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Cause And Effect (TNG S5 E18)

Published on: 31st March, 2026

Cause And Effect (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), S5 E18) was recommended by he/him, who said: All right, I realize we're supposed to recommend the... less than stellar episodes of Trek, but Cause and Effect is a classic TNG episode for good reason. While time travel episodes have been done to death in the franchise, the Groundhog Day loop in this one presents the crew with a genuine mystery that they have to puzzle out, which comes across with slowly dawning horror as they piece the puzzle together and realize that they may have no way out. Plus, it's got a literal banger of a teaser which has yet to be topped :)

Cause And Effect first aired on March 23, 1992, written by Brannon Braga, and directed by Jonathan Frakes

The Enterprise becomes stuck in a time loop but the crew retain some memory of previous instances. Guest star Kelsey Grammer as Morgan Bateson.

The Joy of Trek is hosted by Khaki & Kay, with editing & production by Chief Engineer Greg and music by Fox Amoore (Bandcamp | Bluesky)

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About the Podcast

The Joy of Trek
Every Star Trek story is somebody's favorite, and that might as well be us!
Two lifelong besties (and their trusty engineer) adventure through the vast constellations of Star Trek's decades on TV, especially the lesser-loved stories.

But instead of bitching about why they’re bad, we’re going to find the joy in each of them, because everybody loves the great episodes, but it takes dedication, insight, and hard-working fools to love the clunkers too.

And by Jove, we are those fools!

Positive, inclusive and optimistic (though not uncritical!) we try to find the brilliance even in the least-loved episodes of our favorite TV shows!