Where would the Star Trek franchise be without the concept of time travel? While it's by no means an uncommon trope, some outings are more successful than others, from the show's original 1966-1969 run to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Let's do a bit of time traveling ourselves as we look back at some top-tier time travel episodes that have fans coming back to them again and again!
3. "Time's Arrow" (STTNG S5E26)
As a GenX Trek fan, I watched this episode when it first aired, and it's one I return to myself not only for the nostalgia, but also for a solid story about time travelers. The scriptwriter Joe Menosky blended history, anecdotes, and American folk heroes to contrast the terrifying future technology the Devidians use! Also, I wish I had access to time travel technology so my kids could experience having to wait an entire summer to see a cliffhanger resolved! They always roll their eyes when I talk about the pre-streaming days.
"Time's Arrow" leaves plenty for viewers to think about concerning time travel. Are there other timelines where Data faces the same fate, only with multiple outcomes? Is it impossible to escape one's destiny, or can moments that lead to disaster be undone? Only time knows.
2. "Trials and Tribble-ations" (DS9 S5E06)
This DS9 episode, written by Ronald D. Moore and Rene Echevarria, is an absolute love letter to the original series, wrapped in a time travel story. Sisko, Dr. Bashir, Chief O'Brien, and Jadzia Dax assist Temporal Investigations by traveling back in time to prevent the assassination of Captain James T. Kirk by the Klingon operative Arne Darvin and preserve the timeline.
Since the team has to travel back in time to hunt Darvin down, they arrive at Space Station K-7 just before the rumble between the Captain Koloth's Klingon crew and members of the Enterprise. There are so many callbacks and Easter eggs in this episode, with all of them so amazingly blended with the DS9 story, to make this a time travel adventure that fans of both series return to repeatedly.
1. "The City on the Edge of Forever" (TOS S1E28)
This episode is quite possibly the penultimate Star Trek time travel episode. It's also one of the series most famous episodes because of its tragic themes. Plus, it stars the lovely Joan Collins as Edith Keeler.
It's the oldest time travel story in the book: boy (Dr. McCoy) accidentally overdoses and causes the Germans to win WWII when he travels back in time via the Guardian of Forever, other boys follow, boy (Captain Kirk) meets girl, falls in love, and then learns that girl (Edith) must die horribly to restore the timeline. But seriously, it's a Catch-22 deeper than a black hole, and Kirk's agony once he learns what must happen is obvious. This is the darker side of time travel because, despite its allure, a single act might create such awful paradoxes. The late, great ultra-curmudgeon Harlan Ellison wrote this episode, and it's a master class in writing sci-fi for television.
The concept of time travel is both thrilling and frightening, and these Star Trek episodes that feature the characters bouncing around in time definitely turn the trope on its ear! With so many other noteworthy time travel episodes like The Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise" and The Original Series installment "All Our Yesterdays" spanning the franchise, be sure to share your own favorites with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And tell us what makes them so special to you.