Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. Before we get the Prof. Manheim himself, let's look at his work...
PICTURE: Well, we all know how fond I am of purple (not), and this card is permeated with it. Despite that, and the hokey early season uniforms, the three Datas make for a cool and dramatic card. The "door" itself is well accentuated and different from anything else we have in this category. Hits a 3.7.
LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)
TREK SENSE: Oof, this is a complicated one, but real close to Trek Sense. Even the game text gives this effect the name of the "Manheim Effect". First off, the doorway is AU since it warps time, and it has to be open on a planet, just like in the show. In the episode, Manheim (apparently Non-Aligned) had his effect play havoc on differently aligned personnel (the Feds on the Enterprise), so it should affect both players. All planets should not have a dimensional doorway (I dare say, exceedingly rare), so "not duplicatable" is good here. And an Anti-Matter Pod shuts it down, just like in the show. That's what Data is holding there in the picture. As for the hiccup effect itself, in the show, it made a sequence in time repeat itself exactly as before (except that people were aware of the repeat). In the game, the hiccup is different as it allows for "history" to be changed. Trek Sense becomes conceptual at this point as the "hiccup" is really your showing of the identical card from your hand, then suspending time to change it. Only then does the sequence repeat, though it had never actually occurred yet in the original timeline. (Headache.) Falls short in its execution, but goes a long way at 4.
STOCKABILITY: One of those complicated cards people might leave at home because they're not really worth your understanding them. The effect itself, of suspending play of your opponent's card to play one of your own, can be cool in some situations as you undercut their ability to even make their card resolve itself, but it's limited to such an extent as to make the card too much of a liability. For one thing, your opponent can use it against you. If we're talking about both players having the same cards in their decks (for this to work), then it goes to reason that you might play your copy of a card before your opponent does, and they can hiccup you. With more and more cards added to the game over time, it became less and less likely that your cards would match your opponent's at all unless they were playing the same affiliation (and even then, except maybe if playing Borg). Add to this that the Doorway can be nixed in a variety of ways (Revolving Door either on it, or before it's played, on Alternate Universe Door, or Anti-Matter Pod, or even Paul Manheim). And even if you make it work, you’d better be real prepared to make use of it by playing the right card, which doesn't preclude you from just reporting people and ships faster. Paul Manheim can double the effect so as to give you more flexibility, but the card remains a borderline oddity at 2.8.
TOTAL: 14 (70%) An oddity (hic) is still (hic) something worth (hic) hav(hic)... having.
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