Written By: Brannon Braga and Joe Menonsky
Directed By: David Livingston
Rating: **** (out of 5)
The story is a little complicated but the way it works is that the 29th Century Captain Braxton believes Voyager destroyed the future by letting someone in the past get hold of a future Timeship, but as a result of Braxton�s efforts to stop Voyager, he is the one that ends up causing the destructive paradox.
Complicated? Confused? It�s all fine the way it�s explained, but when you think about it, this is a little fuzzy and its obvious that�s the way it was meant to be written. When Braxton decided to destroy Voyager he should�ve thought that the paradox was inevitable no matter what he did seeing as the future, present and past are, in a sense, already written, but able to be bent seeing as Braxton had no idea of what was happening even though he should�ve. First of all he should�ve known he would be the cause of the destruction and he should�ve known anyway that Janeway wouldn�t let him destroy Voyager using common 29th Century sense.
But, he knew that someone from the past got hold of the Timeship, which is reason enough for him to figure out the inevitable, and he still goes ahead with his mission. And the all-clever 29th Century people could assume that this would cause major pollution to the timeline, like how the Timeship is responsible for Earth�s computer age.
Even so, Braxton should�ve known that he would be the cause. Either way it goes, Braxton is the one to fault for starting the chain-reaction, and when you really think about it there is no plausible way that the chain-reaction could�ve started.
The major problem with these events is how Starling can use 20th Century technology to integrate with 29th technology and than be used against 24th Century technology. These are computers we�re dealing with; not weapons. It strikes me as a bit silly, especially given the Starling uses his �crude� knowledge of the 29th Century technology to build his empire, and that he was a drunken hippie!
No matter, this is Trek! I accept that this is the way the plot is and I�m not 100% keen on the amount that isn�t explained. I know it isn�t supposed to be explained, especially the time stuff, but I find it aggravating anyway. Janeway says �It all gives me a headache� and I agree!
It�s interesting to watch how Trek writing works in our day and time. They�ve done a good job, but Rain Robinson doesn�t fit. She�s also a little overacted by Sarah Silverman in her speech but its nothing to hold a grudge over. Rain is still a good character and she�s cute!
The other characters get some good stuff. I enjoyed Harry as captain having to make the tough decisions, although I don�t agree with contaminating the timeline to save two of the crew. Neelix and Kes had little to do but somehow it doesn�t surprise me that Neelix is into Soapies! Chakotay had little to do in here, but that hairdo needs some work. Tom�s knowledge on 20th Century Earth is a bit outdated and I love seeing him try to use words to fit in, like groovy!
Like Trek IV, there is a fair share of amusing amounts around here which add a good amount of light-heartedness to the serious situation, especially Tom�s �Your curves don�t look so great!� One comment by Janeway, however, is later contradicted in the future episode �11:59.� Janeway says she has no idea what her family is up to in this century when later she says her childhood family hero lives at around this time.
All through �Futures End� is finding out about what�s happened and building up to the end so there aren�t any conclusions to these open plot threads. We�ll find out more important information about the paradox, what happens about Voyager�s appearance in the sky, why the Doc is able to be sent to Earth, get the baddies and Rain will undoubtedly discover the truth about these weirdo�s!
All in all, it all depends on the conclusion but its still fun and interesting meaning that Part II could be extremely bad. I�m optimistic that it won�t be but given the build-up � it�s been known to happen.