The Counter-Clock Incident
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 12 October 1974
- ON
- NBC
- STARDATE
- 6770.3
- DIRECTED BY
- Bill Reed
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 22023
WRITTEN BYWritten by John Culver
John Culver is a pseudonym for Fred Bronson, then NBC's publicist, who worried that a screen credit would look improper. Directed by Bill Reed.
Carrying the Enterprise's very first captain to a ceremony, the ship is dragged into a strange universe where time runs backwards, with alarming effects on the crew.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The Enterprise is carrying Commodore Robert April, the ship's first captain, and his wife Dr Sarah April to the planet Babel, where his retirement is to be marked. On the way they meet an alien vessel racing at enormous speed towards the Beta Niobe supernova. Trying to hold it with a tractor beam, the Enterprise is dragged through the star into a negative universe where time flows backwards. The alien pilot, Karla Five, guides them to her home planet, Arret, and helps search for a way back through another nova. Meanwhile everyone aboard is growing younger. Kirk and his crew shrink into children and lose the knowledge they need to run the ship, while the Aprils, who started out older, remain adults. Robert April takes command and steers the Enterprise home, and the Aprils use the transporter to restore everyone to their proper ages. To April's relief, Starfleet then rescinds his mandatory retirement.
- 01Established Robert April as the Enterprise's first captain. April was the captain's name in the original Star Trek pitch and early drafts of “The Cage”.
- 02The final episode of the animated series, and the last appearance of Lt Arex.
- 03The alien planet Arret is Terra spelled backwards. The name had appeared in an early script for “Return to Tomorrow” but not in the broadcast version.