HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
“Time Amok” is a great example of how a simple story can eschew becoming a “Very Special Episode.” While the story focuses on teaching a lesson—the necessity of working together—“Time Amok” raises the bar beyond just the teaching of a lesson. Plus, we explore some fantastic Trek tropes without it feeling as though we’re getting a primer on what Star Trek generally tends to be.
Plot Ahoy!
Drednok reports Nandi’s message to the Diviner, and even though the coordinates place the ship too far for the Rev-12 to intercept, the Diviner observes that there are other ways for his influence to be felt.
Janeway recognizes that the events of “First Con-tact” have not only shaken her young crew’s confidence but have proven to be divisive. In order to address the issue, she sets them a problem on the holodeck. They must get a chicken, a fox, and a bag of grain across a river, but her efforts prove entirely fruitless. After the attempt fails, Dal reveals that they aren’t a crew and that they stole the ship. He storms to his quarters, and Zero stays to explain the situation to Janeway.
Dispirited, Gwyn wanders the hallways, and as she stops to look through a window, Jankom Pog encounters her. They both admire what Gwyn identifies as a tachyon storm, and she mentions that the storm might interrupt gravity aboard the Protostar. Jankom panics, shouting that gravity is all that keeps the proto-drive stable. He speeds to the engine room only to find a breach in progress. He tells Janeway that he has ten minutes to repair the engine, but as soon as he makes the observation, the core breaches, destroying the ship.
Janeway pops back into existence and finds Rok-Tahk alone aboard the ship and panicking. Janeway notices that objects appear to be floating in the background despite the fact that gravity appears to be functioning. Janeway deduces that the temporal anomaly the ship encountered threw each member of the crew into a different temporal phase, in which time will run faster or slower. Janeway begins peppering Rok with questions and orders, and an overwhelmed Rok asks that the computer force Janeway to go away.
Janeway’s next stop along the temporal sine wave is Zero who has not only determined what’s going on but has devised a solution. Zero tells Janeway that a warp matrix will re-stabilize the warp field, but Zero unfortunately does not have time to build the matrix. What Zero does instead is drafts schematics that Janeway can access and therefore pass to another member of the crew in a different temporal phase. Once again, the core breaches.
Janeway blips back in Dal’s quarters, where Dal is playing some sort of video game. She comes to him and tries to tell him that he needs to build the warp matrix. Dal initially refuses to pay attention, but she convinces him to try. He first runs to the vehicle replicator, but an enormous file appears to have tied up the device’s total capacity. Dal, despite believing he will ‘mess up’ the construction, builds the warp matrix by hand, but he needs a dilithium coupler in a particular size, which he doesn’t have time to find. Janeway tries to hold his hand and tells him she’s proud of him right before the Protostar explodes.
Janeway finds Gwyn in a timeline running fairly close to normal time. However, precisely because the timeline runs normally, the vehicle replicator is able to complete building from the mysterious file. The machine builds a fully functioning Drednok, who heads to the bridge to take over the ship. Gwyn attempts to stop it, but Drednok overpowers her and uses Chakotay’s authorization codes to erase Janeway’s program. Gwyn tells the murderbot that the ship is in breach, so Drednok ascertains not only that Dal’s warp matrix needs a dilithium coupler but where said coupler is located. Drednok repairs the matrix, but Gwyn opens the entire engineering compartment. The vacuum sucks both Drednok and the matrix out into space. Gwyn returns to the bridge where she leaves a message for Rok-Tahk.
Janeway materializes, much to her shock, in Rok-Tahk’s company. Rok explains that she rebuilt Janeway’s program, after 276 unsuccessful tries. Janeway asks about the warp matrix, and Rok reveals that she built that as well but simply did not know where to install it. Rok installs the matrix, saving the ship and restoring the appropriate timeline. All of the crew find Rok and celebrate, but Gwyn asks Janeway how long Rok was alone. Janeway responds that she was on her own for too long.
While the crew celebrates their survival, one the partially completed Drednok’s eyes starts to glow from the floor of the vehicle replicator.
Analysis
The riddle Janeway chooses to animate should be a familiar one, as it’s been around for ages. I can certainly remember being asked to answer the riddle. I find it interesting that Janeway makes that selection considering that the solution doesn’t exactly require teamwork, but the episode makes a far better choice with respect to providing its characters with a puzzle. “Time Amok” deftly follows on from Janeway’s efforts to create a situation in which each character’s participation and aid is required. None of them have the option of sitting on the riverbank eating space popcorn (Jankom, I’m looking at you) because the stakes for this episode are incredibly high. Their very lives depend on their ability to work together, and what’s fantastic is that each character offers a contribution perfectly in keeping with their own strengths.
Jankom identifies the problem just as it happens. Zero designs a solution. Dal scrapes together the necessary components and begins the process of welding it all together. Gwyn communicates to Rok-Tahk what they need her to do to save them all, and Rok finally, finally gets to shine. More importantly, she finally determines what her role will be. Rok has admittedly been a somewhat peripheral character, offering her caring but not driving the plot, nor does she have a clearly defined role the way Jankom does, another character due some real development. In “Time Amok,” Rok does some growing up and some learning, both in terms of math (so MUCH math) but also in terms of what she wants and how to ask for it.
The episode opens with the rest of the crew saddling Rok with the role of security officer, likely emphasizing her brawn, and Rok is enormous to be fair. However, “Time Amok” picks back up one of the threads that got dropped from the pilot. Rok initially tells Dal that even though she’s big, she’s not dumb, but then, she never gets the opportunity to flex her intellectual chops until now. She also has some growing up to do, and the infinitely more settled Rok at the end of “Time Amok” contrasts markedly with the overwhelmed and very young Rok from the episode’s beginning. I just wish her maturation process had not required such a horrific impetus.
“Time Amok” does a good job of highlighting just how long Rok was alone. She tells Janeway that she attempted to recompile her program 276 times. She explains how she had to teach herself programming, engineering, and again, so much math. Gwyn immediately recognizes how much time such an undertaking would require, which is why Gwyn approaches Janeway to ask. We don’t get a straight answer as to how long Rok was alone, as it’s a complicated question considering the episode’s time-centric plot, but Janeway’s expression conveys that Rok’s experience was far more terrible. Process for a moment that Rok was entirely alone for that period. She had no Janeway and no other crewmembers; the episode dumped a very young character into total isolation. There’s a subtle horror there that the episode intelligently acknowledges, trusting in its audience. I think that’s fundamentally the right choice.
Aside from Rok’s contribution, Dal and Gwyn continue to act as plot drivers. Dal’s story segment is short, but it conveys a certain amount of growth. The story forces Dal to gird his loins and push himself in a way we had, until this episode, yet to see. The moment he reaches out to Janeway achieves an even greater level of poignancy considering how deeply Nandi’s betrayal last episode cut. Janeway steps into a much more maternal role, offering Dal affection and acceptance Nandi did not, and that makes for a great moment.
The episode continues driving the story forward. I’d like to know how Drednok not only acquired Chakotay’s access code but also his voiceprint. Could Chakotay have attempted to trigger the Protostar’s self-destruct functionality? How did the Diviner and Drednok lose the Protostar? Did Chakotay attempt to alter Janeway’s memories as Drednok seems to imply? “Time Amok” leaves us with more questions than it resolves, but I do feel very much that we got some really solid forward progress.
Rating:
Four crates of chimerium
Stray Thoughts From the Couch:
- There’s an aspect of horror to Rok’s predicament that I can’t shake. Yes, she needed to move out of being the baby of the group, but this story definitely chooses a rough way to mature her.
- Drednok looks awfully comfortable with the Protostar, how long was the murderbot aboard?
- I loved the sequence with Murf. Janeway’s tangible frustration was spot on.
- I am very much looking forward to seeing Jankom Pog get some development. He’s overdue, frankly. Prodigy still struggles a bit with handling the totality of its ensemble, which is a problem common to Star Trek, so no shade there. It is, however, time.
- I also really want to see how Janeway parses what she learned about her crew going forward. Prodigy just has so much going for it.
- I see what you did there, title. I see the TOS reference.