"Year of Hell"
Air Date: November 5, 1997
Star Date: 51268.4
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. Once a file hits 100K it's time to give the episode a rest!! 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!
After gaining access to Zahl space and a short cut that will result in a five year savings in travel time to the Alpha Quadrant, the Voyager crew detect a spacial distortion with temporal characteristics. As the distortion passes, it changes history. The Kremmin--having been previously conquered two centuries before--are suddenly restored to power and Voyager comes under attack from from Kremmin vessels equipped with time-shifting photon torpedoes. Over a period of many weeks, Voyager's crew eventually constructs a shield that will hold against the torpedos but by this time the ship is in shambles. Then, another distortion wave approaches and the Kremmin Imperium suddenly fades into obscurity. With the new temporal shield in place, Janeway and company are aware of the changes to the space-time continuum after this latest shift. Unfortunately, a Kremmin named Annorax soon arrives in a massive Kremmin ship. He and his crew are responsible for the space-time shifts. For the last 200 years they have been attempting to restore the glory of the Kremmin Imperium by modifying the space-time continuum. Unfortunately, their calculations didn't include Voyager's new temporal shield and instead of strengthening the Kremmin Imperium, the latest change has almost destroyed it. This does not make Annorax happy and he has come to find out who and what is Voyager. He captures Chakotay and Paris and then sets about to destroy the ship. Without an option, Janeway warps away--ripping off pieces of the outer hull in the process. As the episode ends, Janeway gives the order to evacuate. She and the senior staff will stay behind to attempt a rescue of Chakotay and Parris but the rest of the crew are ordered to the lifepods where they set course for the Alpha Quadrant.
Brash Reflections
Enjoyed this episode a lot! Looking forward to Part 2!
I wasn't quite certain from the dialogue but I'm guessing that Voyager was caught in the middle of Kremmin space after the first distortion wave. Otherwise, why didn't Janeway just turn around and take a detour. Making a beeline home is one thing but getting pounded continuously is another! Of course, if the Voyager ended up in the middle of Kremmin space after the distortion wave passed, that raises an interesting point. The Kremmin destroyed the Zahl homeworld. In order to affect the present, the Kremmin would have to change the past. Well, if the Kremmin changed the past then the Voyager would have encountered the Kremmin once they entered the edge of what was Zahl space. So . . . how did Voyager get into the middle of Kremmin space in the altered timeline?! And if Voyager was really at the edge of Kremmin space at the beginning of the episode . . . why is Janeway so determined to go through Kremmin space and not around it?
I'm a little bit wiggy on why it's taken Annorax two centuries to put back history the way he wants it. If the Zahl defeated the Kremmin in the beginning timeline, why hasn't Annorax destroyed the Zahl homeworld already? Doesn't this seem like the place to start?
There's more but I will leave it to you, fellow nitpickers.
Oh, by the way, great homage to Lost in Space! "Danger, Danger!" Fun Stuff!
Reflections from the Guild
(Note from Phil: I haven't verified these reflections but they sounded good to me! But first a word from NEWS, The Nitpickality Early Warning System)
The following message was sent to me weeks ago!
John Berggren: I have a nit for this season's VOYAGER in episode #2 "THE GIFT" Kes evolves, leaves Voyager, and flings Voyager 10 years from their location toward earth.
THE YEAR IN HELL is going to be a two parter in the range of the 10th episode this season. This episode involves the KRENNAM as revealed in the KES episode BEFORE & AFTER.
My nit is this:
KES saw the year in hell happen in her 9 year lifetime in Before and After, and presumably her evolution did not happen, therefore in this timeline she did not sling VOYAGER 10 years away. If this is the case, they would have missed
Krennam territory by about 7 years of space when KES launched them towards earth. How can the YEAR IN HELL encounter still happen?
Johnson Lai: I'm sure there's a perfectly logical reason why no one mentioned Kes's experience in "Before and After", right? RIGHT? I mean, there are some stuff in this episode that was taken DIRECTLY off "Before and After". Oh well, we'll have to wait till part 2.
Alex Otis: Voyager redeams itself. I loved this episode. The compounding damage to Voyager gave it a real broken in look. Now on to the nits.
Did the crew totally forget about Kes' warnings. When we first heard the name Krenin, I expected someone to flinch. Nothing. Then when their temperal weapons were mentioned, I thought for sure they would realize who they were dealing with. Nope. I thought that at least Tuvok would remeber Kes' story when they mentioned croniton torpedoes. I guess she didn't mean that much to him.
At least the writers got to use a lot of scenes from "Before and After". I guess they figured we had forgotten that episode.
When the Croniton torpedo exploded, why didn't it incinerate Tuvok and Seven instead of only blinding Tuvok. That massive wave of fire should have done a lot more. (Note from Phil: Well . . . underneath that bunny exterior, Seven is part Borg!)
On Day 65, Before Chakotay moved into the light, didn't he look like Will Riker.
I found Seven's classic bad Roomate story cute.
I can't wait for the conclusion. All though, it's going to be hard to top this one.
Vicki Strzembosz: My main concern is still the same---Where is Baby Wildman??? Am I the only person who feels this way? If you were on this ship wouldn't your first concern after every bad event be knowing that your community's only baby was okay? Well I'm a pediatrician, not a writer. (Note from Phil: I too wonder where the baby is!)
Nate Greene, Louisville Ohio: Wow! Another Wonderful episode! But not without nits however! First, Why didn't Voyager Know about the Krenim? They had A couple months to De-Brief Kes and now they act as if they had never heard of them! Second, When the crew left the ship, Why didn't the leave in shuttles? They would be faster and would last longer. Third, The Borg obviously know about Time Travel and such, Why didn't Seven offer any suggestions besides the shield, Maybe like a weapon? The Technical Manual states that if there was no SIF, "the ship would deflate like a blimp." Why did we only see a few panels blowing off?
That's All for Now! Cant wait to see part 2!
Chris Booton: Cool episode! Much of what happened seems to go along with the foreseen events in "before and after". The conclusion should prove interesting. That stelar cartography area was cool, reminded me of the Enterprises in Generations.
As for the nits;
When Seven and Tuvok examine that torpedo in the hull they do not seem to be bothered by the radiation the killed Kes when she examined it in "Before and after" in fact it's like there was no radiation, but it's clearly the same torpedo so why no radiation.
How do Tuvok and Seven survive that explosion? I got the idea that it was enough to destroy the ship if the explosion was not contained (like the torpedo jammed in the defiants hull in "star ship down")
Why is this episode not called "The year of hell" as what the people in the future time line called it? In fact Voyager and DS9 are doing this allot lately, mainly leaving out the "the" in episode titles, I know this is minor but it's weird. (Note from Phil: Just a stylistic thing.)
How Can Voyager after taking that kind of damage still do warp 7? There have been times when the damage has been much less and they have been fine.
How does seven know of the events in First Contact? Did the borg in there send signals into the future? The dialogue in the movie says that they were not able to contact the borg in that era.
Why did voyagers shielding have that kind of effect on the historical changes? I would have thought that the warship would have gotten even more powerful, or if voyager had lowered their shields then they would have been fixed as if they had gone through the space of the kremin with the kremin being pre warp. I hope this is explained in part two.
Michael Apple: Holy cow! That was such a cool episode. This was without a doubt the best episode so far this season. The acting was wonderful, the special effects dazzling, and the storyline kept me on my toes. Mega-kudos to TPTB . They really struck gold with this episode.
Still, I would not be doing my duty if I didn't point out the flaws.:)
The map 7o9 and Kim come up with doesn't seem very revolutionary to me . Haven't they been using triangulation from the beginning? How would they find anything without it? What did they do before, drop a homing beacon and take off in a random direction? They'd never be able to find any star systems out of sensor range.
Why did they have to worry about the Krennim's chroniton torpedoes? First of all, Kes should have known the frequency they needed for the shields from her experiences in "Before and After". Did she choose to not share this information with the rest of the crew? "Aw, they'll figure it out on their own."
Second, this goes back to a nit I made for "Before and After." The way the Krennim's torpedoes work doesn't make any sense. If they bounce back and forth in time as they go, it won't matter because Voyager's shields will still be there. It would make a lot more sense for them to place the torpedoes back in time to before Voyager raised its shields, then detonated them all at once. (But of course, then there'd be no show.)
When the time shockwave passes through, the Krennim warship attacking Voyager turns into a pre-warp vessel. Where did that come from? What would a pre-warp ship be doing that far from the Krennim homeworld? It would take YEARS to get back. Are they the Krennim equivalent of Voyager, tossed a light year or two from home by some strange "Caretaker"?
The creators had better have a good reason for why the simple presence of Voyager in the shockwave made it so the Krennim never developed warp capability. I can't think of a reason and technobabble just ain't gonna cut it.
A couple of comments:
This episode is, I think, the second time they've made mention of the fact that Vulcans grow facial hair (Tuvok shaving in his quarters.) The first was Sybok's beard from Star Trek V.
There was a 47 in this episode. Seven of Nine states that the torpedo frequency is 1.47.
George Padovan of Bridgewater, NJ: Overall, it was an okay episode. Just that I'm glad TPTB subsituted "Scorpion" as the 3rd season's finale, because "Year of Hell" wouldn't had created a better cliffhanger.
Janeway's new hairstyle looks great on her! (grin) Also, the mustage and beard on Chakotay makes him looked like a pirate and I liked it! To bad we'll see the mustage and beard gone by next week.
As for the story, I agreed with Janeway in "Future's End". Time paradoxes give me a headache. (grin)
Now for the nits:
After the first time-wave reached Voyager, I saw the green area that represented Kremin territory in the astrophyics lab was pretty large and of course it shrank after the second wave passed. How come *before* the first wave, the green area was also large? It doesn't make sense for Kremin territory to be large when it was small before the first wave came.
Okay, what happened to Kes' information about the Kremin from "Before and After"? The first wave only changed events in that sector of space *far* from the Ocampa homeworld, so Kes should still be part of that time-line if Voyager and Neelix is still there. Therefore logically, Kes' knowledge of the Kremin should be there as well and Voyager should had the knowledge in *advance* on how to disable the Kremin torpedo launchers. Unless... Kes' journey through time didn't occured in the new timeline. ARGH! I *hate* time paradoxes!
Not a nit, but I noticed the captain's chair the Kremin time leader was in looked exactly liked the captain's chair from DS9's Defiant and the bridge of The Raven from "The Raven"! Recycled props! (grin)
Another nit is the confusion that time weapon the Kremin have. How does it erase a species from history? Does the wave, the weapon created, go back in time and prevent that species from evolving? If this is so, aiming it at Voyager would not work, because Voyager and it's crew came from the Alpha Quadrant. No matter what time line comes in the Delta Quadrant, the time line in the Alpha Quad remains the same, so Voyager would wind up in *every* Delta Quad time line. Unless the Kremin goes to Earth and erase the human race, Voyager would always exist in every Delta Quad time line. (Note for Phil: There was a mention that the beam was pushing Voyager out of the space-time continuum. Whatever that means!)
Escape pods?! I don't think the crew could live or survive in those escape pods for long. A few shuttles okay. Those pods? Hardly.
Well, next week, we'll see whether the time line at the end of part 2 would be liked the original or something new. Well... *time* will tell. (grin)
Sean Corcoran of Clifton, VA: It seems interesting, that the writers have clearly not forgotten anything from "Before and After", even down to the temporal variance on the chroniton torpedo, but Janeway has managed to forget everything in Kes's report on the Krenim. We know why, of course. That's because Kes never wrote her report because she was never there to witness the Year of Hell. I think someone's been playing with the time continuum just a little.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the writers forgot that Vulcans have an inner eyelid (TOS "Operation: Annihilate!") to prevent blindness, and just outfit Tuvok with an easily replicated VISOR.
This is just gonna throw the whole Star Trek chronology off. Each episode, in theory, takes about two weeks, normally. This one took 73 days, which is nearly two and a half months! And since it's the *Year* of Hell, shouldn't the next episode take about nine and a half months to complete? That'll put Voyager a year ahead of the events in the Alpha Quadrant as seen in DS9.
The sonic showers must be malfunctioning as well as everthing else. No one seems to like to take showers anymore; as a matter of fact, (I would need to go back and check this) I think that some smudges and stains remain for months at a time on our brave crewmen!
Brian O'Marra, Little Rock, AR : New episode and a new time slot! I don't mind the change. I only hope that with the show ending an hour earlier it will make your job a little easier! (Note from Phil: Actually, it doesn't make much difference. I have choir practice on Wednesday nights until 8:30 PM so I never start reviewing until 9:00 PM anyway. But, this way, more nitpickers get their comments on the file the first time I upload it!)
Interesting show and with the ol' space time continuum plot complete with alternate timelines it makes the show a bit confusing! Special effects (especially in the show's opener) were good.
One interesting observation: Torres and Kim are playing trivia games. One of the questions that Kim asks Torres deals with first contact and what the name of Zephram Cochrane's ship was (The Phoenix.). An obvious tribute to the Star Trek movie that just came out on video the day before!!
However, later in that scene, Seven gives Torres the answer and states the Borg were there during first contact. Kim expresses surprise. Now remembering the events of the movie First Contact: one Borg cube is on the verge of blowing up and sends a sphere Borg pod to earth to stop Cochrane and first contact. This Borg pod created a time distortion.
These were a handful of rogue Borg. All were defeated by Picard and the timeline resumed as normal. Since none of the Borg were able to send a signal to their species in the twenty first century because Picard stopped them, and none made it out of that past timeline alive to tell the collective, how did Seven know about it and Kim didn't?
Another nit...the matter of the stardates. Last episode "Scientific Method" had a stardate of 51244.3. Now we know that even though the creators never admit it, 1000 units equal a year, right? Well about two thirds into the show (on day 65) the stardate is given as 51268.4. Two months and only 24 units? Should be more like 200 units.
Next. Tuvok is apparently blinded. Seven has to help him to the bridge. Yet, he's shaving with a razorblade. A razorblade? Why not one of those laser shavers that Geordi was using on Star Trek TNG? I mean, if I had a choice of having a lightbeam hit my face or a sharp knife, I think I would choose the lightbeam. Especially if I can't see. He did cut himself. Also, isn't it interesting how he can later man his post like normal without seeing the control panel. He never looks down, just straight ahead.
And while we're discussing our Vulcan security officer, didn't those extra eyelids kick in and shield Tuvok from the blinding, exploding torpedo? (We all learned that Vulcans have those in "Operation Annihilate" a classic Trek episode).
Tony H Forbes: Well, Kate "New Do" Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan opened this "Event" with their lame bit of resistance is futile. Then we got on to it.
Also, in the "Before and After" story, there was a part in which Janeway and B'lanna were killed. Janeway had her "long" hairstyle. Now, the new do is and interesting change. When Voyager first premiered, TV Guide did a special segment on the show. The shots of Capt. Janeway showed Kate Mulgrew with short hair. Of course, by the time the show started, it had grown back.
Also, 7/9 wasn't involved in the "Before and After" story. I know. Pick, pick, pick.
When Mr."Smug looking consortium guy" starts to first cause a ruckus, he says "Prepare to be boarded." They probably have some good opportunities to do this, but they apparently never do.
This episode reveals that they use the Julian calendar in space. Does that make sense? No.
The first time we saw "the weapon" its effect was almost instantaneous. Later it appears to take a little time to work.
Okay, and now on to some other stuff.
Shane Tourtellotte: 7o9's new course plotting will supposedly cut 5 years off Voyager's journey. I would have thought they would be heading straight home, no course correction required. Were they originally taking the scenic route? Would explain some things ...
After taking a serious pounding and being threatened with boarding, Janeway orders "All hands, battle stations." They're already at Red Alert! A disposeable crewmember is dead. Kinda late for calling battle stations.
The special effect shot of a Krenim warship firing on Voyager at the start of Act 2 is taken from "Before and After".
Voyager flees their first confrontation at Warp 6, despite a damage report stating that main power is down. Can you move at warp when main power's out? You couldn't in STII-TWOK.
Why is this Annorax so obsessive over getting 100% restoration of the Krenim Imperium, rather than 98%? If the Krenim are now so powerful again, can't they reconquer the other 2%? (Note from Phil: My guess is that the guy's wife died on that colony that he wanted restored but we'll have to wait and see.)
Oh, and did anybody notice the name Annorax? A little switch of 'Arronax', the name of a character brought aboard the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea".
Voyager drops four torpedo-mines against a Krenim warship to destroy it. However, Tuvok had reported that their *aft* shields were down. They ran into those mines with apparently intact forward shields, but luckily for Voyager they blew up anyway.
Kim and Torres pass the time while they're trapped with some 20th-century entertainment trivia. This is the 2370s, guys. Over four hundred years after the fact. Would we in our day and age play trivia games about entertainment from the latter 1500s? Shakespeare, conceivably, but nothing else.
Paris diagnoses Torres as having "a ruptured vertebrae." 'Vertebrae' is plural, not singular. He means 'vertebra'. And how do you rupture a bone, anyway? Would that be like a fracture? Is he saying Torres has a broken back?
Janeway gives the stardate as 51268.4, sixty-some days into the YoH. The last episode was stardated as 51244.3. That's 24.1 stardates for at least nine weeks, which goes way against any conversion formula we've ever seen.
7o9 enters the blind Tuvok's quarters and says, "Reporting for duty, Lieutenant." Actually, he's a lieutenant commander, with the pips to prove it.
I won't comment much about Tuvok running the tactical station from a tactile interface. One thought, though: couldn't The Doctor give him artificial eyes, like the one 7o9 has? Or had Voyager taken too much pounding by now to provide that sort of rarefied technology?
When the Krenim revert to pre-warp, the ship that had attacked Voyager ineffectively stays there, although it degrades. Shouldn't it disappear altogether? How could it have followed and caught up with Voyager, a warp-capable ship?
Janeway now says Earth is 65,000 light-years away. They started out at 70,000, knocked off about 3000 in the first three seasons("Unity" context backs this up), and Kes tossed them 10,000 more. That totals out to 57,000 in my math system.
And why oh why do I have the awful feeling that by the end of Part 2, none of this will ever have happened? Temporal phenomenon episodes: great for nitpicking, lousy for logic.
Jacob Boxer: This was a good episode. There were some nits.
When 7 tries to determine the temporal variance of the torpedo, one of the lights on her tricorder seems to be out. When the little lights run on top, one didn't flash when it's turn came in the sequence.
I wonder why Voyager all of a sudden went from being attacked by a little Krenim ship to being severely damaged. I know the timeline changed, but Janeway should have made a log about the battle or something to clarify us.
Amazing scenes for special effects. Deck 5 being blown to pieces was nice. I also liked the scene where Kim said they were losing the hull, and it ACTUALLY STARTED FALLING OFF!! This episode establishes that Sickbay is on Deck 5.
Here's a strange little re-use of a scene. The exterior turbolift shots where Kim and Torres were trapped came from the TNG episode Disaster.
Mark Bowman: When Kim and B'elana got trapped in the turbolift , couldn't he simply pry the the turbolift doors open? Isnt there a hand actuator? What about the hatch on top of the lift?
Straight edge razors are still being used in the 24th century?
Craig Cicero: WOW! Great episode, great dialogue, great villians- I'm almost speechless.
But not quite.
A few minor nits-
I wonder why Tuvok risks shaving while blind- is it really logical? (Or does he feel it's more logical to maintain a standard for the crew?) Could be Vulcan pride.
It IS a bit of a coincidence for Voyager to be running into Krenim Space right when Annorax (sp?) is starting his conquest of time- not a big deal for me. (In a sense, all plots are contrived- stuff usually doesn't happen as quickly or as interestingly in real life. At least not in mine!)
I did find Janeway's "This is turning out to be the Week of Hell" a little misplced. "The Week When Things Got Slightly More Annoying Than We're Used To" would have been more appropraite, IMHO.
Great lines and a great episode nevertheless- (Especially Seven referring to First Contact!)
In any event, I found this episode to be the most internally consistent Voyager show ever! (But then, I haven't seen anyone else's brash reflections!)
Maybe the title refers to tomorrow through next Wednesday- with Babylon 5 off the air until January, and the DS9 "retaking the station" arc over, I don't have as much to satisfy me TV-wise!
S Perry: So, why no mention of Kes?
Why does a prewarp civilization have any empire? Even after the reduction, the Krenim still controlled several stars.
How did Tuvok get so lucky as to survive the torpedo with only blindness? Why didn't he... get sucked into space?
At several points in the show Voyager knew planetary life signs of planets light years away. How?
Gosh, this episode had lots o' historical references. Too many. Since when has Tom been a historian? Probably since Dr Bashir, who shows the same amazing ability.
Why the need for the temporal shockwave? If you erase the planet from history, everything connected to it should follow. I know, I know, BILC.
Quite a coincidence that Janeway faced the same captain in both timelines.
Are we to presume that Vger was travelling along, and once the time shift occurred, they wound up in the dead middle of Krenim space? It was never clarified as to why they just didn't run.
How are escape pods going to go anywhere? Asking them to escape would be asking them to die.
What was the deal with the holding the trailer over until Sentinel? Evil UPN people. (Note from Phil: Personally, I didn't get to see it because I taped the show and my tape quit before the trailer and before the little segment from the visual effects thing. Such is life!)
Cool episode though.
David D. Porter: New 'do for the skipper, huh? And a new term--'resistance quotient.'
V-ger's taken fire, crewmembers have been killed, the Captain jaws with the aggressors, and *then* goes to battle stations? Battle stations should be an *automatic* response to any attack.
Just how does this overload spread? Is it contagious?
H-doc made a tough decision (closing the hatch), but it was definitely the right one. He couldn't possibly save Strickler and Emmanuel, and trying would have put many more at risk.
Is deck 11, section 2 where Kes found the torpedo when she was living backwards? 1.47 *is* the proper variance, I believe.
Lisa Shock: Since the holodoc isn't human, but part of the computer, shouldn't he have been able to move very quickly, and pulled those two crew members to safety? Data could have done it easily.
Seven shouldn't know about the Phoenix. Yes, Borg were circling the Earth in First Contact, but they were all killed before they could send any messages out. The only explanation would be that some Borg have great telepathic abilities. But if that's the case, then Voyager should have gotten into far more trouble than it did in Borg space.
11/10/97 Update
Will Phillips of North Royalton, OH: I believe many of us have missed the biggest 47 of them all in this episode- a part of the show takes place on Day 47!
I think we all know how Part 2 is going to end. Paris and Chakotay are
going to somehow use the Temporal Weapon-ship to set everything back the
way it was.
*Excellent* scene where Voyager went to warp, and bits of the hull
started to flake off! Nice transition, too, with one of the flakes
going into the camera to cut to Day 73.
I don't know why, but it's fun to see Voyager blasted to pieces but
still hold together. To quote Will Riker, "It's a tough little ship."
I mean, to hold up to this kind of a beating for 2 months!!!
Chad Brown: Loved the episode. Wasn't "blown away" by it, but its up there as one of
the best. Though as a season finale, I'm glad they replaced it with
Scopion, althought the clifhanger aspect of this episode isn't bad.
OK, so do we get to nitpick The Sentinel now since the show was praticly
part of the episode as well? I for one did *not* like having to sit
through fifteen minutes of it in order to see the preview for next week
(which looks way cool BTW) and *forty-five* minutes of it just to see a
fifteen second thing on the visual effects. (If you blinked, you missed
it). UPN is shameless -- and it didn't give me any desire to watch The
Sentinel like they were trying to do. :-)
This is a theroy I've been hearing as to why the crew didn't remember
the Krenim when they first incountered them or mention Kes. If you
remember, the episode opened from the Krenim's point of View with them
altering the timeline and *then* we cut over to the crew during act one.
So when we got to the crews point of view, the timeline might have
already been changed -- and in the new timeline, maybe they haden't ever
*met* Kes or, more likely, maybe Kes never had her experince with the
Krenim in Before and After to report to the crew before she "evolved."
I'm going to refrain from calling it a compleate oversight until I see
part two and see if the theroy is right or not. ("I hate temporal
mechanics" :-).
However, for continuity, it was nice that some of the scenes match some
that we saw in Before and After -- visual continuity over verbal. Neelix
in the gold uniform. The cronoton topedo stuck in the jeffries tube. The
cronoton torpedo frequency of 1.47 microseconds match the same frequency
Kes determined it was (I was shouting it to my TV before Seven figured
out what it was :-).
The reason that Tuvok was probably shaving with a straight razor instead
of a laser one like Geordi used was most likely because the laser-like
one proabaly got broken and the replicator power was almost compleatly
gone (Janeway wouldn't even keep her birthday present because of it).
Using a straight rasor was probably a way to save the energy to
replicate a laser-like one.
Janeway's birthday is on May 20 (FTQ).
With the referenct to the Titanic I wondered if Paramount was trying to
give a little publicity to the $258 million movie that their helping Fox
foot the bill for. :-)
All the sonic showers must of all been down -- everyone looked like they
hadn't had a good shower in a long time. I do like Chakotay's mustache
and gotee and I like the floppy thing Janeway's new hairstyle does when
the ship shakes. Her new hair-do makes her look like...Kate Mulgrew
:-).
Something tells me that that watch Chakotay tried to give Janeway is
going to pop back up again in part two and be better recived than it was
before ('Corse I'm cheating...I saw it on her waist in next weeks
preview :-).
In the turbolift scene you could tell that Roxann Dawson was a little
bigger in the middle because of her pregnacy -- as well as when she was
laying on the biobed with Paris trying to help her. And the trivia scene
in the turbolift took place on the 47th day of the Year of Hell.
Oh...and it *was* Cary Grant who was the male lead in "To Catch a
Theif." :-)
David T. Shaw, Hamilton, Ontario: I've been looking forward to this episode - before it even began I'd already had a huge nit - but they ruined it for me.
Start of Rant. The writers are cheating - they are acting as if "Before
and After" never happened. I do believe that Voyager writers have a rule (The "Kes Rule") -
it goes "Normal laws of causality do not apply to Kes." This explains a lot
- Kes's hair grows dramatically from one episode to the other - doesn't
matter, invoke the Kes rule. The Nelix/Kes romance is getting to difficult
to sustain? Invoke the Kes rule. Information that Kes provided before her
departure makes life too easy for the crew? Invoke the Kes rule. At any
rate, I think it's cheating.
That being said, I am not in a pleasant mood and have a lot of nits to
point out. Let us start with Harry's and Seven's mapping chart - first I am
kind of confused about exactly how this process is really any more accurate
than the old method (of finding key stars). It only works if you already
have a detailed data base (but I guess that 7o9 could have provided it with
her "total recall of all Borg knowledge" memory. However - they said that
the new route is going to save five years - from a sixty year Voyage? The
ship was really going to take a course that would add a little more than 8%
of there time? Must be some rather tricky aspect of warp physics involved,
for I can't imagine how they could make an error that large (maybe I'll do
the math and figure out how much off course they'd have to be to do
something like that, but not tonight).
Another thing - I suppose that 7's evaluation of the Zahl comes from her
Borg memory. Fine. So, on the read out, there appears to be three
different civilisations in the space, so why only talk about the dominant
one? What about the other two?
In the beginning scene, the X-O of the Krenom ship says "All organisms and
man made structures" are gone. Very imprecise - I could clearly see trees
and bushes. I suppose he meant to say "All Zahlian organisms and artificial
structures...." But he didn't.
Okay - Janeway is talking to the Zahl guy. He has just explained that his
race has conquered the Krenom - so a Krenom ship appears, demands to speak
to the Captain, and she lets the Zahl ambassador wonder onto the bridge, in
full view (I realise that it is obvious that Janeway is talking to the Zahl,
after all there are two ships there - but does she have to antagonise the
Krenom by pointing out that she trusts the Zahl to the point of allowing her
access on the bridge?)
Speaking of the two Zahl ships, why didn't they just tell the Krenom ship
to go bother someone else? (I know, if that happened we wouldn't have had
the cool effects of the Zahl disappearing and the Krenom ship becoming
bigger...)
The time shift seems to start right near the beginning of a
battle - shots have been fired on Voyager (there is a crew member dead on
the bridge). So why does Janeway have to order the ship to battle stations
later in the scene? If my ship had been attacked, I would have ordered it
to battle stations immediately (actually, I'd hope that it would be
automatic). I guess jumping from one time line to another temporary
confused her.
Janeway tasks security to bring in a detailed *damage* report.
I, personally, would have tasked engineering.
I have to say that I considered Chakotay's suggestion to disperse the crew
to be completely asinine. Sure, they are having problems, but abandon ship
right now? Janeway promptly shot it down as it deserved. What I was
expecting Chakotay to say was to get out of Krenom space as quickly as
possible - and he never even hinted at it. (If they wanted the dispersal
idea there for foreshadowing, then they could have had Chakotay brought it
up as a contingency plan - the ship had suffered enough damage by then to
warrant it.)
Just for your information - Harry is right - it was Cary Grant in "To Catch
a Thief"
The scene in the make shift sickbay didn't ring true - the ship had been
under more of less constant attack for the last thirty days (at least
constant enough to make repairs incomplete..) and Helmboy still doesn't
understand basis triage procedure? I don't care how hot and heavy it has
gotten with B'Lenna, I think that Tom is professional enough to have gone on
without the Doctors prompting. (Maybe he was playing Cabbage head for the
Doc's explanation - don't know)
And, the doctor threatens to replace Helmboy with a new assistant - I know
this is beating a dead horse, but - good! Train Helmboy all you want, but
you need more than one assistant (if for no other reason than the doctor
doesn't need to rest...) After all, there are conflicting duties, and the
possibility of fatalities (and in the escape scenario, the crew disperses,
and I bet none of the pods has HoloDoc in them {Atom is already captured....})
So, the Federation has been flying around in ships for at least a century
and a half, and totally compartmentalised ships has never occurred to anyone
before? (Okay, maybe I'll believe it - after all it took characters in TNG
three or four seasons to figure out that they could draw phasers before they
beamed down.) Loved Janeway's reaction to Tom's story though - "The Titanic
- didn't it sink?"
Seven does have a problem understand a hierarchical structure - once again
she has referred to Tuvac as "Lieutenant" after his promotion.
It would be interesting to hear exactly how the Krenom's temporal weapon
works. If it traces something back in time and then changes something in
the path, the Krenom Captain could have tried to make a deal with Janeway
("Okay, we well set our machine so that four years ago you never left the
Alpha Quadrant."). She would have rejected it, but it would have made an
interesting moment of tension on board Voyager.
One forty-seven, but it shouldn't count because it is an 'old' one. The
temporal displacement on the torpedo - 1.47 msecs. Exactly the same as a
different torpedo was for Kes in "Before and After."
Here is a time paradox for you - if Voyager didn't have the temporal
shields up, then after the second temporal shock wave, the ship would have
been whole again, and probably no one would have died. But if the shields
have been down, then the calculations would have been correct, and they
probably would have been in an even worse situation. Sometimes you just
can't win.
And to conclude - that is my great fear for the ending of this episode. On
the last day of "the year of Hell," a temporal change will occur, in which
results the Krenom being a minor race again, and the temporal shields will
be down, thereby making Voyager whole again (Making the entire episode into
"It was all a dream.") I hope I am wrong, but I have become very cynical
about the writers....
Sorry I went on and on, but as I said at the beginning, if the writers are
going to cheat, then no mercy....
Jason Gorell: YYYYYYYYYYYEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
How 'bout that reference to First Contact!!! And what a way to set it up. Could that be
the first reference to the movie in either of the star trek series? It's about time.
Praise to the writers for making 7/9 a more believeable character, the way she seems to be
interacting with Tuvok and the lack of distain that she had in previous episodes.
This week's pat on the back goes to the ship's hairstylist. Janeway looks much more
captain-like (whatever that means), more bold with the short hair and it doesn't make her
look all granny-like when there's a lot of action and the long hair just goes everywhere.
One thing that I can't figure out is....how did Cap'n J and 7/9, who were in the
astrophysics lab when the bad guy's ship arrived suddenly appear on the bridge and looking
like they had been there for some time. I believe the turbolifts were out so that means
they had to use a Jeffries tube. They sure are fast.
Travis McCord: First, the Krenim tech keeps saying all _man_ made structures are gone...
are they human in this sector?
Second, the first shock wave is almost planar when it hits Voyager and the
Zaal (sp?) ships... shouldn't it be spherical? (Especially considering the
second temporal shockwave _is_! When it starts, anyway.)
A possible one: when Janeway is cleaning up her ready room, it's obvious
the place has sustained heavy damage (shattered furniture, burns). The room
opens out into space... how is it still survivable? No breaches unless dramatically
appropriate?
Later on, the doc says Torres has 'a ruptured vertebrae'. First, vertebrae
is plural. (Vertebra is singular.) Second, vertebrae are _bone_. Bones
don't 'rupture', they break! (somebody probably confused ruptured discs--
which are between the vertebrae--for the vertebrae themselves.)
BTW, my prediction for how this story arc will end: Janeway & Voyager fight
the timekiller ship, and just barely manage to destroy it through a
combination of heroism & sacrifice... at which time everything 'snaps' back to where it
was before they meddled with it, at the beginning of the Year of Hell,
negotiating with the Zaal to let Voyager through! (Any other outcome would saddle the
producers with things they con't want... not only plot points like Tuvok's
blindness, but also production necessities, like either switching to CGI for
all shows, or 'updating' the models every week to show battle damage & slow
repairs!) (Note from Phil: And that's another way that it can truly be the year of hell! They can spend a year trying to get things back to normal and then POW! no consequenses!)
Dustin Westfall of Fullerton, CA: First things first, when we first see the Krenim, why is Janeway so insulting to them? I know they couldn't do anything anyway, but still. They had the rep of making enemies
back in Kazon territory, are they trying to recreate it here?
I could have sworn someone said something about not being able to launch torpedoes,
and that they were going to lay them as mines instead. What happens looks just like a
launch to me. The ship kept moving in the same direction at approximately the same
speed, so at most, they should have slowly drifted out, but instead they flew out as
if launched. (Note from Phil: Maybe someone shoved them out the tubes?!)
So, do they use stardates or the current calendar? Apparently, even Janeway can't
convert between the two, so I guess we shouldn't expect too much from the production
staff, now should we? ;)
I was a little surprised to hear 7's comments about her roommate. 1) when you are in a
fight for your life, I shouldn't think cleanliness would be high on your priority
list(except to maybe release some tension) 2) When Janeway made her log about having
to cram in, I saw what looked at least a dozen people, male and female all in one
room, including, if I'm not mistaken Tom and Harry. So how did Seven get away with
just one roommate?
So, how exactly did Neelix become a security officer? Was he always one in the other
timeline, or was he recruited to fill in for a fallen comrade?
After Voyager gets the new temp. shields, she says to hail the Krenim shipS, plural. I
might have missed something, but I thought they were only fighting one ship. After the
time change, there is again only one ship.
How in the world did the presence of Voyager affect these calculations so much so
that, instead of improving from 98-100% of their dominance, they regressed back to a
prewarp civiliazation? (Note from Phil: Time-alteration is tricky!)
Finally, when in the damaged Astrometrics lab, how are their scans able to determine
who controls what region, let alone the political borders of those regions?
Preview for next week: (hidden in the lousy Sentinel ep) Did it look like Tom was
manning one of the controls in the background on the Krenim ship?
And the CGI sneak peek that will likely never be seen again: GOOD. For the whole 30
SECONDS it lasted we saw, 2 different shots before and after, and horribly done as
well. If you missed it, count yourself lucky. I only wish I could get the 45 minutes I
spent waiting for it back. (Note from Phil: And here all this time I was concerned that I hadn't set my tape for two hours instead of one! ;-)
William H. LeFeavers of Conover, NC: All of my nits were taken, so I thought I might respond to some of the nits the Guild presented.
Phil Farrand - You wonder why it took so long for them to destroy the Zahl
Homeworld. I can't be sure, but I was under the impression that it took them
all this time just to perfect the weapon.
Michael Apple - Add Spock in "Mirror, Mirror" to that Vulcan facial hair
tally.
Brian O'Marra - Brian expressed some skepticism for Tuvok manning his post
after he was blinded. They did refer to it being a "tactile" station.
Tony H. Forbes - There really isn't a problem with the temporal wave taking a
little longer the second time around. The first time was on a colony. The
second was on an entire planet. It wasn't stated, but I assumed the colony's
population was smaller.
Well, I wish I had some nits to send, but Id just like to say that this was
my favorite episode of Voyager so far.
David Lawrence of Wirral, England: About the bad guy's name - Annorax.
In Britain an anorak is a coat and is believed to be the clothing of choice
for sad, nerdish people who need to "get a life" (not my words, I'm one of
these people!) eg Dr Who fans, train-spotters and particularly Star Trek
fans. So in the tabloid press Star Trek fans are often referred to as
anoraks!
I think somebody in script writing has a sense of humour!
Mark Blankenship of Greenville, TX: I really liked this episode. Just some quick comments.
Since when did mass ever become a factor on how fast a ship travels at
warp? Seven says that the Krennim Temperal Killer(KTK) can only travel
at warp six because of its mass. This doesn't seem consistent with what
has been presented on screen before or what is in the TNG tech manual.
Does everyone else see the Big Reset Button coming? (Note from Phil: Now there's a glossary term for you: Big Reset Button!)
This is going to be one of those episodes where all the nits from
previous episodes will be questionable because they happened in a
different timeline. Evidence of this is the Kes discrepancy.
"Push then out of space-time" to where? This seems like a poor choice
of words if what in fact happens is a complete erasure.
BTW, does the KTK actually rewrite history or just shift between
timelines ala TNG "Parallels"?
Other issues I have maybe resolved nexted week so I will wait till then
to add them. Always the trouble with nitting the first ep. of a
two-parter.
Brian Lombard: Right before Seven tests her temporal shielding, we see that the
bridge, among other areas, has been completely devastated. Consoles
exploded, debris everywhere. The Krennim ship shows up, and Janeway
orders it on visual. Incredibly, there is no damage whatsoever to the
viewscreen. In fact, while the rest of the bridge is in near darkness,
the viewscreen still has its normal illumination!
Two questions about Tuvok's blindness. One. Don't Vulcans have an
inner eyelid? Spock did in "Operation: Annihilate", and it prevented
his blindness. Second. Didn't Holo-Doc replicate an artificial eye for
Seven in "The Gift"? Any reason he couldn't make a few for Tuvok?
On a recent tour of Paramount, I was fortunate enough to catch
a glimpse of the astrometrics lab in its soundstage. You'd be
surprised how small that set really is. It looks huge on tv!
Mike Deeds of Philadelphia, PA: I have a question about the Voyager episode "Year of Hell". It is my understanding that this episode was originally intended as the last
episode of the third season. If this is the case, did the producers
just delete any scenes with Kes in them and film new scenes with Seven
of Nine? If so, they did a good job as I couldn't detect any
discrepancies between the "new" and the "old" scenes. (Note from Phil: Couldn't tell ya!)
Josh Truax of Platteville, WI: Usually I make it a policy to reserve judgment about a
two-part episode until after I have seen both halves.
This time, though, I just can't help myself. I've been
a Trekker for eight years now, and in that time I've
compiled a long list episodes I consider to be my
favorites, for a variety of reasons. Never before,
though, has any episode or movie from any series
flat-out blown me away.
Until now.
"Year of Hell" (Part I) caught me completely off-guard.
As much as I have been pleased with Voyager's
improvement over the past year, at this point I didn't
think it was capable of producing an episode that rivals
the very best that Classic Trek, TNG and DS9 have had to
offer. How glad am I to be so wrong! This show is
"Yesterday's Enterprise" [TNG] times 100. I'll hold off
discussing specifics until next week, but for now I'll
just say that so far, this episode is so thoroughly
well-written and well-executed in every way that words
would not do it justice anyway. Unless Part II
completely fizzles out (in which case I'm sure I'm not
the only one who would be extremely upset), in my book
"Year of Hell" could go down among the top *three* Star
Treks of all time!
It's also nice that the creators finally got around to
building this astrometrics lab set for Voyager. Ever
since second season, there had been rumors of Voyager
getting a scaled-down version of the Stellar Cartography
set we saw aboard the Enterprise-D in Star Trek:
Generations...
Of course, even as remarkable an episode as this one
isn't without its nits. Granted, the temporal paradoxes
posed in this episode can explain many of them away
(including the one I pointed out in "The Gift", about
Krennam space being too distant for Voyager to have
reached so soon in the future in "Before and After"
without Kes's help)
Aside from the obvious 47 (the caption "Day 47") in this
episode, I found one more. When Janeway is informed
that Voyager has eleven torpedos left, she launches
*four* of them. That leaves... *seven!*
I also found two throwbacks to STVI:TUC here. The
Krennam leader is played by Kurtwood Smith, last seen as
the Federation President in STVI. Janeway's teacup
falling from a shaking table and shattering was also
lifted from that film...
Finally, I have to admit that this time, the preview for
Part II does tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth! I most certainly *will* be in front of
my TV on Wednesday night, by any means necessary! Until
then...
Jacob Boxer: During the attack when Voyager first put up it's chronoton shields, It
sounded like Janeway said KERNIM when she hailed them.
Bob Canada: Great episode. I could have done without the totally superflous intro by
Mulgrew and Ryan though. "Jeri even convinced our producers to show you
a little FX scene--wink, wink, leer." She made it sound like 7 was
putting the moves on the poor guy. Was this supposed to make me want to
watch the show more? I'm suprised they didn't put the 2 women in go-go
cages & have them dance.
When 7 is in the astrolab explaining how they made a map of the whole
galaxy, I started wondering what they did with all the info collected
when Tom exceeded the Warp 10 speed limit, and why they didn't just use
that data.
Doc needs to specify what he means when he says he was first activated.
He says here that he was first activated on Stardate 48304 or something,
which has to mean the first time his program ever went online in the lab
on Jupiter station. Voyager didn't go after the Maquis until the
Stardate 5000s. Its not a nit, but someone not paying close attention
might think it was.
Speaking of the torpedos,
why did it look like someone just tossed them out the door, and they
tumbled slowly and carefree toward the enemy vessel. EVERY other time I
can ever think of that we've seen a torpedo in any Trek, its shot
straight out with a big glowing beam--lens flare kind of look. Why the
change now? (Note from Phil: I think they said the torpedo launched was broken.)
How can the computer predict with such split-second accuracy exactly
when a deck will blow? I know its probably measuring stress factors and
such, but it seems a little much to accept that it can know down to the
second when it will happen.
Why couldn't Harry climb thru the top of the turbolift? Picard did it
(or at least tried--its been a long time since I've seen"Disaster") with
a broken ankle and a bunch of kids on his back.
When Annorax appears on the viewscreen, I kept waiting for Janeway to
say, "Clarence Boddiker, you are coming with me--dead or alive." Sorry.
Just watche RoboCop last week.
The large ship display Janeway and Co. were staring at looked just like
what it was--a transparency backlit by flickering flurescent tubes. I
don't think a real computer display would flicker quite like that--at
times half the display was lit while the other half was dark.
Why is Tuvok shaving anyway (striaght razor or laser)? Surely by the
24th century there'd be some kind of cream to rub on your face to
prevent beard growth.
Tuvok seems to have gone to the "Grasp Desperatley At Walls And Tables
To Guide You Along" school of blindness. Surely a Vulcan could memorize
the layout of his own quarters well enough to navigate obstacles. Spock
didn't flail around like that when he was blind.
Janeway gives Chakitay's gift watch back and says it represents a meal
or a hypospray or a pair of boots that could save a crewman's life. OK,
meal or hypospray I can buy, but boots? Boots can save your life? To
keep someone from getting the sniffles maybe? And surely someone could
go without lunch one day to replicate poor Tuvok, an integral part of
the crew, a VISOR (of course, he may have refused such an offer on the
same grounds).
Well, for months I've been saying I wished Voyager would show some signs
of wear & tear. Looks like I got my wish. I ddin't mean quite that much
wear though.
Michael Gurwitz of Washington, DC: This was an enjoyable episode. Unfortunately for us, time travel episodes can defy nitpicking, but...
When Janeway first encounters the small Krennam ship, she is quite
arrogant and dismissive. Aside from being out of character for the
normally diplomatic Janeway, this was a strategic blunder. Why alienate
a new race through whose space you'll be travelling? Why assume that
this race doesn't have far more powerful ships out there? If this were a
Greek tragedy, one could say that Janeway's hubris brought on the year
of hell.
Next, at the very end, Annorax tells Janeway that while he bears her no
ill will, he still has to destroy Voyager. Why? He could just as easily
have told Voyager to get out of Krennam space
so that he could continue with his mission. Even if it were going to take
Voyager a year to get far enough away, Annorax had previously told his
aide that on their timeship, time did not matter. On the other hand, maybe
Annorax had to "erase" Voyager from time completely to negate any
temporal effects it may have, did have, or will cause. Time travel
explains away all nits!
Now, to nit some nitpickers. To those Guild members who questioned
how 7 of 9 could know about the Borg experience from First Contact:
stop thinking so three-dimensionally! :)
Joseph P. Pintar: I don't like the new time for Voyager. I usually don't get in until 9pm
on Wednesday. Besides, I usually like to watch Spin City and Dharma and
Greg at this time when I am in. I guess that's why they invented VCRs for.
Note: It was interesting to see Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan hosting last
night's UPN lineup, if only to see Jeri Ryan smile. I have not seen her
in anything else before Voyager and have never seen her smile. I think
they should try to incorporate her nice smile into a future episode.
Has anybody else noticed that Roxann Dawson is pregnant in real life? I
didn't notice it at all until I read it in the latest issue of TV Guide.
Overall, I have to see part 2 to really get an idea about where they are
going with this plotline.
Rene Charbonneau: First of all, I would like to say I enjoyed this episode very much.
Voyager is getting better this season. Anyway, I have a few anti-nits.
First, many people claim that Seven should not have been aware of the
events from "Star Trek : First Contact", because all the Borg in that
movie died and never were able to get a signal to the Borg of the
21rst Century. Well, let's remember, the Borg operate as a single mind.
Therefore, the Borg Collective of the
24rth Century should have been aware of the Borg Queen's plan to go back
to 21rst Century Earth. Second, given that the Borg Queen survived the
destruction of the Borg Ship in the "Best Of Both Worlds", she would
also have survived the events of "First Contact" and either rejoined the
Collective of the 21rst Century or somehow got back to the future and
rejoined the Collective of the 24rth Century. Either way, it would make
perfect sense that Seven would know about the events in Star Trek :
First Contact.
Second, one person mentioned that, when Kes left Voyager, in "The Gift",
she transported Voyager over 10000 light-years closer to home. But, in
the alternate timeline of "Before And After", Kes was still on the ship
and therefore would not have been able to give that gift to Voyager. So,
how can Voyager encounter the Krenim at the same time in both timelines?
There are many ways...maybe Voyager encountered a wormhole that sent
them 10000 light-years closer to home, maybe the Borg Ship in "Scorpion,
Part 2" actually kept their end of the bargain and took Voyager across
their space alot faster with their trans-warp drive...who knows what can
happen in alternate timelines? (Note from Phil: Ain't time travel grand? ;-)
Anyway, why am I taking so much time to explain away nits? Well, Phil, I
quote the Ferengi Rule of Aquisition that you did many times...."Every
once in awhile, declare peace".
Mark Blankenship of Greenville Texas: Forgot my list of 47s on the previous email.
Definite 47s include Day 47, Day 4, Day 70,frequency 1.47, pocket watch
47 minutes after the hour.
Possibles include 11-4=7 torpedoes left. Sections 10 through 53 on
deck 5 blew out; 10(0)-53=47. Krennim assigned Voyager number 049b; b
is the second letter and 9-2=7, therefore 49b is 4(9-b) or 47. Klingon
P. Squares player incident took place in 2342; outside two digits = 4,
inside two = 7, therefore 47.
Trevor Burgess: Apart from [the fact that Seven knew about the Phoenix] I thought it was a pretty good episode. With any luck they
won't just wrap up the whole thing next week in the last 15 minutes. Maybe
they will take a hint from DS9 and let the turmoil last for a few weeks.
Brian Webber of Denver, CO: First, I must say that this is one of Voyagers best. Sadly, if their
ratings don't pick up soon they are going to be brought home ALOT
earlier. Anyway, the moment between Kim and Torres in the turbolift was
yet another Star Trek: Friends moment. My theory gets stronger each
episode (See my nits in Scientific Method). I think I can explain why
Kes didn't mention the Kremin. The furture is not written in stone after
all, so she probably thought it didn't matter if she told or not. Also,
I think I know how Seven and Tuvok survived. I swear I saw Tuvok hit
something off to the side before they showed the flame. Force field
maybe? The style they used for this episode is similar to the way The
Stand played out. An obvious homage to Stephen King I think. This Day 1,
Day 73 stuff is just like the way The Stand played out. Watch the
mini-series and you'll understand. (Note from Phil: Counting the days is a pretty standard time passage technique! I don't believe that "The Stand" was the first to use it! ;-)
Clay: Seven could have known about the Borg in FC. This is because even though they
were destroyed there has to be some record of them in earth history. Also,
the Borg knew they sent them there and at the time Seven was STILL a Borg.
Don't you think that if they could send physical things like the sphere
through time that they could conceivably send messages through time?
Roger Sorensen of St. Cloud, MN: Great episode. Evidently Kes' 'Before and After' experiences are part of
some other timeline now since (1) Janeway and Torres didn't die in the
manner Kes had seen and (2) she wasn't around to figure out the
torpedo's frequency.
Kudos to Shane Tourtellotte for also noticing the 20,000 Leagues
connection, but... take 'em away for [his calculation on Janeway's figure in this episode of 65,000 light years].
I think that, following Kes' Gift (9,500 ly, to be exact), Janeway gave
their distance as 57,000 ly **from the Federation**, not from Earth.
From this, might we now infer that once Voyager (presumably) gets to
Federation space, that Earth will be another 7,000 ly further on?
Additionally, Kes' Gift wouldn't necessarily have been a 9,500 ly jump
directly toward Earth. She might have flung them sideways, up, or down
so they could go past, rather than through, Borg space. Their 70,000 ly
distance figure was their distance from the badlands. (Note from Phil: She was new at this whole flinging them through space deal! Might have been a little "oopsie!")
Bob Canada: Everyone seems to think 7 shouldn't know about the events of "First
Contact," since the Borg weren't able to signal the Collective in the
past or something. I don't see this as a problem. The FC events
obviously occured, and would be common knowledge to 24th century humans,
many of whom have been assimilated by the Borg. The Borg know what you
know when you get assimilated, so...what's the problem? 7 ought to know
who Neil Armstrong was, even if the Borg never visited the moon...
Another thought on that pocket watch scene. I understand it was written
to show us how desperate things had become, but when Janeway tells
Chakotay to recycle it so it can be used as a meal or something
important--how big a meal could you make from the matter in a pocket
watch? A candy bar maybe? A cookie? Not much more than that, I would
think. And if energy is at such a premium, surely it would take just as
much power to de-replicate a watch as it would to replicate it--seems to
me like it would be cheaper, energy-wise, to just leave it alone.
Michael Gurwitz of Washington, DC: Possible reason why Janeway et al didn't heed Kes' advice about the Krenam:
If you'll recall, and the end of "Before and After," Kes promised Janeway
she'd write up a report on the Krenam. Fast-forward to "Year of Hell,
Part 2." Voyager has somehow survived, albeit at great cost of life and
resources. Janeway is in her ready room, tidying up, when she finds a
piece of paper behind the couch. She picks it up. It reads, "To Captain
Janeway, from Kes. If the Krenam should ever attack..."
Janeway slaps her forehead. "Doh!"
Zeb Highben: Great episode! I think the last few shows have been consistently
improving.
Okay, everything's already been pretty much covered. But I just saw this
one last night, so here goes...
When the crew evacuates the ship, why do they use the life pods? Probably
because the senior crew has carelessly strewn its shuttles about the
Delta Quadrant so often that there are none left. Regardless, Cpt. Janeway
tells the crew to set course for the Alpha Quadrant, try to stick
together, try to make friends, get faster ships, etc. That's odd, because
I was under the impression that a life pod was like a life boat on an old
sea-going vessel: it has a very limited range and very limited
capabilities. As a matter of fact, it is highly unlikely that the crew
will still be alive if the VOYAGER returns from its rescue attempt to
collect them, unless they are able to make it a quick one and not get
the warp drive damaged along the way. (Note from Phil: Actually, I believe the tech manual states that the lifepods dan be docked together to make a more power and comfortable environment.)
I've sort of taken it on faith that Tuvok shaving with a plain old razor
blade is a Vulcan concentration thing. However, doesn't it seem pretty
stupid (and therefore illogical) to shave with a broken mirror? In the
dark? While in hostile space where the ship could be attacked at any
momnet and you could find you've shaved half your face off? Either Tuvok
is trying to creatively kill himself or he is a victim of a bad plot
device. (Note from Phil: Of course . . . if you're blind it really doesn't matter! ;-)
Okay now, the ship has survived for something like seventy-three days
getting [beat up] each and every one? In other episodes,
one or two good torpedo hits and VOYAGER ain't goin' nowhere. But in "Year
of Hell" they just plod along, bumping into the Krennin for a new bruise
every so often. At the end of the episode they not only still have warp
drive, they can pull off warp 7!! (Or is it 6? Anyway, you get the point.)
Maybe the Krennin just aren't as powerful as the writers would have us
believe...
Finally, Kes and "Before and After" aside, there is another way the crew
should know about the Krennin...7o9. She was a Borg, right? The ship is
only ten light years or so from Borg space, if that, right? So how come
she doesn't know who the Krennin are? There space obviously lies in a
driect path to the Alpha Quadrant which the Borg is so determinedly
trying to conquer. So why didn't they assimilate them? In the original
timeline the Krennin aren't as powerful or huge, of course, but unless
they're older than the Borg, the Borg should still have encountered them.
Actually, it's more likely they would have encountered them as a small
race; they'd be easier to assimilate.
John Latchem: This was an interesting episode although I suspect by the time it is over it
will all be for naught. There are many clues to indicate this but we'll wait
and see.
This is the second year in a row Paramount has used Voyager to plug a video
release. Last year, in Future's End, Rayne Robinson commented that Paris
wasn't a spy because she had seen every episode of "Mission: Impossible."
Coincidence that the episode aired the week that the Tom Cruise Megaflick
"Mission: Impossible" was released to home video? And now a plug for "First
Contact," release to own on home video the same week.
Why do they need the astro lab? Doesn't Tom Paris know the layout of this
sector of the galaxy from "Threshold."
The scene of Seven and Janeway studying the change in timeline was very
similar to the Picard/Data scene in "Generations" when they were in stellar
cartography.
So, the Krennim have developed the technology to alter time at will and are
using it. Where's Q, The Traveller, or the Timecops from the 29th Century?
Seems any of them would take offense to the Krennim's meddlings.
As to Seven knowing of the Borg incursion in the 21st century, the Borg may
have sent off a subspace signal or a probe to the Delta Quadrant which would
take many years to arrive, but nonetheless alert the collective to the
mission's failure. Or perhaps the Borg queen temporally phased her
concousness and did indeed escape.
Scott Newton of New Brunswick, NJ: I can just hear Janeway now: "Where's Braxton when you need
him!?" Seriously, I would think that the Krennim have done so much
damage to the timeline that the entire 29th century Federation fleet
should be showing up about now. And lest you say that the Krennim fixed
it so that the Federation will no longer exist in the 29th century, the
Doc still has his mobile emitter, so we know the events in "Future's
End" will happen/have happened.
Speaking of "Future's End," Janeway said that she knew Paris's knowledge
of history would come in handy someday. It didn't come in handy in
"Future's End"?
Janeway was so concerned about saving replicator rations that she had
Chakotay recycle that watch. So how does Neelix get a uniform?
I know I said I'd stop complaining about 7, but this is short and it
fits a vocabulary term. Between this episode and the last, it's becoming
the donought factor with her. Is there anything she can't do?
I thought the Kazon stole the escape pods at the end of "Basics, Part
2."
Did Paris manage to recover them? If so, what did they do with the Kazon
who were in them?
At one point, the Krennim first officer says that they face no
significant opposition. Not from the Borg? or 8472? (but see below)
Okay, time for LEAN. I'm sorry to say that the events in "Before and
After" never happened -- not even from Kes's perspective. We don't
really know how many times the Krennim tampered with the timeline. Maybe
in one variation (which we didn't see), the Krennim fixed it so that the
Borg and 8472 were destroyed before the events in "Scorpion" would have
happened. In that variation -- as evidenced by Kes's presence and 7's
non-presence in "Before and After" -- Voyager never encountered the Borg
or 8472; the 8472's never stimulated Kes's mental powers, so Kes never
transformed, so she never kicked them 9500 light years. In that time
line, the Krennim Empire expanded all the way to Voyager's position at
the time when the events in "Scorpion" would have occurred. So Voyager
wanders into Krennim space, Kes has her experience in "Before and
After," and makes her report to Janeway at the end of that episode. BUT
FOR SOME REASON (and maybe the real nit lies here), the Krennim tried
another variation of the timeline, one in which the Borg and 8472
survived, the events in "Scorpion" and "The Gift" did happen, and Kes
transforms BEFORE she encounters the Krennim. Because her experience in
"Before and After" was a result of her encounter with the Krennim in the
OLD time line, she never experienced these events in the NEW time line
(the time line we're watching now). Therefore, she never really had any
knowledge of the Krennim, never made a report about them to the Captain,
and didn't know that she would send them so close to their territory
when she sent Voyager on its 9500-light-year joy ride. Probably the real
nit here is: Why oh why would the Krennim excange an empire spanning at
least 9500 light years for one that is significantly smaller? Why would
they keep the Borg and 8472 around, if they had the opportunity to get
rid of them? Could they be (gasp) collaborating with the Borg? ;-) Sorry
to be so long-winded, but this is the only way I can think of to
reconcile "Before and After" and "Year of Hell." Admittedely, this
explanation leaves some questions unanswered, but it seems (at least
IMHO) to solve the problems in "Year of Hell" of Kes's non-presence and
the apparent disappearance of her report on the Krennim.
Maybe we need a new vacabulary term: TTPO: Time Travel Plot Oversight!
(Your review of _Generations_ in the _Next Gen Guide 2_ pretty much sums
it up: "Whenever you give a character control of time, it is inevitable
that a number of plot oversights will arise." (or some words to that
effect) (Note from Phil: Close enough!)
Overall, this was a pretty good episode, and it looks like the Krennim
are going to make great villains.
By the way, I saw the Mulgrew/Ryan bit on special effects. (I taped the
Sentinel, then fast-forwarded to their bit.) Believe me, you didn't miss
much! The whole thing lasted less than a minute, and they didn't say or
show anything I didn't know about already.
Scott Padulsky: Let me defend this episode.
It seems some people are confused, the Krennim lost their empire the
second time *not* because of Voyager's time shields but because the
captain of the time ship changed history again. He obviously has a
different agenda then his crew and cares little or nothing about
re-establishing an empire (I'm guessing that he wants to bring his
family back to life). The only effect Voyager's time shields had was
keeping the ship from changing along with the rest of history. So, if
you think about it, the time shield hurt Voyager. If the *had* changed
along with history, they wouldn't still be damaged!
There's a simple explaination why Seven knows about the events of
First Contact. The Borg must have known what happened the day Conchrane
flew the Pheonix *before* they set out to time travel there, otherwise
how would they have known to select that date? They created a plan to
change history before they travelled in the past. Since history never
changed, they must have assumed their plan failed. Since Seven was a
Borg at the time, she knew all about the plan and, thus, knew all of the
details First Contact.
(Note from Phil: And now for a differing opinion! ;-)
Joe Buss:
Nov 5, 1997. The day I finally gave up all hope that the writers of Voyager
would stop insulting the intellegence of its viewers with plot holes large
enough to drive a Borg Cube through.
The plot screams "Reset Button". Heaven forbid that we should
actually have something happen to the characters that has lasting
ramifications.
The whole Astrometrics scene with Janeway and Seven looked an awful
lot like the Stellar Cartography scene in Generations. (Plot Retreads, the
sign of schlock writing.) On that topic, why do we have two departments that
do pretty much the same thing?
The whole scene with Seven and the Temporal torpedo looks entirely
too much like the scene with Kes in "Before and After". (Plot Retreads, the
sign of Schlock Writing.) They forgot entirely that Kes did the same thing.
As a matter of fact, they have totally forgotten that Kes mentioned the
Kremin, or that there even was a Kes.
The entire life pod lauch scene looks entirely to much like the
launch pod scene from First Contact. (Plot Retreads, the sign of...oh, never
mind). Special effects are always an acceptable substitute for story
telling. So, the crew is supposed to hope into these life pods and head back
towards the AQ. Right. Life pods are warp capable? If they aren't, the
best they can hope for is full impulse, about one quarter the speed of light.
It'll take them 4 years to travel one light year.
There was interesting stuff going on with Kurtwood Smith (Where have we seen
him before?) and the Kremin, so of course, they didn't dwell on that.
This is when I feel sorry for the actors, even the ones I am not fond of,
like Mulgrew. They put in long days trying to breathe life into the script,
and then go to the conventions. And they are totally undercut by lousy
scripts like this one.
Sarah Lang of Naperville, Illinois: It's the 24th century, humans have been exploring space for centuries, Voyager's been on the other side of the galaxy for over three years, and
the pictures on the lab displays are mid-1990s images from the Hubble
Telescope. What's wrong with this picture?
Benjamin Knoll: Wow. That was an awesome episode. I see everyone's put in their two bits
about Kes knowing about the Krenim in advance, so I won't start off on
that. I would think, though, that Mr. "Total Recall Vulcan" Tuvok would
know his way around the ship without Seven leading him around. I can
certainly walk around with out trouble with my eyes closed. He was able
to make his way to the bridge, though. Have to give 'em that.20
The creators of Voyager either have a knack for overlooking the obvious,
or they do it on purpose for the ratings. The biggest plot oversight of
all is going all the way through the galaxy in the first place, rather
than cutting their trip in half and heading towards the Bajoran wormhole
in the Gamma Quadrant. I think the second might have to be the whole
crew conveniently forgetting Kes's warnings about the Krenim. During the
Mess Hall/Triage Center scene I half expected Kes to fade in and Tom or
the Doc to say "Oh yeah, you said something about these guys, didn't
you? I suppose this means the Captain and Torres are going to check out
soon." Oh, well.
I liked the two hostesses for the show! It was nice to see Jeri Ryan
smile for once!
Murray Leeder: Very well written episode. Some of the temporal physics were
certainly... weird.
After the first shockwave, no one seems at all concerned about the dead
woman on the bridge. And Tuvok doesn't seem to include her in his
causualties list.
Holographic version of great movies? Why do I find that almost
blasphemous? (rather like colourization... leave it in 2 dimensions!)
Why do I find it hard to believe that closing one measly hatch will
protect you from BOOM! And what ever happened to turbolifts?
When Seven interrupts Tuvok shaving, a thought popped into my head.
Does Seven actually shave? Or, for that matter, bathe?
Why didn't Janeway try hailing the pre-warp vessel?
Lars Ormberg of Rimbey, Alberta: Many nitpickers have asked the question "Why did 7 of 9 know about the
Borg and their role in the Phoneix?" After all, the Borg in First
Contact travelled through time, and were unable to contact the Borg in
the 24th (or the 21st) century. However, look carefully at the
timeline. Borg ship reaches Earth. In contact with the collective.
Enterprise-E shows up to destroy Borg ship. In contact with the
collective. Borg sphere escapes. Contact with collective. Up until
the point where the sphere emits chroniton particles, it assumably is in
contact with the collective. Even if the contact was lost in the cube's
destruction, interfering with the Phoenix's warp flight was obviously
Plan B, and 7 would know that it was initiated. Since the Federation
still exists, the Borg must have realized that the Big E (or somebody
else) interfered.
Kim's last question was pretty corny. I mean, they actually said "First
Contact", essentially plugging the November 4th video release of the
movie. Another ST:FC connection, Janeway's birthday was May 20, which
is the same day that First Contact was available for video rental.
Apparently only the port-side of Deck 5 was destroyed in that big
explosion. The fireball stopped at the shuttlebay, and no evidence of
the destruction was visible on the far side of the ship (ie. no entails
of fire).
The Deck 5 explosion had another wierd thing. How much volume is
covered by Deck 5. Quite a bit. Did the conduit happen to weave
completely through Deck 5? Why weren't Decks 4 and 6 trashed too, along
with most of 3 and 7, a good deal of 2 and 8, and some of 1 and 9 too?
Perhaps the fireball was only within 5 inches of the conduit, which
apparently fills the walls of Deck 5.
As to the question of why Tuvok and 7 weren't destroyed by the chroniton
torpedo, I suspect that Tuvok errected a forcefield at the last second
that saved them front the brunt of the blast. And while Vulcans do have
an inner eyelid which protected Spock from the bright lights in TOS, the
torpedo warhead likely included particulate shrapnel (the only material
to pass through his quickly errected forcefield, perhaps) which got into
his eyes, making his inner eyelid useless (it wasn't closed).
For those nitpickers wondering about the second timewave, the show did
mention that Voyager's timeshields distupted Annorax's work, explaining
why the Krenin were less powerful the second time. I also can explain
why Voyager did interfere, Annorax seemed to know about them (from the
post-shockwave dialogue) and likely included them in his calculations
(as one of many unimportant threats).
Janeway's pretty and undamaged little cup's shaking off the table to
crash on the floor was SO Star Trek VI.
Does Seven have incredible strength? True, in "The Raven" she
physically defeated Tuvok, but didn't she also have all her old Borg
implants in at the time? Do the Borg improve her skeletal structure?
Are her bones made out of adamantium? Can we call her Wolverine?
Ross A. Fillmore, Columbus, OH: What an incredible episode!!! Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! Great
effects! Great story! Great drama! And the Creators are being a little
more careful with the temporal anomaly thing. I'll try to be brief on that
aspect. I actually have watched it twice already because I was so wrapped
up in the story it was hard to nitpick. I can't wait to see next week's to
find out how it is resolved!
At the beginning of the story when 7/9 was demonstrating how the star chart
worked, B'elanna made the remark about it looking like there were a bunch
of M-class planets in a particular region of space. Maybe I didn't catch
it, but at that point they really didn't have any sensor readouts displayed
showing the existence or location of any M-class planets. My question is,
how can you tell which ones are M-class planets just by looking at a bunch
of stars?
Janeway, love the new do! It knocks years off your appearance and makes
you look less Hepburnish.
Okay, the first temporal wave comes through and the Zall ships disappear
and the Zall ambassador disappears and the timeline changes and the Krenim
ship gets an upgrade as a result. The dialogue that follows suggests that
in this new timeline previous to the wave coming through, and assuming that
the Zall never existed, that Voyager was already being fired upon by the
Krenim ship. But that never really explains what killed the crewmember on
the bridge.
Right here I'm going to point out that this is actually where the writers
were very careful with how the temporal wave would have affected Voyager.
At this point in time Voyager is not protected by their shields from
timeline changes. So it stands to reason then that when the wave went
through, their timeline changed without them knowing about it. They never
knew the Zall. They never met the Zall. The Zall ambassador was never on
their ship. LIKEWISE, they would have no recollection of the first
temporal wave going through because they were in turn affected by a
timeline change. That is why later in the story when the second wave comes
through, and they are protected by their temporal shields at that point,
they are unaware of what it is or what effect it is having on the space
around them, and because they are protected they are unaffected by the wave
and can observe that something has changed. This is very similar to what
Picard and gang experienced in First Contact when they were caught in the
Borg's temporal wake and remained unaffected when Earth changed. What
Janeway and gang are going through seems a little more plausible. I think
the writers have done a pretty good job with this one of making the
temporal anomalies make sense.
Back to the dead crewmember. "She's dead" and Janeway's reaction is less
than that of discovering ants at a picnic.
Just after the first wave comes through Tuvok informs them that the Krenim
are firing again. Three seconds to impact. It was more like 1.5 to 2.0
seconds until impact. So much for Vulcan precision not that one second
made that much of a difference in their situation. He was under stress.
When the Krenim crewman reports to his superior first that there was
"complete" restoration of the timeline and then corrects his story by
saying 98% restoration, it makes you wonder why he said "complete" in the
first place. "Almost complete," "nearly complete," or even "98% complete"
would have made more sense since he already knew that the real answer was
98%. Would he not have anticipated his commander prompting him for a
percentage or some kind of proof? (Note from Phil: After all he has served with this guy for 200 years!)
We just witnessed the conduit breech and the structual collapse of Deck 5
(wonderful effects by the way). The Doctor had just closed the hatch to
the Jeffries tube when the breech occurs. SECONDS LATER, Tuvok reports
that the Doctor has set up triage in the mess hall. Either the Jeffries
tube was really short and led directly into the mess hall, or boy, did
those people move fast.
As for Day 47, B'elanna seems to be in a lot of pain, and yet when 7/9
opens the door she sure gets up on her feet in a hurry.
Those Borg implants must be pretty good if 7/9 can hear through that heavy
door. She also must have been standing outside that door for some time if
she heard Harry's trivia question in its entirety. Nice reference to First
Contact, by the way. If she ever gets around to explaining how she knew
that, is she going to also admit that the Borg [were beaten]
too?
Again, Nurse Paris. At this point, don't they think that Tom should have
something a little more important to do like trying to save the ship from
impending doom? Isn't there anyone else aboard who could become a medical
assistant? And the Doctor lectures him on prioritizing!
Aside from fashion (what's a Borgette Space-Babe catsuit without some
really boss pumps?), what function are the tall heels on 7's footwear?
They don't seem very practical for crawling around in Jeffries tubes. (According to Jeri Ryan in the latest TV Guide, she had input on the costume and said you definitely do not want to be walking around in flats when you're wearing a skin tight catsuit. Personally, I wouldn't know! ;-)
When Holodoc tells Tom about having to make the decision to sacrifice two
crewmemebers to save everyone else, he tells Tom "several weeks ago." That
incident happened on Day 32 and this is now Day 47. To me that is two
weeks and one day; not quite exactly my definition of several weeks. Pick,
pick, pick.
Here are a couple of good trivia questions for this episode. What time
does the pocket watch display that Chakotay gives Janeway? (Approximately
5:48 or 5:49 and 5 seconds)
And what month and day is Janeway's birthday? (May 20)
Janeway gives Chakotay a speech about recycling and being low on rations
and supplies and replicator use and the next scene we see Tuvok shaving...
with water... I guess the rationing doesn't apply to senior officers.
Something further about this rationing energy thing, Chakotay seems to be
the only one not shaving. So we are to believe that amongst all the chaos
all the men are finding the time and patience (and water) to shave? Two
months have gone by and yet nobody seems in need of a haircut yet either.
7/9's comments about her cabinmate being untidy seems a bit odd. THE WHOLE
SHIP IS TRASHED AND SHE'S WORRIED ABOUT HER ROOMIE NOT CLEANING UP AFTER
HERSELF!
Again, space is not on one plane. They can't fly over or under Krenim
space?
I'm amazed at those sensors how they can tell the number of
Krenim-inhabited planets and the number of Krenim ships over such a large
area of space. If Borg technology is that good, why did it take them so
long to find us? So many planets, so little time.
Janeway says it took them three weeks to go 20 light years, yet the Krenim
makes that same distance in five days. Either the Krenim ship is that
advanced or Voyager is that damaged. Probably a little of both.
I'm hoping we'll find out why Voyager's presence and temporal shields have
affected the altered timeline much to the Krenim's chagrin. Let's hope the
writer's don't let us down by not picking up this loose end.
Also Janeway's discussion with 7/9 about temporal anomalies was a nice
passing reference to my vote for the best Janeway line ever (from Future's
End): "The past is the future; the future's the past. It all gives me a
headache."
As for Chakotay and Paris: "We'll have to come back for them"??? There's
optimism. They are failing quickly and miserably and yet there's that
little shread of hope. Three days later Janeway states it's time to face
reality. The time to face reality was two months ago! The ship is
trashed, the crew are zombies, there's no hope or help in plausible sight,
and she says it's time to face reality!
One last thought: Did they modify the shields on the escape pods with the
same temporal variance? Guess we'll find out next week.
Chad Brown: OK, I've been re-thinking this whole Kes delema thing and this is a
better explained verson of how I think things stand from hearing and
interpiting different things from the episode and from other people.
When the show first started, it was from the Krenim's POV with them
changing the timeline slightly when they erased the first planet.
Erasing *anything* via the temporal wepon always sends out a temporal
wave that changes history, no mater how slightly. Then, act one had us
back on Voyager -- *with the timeline already changed somewhat because
of the Kernim's interferance.* Then, when we *saw* a displacement wave
hit the ship, that's when the timeline *really* got screwed up.
The crew didn't remember anything from the previous timelines as shown
when they first met the Krenim and then, when they were talking to the
Kernim guy on the ship again after the wave hit, they didn't remember
him from the *first* time they were talking to him at all. And the ship
had been under attack for four days at the start of the second timeline
when, when we first entered Day 4 during (what I think) was the first
timeline, the ship and crew were just as fine as you please.
In the first timeline during the begining of act one, the Krenim were a
insignifigant little entity, not the powerful enemy Kes had warned them
of which contradicts what she saw of them in Before and After as a
powerful empire. If the crew even *did* remember what she told them in
the original timeline, they probably dismissed what she said (and I
don't think they rememberd at all).
In the second timeline (which started during twards the end of act one
and ran to almost the middle of act five) it was totllay apparent that
they didn't remember what had happend to Kes in B&A *at all* -- namely,
maybe Kes didn't even *have* her Before and After adventure in this
timeline before she left to worn them about *in the first place* or was
never on Voayger *at all.* All during the second timeline we kept
getting scenes that were taken *directly* from signifigant things we saw
in the B&A timeline (Neelix in the gold uniform, the shot of the
cronoton torpedo loged in the jeffries tube in the *same spot* it was in
in B&A -- they used the same shot in fact -- and Seven discovering that
the frequency of the torpedo was 1.47 microseconds -- the *same*
frequency it was in B&A). The PTB were going with visual continuity here
with B&A, but all the situations and the outcomes were different than
what happend in B&A because its obvious that what came *before* in this
timeline isn't what came before in the *original* timeline.
That's sometimes the problem with time travel and the cicomstances of it
in this episode -- you never know what came *before* in *any* given
timeline when you enter it because the stiuation keeps changing
everytime the Krenim erase something from history. It was never their
*before* so the effect it had on history *after* never happend. .
.therfore changing everything in the present including their own empire.
Kes may not have even ever have had her B&A experience, or ever been on
Voyager or have even *exsisted* for all we know; which could explain why
Janeway said 65,000 light years from home instead of 56,000 light years
-- remember, she said the figure during the third time line change while
they were still effected by the second line (there were about three
different timelines in the episode I'd say) after the Zeel had been
erased. (But I think with the distance thing is more likely that when
the Krenim empire got restored during the second timeline, their empire
got extended over a wider range - that reached over 10K).
Anyway, the crews memories change every time the history of the timeline
changes. They didn't even remember the Zeel who had been on their ship
and dissapreared when the second time change happend. The only reason
the crew rememberd what happend in the second timeline during the third
time line and the ship stayed damaged was because of the temporal
shelds. (Something tells me that the temoral sheild thing is going to
play a major roll in who remembers the Year of Hell or not).
Again, "I hate temporal mechanics." I think the fact that the past is
being erased in this epsiode is what really makes it confusing where Kes
is conserned (I mean, *what is* the original time line?). Its almost
like the anomoly that erased the past in TNG's "All Good Things..." Lets
face it...if the Krenim erace Voyager from history, then Caretaker would
have never happend, which means the Ocompa would have been sacrificed to
the Kazon, which means Voyager was never lost in the Delta Quadrent
since it never exsisted to distroy the array in the first place, which
means that Species 8472 wouldn't have been stopped and would have
probably distroyed the Borg in Scopion and taken over the
universe...which would be a pure case of a ICBN! :-)
Anyway, I guess I'll just have to waite until next week to see if I'm
right or not. :-)
Simon Crowley: Ah, another happy, feel-good episode of Voyager. . . NOT! Time-travel
makes me sick! My head hurts now. . . .
OK, when the young Krenim started questioning Anorak (oops, I mean
*Annorax*), he says something about how "it doesn't matter if it takes
ten centuries". Excuse me? "Centuries?" How would a race from the Delta
Quad know about *centuries*?! I tell you, it's the Universal Translator
again! TPTB are just messing w/ our heads.
How hard would it be for someone to walk around cleaning up? Crew morale
would be, I'm assuming, related to the way the ship looks. If the ship
looks [terrible], that will lower morale. Eh?
I have to disagree with the guy who said "When the crew left the ship,
why didn't they leave in shuttles? They would ... last longer." No they
wouldn't! This is Voyager we're talking about! If I were one of the
officers, I'd take my chances in an escape pod, guaranteed.
The "tactile interface" was a neat touch. Is that like Braille on the
control panel? If so, how did Tuvok learn so quickly? It takes a long
time for people to learn Braille, and this is a complex operating
system.
Kudos to the music folks! I was extremely impressed by this episodes
soundtrack, and if anyone knows if a CD is available, tell me.
Well, that's all for now. That is, until next week, when they cram 292
days of "TYOH" into one hour. I'm gonna enjoy that--especially days 147
and 247.
Vicki Strzembosz: What is Neelix doing in a uniform? This occured sometime
after the time change in which the crewmember fell dead to the deck and
no one seemed to be alarmed. Did the time change bring about a timeline
in which Neelix is supposed to be a uniformed member of the crew? An
alternate reason might be that they are scavenging the no longer needed
clothing from the closets of deceased crew. That's probably what they
were all thinking when that member of the crew suddenly died..."I wonder
if she had any clean uniforms in her closet which might fit
me???"
Matthew Chase Maxwell of San Francisco CA: When the low-powered Krenim ship attacks the Voyager before the first
temporal shock wave hits, the light strips on the bridge do not indicate
that the ship is on alert status (check the light bar to Janeway's left
as she is being informed of the attack). I can't believe that the ship
wouldn't have been placed on yellow alert automatically when being fired
upon. I would think this would be doubly true when a back-up crew is on
the bridge.
When the first temporal shock wave hit, it destabilized the warp field,
yet the Voyager is able to go to warp to make good its escape. Perhaps
it was only a temporary destabilization? And if the temporal after
shock of the Krenim weapon destabilizes the ship's warp field, wouldn't
the beam of the weapon itself likely be much more disruptive? Yet,
again, the Voyager goes to warp to escape after Chakotay and Paris are
kidnaped.
As Chakotay tells Janeway his plan of abandoning the Voyager (after the
attack on day 32, I believe), the captain clears layers of rubble from
the top of her desk. It presumably fell from the ceiling and walls of
the ready room. Yet she sits down in a rubble-free chair!
Day 47: I find it highly unlikely -- Torres' failing grade or not --
that our chief engineer does not know the name of the vessel which first
demonstrated warp capability. As for Seven's knowledge of the flight of
the Phoenix, it is possible. The Enterprise prevented the Borg Queen
from getting a message to the Borg of that era. We do not know,
however, if she had a link to the Borg of her originating time period.
I don't know how she would do it, but I suppose it is possible. Hey,
I'm feeling generous...
Day 65: Neelix appears to have the rank of ensign (with a Starfleet pip
to prove it). Why would he get to use Starfleet insignia while the
former Maquis use other symbols of rank? Was it the choice of the
Maquis to be differently identified? I cannot remember.
After the new temporal shields work, with what is Janeway going to go on
the offensive? She only had seven torpedoes left after day 32. Have
not any or all of them been used since that time? I cannot imagine that
phasers would do much damage to the Krenim ships. (Chakotay gives a
great "here we go again" look after Janeway delivers her "we're going
straight through their territory whether they like it or not" speech.)
When the second temporal shock wave hits the Voyager, the external shot
shows the stars as stationary. Isn't the ship supposed to be traveling
at warp 6?
David T. Shaw from Hamilton: Just an addition to what I said before about the new navigation system
saving five years from the journey. I made some calculations. Assuming
that they were going on a journey of sixty years (now fifty five) and that
they only make one course correction, the minimum error in original heading
is slightly over 5 degrees. This low number is arrived at by assuming that
they continue on the wrong heading until the last five years of the trip,
when they make the correction. Is of course is a ridicolous assumption, but
if I remember my geometry correctly, it does give the minimum heading error.
Assuming they go halfway, and then correct their heading, the error in the
original heading is slightly over 30 degrees.
It has been awhile since I've done geometry, but I am pretty sure that
assuming only one correction change gives the minimum error in heading. (It
is also been a while since I've done basic trigonmetry - I think I did the
calculations properly, but I may have made some simple error that give
inflated errors.)
I would be more than pleased if someone checked these calculations. I
don't know about you, but heading errors of 5 degrees in ships that travel
light years doesn't seem too spiffy. It doesn't seem to likely either -
therir astrolab instruemetns can see and plot the velocity of Federation
space, and their computer should be able to compensate for the time lag - so
what is the problem? And how does the new navigation system correct it?
(Maybe it has something to do with hyper-dimensional geometry in warp space,
but I think that this is reaching a bit far - it was never said that the new
navigation system was meant specificially for warp space....) (Note from Phil: Who can say? ;-)
Jeff Flowers of Southfield, MI: A lot of people are making a big deal about why doesn't the crew
know about the Kremin because of Kes's experiences in "Before and
After". I got the impression that when Kes told Janeway about the
Kreminn, that was in an alternate timeline. When Kes is back in her
orginal timeline, she is coy about what happens to the crew in the
future. Maybe she didn't tell the crew about the Kremin because she
feared corrupting the timeline.
Stephen Mendenhall: About the beginning of the most recent episode--so they just now
started using stars for navigation?? What were they using before,
hand signals?
Or, What were they using before, studio executives? (instead of stars.
..[grin])
Janeway shouldn't have given them the distance to the Federation
unless she also fibs and says the Federation actually extends into
the Delta Quadrant--at least that might have intimidated the Krenim a
little.
Isn't it convenient the lifepods are undamaged?
Gina Torgersen: Because this episode was originally designed to be shown over the gap
between seasons, I figure Voyager will still be in the same basic time
frame as DS9, that is, if they are exaggerating a little and the Year of
Hell doesn't last quite a year. I heard that they were going to show
this episode as the cliff-hanger for season 3 but had to show Scorpion
and introduce Seven. Scorpion seemed not to take much time, and DS9 had
a few months between "Call to Arms" and "A Time to Stand" so Voyager
would have been behind by a few months during the first part of the
fourth season, and now they're just catching up.
When Chakotay tries to give Janeway the watch, she won't accept it and
tells him to recycle it so it can be replicated into something useful.
She can't be trying to conserve energy because there's no way I can see
where it would take less energy to replicate a watch into something than
other matter, so I assume Voyager is desperate for matter to replicate
into stuff. Transporters and tractor beams are probably offline, so
they can't gather space debris. But why don't they use some of the
remains of deck five? It is probably open to vacuum, but shouldn't they
have some spacesuits?
Speaking of deck five, last episode the doctor gave some figures on how
many rooms there were that Seven had to search, and I think the average
number of rooms per deck from that figure was seventeen. When deck five
explodes, we learn it has over fifty sections, so either deck five has a
lot more rooms than the other decks or the rooms are divided into
smaller sections. Or else holodoc's figure was wrong.
James R. Dolan III: Regarding the disbelief that the computer panels could provide Tuvok with a
tactile interface: The TNG Tech Manual tells us that "Also incorporated
into this [control/display panel sensor matrix] is a transducer matrix that
provides tactile and auditory feedback to the operator." This is found on
page 33 in the last paragraph on the page.
While this does not provide proof that Voyager has the same (or a similar)
system, it's at least a basis for the concept of tactile interfaces on
Starfleet control panels.
Joe Buss: I goofed. I expressed suprise that Tuvok could work his station. I
mistook the line "computer, activate Tactile interface" with "Tactical".
(Well, he was at the tactical station.) But they would have you believe
that Torres and company had time to rig this thing, and Tuvok could become
proficient on it in 18 days.
During one battle, they say the aft shield of the Kremin ship is down. Yet
they fire the torps at the foward shields.
All that damage, and the scanners work out to 20 light years.
B'Ellana Torres, engineer, doesn't know about the Pheonix? That's like a
pilot not knowing about Kitty Hawk.
These things don't look better in the morning.
Simon de Vet: I'm breaking the Nitpicker's Prime Directive by quoting an outside source, but the stellar navigation thingie is nothing new. According to the Tec manual, this is how _all_ ships
navigate. Someone didn't do his homemork, eh?
Joe Sabatini: I loved this episode! 5 stars! wonderful acting, top notch
special effcts, and a story so good, it ALMOST made me forget last weeks
Smut-Fest, "Scientific Method"
now, to explore those three letters that without wich we would be
"pickers", THAT'S RIGHT! NITS! (do you think i'm overdoing my dramitic
writing?)
1) Seven uses a crowbar to force the turbolift doors open, but uses the
"force the door open Thing" to get into a jeffries tube.(hmmmm;)
2)Seven was obviously listening to the "trivia game" that Torres and Kim
were playing, because she knew the ansewer to the last question. So why
didn't she get them out when she heard Harry say, quite loudley "Come
on, Hurry UP!"
great line: "The TIATAINIC? As I recall, it sank"
great scene: the speach at the end ("asking you to stay, would be asking
you to die",etc.,etc.)
Mike Cheyne: How exactly did the Kremmin get conquered anyway? Or was this a time
change Annorax had made? If it wasn't, then how did the Kremmin timeship
get built? And why doesn't Annorax appear to have little, if no contact
with his main military?
Paul Orrison of Broomfield, CO: [Concerning Tuvok being equipped with a VISOR,] VISORs are difficult to acclimate to... Geordi was one of only four beings
successfully equipped with one. (I think that was in an ep, not sure... if it
was in a book, sorry for using non-Canon material to make my point). Not to
mention that Replicator Power was exremely limited, and the HoloDoc had a lot
more to worry about than that, Tuvok was able to function OK...
Derek Moffitt and Melanie Koleini: In the first scene in Astrometrics, Janeway finishes her speech and yields
the floor to Harry--at which point Chakotay starts talking. You don't
suppose that TPTB have finally given him a first name?
The Voyager is at Warp 6 without main power? That is one good auxiliary
system! (Wasn't there a noncanonical rumor that Voyager has two warp
cores? Hmmm...)
The explosion on Deck 5 takes out sections 10 to 53. If there are (at
least) 53 sections on Deck 5, then how can Voyager have only 257 rooms (as
stated in the last episode)? I thought that number was too low.
In the turbolift scene, the closed captioning misspelled "Zefram
Cochrane".
Janeway was *right* when she said she thought it was still April; the
stardate of 51268.4 corresponds to April 7, 2372. (Note from Phil: Or does it? And whose conversion standard are we using and is it canonical? ;-)
In the birthday present scene, Janeway's refusal of the watch certainly
doesn't help Chakotay's morale any. (PS: I bet we find out eventually
that he didn't really recycle it.)
Yes, TPTB remembered that Vulcans grow facial hair. Unfortunately, they
forgot that Native Americans don't.
Given the shape Voyager is in, why did they take time away from repairs to
make a "tactile interface" for Tuvok? Couldn't they just have assigned
somebody else to tactical? Also, why don't they have some random crewman
leading Tuvok around the ship instead of Seven, who could be helping out
greatly with the repairs?
Why should the Krenim ship's mass keep it from getting above Warp 6? Mass
isn't relevant at warp the way it is at impulse. For several years, the
Galaxy class was both the largest and the fastest ship in Starfleet.
Janeway orders the crew away from the outer areas of the ship before going
to Warp 7, but she forgets to evacuate the *bridge*. Lucky for her, it
held together when the rest of the ship's hull was flaking off. Couldn't
she have moved command to Engineering like she did in "Parturitions"? On
the same subject, why do they put the infirmary in the mess hall, which
also is located on the outside of the ship?
Also, those "transverse bulkheads" of Paris's sound like they take up a
lot of power--Chakotay said they were a network of forcefields throughout
the ship. Does Voyager really still have that much power to spare? (And
since when is a forcefield called a "bulkhead", anyway?)
When the escape pods are launched, the square things on the hull turn out
to be doors that open to let the pods out. In previous Trek (notably ST8)
the raised areas on the hull have always been the outer surfaces of the
pods themselves.
Only the senior staff are left on Voyager. Back in "The 37s", Janeway or
Chakotay or somebody said they couldn't run the ship with fewer than 100
people. And with all the damage to the ship, it's probably even harder to
operate when no one's there to make repairs.
In the last shot of the episode, someone who looks exactly like Lon Suder
is standing right behind Janeway. (Perhaps this alternate timeline really
*is* different. If you see Seska, panic.)
Wow, that was a lot of nits. Must be November. Anyway, on to the anti-nits:
After the first temporal shockwave hit the Voyager, there was already
damage to the bridge, Tuvok said that the Krenim were firing *again*, and
Janeway said she'd been trying to hail the Krenim warship for *days*. I
think it's reasonble to infer that the Voyager is already well into Krenim
space by this time.
The reference to the ship "deflating like a blimp" in the Technical Manual
is referring to the effect of impulse engines on a ship when the SIF
(Structural Integrity Field) is offline. The Voyager was at warp 7 in the
relevant scene, so the flaking hull plating was probably due to subspace
stresses across the hull, also mentioned in the Tech Manual.
About the changes in the timeline caused by Voyager's temporal shields:
The Krenim initiated the temporal shockwave to change the past in a way
that would enlarge their Imperium. If the Voyager's shields hadn't
affected the process, that's exactly what would have happened. But the
shields created a temporal variance that threw off the Krenim's
calculations, so the changes to the past didn't happen quite the way
they'd planned, and the Imperium almost vanished. The Voyager, inside its
temporal shields, was insulated from all changes, so the ship was still
just as damaged as it had been before.
Escape pods *are* designed to be habitable for long periods of time. The
problem is that they don't have any significant engines, certainly not the
warp drive that would be needed to get out of Krenim space.
We don't *think* the shots of the turbolift were from "Disaster". In that
episode, the outside of the turbolift was visibly damaged, and the lights
were visible in the turboshaft (you know, the ones that always go by the
window in the turbolift).
The low levels of power on Voyager could explain why Tuvok uses a blade
razor instead of one like Geordi's.
Paris *is* familiar with 20th-century history, as seen in "Future's End"
and "The 37s".
That's all for this week. Until Part 2!
Tony H Forbes: Concerning time and the "Year of Hell/Before and After" debate. I was on
the website and someone made a good point in saying that if Kes had
propelled Voyager 10 years ahead of whee they were going to be, then
Voyager should never encounter the Krenim. This is true! Kes was three
during the "Before and After" deal, and had she stayed on board and
Voyager continyed on course, then Kes would have been 13 when the "Year
of Hell" would happen. However, Kes was 10 when she "died" in "Before
and After", so the facts don't match up. One thing that has been
overlooked is that the whole story line of "Before and After" is majorly
screwed up. Remember that in that episode, Kes sprouted an adult
daughter AND a grandson in the space of seven years! The only way that
all the facts add up is that the ship in "Before in After" was caught up
in one (or more) temporal vortexes, pocket universes, etc. Q could have
had a hand in it too.... (Note from Phil: Of course, in regard to the daughter and grandson, they *are* Ocampan and Ocampans do grow fast!)
Mike Leinoff: Awesome job, as usual for the Voyager creators, but that doesn't stop us
from tearing the show limb from limb, does it? ;)
When Janeway sent off those escape pods, I didn't bat an eye. I thought,
"Okay, they'll be in cryogenic stasis for the trip home. That's the only
way this would make sense" Then she says, "Try to make allies, form
alliances..." So either she expects a bunch of frozen crew members to
make allies and form alliances, or she's sending them on a
65,000-lightyear trip awake. In those tiny little escape pods, with
hardly any room for rations, no place to stretch out and go to sleep,
and no TV. Uh-huh.
Harry Kim said that the Krenim ship was so large that it couldn't exceed
Warp 6. Is it really larger than a Borg ship? Or do the Borg just have
better technology than the Krenim, and can propel their ships through
space faster than the Enterprise?
Dave Pack of Gander, NF: Someone
mentioned before that the escaping crew should have taken shuttles along
with the escape pods. There is an explanation for this, Voyager has NO
more shuttles.
Brent Morris of Colorado Springs: The Voyager is surprised at the
Krennin hostility. Didn't Kes warn them in Before and After? Actully I
got a answer. Voyager is in a alternate universe. There was never a Kes.
Seven of Nine was there for the past 3 years. Kes is just a Neelix
holodeck program that got deleted by wannabe Bill Gates in Future's End,
and Voyager is a starfleet simulation run by the programmer of the
Moriarty program. So therefor Deep Space Nine is the only real future.
Confused yet?
J. Andrew Keith, Greensburg PA: Interesting episode, but has anybody
else figured out that the writers are going to end up with the old
"Dallas" Bobby-Ewing-in-the-Shower solution? Looks to me like the very
last battle will somehow result in the whole time-line being rewritten
all over again, so that Voyager is suddenly brand-spanking new, Tuvok
has his eyesight, and they all live happily ever after! That's a little
bit of a let-down after such an exciting story.
The depoarture of Kes REALLY screwed up the continuity here. Either the
Krenim empire covered nearly a thousand light years (but what about the
Borg?), and Kes just happened to fling them into the perfect spot to
live through the very same events she supposedly warned them about, or
there would have been something else to fling them a thousand light
years even if she hadn't been feeling so generous.
In the words of Monty Python, "My brain hurts."
Maybe one of the more obscure medical experiments in "Scientific Method"
involved a carefully selected editing job on everyone's memories so that
they no longer remember the words "Krenim", "Kes," and "chroniton
torpedo."
And, finally, just a point. If the Borg have passed through here (and
they must have done so, to get to Earth), why didn't they assimilate any
of these folks? Or maybe they did, and that's where their time-travel
capacity comes from, but, if so, don't you think they would have
regarded the Krenim as a slight hazard to the Collective?
Ah, well. As a science-fiction writer myself, I can't help getting
caught up in questions like these.
Mike Deeds: Even though it hasn't aired yet, I have a nit for "Year of Hell
Part II". My nit is based on how I think the episode will end. Based
on previous Voyager episodes, I bet it will end with the timeline
changed so that this "Year of Hell" NEVER happened! Thus, I label the
entire episode as a nit under "changed premises"! I think this will be
another one of those "time is irrational" episodes! Voyager seems to be
the only Star Trek show that doesn't know how to do time travel
effectively. None of their time travel episodes have made any sense!
At least when Next Generation had the timeline altered ("Yesterday's
Enterprise", "All Good Things"), the storyline still made sense!
Lee E. Patterson of Columbia, MO: As usual, got to see "Year of Hell" three days after everyone else.
Bugger. And of course I have no real nits to add to what was already
said. But I do have some thoughts about this business of Seven's
allusion to First Contact. Yes, it seems impossible for her to know of
those events in the 21st Century since all the Borg who traveled back in
time were killed and failed to get a message to their 21st Century
buddies in the Delta Quadrant. But I keep thinking about her off-hand
remark to Harry about how complicated this business is, and I couple
that with the Borg Queen's discussion of how limited many people's
perception of the Borg consciousness is. Picard was troubled by the
fact that he had encountered the Borg Queen on the cube that eventually
got destroyed shortly after stardate 44000. I never quite figured out
what she was trying to say in answer, but I've had some ideas.
I hope this doesn't get too abstruse, but it has to do with the nature
of reality itself (Whoa boy!). We know that the Borg consciousness
depends on signals that are interconnected in a domain outside of
space-time. Data talks about this in "Best of Both Worlds, Part II."
If I remember correctly, he said it was some sort of sub-space domain.
In any case, it exists, for all intents and purposes, in another
reality. Because these signals do not presumably answer to the laws of
time and space (nor do ships which slip through those extra-cosmic folds
that we call warps when they book it between star systems in a matter of
days, weeks, etc.), it is possible that somehow those signals might
connect Borg only not across the parsecs of space but even Borg across
the stretch of centuries.
Being a rather demented science fiction writer and practicing
Classicist and not actually a theoretical physicist, I'm sure this
theory has some serious flaws. But it is not without precedent. The
precedent involves consciousness from a more, shall we say, organic
source. Not artificial signals, but thought itself. Look no further
than the Next Generation episode "Haven," and you'll find Lwaxana Troi
talking to Deanna's would-be fiance about how all life is
interconnected. While we may each have individuality, but we are
connected as a whole. Our rapport with that whole can manifest in
clairvoyance (as in the case of the aformentioned would-be fiance),
telepathy, telekenesis, and so on. The ability to affect matter and
energy in a way contrary to the laws of physics derives from a rapport
with a higher reality that transcends the domain of matter and energy.
And indeed, one can easily go farther beyond "Haven" to actual
scientific theories and ideas along these lines expressed by Jung,
Martin Buber, even Wordsworth, depending on how you read them.
What does all this pedantic meandering have to do with the Seven's
little offhand remark that I started out with? Only that it serves as a
useful analogy to my explanation of the nature of Borg collectivity.
Artificial signals instead of thought itself. The principle and the
results are the same, sort of. I'm not a philosopher either, and I get
headaches thinking about this stuff. But I think this answer does work.
I should be finishing my Thucydides homework, but I want to add one more
thing. If indeed the Borg's perception
can be extra-temporal as I described above, they would be more
formidable than is dramatically feasible. I mean, how could anyone
defeat a foe like that? What could stop them? What could quell their
ambition? The creators would be mad to try an episode dealing with that
aspect of the Borg! But I am, as stated before, somewhat demented
myself, and a plot possibility occurs to me. I think, however, that I
shall keep that to myself. Perhaps I'll write a script or even a
novel. And yet, alas, Greek and Latin fill my time, and tonight I have
miles to go before I sleep. But maybe tomorrow . . . (Note from Phil: Indeed, this is precisely my problem with giving the Borg four dimensional or five dimensional existance. How do you defeat an enemy like that?)
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. Once a file hits 100K it's time to give the episode a rest!! 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". 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.