Future's End

DVD, Voyager S3 (Future's End)

This was the sign of things to come on 'Voyager': thinking bigger; more fun; more action. This was what this branch of Trek should have been from the start, but got caught in the 'TNG'-aping net. It adds to the Trek universe that bit more than the series could usually achieve, and does what previous crowd-pleasers had done before by visiting the time in which the episode was made. 'TOS' had done the same thing with 'Tomorrow is Yesterday,' and 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' was the best known example (and probably still is) - even 'Enterprise' had a go with 'Carpenter Street,' but this time it was 'Voyager's turn and enabled Trek to tick off another decade of the 20th Century as having been visited by our heroes. But as Trek history and real history intertwined it was shown that not everything is simple when dealing with time travel (if anything ever is)…

Tom Paris makes the mistake of assuming the USSR was still around and that the KGB were a current force to be reckoned with when he makes his cover story of being a 'secret agent,' but that's a realistic approximation of how someone would react if they were to go back in time without much time for preparation first (although Braxton seemed to have plenty of prep time and still messed up) - you would get things wrong where tiny details could make all the difference. There's also the question of Trek's own established history of the future, which included, at the time of 'TOS' in the 60s, the 1990s and Khan's domination of a third of the world. Too small to see clearly, but apparently on the wall of Rain Robinson's office is a shot of the Botany Bay lifting off to at least pay tribute to the official history. But should the writers have paid more than a tribute? Nowadays no one thinks twice about reusing iconic old pieces of 'TOS,' but at that time 'TOS' was seen as the quaint older series that laid the bedrock, but was itself flawed and a little silly sometimes. The 24th Century-set series' were happy to nod the head at their parent, but came up with their own ideas for the most part. Even when 'DS9' did it in a big way with the Tribbles episode, such things as why Klingons had no ridges were skipped over lightly. Likewise here.

It would have been fantastic if 'Voyager' could have gone back and retconned in all the stuff about Khan and how we, the inhabitants of that time, never noticed him taking over, and that would probably be the first thing you'd think of if you know your Trek history. I think 1996 would have been too late to show Khan as he was already out of the picture, but it would also have been fun if they had talked about the aftermath of his rule, or mentioned him or genetics experiments in some way. But I'm not going to complain too much because this was a fun episode in its own right, and while it doesn't add much to the 20th Century time period, it does expand the universe to the 29th! We'd had knowledge about the 26th Century thanks to 'TNG' ('A Matter of Time'), and now we know that by the 29th Century the Federation has Timeships. Not starships, Timeships! Wow! And it's great to know the Federation still exists that far into the future, 700 years after its founding.

The beginning is like few episodes could ever hope to achieve in dealing out amazing developments. The ship gets attacked by a guy from the future, the crew think they've got home, but then realise they're in the wrong time. It could have been a more downbeat, negative episode, but the characters are clearly thrilled to be back on Earth, even though it's of the past. They get their casual clothes out (Janeway in white again), and have a good time revelling in the period, even though they have a job to do. You have to feel sorry for Harry and B'Elanna, being left on board, though Kim does at least get his first shot at The Big Chair. I'm not sure why he was chosen over B'Elanna as it doesn't seem the best moment to try out a young Ensign, but I suppose Janeway felt it was a straightforward job to look after the ship - they were hardly going to run into another starship to fight. And Kim needs some experience, so why not?

'The Voyage Home' strikes me as the most likely influence, and the mood they were trying to recreate, but it's better because there's a proper villain, missions to accomplish, and the characters don't come across as utter fools. For me, Captain Braxton was the best guest character in the episode. He transforms from a cold, futuristic police cop-type who must destroy Voyager on slim evidence, to a man that has had to live thirty years in what was to him, a primitive society. He's retained his great knowledge of future technology and the distance of history, but he's also had to become connected to his mundane life, which is why he worries so much when he can't find his pencils or whatever. He's built up a kind of security based on the materials he could scavenge. I'm not sure if this is psychologically accurate (not having met a denizen of the 29th Century before), but it seems very realistic to how someone would react in that situation.

The question is, would the Solar System still have blown up if Braxton hadn't gone back (even though it blew up before he did). But did it blow up before he went back or was he from a time before it happened and was able to peek into the future? When we meet the character again in a later episode he seems to be part of a Starfleet that polices time, so there's no reason why they would just go backwards. I love the way it's all explained so simply as "A leads to B, leads to C, leads to A!" Trek has always been good at summing up complicated ideas and concepts into a small capsule that anyone can swallow. The other question regarding Voyager's possible part in the explosion is whether Janeway would have taken the decision to allow her ship to be destroyed had Braxton presented compelling and irrefutable evidence that they were the cause? I think if it meant saving billions of lives she would have done it gladly, and probably everyone on the ship would have, too. But would that have meant that all had to go down or would it have been possible for the crew to evacuate first? All very interesting questions that make the mind buzz with possibility.

One moment I noticed that at first seemed like a mistake, but upon more consideration made sense, was Tuvok's reluctance to take off his shirt at Paris' suggestion. He cites harmful levels of radiation in the atmosphere, but Vulcan's a hot planet so if any race doesn't need sun-tan lotion, it's them, right? Ah, but Earth's atmosphere has been damaged by our pollution making the rays more harmful, and I imagine the Vulcans were too logical to do that to their world meaning their atmosphere is probably much thicker, so Tuvok was likely correct. Either that or he was winding Paris up.

Paris wasn't in the mood to be wound up though, he was having a whale of a time. He'd already gone gooey over the old pickup truck in 'The 37s', but this time he actually gets to drive a brand new vehicle right out of the dealership. You can tell this is like a holiday for Tom, and even Janeway and Chakotay are having a few chuckles and enjoying the exploits. Something that 'Enterprise's attempt at doing a similar visit to the time their episode was made in lacked the joy of the moment, but this is played up here, yet doesn't go too far. It's more like 'The City On The Edge of Forever' - Tuvok even gets quizzed about his ears, but unlike Kirk and Spock in a similar situation he doesn't lie, he simply admits that they are a 'family trait' which is absolutely true! Janeway, on the other hand, appear to have some issues with her memory. She claims to have no knowledge of what her ancestor would have been up to at this time, but in the later episode '11:59' she knows all about her ancestor who was alive in the 90s. Maybe the experience of living in the 90s encouraged her to do some research and that's why she knew about Henry Janeway, etc.?

Other things I liked:

- The Talosian figure on Rain's desk (so if the trivia question comes up, 'how many episodes did the Talosians appear in?' don't forget to include this one. I was disappointed to find it wasn't the Playmates action figure, but a larger one with apparently bendy arms),

- Henry Starling in 1967 (did he watch 'Star Trek' that year, I wonder? Did the series even exist? Is Trek on the same timeline as us and can any inconsistencies be explained away - I'd say yes),

- Janeway holding her combadge and pressing it in her hand rather than slapping it on her uniform,

- Neelix and Kes (but mainly Neelix) becoming entranced by something known as a 'soap opera' (and Kim's line about not being able to imagine having to watch the drama rather than experience it, which was a clever crack at the fact they are characters in a TV series, yet was also explained away by Kes' follow-up where she puts it down to being spoilt by the Holodeck),

- That the title didn't give away it was going to be a two-parter (for anyone that hadn't seen it before),

- It's a TIMESHIP! And it's kept behind a cool James Bond villain world map which turns transparent at the touch of a button!

I wasn't thrilled by the cliffhanger, because Voyager being seen on the news was hardly that big a deal. It could be explained away and it's a small problem compared with the Doctor being captured and Starling having knowledge about Voyager and its systems. And that's another thing. We can take it for granted so easily that the Doc can go anywhere, but at this point in the series he couldn't, so for him to exist off of Voyager was a revolution and a very exciting development for his character. Not that the EMH has much to do in this side of the story, this is much more about Chakotay/Janeway and Tuvok/Paris, which were both good team-ups which we didn't see happen enough. Janeway can let her hair down (yes, and literally) when she's in casual clothes with Chakotay, and while Tuvok is used to being in control he has to relinquish some of it to Tom, and pretend to be his… 'friend,' rather than superior. Plus, Tom knows much more about the time period so it's a bit of role-reversal, which is always fun.

The 29th Century gadgetry, what little we saw of it, was another fascinating twist. The phaser blasts Paris' vehicle into nothing with one burst, and Braxton (not to be confused with Paxton), has a super-powered one when he shoots Voyager. Coming from such a tiny ship it makes you wonder what their full-size starships must be like. They probably don't need massive ships going back in time which is why Voyager was able to survive the attack. It could also be that time travel is easier in a smaller vessel and takes less power if achieved that way. The hand phasers of the 24th Century could do the same as the 29th model, but somehow it seemed more violent in the attack than we're used to, perhaps from the way that sequence was directed in an exciting, action-packed way.

The episode works on many different fronts, the cast are clearly enjoying their location work (unlike the 'DS9' people ever did!), it cleverly ties into the timeline in past and future and works the computer age of the late 20th Century into something caused by the Trek universe. Yes, it's Chronowerx, not Microsoft, but we have to assume that Starling used people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in his strategy. That's how I look at it anyway! As ever with a two-parter it's a question whether part one can be equalled or bettered, which often isn't achieved in Trek. But whatever part two was to bring this is a great marker in 'Voyager' history because it was the first of the mid-season two-parters, something that became a hallmark of the series. Nods, touches, lots of great lines and the novelty of seeing the characters in what was the present day make this a special event. But why did Braxton show up to destroy Voyager at that point? Does that suggest everything after this episode was not historically of any value?

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