‘TIME AND AGAIN’ (VOY)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This is a pretty decent time-travel story featured in the ‘Voyager’ series. Everything holds well together. I can’t say this is one of ‘Voyager’s greatest episodes, but I enjoyed it once I saw it on DVD.
The episode starts with Tom Paris peer-pressuring Harry Kim to go on a double date with the Delaney sisters from stellar cartography. Harry is keener to see his girlfriend who’s far from home. 😐
Eventually, Voyager gets hit by a polaric detonation from a nearby planet. Upon arrival, the Voyager crew find the planet’s population wiped out. Janeway leads an away team to investigate this planet.
As well as Janeway, there’s Tom Paris, B’Elanna Torres and Tuvok. The four transport to the planet surface. They gradually surmise from the ruins that the explosion only occurred a day or so ago here.
There are signs of temporal anomalies in its wake. Very soon, Janeway and Paris get caught up in a temporal anomaly and they find themselves on the planet a day before the explosion ever occurred.
Janeway and Paris find a way to quickly integrate themselves into the general population, although they’re suspected by one boy who believes they’re ‘demons’. The boy is Brady Bluhm playing Latika.
Brady Bluhm has voiced Christopher Robin in many ‘Winnie the Pooh’ films and he’s been in the ‘Dumb and Dumber’ films. He was also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 🙂
Anyway, Janeway and Paris learn that the planet’s civilization is powered by a volatile form of energy called ‘polaric’ energy. They soon get caught up with a group of saboteurs attacking a power plant. 😐
Despite trying to abide by the Prime Directive, it becomes difficult for Janeway and Paris. For one thing, their Starfleet equipment prompts the saboteurs to believe they’re infiltrators on the planet.
It also isn’t helped when the boy Latika follows Janeway and Paris and gets caught in the saboteurs’ custody. The saboteurs advance their plans and they force Janeway, Paris and Latika to join them. 😐
The saboteurs include Nicolas Surovy as Pe’Nar Makull and Joel Polis as Ny Terla. They can be quite aggressive, especially when threatening Janeway, Paris and Latika’s lives to have their own way here.
Meanwhile, back with Voyager in the future, Kes’ psychic abilities allow her to pick up that Janeway and Paris have fallen back in time. The Voyager crew devise a plan to rescue Janeway and Tom Paris.
Back with Janeway and Paris, they’re used to act as a diversion to allow them access to the polaric plant. Janeway doesn’t play the saboteurs’ game, resulting in Paris getting shot and wounded in this.
Whilst the saboteurs infiltrate the polaric plant, Janeway follows them. Meanwhile, the Voyager crew open up a rift in order to gain access to the planet’s past and save Janeway and Paris from it. 🙂
Janeway sees the rift and realises that if it isn’t closed, it will trigger the explosion that will kill all life on the planet. She uses her phaser in order to force the rift to close and soon change the future. 🙂
The episode returns us to the beginning with Tom Paris and Harry Kim before Voyager detects the nearby planet. The Voyager crew find the planet has a pre-warp civilization and uses ‘polaric’ energy.
Kes appears on the bridge, concerned with a feeling of déjà vu. It’s a scene echoing a familiar scene at the beginning of the episode where Kes appeared on the bridge and found the planet devastated.
Thankfully, all is well and Kes is relieved that the planet is safe. In accordance with the Prime Directive, Janeway decides for Voyager not to contact the planet. They continue their journey home.
There’s a scene where Kes is examined by the holographic Doctor with Neelix beside her. The Doctor is frustrated about the fact no-one told him that Kes and Neelix weren’t crewmembers of the ship. 😐
I’m surprised by that too, since surely the Doctor was being considered for chief medical officer aboard Voyager. Or haven’t we got to that stage yet? I’m sure we’ll find out later on in the TV series.
‘Time and Again’ is a very decent episode in the ‘Voyager’ series. I can’t call it great, but I enjoyed how Janeway and Paris tackled with the challenges of time travel and getting out of a difficult situation. 🙂
‘Time and Again’ (VOY) rating – 7/10
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