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So, I watched this one again the other day; Matt Frewer travels through time in a 26th century time pod, but in the end he's a con-man/failed inventor from the 22nd century who killed the original time-traveling scientist and stole his pod.

At the end of the episode, the E-D crew see through his ruse after he attempts to steal a bunch of gear; he's caught, and the time pod leaves without him, as it's on an automatic schedule. He goes to Federation jail, the end.

...Wait. Where did the time pod go? He obviously intended to return to the 22nd century to get rich off of the stuff he stole, so wouldn't the pod return to his lab in the 22nd century? Somehow, no one found it in the 200 year interim? Is it still there, collecting dust on Earth in the 24th century? Or are we to assume that without a pilot, it would return to it's home century?

Giant loose thread, if you ask me.

Tsukiyumi wrote:Where did the time pod go? He obviously intended to return to the 22nd century to get rich off of the stuff he stole, so wouldn't the pod return to his lab in the 22nd century?

Yep:

RASMUSSEN
(continuing)
If the auto-timer is programmed
the way I think it is...
(MORE)

STAR TREK: "A Matter of Time" - REV. 9/25/91 - ACT FIVE 56.

66 CONTINUED: (2)

RASMUSSEN (cont'd)
in about two minutes we'll be on
our way back to a place called
New Jersey... I'm afraid you
won't be awake for the ride.

Somehow, no one found it in the 200 year interim?

Looks like.

You could stumble upon a timepod tomorrow and have no idea what it was, I cant remember this episode but I doubt it was labled "Time pod"

No, but it was obviously a ship of some sort. An unscannable one at that. You'd think somebody might take notice of that sort of thing.

Tsukiyumi wrote:No, but it was obviously a ship of some sort. An unscannable one at that. You'd think somebody might take notice of that sort of thing.

No, it's simply a random silvery box. When it was found it was probably prodded for a bit, then thrown into a warehouse with the alien skulls and arks of the covenant and forgotten about.

Captain Seafort wrote:

Tsukiyumi wrote:No, but it was obviously a ship of some sort. An unscannable one at that. You'd think somebody might take notice of that sort of thing.

No, it's simply a random silvery box. When it was found it was probably prodded for a bit, then thrown into a warehouse with the alien skulls and arks of the covenant and forgotten about.

And then found about 200 years later by some dude who works out how to use it, becomes a Time Traveller, then ultimately runs into some con artist in the 20th Century.

Always loved this episode Data's bad ass line - "I assume your handprint will open this door whether you are conscious or not"

Assuming it didn't get buried in rubble, or that Rasmussen actually programmed it right. I think 'winging it' would almost be giving him too much credit.

Yeah, what if he messed up his coordinates and it appeared a few hundred feet below the surface? It might easily never be detected.

Gives new meaning to the phrase 'rocks fall, everyone dies'.

Keep in mind it went to New Jersey.... if it appeared in Camden, Newark or Trenton it would have been stripped and then used as a homeless shelter....

Seriously, it could have been found by the 22nd century folks and just covered up. Or the original owner(s) found it.

Anyway I never really thought about that.

Yeah. there's about a thousand ways for the damned thing to be overlooked.

Found by a 20th Century TV Show producer who thought - "Hey, that would make a cool prop"

Or Temporal Enforcement got off their asses and did something useful, intercepting the pod in the 22nd century and taking it.

Probably the most likely in story answer.