“The Counter-Clock Incident”
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 2, Episode 6
Directed by: Bill Reed
Written by: John Culver
Original air date: 12th October 1974
The Counter-Clock Incident has a brilliant premise and story. And apart from the poor animation, it’s well executed, with characters and dialogue that felt more real than any of the previous animated episodes I’ve watched.
The Enterprise, carrying its 75-year-old first captain, Commodore Robert April, and his wife, Dr Sarah April, ends up stuck in a negative universe where time flows backwards. People speak in reverse and begin their life at old age and grow younger. Space is a white void of black stars, and a supernova is a dead star that comes to life.
The first nine minutes, where the Enterprise attempts to rescue an alien ship flying at crazy speeds into a supernova, were exciting and well-acted by the voice cast. They make contact with the captain of the ship, Karla Five, who is speaking a seemingly alien language. However, when they run her message through the universal translator, it turns out she’s speaking the same language—but in reverse. After locking a tractor beam onto the ship, the Enterprise is pulled into the supernova too and gets trapped in reverse space, at which point the crew start getting younger. I loved Kirk’s delivery of “Where ARE we?!” after they find themselves flying, backwards, through this strange, white void.
The rest of the episode is dedicated to finding a way of getting back to the normal, forwards universe. It’s similar to and follows the same structure as The Time Trap. However, The Counter-Clock Incident meaningfully explores the implications of time flowing backwards. The Time Trap barely touched on what a universe where time moves super-slowly could mean for people and was more interested in non-timey-wimey-related things. (Shouldn’t have been called The Time Trap really.)
So, Kirk and co go to Karla Five’s planet, where they meet her family. Because of the reverse ageing, her son is an old man and her father is a kid in a playpen. They work out that in order for the Enterprise to get home, they have to find two stars going supernova in the same place in both universes—one coming to life in the reverse universe, the other dying in the normal universe. Because there are no stars going supernova in both universes, Robert April suggests bringing one to life prematurely.
Meanwhile, spending more time in the reverse universe causes the Enterprise crew to start de-ageing more rapidly. Even though the animation is cheap, the animators actually did a pretty good job of showing the crew getting younger. The subtle changes to the voice acting worked well too. Spock suggests taking command because he ages more slowly, but Robert April—who has now reverted to a healthy young adult—asserts his authority as the senior officer and takes command.
The Enterprise escapes the reverse universe through the gateway created by the dual supernovas, at which point the younger members of the crew are now all children. The Aprils resolve to use the transporter to restore themselves and the rest of the crew to their proper ages. There is some discussion between them about staying young so that Robert doesn’t have to retire from Starfleet (as 75 is mandatory retirement age). But Robert decides that he doesn’t want to live his life over again and wouldn’t change anything about his life with Sarah.
In the final scene, the Enterprise receives a communication from Starfleet saying they are reviewing Robert’s mandatory retirement in light of his heroic actions. Robert points out that he can still be of service despite his age (which is a nice message).
Sure, if you think about the reverse universe concept too deeply, it falls apart fairly spectacularly. If people are born old, how are they born? When Spock says, “your descendants are born before you and your ancestors are born after you”, how can that possibly work? It might if everything literally happened in rewind mode. But it doesn’t. Everything we see the aliens and the Enterprise crew do happens forwards, not backwards. They travel to Karla Five’s home planet, they formulate a plan for escape, they make their escape. The only things we see happening backwards are the ships flying backwards through space. And talking of space, why are the stars black and space white—apart from being a cool effect?
To be honest, I tried not to think about the logic of it all and just enjoy it. And I did. And as this was the last episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series to be produced, I think The Counter-Clock Incident rounded out the series on a high.
Side note: the concept of being born old and growing younger was reused in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Innocence. It was presented more as a biological process there, rather than having anything to do with time (and again, the birthing process was not explained). In both Innocence and The Counter-Clock Incident, I would’ve liked to know how this worked, biologically. Is it a Benjamin Button-type situation? Where you’re still a baby, just an old-looking baby? This might’ve been the case with the aliens in Innocence, but in The Counter-Clock Incident, by asserting that everything was happening in reverse (even though it wasn’t) and that ancestors were being born after descendants, I have a feeling the writers never worked this out.
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Hi, C. R. Congratulations on your new novel, Million Eyes. That must be satisfying to see it in print. And as you would guess, I enjoyed this third column of yours on the animated series. Some readers might enjoy the interview I just posted with Hal Sutherland, the director of the animated series — at http://timetravelnexus.com/hal-sutherland-interview/ (or issue #18 in the Time Travel Nexus Presents link from the Columns tab up above). This is the interview that I mentioned in your last column, which I did in 1975. My memory had told me that his ranch (where I met with him) was in the San Juan Islands out in Puget Sound, but it was actually on the mainland in Bothell, just at north of Lake Washington. That was in the summer after the final episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series was aired.
Hi Michael. Thanks very much! The year was going so well till Corona hit! I’m actually really lucky. I had my book launch for Million Eyes at Waterstones bookshop (which was a fantastic success in the end) right before the UK government started putting in place strict social distancing measures. I was literally in the nick of time.
I’d been meaning to read your article and have just read it now. It’s fascinating. I was particularly interested to hear him say that he thought the animation industry was in dire straits back then because of the move towards live action. I wonder what he’d think of the industry today! And hearing him contemplate the success of the “upcoming” Star Trek movie (the Motion Picture) was interesting, too. Again, I wonder what he’d think of the journey Star Trek has taken in the last 45 years!
Brilliant interview – thanks for posting 🙂