Talk:All Good Things... (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Untitled
Holy cow, talk about too much detail. As this article stands today, the author clearly knows the episode well, but it reads more like a high school book review than an episode synopsis. This episode could have easily been covered in two, maybe three paragraphs if you include the ending.

Ellipsis
Does anyone object to me swapping the contents of this article with All Good Things..., i.e. making "All Good Things . . ." (with the spaces before each dot) redirect to "All Good Things..." (without the spaces), which would contain the article?

The episode title at startrek.com doesn't have spaces between the dots, nor does the text on this article's image and it looks odd when some of the dots flow onto the next line (e.g. in List of Star Trek: TNG episodes). If no-one replies, I will move it in the next few days. Marky1981 00:08, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I have now moved it and updated the important references. Marky1981 23:22, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Having just re-watched the episode, a few factual corrections...


 * Picard obtains 2 days worth of memories in "minutes", not hours
 * The previous Q trial was 7 years, not 6 years, ago.
 * The article asserts that the Q continuum didn't think Picard "had it in [him]" to sacrifice his crew 3 times. But the actual dialogue from the episode mentions nothing about the importance of sacrificing the crew; it was instead "realizing the paradox" that the continuum didn't think Picard "had in him".

Bloopers?
Maybe a section on bloopers could be added, maybe not. I just had to mention this zinger: When Picard's back in the past (and meets Data, for kinda the first time), Data has the rank of Lieutenant JG (this is just before Encounter at Farpoint). Yet in the pilot episode of TNG, Data is already a Lieutenant Commander? GoodDay 16:40, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

How about Data referring to Picard as 'the Captain' in the future timeline? Is his official title not 'Ambassador'? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.42.245.99 (talk) 21:17, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

-- Not necessarily. The served together for a number of years....Data probably still thinks of Picard as "Captain." Remember, Geordi used the term on him before they went to look up Data. Worf used the term as well....although it could be argued he was referring to Beverly. It happens in real life as well. When I was in the Air Force, my shop supervisor at my base was a Chief Master Sgt....and the form of address is "Chief." He retired about 3 months after I arrived, and when he came back for a visit maybe 6 months later, we all called him "Chief"...but it was pretty clear his rank had become his nickname. I could never think of him -- even 25 years later -- as Gordon....I still think of him as Chief.


 * Here's one for you: in the earlier timeline, Data says that all 3 tachyon pulses were caused by the same ship (i.e., the Enterprise). But the pulse in the future timeline was actually caused by Beverly's medical ship, NOT the Enterprise!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.107.138.40 (talk) 05:23, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I believe that's covered somewhere - possibly in the novelisation - where it's stated that the dish technology used in the Pasteur (and indeed all Federation ships since) is based on experimental technology first used in the Enterprise - so although not the same ship, it's close enough. Chaheel Riens (talk) 19:57, 8 August 2013 (UTC)


 * How about all the episodes that Q has completely different personalities? The one where the Q Continuum turn him human in particular.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.209.9.59 (talk) 00:45, 14 July 2019 (UTC)

A Christmas Carol
Would this be the right place to mention the similarities between All Good Things and A Christmas Carol?

France?
Probably a sarcasm by Q, based on JLP's [inconstant] francophilia. Take anything that Q says with a grain of salt. CFLeon 02:46, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Trivia?
In the past and present timeline, the anomaly grows backwards in time, growing larger as it moves through anti-time, thus appearing to shrink from the perspective of Picard and his crew in normal time. However, in the future timeline, the anomaly does not exist until it is created, showing that at that point it is moving forward in normal time and, presumably, backward in anti-time. The reason for this difference is not explained in the episode.

- Doesn't Data mention a theory about how the anomoly is propogated in the future and then goes into the past and becomes larger?
 * Yeah, the anomaly should have been there when they looked for it in the future and then disappeared when they scanned it. I think there was a bit of parallel universe action as well, which could be used to explain it. --Surturz (talk) 05:50, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

I have no way of proving this, but I (Chuck Nichols) created a Futuristic Enterprise roughly a year before the final episode aired. I drew it up, and instead of mailing the original to myself and sending a copy to Paramount, I mailed off the Original to Paramount. The designers only changed one thing, I had the anti-proton cannon on the top of the Enterprise, they put it on the bottom for the show (A good idea in hindsight). This is the honest truth, I didn't get to watch the final episode broadcast because I had to work, so I taped it. My roommates got to watch the show as it aired and they were aware of my future Enterprise design because I showed it to them and got a positive response from them. When I got home they told me I was gonna freak out when I watched the show, They were right, I thought it was really cool they used something I created even though I didn't get any type of credit for it, but that was ok, Star Trek is my favorite show and I felt good knowing I contributed something. SteelRaptor24@aol.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by SteelRaptor (talk • contribs) 02:49, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

My head hurts...
Reading this article has made my brain implode! Das654 21:24, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Hey, better implode than explode! 24.222.8.32 20:13, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Implode or explode, the important question is which direction in time is it doing it in? 121.44.142.90 16:23, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Now I'm even more confused! --Das654 (talk) 14:56, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Inverse Tachyon Pulse
Just made a slight clarification in the notes. It was DATA who mentioned that when scanning the inside of the anamoly it appeared that there were two other tachyon pulses all generated by the Enterprise, not Picard. Later on Picard simply said "we were the cause of the anamoly" not specifying exactly which ships were involved.....wrong again Data. Don't you just love it when data says a trademark "However...."? This episode features my all time favorite when he realizes an inverse tachyon pulse could scan the inside of the anamoly.
 * On the Inverse Tachyon Pulse bit, I'll need to pull out my copy of the episode, but I'm fairly certain all three pulses were generated by the Enterprise. There is a scene showing all three together around the anomaly, two Enterprises, and a third with the 3 nacelles. ...teddy 17:19, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, there is a shot that shows the three Enterprises (including the one with three nacelles) but that is after Picard asks captain Riker to go back and re-establish the pulse. When they do go back, they find that the anomaly is there, and it was therefore created by the Pasteur when it used the inverse tachyon pulse. (under the theory that it grows both backwards and forwards in time from the point of creation by the Pasteur, otherwise there would be nothing there when they get back to it "later"...) --Jean seb 17:46, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Similarities with other shows / episodes
I just saw the episode Parallels, and noted some similarities. This episode has Worf going from one "quantum reality" to another. Things change around him, first minor (a cake being chocolate first, then yellow; a painting being on another wall in his quarters; people standing in different places as they were a second before) then more important (people having died; changes in rank; Worf being married to Troi). Near the end, there is a scene that reminded me of All Good Things... where a large number of other Enterprises from the other realities around a quantum rift. It strikes me as odd that two episodes, both in season 7, would have so much in common; and it strikes me as equally odd that I hadn't noticed until today.

I also recently saw The Triangle, in which the Bermuda Triangle is explained as being a rift caused at a certain date and which gets bigger backwards in time. The military think that by blowing up a bomb in the rift, they will seal it, when in actuality it is what causes it. When the main protagonists convince them not to detonate the bomb, the world changes around them (à la Back to the Future) and the rift (hence the Bermuda Triangle) never existed, but they are somehow the only ones to remember it as well as all the events in the previous reality.

I just thought it would be interesting to add a section with these similarities. Comments? --Jean seb 17:46, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Plot summary
At around 1800 words, the plot summary had been tagged as (much, much) too long. I've restored it to a version from an older revision and now it's only a little too long. --Tony Sidaway 07:42, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Trifid nebula??
Can anyone verify that the nebula shown in the last few seconds is the Trifid Nebula? Pi.1415926535 (talk) 16:04, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, it would appear so. Although rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise compared to the pictures in that article. 77.250.97.191 (talk) 00:45, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Inspiration?
"The episodes title served for the inspiration for the title of the last episode of Red Dwarf, Only the Good...."

Are we sure about this? Given that they're two completely different expressions ("All good things must come to an end" versus "only the good die young"), I'm puzzled as to what the connection might be. Or is it simply the ellipsis that was supposedly 'inspired' here? In which case, do we have a cite, or are we assuming a link? - Skadus (talk) 19:41, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

City of Death
This show's plot was clearly inspired by the Doctor Who episode City of Death. --Howdybob (talk) 09:29, 7 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Not unless there's a reliable and notable source that says so, I'm afraid! The similarities could easily be coincidence. 203.217.150.68 (talk) 02:21, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the proposal was moved. --BDD (talk) 16:31, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

All Good Things... → All Good Things... (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – I recently created an article for the finale of The Hills, which is also titled "All Good Things..." I suggest adding the "(Star Trek: The Next Generation)" disambiguator to this article (as I have done for The Hills), and redirecting the plain title to the existing disambiguation page for All Good Things. WikiRedactor (talk) 17:42, 8 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Weak Support I'd argue that TNG is more culturally well known than The Hills, but at the same time they are just both television episodes and the move would be reasonable on that stance. --M ASEM (t) 17:48, 8 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Weakly against I can't find a good precedent for this anywhere, which makes it a hard decision. There are other episodes that have a similar problem I suppose (for instance, Dawson Creek's final episode was also called "All Good Things..." although it was considered non-notable after some discussion). I think what might be best, barring the discovery of some obvious precedent/guideline, is to simply add a hatnote to the top of this page to make it easier for Hills fans to find the right episode. An example can be seen at the top of this article, where there's a quick hatnote to take people to other pages... in fact, maybe this is the precedent we're looking for. 87Fan (talk) 18:12, 8 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The article on Hatnotes here on WP doesn't do a lot to help clarify this - it makes it appear that it's not necessary that all articles with a similar title be disambiguated - but it doesn't really say why. Anyway, I stick with my original vote - and suggest use of the hatnote. 87Fan (talk) 18:28, 8 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Support this should become a disambiguation page link -- 76.65.128.222 (talk) 02:31, 9 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Support Seems reasonable enough.  Chaheel Riens (talk) 08:54, 9 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Support Looks like a fair enough proposal. Seeing as we're making a disambig list, we might as well include the Dawson episode too (just as a piped link). Miyagawa (talk) 08:05, 11 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

I am temporarily undoing the change in redirect target. The proponents of this move should take care of fixing all of the links to All Good Things... to point to the correct article before redirecting it to the dab page. It's not appropriate to just break dozens of links by changing a redirect target, and it's easier to fix the links first since you know what article is intended, rather than leaving it up to someone else, to whom it may be less obvious what the intended target was.--Srleffler (talk) 15:55, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

Time Jumping
The time jumping in the story reminded me of Slaughterhouse-Five movie time jumps. I was looking for a common category to list them both under but there isn't one, is there?--Mark v1.0 (talk) 19:26, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Flying cars
Somebody removed my category. There are flying cars, hovercars to be more precise. They were also seen in Star Trek Into Darkness and multiple other Star Trek episodes.

In the TNG finale, there was one shown at Cambridge University. In Into Darkness, there are both hovercars and aircars. Yet someone reverted it and said that it wasn't featured in the film. Yes...they were.

Noah Tall (talk) 13:56, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Louise Elisabeth de Meuron
The character Q impersonates Louise Elisabeth de Meuron in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode All Good Things.... I am quite sure this is true, but I can't find a reference. I reckon it's notable enough to include in the article if you can. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 15:30, 17 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Are you sure? When does this happen? I can't find anything through a Google search, and I'm sure Memory Alpha would mention it if it was true. Moozipan Cheese (talk) 18:17, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

Recognizing themes like Alheimer's Disease in the episode
I'd like to comment on the themes in this Star Trek episode. There are a few, but the one that got my attention is the bit about Picard's senility in the future. I find the story line around his Irumodic Syndrome has obvious parallels to Alzheimer's Disease. it can be difficult dealing with someone who's agin and this episode showcases those difficulties. Maybe a different forum (or article) would be a better place for the comment, but something that Star Trek does so well is to highlight topics from our own society and put them into an episode's thematic structure and offer commentary. Discussing the episode can then be a way for an audience to distance themselves from a difficult topic and still get to discuss it. It's an important reason for Star Trek's success, I think - but that's just like my opinion, man. That's a non-objective nor verifiable fact that I wouldn't know how to source. Liberty5651 (talk) 18:19, 3 November 2018 (UTC)


 * It's not an uninteresting topic, but this article is not the place for it. A "Themes" section is not unthinkable, but per WP-logic such a section should only summarize what reliable sources has written about "Themes" in this episode. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:34, 5 February 2019 (UTC)


 * Right, right. Can we talk about it here? Liberty5651 (talk) 02:58, 15 February 2019 (UTC)


 * For the record: no. Wikipedia is not a discussion forum. -Jason A. Quest (talk) 13:40, 7 September 2019 (UTC)