Yes, you know there's going to be a reset button - the story almost screams it on a conscious level from the very get-go. And yet the story is quick to gently yet solidly reveal events that hook and keep the viewer focused where they need to and it becomes 90 minutes of one hell of a visceral experience that's more powerful than the gravity generated by binary pulsars in close proximity...
Indeed, the reset button trope is subverted so delicately that it's impossible not to be caught up in events and still feel for the crew. Even on multiple viewings. And still keeps the viewer off-kilter as to how it will be pressed, keeping the denouement held back as long as possible.
Janeway's retort to Tuvok regarding their ship being home is one of many poetic scenes sprinkled into an episode filled with horrors that still remain jaw-dropping on rewatching. Even watching Voyager ram Annorax's ship and watching it shatter, after minutes before seeing a collision with an ally ship remained as compelling as on first broadcast. This is no easy feat.
The whole episode keeps spiraling down into gloom and doom, and while it's a miracle Janeway survives being given 3rd degree burns to 60% of her body in what would otherwise be lethal, 24th century medicine saved the day in the nick of time leaving her to get on with some of the second part's best scenes as she realized what Annorax could not...
The sheer concept of changing causality of time and being mindful of how one little change can lead to big ones - as demonstrated by Chakotay wanting to wipe out an itty bitty comet - shows a lot of tact applied throughout both parts. There's no loose technobabble being bandied about like a badminton birdie.
Chakotay and Tom are beamed off as means for Annorax to find out the Federation weaknesses, but the dialogue and bantering between characters keeps the true mystery alive and kicking. I did not feel at the time of their abduction they would be plot points to provide a resolution in the second part, even though part two definitely reveals the plot strands of their mixed feelings and ideals. Tom was ultimately correct but this is an example of where trying to get a villain to have another dimension is used to epic effect as the audience is left uncertain time and time again, until the end, when Chakotay is revealed to be wrong.
And I must say, Chakotay trying to prevent "Lord of the Flies" regarding his fellow Maquis Tom (and implying physical violence the old fashioned way if they had to) is the sort of jaw-dropping depth VOY needed a bit more often, but this is the stuff that shows Trek's then-latest incarnation still being alive, vibrant, and spectacular.
Gotta love the acting on this one from all involved. The guest cast too hit homers. Kurtwood Smith in particular, who keeps a line between "Is he someone we can have any sympathy for or is he really using Chakotay"? so perfectly balanced.
"Annorax" is phonetically reminiscent of "Anoraks", a term used in England as pejorative to describe obsessive television audiences (think "Doctor Who" between 1989 and 2004.) Whether the name is deliberate or not, the parallel that this bloke is going around erasing temporal history of species and their effects relative in the cosmos as obsession over his wife still makes me smirk.
I'll admit, the ending is almost rushed when the timeline is corrected and Janeway and the Krenim associate seem to casually go about the other way, something that one might have expected at the start. But there's always give-or-take and the story's pacing and sheer level of catastrophe by far needed the screen time, so this is easy to roll with.
The wrap-up to the main story is the most poetic and beautiful irony. Annorax kept his wife's lock of hair sealed up. Janeway's guess proves to be correct in the temporal doohickey causing an inverted incursion. As the container shatters, her hair is the first thing to be affected. The end result is precisely what Annorex wanted - he gets his wife back and civilization restored...
...though he clearly is working on calculations for either the same or similar device as the tablet he's working on shows an overlay for the same causality warping weapon ship. But he opts to spend the day with her instead. Because he truly valued her. That's how it's done and it's a lovely closure to a perfect story, leaving the audience to ask on the side all sorts of questions and only in good ways.
Rating: A+++, it's absolutely must see television. Even the reset button trope doesn't feel as hammy at all. That's how good this story is. And it's aged beautifully.
Indeed, the reset button trope is subverted so delicately that it's impossible not to be caught up in events and still feel for the crew. Even on multiple viewings. And still keeps the viewer off-kilter as to how it will be pressed, keeping the denouement held back as long as possible.
Janeway's retort to Tuvok regarding their ship being home is one of many poetic scenes sprinkled into an episode filled with horrors that still remain jaw-dropping on rewatching. Even watching Voyager ram Annorax's ship and watching it shatter, after minutes before seeing a collision with an ally ship remained as compelling as on first broadcast. This is no easy feat.
The whole episode keeps spiraling down into gloom and doom, and while it's a miracle Janeway survives being given 3rd degree burns to 60% of her body in what would otherwise be lethal, 24th century medicine saved the day in the nick of time leaving her to get on with some of the second part's best scenes as she realized what Annorax could not...
The sheer concept of changing causality of time and being mindful of how one little change can lead to big ones - as demonstrated by Chakotay wanting to wipe out an itty bitty comet - shows a lot of tact applied throughout both parts. There's no loose technobabble being bandied about like a badminton birdie.
Chakotay and Tom are beamed off as means for Annorax to find out the Federation weaknesses, but the dialogue and bantering between characters keeps the true mystery alive and kicking. I did not feel at the time of their abduction they would be plot points to provide a resolution in the second part, even though part two definitely reveals the plot strands of their mixed feelings and ideals. Tom was ultimately correct but this is an example of where trying to get a villain to have another dimension is used to epic effect as the audience is left uncertain time and time again, until the end, when Chakotay is revealed to be wrong.
And I must say, Chakotay trying to prevent "Lord of the Flies" regarding his fellow Maquis Tom (and implying physical violence the old fashioned way if they had to) is the sort of jaw-dropping depth VOY needed a bit more often, but this is the stuff that shows Trek's then-latest incarnation still being alive, vibrant, and spectacular.
Gotta love the acting on this one from all involved. The guest cast too hit homers. Kurtwood Smith in particular, who keeps a line between "Is he someone we can have any sympathy for or is he really using Chakotay"? so perfectly balanced.
"Annorax" is phonetically reminiscent of "Anoraks", a term used in England as pejorative to describe obsessive television audiences (think "Doctor Who" between 1989 and 2004.) Whether the name is deliberate or not, the parallel that this bloke is going around erasing temporal history of species and their effects relative in the cosmos as obsession over his wife still makes me smirk.
I'll admit, the ending is almost rushed when the timeline is corrected and Janeway and the Krenim associate seem to casually go about the other way, something that one might have expected at the start. But there's always give-or-take and the story's pacing and sheer level of catastrophe by far needed the screen time, so this is easy to roll with.
The wrap-up to the main story is the most poetic and beautiful irony. Annorax kept his wife's lock of hair sealed up. Janeway's guess proves to be correct in the temporal doohickey causing an inverted incursion. As the container shatters, her hair is the first thing to be affected. The end result is precisely what Annorex wanted - he gets his wife back and civilization restored...
...though he clearly is working on calculations for either the same or similar device as the tablet he's working on shows an overlay for the same causality warping weapon ship. But he opts to spend the day with her instead. Because he truly valued her. That's how it's done and it's a lovely closure to a perfect story, leaving the audience to ask on the side all sorts of questions and only in good ways.
Rating: A+++, it's absolutely must see television. Even the reset button trope doesn't feel as hammy at all. That's how good this story is. And it's aged beautifully.
