Re-Watching VOY

[Farscape One]

The thing that brings down "FUTURE'S END" for me is Sarah Silverman. Her character is fine, but I've always found the actress annoying.

And while Starling is written pretty much what you might expect from a tech corporate executive, Ed Begley, Jr. seems to make him too much like one. I think this was a case where the actor made the character more like a caricature than necessary because of his own personal views.

This two-parter, for me, suffers because of the guest casting choices. (Also, I got tired of time travel stories in general by this point in the franchise, though I did like the twist that the computer revolution of the 20th century should never have happened.)

I'd probably give it a 6.5 and part II a 5.5.

 

[Lord Garth]

I can't believe there was an entire paragraph where I kept calling Braxton "Starling". I just fixed it. That'll teach me not to post reviews so late overnight. Yeah right!

The thing that brings down "FUTURE'S END" for me is Sarah Silverman. Her character is fine, but I've always found the actress annoying.

Fair enough. Sarah Silverman was one of my favorite parts of the episode (among several), so we'll agree to disagree there.

But one thing I do agree with was that we got hit with time-travel a lot right around this point. Star Trek: First Contact, "Trials and Tribble-ations", and "Future's End". I'll excuse it because it happened in TNG, DS9, and VOY independent of each other and it all just happened to be a coincidence. If it had been three instances all in the same series, then I'd be like, "What the Hell is this? Star Trek or Time Trek?!"

 

[Starflight]

There was a thread about it recently but what dents "Future's End" for me is that Starling isn't ever allowed to have a real point, and thus can't ever be a real threat to Janeway; he's a cardboard cutout bad guy who's there to ultimately get blown up.

The script sort of briefly flirts with the idea of nuance by having him point out that the computer revolution (and therefore, the viewer's own experiences!) came about through him - which also means that Janeway's own timeline only exists because of him - but then Janeway handwaves him off and from that point the script just treats him as morally monstrous and has him cackle about committing MEGA-MURDER to ensure there's no way for any viewer to sympathise with his perspective or side against Janeway, which feels kind of like TNG at its worst.

Starling still sort of works as an amusingly over-the-top villain, as you say, but the way he's written forces Janeway into the hollow Picard-ish role of just standing there disapproving and lecturing him, when normally Janeway is a much more dynamic, Kirk-like character than that.

 

[Scanlan]

And one thing I miss about CRT monitors: you can actually put stuff on them! You can't put anything on a flat screen!

But you have way more space. For activities.

 

[Lord Garth]

Usually, I watch two-parters back-to-back. One day right after the other, if not the same day. But I got a little side-tracked, so sorry for the delay.

"Future's End, Part II"

Part II isn't as good as Part I, but I still enjoyed it. Starling wants to take the Aeon into the 29th Century to acquire more technology and create more computer revolutions. I was thinking about and I think Starling really doesn't understand the technology he has as well as he believes. He says he's run out of new innovations, and he's gotten everything out of the Aeon that he can. How is that possible? He's at just the beginning of the Internet Age. Simply because I'm typing this in 2026, I know for a fact that he can get 30 more years out of this technology at least. Even if not, there has to be more from the Aeon that he can develop. He's barely scratched the surface of the technology the Aeon presumably has. But anyway, moving right along...

Rain Robinson and Paris become even closer, Rain deduces they're from space and is impressed with how devoted Paris and Tuvok are to their cause. I got a kick out of Tuvok figuring out a way to communicate with Voyager by using a telephone. Rain agrees to help them stop Henry Starling.

Thanks to Starling (the one thing I can thank him for), the Doctor finally gets his Mobile Emitter. It always surreal to see The Doctor outside in broad daylight. On top of that, in broad daylight on Earth in 1996! The reverse is also true. When Starling is beamed onto Voyager. It feels so weird to see someone wearing jeans, a polo shirt, and a blazer on Voyager.

Starling really can't see the bigger picture at all. He's fixated on "Ha! Ha! I beat you people from the 24th Century! You thought I was some backwards Neanderthal who didn't know what he had!" He can't see that Voyager doesn't want the timeship for themselves. It doesn't even occur to him that they don't want it. He wants more, so (in his mind) they must want more too! Right... After Janeway tries to explain to him the explosion he'll cause in the 29th Century, he delivers this soundbite of a line: "I can't worry about that. I have a business to run!" Soapbox Time: this is just my opinion, but I think someone who doesn't care about the future shouldn't be in charge of anything. What does he care? He'll be dead. It's a classic example of, "That's someone else's problem!"

Backtracking a bit, Chakotay and Torres tried to beam Starling up on a shuttle, Starling resisted with some 29th Century technobabble, then the signal was re-directed to Voyager, where Starling was ultimately beamed to. Chakotay and Torres' shuttle crashes in Arizona, then they're picked up by... I don't know how to describe them without sounding offensive... how do I even phrase it? ... They're picked up by some paranoid Libertarians who want to fight The Man... and they think Chakotay and Torres are working for The Man. They're a bunch of wannabes who think they can take the fight to whoever's in charge. But they're portrayed as paranoid hicks, with conspiracy theories for everything, so it's hard to have sympathy for them. And they've got Chakotay and Torres tied up. And they want to use them as hostages. This is probably the worst part of the episode. Thankfully, it doesn't take long for Tuvok and The Doctor to rescue them.

Starling escapes Voyager and tries to take the Aeon to the 29th Century, Voyager stops him in time, he's blown up, and his nonsense is undone. Then a Braxton who never experienced this two-parter takes Voyager back to the Delta Quadrant and their own time. The End. And before the end, before Voyager leaves the 20th Century, Paris gets to give a goodbye kiss to Rain Robinson. This was the time to have this particular subplot because starting very soon it's going to be the road to Paris/Torres.

Overall, I think I'll go with a 7 for this one. Even though I liked both parts, this was a classic example of Part I being better than Part II.

And congratulations to The Doctor on his newfound freedom! No longer being confined to Sickbay and the Holodeck. Nowhere is the newness more highlighted than when Chakotay assigns an Ensign to show him to get to somewhere he needs to be, and he doesn't know how to get there because he's never had to before.

We're now one DS9 episode and one VOY episode away from Star Trek: First Contact!

 

[Lord Garth]

"Warlord"

Jennifer Lein must've loved this episode! Not only was it a chance for her to do something different, but it pushed Kes forward and allowed her to go completely and very entertainingly over-the-top as Tieran.

Tieran is power-hungry, wants to live forever, and wants back control of his world, which he lost 200 years ago. He's been hopping from body to body since he died, and now with Kes' powers he can take back what he thinks is his. All that's missing is the Evil Laugh. "HAHAHAHAAA!!!!!" It's also a masterstroke to make Tieran bisexual. He has his wife, and she clearly wishes her husband was in a man's body, not Kes', but is still loyal to him. And Tieran can kiss and seduce men and get through '90s/UPN/Berman-enforced censors because he's doing it through Kes.

There's a whole political thing going on Tieran's world. The leader is called the Autarch. Demmas, who Voyager interacts with the most, is next in line to become Autarch after his father is killed. Tieran, through Kes' powers, takes over as Autarch, and wants to marry a husband to unite powerful families, but tells his wife he still loves her, wanting to have a love-triangle. This whole thing could be turned into a great big fantasy novel, and I'm sure fantasy novels are where this episode got its inspiration from. "Warlord" has a very medieval/fantasy vibe to it. From the society to the Machiavellian tactics to the costumes and set design. I could easily see this as a two-parter with the world fleshed out a little bit more, but we already just had a two-parter, so anyway....

Tieran has access not just to Kes' body, but her thoughts, memories, and feelings. Tieran finally tells Neelix what's been on Kes' mind, even though he thinks its Kes, and says that being with him feels like an obligation. In my opinion, I think Kes really did feel this way. Tieran may have said this to get away from Neelix to conduct his plans, but he wasn't saying anything that Kes wasn't already thinking. Even though it's murky with Tieran being in there, I'm glad Kes and Neelix are finally broken up. Even after Kes is free of Tieran, Kes doesn't hug or kiss or show affection towards Neelix. I think there's a real sense of the cat's been let out of the bag, the genie's been let out of the bottle, however you want to put it. As Kes realizes, while Tuvok tries to help her at the end, there's no going back.

There are two very fatal flaws with what Tieran wants to do, but it's very clear that Tieran has tunnel vision, so I don't hold it against the episode. Tieran just can't be objective. If he's so obsessed with immortality and escaping death, why would he want to stay in the body of someone who only lives nine years? Because he's only thinking about right now! And why would he want to inhabit a body where he can't sleep because Kes will be there whenever he is? Because he's delusion and either thinks he can stay awake forever or that he can subdue her in one way or another. But he always has that persistent headache, courtesy of Kes. Some of Kes' best scenes as Kes are when she's fighting Tieran in his dreams. She even influences Tieran's thoughts when he insists on letting Voyager leave their system, rather than destroying it.

Tuvok as the telepathic spy, infiltrating Tieran's Castle (that's what I'm calling it!) to get to Kes to use a device to remove Tieran from her is a brilliant way to use Vulcan telepathy in a way that hasn't been seen before. Tieran can sense him, but it takes a little bit before she can find out exactly where Tuvok's hiding.

Eventually Tuvok's rescued, Kes is rescued, Tieran is vanquished, Demmas becomes Autarch, and Kes is broken up with Neelix. The End.

Shout out to the new Resort Program! A nice beach, Hawaiian vibe. Neelix started it off, Paris and Kim adding a lot things, then Torres added some stuff of her own. At least Neelix has somewhere to drown his sorrows now.

Overall, I have to think about this. It's fun, yes, but there's a lot of world-building for a planet we'll never see again, the exposition slowed things down sometimes, and they did make the lines blur between Kes and Tieran when it came to Neelix. They also could've gone a little bit deeper into Tieran's followers than they did. For now, I'll go with an 8.

Coming up tonight... Star Trek: First Contact!

 

[DonIago]

I do think the Kes-Neelix break-up was fumbled a bit here and that it's not clear whether it really is Kes really breaking up with Neelix really, but otherwise, the episode's fun, and maybe the meatiest role Lien got to play during her time on the show...which is a little sad, actually.