Written By: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga & Joe Menonsky
Directed By: LeVar Burton
Rating: ***** (out of 5)
Not surprising it�s a time episode that switches between two timeframes, but the difference from �All Good Things . . .� is that we see both the events unfolding at the same time, and until the end, they don�t disrupt the each other.
The futures alternate timeline shows us that only Chakotay and Harry Kim survived the journey back to Earth, and that Voyager crashed onto an ice planet because of a mistake by Harry Kim, who is know older and a much more sour person then he once was.
This is one of the best performances by Garret Wang, who normally gets the bad end of dialogue and stories. It seems almost fitting for him to be center of attention here because Harry has always been close to many members of the crew, especially Janeway who you could call his temporary mother.
The future Chakotay and Harry are trying to stop the event from ever happening by sending a message through time to Seven in the past. They�ve stolen the Delta Flyer, which I must say is getting a good amount of use since its creation in �Extreme Risk,� and they have stolen a Borg �thing� to be able to send the message through time. They have become the most wanted fugitives in the Galaxy, apparently.
Along with the fugitives is Chakotay�s girlfriend, Tessa. She has no major part in the story but she does help in showing Chakotay�s feelings through her, which I suppose is a nice touch.
Complicating issues is Captain LaForge from the USS Challenger. LaForge�s role is simply a cameo, but also a nice touch. I liked how he understood Chakotay�s position, each wishing each other luck.
Seeing the crew dead on the destroyed Voyager was chilling, no pun intended, and made me realize how attached I�ve got to this TV show. I might often criticize it, but damn, when it�s good, it�s GOOD!
Naturally, things don�t go as planned. The best scene comes when Harry realizes his plan doesn�t work, and panics, not knowing what to do, so he decides to just disrupt the Slipstream drive instead of getting Voyager home, just in time. As he does this, the Delta Flyer is destroyed, and all three officers are killed.
Even better is that Harry has transmitted a message to Harry in the past, so everyone finds out about what�s happened. This is a good scene, which effectively shows that these events weren�t forgotten, and that the events do mean something.
Many good scenes are here, the Slipstream Drive being christened was excellent with the slow motion, the Janeway-Chakotay dinner scene, when Harry realizes his mistake, Seven drunk, Janeway�s �Distinction and Valor� speech, and her �Now it�s time to go home� speech, Harry�s �Their having sex� remark and Doc�s �Lets tempt fate together,� are just a few, more mentioned later.
Now, the spectacle of the episode; Voyager ultimate demise. You thought �Deadlock� looked good? You thought Voyager suicide in �Year of Hell� was exciting? Voyager crashing into the Ice is the best CGI I�ve ever seen on TV. It�s even better than some movie special effects. It was brilliant! The detail and the textures, all the snow flying up, the depth of Voyager, the panic of the situation is all conveyed from this 10 second CGI shot. It masters the effect and the feel.
I�ve watched the scene maybe twenty times and it�s still excellent. And it�s even better with surround sound and a huge TV! ;-) OK, so I wish it went for longer, I like pushing my luck! The SFX in general was all convincing, the Galaxy Class ship sure looked realistic. But I wish it had been a Sovereign Class! That would have rocked!
All in all, a Star Trek classic that could only have been done with the array of characters Voyager has. Brilliant performances, fantastic story, sensational score by Dennis McCarthy, and the SFX was better than beautiful. I don�t think that anymore praise is possible, seemingly flawless!