Timeless

DVD, Voyager S5 (Timeless)

You could say this is a timeless episode, but you could also call it timely... I know, I know, this is no time to be joking about time, we don't have the time (to fit with the Cochrane reference), but this does sit quite comfortably on the podium of Trek mashup, featuring almost bookends that could be deemed references to 'Generations' (smashing a champagne bottle across the Warp Core; crashing the ship into a planet), while also recycling the solution to 'Cause and Effect,' and creepily foreshadowing a number of things about 'Picard'! Let's start there: a bitter character angry at the way life has treated them, yet intent on doing something to redress the balance... an eyeball extraction (sort of), to remove a piece of Borg technology... a Borg vessel in the Beta Quadrant... that future combadge... LeVar Burton back as Geordi La Forge... The biggest connection to one of the current Trek series' is of course the date - we're almost at that point in 'Picard,' nine years behind them, but closer to that time than to 'Voyager' (2390 to 2399, as opposed to 2375). I can't imagine this episode was in their minds when they were creating Jean-Luc's comeback tour, but perhaps it just seeped into the Trek culture enough to be subconscious? All those parallels are quite striking, especially the idea of a character being an embittered, much more casual version of themselves (Kim's always slapping people on the arm in a natural gesture of camaraderie that you can't imagine the younger, more buttoned-down version pulling off - the Doctor's quite taken aback, though it's fun at the end when he says goodbye to this future Kim, he repays the compliment, which I'll bet was Robert Picardo's idea!).

The difference is, Kim hasn't been twisted into a terrible version of himself that ruins the character (as Seven was, complete with a back-peddling towards the larger, more recognisable for brand awareness, facial implants, when on the series she'd developed enough to be minimising them by the end of the series), he's actually a dedicated man haunted by the guilt that he caused the crash which killed his entire crew bar Chakotay who was on the Flyer with him. You could say he's misguided in that he wants to change the timeline, an idea reused for Admiral Janeway in series finale 'Endgame,' except in direct opposition of the Admiral he does what he does to prevent Voyager from trying to get back 'early' because if they do they won't get back at all! Much of the episode does consist of Harry worriedly tapping on LCARS, brow creased, or trying to persuade everyone it's a viable option to do what they do. He always was someone who missed home, with his closeness to his parents and a girlfriend (whom we saw in another alternate reality in 'Non Sequitur'), so it would make sense that he'd be the cheerleader of this whole concept like no one else. At the same time you'd think someone else would be more qualified to do what he does, charting the front of the slipstream, or whatever technical description they had for putting him there, or would have foreseen what would happen - surely Tuvok, with his Vulcan cool, or Torres, with her Engineer's brain, would be better suited to the job. I would have said Tom, but he was the one transferring Harry's data to Voyager's Helm.

This was the prestigious one hundredth episode of the series, and unlike 'DS9,' which perhaps took reaching such a milestone more as a matter of course, without pushing the boat out on a 'special' episode (not to say 'The Ship' isn't a special episode, it's great, but it doesn't shout out that this is an important juncture in the life of the series, either), they were more celebratory, perhaps realising that seven years wasn't necessarily a given, or perhaps it was simply they were on network TV instead of syndication, and the higher-ups wanted something to mark the occasion? Whatever the reason I find it quite nice that they chose to mould it around Harry Kim, a character that didn't always have as much care given to him in later seasons (in common with Chakotay, Tuvok and Neelix), though in keeping with Season 5 all the players were still being looked after, and this episode is proof of that. I believe in the change such an event would have on his life that he would become obsessed with righting his own wrong, and with Chakotay being an outcast in Federation society due to his affiliation with the Maquis (though we don't really know if that's the case in this instance), I can see him being quick to assist. I don't recall if the Maquis crew knew about their official pardon at this time - obviously there was a certain amount of news that reached them through the Hirogen array in Season 4, such as the devastating revelation all the remaining Maquis had been wiped out, so you'd think Starfleet would have set their minds at rest regarding their position. Yet Chakotay seems quite heavy-hearted about the prospect of returning home when Janeway discusses it with him.

It's nice to see them socialising together over dinner, and it could be that this is exactly what Chakotay fears to lose: that special bond they'd all developed, especially between he and the Captain. They'd become a family going through so many tough situations together and a return would inevitably be the breaking up of that crew and family. Oddly, I don't think his concerns were ever fully vocalised or addressed, one area where the episode let us down, as that would have been an ideal issue to explore. I wish Chakotay had gone full white hair for his future version, because he doesn't look that different with a few streaks than he did in recent seasons until they removed all traces of ageing this season, I think. He looked more distinguished with the white and in fifteen years' time I would imagine him to have gone all white. Which is alright! I don't know if this was something Robert Beltran was unhappy about, or one of the dictates of the studio, but they failed in that regard, especially when you consider humans are supposed to be above such things by the 24th Century, the reason used to explain why Picard is bald when he could easily have a full head of hair, or Geordi has the VISOR or cybernetic eyes when he could have ordinary ones, good as new. Still, at least we got aged Chakotay here, not to mention... aged Geordi!

At the time, La Forge's appearance was one of the most exciting things about the episode, despite the fact it's such a slight part with only one or two scenes on a viewscreen and some voice work over the comm. But, but, but: it's Geordi! In 2390! He's Captain of the Galaxy-class USS Challenger! And he's wearing the future combadge seen in 'All Good Things...' and 'The Visitor'! And he's still wearing the purple/grey shouldered uniform of the 'TNG' films and 'DS9'! Oh. That was one area that was altered in 'Picard' where we see this king of Starfleet uniforms didn't last much beyond 'Nemesis,' sadly. I always liked to think, despite time travel stories having the possibility of future changes, that what we saw would play out there or thereabouts in most aspects, and so I was pleased to see that that uniform would survive for at least fifteen years to come, as it should, before being replaced by the 'full colour' tops of the early-25th Century variation. But 'Picard' unfortunately chose to go its own way and chuck out these established facts, which in some ways is fair enough since, as I said, it's a possible future so they weren't tied down (and at least they used the same combadge!), yet ever since that first image of the 'DSC' uniforms that was released in the buildup to that series' first season, my heart sank to see they weren't obeying the laws of canon in such details, and as it would turn out that would be merely the tip of the iceberg!

But they can't take the old Trek away from us (unless they go back in and alter it like they did with 'TOS' and 'TNG' to update for HD, unable to keep from tinkering a little), and it was still lovely to see a possible future for Geordi. I hope when he returns in 'Picard' Season 3 (I don't think he appears in 2, though still haven't got my DVD copy yet...), that his command of the Challenger is mentioned to confirm the events of 'Timeless' were true to some degree. Of course LeVar Burton was available because during the latter Trek spinoffs he'd become a regular Director on them, with episodes of 'DS9,' 'Voyager' and 'Enterprise,' and so another link with 'Picard' is that he reprised his role as actor from his role as Director, just like Jonathan Frakes, who'd directed right from the first season of the new regime and thus was also asked to return as Riker - he even had that small cameo in the 'Picard' Season 1 finale where he only appears via viewscreen to add to the symmetry! And having a Galaxy-class starship appear in this episode also meant that one appeared in every good modern Trek... and 'Picard' (sorry, had to get that one in!). One thing that differs significantly between that later series and this, is how much more restrained 'Voyager' is in comparison. There were times when I could have imagined characters swearing if it'd been 'Picard,' and then of course we come to the infamous eyeball extraction scene that caused a bit of a kerfuffle. In 'Picard' we have to see it in gory detail, but in this the Doctor performs a much more invasive and horrific mutilation on a much-loved character, Seven, but we don't see it, only the section of skull he's removed and is quite disconcertingly detached from as he holds it - I found that more unsettling and grisly in some ways because of the implication of him cutting up her head to remove it, and that was done without the need for graphic horror, much more effective in tone here.

Another link to 'Picard' was how the Borg temporal maguffin was taken from the wreck of a Borg ship in the Beta Quadrant. The idea that there could be abandoned Borg vessels that could be found at that time in history is surprisingly close to what 'Picard' would do with a Borg Cube hanging in Romulan space, so I loved the parallels there - and at the time they wrote this episode they didn't even know they were going to effectively destroy the Borg at the end of the series, rendering them basically inert and setting up the likelihood of abandoned vessels wherever they might be! It's not that I like 'Picard,' I find it to be the antithesis of Trek, a bad version that steals away beloved characters and twists them as it has twisted the previously utopian Federation world. But despite all my problems with it, it is fun to discover connections that I had no idea existed within the little we knew of that future time - one thing that completely goes against what they did with Seven in the later series is that there she's a hard-drinking tough nut, whom we're either supposed to think is cool, because drinking is 'cool,' and only 'tough' people can hold their liquor, or we're supposed to pity her, but I think it's more the former. In 'Timeless' we discover she absolutely can't hold her liquor, and even a little synthehol in the blood stream sends her slightly off her head. It was funny because she's such a controlled person, as I've noted before, the closest to a female Vulcan we'd yet had (and more Vulcan than T'Pol, I'd argue), and if you occasionally show a Vulcan losing it then that's either amusing or frightening in itself. I'm not sure quite how it works when it's supposed to be synthehol, although we do know that it gives you a feeling of intoxication without the after-effects, and the ability to snap out of it any moment you decide. Still, you'd think Seven, with all her study of her human culture, would have come across it before, though it's possible she never tried it until that moment.

One thing I really liked about the story was the way the time travel mechanics worked - Kim knew that if he was successful, and Voyager was saved, he and everything he knew would cease to exist. The idea of a sacrosanct timeline that must be protected is one I much prefer to the more modern concept of timelines branching off into infinite varieties where every decision creates a different one. In that view nothing really matters, it's all just a jumble of actions and reactions, impersonal, and making us far from unique individuals, but merely a version of ourselves, which goes into philosophy and belief and sort of rips into it, removing value in our reality. Since it's all made up rubbish anyway, and for the sake of drama, having one timeline that matters to us is the only way, one reason I don't really care so much about the Kelvin Timeline or Mirror Universe, other than as a mirror on our real characters. And that made the drama so much more intense as Kim knows what he did hasn't made a difference, and has mere seconds to rectify the mistake before the Flyer goes up, and just at the last moment he realises he's succeeded, just as the explosion rips through the small ship - you could question how he could possibly know because the timeline should have changed instantly that he did what was necessary, but again, it's dramatic licence - we need to know old Harry knows to get the full impact.

Talking of impacts, this episode is probably best known for having one of the most memorable set-piece spectacles of the series - in Season 4 Janeway rammed her ship into the Krenim vessel to reset the timeline, and this time she crashes it into an ice planet. Technically it was Paris that actually crashed, but she gave the order! And it is quite a sight, though I actually thought the episode began with the crash as the most teasing teaser you could imagine. Just like 'Cause and Effect' when the old USS Bozeman suddenly appears in front of the Enterprise, there's a collision and she explodes in fiery glory, hit the titles! In fact, 'Timeless' has quite a slow build as we pull back to reveal Voyager trapped under the ice. The set dressing was superb, you really believe those familiar Voyager locations are frozen solid, though I'm not sure how the layer of snow got in there! Old Kim and old Chakotay tramp round (in the silver cold weather gear Odo and Quark used in 'The Ascent'  - shows Starfleet designs can last a long time!), in this frosty tomb of their old comrades, perfectly preserved. I only wish we could have seen the crash from the perspective of some of those crew-members inside - so we'd see the guy who was in the Jefferies Tube and died alone, or people at their stations thrown to the floor - just another minor improvement I thought of for the episode. It was still an impressive sequence for a TV budget of the time, and even though they did steal the solution from 'Cause and Effect' (sending a message through time only Seven can hear to avert a crash, just like sending a message through time only Data can hear to avert a crash), it was still a good use of established lore.

More than mere visual excitement (and Burton gave us some great direction, from the slow-motion celebration, to the intercutting between timelines), the ending had a real punch to it. For a moment I thought we were getting one of those poignant, lonely realisations the characters will never know who saved them, just as in 'Time and Again' where there's that warmth of a happy ending that they'd never know could have been so horrifically different, or the heartbreaking disintegration of the copies of the crew later this season in 'Course: Oblivion,' completely unknown, so poetic and tragic. Instead we have something equally as warm, as they know Harry saved them in the future and he gets to hear a short message from himself. It's a beautiful ending that doesn't negate all that happened - it wasn't 'all a dream,' real people with real lives had to sacrifice to keep the status quo, and they know it. What's more, while the Quantum Slipstream drive could have got them home if it'd worked, what it did achieve was knocking ten years off their journey, which is more good news. It does make you wonder why they couldn't simply use the drive in short bursts as they did there, but perhaps the problem was cumulative and they'd reached the limit of how it could be used before it would have sent them spinning out of control. Janeway's statement that they'd waited long enough to get home was a reminder that they have been lost for a long time, and though, as we saw in the previous episode, they have their own community and are a unit in themselves, they still aim to reach their goal, pushing on to the end. And that's the kind of inspiration Trek used to be able to achieve on a regular basis, and which it lost. Will it, like Voyager, ever be found, ever return to its 'home' and be what it should be? Only someone like Harry, fifteen years in our future could know.

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