While playing poker with
Riker, Data and Worf, a strange feeling of deja-vu helps
Dr. Crusher successfully call Riker's bluff. She is then
summoned to sickbay to examine a dizzy Geordi, and once
again experiences this sensation. When she goes to bed
that evening, she is haunted by strange voices in her
quarters. The ship continues to chart the Typhon
Expanse, a previously unexplored region of space, until
the distortion field suddenly fluctuates, the main
propulsion systems collapse, and the Enterprise is
thrown into red alert on a collision course with an
older starship. Riker recommends decompressing the main
shuttlebay, but Picard follows Data's advice and uses
the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory.
Unfortunately, this course fails, the ships collide and
the Enterprise explodes and is completely destroyed.
Later, Riker, Data, Worf and Beverly are playing cards
again, and both Riker and Beverly realize they know what
is coming next. Beverly is again summoned to Sickbay,
where she and Geordi both experience feelings of
deja-vu. When she hears the voices in her room, she
immediately goes to Picard and tells him that something
strange is going on. He decides to run a diagnostic. The
next morning, while discussing the results of that
diagnostic, the older ship mysteriously appears and the
Enterprise is again destroyed.
The card game is in
full swing again, but this time, all four players
realize they know what cards are coming next. Beverly
anticipates being called to Sickbay, and when Geordi
again shows up feeling dizzy, she goes to Picard and
repeats their previous exchange. She hears the voices in
her room again, but this time Beverly turns on her tape
recorder. The recording is studied, and Data deduces
that the strange voices are the voices of the crew.
Beverly and Geordi
realize that they are trapped in a causality loop — a
time warp that dooms them to endlessly repeat the same
fragment of time. This phenomenon is causing Geordi's
dizziness, and Data discovers that it also explains the
voices on the tape, which are "echoes" from a previous
loop. He isolates pieces of dialogue that indicate that
the Enterprise collided with another ship, exploded, and
got stuck in the time warp. Realizing that whatever they
do to avoid the collision will probably be the same
thing they have done before, Data decides the only hope
is to send a deliberate message into the next loop. They
prepare to send the message, the red alert begins again,
and the ship is destroyed.
Another card game is
in progress, but this time, the cards are different,
with everything occurring in threes. Things continue to
happen in sets of three, and the number three is seen
everywhere for no explicable reason. Other than this
difference everything occurs as before. When the red
alert begins, Picard again chooses Data's advice over
Riker's. At the last minute, however, Data notices the
three pips on Riker's uniform and, realizing "three" was
the message he planted for himself, takes Riker's advice
and leads the ship to safety. The collision avoided, the
crew is hailed by the older ship, the U.S.S. Bozeman.
The Enterprise contacts Starfleet Command, who reports
that they have been caught in a time warp for 17 days,
while the other ship has been stuck for 90 years. |
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Production: 218
Season: 5 Episode: 18
Air Date: 03.23.1992
Stardate: 45652.1 |
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Patrick Stewart as
Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes as William Riker
Brent Spiner as Data
LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn as Worf
Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi |
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Kelsey Grammer as Captain
Morgan Bateson
Patti Yasutake as Nurse Ogawa
Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren |
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In the episode, "Cause and
Effect", the Enterprise encounters a ship called the
U.S.S. Bozeman. Brannon Braga, one of the writers on the
show was raised in the town of Bozeman, Montana. This
town is also the site where Zefram Cochrane built and
launched Earth first warp capable ship, the Phoenix.
The Bozeman's hull number is
NCC-1941, a reference to 1941 (1979); Trek model maker
'Greg Jein' had been a crewmember for that film.
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Click this link to view the
complete script in a TXT format
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
"Cause and Effect"
#40275-218
Written by
Brannon Braga
Directed by
Jonathan Frakes
THE WRITING CREDITS MAY NOT BE FINAL AND SHOULD NOT BE USED
FOR PUBLICITY OR ADVERTISING PURPOSES WITHOUT FIRST CHECKING
WITH THE TELEVISION LEGAL DEPARTMENT.
Copyright 1992 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights
Reserved. This script is not for publication or
reproduction. No one is authorized to dispose of same. If
lost or destroyed, please notify the Script Department.
FINAL DRAFT
JANUARY 2, 1992
STAR TREK: "Cause and Effect" - 1/2/92 - CAST
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
"Cause and Effect"
CAST
PICARD CAPTAIN BATESON
RIKER
DATA
BEVERLY
TROI
GEORDI
WORF
Non-Speaking
ENSIGN RO FIRST OFFICER, USS BOZEMAN
NURSE OGAWA
Non-Speaking
SUPERNUMERARIES
STAR TREK: "Cause and Effect" - REV. 1/9/92 - SETS
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
"Cause and Effect"
SETS
INTERIORS EXTERIORS
USS ENTERPRISE USS ENTERPRISE
MAIN BRIDGE
OBSERVATION LOUNGE USS BOZEMAN
SICKBAY
ENGINEERING
RIKER'S QUARTERS
BEVERLY'S QUARTERS
CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM
USS BOZEMAN
BRIDGE (SEEN ON VIEWSCREEN)
STAR TREK: "Cause and Effect" - 1/2/92 - PRONUNCIATION
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
"Cause and Effect"
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
CAUSALITY kaw-ZAL-i-tee
DEJA-VU day-zha-VOO
DEKYON DECK-ee-on
TEMPORAL TEM-po-ral
Click this link to view the
complete script in a TXT format |
