History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E26S6E1TimesArrow

** Clemens is about to take his watch with him, but after realizing it was found in the cave hundreds of years later, he puts it back down.

* HustlingTheMark: Jack chuckles at Data "pretending" to be a French moron and hustling three of the biggest card sharks in San Francisco. Of course, the poor sharks had no idea they were dealing with someone who can count cards better than any organic being, has the ultimate poker face and can stack a deck without anyone realizing it.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Mark Twain's [[http://smcgrat.blogspot.com/2007/12/mark-twains-was-world-made-for-man.html response]] to [[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Russel-Wallace Alfred Russell Wallace]] is a little misplayed here. Wallace only made the mistake of thinking man was the pinnacle of evolution, as if evolution had a goal. He never thought man was the center of the universe. However, Twain's real response was a more scientific reaction than the spiritual one given in the episode.

* ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject: {{Lampshaded}} by Data, who says people have a habit of changing their conversations when he enters a room -- just as Riker and Troi just did. If he had his emotion chip installed, one would get the impression he was getting ''annoyed'' at it.

* DarkWorld: The Devidians 'out of temporal phase' state is treated like this.

* CallBack: Guinan had earlier stated that a bald man was kind to her once. Here the camera brings special attention to Picard taking off his hat after he saves her.

* HistoricalInJoke: In 1893, while putting up monitors in gaslights, Picard tells a guard it's to proof them against earthquakes. The guard scoffs at the notion of an earthquake in San Francisco -- since the last one hit almost 30 years prior -- but 13 years later...

* InThePastEveryoneWillBeFamous: Samuel Clemens (aka Creator/MarkTwain) gets involved in the plot for no good reason at all (you could replace him with a non-famous 19th century person, and the story would still be pretty much the same), and the hotel bellboy turns out to be Creator/JackLondon. There's no evidence that the two writers ever met in real life, [[ArtisticLicenseHistory and Clemens wasn't even in San Francisco when this episode takes place – he was touring Europe at the time]].

* StableTimeLoop: Picard leaves the watch behind, along with the other artifacts they discovered at the start of the episode.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: InUniverse, Jack pesters Mark Twain to collaborate on a writing project. He then mentions he's going to Alaska, and Mark quickly gives him this advice, though mostly to get Jack off his back. (Jack [[Literature/WhiteFang takes]] [[Literature/TheCallOfTheWild his]] [[Literature/ToBuildAFire advice]].)

* ShoutOut: Funny-looking guy from space mistaken for French? Where have we [[Film/Coneheads heard that before]]?

* HustlingTheMark: Jack chuckles at Data "pretending" to be a French moron and hustling three of the biggest card sharks in San Francisco.

The ''Enterprise'' is called back to Earth to investigate an unusual artifact - which turns out to be Data's head, apparently left untouched for five centuries. While investigating the cause behind this, Data enters a portal which leads him into 19th Century America. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew discovers that shapeshifting aliens are kidnapping human life energy from that time period and feeding on it.

* BluffTheEavesdropper: Data says that one of his components is toxic when in contact with human skin, causing Twain, who nicked the component and was hiding in the wardrobe, to reveal himself -- though in this case, Data probably wasn't lying and didn't know Twain was hiding.

** Likewise when Data pretends to be a Frenchman, one of the gamblers talks to him in French. Presumably because of his OmniscientDatabase, Data can speak the language fluently.

* DiscoveringYourOwnDeadBody: The plot is kicked off by finding the Data's head in San Francisco, but he's not actually upset by this and is instead glad that he will have a death rather than live forever.

* FunnyForeigner: Data is assumed to be a Frenchman due to his odd appearance. [[SureLetsGoWithThat He decides to run with it.]] A policeman also calls him albino due to his very pale skin.

* HistoricalInJoke: In 1893, while putting up monitors in gaslights, Picard tells a guard it's to proof them against earthquakes. The guard scoffs at the notion of an earthquake in San Francisco -- since the last one hit almost 30 years prior -- but 10 years later...

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Guinan (a HumanAlien who is played by Creator/WhoopiGoldberg and thus is indistinguishable from a human of African descent) is depicted as a wealthy socialite in 1893 who goes to parties with white people who don't seem to have a single problem with her. In fact in the episode she's extremely well-liked and respected by pretty much the entire town. Probably helps that Guinan is a highly-empathetic, centuries-old alien with experience to match, so she might just be that good at making friends. It doesn't hurt that she's best buddies with Creator/MarkTwain, who was a huge backer of Civil Rights for women and African Americans. In addition, San Francisco was more tolerant than the rest of the United States... of everyone except Asians.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The people of 19th century San Francisco seem rather blasé about "a man with gold skin in his pajamas appearing out of nowhere", as Phil Farrand put it.
** Then again, we ARE talking about UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco...

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Mark Twain thinks Data and Guinan are up to no good. He's [[Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt written downbeat stories of time travellers]] in the past, and thinks Data, an inventor, will corrupt the 19th Century as the fictional inventor corrupted the 6th.

* WildCardExcuse: The answer to any question about Data's strange appearance is that he's a Frenchman. Everyone immediately understands. (It helps that he can speak French as fluently as English.)
** May double as a ShoutOut to [[Series/SaturdayNightLive The Coneheads]].

* BilingualBonus: When Data says he's French, one of the gamblers speaks to him in it, and Data replies. Both their dialogue is left untranslated. What the gambler says is his parents came from Burgundy, while he was born in New Orleans. Data comments that they're almost brothers, and he is new in town.

* FunnyForeigner: Data is assumed to be a Frenchman due to his odd appearance. [[SureLetsGoWithThat He decides to run with it.]]

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: While Data getting sent to the past was an accident, it's the rest of the senior staff (save Worf) who willingly go back. It's just as well, as Twain's reaction to seeing Worf is to exclaim, "Werewolf!" Meanwhile, Guinan instructs Picard to go to maintain a StableTimeLoop.

* HistoricalInJoke: In 1893, while putting up monitors in gaslights, Picard tells a guard it's to proof them against earthquakes. The guard scoffs at the notion of an earthquake in San Francisco -- since one had already hit 30 years prior -- but 10 years later...

* HistoricalInJoke: In 1893, while putting up monitors in gaslights, Picard tells a guard it's to proof them against earthquakes. The guard scoffs at the notion of an earthquake in San Francisco, but 10 years later...

* BluffTheEavesdropper: Data says that one of his components is toxic when in contact with human skin, causing Twain, who nicked the component and was hiding in the wardrobe, to reveal himself.

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: While Data getting sent to the past was an accident, it's the rest of the senior staff (save Worf) who willingly go back. It's just as well, as Twain's reaction to seeing Worf is to exclaim, "Werewolf!"

** No one seems to notice Geordi's VISOR, either.