Topic: Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews

[Tom]

Star Trek: Voyager
4.08 Year of Hell, Part I
Writer: Brannon Braga (Writer), Joe Menosky (Writer)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), John Loprieno (Obrist), Kurtwood Smith (Annorax), Peter Slutsker (Krenim Commandant), Rick Fitts (Zahl), Deborah Levin (Ensign Lang), Sue Henley (Ensign Brooks), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))

The first part of one my favorite Voyager episodes. The Krenim have a time ship which can eradicate whole species from time and thus alter history. Voyager gets stuck in a conflict with this species after they have gained a lot of power after such an alteration (and because Janeway cannot take a no if someone tells her that they don't want them in their space). At the end of the first part, Voyager is half destroyed and is abandoned by the crew with only a skeleton crew remaining.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: Voyager
4.09 Year of Hell, Part II
Writer: Brannon Braga (Writer), Joe Menosky (Writer)
Director: Mike Vejar
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), John Loprieno (Obrist), Kurtwood Smith (Annorax), Peter Slutsker (Krenim Commandant), Lise Simms (Wife), Majel Barrett (Narrator (voice))

The most part of this episode is nothing really special. But the ending makes up for it big time. This is one time, where the episode reset button is used to great effect and makes sense story-wise.

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Voyager is ramming into the time ship and thus causing it to erradicate itself from history. Which results in the whole year we saw these two episode to be erased from history.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: Voyager
5.06 Timeless
Writer: Brannon Braga (Screenwriter), Joe Menosky (Screenwriter), Rick Berman (Original Material By), Brannon Braga (Original Material By), Joe Menosky (Original Material By)
Director: LeVar Burton
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Christine Harnos (Tessa Omond), LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))

Voyager's 100th episode. Fifteen years in the future, Harry Kim tries to fix a mistake in the past which cost the crew of Voyager their lives, by sending back a message through time.
A good time-travel story with a nice conclusion. We also get the chance to see Geordi LaForge from Next Generation as the captain of a Galaxy class starship.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: Voyager
5.23 Relativity
Writer: Bryan Fuller (Screenwriter), Nick Sagan (Screenwriter), Michael Taylor (Screenwriter), Nick Sagan (Original Material By)
Director: Allan Eastman
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Bruce McGill (Captain Braxton), Dakin Matthews (Admiral Patterson), Jay Karnes (Lieutenant Ducane), Josh Clark (Lieutenant Carey)

Seven is recruited from the future to prevent the destruction of Voyager in the past. I always liked episodes which plays with past occurances in the series. Here we got a little taste of it. They use a similar device (time rifts) in a future episode to have multiple instances of Voyager's past scattered throughout the ship ("Shattered"). A question I asked myself during this episode: Why should it not be possible to remove a person multiple times from their timeline? They say they have done it with Seven the third time now and probably further extractions won't be possible. But why? After a failed attempt, they always got a Seven who existed before the last extraction. Therefore for that Seven, it is the first time. I liked the reference to Star Trek: First Contact. The acknowledgment of the causal loop generated by the time-travelling borg and thus the arrival of the Enterprise making the first warp flight possible when they assisted Cocraine. By the way: Seven looks great in a Starfleet uniform. A shame they did not make it her regular outfit.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: Voyager
7.10 Shattered
Writer: Michael Taylor (Screenwriter), Mike Sussman (Original Material By), Michael Taylor (Original Material By)
Director: Terry Windell
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Martin Rayner (Dr. Chaotica), Manu Intiraymi (Icheb), Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman), Nicholas Worth (Lonzak), Martha Hackett (Seska), Mark Bennington (Adult Icheb), Vanessa Branch (Adult Naomi), Anthony Holiday (Rulat), Terrell Clayton (Andrews), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))

Voyager gets split into different time areas and only Chakotay can travel between those areas. It's fun to revisit instances of Voyager's past this way and get some climpses of a possible future.
Though it's stupid how Chakotay refuses to tell Janeway at the end about his experience, citing the Temporal Prime Directive. But he had no problems telling Janeway of the past a lot of stuff about the future (even though as they later find out she will forget it anyway). Telling Janeway about his experience wouldn't pollute the time line as she already knows everything which there is to know about. So he could just as easily have explained to her his actions.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 1.02 Yesteryear
Writer: Gene Roddenberry (Original Characters By), D. C. Fontana (Writer)
Director: Hal Sutherland
Cast: William Shatner (Capt. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), James Doohan (Scotty)

I can't believe it has been a year already since I left off this marathon.
It is time now to watch the time-travel episodes of the animated series. This episode is probably one of the more famous ones from the animated series. In it time is changed and Spock doesn't exist anymore. He has to travel back in time and save himself as child from death. It is a rather good episode.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 2.06 The Counter-Clock Incident
Writer: Gene Roddenberry (Original Characters By), John Wise (Writer)
Director: Bill Reed, Hal Sutherland
Cast: William Shatner (Capt. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), James Doohan (Scotty)

The Enterprise enters a universe where the time moves backwards and the crew is getting younger and younger. It is an enjoyable episode, but it is full of scientific nonsense.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 4.17 Accession
Writer: Jane Espenson (Writer)
Director: Les Landau
Cast: Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), René Auberjonois (Odo), Michael Dorn (Lt. Commander Worf), Terry Farrell (Lt. Commander Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Alexander Siddig (Doctor Bashir), Nana Visitor (Major Kira), Rosalind Chao (Keiko O'Brien), Robert Symonds (Vedek Porta), Camille Saviola (Kai Opaka), Hana Hatae (Molly), Richard Libertini (Akorem Laan), David Carpenter (Onara), Grace Zandarski (Latara), Laura Jane Salvato (Gia)

In this episode a Bajoran man comes through the wormhole from 200 years in the past. He thinks he is the emissary and wants to bring the Bajorans ways back before the Cardassian's occupation. Including a caste system. This episode is not bad, but I never was one for the episodes about the Bajoran religion.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 6.17 Wrongs Darker than Death or Night
Writer: Ira Steven Behr (Writer), Hans Beimler (Writer)
Director: Jonathan West
Cast: Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), René Auberjonois (Odo), Michael Dorn (Lt. Commander Worf), Terry Farrell (Lt. Commander Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Alexander Siddig (Doctor Bashir), Nana Visitor (Major Kira), Leslie Hope (Kira Maru), Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), David Bowe (Basso), Wayne Grace (Legate), Tim De Zarn (Halb), Thomas Kopache (Kira Taban), John Marzilli (Scavenger), Marc Marosi (Gul), Judi Durand (Station Computer Voice)

Kira travels back in time to see if Gul Dukat is telling the truth that him and her mother were lovers.
An okay episode. But nothing really special.

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[Tom]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 6.25 The Sound of Her Voice
Writer: Ronald D. Moore (Screenwriter), Pam Pietroforte (Original Material By)
Director: Winrich Kolbe
Cast: Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), René Auberjonois (Odo), Michael Dorn (Lt. Commander Worf), Terry Farrell (Lt. Commander Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Alexander Siddig (Doctor Bashir), Nana Visitor (Major Kira), Debra Wilson (Lisa's Voice), Penny Johnson (Kasidy Yates)

Not really a time travel episode, but this episode popped up on my radar when searching for Star Trek time travel episodes.

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It turns out in the end, that the woman they were talking to was dead for three years and they talked to her through time.

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[Tom]

Enterprise
Season 1.11 Cold Front
Writer: Gene Roddenberry (Original Characters By), Rick Berman (Created By), Brannon Braga (Created By), Stephen Beck (Writer), Tim Finch (Writer)
Director: Robert Duncan McNeill
Cast: Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Jolene Blalock (T'Pol), Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Charles "Trip" Tucker III), John Fleck (Silik), Matt Winston (Daniels), Michael O'Hagan (Captain Fraddock), Joseph Hindy (Prah Mantoos), Leonard Keely-Young (Sonsorra), Lamont D. Thompson (N.D. Alien Pilgrim)

Finally I arrived at the last Star Trek series to watch its time-travel episodes. In this one, there is a crewman who claims to be from 900 years in the future trying to capture a saboteur. It is not really something new, but it is an okay episode which sets up the temporal cold war storyline of the series.

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[Tom]

Enterprise
Season 1.26 Shockwave
Writer: Gene Roddenberry (Original Characters By), Rick Berman (Created By), Brannon Braga (Created By), Rick Berman (Writer), Brannon Braga (Writer)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Jolene Blalock (T'Pol), Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Charles "Trip" Tucker III), John Fleck (Silik), Matt Winston (Daniels), Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), James Horan (Humanoid Figure), Stephanie Erb (Receptionist), David Lewis Hays (Tactical Crewman)

The continuation of the temporal cold war storyline used as a season cliffhanger. A good episode.

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[Tom]

Enterprise
Season 2.01 Shockwave, Part II
Writer: Rick Berman (Created By), Brannon Braga (Created By), Rick Berman (Writer), Brannon Braga (Writer)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Jolene Blalock (Sub-Commander T'Pol), Dominic Keating (Lt. Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III), John Fleck (Silik), Matt Winston (Daniels), Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), Gary Graham (Soval), Keith Allan (Raan), Jim Fitzpatrick (Commander Williams), Michael Kosik (Suliban Soldier)

A good conclusion to the two-parter and a good start into a new season.

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[Tom]

Enterprise
Season 2.16 Future Tense
Writer: Rick Berman (Created By), Brannon Braga (Created By), Mike Sussman (Writer), Phyllis Strong (Writer)
Director: James Whitmore, Jr.
Cast: Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Jolene Blalock (Sub-Commander T'Pol), Dominic Keating (Lt. Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III), Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), Cullen Douglas (Suliban Soldier)

This episode started promising, but I got bored with it about half-way through. Some scenes reminded me of Red Dwarf's great episode "Future Echoes".

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[Tom]

Enterprise
Season 3.11 Carpenter Street
Writer: Rick Berman (Writer), Brannon Braga (Writer)
Director: Mike Vejar
Cast: Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Jolene Blalock (T'Pol), Dominic Keating (Malcom Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Charles "Trip" Tucker III), Leland Orser (Loomis), Matt Winston (Daniels), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Xindi-Reptilian #1), Michael Childers (Strode), Donna Duplantier (Prostitute #2), Billy Mayo (Officer #1), Dan Warner (Officer #2), Erin Cummings (Prostitute #1)

Archer and T'Pol travel back in time to the year 2004. Sadly a rather boring episode.

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