Star Trek Voyager series 4 would be blessed with many great episodes such as 'Scorpion part 2', fan favourite 'Message in a bottle', and 'The Gift'. By far the best episodes of the series were, however, 'Year of Hell' parts 1 & 2. It showed a nasty, dark side to star trek that had rarely been seen before, and was beautifully acted by nearly everyone. The premise is simple: A temporal ship tries to erase everything to rectify a mistake made in the past. Enter the 'Krenim', a wonderful new species full of temporal programmers, under the rule of a distraught captain trying to restore the glory of his species and bring back his lost wife. In entering Krenim space, Voyager will become critically damaged, eventually being evacuated apart from senior officers. This leads to a beautiful scene on the Bridge where Janeway evacuates everyone, with protest from Tuvok, and finally drives Voyager to its death into the Krenim ship. Obviously, Voyager cannot finish at this point, and the only thing letting down the episode is that fact that the ending comes far to quickly and easily, and is a let-down compared to the rest of the episode. However, the way this episode is shot, the sense of fear and terror that runs through it is magnificent and not something you would expect from Star Trek. A stand-out episode in a stand-out series.
Review of Year of Hell, Part II
