10 More Classic Star Trek Episodes Based On Real-Life Events
9. Tomorrow Is Yesterday
Shortly after World War II, UFO sightings started becoming
more commonplace. By the early 1950s,
they had become frequent fodder for radio comedy shows. With that in mind, Associate Producer Bob
Justman came up with a truly inspired story idea. How about if the Enterprise itself traveled back in time to
the present day, and become a UFO sighting?
Earlier in the season, The Naked Time had established mixing matter and antimatter cold as a time travel method that might be employed in a future episode. Rather than re-use that process, this episode comes up with a new time travel mechanism in the slingshot around the sun (later re-used in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home).
A freak accident, lands the Enterprise in low earth orbit in 1966-ish, where they are tracked on radar and photographed by an Air Force fighter jet. Further accidents result in the destruction of the jet, which necessitates the bringing of its pilot onto the Enterprise (it's really not a very good day).
Kirk must erase all evidence of their journey, return the pilot to earth, and figure out if it's even possible to return the pilot without mucking up the timeline even further. And, oh yes, figure out how to return to the 23rd century themselves. And do it all in an hour.