DESCRIPTION:
From "Time's Arrow" Star Trek: TNG

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ON THE GENTLEMAN

who from the white hair and suit, bushy eyebrows, large
Cuban cigar, and soft Southern drawl is unmistakably
SAMUEL CLEMENS, a.k.a. MARK TWAIN. There are a couple
of people at the side, listening, but from this angle,
we don't see to whom he is primarily directing his
comments.

CLEMENS
(continuing))
This distinguished natural
philosopher has reaffirmed our
planet as the only habitable globe
in the Heavens. A world
constructed, furthermore, for the
sole benefit of man.
(beat)
He's gotten a lot of folks excited
about the notion.

75 INCLUDE GUINAN

dressed in 19th-century costume, but with a couple of
exotic touches (as though she were royalty from a
far-flung island).

STAR TREK: "Time's Arrow" - 4/06/92 - ACT FIVE 46.

75 CONTINUED:

GUINAN
Mister Clemens, why do I suspect
you're not one of them?

Her comment generates easy SMILES from Clemens and the
others. Clemens is witty, charming -- but deeply
cynical.

CLEMENS
(lightly)
Your suspicions, Madam Guinan,
are undoubtedly based upon your
keen observational skills. Now
if you'll permit me, I'll continue
my character assassination
unimpeded.

Everyone laughs.

GUINAN
Please do.

Clemens takes a big puff on his cigar.

CLEMENS
According to our best geologic
estimate, the earth is
approximately one hundred million
years of age. Perhaps it is less,
perhaps more.

GUINAN
Perhaps a great deal more.

CLEMENS
(nodding)
Indeed. But regardless, it is
ancient in the extreme. Now,
geology also tells us that Man
himself has existed for but a
microscopic fraction of those
years.

Clemens blows a big puff of cigar smoke into the air.

CLEMENS
Curious, isn't it, that the world
got by for such a great long while
with no Humans around to take up
space?
(MORE)

STAR TREK: "Time's Arrow" - REV. 4/06/92 - ACT FIVE 47.

75 CONTINUED: (2)

CLEMENS (cont'd)
I suppose Mister Wallace and his
supporters would say the world
needed all that time to prepare
everything for our illustrious
arrival.

Clemens reaches out and casually takes an OYSTER canape
off the plate of a GENTLEMAN standing near. He appears
to study it carefully...

CLEMENS
(re: the canape)
The oyster alone probably required
fifteen million years to come out
just right...

Everyone laughs as he pops the canape into his mouth.
A beat and Guinan gives him a sly smile.

GUINAN
And if the Earth isn't alone...
If there are millions of
inhabited planets in the
Heavens...

CLEMENS
Quite my point. Man becomes a
trivial creation, does he not?
Lost in the vastness of the cosmic
prairie, adrift on the deep ocean
of time. A single one among
countless others.

Clemens appears pleased with himself. Guinan casually
shrugs.

GUINAN
Then again, someone might say a
diamond is still a diamond -- even
if it is one among millions. It
still shines as brightly.

Touch�. A beat as Clemens studies her for a moment,
then smiles.

CLEMENS
Indeed, someone might say that,
Dear Lady. If someone thought
the Human race were akin to a
precious jewel.

Clemens puffs the cigar and lets out the smoke.

STAR TREK: "Time's Arrow" - REV. 4/06/92 - ACT FIVE 48.

75 CONTINUED: (3)

CLEMENS
(continuing)
But this increasingly hypothetical
someone would not be me.

Guinan smiles.