"Future's End, Part II"
Air Date: November 13, 1996
Star Date: 50312.5
Latest Reflections from the Guild
12/02/96 Update
11/25/96 Update
11/18/96 Update
For almost an hour, the Voyager crew attempt to stop Starling from launching the time ship but they fail. Starling makes it into orbit, opens the time rift. With weapons off-line from the attempts to stop Starling, Janeway hot-wires a photon torpedo and destroys Starling and the ship. Captain Braxton then appears in the Aeon to say that he has come to find out why the 24th century Voyager is at 20th century Earth. He has no knowledge of the timeline created by his former self when Braxton attacked the Voyager. In accordance with the Temporal Prime Directive, Braxton takes the crew back to the 24th century and leaves them in the Delta Quadrant.
Brash Reflections
There are lots of problems with this episode that I'm certain you will catch, dear friends. However, there is one major item I would like to spend my time discussing and then open the floor for your comments. Specifically, the cause and effect relationships between the timelines in this episode.
I should begin with an assumption: Time is rational. It responds to cause and effect in the same way as the rest of our sequential existence. In the case of time travel, cause and effect may have the appearance of occurring non sequentially to an outside viewer but on some level, I believe stories involving time travel should be approached rationally--otherwise the hearer of the story is unable to make any sense of the narrative and is reduced to a slack-jawed stare as the events are spoon-fed to him or her. This is something that nitpickers never feel comfortable allowing! (Unfortunately, the creators seem to like this whole idea of time travel being irrational. See my discussion of this issue in the DS9 Guide, pages 255-256.)
So let's see if we can rationally sort out this timeline with what we've been given. Braxton comes back to attack the Voyager in the last episode because wreckage was found at the site of a catastrophic temporal explosion that destroyed the solar system. Voyager resists. Both ships are thrown back in time. Starling gets the Aeon and opens an unstable rift. Presumably, this sucks both the Aeon and the Voyager into the 29th century where the explosion occurs. Bah-dah-bing. Time loop.
One problem: How did the timeloop get started in the first place? Even if time travel results in cause and effect proceeding non sequentially, there still must be a causal element to bring Braxton back to the 24th century in the first place. What is that element? Wreckage of the Voyager. How did it get there? From the explosion. Why an explosion? Because Starling flew the Aeon. How did Starling get the Aeon? Braxton tried to destroy the Voyager. Why? Because of the wreckage . . . (ad infinitum)
The questions regress to infinity because there is no first cause. Braxton would have never attacked the Voyager for no reason!
I submit that there must be a Timeline A which proceeds the Timeline B of the episode. (In a minute, we'll talk about the resulting Timeline C that comes into existence at the end of the episode but let's deal with this first.)
For instance, possibly, in Timeline A, Braxton some how miscalibrated his time machine, got himself caught in a timeloop where he destroyed the solar system so many times that he went insane (ala the NextGen episode "Cause and Effect"). Eventually, he finds a way to escape the timeloop but the solution throws him into the 24th century where--like a maniac--he attacks Voyager. Voyager responds. Both ships are tossed back to the 20th century. Starling flies Aeon to the 29th century. Voyager follows. The solar system is destroyed one year prior to Braxton himself accidentally destroying it. Braxton--before his accident--discovers the wreckage and goes back to obliterate the Voyager. Bah-dah boom, Bah-dah bing. Time loop with a real first cause!
For my money, this make sense! Without this explanation or something similar, "Future's End" is horrifically irrational. (Unfortunately, the creators did not see fit to reveal anything to us about Timeline A so we are reduced to guesses. It's almost as if they didn't know Timeline A existed. Hmmmm.)
One final note concerning the much discussed Eugenics Wars and lack of them in this episode. Apparently, something about the presence of the Aeon on Earth in 1967 that altered Earth's timeline such that the Eugenics Wars never occurred. Just as apparently, the timeline is not fully restored to the Classic Trek timeline by the end of the episode. In order to restore the timeline, the Aeon could not appear on Earth and if the Aeon didn't appear on Earth then the Voyager shouldn't have appeared either (unless we are dealing with a Timeline D) but the Voyager is still at Earth in the 20th century so we are dealing with a Timeline C that features the Aeon on Earth without Starling's flight to the 29th century and the resulting destruction.
For my money, that means that from now on we all need to remember that the Eugenics Wars never happened! Agreed?
Join me next time when we hear Neelix and Kes moan, "Please, Captain, please can't you ask Captain Braxton to wait until tomorrow to take us back to the Delta Quadrant! Edith is about to discover that her daughter is engaged to a lesbian transvestite who swindled millions from Barker, posing as Clyde's long lost son when, in fact, she is Gertrude and Sterny's long lost daughter who fell out of a plane at age five and landed head first into vat of defective estrogen-laced male steroids manufactured by Bernice who intended to sell them to the murderous bodybuilders who twisted her husband into a giant pretzel after he refused to provide them lifetime wax treatments for their chests . . ."
Phil
Reflections from the Guild
[Note from Phil: I have not had time to verify these but they sounded good to me!]
Rene Charbonneau of Vanier Ontario: At the end, Torres says it should be no problem to download the Doc back into the computer. Why would they do that? What would be the point? He's free to walk around now, with tha little gadget on his arm. He still (presumbably) has all his medical knowledge with him. (Note from Phil: As with the Borg . . . he still sleeps in a single subroutine, a single subroutine . . .)
Also, Janeway doesn't even argue, she just lets Braxton take them back to the Delta Quadrant...It's like Janeway doesn't want to get home. (Note from Phil: I immediately started typing, "Slingshot around the sun! Slingshot around the sun! Don't you know the crew is going to be torqued when they stumble across that log entry in the historical database!)
11/18/96
Rene Charbonneau of Vanier, Ontario: Captain Braxton seems to feel free to share future information with Voyager at the end. He talks about Starfleet's future, timeships, the temporal prime directive,....Isn't he violating this Prime Directive by revealing future events to our favourite crew. And, he also tells them that he came back in time to return Voyager back to the Delta Quadrant. Isn't this interfering with the timeline as well? What business is it of this 29th Century ship to intefere in Voyager's
history? Also, throughout the episode, Janeway keeps saying that this tiemship is the only way they have of returning to the 24rth Century. (WRONG! "Sling-shot" effect from Star Trek IV!) But, other than that, I enjoyed the episode very much.
Johnson Lai: During the scene where Rain and Paris are talking in her van aline, we see a particular house with green railings passing by during a shot of Rain. The very next shot of Paris showed the same house passing by on his side of the road.
John Latchem: I saw no evidence that the Eugenics Wars couldn't have happened. They
may have been over by this episode and have been a largely Eurasian war with minimal US involvment. Plus Rain did have a model of Khan's ship. Consider this though: The Eugenics Wars are a necessary condition for Voyager to even exist. Follow my logic: If Khan never takes over Asia, he is never driven out of power and never gets on a sleeper ship and thus is never found by Kirk. If he isn't found by Kirk, he can't be put on Ceti Alpha V and thus can't face Kirk in Star Trek II. If Kirk doesn't face Khan in Star Trek II, then the Enterprise returns to Spacedock and Spock doesn't die. Then Spock returns to teaching and Kirk goes back to his desk job when the alien probe shows up in Star Trek IV. With the only people capable of stopping it trapped on Earth, Earth is destroyed by the probe. Thus history is very much changed for "TNG" "DS9" and "Voyager."
So remember this: For Star Trek as we know it, the Eugenics Wars MUST have happened, despite what the creators have said. They could have had the militia guys make some offhand comment about Foreign wars and be done with it.
Of course we are talking "Voyager" here. I think "DS9" would have mentioned the Eugenics Wars.
J. Annelin Grand Centre, AB: If you remember my earlier message about the drawing made by Braxton and it being left behind by Janeway and Chakotay? Well at the begining of the show Kim has it in his hands on the ship, how did he get it? Plus there are various other questions that are left wide open and I'm sure there will be plenty of comments coming your way about this episode. The main one is how can we (nitpickers of the world) send messages to you if what happens at the end, happens?
I am curious why they didn't leave behind a time capsule set to go off at a certain time to let Starfleet know that the Voyager is safe in the Delta Quadrant? If I can program my VCR to tape 8 shows a year from now I'm sure they could have rigged something and since the engineering staff obviously
wasn't working on the transporters or the weapons systems, they had time to get a probe of some sort ready or were they too busy watching the soaps?
The previews for next week show Kes about to kiss Torres or is it just a tease? PAL.
Kevin Loughlin: Much as things appear to have been squared away in this episode, some points
bear explanation. I've had a couple days to think, so here we go.
The Doc's little emitter seems a bit strange, but if 29th century tech. is advanced enough to make a pure physical being from a single projection point, then this works nicely. How they did it: Project Doc in a holo-field as normal. Then, set up the little emitter and project Doc from _it_ now. Move it so it's on his arm, and attach it to the very holo-matter it's creating. Thus, we have one 'footloose and fancy-free' hologram. Nice to see he now physically has a 'chip' on his shoulder, BTW. :-)
How did Braxton find them back at they end? When they gave Starling his just desserts, they moved themselves into a different timeline where the solar system is no longer destroyed in the 29th century. The 29thers, scanning the timeline, find a certain Federation starship when & where it shouldn't be. Seeing that somehow their own technology is involved, they chalk it up as an alternate timeline, and conveniently assign Braxton to sort it out.
This doesn't necessarily mean that the Voyager will get home to say where they were at any point, BTW; the 29thers could have seen it in the timeline (they disappeared from the DQ, and appeared at Earth in the 20th). The immediate future is by no means perfect.
One thing that's still ambiguous is wether Rain retains any knowledge of these events. It would seem she has; if so, she may be in trouble with the fine American authorities over what she's seen. (sheesh, now we're into X-Files territory...)
Lawrence Miller: Well, that was a disapointment. I'll leave the obvious time travel nits to the others, but tacticly, this was terrible!
Why on earth did they expect rich, powerful, limo riding Starling to get into the VW Bus for the trip back to the office???? Of COURSE he is going to take the limo back - that was just dumb! Um, and , this is a
guy who has seemingly mastered 29th century tech, and has proven to always have a backup plan - could we have scanned him for a locator, monitored satelites, something?
Does the rest of the crew not actually do anything? Janeway goes to launch the torpedo, your chief engineer leaves a damaged ship to pilot a shuttle with the second in command (no one else could do this?) The officers of Voyager need to take a class in delegation, methinks. And personally, I would have beamed Mr Starling up stark naked - of COURSE he's gonna have a tricorder.
I will say, Ed makes one great villian, if just too smart to be believable. And it's nice to see that the Doctor can bop around the ship now, should make for interesting stories. How much do you want to bet they completely forget that they have some 3 gigs of 29th century tech in the data banks?
Did anyone catch the implication that the shuttle might be the last one? Otherwise, I would think they could have dispatched another shuttle to get the truck - oops, no officers left - theres that delegation thing again.
But really, the first part was much better, and this was a bit of a blunder. Ah well.
Joseph Pintar: I want to stress again that I find it unbelievable that Starling and his goon
could possibly learn how to effectively use 29th century technology so flawlessly. By the way, his goon's name is Dunbar, just like in Dances With Wolves. An injoke reference, perhaps.
Did anybody else find the scenes in the milita compound to be just filler so the episode lasts an hour? There is absolutely no point to these scenes whatsoever. (Note from Phil: Yeah and verily, I AGREE!)
How did Tuvok and the Doctor get to Arizona so quickly? I don't think they were using transporters.
What's the big deal about Voyager being spotted from the Earth? All it will do is inspire an episode of the X-Files.
This episode and the DS9 episode Trials and Tribbilations has set up an organization of Starfleet that investigates time traveling into the past. Shades of Timecop there? Anyway, why haven't we heard of these guys before? I hope they don't stop Kirk and Company from getting humpback whaless back
to the future. That is, after all, altering the future.
Why doesn't Kim try to fire a torpedo manually? He's much more expendable than Janeway. (Note from Phil: Well, Kim did try to volunteer to do it, didn't he?)
Did they leave [the original] Captain Paxton on 1996 Earth? He completely disappeared in part II except towards the end.
Overall, I still don't get what Voyager had to do with this turn of events in the future. Do they follow Starling back? And if they did, how did Starfleet know about it? If Earth is destroyed, so is much of Starfleet.
Frank Buckley: There is a precedence for GIS here - only this time, it's right place, wrong time! (Braxton seemed awfully unsympathetic about Voyager's plight, eh?)
The "autonous emitter" that the Doctor gets deserves some scrutiny. First, when the militia-type guy in the Arizona desert fires at Holodoc, the bullets pass right through him - yet he can still hold a phaser. Is he substantial or insubstantial? Also, I think we should add a new entry to the Lexicon - "Ripping Off Red Dwarf", or RORD for short. (Red Dwarf is a British sci-fi comedy in which four crewmembers of a Jupiter Company mining ship, stranded three million years from home, try to get back while trying to cope
with their situation. _Very_ funny, even if the humor is off-key sometimes. Internet Dwarfers even have their own nitpickers! :) Specifically, the "autonomous emitter" is directly analogous to a "Light Bee", a unit which creates a hologrammatic projection of anybody it has data for - specifically, this Light Bee projects Arnold J. Rimmer, a Space Corps officer. First, both Holodoc and Rimmer are projections of people - Holodoc is based off of Doctor Zimmerman, and Rimmer is based on... well, the real Arnold Rimmer. (The real Rimmer was killed in a radiation leak that wiped out most of Red Dwarf's crew - but that's part of the back story, so I won't go into detail here.) Also, both have been known to handle objects, although they have been in several situations where their holographic integrity has been breached, i.e.
the bullets passing through Holodoc. (This was remedied for Rimmer in an early sixth season episode of RD - his Light Bee was modified to emit "hard" light.) Also, both Zimmerman and Rimmer have personalities which can border on grating (more so for Rimmer). This, and the fact that Star Trek has occasionally done some RODW, is precedent for adding RORD to the lexicon. (Phew! :)
If there were a KMYF for Paris, we would have it here, and he wasn't careless enough to let the opportunity to slip by ;)
Finally, why does Kes in the upcoming episode "Warlord" look so similar to our favorite Romulan figure, Sela? (Hairwise, anyways.)
Overall, though this episode was hole-ridden, IMO Voyager is still doing better at this point in the season than last. Here's hoping things stay that way.
Murray J.D. Leeder: Irrationality of the most horrible sort! Kind of an okay episode. The
problem is that STARLING DIDN'T MAKE IT THROUGH THE RIFT. THE TIMELINE
WHERE EARTH IS DESTROYED SHOULDN'T EXIST, PERIOD (unless you invoke
quantum realities, which I choose not to).
[Also,] Think of all the damage this episode might have caused. And they didn't even consider whiping anyone's memories?
Note from Phil: Okay, let's talk about Murray's first point because a lot of other people submitted it as well. The idea is that if Janeway stopped Starling, then the explosion never occurred and Braxton never came back and Voyager should have never remained in the 20th Century at Earth in the first place. And nobody whould remember anything that happened.
I'm not sure this is true! Let me see if I can offer a humble explaination why. In the NextGen episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," we have a somewhat similar scenario. There is a glitch in the past (i.e. the Enterprise-C jumps into the future instead of helping defend a Klingon colony) and it spawns a timeline in which the Federation and the Klingons are at war. Picard corrects the glitch and the "peace" timeline returns (sort of) and no one remembers the war timeline (aside from Guinan).
Since Guinan rmembers that timeline, it must have occurred. To use a film analogy, the war timeline ended up on the cutting room floor--a piece of time 20 years long that stretched from the moment the Enterprise-C jumped forward in time until it re-entered the rift and returned to it's proper place.
Now . . . the reason that no one but Guinan remembers the war timeline is because the branch point for this dead-end stretch of time occurred in our fearless crew's past and they went another direction. I think this is a crucial piece of information to remember. When a branch point occurs in your past you only remember your current timeline. (Unless you're Guinan.)
In the case of Janeway and company, their timeline is tooling along. They meet Braxton of Timeline B, they get swept back to 20th century Earth. They stop Starling.
This moment is the branch point for Timeline C. This moment is also when Timeline B ends up on the cutting room floor. However, the branch point does not occur prior to Janeway and crew's experience of Braxton attempting to destroy them and them being swept back to Earth. So, they remember Timeline B's Braxton acting like an idiot and causing all the problems in the first place.
However, the Braxton who appears at the end of the episode comes from Timeline C and the branchpoint for Timeline C occurred in his past so he doesn't remember anything about Timeline B.
Let me add one other example to see if I can clarify my point. Going back to "Yesterday's Enterprise," think about the survivors of the Enterprise-C. They start out in the peace timeline. They get a distress call from a Klingon colony. They arrive and are thrown into the future where they encounter the wartime line. They return to their own time, are captured by the Romulans and live the rest of their lives in the peace timeline (at least a derivative of it). Why do they remember the war timeline? Because the branchpoint occurred after their experience of the war timeline. For my money, the survivors of the Enterprise-C are analogous to Janeway and crew at the end of this episode. Does that make sense?
Ryan Hunter: This was really a great episode. Future's End may very well be my favorite Voyager episode now. Anyway, the nits: When Starling downloaded the data, the show implies that he actually erased it as well. Of course, this is not actually how downloading works, but with 29th century
technology, who knows? However, I don't ever recall Voyager regaining that information. Oh, well.
Then, Chakotay makes reference to the time-space continuum again.
Then, at one point, Starling grabs Holodoc's communicator. Isn't Holodoc's communicator... ummm.... holographic?
Starling never makes reference to having any replicators in his office. I could also mention that the doctor's portable holographic emmitter shouldn't be able to be affixed to him, being a hologram, but I won't.
I also think that time travel should be put into the same category with the universal translator. If we start trying to figure out all the time travel stuff, like how Voyager ever got to the twentieth century if Captain
Braxton never took them there and... my brain hurts.
One final thing- the shuttlecraft Chakotay and B'ellana were flying had the number 74658, a 47. (Note from Phil: 74658 is the NCC registry number for Voyager.)
David D. Porter: Tuvok eating a burrito? Isn't he a vegetarian? (Note from Phil: Must have been a bean burrito!)
Most plans that require one's adversary to follow a script have difficulties. *Never* rely on the opposition to do what you want them to do.
A buffer-to-buffer transport? *This* is new--but a good idea.
Pretty stupid to take your *trigger hand* off that gun, cowboy.
What a great line! "There's a name I hadn't considered."
Why, oh why isn't Starling restrained?
If he's cannibalized the ship as much as possible, how does he expect it to work? Even if he put everything back, does he know how to test it? Can he possibly be sure he put it together properly?
Has anyone considered trying to find Captain Braxton and seeing if he has valid prefix codes (or the equivalent) for his ship?
Shouldn't a 29th century computer be able to tell its operator what the proper settings of the temporal inverter are, thus preventing disaster? Even old 23rd century computers were that sophisticated.
If V-ger can tell the rift is unstable, why can't that 29th century computer?
I'll bet Janeway's getting *real* tired of that Prime Directive stuff, huh?
Alex Otis: Great episode. But on to the nits.
I love how they allowed the doctor to move about, but, is it really plausible that a 20th century computer expert with 29th century technology could come up with the device. B'ellana can't even figure out the device yet. There is to much of a technology gap between them, even if he had 30 years to study it. Its like ploping king Arthur in front of a computer and asking him to create a VR game.
They left Rains in the middle of the desert, with her car not working. They made it clear that this road was basically unused. This is not right. What are thechances of her fixing her car or someone coming to save her before she runs out of water. It is also very unlikely that there is any carriers for her cell phone out there.
I expected Rains to hug Tom during transport. (ST4)
Best line "Divine intervention is highly unlikely," The Doctor after the militia member says "Oh God"
Craig Cicero: One minor, not nit really, but disappointment. I wasn't really expecting V'ger to come home (although the preview that I saw has a line like "But this time.... There will be no Next Time!"-- and the comments about seeing Voyager in First Contact previews, well, I guess I got suckered in. But just a little.) BUT! Why, oh, why, oh WHY didn't Tom take Rain with him? (After getting Janeway's permission, of course!) Kirk took Gillian (Is that her name? I don't quite remember) back in ST4:TVH, so why can't Tom? (Yeah, I know. Disrupting the timeflow is a perogative of starship captains
only... Wink, wink.)
Other things I noticed:
Did anyone else notice that Braxton's insignia looks a LOT like the
ChronowerX symbol? Nice touch.
So... What did happen to the Braxton we saw in Part 1? Or is this like the Tasha Yar thing where he still exists on Earth and in the 29th Century in an alternate timeline? I guess Janeway DIDN'T "worry about him later."
All I can say is... Shoulda been a three parter! Actually, I did enjoy it.. But the ending seemed kind of rushed.
Bill Synnamon from Lafayette Hill, PA: One thing above all others bothered me in the episode. When Chakotay and Torres start to transport Starling out of his car, he starts to move around, while being transported, and activates his device. How is this at all possible? Even in episodes where movement occurred during transport, nothing was as blatant as this.
Gerry Canavan of Randolph, NJ: Just a quick note on what you've said on the Eugenics Wars:
There's nothing to suggest that they NEVER happened, they simply weren't
mentioned at all. Since Voyager comes from the so-called "original"
timeline in which the Eugenics Wars occured, and this timeline is
apparently restored at the end of the episode, we can only assume that
part of history wasn't changed. Voyager would probably not even exist in
a 24th century without the EW, and certainly wouldn't be in the DQ.
Most likely, that part of the time stream remained ok. If it didn't, we
have to discount so much of Star Trek Canon as to call the entire series
into question.
Paul Steele of Springfield, VA: I don't think we can assume the Eugenics Wars did not happen unless we also agree that either it happens later or some of it's effects occur for other reasons. I say this because it seems to me that the Eugenics War would be too important of an event to have not happened
and yet not effect the timeline (could you imagine the effects of no W.W.II?). Remember, DS9 would now be effected by those changes! Also, remember that Khan's destiny was tied to that war. Without Khan
a lot of what happens to the Federation via James T. Kirk is also altered.
Mike Wyzard: Most offensive Nit of all in this episode to Los Angeles Nitpickers:
the UTTER lack of traffic on the LA city streets. A sick joke. :-|
As much as you may think, it's not a Nit that Starling asked Rain to get a cab
and come to him. There are one or two cabs in LA, tho not as many as NYC.
Carrie E Sager: I was close in my comments on Part I. Rain did almost get hit by a truck
(but not a bus).
I liked this episode despite all the lose ends and bad science, but hey, I liked Threshold too.
Another McCoyism! "I'm a doctor, not a database." How many does that make? It's getting close to the number McCoy made isn't it?
J. Annelin Grand Centre, AB: It's nice to see i wasn't the only one confused by part II. Here are some more nits:
I wondered in part one why Rain brought her backpack with her, did she know she was going to be on the run and needed extra clothes? In part II she is wearing a different top.
When Starling started to be transported, Rain go out of the car and began running, then the bodyguard and Doc started fighting, by this time Rain was moving so how come she asked later on why the Doc didn't have any bruises after being hit so many times? Did she stop and watch the fight?
I was almost ready to nit the part when the 18 wheeler started pulling out i wondered how could they get the time ship all the way from the top floor of the building, they must have some big elevators. But it's only a decoy so i give credit to the creators for not having it in the back of the truck.
How did the survivalists get Torres and Chakotay out of the shuttle? Is there easy opening instructions by the entrance. Whenever aliens land on Earth in the movies they don't have easy opening doors, for example The Day The Earth Stood Still.
Why were Torres and Chakotay all dirty? Were they dragged from the shuttle after the survivalist opened the hatch (and closed it again)? The shuttle was okay so they weren't thrown clear. Did they emergency transport themselves out and roll on the ground upon landing?
How did Tuvok and the Holodoc get to Arizona? I flew from LA to Phoenix once and it took an hour or so but not much time elapses in this episode.
Why didn't the shuttle go after Starling? It had phasers, it melted a semi with no problem and why did Janeway wait for the shuttle to come back before going after Starling? It takes time to get a shuttle inside but fortunately Starling was doing some aerobatics (spacebatics?) and waited.
Didn't the new Capt Braxton violate the Temporal Prime Directive by telling Janeway that he's from the future and they regularly do time travel and such? I guess when the Voyager gets back home in their own time the Time Cops (from DS9) will be waiting, by my count at least 3 cases of time travel so far. Non-sequitor, Flashback and now Future's End.
Jennifer G. Robb: Here are some nits and observations:
As Dunbar prepares to pull the limo away, a close-up of him, appears to show the passenger side door open. A subsequent long shot of the limo pulling away shows the door closed. I guess it is possible that the motion of the car closed the door, but I don't recall hearing any such sound effect.
Some of the Guild members discussed using a shuttle for its transporter ability and disguising a communicator as a cellular phone in the comments under pt. I (I know technically the cellular phone they used wasn't a disguised communicator pin, but it was close).
And finally a couple of "Nice Touches":
1. having the holodoc have to ask for directions.
2. the temporal prime directive (it's consistent with the fact that the 24th century Starfleet has a prime directive).
This last is one I'm not sure of--I don't remember the scene Paris alludes to at the end about Tuvok and the "parking officer", but it may just be my memory.
Tripp Summey: Why didn't they beam up Starling's accomplice. It's pretty logical to assume that Starling would tell Dunbar what to do in case he was captured.
When Chakotay and Torres are captured by the Militia, why doesn't V'ger send another shuttle to beam them up? They still have their communicators? It seems less obtrusive than sending the holo-doc and a
vulcan to stun the militiamen with PHASERS! That would seem to affect the timestream a little more than moving a paperweight off a desk, like when Tuvoc yelled at Paris in Rain's office.
BTW, a new glossary term for you: MTIBTY (My Tricorder Is Bigger Than Yours). Whenever there's a senior officer's briefing, Everybody tries to top the everyone else with their info on the mission (Kim: The
rift is unstable! Torres: That means if he goes through he'll destroy Earth's solar system. Chakotay: Hey, I want a line!)
KMYF moment between Chakotay and Torres in the shuttle.
One last thing, wouldn't it be great to be a V'ger crewmember. Sure you're in the Delta quadrant, but it's not like you have a job! The Senior staff does all of the grunt work (much as it is in the real world). When's the last time you saw Ensign Jones beam to the surface or fly a shuttle? You only see these schmos in the dining hall.
Brian Lombard: In the Classic episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday", Kirk goes to great lengths to recover some film shot of the Enterprise flying over Nebraska in the 1960's. In this story, Voyager is captured on tape and run on the 10:00 news. Why no effort to recover that footage? (Note from Phil: Obviously, the understand the state of Amercian Culture at the end of the twentieth century!)
Here's a new tote board for the Voyager book. Number of times Harry has returned to Earth since being stranded in the Delta quadrant: 2.
I was impressed that the creators had Holo-Doc make reference to his recent memory wipe. I figured it was one of those things we'd never hear about again.
More Kirkanization! Why did Janeway have to prepare the photon torpedo for launch? Did that remind anyone else of Kirk on the Enterprise-B in "Generations"?
Jody Ellen Seim: Future's End makes me feel like an idiot for wanting to nitpick the show. What's the point in asking why Braxton lets Doc keep his 29th-century holo-emitter (they can scan all of space across time--note the Time Police noticed Voyager above twentieth-century earth, not the rift in time itself, which at least might conceivably be monitered--so surely they can scan the interior of one ship for renegade future technology)?
Kathryn R. L. Harkins [Dear Captain] Janeway, never send only Maquis officers into a potentially hazardous situation. You're looking at a mutiny. I can visualize an episode now--"Mutiny" *another one-word title--grrr) Scene: The Bridge: Some Michael Jonas Maquis types are screaming while
torturing/impaling/murdering/hurting/irritating/_________(word of your choice here) Janeway with _________ (torture article of your choice here)"Soooooo, you think us MAQUIS are EXPENDABLE, heeeey? See how THIS makes you FEEL! You're EXPENDABLE now, heh heh heh!"
Evan Lorentz: You pretty well covered all of my complaints about time pollution. (I foresaw this calamity coming last week -- see my nit from earlier.) But there's still plenty more to cover.
First, Starling's got one massive hard drive if he can download 20% of the Voyager's files.
Granted, he's using some incorporated 29th century technology, but the best computer he could produce would be, basically, let's say slightly better than the modern Pentium Pro with 64 MB of RAM or more. As good as this must be, would it be good enough to run the HoloDoc's program? I kind of doubt it. It would be at the very least like trying to run Windows 95 (another corrupt Starling -- I mean Gates -- invention) on a Commodore 64 or something. I find it stretches credibility.
Leading to another problem. Starling says he's learned all he can from the timepod. While I personally would have my doubts as to the truth of this, he certainly believes it's so: he, in the 20th century, has done
all for technology he can. How can he believe, then, that the 24th century Voyager crew is trying to steal the timeship to create more technological advancements in the 24th century? Hasn't Starling already "invented them all" in the 20th century, which will only be improved on in the next 400 years?
Another remarkable demonstration of how nifty transporters are. Perhaps even more remarkable than the Standing Out, Sitting In, or the disarming of a phaser in TNG's "The Most Toys," what they do in this
episode is nothing short of remarkable. The transporter is able to shut down a tricorder 500 years more technology advanced, that is actively trying to scramble the beam itself. I've now decided I have *got* to get me one of these!
Contrary to the nit someone already sent in, I believe the Doctor would have to be reinstalled. The device on his arm is implied to be merely a remote projector. The Doc's program itself is still run from a main computer. The Doc would need to be reinstalled from Starling's PC to the Voyager.
I think it's time to instate a new term into the Nitpicker's Glossary. POIAB, or Part One Is Always Better. From "Best of Both Worlds" to "Basics," or as far back as "The Menagerie," up to now "Future's End,"
it seems an impossible task to write a second half of a two-part episode that's anywhere near as good as the first half. At least the writers let Doc keep his mobility at the end of the episode. The best thing about the show is now only going to be better as a result.
Brian Phan of San Jose, CA: Futures End (both episodes) were pretty good. In Part II, before Sterling's "bodyguard" transports him out of Voyager, the camera drops down from the ceiling to the timeship. As it goes, it says Chronowerks on the wall when it should be Chronowerx.
Murray Leeder: Also, I don't agree about the Eugenics Wars thing. Janeway said that the micro-computer revolution is part of history. Part of her history. This is the the same timeline where Kirk said that the Eugenics Wars did happen. And everything in this episode was supposed to happen in accordance with the timeline. So I don't think the absence of the Eugenics Wars can be so easily excused.
Brian Lombard: Ok. When Braxton showed up in the end, he said that in the 29th
century they could track ships that were out of time. This being the
case, how come we never saw a time ship In "ST IV: The Voyage Home",
"Trials and Tribble-ations", "Little Green Men", "Tomorrow Is
Yesterday", or any others I'm forgetting?
Craig Cicero: One thing about the Eugenics Wars and the sleeper ship. It was mentioned that the '90's civiliazation seen in "Future's End" didn't seem capable of building a sleeper ship and launching it (or an argument very similar). I think that it's really hard to gauge technological abilities based on a brief look at one part of one city! Think of it this way.
Granted, this is history to me but maybe others can verify (or deny!). Okay: if you were to time or dimensionally travel to 1969, would it have been very apparent that that NASA had the capability to send some men to the Moon? Without reading about it in a newspaper or seeing it on TV, I would guess No. But, I wasn't alive back then, so it's just a guess.
In any event, why couldn't the Eugenics Wars have ended a month or
somthing before the events in "Future's End"? We don't have an actual date
or anything, but just becuase no one mentions them doesn't mean they didn't
happen! How often does the Gulf War come up in casual conversation
nowadays? For me, not a lot. But again, I'm guessing. (And, Rain did have
a sleeper ship model in her office.....)
One last thing before I go. In a fairly recent Voyager episode (I don't remember which one) Tom was injured (I think), and Neelix asked Janeway if he could fill in for Tom as helmsman. That brings up a question. Who's the helmsman when Tom is off duty or on an away mission? Chakotay (Janeway
tells him to set courses sometimes)? And wouldn't it be a good idea to train a WHOLE BUNCH of people some necessary skills? People get killed, and the only recruits Janeway's found have been the Maquis, Nellix, and Kes- in the first episode! I wonder if any Talaxians from the mining colony (Basics) wanted to join up.
Shira T. Karp: Okay, I'm not touching the most obvious nit--the temporal paradox--with a
ten meter pole. I'll leave that to you other nitpickers who are more into temporal mechanics than I am.
I hope that Tuvok specified a bean burrito when he ordered "breakfast." Otherwise, our Vulcan friend is going to vomit when he realizes that he has ingested flame-cooked dead cow muscle. And speaking of "breakfast," I know Tuvok wouldn't know to get bagels, but he shouldn't have blundered that badly. I mean, he's had a close friendship with Janeway for at least ten years; he should have at least known to get coffee.
I'm guessing that while we weren't looking, Voyager sent some diposable ensign to break into Starling's office and retrieve the Doctor's program from his computer. Either that or Starling's computer has been preserved in perfect condition in a museum for 400 years and the Doctor's new holo-projector can get its information on what to project from 75 light-years away (now that's a good way to spy on the Dominion!).
I'm really glad that when the anarchists tried and failed to shoot the Doctor, they simply stared at him, instead of the more traditional, "Okay, buddy, one more step and your friends here are toast!" Aren't you?
Jeff Carpenter of Springfield, VA: How many of you think the doctor should go ahead and [use the name given him in this episode]? Think of it: "Janeway to Mister Leisure Suit. Medical emergency."
Shane Tourtellotte, Rutherford, NJ: Torres should have tried harder to hide her ridges in the militiamen’s cellar. Lie down, play hurt, something.
Not-so-cute line: “Welcome to the 24th century.” -- Janeway. Funny thing to say in 1996.
Back to 20th-century bashing. “In my time, Mister Starling,” Janeway lectures, “no human being would dream of endangering the future to gain advantage in the present.” Really. Is everybody *really* that pure and noble, Kathryn? Oh, or it is just the humans who are, but you wouldn’t trust them dang aliens an inch? (Sorry, 2.54 centimeters. Wink.)
Note what Dunbar uses to get Starling back: SatCom 47. Another ‘47’ on the mantle for me.
Okay, The Doctor went insubstantial to let the bullets pass through him, but if he was insubstantial, how did he hold onto the phaser all the while?
The truck is pretty close to Rain’s van when she and Paris bail out, but there’s a wider distance after the shuttle blows it up.
Don’t the shuttles have phasers? Couldn’t they have shot Starling down that way? They were close enough to board Voyager before he went into warp, so they would have been effective.
And to quote ST-Generations, “Tractor beam.” “Huh?” “*Tractor beam*.”
Would rerouting torpedo firing control to the helm have taken more than 3 minutes? Janeway rejects Kim’s idea, then takes 3 minutes to get to the torpedo bay and do it manually, and dangerously. The Tech Guide says these stations can be switched around virtually at will.
Braxton’s voice sounds slightly distorted, as it would over a transmission line, until his last line about the Temporal Prime Directive. Then it clears up, sounding like he’s on the Bridge with eveyone else. Did he finally get them tuned in right?
Chad Brown from Altadena, CA: Finally, it looks as if Janeway's "Bun-Of-Steel" (I mean that affectionatly) is history. She had the new "Belle from Beauty and the Beast" ponytale in the preview for next week. (I'm going to bet right now that Q makes a coment about her new hair style in "The Q and the Gray" the week after next.)
Erin Hunt of High Point, NC: I think maybe the Voyager executives finally hired someone else to to do the previews. The preview for next week's show actually made sense. And it didn't embarrass me at all. Note: It looks like Jennifer Lien is going to get to put some of the character traits she learned to portray in soap operas to good use.
The inevitable goodbye scene between Tom Paris and Raine was, I thought, predictible and uninspired ( my two vocabulary words for the day). If there isn't already a glossary term for this love and lose syndrome, I'd like to suggest LOLYACU. It stands for Love Of Life Yet Again Completely
Unattainable.
Not a nit: Did anybody else feel like cheering when Holodoc stood there with his chest thrown out like Superman and let the bullets whiz right through him? Come to think of it, he was pretty heroic throughout this whole episode.
Starling can figure out, in a VERY brief period of time, how to program Holodoc to feel pain? Sure. Right. I can believe that. Of course, I believe in the tooth fairy as well.
On top of everything else he had to do in the last thirty years, Starling figured out what the autonomous holo-emitter was and how to use it AND how to use a tricorder to block transport. That is impressive. One
wonders why such a genius would have required a timeship to succeed in the first place. (And why have we never seen anyone else use the tricorder trick? Do you think we'll ever hear of it again?)
Raine switched over to Tom and Tuvok's side *way* too easily. Two guys sneak into her office, crash her computer, drive off with her, make up some wild story about being secret agents (which she obviously doesn't buy), and ask her to help them use sensitive equipment to send a message into orbit. Must have been one of those trusting small town girls before she moved to the big city.
Paul Lalli of Feeding Hills, MA: How could Janeway possibly allow Doc to keep his portable
holo-whatever?! That's 29th century technology!! Torres even says she's trying to figure out how it works. If Torres is succesful, the crew will have knowlege of 29th century technology. Wouldn't that screw up the timeline just like giving Startling 29th century technology? When the 20th century had 29th century access, we got a computer revolution that never happened. Now the 24th century has 29th century access, and more problems should arise. IMHO, the creators should have found a better way of giving Doc access
to wander about the ship.
Dave Cowles of Gaffney, SC: This may seem nitpicky (heh heh), but in Star Trek Voyager's episode End of The Future Part 2, when Tuvok shot the semi that was hurtling towards Tom Paris and Rayne with his phaser, it exploded AND lost all of it's forward momentum at the same time! All of the debris went sideways,sparing the two! Is there even more I need to learn about phasers and "The Laws of Nature"?
Tim O'Lena of Centreville VA: Apparently, Doc's new mobile holo emmitter is based on 29th century technology. It is just as wrong for Voyager to have future technology as it was for Starling. I wonder if the boys at the Department of Temporal Investigation (see last week's DS9 Tribble episode) look at the future as well as the past. For that matter, do they have a DTI in Braxton's time? Either way, if Braxton comes from the universe's "Primary Timeline", which I'll define as the "original" timeline that the spacetime continuum laid out before people started time travel, then he should still have some work to do here.
I think that Braxton's reason for his last appearance suggests that the writers support my idea of a "Primary Timeline". But then, how do they cope with all the parallel universes we know are out there (reference TNG "Parallels")? What differentiates a parallel universe from a time-altered universe? What if Voyager was developed by the 20th century in some universes ?
Shouldn't Janeway mention that Braxton's counterpart is on Earth ? If Voyager noticed that this guy was emmitting subspace signals, shouldn't Braxton be aware of that anomaly also?
Shouldn't the 29th century Federation notice the timeship in 1967? And wouldn't they have more sophisticated tracking and retreival methods ?
Donald Carlson of Birmingham AL:
Nitpicking is best enjoyed when the creators give us well written, well presented shows with few mistakes. These shows are challenging to Guild members. When we are presented episodes such as this, which are vertitable gold mines of nits, there just isn't much sport in it.
There are some painfully obvious nits (PONs) that I would like to point out -
Starling says he has to go to the 29th century because he's used up all the devices in the Aeon that he can
make commercial products from. Hel-lo! Like we in the 20th century wouldn't be interested in teleportation devices, energy weapons, faster than light propulsion drives, holographic projectors than produce solid holograms, palmtop computers a million times faster and with a billion times more storage capacity than present day computers, on and on and on.
He had so much technology at his disposal that he, and everyone connected with his company, could be rich beyond avarice for the rest of their lives. There was no rational reason for him to go to the 29th century, especially when provided with a reasonable explanation of why doing so would result in his death (along with billions of others). Pity
they didn't show him Braxton's calculations.
You know, I can't move my Mercury Sable from park into drive without pressing first on the brake. This is good old 20th century technology that helps safeguard that I don't hurt myself or someone else by my car lurching forward when I put it in gear. This concept of building in safe guards must have been lost over the centuries, because engineers in the 29th century have forgotten to include a subroutine in the Aeon's computer that would not permit a time-jump unless the ship had been properly calibrated
for the time and place it was going to.
Unless unseen to us someone went back to Starling's office and wiped out his computers, they left a substantial amount of information about not only the 29th century, but the 24th century (20% of Voyager's computer files) back there. Consider the investigation that resulted from the Aeon bashing a hole
in the side of the building, and the probability that someone would have likely looked at what he had on his computer.
Finally, (so many nits, so little time) at the end of Part II there were, in reality, 2 Braxtons. Braxton A was the nut case that came to Earth in 1967 and is still running around LA. Braxton B is the one from the second time line that shows up at the end of the episode.
John Otranto of Dunkirk, MD: Basically, I liked Part II of this episode. Finally they've kill off the villains! Just blew them away without any introspection!
I really, really liked Braxton's use of the "temporal prime directive" as a
mechanism to get Voyager back to the 24th century Delta quadrant. Very
believable. Even if Voyager had tried to return to the 24th century on
their own (which we know is a piece of cake - if Rom can figure it out,
anybody can) Braxton would have been ultimately compelled to return Voyager
to the original starting point in the Delta quadrant. Bummer. While this
solution to continuing the Voyager series is GIS-like, I think it is too
good a solution to qualify as a real GIS.
After the episode was over, I immediately ran into my home office to make
sure the Macintosh IIfx was still there. After all, if the computer
revolution never happened, I might have found only a mechanical adding
machine in its place!
Shirley Kolb of Fulton, NY: I agree with Janeway, this time travel business gives me a headache! I'm starting to agree with John Otranto who sent you a nit for Part I and ended by saying "Star Trek writers have abondoned the principle of believability when considering plot lines for Voyager." In spite of sounding negative, I did enjoy both parts of Future's End. The end just left my head spinning.
John Otranto: This entire concept of time loops and going back to change time, etc. is
interesting but is really a lot of nonsense. A person can't go back and change time because you can't comprehend anything in the past changing - its always the way you remember it or the way history recorded it.
For example, in the upcoming Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg travel into Earth's past to change history (I'm not giving anything away that hasn't been made crystal clear in the commercials for the movie). So naturally the Enterprise follows them into the past to prevent the alternation of Earth's history. What? If
Earth's past has really been changed, then the Enterprise doesn't exist, and NEVER existed. I mean NEVER EVER! The Enterprise and her crew aren't around to prevent anything. But, if the Enterprise and Starfleet never existed, what's there to prompt the Borg to travel into the past in the first place? Nothing. So they don't go. A paradox it seems.
Suppose I were to travel into the past and change something, say for instance, to prevent the Lincoln assassination. The instant I was successful, no one would remember Lincoln being assassinated including me in the past, because it never happened. At the instant of my success, I would be immediately confused as to why I traveled into the past to change it, because, as we all know, Lincoln went on to serve as president for umpteen more years. So why would I travel into the past to prevent something that never happened? I wouldn't. That paradox again! Suppose the continuation of the Lincoln presidency wrought a different future (multiple timelines) in which my parents never met. Then I wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't be able to travel to the past, and John Wilkes Booth would have his way. We're back to square one.
I think that the effort to rationalize time travel is futile, and alternate timelines are nonsense. You simply can't change the past. The way it is is the way it is and that's the way it is. If I go into the past, I can't
change it because, once I go back, I've always gone back in time to interact with it, I'm always there to be a part of it and that's the way history recorded it.
J. Seth Farrow: This is going to be a big "cop-out" explanation, but it *makes sense*:
One could argue that the Eugenics Wars were averted when the timeship
landed in the 60's. (Somehow it or Starling altered the timeline so they
didn't happen), and now, since (amazingly) the whole story didn't really
happen, Starling isn't responsible for computer age, etc. (At least that
was my impresiion from the end of the show, "I never expereinced that
timeline") Original history is now restored. Must have been the unstable
time-rift added with the explosion of Starling's ship, and the ripple
effect, uh, and uh....yeah. There are lots of unexplained factors that
could have caused this shifting of events.
There.
(I *told* you it was a cop-out!)
In other words, the creators left themselves *LOTS* and *LOTS* of
loopholes that can explain the discrepancies. (Those little devils, them.)
Kathryn R.L. Harkins: I found our 47! When Starling is flying around in the Timeship, he says
'Penetration point something something something mark zero FOUR SEVEN!" Then Janeway pulls the torpedo launcher (really not a smart thing for the captain to be doing herself) and gets a nasty burn on her face.
NIT Time! Janeway lands on the right side of her face (our left) and then, in the Turbolift, Holo-Doc is examining the right side of her face. The side she landed on. The side not exposed to the plasma fumes of
whatever Harry was complaining about. Now, unless she got some nasty rugburn, wouldn't the pink rash thing be on the left side of her face (our right)?
KMYF moment--for a brief second I thought Holodoc was looking wistfully into Janeway eyes in the turbolift. Could it be possible Holodoc sees a bit of Denara Pel in Kathryn Janeway? Nah, couldn't be. I hope. We've already seen enough Doctor/Captain romance on TNG. Yeesh. We need some J/C action here.
Karen Fischer: Okay, I'll let somebody else pick about the technical stuff, my question is, is Janeway going to wear her hair down from now on? I was a bit surprised that in part II she didn't have the extension piled into it's nice neat little bun on the top of her head. Instead, she changed clips and wore it the way she had when she was down in LA. Is she trying to change her image or what?
The bit with the Milita people capturing Chakotay and Torres didn't seem to really fit in with the story. I do have to admit that I thought the bit with Tuvock and Paris using a Cellphone to contact Voyager was a pretty cute trick, and one that seems quite plausible for a change. As to the rest of the story, what I didn't say about Part I, because I wanted to see how Part II would come out, was that I have the distinct feeling that this was a case of LSFDW(Let's steal from Dr. Who). The only thing missing in this episode were Dalaks and the Tardis.
Murray Leeder: Let's set aside the absurdity of Starling running out of technology from the timeship fit for the market (gimme a break). But he decides to go foreward to the 29th century to get some more technology. All's well here, but don't you think he'd be smarter to go to the 39th century instead?
Cliff Cerce: The creators could learn something from watching "Jumanji." Here, the writers allowed the past and future to properly resolve in a rational way, proving it can be done with rationality and style.
A better ending would have resulted if Voyager would have done a slingshot
around the sun, wound up back in the 24th century, and THEN had Braxton show
up on the basis of investigating their journey from the 24th to 20th and
then back to the 24th century.
After listening to their explanation of what has happened (which seems out
of character for this shoot-from-the-hip character), Braxton would then haul
them back to the Delta Quadrant anyway, because the Temporal Prime Directive
forbids them from solving a problem through ther use of time travel--and
that is what the crew of Voyager would have actually done by their slingshot
around the sun.
Braxton's 29th century concerns could not allow them to be in a place (Alpha
Quadrant) where they weren't supposed to be, unless they actually did
finally reach it in the 24th century without the use of time travel. In that
instance, Braxton's past would be preserved because Voyager was supposed to
be there.
The creators could have given us a better ending. At least the crew would
have tried. And, having gotten so close, this would bolster their fading
hopes about getting home and make their continuing search for another method
far more plausible.
JoAnna Walsvik of Hillsboro, ND: I bet Janeway (or the entire crew, for that matter) has never wanted to say "Screw the *bleep*ing Prime Directive!!" as in the last few minutes of the episode when Captain Braxton said he couldn't take them home because of the temporal Prime Directive. I know *I*
wanted to.
I must confess, when those psycho guys were trying to touch B'Elanna's forehead and she screeched, I dived behind the couch and didn't come out until the next commercial.
Another scary thing was the preview for next week's episode. Kes kissing Tuvok? Scary. Kes kissing TORRES? Words fail me. My initial reaction was, "Please tell me this is a classic case of PAL. Please." Let's just hope it's true and the previews are lying through their teeth. (Now that's an interesting analogy.)
11/25/96
Bob Canada: OK, let's see if I understand how Holodoc works...He's a hologram that's
surrounded by a complex forcefield that gives him substance. So Starling presumably uses 29th century technology to construct the portable holo-emitter (presumably 29th century technology because B'ellanna
implies that she doesn't quite understand how it works), which enables Doc to leave the ship and walk around. OK. I can accept that. But when Starling first confronts the Doc, he removes his comm badge.
This just doesn't seem right to me somehow...Its not a real comm badge, is it? I always assumed it was a holgraphic one. It disappears when he shuts himself off. Why remove the badge at all--why not just jam it signal? If Starling could figure out how to cause Doc pain, he could surely do that...Secondly, he removes the comm badge and drops it on his desk. And it doesn't derezz. If the comm badge is holographic, shouldn't it disintegrate after its removed from Doc's body? The fact that it remains intact implies that Doc can break off little independent pieces of himself...Somehow I don't think so.
Also, earlier in the year a fellow nitpicker commented on a scene where B'ellanna was tinkering with Doc's program and accidentally blinding Doc
by turning off his visual receptors, wondering how a hologram could have
visual receptors in the exact position of Doc's eyes to start with. The
same nit applies here--in Sickbay, Doc is probably seeing thru a series
of strategically place monitors. But how exactly is he seeing when he's
walking around on the street? Is there a tiny camera in the portable
emitter thingie on his arm?
Finally, back on the ship, Doc is told to go to the torpedo bay and
assist the Captain, and he stops and says, "Which way to the torpedo
bay?" Well, DUH, Doc...you're programmed with the entire Federation
medical database but you don't have a ship's schematic in your head? I
guess he wasn't near a console so he could call up that info...
If being operation for 2 years while confined to Sickbay filled up Doc's
hard drive, then what's gonna happen now that he can wander freely about
the ship, or go on away missions? Better install DIsk Doubler!
At the end, no one seems very upset that they're going to be sent back
to the Delta Quadrant...they react to this bad news with all the passion
of a groggy child who just discovered mom burn the toast. Maybe after 2
years under Janeway's command they expect the worst to happen.
Elizabeth Harrison: Two things that bug me about Future's End: I may not know as much about
computers as you do, but I thought it curious that when Janeway uses the computer in Starling's office, she appears to just type in words. No use of mouse, F keys, or arrow keys. There is no program I know of that doesn't require the use of at least one of these.
Lisa Shock: Just a quick addition to the nit about the Talosian Keeper action figure.
I forgot to mention that it's a 30th anniversary figure, released in the
first week of September 1996. It really implies that Rain knew about a
TV pilot created thirty years before called "STAR TREK"!
Jason Liu: I was just reading through the nits
people sent in on "Future's End" Part II when something caught my eye. Ryan
Hunter mentions how there is a "47" in the shuttlecraft's registry number
74658. Of course, you correctly note that the number would be of the mother
ship, Voyager. Shame on you both! :) Voyager's registry number is
NCC-74656, not 74658. (Yep, you really have trained us well, Phil!) (Note from Phil: Rats! I had a feeling I should have looked that up!)
Matthew Campbell: In the episode
"Future's End II", the doctor's communicator was removed in Henry Starling's
office, which was equipped with holographic emitters. Thus, the holo-comm
badge maintained its visible integrity. The doctor later appeared without it
outside, while wearing is autonomous holo-emitter. But, when in the mess
hall back on Voyager he had a comm badge. He had not yet been reintegrated
back into Voyager's systems so it seems odd that he would have a comm badge
on his "uniform". I find it unlikely that Captain Janeway gave him a solid
comm badge which would be useless once Lt. Torres swallowed down her
syntheholic champagne and hauled her butt back to Engineering.
Brad Dusen: Doesn't anyone notice a shuttle flying around (like an airforce base) or
a small craft shooting out of a skyscraper?
Murray Leeder: [With regards your comments regarding causality] Be that as it may, I
still don't understand how the future timeline in which Braxton took
part got created in the first place!
Daniel B. Case: The end of this episode should give Janeway and crew
real cause for optimism. Think about it. How would Braxtonknow where to find them unless they were to have made it home eventually? If Voyager were never to make it home, Braxton would never know where to find them in the Delta Quadrant.
I'm also not bothered by the lack of the slingshot effect. >From what I've heard, the creators worried (rightly so, IMO), that that would make time travel seem way too easy after ST IV, and would prefer it be along the lines of "yeah, it happened, but just forget about it, OK?" (And remember, they
did make a point of having Spock say how risky it was in the movie).
Besides, Janeway has a very good reason not to argue with him: those submolecular disruptors he used on them at the beginning of the first episode!
I second the nomination of "That's a name I hadn't considered" as Great Line, and also respond to the guy who suggested a new glossary item for the first part always being better by pointing out that it isn't always true enough to make it axiomatic. "Chain of Command II" and "Gambit Part II" are both better than the first parts, I tihnk we would all agree.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this episode! It was almost as good as the first part, and once again Braga and Menosky managed to avoid the cliches I thought they'd hit (like this week's nomination: Man
>From Future Uses His Technology To Impress Woman from Past One Last (Ahem) Time Before He Has to Leave. Did anybody else think that Paris was going to use a shuttle to take Rain on a date to Saturn
before leaving? And it didn't happen, thankfully. Oh it would have been beautiful, but it's such a cliche).
Erin Hunt of High Point, NC: I disagree with John Otranto's assertion that it's impossible to go back in time and change the past. I already sent you this theory to explain the "Grandfather Paradox", but I'll recap it (and hopefully explain it a little better).
I submit that once you step outside the the normal space-time continuum
you remove yourself from the normal flow of time. An example: Suppose
that today, November 19, 1996, I find a time machine and go back in time
to November 19, 1926. There are now two Erin Hunts in the timeline - one
exists from June 10, 1977 (my birthdate) to November 19, 1996, the other
exists from November 19, 1926 to whatever time I use the time machine
again. The '26 Erin remembers everything the '96 Erin does, because
memories are just synaptic patterns in the brain - patterns that were
recreated in the '26 Erin at the moment of her "creation". It doesn't
matter whether or not they're still going to actually happen in the
future. If I were to kill my grandfather in 1926, the '77 to '96 Erin
would cease to exist, but not the '26 to "present" Erin - me. And my
memories would still be intact because the future can't work
retroactively on my synaptic patterns. If I were to then use the time
machine to go back to 1996, I would still exist, but nobody would
remember me, and none of the events of my life from 1977 to 1996 would
have happened, because Erin #1 was never born. Likewise, if I didn't kill
my grandfather but somebody in 1926 stole my time machine, went to 1996,
and killed me, this would in no way prevent me from continuing to exist
in 1926. The change (or branch) in the timeline has occured after 1926.
The future cannot work retroactively on the past without a more direct
link, which would fit time's linear, "straight-ahead" nature. (Is it just
a coincidence that you came up with a similar theory to explain the end
of Future's End II or did you get it from my previous e-mail?)
Assuming I didn't do anything in 1926 to prevent myself from being born,
I could time travel back to 1996 in one of three ways. I could come back
at the same time I left. This would cause me to appear to blend back
seamlessly into my other self. She's leaving at the same time I'm
appearing. Erin #1, of course, will have gone back to 1926, where she'll
travel back at the exact same time she left and... oh, you get the idea.
I could go back after the moment I left, in which case I would "reappear"
after a mysterious absence.
Or I could go back before the moment I left. Then there would be two of
me in the same time period, and I'd have to try to avoid my other self
until she leaves. Whew!
By the way, I don't think this explains your theory as to why Voyager
would still be in the 20th century at the end of this show. In that case,
the branch *did* occur before 1996. It happened in 1967, when the
timeship failed to appear and set the whole chain of events in motion.
Excuse me while I go get a couple Tylenol.
Note from Phil: Sorry! No time to respond today. Overloaded on First Contact Input! The sum of it is this. I guess we'll just have to wait until someone invent time travel for real and we'll see. Although, I have a sneaking suspicion that if someone ever manages this we are all in for a bit of a surprise. In fact, that's the theme of my next novel (if I can ever get the first one sold!!!)
Ari Rosner of Palo Alto, CA: I think I know why Braxton and the Time Police didn't come in the
previous time travel episodes. They can't really scan through time, but
they can scan when the rift is opening. Thus, they scanned Starling
opening the rift, and came back in time. (Note from Phil: But I thought Braxton said that in 29th Century they could scan time just like Voyager would scan space with its sensors.)
Travis McCord: Just some minor points of note:
I would _not_ want to be Rain. At the end of the episode, she's
stranded in the middle of the desert, in a nonfunctional VW van, right
next to a _very_ suspicious-looking wreck complete with a dead body
inside, with no way to call for help and no way to explain what happened
when (if) help comes without winding up in either jail or the looney bin!
One problem with the ending: right after the
timestream is 'fixed' (maybe), the Deus Ex Machina... oops, I mean the
Aeon pops out of the rift to put everything back the way it was. The
dialogue seems to indicate that it's part of a temporal SWAT team, sent
out when time travel is detected to set everything back to where it was.
OK... if they really want to minimize potential
damage, why didn't they go to the _beginning_ of the time glitch, X days
ago? They should have met Voyager at earth immediately! (Or met the Aeon
in '67!)
Tim O'Lena: I don't have a problem with holo-doc holding the phaser and having
bullets pass thru him. I would just write that off as the holo program giving him normal interaction when and where necessary. Theere's no reason for his torso to be solid. So the program does only what's
necessary to hold the phaser.
But there is one point. Doc was lucky that the phaser or the holo emitter didn't get hit. Don't tell me that they're bullet proof!
Johnson Lai: After killing Starling, Braxton comes to lead Voyager back to the 24th century and both ships immediately make the journey home. But what about all those files Starling downloaded to his computer? Shouldn't they remove them from the 20th century first (especially the "irreplaceable" ones?)
12/02/96
Stephanie Bamberger: While reading all of the nits submitted on these episodes, I noticed a lot of discussion about the Eugenics Wars, the time travel, the purity of the time line, etc. However, no one seems to have picked up on Starling's claim to Janeway that he invented the Internet!! I beg to differ!!
No private individual invented the Internet; it arose from a U.S. government (the Beast :>) created network called the ArpaNet. Even if there was severe contamination of the timeline by the Aeon arriving in 1967, I doubt hugely that too many people would have thought of creating an enormous world-wide computer network (with no definable center), especially a megalomaniac computer company president with designs on controlling the world's computer market. Or maybe I'm just being too literally? Phil, what's your thought on this?
(Note from Phil: Well, I'm not sure that the Star Trek timeline is our timeline. Obviously, we didn't experience the Eugenics Wars and just as obviously the citizens who encounter Kirk and company during STIV: The Voyager Home have never seen Star Trek! ;-)
Jeff Carpenter: Someone with the screen name "Dexter" noted that the guy's from the 29'th century should have gone back and stopped every other episode in Star Trek that had time traval. I say no.
When they look back at a Klingon Bird of Prey stealing whales they see it gone a few days latter. When they see Sisko and Bashir in San Fransisco, they look a few days latter, and they're gone! But the Voyager was there, and there, and a few years latter, still there. That's why they fixed them and no one else. Right?
John Bibb of Garland TX: In the nits on Futures End, there was some discussion on why the Eugenics Wars were not mentioned. Givin the article in one of your books (I forget which) called "The Creator is Always Right", I formulated a theory.
In ST4:TVH, Kirk and Co. brought Gillian Taylor to the Twentieth Century. This created an alternate timeline. In the original timeline, Gillian Taylor changed her field of science to genetics shortly after
George and Gracie were released and killed by whalers. She developed a new breed of super-human, and managed to accelerate their growth. Soon, the super-humans turned on her, and tried to take over the world. This all occoured between 1986 and 1992. Fortunatly, Kirk managed to avert the Eugenics Wars by taking Gillian Taylor back to the Twenty-third century. Of course, after that, Voyager wouldn't have heard of the Eugenics Wars, so they wouldn't be in the least bit curious as to why the Earth isn't recovering from a war.
Murray Leeder: It's true that most Part Two's are better than Part One's. There are
the exceptions that Daniel Case mentioned above. In addition, I think
that "Redemption" and "Improbable Case/The Die Is Cast" both had equally
good first and second halves.
12/09/96
Tony Trimboli of Mesa, AZ: Not really a nit as much as an observation regarding the new movie. I've noticed that over the last few weeks leading up to the new movie VOY & DS9 did 'Time Travel' espisodes. I suppose this was to get us ready for the new movie. I have always loved stories about time travel. I used to read SF books on the subject all the time when I was younger. It was one of my
favorite topics. I've noticed a lot of nits regarding this, particularly with the recent Voyager episode.
I'd like to throw 2 cents worth into the conversation on this. Most time
travel stories are always based on the premise that the time traveller
should not interfere in the past time line, as it could have a disastrous
effect on the future. There are obvious things like not letting the people
there know you are a time traveller, don't kill anybody etc. However, their
very presence could conceivably have an effect on the time line.
For instance, do you know how many crimes you have prevented in your
lifetime? The answer is you can't know. Typically a criminal will avoid
committing a crime if they see somebody. For all you know the last time you
were at the mall with your kids somebody was getting ready to commit a crime
then saw you standing there and refrained. Seemingly innocuous events like
standing on a street corner potentially have an impact on other events. What
if our time traveller is standing on a corner and prevents a murder that was
supposed to happen? What if that person that was supposed to die in that
time then goes on to have an impact on the future?
Also, by interacting with people in the past, they could end up causing or
preventing car accidents. For instance, by driving during that time period,
they are now one extra car on the road. In the old timeline a person who is
in a hurry gets through the traffic light okay. Now there is one extra car
in front of them, and they decide to run the red light and get into an accident.
I can look at my own life and spot one example that has far reaching
implications. For example, my wife and I both went to the same grade school
& high school. During sophomore year her parents could no longer afford to
send her to that high school (it was a private school) and sent her to
public school. She ended up meeting her first husband there. They eventually
got married, had 3 children, then got divorced. We eventually met up with
one another after she was divorced and now we are married. There is one
event here that would have had far reaching implications had it been
changed, mainly her parents not being able to afford to send her to private
school. Suppose that the time traveller who causes the car accident caused
that accident for one of her parent's business competitors. Now her parents
end up being more successful and can afford to send her to private school.
She does not end up marrying her first husband, but ends up marrying
somebody else, who turns out to be a nicer person. She ends up staying with
him.
In this case, her & I never get together, her 3 children are never born.
Instead other children are born, with different genetic makeup, a different
household environment, and so on. Now we have 7 people that have been
affected by one simple innocuous event. (myself, her, 3 children, her ex,
and the other guy, whoever he would have been). This of course could end up
spreading further out. Those children that were never born in the old
timeline, but now exist in the new timeline are a complete wildcard to the
timeline.
I guess time travel is a lot more dangerous than you might think. When Riker
and Laforge travel with Cochrane on his initial flight did that affect the
timeline? Did the people that flew with him end up forming a different kind
of bond that has now been wiped away? Would that bond have had any impact on
the timeline?
From someone identified only by the screen name Dexter: I was just kind of wondering about this... I have a lot to say about the two part Voyager episode where they travel back to 1996, but I'll try to be brief. For one thing, IF in the 29th century they can scan time to see when someone is violating the time line then throughout Trek they should have shown up. Why didn't they sense Sisko going back in "Trials and Tribbulations" or McCoy rampaging around in "The City on the Edge of Forever."
How about this one...here's a paradox for you...what about in Star Trek IV, when Kirk when back. If the 29th century time-guys sensed someone out of their proper timeline, like, a Klingon Bird of Prey in the
1980's, they would go back in time and bring Kirk and the Gang back to the future...but then that silly probe would destroy Earth and therefore...in the 29th Century there probably would be no Starfleet,
which would mean they couldn't go back to stop Kirk.
That was confusing. Does anyone understand that?
Matthew Mclauchlin: Did you notice the Dunkin Donuts logo on the soft drink cups?
When Dunbar is whaling Holodoc, why doesn't he dematerialize (à la "Now, you slap me" from "Phage")? If I could dematerialize at will during a fight, I would. Sure would nonplus the enemy. At least he does
it while the goon is shooting at him.
Along the same lines, if his tactile sensors can feel pain, why doesn't he feel it when he's getting whaled or shot at?
The chase scene provides several mistakes. When Tom blows away the truck's rear wheel, it spins out onto the flats. Then the van chokes. At that point, the truck begins to approach from behind. A) The truck couldn't move with the rear wheel out of commission. B) Did it just skate around the flats and start to approach them from behind? If so, why didn't Tom see it coming?
Also, when the truck is coming up on the van, the shuttle comes and shoots at it. At first, it seems that only the cab blows apart, but even tually the truck comes to a stop and it looks like the trailer was also
destroyed.
During that final tender scene between Rain and Tom, was anyone else screaming at Rain, "DO A GILLIAN TAYLOR!!!!" A bubbleheaded astrophysicist would make a nice addition to the crew.
I was startled to find how little loss of innocent life there was in this episode. When Ensign Whosiz was told to take Holodoc to the torp tube, my first thought was, "She's chipped beef on toast".
At one point, it is reported that Torres was busy fixing the shuttle. I thought it was Tuvok fixing the shuttle.
If you would like to add some comments,
drop
me a note at chief@nitcentral.com. Please put the name of the episode in
the Subject line and include your real name, city and state (or province
and county as the case may be) in the body of the e-mail so I can give you
credit if you are the first person to bring up a particular nit. (Remember
the legalese: Everything you submit becomes mine and you grant me the right
to use your name in any future publication by me. I will do my best to give
you credit if you are the first person to submit a particular nit but I make
no guarantees. And finally, due to the volume of mail received at Nitpicker
Central, your submission may or may not be acknowledged.)
Copyright 1996 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.