The first time I watched this one, I was a bit confused, but I suppose that's normal when playing with timelines. But by part way through, things started to clear up a bit. All in all, I enjoyed it.
GENERAL THOUGHTS:
OK, I promise not to go into the number of paradoxes I can come up with in this episode. Like I said, playing with timelines can get a bit confusing, even to Janeway. It was, however, an enjoyable hour and got a few chuckles from me along the way. And three cheers for continuity!
LIKES:
I loved Janeway's initial tour of the ship. It was really interesting to see her initial thoughts of some places, such as the first time she sat in the big chair.
Three words -- bun of steel. 'Nuff said.
Again, three cheers for continuity. Not only do they mention Tom, Tuvok and Chakotay in her ready room, but Braxton and their adventures in "Future's End" (one of the few pre-season four episodes I have seen), and the First Contact reference are all there and not screwed up. Also, Janeway's complaints of headaches toward the end agrees with past comments she's made about time travel, such as in "Year of Hell" where she tells Seven she's made a point to avoid playing with time, or something along those lines. Along the same lines, the attention to hair was better than normal. They remembered that both Janeway and B'Elanna have had a change in hairstyle over the past few years, and included that. I think B'Elanna's impressed me more since it's a much more subtle change, but it's still there. And they brought back Caray! For those of us who came into the game too late to meet the engineer (I think I read somewhere he died on Hanon in "Basics"), it was nice to have a face to go with the name
The special effects this week were cool. I especially liked the stopped ball during the ping pong tournament, and Chakotay passing through the rift in the ready room. Great job by the special effects people.
I love seeing the crew having fun, so even though I have to wonder who chose ping pong, it was great to see a social gathering. I keep saying that we need more scenes like this. Their whole trip isn't just one explosion and enemy race after another. And even though they are the stars of the show, the senior staff aren't the only people on the ship. Seeing even one little scene like this reminds us of that.
On a similar note, Tom's hand-eye coordination while walking down the hall is impressive. It's hard enough to bounce a ping pong ball like that standing still, but while walking and speaking ... I wonder how many takes that scene took.
I kind of liked Admiral Patterson. He wasn't as stuffy and boring as most admirals; he had a bit of a personality.
I loved Braxton's 'Janeway factor.' "She has a knack for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong, especially when it comes to time travel." How true. Janeway, for some reason, cannot just turn tail and leave. But then, I don't think any of the Star Trek captains could. And like most people, I'm still trying to come up with the third temporal incursion he blames on Janeway. "Future's End" and "Year of Hell" are the obvious ones. I do agree, however, that, on a whole, Voyager does end up playing with the timeline quite a bit. But again, the Enterprise did quite a bit, too.
Is it my imagination, or has coffee managed to make it into almost every episode this season?
And the absolute best thing about the episode -- Seven in a uniform. My gosh, she looked like a normally proportioned person rather than a Barbie doll. Whatever it is about those uniforms, they need to put Seven in one every week. That would cut down on half the complaints about her.
DISLIKES:
It was nice seeing Braxton again. I remember Bruce McGill from his MacGyver days, and I loved his character of Jack there. Here, however, he seemed to fall prey to what I call the 'William Shatner effect' -- overacting and whispering when you speak. It was mainly the Braxton from the future future (the one with the bomb) that fell prey to this.
The 'space sickness' excuse was a bit too much for me, though. I realize it was just a plot device to call attention to the time fractures around the ship, but still. NASA astronauts today refer to space nausea as 'stomach awareness.' But it really is a lame ailment. And Janeway must be really sick if she's complaining of it.
Admiral Patterson seems a bit prophetic with his comment about Janeway remembering she's still a science officer and not to let the pips go to her head. That's exactly what's happened lately. Yes, she still has her tendencies toward science, but she's letting those four pips rule her life. All work and no play make Janeway a dull girl.
Probably my biggest question about this episode is the timing. Their shields were down at other times, so how do they know for sure that it was during that Kazon attack that the bomb was placed?
J/C QUOTIENT:
Not much. Just the one scene in the ready room, and that was mostly business with a little banter.
