their weapons have no affect. With the hull buckling and power systems failing, Johns gives the order for evasive maneuvers, instructing Barrett to enter the rift as they are sitting ducks if they stay in one place. Before entering the rift, Johns has Elbrey send out a distress signal.
As they approach the rift, the unknown vessel attempts to cut them off. With some maneuvering by Barrett, they manage to enter the rift. Once inside, the entry point closes off and they are traveling through what appears to be a tunnel. Barrett reports that they are approaching the other event horizon. Once they leave the rift, they appear above an ocean with a single moon visible. Barrett reports that they are in a planetary atmosphere. Though the thrusters are sluggish, he should be able to keep them airborne. Martinez reports that the warp engines and primary systems are offline; they are on auxiliary power only.
On the Other Side
John orders a scan to determine where they are. Elbrey informs the Commander Johns that there is something for him to see, a vessel 100 kilometers off the port bow. When viewed on-screen, Johns is surprised by what he sees -- a ship of an old design. Martinez confirms that they are on Earth.
Later, in conference, Martinez confirms that they are in the early 20th Century somewhere over the North Atlantic Ocean. Elbry provides sensor analysis, stating that the vessel ahead of them is taking on water and within two hours, will sink. Barrett, out of concern, asks how many are aboard. Martinez states that number is over 1,000. Johns explains that it is the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage out of Liverpool. The Titanic struck an iceberg and sank whilst not carrying enough lifeboats. Johns informs the others that the Titanic is something of a hobby of his.
Elbrey states that what Johns is saying appears to be correct. Matinez tells them that when they left the rift, sensors monitored some unusual energy readings coming from the Titanic. When asked to explain further, he indicates that the readings are consistent with those of a Federation tractor beam. The iceberg had been moved 375 meters, just enough to get in the path of the Titanic. Martinez suggests that someone is trying to change the time line by sinking the Titanic. Barrett informs them they need to find the tractor beam, as they not have enough time to figure out this puzzle. Martinez cautions about going to the Titanic to look for it, as it may damage the time line, but Johns assures him that with appropriate costume and limited contact, the time line should not be impacted.
Barrett then asks how they will get to the Titanic, given that the transporters are offline. Elbrey asks about the shuttle craft, but Barrett reminds them that they are still on Deep Space 12 being upgraded. Johns orders the use of the captain's yacht, from which he and Elbrey will board the Titanic to look for the tractor beam while Martinez makes repairs. Barrett recommends that the Captain should stay on board, but Johns indicates that this is an opportunity he cannot pass up.
Aboard the Titanic
The captain's yacht is launched and approaches the Titanic from underwater. Johns and Elbrey then use the transporters on the yacht to board the Titanic. Once aboard, Johns, dressed in a tuxedo and top hat, scans for the location of the device but encounters a dampening field. Elbrey, dressed in fur, suggests that they split up. Johns orders that they keep communication open and to be careful, as there may still be operatives aboard.
Johns locates the device, remarking that it is not standard issue. Johns studies the device further, amazed at what he sees, never having seen anything like it. The beam used gravity wells making the beam invisible. Just as he pulls out his tricorder, First Officer Lightoller approaches him, informing him that the area they are in is only available to crew members. After he introduces himself, he makes mention of how Johns is also from the future as well. Johns remembers that Lightoller was on duty when the Titanic sank, but also learns that Lightoller was on the ship that attacked the Independence. Before Lightoller is able to attack Johns, Elbrey shoots him from behind.
Temporal Mechanics
With Lightoller in the brig, the senior staff convenes once again to discuss recent events. Johns believes that Lightoller put himself on the ship to confirm the sinking of the Titanic itself. Barrett states with that information, there is no way of knowing if the Titanic was supposed to sink or not. Elbrey continues the line of thought with the idea that the time lines is being altered to get rid of something or someone. Barrett wonders why someone from the distant future would want to change something in the past to affect future events. Without further information, Johns states that they need to figure out a way to get the remaining passengers off the ship. Elbrey recommends that they have a gangway they can use, but they must be within thirty feet to use it. Before departing for the brig, he orders Barrett to figure out a way to travel further back in time to prevent the Titanic from hitting the iceberg.
Johns talks to Lightoller, though he says very little that is helpful to Johns. Lightoller is already aware of Johns' plans to rescue those aboard the Titanic. When asked how he knew that, Lightoller mentions they have done this many times before. With the breaking up of the Titanic being close and the lifeboats gone, the Independence moves into range to use the gangplank. Once in range they lower it to begin allowing passengers aboard. Lightoller suggests that Johns is rescuing people that should already be dead and the only true way to assure their death is to destroy the Independence. Martinez reports a comm signal from the brig. Lightoller says his good-byes and transports away, having beamed through the brig's force fields. With the disappearance of Lightoller, the ship that had previously attacked the Independence resumes its attack.
Three-quarters of the passengers are aboard, though more may be in parts of the ship unable to get to the gangplank. Johns states they can only save those that they can. The Titanic will be too steep to permit further boarding within 15 minutes, but they only have a few minutes until the ship that previously attacked them reaches them. They have a few shots from the phaser banks, but no energy available for shields or torpedoes - they are a sitting duck, taking heavy damage. The few shots they do have do little damage and the constant shaking of the ship makes the gangplank unstable and passengers fly off. Johns orders the closing of the cargo bay doors and to move off from the Titanic. Martinez needs a moment to reroute power to the thrusters. During this pause, the Titanic finally breaks in half. As they move away, the Independence suffers a major hull breach, damaging her port impulse engine. Barrett is unable to maintain altitude and she eventually sinks into the ocean.
Causality
With fear of hitting the ocean floor, which would crush the ship, Johns stresses the need for the thrusters to be brought back online. While Martinez tries to comply, another ship approaches. To their surprise and relief, the ship is different than Lightoller's. The new ship extends it shields around the Independence and holds it in place to prevent it from sinking further. Once that is complete, the new ship hails the Independence. The person on-screen knows Johns by name and states her name to be Captain Ziminski of the time ship Causality. She requests the status of the ship, which Johns provides. Ziminski reports that Lightoller is a part of a powerful faction in the future that wishes to eliminate their rivals by killing their ancestors. The Causality had hoped to prevent the change in the time line but Lightoller's ship. They then opted to rescue those on the Titanic and reintegrate them in the time line. When asked how the Independence fits into this plan, Ziminski indicates that they had hoped to place the survivors in the 24th century, but Lightoller's ship ended up attacking the Independence instead.
Johns offers their assistance. Ziminski tells him that they need to keep Lightoller occupied while the Causality rescues the remaining passengers. Johns would comply but informs they are no match for the ship. Ziminski offers to give them some fusion cells to get their ship working for a bit. Johns asks if that would not damage the timeline; Ziminski answers that it is the lesser of two evils.
With both ships emerging from the ocean, Lightoller's ship is on a pursuit course. With the fusion cell transfer from Ziminski, the Independence has half-shields and use of phasers and torpedo launchers. With the Causality completing its mission and heading towards the rift, the Independence takes on Lightoller's ship. It breaks off its attack with the Independence and follows the Causality into the rift. Independence pursues and enters the rift. Inside the rift, with no sign of the Causality, Johns orders Barrett to keep the Independence within 900 meters of the enemy ship and activates the ship's auto-destruct sequence. It is Johns' hope that if they are successful, everything will return to normal. Most of the crew are injured or killed prior to the auto-destruct completing, which destroys Lightoller's vessel in the process.
Deja Vu
We are taken back to the beginning when the Independence approaches the remote area of the Patch, this time with no trace of the anomaly. The crew was successful, but have no memory of what they have done before, they feel this is their first time at this location, despite a feeling of deja vu. They head for home, Johns bemoaning getting the "boring missions".
On their way home, we see Johns working on his replica of the Titanic when Counselor Elbrey visits him, talking of dreams she has had of the Titanic. Johns has also felt the need to work on his model of the ship. Elbrey was not familiar with the Titanic story and is told by Johns that only 711 people survived. Elbrey is unsure if that number is correct. She asks if there were any alien sightings involved with the story of the Titanic's sinking. Johns says no, but asks her why she asked the question. Elbrey believes that there might be other survivors out there. When asked how she knows this, she says she just has a feeling about it.
Background Information
- Due to an mistake in the episode research, there are errors in the passenger count of the Titanic.
Memorable Quotes
- Johns: Helm, evasive maneuvers. We are going into that rift.
- Barrett: (shock) Sir?
- Johns: We are sitting ducks if we stay here...
- Johns: Elbrey, I want you to come aboard the Titanic with me, we've got to find the source of that energy reading.
- Barrett: Sir, shouldn't you be on the Bridge?
- Johns: What? And miss the chance to go aboard the Titanic?
- Martinez: Lowering the gangplank...I always wanted to say that!
- Johns: Helm, plot a course for the surface, take us...up!
Production Notes
- This episode was originally slated as a late second-season episode of an earlier fan series project, Voyages of the USS Angeles, but changed to be a Star Trek: Hidden Frontier script to accommodate the inclusion of different episode into that series.
- Astute observers will notice that the view screen for the Independence in this episode appears to be the Enterprise-D's main view screen, and they'd be right. This plate was made in anticipation of it being used for the Voyages of the USS Angeles, which featured a Galaxy III-class ship in the titular role. It was not replaced in time to reflect the change for the episode's original release. It appears to have been corrected for the episode's "remastered" high-resolution release.
- Even more astute observers will notice that Titanic's hull lighting seems to remain in place when it breaks in half. This is due to a rendering error that was not noticed until after the final episode tape was produced.
- Incredibly astute observers will note that the second-to-last shot of a Sovereign-class ship in the episode is actually of the Independence's sister ship, the USS Angelfire.
- This episode features the first use of electronic props as a tool of the storyline. The tricorder and phaser that were functional were lent to the crew for use on the show by their owner, Mike "Indy" Johns. They are seen occasionally in future episodes, as well as a second "hero" tricorder model that was obtained in early Season 5.
- John Whiting was a last minute replacement for the original actor scheduled to play Lightoller.
- Reneé Huberstock appears for the first time in the series, not as Admiral Alynna Nechayev, but as "Captain Ziminski" of the 29th century Federation time ship Causality.
- Adrianne Lange, the actress who plays Ensign Jenna McFarland was not available to fill the post of the flight control officer of the Independence during shooting, so Ensign Andrew Barrett served in the post, with disastrous results.
- The episode was re-released in April 15, 2006 to commemorate the 94th anniversary of the Titanics sinking, and is the fourth to be released in high-resolution.
- The soundtrack for this episode was primarily derived from the Titanic soundtrack, composed by James Horner.
References
| Hidden Frontier Universe Chronology | ||
| Previous "Enemy Unknown, Part 3" | 2377 Stardate 54xxx | Next "Perihelion" |
