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!
