Time and Again (''Star Trek: Voyager'')

"Time and Again"
Star Trek: Voyager episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 3
Directed by Les Landau
Story by David Kemper
Teleplay by David Kemper
Michael Piller
Featured music Jay Chattaway
Production code 104
Original air date January 30, 1995 (1995-01-30)
Guest appearance(s)
  • Nicolas Surovy - Pe'Nar Makull
  • Joel Polis - Ny Terla
  • Brady Bluhm - Latika
  • Ryan MacDonald - Shopkeeper
  • Bob Rudd - Brell
  • Jerry Spicer - Guard
  • Steve Vaught - Officer

"Time and Again" is the third episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. "Time and Again" was aired on January 30, 1995 on the UPN television network.[1]

Starship Voyager commanded by Captain Janeway detects a shock wave come from a nearby solar system, and goes to investigate.[2] On arrival they beam down an away team to a planet's surface where the wave originated.[3]

Plot

Voyager's sensors detect a "polaric" detonation from a nearby planet. On arrival, they find the planet's population has been completely wiped out. An away team, including Captain Kathryn Janeway and Lieutenant Tom Paris, transport to the surface and estimate from the ruins that the explosion only happened a day earlier. Signs of temporal anomalies have been left in its wake. Janeway and Paris become caught in one, finding themselves on the planet the day before the explosion. Quickly integrating themselves into the general population, they learn that the planet is powered by "polaric" energy, an option that has been met with some protest. Janeway and Paris become caught up with a group of saboteurs threatening to compromise one of the polaric power plants. Janeway and Paris's strange Starfleet equipment prompt the saboteurs to believe they are infiltrators, so they confiscate the equipment, bring forward their sabotage plan and force Janeway and Paris to accompany them to the power plant.

Meanwhile, a day in the future, Kes's nascent psychic ability allows her to identify that Janeway and Paris have fallen back into the past.[4] The remaining senior Voyager officers develop a method to create a short-lived rift to the past through which they hope to evacuate Janeway and Paris.

The saboteurs use Janeway and Paris as a diversion to allow them access to the polaric plant, during which Paris is shot and wounded. As they begin their sabotage, the Voyager crew initiates the rift. Janeway recognizes that it is the rift which, if not closed, will trigger the detonation that kills all life on the planet. The saboteurs allow Janeway to use her phaser to force the rift to close, changing the future.

Events then return to the start of the episode: Voyager detects the nearby planet, bustling with a pre-warp civilization using polaric energy. Kes appears on the bridge, concerned about a feeling of deja vu, but is relieved to see the planet's civilization is alive and well. In accordance with the Prime Directive, Voyager refrains from communicating with it and continues on its journey home.

Reception

Reviewers Lance Parkin and Mark Jones noted with disappointment the similarity between this episode and the previous one, "Parallax", which also relies heavily on technobabble and involves a similar situation: a temporal anomaly in which the crew are trapped and for which they are themselves unwittingly responsible.[5]

Den of Geek noted "Time and Again" for its time travel plot and described it as "..by the numbers but perfectly serviceable.."[6]

References

  1. ↑ Worlds Enough and Time: Explorations of Time in Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Gary Westfahl, George Edgar Slusser, David Leiby Page 179
  2. ↑ NITPICKER'S GUIDE FOR DEEP SPACE (NEXT) By Phil Farrand
  3. ↑ NITPICKER'S GUIDE FOR DEEP SPACE (NEXT) By Phil Farrand
  4. ↑ Okuda, Michael; Okuda, Denise (1999). The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future. Simon & Schuster. p. 510. ISBN 978-0-671-53609-1.
  5. ↑ Jones, Mark; Parkin, Lance (2003). Beyond the Final Frontier: An Unauthorised Review of the Trek Universe on Television and Film. London: Contender Books. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-84357-080-6.
  6. ↑ Den of Geek Star Trek Voyager: An Episode Roadmap
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