"Year of Hell, Part II"
Air Date: November 12, 1997
Star Date: 51425.4
11/17/97 Update
11/24/97 Update
12/8/97 Update
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we can on it. You're welcome to send in addition nits and I will keep them on file but I won't be adding to this file any longer unless something really spectacular comes in!
As Janeway and the senior staff struggle to keep Voyager functioning, Chakotay and Paris learn what they can about Annorax's temporal ship. In due time, Paris sends the location of the ship to Janeway; Janeway leads a coalition against the ship; Paris and Annorax's first officer cause the temporal ship to re-enter the space/time continuum; The first office beams Chakotay and Paris to safety and Janeway rams it with a crippled Voyager causing a temporal incursion that hits The Big Reset Button and returns everything to the way it was before part one of "Year of Hell."
Brash Reflections
Oh well. The episode kind of lost its tension as soon as it became obvious that everything was going to get reset. Voyager crashing into the temporal ship was gorgeous, however!
Tell ya what. I've been going like crazy over these past few weeks--with writing and newsletter and helping to install audio and video in our church's new facility. I'm tired enough that I'd like to get a good night's rest to night so I'm going to leave it to you, fellow nitpickers!
Reflections from the Guild
(Note from Phil: I haven't verified these reflections but they sounded good to me!)
Robin Cook: In the beginning of "Year of Hell II," Janeway flagrantly disregrads the Doctor's orders to rest for 48 hours. As the Doctor stated a couple of seasons back, the Chief Medical Officer outranks the Captain in health-related matters. Hence, the Doctor's orders can be enforced per the established Starfleet rank protocols. It isn't until halfway through the episode that the Doctor reminds her that he has the power to relieve her of command. Was the Doctor trying to cut her slack earlier or did his program suffer some memory loss during the pulverizing the ship took in "Year of Hell I"?
Michael Apple: Year of Hell ranks, in my mind, as the second best Voyager episode ever ( the best being "Projections".) Annorax ended up being an interesting character with a complex personality. The special effects were outstanding .
Nits:
At the beginning of the episode, Voyager is hidden in a nebula of swirling pink gas. There's a leak and some of the gas gets into the ship. About 99% of all gasses are clear and odorless. The reason nebulas gasses are colored is because of light reflecting and refracting against the particles in the gas. Having the gas be the same color inside and outside the ship is just ridiculous.
Didn't Janeway say that there needed to be a hundred crewmembers to run Voyager? By the end of this episode, only ONE crewmember, Janeway herself, controlled the ship, even doing some maneuvers.
Tuvok should be more careful in the way he phrases his explanations to Seven of Nine. He says "The captain is always right." What if the captain gives some inaccurate data to Seven? If "the captain is always right", and Seven doesn't correct the info, problems could arise. Also, since when have the crew followed the captain's orders unquestioning. It seems that every command must be followed by a long explanation before anyone does anything.
So Annorax's crew has been together over two hundred years? And no one mutiny's? Wow. That's loyalty for you.
Seven needs to be taught the correct way to direct the visually impaired. She just grabs Tuvok's arm when she wants him to move. The right way to do this is to offer your arm and let the blind person grab it. How would you feel if someone just grabbed your arm all-of-a-sudden?
Was anyone surprised by the ending? I wasn't. There's a whole bunch of nits there. Why did the timeline revert when they destroyed the ship? Would the timeline have reverted some time in the distant future when the ship was dismantled? And how come the crew didn't instantly age when they dropped back into normal time. They are over two hundred years old!
Another thing I noticed: the Voyager creators seem to think that all blond women should have short hair. I noticed in the Mulgrew/Ryan segment before the show that Jeri Ryan actually has long hair. The same was true with Jennifer Lien when she was on the show. Yet, the costumes of both 7o9 and Kes had short wigs. Is there a problem with blonds having long hair, or are the creators assuming that it's "sexier" somehow?
Johnson Lai: When Janeway came back to the bridge after fixing the nebula gas leak, the doctor said there were 7 **"other"** crewmembers on board. I only counted 6: Tuvok, Doc, Seven, Kim, Torres, and Neelix.
One word: KES! At the end of "Before and After", Kes was going to give Janeway a full report on the Krenim and the Year of Hell. Funny there was no mention, not even a hint, when they ran into a Krenim warship. I sent this nit in last time but I suggested we wait and see. Now, it is clear that someone in the writing department has screwed up big time!
Brian O'Marra, Little Rock, AR: Not a bad episode! Nice ending! Annorax gets his wife back! Good special effects too! The ship looks pretty beaten up!
On to the nits...The nebula is leaking into the ship?? Through the ventilation system??
Phil, I believe you pointed out a similar nit in the Classic Trek episode "Obsession." There a gaseous creature got into the Enterprise through the ventilation ducts! Should the vents lead through the hull to the outside of the ship and the vacuum of space? I mean, if the nebula can get in, the Voyager crews' air supply can leak out!! Janeway did comment that they didn't want an inside nebula!
Lastly, if the Kremmin are this technologically advanced that they can build a weapon that can make enemies disappear from the timeline and alter it as they please, and have been using it for two centuries, one wonders how they got defeated in the first place.
This seemed to be the same plot dilemma that was raised in the Star Trek TNG episode "Connundrum." In that episde a Satarran is so advanced that he can wipe the memories of the Enterprise crew but can't design a photon torpedo to destroy the Lysian Alliance. Riker even saw through that problem and made the observation to Picard. Where is he when you need him??
Shane Tourtellotte: Before my "YoH II" nits, let me withdraw a huge goof I recently made. I said that the damage from the overload on Deck 5 in "YoH I" switched sides during the episode, but not so! It *was* originally on the starboard side; I just mistook that for port. Funny, you'd think that huge "NCC-74656" would have oriented me. Anyway, disregard that nit.
And now, hopefully some better thought out nits:
Chalk it up. I and several others predicted the creators would take the Patrick-Duffy-in-the-sonic-shower route and have this whole two-parter never have occurred. And we ask again: what happened to Kes's version of this sequence of events?
If the nebula gas is so corrosive to ship's circuitry, I hate to think what it might do to Janeway's and Kim's unprotected skin.
Chakotay thinks to have Voyager avoid Krenim space by changing course around a comet. Is/Was/Will Be their space really so small that skirting a comet means you miss it? Or wouldn't Voyager bother getting back on original course once past it, instead continuing in this new direction? It would explain why 7o9 was able to shave 5 years off their transit time last episode: they're going in the wrong direction!
What's this medi-babble about the Rilnar species introducing a vital antibody into the Krenim genome? A genome is DNA, the various permutations that can occur in a particular species. It has nothing to do with anitbodies, which are proteins produced by a body to neutralize infectious agents. If you mean the Rilnar introduced genes that let you produce that antibody, say so.
Doesn't The Doctor need more than himself to relieve Captain Janeway of command? See Classic Trek "Obsession" and TNG "The Battle" and "Allegiance" for examples. I think the executive officer, by now likely Tuvok, would have had to back him. Of course, when Janeway refuses to step aside, The Doctor abandons the attempt pretty quickly. Maybe he knew he hadn't a leg to stand on.
In line with my Annorax-Arronax link to "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", Paris disparages Annorax as a Captain Nemo.
When Annorax wipes out another species, I assume Voyager had its temporal shields up. Otherwise, history would have altered for them again. We see no sign of this occurring, but neither do we get any indication of Voyager having raised its shields to ride out a temporal anomaly.
I wonder why before the final battle, every Voyager crewmember is in full uniform *except* Janeway, who has shed her uniform shirt. Is this becoming like Classic Trek, where the creators took every excuse to show off Kirk's chest? 7o9 must be furious. She thought she had the "ship's babe" position nailed down! ;-)
When an allied ship collides with Voyager, a bridge shot shows Janeway holding firm in the captain's chair. The next shot is of the other ship drifting away, not touching Voyager. Then the next shot is of Janeway sprawled on the deck, as if hurled there by the force of impact, except the impact already happened.
George Padovan of Bridgewater, NJ: I was pretty amazed at the ending they gave for this part! Annorax and Voyager both received what they wanted, and nobody was a loser. Simply destroying the time-weapon restored the Kremin Empire, Annorax's colony and family, and Voyager without returning to the original timeline that part 1 started with. Very impressive IMHO. (grin)
Since Annorax's ship started the whole problem in the begin with (according to Annorax's word to Chakotay), destroying the ship makes sense and Janeway did the correct thing to lower Voyager's temporal shields and well as tell the allies to do to. If Voy and the allies kept their shields up, history would had never been restored to normal ('Normal' means the timeline *before* the 1st change made by Annorax).
As for nits, after viewing the episode once, I have a few, but hopefully will find more when I review it again. (grin)
In part 1, Voyager seem to be stuck deep in Kremin territory when the 1st temporal wave (really was maybe the 1000th wave or more, if Annorax and his ship *was* changing time for 200 years.) passed, making us resume why she intent to go through Kremin territory when better and safe to go around. After Janeway destroyed the time-weapon, Voyager was found at the *edge* of Kremin territory and *this* time she intent to go around! Talk about a change of personalities. (smirk)
David T. Shaw, Hamilton Ontario: Okay - so we have seen part two, and it wasn't as bad as I feared (although it did have THE BIG RESET BUTTON in it).
So, let examine it a bit more closely, eh?
First - that was a really really dense nebula they were in - not only was it thick enough to choke on, but it must have been over one atmosphere or it could never "leak in" (Yes, I know that they ended up blaming the ventilators, but Janeway first suspected a breech in containment - and if see expected stuff to leak in, that means it must have a greater pressure than Voyager's atmosphere - else that atmosphere would leak out of the ship)
Tuvoc's advice to Seven about "The Captain is always right" was a bit off base. It is true that you never contradict the captain in front of the crew - but this was the avowed 'senior staff" that was left behind. It is their job to raise concerns to the Captain, and there was no 'crew' left to worry about. If the Captain is making a mistake, due to an error of judgement, insufficient info or just forgetting something it is the duty of the senior staff to raise their objections. (to quote a military publication "nothing in military experience is more dangerous or more likely to ensure the failure of operations than the cheerful idiot who, mistaking his orders, or receiving nonsensical orders, blithely leads his men to destruction because he could not through stupidity, or would not through lack of courage or integrity, question them.")
Speaking of which - look at this "Senior Staff". An ensign that can't seem to get promoted, a brand new security guard, a person who's allegiance to her species, let alone the ship, is sometimes suspect. The only people who were in fact senior were Tuvoc, Belanna and the Doctor. (And the doctor's effectiveness can be measured by Janeway's reaction to his orders....)
I found Janeway's reaction to the doctor's relief of command somewhat curious. "How are you going to carry out that protocol?" - simple - tell the rest of the crew. Command is not given by Janeway's reaction -it is given by the willingness to obey. If Holodoc told the rest of the crew that he took Janeway off duty, they have the option of ignoring her (until she goes back to sick bay). I admit the crew might have supported Janeway over Holodoc (that physical organism bias don't ya know... ;) ) but Holodoc could have at least made the threat.
I was confused by Janeway and Nelix looking through Chakotay's quarters. It was of if Janeway knew the watch was there. I originally thought they were looking for more burst conduits or whatever, but as soon as the watch was found, Janeway said "Let's get out of here."
Speaking of Chakotay - I thought it kind of humorous him telling Tom that they had to retain the chain of command, it was right after the scene where Janeway decided to chuck it all.
And what was wrong with Chakotay? Were they drugging his food or something? That speech he gave after the incursion should have been given at the fancy dinner. There were at least a dozen different dishes on that table, each one representing a different genocide - and Chakotay was willing to work with this guy?
I noticed that Annorax was willing to do another temporal incursion even though Voyager and it's nasty shields were still out there to screw up the results.
Janeway gets a message from Tom and accepts it as genuine because it had a code that only Tom would know. Firstly, does every member of Starfleet get a different code upon graduating from the academy? How do they remember it (Do you remember your high school locker combination?)
Secondly - Tom was gone for over two months. In a universe with psychic torture, mind melds, mind altering drugs.... Well, I wouldn't trust anybody immediately without at least thinking about it first (For example, earlier this season, Chakotay was about to shoot Tuvoc (in "Nemesis"))
So a ship crashed into Voyager did it? Six ships attacking (by that time reduced to four) and the ships are keeping a close formation to attack? They have already seen that the Temporal weapon has a wide field of effect - why aren't the ships farther apart?
There was a KMYF moment, when Janeway was saying goodbye to Tuvoc. I don't understand Annorax's motivations - he has been doing this for two centuries - even if he gets a 100% restoration, his wife will be dead. SO why bother? And in the 98% restoration, why do you believe that because the colony didn't exist neither would his wife? If in 1776 the U.S. didn't declare independence, that doesn't necessarily mean that a lot of us still wouldn't be here (well, not really. But in the Star Trek universe, it has already been shown that everyone has a double in alternate time lines, no matter how unlikely {I'm thinking of the evil Kira and philandering Sesko in DS9 here).
Lastly, it appears that the events in "Before and After" never happenned - the Kremmin never attacked Voyager, the Captain never got killed, etc., etc. This of course means that every thing that happened before is no longer to be able to be used by the guild - since we are in a different time line, we don't know what happened in the previous three and a half seasons. Evidence of this seems to be in the RESET scene at the end - Janeway asks about the new navigation system, and Harry says that it is already operational and a new course has been plotted - no ceremony like in part I. (I personally have not intention being bound by this restriction - but it's your call - you're the chief!)
Lastly, the last scene shows the idiocy of the whole premise - A Kremmin ship shows up and says "Be careful, this area is in dispute." and Janeway prudently decides to avoid the space altogether. But in the first 'new' time line of part 1, ships actually do nothing but fire on here for the first four days and she still decides to go into Kremmin space. Does this seem at all inconsistent to anyone besides myself?
Lastly, the business about the temporal shields messing up the calculations. I can accept that, but I would have thought that it would have messed up the incursion, not the consequences (i.e. they point the beam, and the species is not destroyed). I guess that I just don't understand temporal mechanics.
William H. LeFeavers of Conover, NC: So, Janeway had third-degree burns over 60% of her body including a large portion of the side of her face, and didn't singe a hair, hmmm?
I know the good captain has a better grasp on the theories of temporal mechanics, but what in the world made her think that the destruction of the time ship would put everything right instead of just blowing up? ( but then, everything DID turn out just like she hoped, so... )
So what's the deal? Have they never met Kes, now?
Chris Booton: A pretty good conclusion to the first part. Not quite the caliber of the previews "this has the same effect of the oscars, the Olympics and the super bowl" but it was mostly I was expecting, mainly that when the time altering ship was destroyed everything would be fixed up. Good Character development in Janeway (even if it gets reset). At the end we see Anorax working on this technology, so what happenes once he gets it going? Will this epiosde repeat itself?
On to the nits: The Doctor says he has no dermal regenerator and yet he manages to repair that much of the captain with only some scaring! Wow he is really good!
When that ship gets destroyed it collides into Voyager, we have seen ships blow up and then crash into other ships (close to same size) before and the other ships blew up, even when they were in great condition! Yet the brutally damaged Voyager survives it!?!
Why do those two ships vaporize so quickly despite temporal shields, when voyager survived for so long in that weapon! (Note from Phil: Voyager was probably able to generate more power?!)
How could the time ship survive Voyager crashing into it without blowing up instantly, were talking a direct hit to the core here!
After the time ship makes it's time incursion and eliminates that species, they report a 50 something % restoral to the Krenim Imperium, so why doesn't voyager encounter any krenim vessels after they left the nebula?
I would think that they could have done a little more repairs to Voyager in all those months! (Note from Phil: Well . . . they only had seven people!)
They still did not explain why Voyagers temporal shielding caused such big difference in the temporal incursion, except with saying that changing history can be very unpredictable! Going by the examples Anorax gave chakotay it looks as if that species somehow was very significant to the Krenim. Was that species that introduced that anti-body the one that was wiped out that caused the problem with voyagers shields?
Janeway says that this is a year she wants to forget yet I recall that it was day 250-something that they had the big battle in.
When everything and we see Anorax working on the technology it appears to be set in the present, yet throughout the episode they established that they have been doing this for 200 years, and that they aparently did not age on that ship. So how can Anorax still be alive in the current time frame?
11/17/97 Update
Craig Cicero: Hellish! Well, no. A little chilling in a couple spots, but other than
than, fairly benign. Visually stunning, however.
New Glossary Term: TENEHAA: This Episode (or These Episodes) Never Ever
Happened At All.
So are these episodes canonical? (They never happened!)
I couldn't find any real nits, but since TENEHAA, I'm not sure it matters.
A few points of interest- did the WeaponShip remind anyone else of Babylon 5?
Are the creators making a subtle comment? (That they'd like B5 to be erased
from history, perhaps?)
I wonder if we'll ever see the Krenim, Milwaukee, or the Nahydran again. (Or
their ships, anyway.)
I also wonder why destroying the WeaponShip (what kind of name is that? Did
they use up their naming budget on SFX?) undid all the temporal incursions.
If I hammer a nail into a board, then destroy the hammer, the nail stays!
(But when has time travel in Trek ever made sense?)
That's all I have for now- next week: Hype! Hype! Hype! (Translation from
the PALese: Incoming major letdown!)
I have one addition to add in a redundant way of appending my last message
that I sent.
The scene at the beginning- everyone tasting Neelix's coffee- was CLASSIC.
"Interesting." "It's good."
Seven:"It is offensive."
Then Neelix explaining the nutrients....
Great, great scene. (Even if it didn't happen.)
Maybe Voyager has a future as a comedy/drama? (If the plots are goofy, then
at least the writers can REALIZE it! And there really needs to be more
science fiction satire/comedies. There's what, Mystery Science Theater 3000,
Red Dwarf [TV shows], Spaceballs [movie]... Oh, wait. I can't think of
more. Are there?)
David D. Porter: Wouldn't it have been a good idea to check the potentially
contaminated circuits *before* they were activated?
The premise behind the time-altering weapon rather reminds me of
Asimov's 'End of Eternity.'
Great line: "It is offensive. Fortunately, taste is irrelevant."
(Does that last apply to blatant appeals to certain demographic groups?)
"The Captain is always right." That logic is deeply flawed. Even
Kirk's and Picard's orders were questioned on occasion. Captain Janeway is
neither Kirk nor Picard.
Metal is hardly a good choice to protect one from flames.
"It was all a dream, Mrs. Ewing, a horrible, horrible dream."
[From Someone Identified Only As Tgrnyc]: Just saw YOH2, and it was very interesting! Just a couple of nits that I
noticed:
Annorax mentioned what sounded to me like the "Rahm-Izahd" species. I
believe that moniker was used to fool the Cardassians from TNG's "The Chase"
into going on a wild goose chase. Right? Hmmm ...
And secondly, I noticed that after the screen re-configures in the
comet-zapping simulation that a few seconds later, it's back to normal.
Unless those buttons Annorax was tapping set it right again.
Regular comments. Janeway: "I hear that [2370] was a good year." Is she
joking?!!! That's the year TNG ended!!!
I also read on the Official Trek Website (sorry, my computer won't let me
type a capital 'p' for Paramount -- seriously!!! It's behaving weirdly
tonight!!) that Kes was supposed to be in this one. Hmmmm ...
Well, that's it. Not a bad one, but it could've been better ...
Brian Lombard: This is minor, but worth mentioning. Through all of Voyager, Janeway
has vowed that she'll get her crew home, no matter what it takes. Her
dialogue in Part II ran counter to this. When arguing with the Doctor
about being court-martialled, she said "If we get back, I'll
face the music". I think Janeway would have said "When we get
back..."
Joshua Truax: Last week I sung the praises of Part I - and added that
Part II had better not let me down. It didn't. Still,
it wasn't quite what I expected, as the story's focus
shifted from the havoc being wreaked upon Voyager and
crew to Chakotay and Paris dealing with Annorax aboard
the Krennam temporal weapon-ship. Annorax is a hard one
to figure out. He's not really a villain, but
definitely not a "good guy" either. His concept of time
as a living entity with moods and a personality reminded
me of the deranged arsonist in "Backdraft", who saw the
same qualities in fire.
In short, this is easily the best scriptwriting work
Voyager has ever had! If there was any doubt that
Voyager had finally come into its own, "Year of Hell"
erased it once and for all. Now, if only Voyager would
be a little more *consistently* good, as DS9 has been...
Nitpicking time: As Part II opens, we see that the main
bridge viewscreen is wrecked and non-operational, like
the rest of the ship. The condition of the rest of the
ship only went from bad to worse as the show progressed
- but amazingly, during the climactic battle with the
weapon-ship, the viewscreen is suddenly working again! (Note from Phil: Um . . . was the viewscreen working or was there a big hole in the ship and Janeway was looking through it? Can't remember.)
During one of his conversations with Annorax, Chakotay
mentions an Academy professor named Vossbinder. In a
few episodes of ST:TNG the dialogue mentioned in passing
an Academy professor named Vassbinder. Evidently there
was a typo in the Voyager script...?
Midway through Part II, Doc Hologram tries,
unsuccessfully, to keep Janeway confined to his care
after she is badly burned in the deflector control room.
He points out that as the ship's chief medical officer,
his orders supersede hers in medical matters. This is
well within a CMO's power, as we have seen many times
before on Star Trek. Only when Janeway points out that
Doc is in no position to enforce his edict does he back
down. But wait: Earlier in Part II, Doc also tried to
confine Janeway to his care after she suffered lung
damage from nebular gases. Janeway refused his order,
calling for a dose of "trioxin" (a new name for the
"tri-ox compound" given to Kirk by McCoy in "Amok Time"
[TOS]?) so she could continue on the bridge. So what
did Doc do? Did he relieve the captain of duty? Did he
threaten her with eventual court-martial as he would
later? No, he just gave Janeway the trioxin, and let
her walk all over his medical authority! What kind of a
CMO is that?
As in "Displaced", Janeway once again either forgets or
just plain doesn't care that Vulcans aren't terribly
fond of personal physical contact with others. This
time she strokes Tuvok's face and gives him a
full-bodied hug! Even more amazingly, Tuvok returns the
embrace. Granted, Tuvok is blind in this timeline, so
it wouldn't make sense for Janeway to simply return his
Vulcan salute, but why couldn't she just return his
"Live long and prosper," or say something else as a
farewell?
Finally, even after the temporal weapon-ship is
destroyed and the "normal" timeline is restored, the
Voyager crew again seems to have completely forgotten
Kes's warnings about the Krennam in "Before and After".
As I pointed out last week, in that episode's final
scene (which presumably took place in the "normal"
timeline), Kes left the holodeck to provide Tuvok with
information about the Krennam. This means that the
Voyager crew should have taken notice the moment they
first contacted the Krennam in Part I (not to mention,
they should also have known how to defend against the
Krennam's chroniton torpedos), but they act as if
they've never heard of the Krennam before. Annorax
obviously never erased Kes from existence (if he had,
Voyager and crew would still be 9,500 light-years back,
and probably Borgified by now), so that doesn't explain
this away.
The timeline changes could have provided a weak but
still somewhat plausible explanation for the crew's
forgetfulness, but even after the "normal" timeline is
restored they still act as if they've never heard of the
Krennam before! Granted, the Krennam of the "normal"
timeline appear to be relatively tame, but in light of
what Kes described, the very mention of the name
"Krennam" should have set off alarms in everyone's
minds...
Next week: some episode that probably won't even come
close to topping this one. "Year of Hell" is my new
favorite Voyager episode, replacing "The Q and the
Grey". Later...
Brian O'Marra, Little Rock, AR: Having perused this episode again I may have stumbled on some additional
observations and nits.
This episode further confirmed and clarified what Annorax was trying to do
last episode. Having lost his family and his wife on Khiana Prime (sic?), he
has been eliminating enemies from time one by one until he finds the one who
killed them. If Khiana Prime is restored - then bingo! He's got the enemy.
First oversight: Annorax has a simulator where he can produce the effects of
his temporal shockwave without having to actually use it. He let Chakotay use
it! My question is this: If he can produce the effects of the shockwave
without actually using his weapon, how many times would it take him to
accomplish the results he wants? Answer: One! How many would he ultimately
have to wipe from history? Again, one!! Himself!! He should have sacrificed
himself to begin with but that would mean no two-parter. How long has he been
doing it, however? Answer: for two hundred years! Each time he used the
weapon had to wait to see what happens. Go figure. (Note from Phil: Perhaps his simulator only give him an approximation and doing the deed is just a tad different!)
Second: The episode begins where part one ends. Annorax had just eliminated
the Guiernon homeworld (again not sure of the spelling) thinking that would
restore his family. As the wave passes through the system the present
timeline changes. Voyager puts up their temporal shields to protect itself
from the wave's effects. That ends up being what happens. Voyager stays the
same while the Kremin ship changes. Of course we find that Annorax'
calculations were way off. My question is this: from the clarification given
in this part 2 episode that the timeline changes due to the disappearance of
the species, why should the unexpected change in the timeline be due to
Voyager's shields?
To prove that the shockwave isn't the cause of the changes in the timeline
only the effects of it, Chakotay tried his own calculating on the silmualtor
to see what would happen if he eliminated the comet that lured them there
from the timeline. Its disappearance ended up wiping out thousands of species
because it interacted with elements of other worlds. However, last episode as
the wave passed through the system, Annorax was waiting to see what the
changes were in the timeline until the wave passed over Voyager's shields,
then he saw the unexpected changes in the timeline, then he went to meet
Voyager face to face, then he kidnapped Chakotay and Paris, and Viola!! We
have Part 2!
Sorry for being a little long here. I could go on with this but i'd end up
getting a headache!!
J. Andrew Keith, Greensburg PA: A nice episode technically, but with
plot holes you could pilot a Galaxy-class starship through. I won't
repeat any of the nits noticed by others, but one thing really stands
out for me.
Okay, Annorax has been working with temporal mechanics for 200 years,
was familiar with the theory and the technology from the very beginning
because his race had mastered other elements of temporal mechanics. So
how is it that he can make deliberate incursions based on painstaking
calculations time and time again and never get what he wants, while a
complete accident causes the time-line to reset in exactly the way
everyone wants it to? Tuvok, what are the odds of that happening? It
cannot be caused by the elimination of the time-ship from all of
history, because that would have caused things to revert to the way they
were before Annorax started his work, and that would have meant a return
to the defunct condition of the Krenim Empire that he had wanted to fix
in the first place.
Also, one quick left-over nit from Part 1. At one point Janeway and
Seven are talking about temporal mechanics, and Janeway claims "That's
one thing I've always tried not to know about" (or words to that
effect). Let's see, this is the woman who traveled back in time several
days in a first-season episode to try to stop a disaster that wiped out
a planet . . . and of course she was in command when they went back to
20th Century Earth last season for the big two-parter . . . By my count,
she's nearly even with Picard and even with Sisko in time travel. Heaven
knows what she'd have done to the time stream if she WANTED to know
about such things!
Of course, since none of it ever happened, there really aren't any nits
to pick here . . .
Jenifer Gordon: Obviously, artifical life forms are second class in starfleet (Why isn't
Data a captain yet?) And, in this episode Janeway overrode the doctor
w.r.t. her medical treatment. I know that the Doctor can overrule the
captain (Bones and Crusher could), but the doctor could have refused to
treat her the way she requested! Sound like some artifical conflict. And,
at the end when Voyager has the giant hole in it before Janeway crashes it
into the weapon ship, it seemed like there was very little damage in it for
having a giant hole blown in it! Maybe those force fields work that
quick..
Walter Czarniecki: Great Line - "Would you rather have an indoor nebula?" - Janeway to the
Holodoc. (Just think of the realtor's description - 258 rooms, spacious
dining area, multiple recreation rooms, and it comes complete with an
indoor nebula.)
This episode had a TNG flashback for careful listeners and an amazing
TNG coincidence. First, Chakotay's Professor Vassbinder was first
mentioned briefly in TNG's "Timescape." Second, the species that Annorax
eliminated right in front of Chuckles, the Ram Izad (sp?), bears a
striking resemblance to the Rahm-Izad system mentioned in TNG's "The
Chase."
In the end, though, we did get what I like to call the VERB - Voyager's
Ever-ready Reset Button. Just like many episodes before this, the
writers had to get things back to normal, so they tossed in the VERB to
do it. This time, though, I really don't have a problem with it, because
it seemed to make some sense and it gave us an opportunity to see the
absolutely gorgeous shot of Voyager's collision with the Krenim
weapon-ship.
Paul Lalli, Feeding Hills, MA: Just a quick few responces to my fellow guild members:
The reason that destroying the time ship reset everything was not simply
because the ship no longer exists. Instead, the temporal core blew, and
as Annorex said, a temporal incursion was occuring inside the ship
itself. In other words, the time ship _never_ existed. Therefor, no,
simply dismantling the ship some time in the future would not have the
same consequences.
A couple people brought up the point that Annorex should no longer be
alive, and that he shouldn't expect the restoration of his wife's colony
to include his wife, because his wife should be dead too. Why? We have
no idea what the life span of the Krenim is. For all we know, they
might live twice as long as Vulcans. The episodes never made clear if
those on the time ship simply didn't age because they're not in
space-time, or if they did age, but had a huge lifespan.
Someone compared a Starfleet officer remembering his personal SF code to
remembering our highschool locker combinations. This isn't even close
to the same thing. We never ever have to know our HS locker
combinations again. SF officers are SF officers for life (more or
less). It makes perfect sense that they should have to know the codes
that have been assigned to them.
A couple people disagreed with Tuvok telling 7o9 that "The captain is
always right." They said that it is the senior staff's job to offer the
captain different options, or point out flaws in her decision. First of
all, 7o9 is not senior staff. She's not even SF! To our knowledge,
Janeway has not granted her a field promotion or rank of anykind. She's
simply a member of the crew, and as such, she has the responciblity of
assisting in the operation of Voyager and its mission. Second, of
course the crew is supposed to offer suggestions to the captain.
However, once the options have been weighed by the captain, and (s)he
makes a decision, her orders are not to be questioned, certainly not to
be opposed. Remember Data's little tirade to Worf in the episode in
which both Picard and Riker were captured by the terrorists (Gambit??)?
Chris Ng: What's with all this 'de-timing?' I mean, think of all the repercussions
if anyone on Voyager got de-timed. I mean, say Lt. Carey was de-timed.
Suddenly, Earth could turn into a pigsty because Carey, appaled with the
trash situation on Earth, instigated laws that eventually led to all poeple
on Earth having to throw away their trash! That COULD happen! I was
talking to Andrew (a fellow nitpicker) about this, and we talked about what
would happen if, say, Neelix got de-timed. If so, the episode would cut to
Voyager, wandering around lost in the Delta Quadrant. I think Annorax
REALLY doesn't know what he's playing with here...
Matthew Chiappardi, Hamilton, NJ: Wasn't bad, but the reset thing was telegraphed even in the last
episode.
This episode once again brings up the authority of the doctor. Does
the computer have the authority to relieve the captain of command? If I
were a senior staff member, I would want to vote no and delegate that
authority to another staff member. Maybe the exec., with the computer's
reccomendation.
It also raises another doctor question, can he exist without the
Voyager computer core? Is his entire program in the holo-emitter making
him completely autonomous? And is Janeway getting a little unfriendly
with the doctor by threatening to shut down his program. If Tuvok was
relieving her of command would she threaten to kill him? (maybe so)
Why didn't we ever hear talk of the Vulcan inner eyelid. Spock seemed
to have one in the first season of Classic Trek. Have Vulcans finally
out-evolved those pesky things?
Who were those aliens with the Voyager, and why in the galaxy would
they even bother to form an alliance with a broken ship on an obessesive
agenda?
No preview for next week's episode, uh-oh.
Geordi Padovan: When Voyager and its allies headed toward the time-weapon ship, I saw
only 5 ships total - Voyager, two of this, two of that. When they
approached the time-weapon ship, the Kremin first officer said he
detected *6* ships approaching! During the attack we again saw *only* 5
ships! Uh, where's that 6th ally ship?
After Voyager and its allies were creamed by the conventional weapons of
Annorax's ship and Janeway was looking out a hole in the bridge at the
undamaged time-weapon ship, a Kremin officer reported that their weapons
were recharged and Annorax ordered to target Voyager. Yet after his
weapons was recharged, it seems a few minutes had went by before Janeway
plotted a course into the time-weapon. There was plenty of time for
Annorax's ship to fire at Voyager yet it didn't fired a shot! It would
had looked great to see Voyager crashing into the ship while Voyager was
being pounded by weapons fire.
As for the nit of how could the Kremin lived 200 years, I say, "Why
not?" Vulcans lived 200 years or more, so why not the Kremin? Age varies
with the species.
Ross A. Fillmore, Columbus, OH: Kind of anti-climatic after last week, but they had a lot of resolving to
do.
Did they ever really explain why the Krenim attempted to alter history in
the first place? With all the mistakes humanity has made over the
centuries it seems a little unfathomable that anyone would even entertain
the thought of changing it even to avoid dark spots in our history. I
would think that anyone could realize that history is what made us what we
are, good or bad, and that as the adage goes, we should learn from our
mistakes. Apparently the Krenim would rather erase the mistakes instead of
learn from them. (Note from Phil: I think the whole thing was Annorax's idea.)
Nitpicking time: Day 133. Voyager is hiding in a nebula and the gas is
leaking in?!?? Is this possible in a vacuum? Shouldn't the atmosphere be
rushing OUT of the ship? (Note from Phil: Hmmm. Have to think about that but I think Ross has a point! ;-)
I was going to comment that I thought the chief medical officer had the
authority to relieve the captain of duty for health reasons. Then a few
scenes later they answered this question, but Janeway has a point: who
there is going to stop her from disobeying the Doctor? This same theme is
then repeated a few scenes later between Chakotay and Paris. If you stop
and think of it, at what point anywhere along the way would they be able to
do anything about disobeying orders except to spend time in the brig or be
expelled from the ship? And either of those two options seem a little
silly considering they need all the help they can get (unless you want to
count that Seska ordeal).
At the dinner table, I agree with Tom. I don't think I would have much of
an appetite either, knowing the cost.
7/9 states that she is not used to working with a single authority. The
collective was all she knew. Does that mean the Borg Queen is just a
figurehead?
Chakotay deduces that if it hadn't have been for Voyager avoiding a comet
they wouldn't have entered Krenim space. But they were already more or
less heading that direction anyway to get home, and with the developement
of Harry and 7's nifty little starchart thing I think they would have gone
through Krenim space anyway or at least awfully near it.
The ending was inevitable, however, would it really have thrown them back a
year? Wouldn't it have just changed the timeline and everything still
could have been okay? (The past is the future; the future's the past. The
past is the future; the future's the past. The past is the future; the
future's the past...) Do we all have headaches yet?
Jacob Boxer: This episode was a big let-down in terms of 2 parters. DS9's Sacrifice of
Angels was much better. It was much more satisfying. You knew how this
episode had to end even before part 2 aired. They HAD to have something
happen with time so none of it would have happened. The reason: Look at what
happened in Part 1. They were critically damaged, Deck 5 blown away, holes in
the ship, little structural integrity and they evacuated the crew. The damage
to Voyager was WAY to extensive to repair, so that guaranteed the way the
second part would unfold.
I think they handled this whole 2 parter very badly. Kate Mulgrew did a
terrible acting job when it came to critical moments.
They never explained Tuvok's blindness
AND Nobody remembers what happened!! Was Annorax back in HIS time or in
Voyager's? They never said.
I do have to say that the special effects were amazing. I especially liked
the glimpses we got of the holo-grid behind the viewscreen and the later
outer space view when the screen was no longer in existance. The best FX had
to be when Voyager collided with Annorax's ship.
Thomas A. Kozak, Timberlake, Ohio: I've enjoyed the Nitpicker's Guides for some time now, but this is the
first time I've gotten around to checking out the site. I think it was
my disgust at the ending of YoH, part II that finally made me seek an
outlet here. So let's rant:
Does anyone wonder what happened to the rest of the crew during
this episode? Sure, after the Reset they were back aboard as though
they never left, but during the entire time between their departure and
the final attack, wy didn't Janeway (especially with her constant
remarks about how close she is to her crew) ever mention them?
Why did the destruction of the Timeship return Voyager temporally
to the beginning of the "year?" Based on the other times that the
weapon was used in the two episodes, the logical reaction should have
been that Voyager remained at the scene of the attack, both temporally
and physically, and the timeline should have altered around them. At
the very least, Voyager should have been intact and physically located
elsewhere, since there would have been no motivation for her to be
exactly at the attack location, but turning back time makes no sense.
Maybe I missed something here, but why is Anorax back in his happy
home at the end of the episode? I thought that the Timeship had been
built originally to reverse a Krenim defeat, but everything looks peachy
for the colony. If the ship was never built, shouldn't the Krenim be a
little less prosperous and laid back?
Here's my biggest problem with the whole Timeship idea. The two
attacks in YoH, pt1 showed that the Timeship and anything it hits
continue to move forward in real time, even if the crew is shielded from
time's effects. According to Anorax, he and his crew have been doing
this for 200 years, and have made countless Temporal Incursions. While
aboard the Timeship, time seems to be passing at the same rate for Paris
and Chakotay as it is for Janeway and the crew. So why does Anorax
believe that his family will be restored if he restores the Krenim
Empire? Unless they're a very long-lived race, everyone that he knew or
loved died a very long time ago. The best he could hope for from a 100%
restoration would be the recovery of his descendants, not his wife of
two centuries ago. (Note from Phil: This was what I thought Annorax was going for all along because he mentioned a few times that he was a man without descendants so I assumed that he wasn't necessarily trying to get his wife back but just trying to get grandkids or great-grandkids or something.)
Brian Webber, Denver, CO: Voyager ramming the weapon-ship was a little silly. The crash itself was well done effects wise, but Janeway's last line, "Time's up." was a
little much.
Also, 7's honesty in admitting that Neelix's concoction was terribled was cute,
definately a Star Trek: Friends moment. (Note: Scientific Method and
Year Of Hell pt. I all contain these moments, has did last weeks DS9,
and this week's, Dax and Worf's wedding, is bound to be full of 'em).
And another thing. From the "didn't I see this on Bab 5?" files,
Annorax's being simply misguided as opposed to evil is something that
all bad guys on B5 have. Also, the arguments between Janeway and Holodoc
are similar to Sheridan/Franklin moments. Also, that ship that crashed
into Voyager during the last part was similar to a scene where a chunk
of an Earth Destroyer slams into Ivanova's White Star. As a matter of
fact, Janeway seems to be a cross between Kirk and Sheridan.
Simon Crowley: Not exactly a surprise ending, hmm? Voyager blown to pieces (totally
putting "Cause and Effect" to shame), the Big Reset Button pressed,
and Annorax reunited with his wife (200 years after the fact). Still,
it was a terrific episode, and the writers finally gave the
B'Elanna-Paris romance a rest. Nits to follow. . . .
The first thing I noticed was the rating: PG(L-V). I noticed the
violence, but. . . what language? It was no worse than any other ep',
at least, not that I noticed.
The "previously on" segment shows escape pods lifting off--but it
wasn't previously on! It a whole different POV than the ending of Part
I!
Chuckles has time to shave, and change, between being picked up the
Krenim guard and meeting Annorax. (Annorax. . . sounds like a
painkiller, doesn't it? "Annorax. You'll feel as though your pain
never happened!")
Why are Neelix and Barbie-Borg part of the "senior staff"?
Did Janeway scream when she stepped into deflector control? This may
be a possible closed-captioning nit, 'cause the CC said [screaming],
but I heard nothing.
I was going to say: "but if Kyana Prime was restored, wouldn't his
wife be 175-odd years dead?" And then I was going to say "wouldn't
Annorax and his wife be long dead in that end scene?" But then I
decided not to worry, because I was too tired, and my fellow
nitpickers beat me to it.
Why didn't the Nihydron vessels move out of the way of the beam? They
were infinitely more manuverable than the weapon-ship.
And, lastly, two great lines.
Barbie-Borg: "It is offensive--but fortunately, taste is irrelevant."
And Voyager's Best Line Ever, Bar None:
"Time's. . . *up*!"
Nate Greene, Louisville Ohio: Hi everyone! Little late in getting these in! But i did see one good nit! Man them krenim must've gotten hold of some cardassian technology. The
display in Annorax's office, there was a reused cardassian wall teminal.
Joe Griffin: They done it to us again! Wiped out the whole thing. It "never really
happened." And so what do our heroes learn from this experience? A
great gongling goose-egg! Nada! How much do they grow or develop as
people? Not one blinkin' iota. AARGH!!
And one more time: Native Americans cannot grow facial hair. The
creators of the show are teriffic at tossing off little nuggets of Sioux
wisdom or Cherokee mythology, but they can't seem to figure out why
they've never ever seen a picture of an Indian with a beard.
Whoo! Sorry about that. Here endeth the rant.
Matt Nelson: Ok, I haven't really got any nits, but I'm going nuts here. I keep
seeing people spell it "Kremmin" when talking about the
temporal-incursion race that threatened Voyager. But I distinctly
hear "Krennim" or "Krenom" when I listen to the tape. Is "Kremmin"
the captioning spelling? If that's the case, this is a weird race.
They pronounce their "M"s like "N"s! (Note from Phil: The spelling "Kremmin" comes from an alternate timeline that never really happened once the timeship exploded.)
Joe Griffin: [Concerning Annarox returning to his wife,] I'm assuming since Annorax is existing outside the time stream, he can
return to his planet and his wife wherever and whenever in the timeline
he wants. And being "unstuck" in time like that, how do we know that
Annorax' "200 years ago" isn't Voyager's "now?" Seems there's a reason
his crew is checking current events from their ship rather than past
ones...
Allan W. Fix, St. Paul, MN: A scene I wanted to see: Just after Janeway crashes the Voyager into Babylo--I mean -- the Time Ship (and hits the Big Reset Button), we go immediately
back to day 1.
I would rather have had a long pan of just the star field --
perhaps an interval of fifteen or twenty seconds or longer, giving
the viewer a little time to think about what had just happened, and
allowing for a little mental readjustment as the universe was supposedly
re-aligning. THEN pan over to the restored Voyager, and fade in the Day 1
subtitle.
Murray Leeder: Good opening, good characterizations, ending as predictable as
tomorrow's sunrise. Ah well.
So, Chakotay and Paris were prodded, poked.... and shaved?
And right after that two month confinement, Annorax offers Paris a
room, because he wants him to be comfortable... hmmm...
Tuvok should have voiced his objections to Janeway in private. He's the
first officer at this point, after all! One of the duties of the first
officer is to voice alternative solutions, but does he? Nooooooo...
And Tuvok states that he places his absolute trust in Janeway. What
about "Prime Factors"?
Actually, that whole scene was a waste. Janeway was just being overly
arrogant for no real reason, simply to raise ires.
Why not manuever around the asteroids?
Nice to know that every viewscreen in the universe denotes Voyager with
a little Starfleet emblem...
So did that whatever-it-is ship lower its shields for Tom and Chakotay?
So Janeway was willing to destroy the ship on the basis of a completely
unfounded hypothesis! If I were on her ship, I'd have mutinied long ago!
Lament, J/C fans! Janeway is more likely to date the ship than
Chakotay! *snicker snicker*
Tony H Forbes: I knew it!! I KNEW IT!!! As soon as the ship was going to be destroyed,
the whole thing was going to go back to normal.. And look what
happened!!
Of course, after everything goes back to normal, we see Annorax and his
wife in a comfy family scene. Now, I thought that Annorax started his
little spree 200 years ago, so this scene would probably have happened
200 years ago. Annorax also said that his motivation for the whole thing
was to restore the Krenim to their former glory. Now, when we go back to
"Day 1", Voyager encounters a Krenim warship in its "big" stage. If the
Krenim needed to be restored to its former glory, then how was this
accomplished? The impression here is that Annorax stopped with his
experiments?
Boy, those temporal shields did REAL good against the weapon, huh?
Remember that Voyager, in its battered state, with the shields, were able
to do rather well. Those two alien ships that were "erased" were in top
condition and yet one shot, bang!
Matthew Chase Maxwell of San Francisco CA: I think it marvelous that the creators never mentioned Kes, nor the
events of "Before and After." To have done so would -- IMHO -- have
made it much less interesting. I notion that the first temporal
incursion wave which we saw in part one could very well have been the
ten-thousandth use of the weapon makes for much richer possibilities.
We are brought into the story not at its beginning, but in the middle.
It has been demonstrated that the crew had no foreknowledge of the
Krenim. The Krenim temporal weapon altered our perceived time line.
The events of "Before and After" never happened, or at least didn't
happen the way we were shown. This is not a betrayal, nor an
oversight. It is thoughtful storytelling.
The windows aboard the Krenim Weapon Ship seem very much like those of
DS9.
Several folks have made the comment that Annorax should not have been
shown in the present at the episode's end, but rather should have been
two-hundred years in the past. I agree that he should not have been
shown in the present, but not for the reasons they have stated. Yes,
Annorax and company have been tinkering with time for two-hundred
years. But it does not follow that he is from that far in the past. He
could be, but he could also be from our present. Annorax has the
ability to create two-hundred years' worth of what we perceive as the
present. The Voyager's crew and Annorax's wife could have lived the
same day (although not necessarily the same events of that day) over and
over again in the centuries during which Annorax has watched. If this
is so, why do I not believe that Annorax would be there at the end of
the episode to take a walk with his wife? Answer: Because I do not
believe that he ever existed! Remember that a temporal incursion does
not merely erase an object or species from that point in time forward,
but from all points in time. A temporal incursion occurred within the
Krenim Weapon Ship, making it disappear altogether, past and present. I
now reason that Annorax, Obrist, and other Krenim crew were on the
Weapon Ship when the incursion occurred and that they must have
therefore been affected as well. They never existed. [Taking this line
of thinking to a scary conclusion: what about Janeway and the Voyager?
Janeway's charred remains and the wreckage of the ship must be somewhere
in the bowels of the Weapon Ship when the incursion occurs. Should
they, therefore, cease to have ever existed as well?]
Regardless, I do believe that the creators have effectively nipped many
future nits in the bud. Any comparative nits between future episodes
and those before "Year of Hell" are questionable at best. But that
seems like little fun. Perhaps a new Guild acronym might be attached to
such nits to help smooth things over. Something like INFYOH (If Not For
Year of Hell) or DYOH (Discounting Year of Hell). I enjoyed "Year of
Hell" a great deal. I like Janeway's new hairstyle. And I hope
Chakotay really does give that watch to Janeway for her birthday.
Tony H Forbes: Hey, I got on the site and read the Star Trek Voyager statistics. At the
end, it is stated that there are 7 torpedos at the end of "Year of Hell
I". Now I believe that in "Year of Hell II" Janeway said that they had 6
torpedoes left. Whoa! Now in between part I and part II, there are two
months. So after two months of being beaten up by Annorax and co, they
only shot one photon torpedo? Yikes. Also, I would recommend revising
his stats on the shuttles because I don't think they got the one in "The
Raven" back.
Brian Henley of Broomall, PA: Considering how much time I spend nitpicking my favorite
episodes, I feel credit must be given to a truely wonderful achievemnt in
the graphics depertment. When Seven o Nine and Janeway were in the
stellar cartography lap, looking at the before & after shots of the Krenim
/ Zahl Empires, the map showed space as being 3-Dementional!!! Yay!!
Pehaps I'm remis, and perhaps it's not the first time this has
happened but it is the first time I've sen it. Star trek has had an
irritating habit of showing all of space in 2 dimentions. Even the
spectacular map in "Generations" seemed to have this flaw, I thought. But
the stellar chartography in YoH1 was much better and a little more like
it.
Whoever is responsible, Good job to him!!
Scott Newton of New Brunswick, NJ: Very, very good episode -- the best since the beginning of the season --
even though we all saw the Big Reset Button (BRB) coming from 70,000
light years away. You didn't expect Tuvok to spend the rest of the
series blind, did you? Or for the Voyager to spend the rest of the
series looking like Decker's Constellation? On the positive side, the
characterization of Annorax was most effective; I actually felt a tiny
bit sorry for him. Also, Beltran as Chakotay did a very good job as he
tries to convince Annorax to stop what he's dong. (I got the impression
that Chakotay was just giving the appearance of cooperating with Annorax
so that he could find out how to take advantage of the situation.)
The BRB explains why Braxton never showed up. "Year of Hell" never
happened! Evidently "Before and After" never happened either; without a
powerful Krennim empire to infect the crew with Chronoton (sp?)
poisioning, Kes would never have had her experience.
Does the crew remember Kes? Probably, since without the Ocampa, there
would have been no Caretaker, and without the Caretaker, Voyager would
still be in the AQ.
Some have raised questions about whether the first three seasons
actually "happened" in the time line we're watching now. Personally,
until we see any evidence indicating otherwise, I'm going to assume that
all previously aired episodes, except "Before and After," have happenend
in the current time line.
Now on to the few nits I found:
How did Janeway know that destroying the time ship would A) rewrite
history and B) rewrite history in the way she wanted it rewritten? (Note from Phil: Just a lucky guess!)
Someone rewrote the Starfleet regulations. In "The Doomsday Machine"
(TOS), Spock says that if McCoy can prove Decker medically or
psychologically unfit for command, "I can relieve him under section C."
But when the doctor tries to relieve Janeway, he says it would be under
section A. (This may not really be a nit, depending on what A and C are
supposed to be secitons of, and things DO get rewritten over the course
of 100 years! I just thought it was an interesting little oddity, a
missed opportunity to pay homage to one of TOS's most memorable scenes.)
11/24/97 Update
Michael Apple: Eureka! I've got it!
I've figured out why the elimination of that one planet in Year of
Hell pt. 1 resulted in the reduction of the Krennim to a pre-warp society.
It has nothing to do with "anomalous components" either.
What happened is that some time in the distant past, contact with that
one planet resulted in trade for an engine component, or perhaps an
exchange of scholarly information, or university professors, etc.
Study based on this information eventually resulted in the development of
warp technology, after which relations between the planets broke down.
That's why it was forgotten how the technology was developed.
So, when Annorax erased the alien planet from history, the info was
never exchanged and the Krennim became pre-warp. Annorax only realized
what happened after the fact. Then, he tried to pin it on Voyager to keep
the respect of the crew (who weren't happy already, having been on the ship
for two centuries.)
Well, that's how the creators SHOULD have explained it. It makes a
lot more sense than the "anomalous component" technobabble they try
to use to dismiss it.
Oh, a nit as well: Why weren't Voyagers nav shields up when they were
passing through the micrometeor shower? I thought nav shields were systems
of their own, separate from the regular deflector shields, and always up when
the ship is in motion. Without them, a pebble of a meteor would tear through
the hull easily. And there's no dialogue that says that the nav shields
weren't operational.
Doug Bruzzone: Just thought i'd say that i liked the nacelle flying by when voyager
crashed into the WeaponShip.
Robert Donahou of Dardanelle, AR: At the end when Janeway maks her run at the time ship Annorex says he is going to put her out of her misery. If he is going to put her out of
her misery then why does he sit there and let himself get rammed. Why
doesn't he shoot her.
Also why does Annorex not manuver if I was out numbered 15:1 I would
start moving. But instead he sits there and gets pummled like a good
villan.
Michel M. Albert, Moncton, New Brunswick: To correct a nit by David T.
Shaw, namely that: "Janeway asks about the new navigation system, and
Harry says that it is
already operational and a new course has been plotted - no ceremony like
in part I." Let's not forget that that was Day 1. The ceremony only
occurs on Day 4 (as seen in Part 1). Does that clarifiy things?
Chris Ng: Anyone know why the Krennim haven't developed, if not prefected, cloning?
I mean, by Trek's Earthcentric standards, Time has always been harder to
bend around than clones. Just look at 'Future's End' and 'Dr. Bahir, I
Presume.' There's already laws against cloning AND THEY HAVEN'T EVEN
THOUGHT ABOUT TIME. They've already done magical things with the
transporter and a LOCK OF HAIR (See Pulaski, Doctor), both of which the
Weaponship obviously has, so WHY DON'T THEY JUST CLONE ANNORAX'S WIFE!?!?!
Gina Torgersen of LaCrosse FL: Janeway's conversation with Tuvok (about Voyager being an inanimate object) reminded me of something that bothered me about Part 1: Janeway says
Voyager can no longer support ITS crew. I think if she is so emotionally
attached to the ship she should use the pronoun "she."
I'm not sure I understand how temporal incursions work. The best theory I
can come up with is that they erase the matter that makes up whatever object
they're trying to get rid of; otherwise they could just change the comet's
course shortly before it came into Voyager's sensor range and not disrupt
evolution. This leads me to believe that the time weapon ship may have
performed an incursion and erased itself, after it erased Annorax's lock of
hair. But the point of this is, what happened to Annorax when the timeline
was restored? For some reason he didn't invent the time weapon? That would
count as a change, not an erasure, like changing the comet's course instead
of erasing its existence completely.
Ross A. Fillmore, Columbus, OH: I just remembered to follow up on a question I had from YOH1. My last
comment was I wondered if they adjusted the temporal variance on the escape
pods as well before they shot them out into space. They answer to that
question must be no if when Janeway destroys Annorax's ship and everything
goes back to the way it was before. If the pods had the temporal shields
then the occupants of the pods would remain unaffected by the destruction
of the Krenim ship. Everything we have seen thus far would indicate this
would be so. So then the next question is: Why DIDN'T the pods have
temporal shields?
Shane Tourtellotte: A couple responses to nits raised in regard to "YoH II". To Joshua
Truax: that definitely is a hole torn in the front of the bridge. You
can see a brief shimmer of energy, used often to denote the presence of
a force field. My problem is, how did this crippled ship put up that
force field so swiftly and efficiently during the collision, without a
breath of decompression?
To Simon Crowley, wondering what bad language might have drawn a PG-LV
rating for this episode: could it be the title itself? If so, however,
why didn't Part I get the same rating? You're right that nothing else
in the episode particularly merited the L. Something edited out at the
last minute, maybe?
Scott McClenney: Just read some of the YOH2 nits.
Forgot who made the comment about turning Voyager into a satiric sf comedy like Red
Dwarf,but it got me to thinking that maybe they ought to do a RD/Voy crossover.
Could you just imagine what would happen.
Talk about CHAOS!!!!!!!:)
And yeah I know that they wouldn't do it,but it sure would be FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!:)
Imagine the dialog between say Cat and Neelix or Rimmer and the doctor.
John Latchem: First I'd like to make a few observations in line with Russ Fillmore's
statement that the dark stages in history help make us who we are as much as
the good. I am reminded of Kirk's statement in Star Trek V: The Final
Frontier, when Sybok offers to remove Kirk's pain. Kirk says "I need my
pain. My pain makes me who I am." Good scene in an otherwise poorly
executed film. I'd also like to make a comparison to Rasmussun's and
Picard's discussion in "Matter of Time." Rasmussun states that he can't tell
Picard the outcome of the experiment because there may be a child on the
planet, and Picard sees where this is going and finishes the statement, that
the child may grow up to be "another Adolf Hitler, or Khan Singh." Well, as
an historian (at least that's what my degree says), I'd rather save the
planet knowing a future tyrant lived down there. Think about it. Who in
history has plagued the world so bad that we haven't recovered? Napoleon,
Hitler, and in the Trekverse, Khan, were all defeated, and some good came
from this defeat. The defeats of Napoleon and Hitler both led to
unprecedented eras of peace and prosperity. Instead of imagining the world
today if Hitler had won World War II, try to imagine if he had never
existed. Would the U.N. exist? There are just so many varibles over the
course of time which influence history.
Now back to Year of Hell. Reading the nits It seems to me that a lot of
people don't seem to understand exactly what happened in this episode.
First, the reset button doesn't necessarily mean that it never happened,
merely that these events occured in a "Parallels" type alternate universe
(unlike "Time and Again" which actually never happened and which I would just
like to forget anyways), and the Krenim weapon kept shifting these universes.
The events of "Year of Hell" didn't happen to OUR Voyager in OUR perceived
timeline. That being said History is fine. As to why the Krenim ship's
destruction saved history, think about it. Annorax said the destruction of
the Temporal core created an incursion on the ship. Simply put, the ship not
only destroyed itself, but erased itself from history. Since it never
existed, it could never alter time. This leads to the beautifully ironic
scene of Annorax and his wife. Blinded by his vengeance quest against time,
he failed to realize the simplist method of saving his wife was to use the
ship against itself. And Voyager was not thrown back in time. The Creators
simply saw fit to take the viewers back to the beginning so that we might see
the events unfold as they should. And the Krenim empire is the puny entity
it should be.
WIVRON: The scene of Janeway and Paris is lifted from "Empire Strikes Back"
when Han, Leia, and Chewie explore the asteroid only to find it the stomach
of a space slug.
Then there is all the interaction on board the Nautilu-I mean WeaponShip.
Tom Paris makes the appropriate parallels to Mutiny on the Bounty and
Captain Nemo. Another nod to "20000 Leagues" was in Chakotay and Tom's
interaction with Annorax. In the 1954 Disney version, Captain Nemo
apprentices one prisoner (Chakotay) while the other, a rogue sailor, proves
to be trouble (Paris) and causes the destruction of the ship by sending a
secret message to his Navy which details the location of the evil ship so it
can be destroyed. Sound familiar. And in both, the cause of the destruction
is the overload of the secret power source. There is also a "Moby Dick"
parallel. Annorax is obsessed with defeating time itself.
Gareth Wilson, Christchurch, New Zealand:
Re Joe Griffen's comments about Chakotay going facial hair despite
being a Native American: In "Basics" it was revealed Chakotay is
part-European.
Shirley Kolb: My husband Jerry asked this question: when Janeway was
in such terrible physical shape, why didn't the Doc keep
her under sedation for a week or two to give her a chance
to heal? He already knew from her reaction to his advice
earlier when she had the lung problem that she was not
going to cooperate. (Of course the answer is: because
then she couldn't have crashed the ship to hit the Big
Rewind Button!)
Michael Felmar of New York, New York: Annorax has been struggling for two centuries to restore things to
normal. It took Janeway a few seconds to figure it out.
Annorax was clearly based on Nemo. I'm glad the writers didn't try to
hide it.
Darryl Tam: If the time ship could only shoot in one direction (did you see it shoot
in an other direction other than forward?) Why did two of the ships go
into the timeship's line of fire?
Derek Moffitt and Melanie Koleini: Okay, we're really late getting our nits in this week, so we'll try to
skip the ones everyone else has already mentioned. Here goes:
We're a little surprised that Janeway knows that trioxin is the
"appropriate" treatment for her condition. Everyone probably knows the
commonly used medications (hironalyn for radiation, etc.), but trioxin has
never been mentioned before and seems to be used for a highly specific
condition. Why does Janeway know this? (And does Paris?)
FTQ: Chakotay failed temporal mechanics. (Good thing the Krenim didn't
kidnap Janeway instead of him.)
Since when can the Doctor repair his own program? Didn't he say
repeatedly that he couldn't do that? ("A hologram that programs itself.
Now, what would I do with that ability? Create a family, raise an
army....")
No matter how damaged the Voyager gets, the "headlight" (the one that
lights up the big "NCC-74656" on the front of the ship) is still on. Even
if it somehow didn't get destroyed, wouldn't they shut it off to conserve
power?
Apparently the Krenim also have an IFOS and unrestricted bridge access.
Did anyone notice that all the captains in this episode were a bit, um,
unbalanced mentally? Strange how nobody else ever seems to have that
problem.
NANJAO: In Janeway's entire long speech anthropomorphising the Voyager,
she never once calls the ship "she"--she says "it" every time. Odd.
Why does Annorax use his Big Purple Weapon against the Voyager and its
allies when he has conventional weapons that probably use a lot less
energy? Wouldn't that create all sorts of unpredictable effects on the
timeline? (If he can't use his conventional weapons while his ship is
outside spacetime, then they could have said so....)
Hey, neat new viewscreen the Voyager got!
Major problems with the destruction-of-Voyager scene:
1. The Voyager shatters on impact, rather than deforming. Why do they
build starship hulls out of such brittle materials? Even though the
Voyager is in very bad shape, it wouldn't just fall apart like that unless
its hull is made of a very inflexible material. Doesn't that seem like a
bad choice?
2. The Voyager shatters against the big ship's hull, while the big ship
suffers little if any physical damage. This implies that the big ship's
hull is much harder than Voyager's. While we can easily believe that the
Voyager's hull is in severely weakened condition, that still makes the big
ship quite strong. That directly contradicts what Paris said about one
photon grenade being enough to breach the hull.
3. In the shot where the big ship finally goes nova, there are two or
three chunks of the Voyager still floating around. So where's the rest of
the debris?
4. And one of the chunks of the Voyager is the *intact* port nacelle.
Strange that a major component of the drive system, chock full of
high-energy plasma, would survive the impact unscathed.
And just one anti-nit:
The Doctor could have told the crew that he'd relieved Janeway of command,
in which case they wouldn't have taken orders from her, but that wasn't
the issue. He wanted her to rest and recuperate from her injuries, and
she was more interested in repairing the ship. Even if no one was taking
orders from her, she still would have been trying to fix something. Our
question is, why didn't he just give her a hypospray of a sedative?
12/8/97 Update
Bob Sabatini: I FINALLY got a chance to see Year of hell 2 all the way through and I
thought "WOW"
when I did. I loved the acting all around and the GREAT special effects.
I saw just a couple of nits. The one that botherd me the most was in the
begining, when Janeway and Kim were trying to get the gas out of
Voyager, They were wearing oxygen tanks that looked awfully small. The
tanks, I estamate, are about the amount of air we take in with one
breath. So I wonder if the tanks have 8 min. air, where is all the rest
of it?
Also, if the gas got in, theres a chance that there's a hole in the hull
that could wideden at any moment. Shouldn't they wear pressure suits?
(The ones that have a replacated air supply but only have 24 hours of air?
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we can on it. You're welcome to send in addition nits and I will keep them on file but I won't be adding to this file any longer unless something really spectacular comes in!
If you would like to add some comments,
drop
me a note at chief@nitcentral.com with the Subject line "Year of Hell, Part II". Please 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 yourname 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 but that entry will make you a part of the Nitpickers Guide is you aren't one already!)
Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.