It’s more wibbly wobbly timey wimy stuff on Voyager as Seven has to save the day, or rather the days and the ship and the crew…. Originally Broadcast on May 12, 1999 this is Relativity.
The Episode:
Captain’s Log Stardate, again, all over the place: Relativity.
Seven is recruited by a Temporal ship to figure out who has destroyed Voyager in the past. After being sent through time to stop it’s destruction, she discovers it is the very person who sent her on this mission.
The Story:
I started this over and over and man this is a really difficult one to describe. So much time traveling. So we will break it down in as simple a matter as possible. BULLET POINTS!!!
- Seven finds herself on Voyager as it is being constructed in 2371 where she tries to find a device that is responsible for Voyager’s destruction in the future. She finds it but it is out of sync with time indicating that she is in the wrong timeline. She returns to the Temporal ship only to die.
- Voyager begins having time anomalies they can not explain resulting from the sabotage. Janeway abandons ship only for the ship to explode and….
- … for Seven to be pulled from time again by Captain Braxton who informs her that a saboteur has installed a temporal disruptor on Voyager and they must figure out when it was planted and who did it. He sends her back to a time when Voyager was under attack by the Kazon.
- During the attack, Seven is captured by Janeway and her crew and is eventually forced to reveal the mission Seven has been assigned. With Janeway’s help they find the saboteur who turns out to be an older Braxton who wants revenge on Janeway for the events of Future’s End.
- After a whole chase sequence through time, they ultimately capture Braxton. Braxton’s second in command, Ducane, helos them fix the timelines so that no one is aware of what has transpired. Before they leave he warns Janeway that she has been tampering with Time a little too often and might want to cut it out.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
This is a fun time travel episode that gives us a fun glimpse of the past including Janeway’s first time on Voyager itself. For a time travel episode, this is one of the more well paced and well plotted one’s that also gives us a hint of how the series will end…but I won’t go into that any further.
The thing that makes this episode work so well is the rather clever use of Seven of Nine as the sole chance Voyager has to survive a temporal incursion. I really dig how the opening of the episode shows us Voyager prior to the pilot episode and even includes familiar faces such as Lt Carey and the earlier version of The Doctor as Janeway is given a tour of her new ship while Seven explores it as well.
The other aspect that solidifies this episode is the inclusion of Bruce McGill as Braxton, returning from his appearance in Future’s End Parts One and Two. You will likely recognize McGill from his multiple appearances on innumerable episodes of various television series. From MacGuiver to Rizzoli & Isles, McGill has been on just about everything and always brings his A-Game along with him. Frankly you could not get a better protagonist/antagonist for this story and it was awesome to see him guest star.
The story itself is a really cool one that kinda serves as a recap of what has happened in the past five years as well as showcasing Seven in a cool Doctor Who role while also serving as a sequel to the Future’s End two parter from season three. Personally, I love this episode and think it does a fabulous job with time-travel and it’s implications as well as utilizing Seven of Nine’s unique nature as a reformed Borg drone. Simply put, this episode is well worth your time.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- 0 photon torpedoes fired, -14 remaining.
- 0 shuttlecraft lost or destroyed, -4 remaining
- Seven of Nine dies in this episode, but not really, because of timey wimey stuff.
- The USS Relativity is from the 29th century. We will encounter this century again in Enterprise…
- The events of Star Trek First Contact are referenced as an example of the Pogo Paradox.
- We learn about the Janeway Factor indicating her rather loose view of temporal violations.
- I wonder if we will see the Timeships again in the future…maybe in season three of Discovery?
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: Warhead
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Late To The Game 12/25/2020
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