Star Trek: 6 Historical Figures It Totally Made A Mockery Of

5. Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens)

In the Next Generation's sole stint with time travel during the Next Generation TV era (at least of this proportion if you count Time Squared in that category), the fifth season finale and sixth season premiere introduced the Enterprise crew to none other than Samuel "Denial Ain't Just A River In Egypt" Clemens himself. A time displacement in an underground cavern on Devidia II sends Data back to 19th century San Francisco, with the crew going after him a short time later. In San Francisco, Data encounters Clemens at a reception with Guinan, whom Data thinks followed him into the past as well but it turns out is actually Guinan from the 19th century. Data, thinking Guinan is from the Enterprise in all his infamous cluelessness, warns her of an alien threat to 19th century Earth right in front of the historically quirky Clemens, leading Clemens to believe that the alien threat is present in the Enterprise crew. Jerry Hardin portrays Clemens as a suspicious and conniving secondary villain of the two parter. Suspicious of the motives and origin of the Enterprise crew, he even goes so far as to follow them underground and hold them at gunpoint in an underground cavern to prevent them from returning to the 24th century, only to be sent back with them and seeing the Enterprise himself, eventually becoming a reluctant ally in saving Picard and Guinan, who were left behind in the cavern. Hardin also portrayed Clemens, just as well known as a humorist as he was a writer, as quite the madman, walking through the streets of San Francisco yelling about aliens in San Francisco while spinning Data's allegations to use for his next work, which ultimately served as his primary motivation.