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 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
 | "Future's
End (II)" - Week of Nov. 11th - Nov. 15th File Photo
|| Airdate: November
13th, 1996 Written by:
Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky Directed by: Cliff
Bole Recap of Part
1: Voyager comes across a spatial rift and is attacked by a
Federation ship from the 29th Century. While defending
themselves, the crew is pulled into the rift and arrives at
Earth, 1996. In order to piece together what happened, Janeway
and company beam down to discover that the timeship came back to
prevent a disaster that would wipe out the solar system.
Unfortunately, the captain of the timeship may have started it as
his ship was recovered by Henry Starling, who would use the
technology to become a successful businessman. Janeway tries to
recover the ship, but Starling uses the technology to steal some
of Voyager's databanks, including the Holographic Doctor... Brief Summary:
With the help of Rain Robinson, Tuvok and Paris are able to
coordinate efforts with Voyager to help capture Starling. The
only problem is that he has the Holographic Doctor held hostage.
Voyager manages to capture Starling, but he escapes and attempts
to take the timeship into the spatial rift. Voyager manages to
destroy the vessel a second before it can enter. Another timeship
comes and explains that according to Temporal Prime Directive of
the 29th Century, he must escort Voyager back to their original
location. One of the biggest
problems with the second half of Star Trek episodes is that they
fail to live up to excitement and interest of the first part. All
week I hoped that somehow this Voyager would be the exception
rather than the rule, that somehow the writers would deliver the
goods. And, to my surprise (and delight), they did. I think one of the
main reasons for this comes from the fact that the writing for
the two shows was consistent throughout. The humor, the action,
the story, almost all of it worked. This comes as a result of
having both parts written by the same two men, Brannon Braga and
Joe Menosky. In the past, several of the two-parters have been
written by different people, which created a lot problems in the
quality of the story (coupled with the fact that some of them had
a large period of time in-between writings). As I start this
review, let me get out of the way what I felt was the most
important part of the show: the Doctor. For a while, I've been
wondering how they planned to get him out of Sickbay and make him
a fuller crew member. All of the talk about placing holo-emitters
around the ship sounded reasonable, but in the end, I always
thought they would end up creating the technology that allowed
him to move around. What occured here was far more creative. And
the amazing part was that it wasn't reset back to normal in the
end. This makes the episode an important part of Voyager's
history, allowing the Doctor to expand as a character. As he said
to Paris, "In short, I am footloose and fancy-free." :)
I think we can look forward to seeing much more of the Doctor in
the future (no pun intended). As for the story,
it maintained my interest much in the same way that the first
part did. It was fast moving with plenty of humor and action
interweaved throughout. I commented beforehand that the plot was
basically TNG's "A Matter of Time," but it was still
original enough to watch. We all knew that Starling's plan would
not succeed and that Voyager would end up back in its own time.
The real interest was *how* it would happen. I mentioned in
last week's review that Starling's character was more of the
villain that I liked to see. Sort of multi-layered character, not
just a evil, sneering villain. I think this episode took that
concept even deeper. He actually believed that he was right in
maintaining the timeship. He thought that all of the talk about
causing a disaster in the future was a smoke screen so Voyager
could get ahold of *his* technology. That is far more interesting
that somebody trying to rule the world. His speech to
Janeway was even more interesting. He was prepared to destroy Los
Angeles rather than give up the timeship. Why? "The
betterment of mankind." He wanted to go to the future to
retrieve more technology, to keep the advancement of technology
in the 20th Century going forward. What happens in the future
doesn't matter to him. It is nine hundred years away and
therefore not of his concern. I really wondered
whether he was speaking the truth when he claimed that his
motives were about helping mankind. I really don't know. He is
greedy and selfish, with enough power and money to be happy in
the present, but he was also willing to risk his life to continue
the technological advancement of his own time. An interesting
character, indeed. The battle at the
end with Starling, though, was a little anti-climatic. It seemed
a little rushed, as though the story needed about an extra minute
to build up the suspense. I would have also liked to have seen a
little more to the aftermath of his demise, such as what history
records about him. But all in all, I don't think it hurt the
episode overall. Another highlight
of this episode was how Voyager was forced to return its own
time. The Temporal Prime Directive is something that the crew can
identify with, so they knew that there was no point in arguing
against it. This also solved the problem of why they can't just
slingshot around the sun or use any of the other techniques from
previous series. All-in-all, a
great conclusion to a great opener. Sure, there were some flaws
(don't even ask me to explain the timeline flowchart or about
changes to the past), but at the heart of it, it was good, solid
entertainment. After all, what else can you ask for? Other points of
interest: - The videotape
footage of Voyager really didn't go anywhere other than to state
that the military was keeping an eye out for any such activities.
I was hoping that it might have led to something more important,
but it didn't. (By the way, did you check out the quality of that
videotape. Get me one of the camcorders for Christmas!) - Did you notice
that the events in "The Swarm" have not been forgotten
about? For those who missed that episode, the Holographic Doctor
suffered the loss of memory due to degrading circuits in the
computer. The Doctor mentions to Starling that he lost his memory
recently and has been slowly remembering things. Its nice to see
the writers haven't forgotten about a concept called
"continuity." - Last week, I
predicted there would be something involving Chakotay's
realitives in this time period. Well, I was wrong. I must admit,
though, I was sure something would occur during this episode. The
shuttlecraft carrying Chakotay and Torres happens to crash in
Arizona, where Chakotay stated an ancestor was a school teacher.
But no relative. I then speculated a theory that maybe Rain
Robinson was his ancestor, but that didn't happen either
(although her infatuation with Paris might have irritated him,
knowing that Paris could have become one of his relatives.) :)
But nope, it was just a throwaway line. Oh, well... - Speaking of
shuttlecrafts, another plus for the Voyager writing team for
keeping an eye on the amount ships. Ever since the middle of the
second season (in which a high number of shuttles were lost or
destroyed), the writing team has not allowed the loss of another
one. This one was not an exception. - Someone out
there help me. I can't be the only person who started Pulp
Fiction references when Torres and Chakotay woke up in the
basement of the militia men. :) On the same subplot, I absolutely
loved the rescue by the Doctor and Tuvok. "Divine
Intervention is... unlikely." Great scene. - The battle
between Paris and the tractor trailer was also very fun to watch.
I must admit, I wasn't even thinking about the shuttlecraft
coming in to save Paris and Rain when it happened, so I was
surprised. The visuals of the truck being destroyed was terrific.
- On a more
personal note, something ticked me off throughout the episode.
Here, in Philadelphia, the station kept running a ticker across
the bottom of the screen for a contest on Voyager by Best Buy.
This bothered me for two reasons: One, I like to tape the
episodes and keep them stored away, so this stupid banner across
the screen sort of ruins that; Two, if you can't answer the
questions to the contest, you shouldn't even try to enter. I saw
the contest at Best Buy. Here is an example of one of the
questions: Who is the captain of Voyager? If you can't answer
these simple questions without having the answers displayed on
your screen, don't even bother to enter! (Sorry... had to get
that off of my chest. It really got on my nerves.) To sum it all
up: Writing:
Outstanding. For once we have a two parter that is actually
written by the same two writers who manage to keep the story
interesting until the end. A couple of nice twists along the way
places these two episodes at the top of the Voyager series. Acting:
Good performances all around with the special notice to Robert
Picardo (as usual), Robert Duncan McNeill, and Ed Begley, Jr.
(who I usually don't care for). Directing:
Well-done, with several nice shots that grabbed my attention. Conclusion:
Probably the best two-part episode since the Next Generation's
"Best of Both Worlds." Not in the same style of
suspense, but in all overall enjoyablility. Worth repeated
viewings. Kudos to the Voyager staff. Keep it up! Rating: 9.5
Next Week:
Either Kes is possessed... or she is really upset with Neelix! Copyright 1996,
Bill Synnamon. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced,
edited, or used for any commericial reason without my permission.
Rain:
"And you... Mr. Leisure Suit...." Doctor:
"There's a name I haven't considered." Fan Comments &
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