Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Year of Hell (1997) User Reviews

Excellent in spite of the colossal plot hole

[Ar_Pharazon_the_golden · 9/10 · 18 April 2019]

As everyone except the show writers has noticed, Kes had warned them about the Krenim, and no one remembers it - it is a continuous problem that events of past episodes often are not reflected in the next ones, but this is the proverbial elephant in the room. The episode "Before and After" specifically foreshadowed the events here, yet it is like it never happened (huh...).

Nonetheless, if you forget this glaring error, the episode is great, both in its depiction of a ravaged Voyager and for introducing a villain who appears to have some depth and character - as well as a megalomania that will obviously be his undoing.

Space Red Foreman: Time Ranger

[beanslegit · 8/10 · 11 February 2021]

This episode in my opinion shows us the first properly written villain in all of Voyager. I mean there was the Borg, but they literally have no personality and no motive beyond "YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED RESISTANCE IS FUTILE" and Seska (UGH)... This time the villain has a backstory and real motive. He's well developed and with great acting from Red Foreman, he is as lost and forlorn as all the races he seeks to wipe from time.

Now there are major plotholes such as Kes warning them of this exact threat. Granted this show has established that it's more episodic and less continuous than DS9 which to me makes the overall progress of the crew weaker. We need to feel the ship and crew change over time and that hasn't really happened so far. I totally understand the distain many have for Voyager, but like all ST its about the journey not the destination. Every episode is a total reset and it gets annoying. Different writers write different characters the way they see them themselves, and that results in inconsistent tone and jarring character shifts throughout. CMON WRITERS WATCH THE PREVIOUS EPISODES OR SOMETHING!?

Anyways rant over. This double parter is the best thing I've seen in Voyager so far, aside from Seven of Nine that is, but it's close.

PS: this is my first watchthrough and I'm glad I stuck with it at last.

The times they are a changin'

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 21 January 2010]

This episode opens aboard an alien ship, it isn't an ordinary ship though, it is a weapon that can change time; when fired at a planet it doesn't just kill the people there it erases them from history. The ship belongs to the Krenim a race that are at war with another race called the Zahl. Voyager enters the war zone but does not realise what is happening as each time change also changes their memories; they just think they are running from the Krenim and taking heavy damage. As the days pass life on board gets harder and harder, most decks are unusable and the survivors are just trying survive one day at a time. Their luck changes when one of the Krerim's temporal weapons fails to explode, this enables seven to gain enough information to modify the shields to block the weapons; it has another effect when the Kremin change history the crew of Voyager remember what things were before so realise that somebody is going about changing history. The problem is it might be too late to use this knowledge.

This was a great episode which is possibly the darkest episode of the series to date, by the time the words "to be continued" appear on the screen the ship is battered and most of the crew have been forced to abandon ship. As well as the regular cast Robocop's bad guy Kurtwood Smith appears the the captain of the Krenim's temporal weapon.

Not exactly the usual touchy-feely sort of "Voyager" episode....

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 21 February 2015]

The vast majority of the episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" are very politically correct and nice. Again and again, the ship avoids battles and acts almost like a galactic team of social workers-- often helping various races as they travel the galaxy. Some might really like this but I have always thought this was the weakest of the Trek series because it was so nice and non-confrontational much of the time. So, because of this, it's good to see episodes like "Year of Hell"--ones which are chock full of violence, explosions and death!

The show begins as Voyager is about to enter Krenim space. The Krenim seem like an incredibly unfriendly and nasty race. They refuse to allow the ship to pass and threaten to destroy Voyager-- though their ships seem insignificant. At the same time, you see a Krenim crew traveling about the system. They are a temporal ship and are trying to change history by selectively wiping out species-- literally erasing evidence they even existed in the first place. Soon the attacks on Voyager jump in intensity and the ship is under almost constant attacks. Many crew members are killed, decks destroyed and the ship is a complete mess. By the end of the episode, Voyager is virtually destroyed and the Captain orders most of the crew to abandon ship!

So, you've got TONS of action, lots of violence and an engaging plot. So, this apparently is not "Star Trek: Voyager"....or at least not much like most of the episodes. Well worth seeing though you do realize as you watch that by the end of episode 2 that this all MUST be undone because the show cannot continue in this vein.

Watch both parts in one sitting if you can

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 29 March 2023]

Voyager runs into trouble in a disputed region of the Delta quadrant:

This is a very strong episode with great visuals and character moments.

The plot has a great "what if" sci-fi premise that underlies some very effective visual storytelling. To see Voyager in such disrepair is one of the most memorable aspects along with the suffering of the crew.

What makes it work are the character moments. Numerous characters contribute to the story in both dramatic and humorous scenes. Janeway is written as a determined leader, whilst Annorax is introduced as an antagonist with a clear purpose and not a one-dimensional villain of the week. Katie Mulgrew and Kurtwood Smith are both on great form.

Events unfold to a climax that makes you want to see what happens next in a similar way to TNG's 'The Best of Both Worlds'.

If you are able to watch part 2 immediately after it is worthwhile as the story flows much better in one sitting.

For me it's an 8.5/10, but I round upwards.

Massively inconsistent with storyline

[nighteyesv · 22 March 2016]

This was a really good action packed two part story except for the fact that it couldn't possibly have happened. First mistake, in the season 3 episode "Before and After" Kes warns Janeway of the Krenim and provides information about their capabilities and information on how to deal with them yet neither Janeway or any member of the crew seems to recall this and there is no incident in any episode to explain this glaring inconsistency. Second mistake, during "Before and After" it was specifically stated that Voyager would encounter the Krenim in 11 months yet the Krenim were on the other side of Borg space and the only reason they got there within the time frame specified was because Kes managed to send them 9500 light years (10 years travel) closer to earth in a matter of moments during her transformation as her "gift" to them and since she clearly didn't transform in "Before and After" there is no explanation how they managed to travel such a substantial distance in such a short time. I suppose there are plenty of potential explanations like they managed to find a wormhole or the Borg had them travel in a trans-warp conduit to traverse their space more quickly but how events could have been so different this time is a mystery. So there are two possibilities either someone dropped the ball on checking for plot consistency or they knew it was inconsistent and simply didn't care enough to try to make it consistent.

Great 2-parter but what about Before and After?

[michielkromhout · 9/10 · 18 February 2021]

At first I thought that the exact same gravitonic-variance (or whatever) as mentioned in Before and After would be used to quickly remind us that at least some info was already known. After all, that was about the only thing Kes learned about the Year of Hell. But no mentioning of it - the writers were sleeping I guess or they didn't watch that episode. Missed opportunity to get at least SOME continuity in this show, but oh well.

However, the whole thing ends with everything not happening in the first place. So how could this then be mentioned in the Before and After episode!? Maybe that was from an alternate timeline in which the Year of Hell happened but in a way that didn't involve it...not happening?

It's About Time

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 30 August 2018]

Of course, in a previous episode, Kes warned about the Krenim and their destructive forces. Now this race, led by an obsessed man, is moving across the galaxy, eliminating societies and planets by using time to make it so they never existed. Unfortunately, Voyager gets in the way and annoys the zealot. Soon most of the ship is blown away. Paris and Chakotay have been beamed aboard the ship and are in discourse with the leader.

Excellent Temporal Causality Loop Episode

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 12 June 2013]

This episode was previewed in "Before and After" -But we really get to see the results of the Krenim's Time-Incursions here, in this excellent 2-parter.

Some say that 7-of-69 being there instead of Kes, is some kind of Inconsistency, but it really is not, if you consider the entire storyline - These Krenim are changing TIME. Ergo, they must have been changing time for the entire Voyager series, up to now. Therefore, we got to see a version of Year of Hell where Kes discovered the time displacement instead of 7-of-69. But since then, the Krenim's own meddling has changed that original story, and this is completely consistent with "Before and After".

The Kremin attack Voyager with Torpedoes which have a time variance, much the same as how the Enterprise D destroyed the Microcentrum Lifeforms on Dividia Two. Voyager must needs make a defense against these, and this required someone to see one of these torpedoes and scan it with a tricorder. In Before and After, this was Kes. Here, it is 7- of-69.

But the result is the same - After Voyager is protected from further Timeline Incursions, their internal Timeline remains the same. This prevents Janeway and Torres from being killed in this version of events.

Kurtwood Smith is 'Annorax" - a Krenim Time-Scientist who has been performing these Incursions for 200 Years - But he has an ulterior, personal Motive. I suppose this story is much like "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" where Annorax becomes Nemo as well, as well as "Captain Bligh" - There is a very Nautical Theme underlying these episodes.

Another thing we can discard as "Inconsistency" is that if Annorax was doing this for 200 years, he may indeed have started sometime after the very last scene in this two-parter. He could have built his Time Weapon at any moment after the Magic Reset Button Phenomenon. But the ending of this dual episode shows, maybe he made a different decision within that timeframe- And this explains how he could have been doing it for 200 years of his internal time, because the Time Weapon was not existing and operating within our concept of time. What I garner from the ending, is that he decided not to build it in the first place. So, he built it but he also did not build it. Quantum Theory explains how both and neither could have happened.

In the Original Trek Universe, Timeline Incursions always get the "Magic Reset Button". It is only since 2009's Trek, where the changes were not set back. This same concept was used in Fringe Season 4. But time always has some kind of "Rubber band Effect" where at least one person becomes aware of changes - In Next Generation, this was Guinan, in Fringe, it was Peter Bishop.

But we can see here, not all of the Voyager timeline was reset back to Pre 7-of-69. If that had happened, then 7-of-69 would not have been on Voyager, and Kes would have returned. Obviously, this could not happen because Jennifer Lien had been unceremoniously and cruelly FIRED from Voyager, which caused that actress to quit acting.

This is how Politics can affect Time.

Very good ep. But imo its flawed with mistakes

[Crapmypants · 8/10 · 13 July 2010]

Unless this ep takes place in another dimension, it is seriously flawed.

First, Kes told all about the krenim and there fotons in the episode were she is warping thru time cause she was exposed to the radiation from the krenim fotons. Also in that episode were she is dieing of old age, seven of nine is not present anywhere. So in that time frame, they didn't come across the borg. But they did come across the borg and picked up seven. They also already knew the exect specs of the fotons, 1.47, Kes told them already. but now seven gets them instead. So i guess kes hasn't existed in that time, meaning kes never communicated with species 9472. Voyager never helped the borg and seven couldn't be on voyager. Also if kes hasn't been on voyager, Tom should be more knowledged on being a "nurse".

Captein Janeway also says on a point to the krenim ship that she is 65k lightyears from home. They were 70k when they first arrived in the delta quadrant, so they only traveled 5k in 3 years. But this is plausible, since kes never gave the "gift" of 10k lightyears cause she never existed.

Its not fun to play with time, it messes things up so much.

Everything is plausible in this episode, but all the prev episodes are from a whole other ship.

This is not "Voyager"

[phenomynouss · 8/10 · 25 July 2010]

This review applies to both episodes of this 2-parter Who wrote this two-part episode and why? A gritty and compelling story with a slight minimum of technobabble, a genuine sense of loss in that it's not just nameless goldshirts who can die or be seriously wounded, and an antagonist who is not a typical "bad guy" but actually a well-rounded, fully fleshed out person whose motives are driven solely by a desire to bring back his family, friends, and his people from mishaps he was responsible for, while being flawed enough to sacrifice entire races in order to do so? This is not typical "Voyager", but no worries; the show soon returns to the formula of mediocrity and stupidity it's so well known for. But for two weeks, we get a story that lives up to its title as it flashes forward from "Day 1" to "Day 4", "Day 39", "Day 70", "Day 180", etcetera in chronicling a *SHOCK!* REALISTIC depiction of a spaceship pursuing another through space and waging a bloody guerrilla-style war that sees Voyager slowly come apart, characters die or be maimed, and personalities clash.

There's still moments of stupidity, such as Tuvok claiming that there is an accepted addage amongst the Federation that "The Captain is always right", but for the most part, everything comes across wholly real, and very much as though Voyager were a small town under siege by an enemy, with the once pristine hallways and decks becoming smoldering shades of dark gray and blue as power fluctuates, decks are destroyed piecemeal, and places like the mess hall become medical facilities, and a big-ass piece of debris is stuck through the bridge.

The antagonist, meanwhile, is of the Krenim race. Spoilers abounding.

It starts with the Krenim attacking and threatening Voyager for intruding into their space, while Annorax (Kurtwood Smith) commands a gigantic ship with the ability to use time travel technobabble to alter aspects of things from molecules to planets in terms of time. So he uses this to eliminate an entire species on a planet, then observes how the timeline is affected, while he and his ship is protected from these changes.

Turns out, the Krenim were involved in a hideously violent war against a superior species that it was losing. Annorax then invented this time ship and used it to wipe out this species. The timeline then sets itself so that the Krenim are suddenly a superpower... and people begin dying by the millions from a disease that this other species had cured for the Krenim generations earlier.

So he attempts more and more time incursions to mess with the timeline, and as a result, accidentally wipes out the vast majority of the Krenim nation, as well as his own wife and children. He spends 200 years constantly attempting to change time enough to set things back the way they were, or possibly better.

They take aboard Chakotay and Tom Paris, and begin working together to try to undo the damage, and set Voyager fine as it was in before the Krenim met them.

Of course, the "Magic Reset Button" must come into effect for a show like "Voyager", and everything ends up reset the way it was at "Day 1", but the difference becoming that the Krenim do not attack Voyager outright, but acknowledge them, and politely tell them to avoid their space.

The only problem I saw is that Annorax was apparently still alive, at his home, working on the time ship. But in the prior episode, it was said he had spent 200 years messing with the timeline. So was this a flashback or a continuity error? Either way, an odd change of pace from typical Voyager stupidity, and even though the Magic Reset Button came into effect, it wasn't done as stupidly as it could have been.

Great episodes, despite inconsistencies

[zelazbert · 8/10 · 7 September 2010]

I understand all the previous reviews, and simply put, it is inconsistent with previous episodes. The first thing I noticed was that Janeway didn't remember Kes warning her about the "year of hell" and the Krenim torpedo time-phase. She would have remembered! Unless something radical had changed, but it obviously didn't because one of those torpedos got stuck in the hull the same as it did in the original 'future' episode ... don't know how they missed that one. They did show some differences, like some anonymous yellow-suit dieing instead of Belana, but it still doesn't show the magnitude of difference that would have occurred from Kes not being there, and 7 of 9 being there, for serious. And the fact that the time wave affected the WHOLE of reality when it first struck - and the Voyager crew thus had no knowledge of it - but when it passed over them again (at the very end of the second and concluding episode), they were restored to full, beautiful Voyager integrity, but without the memory loss. Capt. Janeway knows full well the entire saga of what just happened.

I'm sure there are plenty of inconsistency s I haven't mentioned, but regardless, I think these were GREAT episodes. I loved them! I felt heart and soul here. And, if ever Kate Mulgrew could be accused of over-acting, it was appropriate here.

So many problems with this episode

[Hughmanity · 6/10 · 23 December 2020]

This episode has the grandiose scale fans like: Voyager threatened and damaged to a high degree, time warps in play, and new fashion choices for the crew.

Unfortunately it also has way too many plot holes and discontinuities in play. Let's count the ways:

1. Kes warned Janeway about the 'Year of Hell' in season 3 when she had premonitions about it. Presumably told Janeway what to look for when Janeway literally said, "tell me more" before a screen cut. Where is this knowledge when the episode begins? Janeway acts like she's got no idea what's happening.

Janeway does survive unlike Kes' original premonition where she dies, but there is no overt reference to, "oh yeah, this is what Kes told me about so we should do something different." Big missed opportunity for the writers there.

2. They occasionally flash the timeline of the 'Year of Hell' on screen e.g. "Day 47". About four months in there are still flickering lights, I like of rubble on the bridge and crew faces are caked with sweat and dirty smudges.

Can they not just decide which light to turn on or off? I don't think it takes electricity or a warp core to sweep up a pile of rubble in the bridge?? They don't have any rags and water to wipe dirty smudges off their faces or take one shower after FOUR MONTHS?

3. Worst Janeway haircut ever. I don't mind short hair but this is like a 13-year-old boy in the 1980s discovering mousse for the first time. Like Flock of Seagulls meets the Federation. It's like since the knockout Seven of Nine joined the crew they are trying to make an attractive Kate Mulgrew look worse by comparison. I'm watching these in order so I hope they fix this, Janeway deserves better.

I love Trek but giving this episode a high rating is taking the easy way out. It's voting for clickbait over quality. Don't be a partner to this writers crime.

Best episode of 'Voyager'?

[RSO_Media · 10/10 · 5 September 2023]

'Year of Hell' Parts I & II are possibly the peak of 'Voyager', which is saying a lot, as I consider 'Voyager' to be up there with TOS and TNG. Story and characters are all in top form.

A group of aliens (the Krenim) have built a time weapon in order to alter history, and return their empire to its' former glory by preventing their enemies from ever existing, but their Captain has his own personal agenda.

Kurtwood Smith plays a great humanized and complex antagonist as 'Annorax', the Captain of the weaponized time-altering ship, but I think where this episode really shines is with Kate Mulgrews' 'Captain Janeway'. By the end of the episode(s), Voyager is so utterly ravaged after having travelled through Krenim space for approximately one year of almost constant attacks, and this episode really showcases Janeways' leadership qualities; her abilities and limitations as a Captain who has to make life-and-death decisions, as her crew and she are (literally, in her case) put through the fire.

The set design is also particularly remarkable in this episode. It seems like every department of the production really put a lot into this one.

This is THE best episode of 'Voyager', and ranks up there with 'Best of Both Worlds' as one of the best two-parters in any 'Star Trek' series.

Time's Up

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 30 August 2018]

Voyager is attacked by a zealot who has discovered a means to change the time continuum. For some reason, he is wiping out the civilizations of planets. Unfortunately, our favorite crew and ship are caught in the middle of this. They are targeted and nearly destroyed. Paris and Chakotay are beamed aboard the ship and have discourse with the overzealous leader. The key thing that must be determined: What are his motivations. He has been at this for 200 years.

Nice try

[lahilaastravnar · 8/10 · 24 May 2022]

In this season some aspects of characters have been revised, and I can't adapt to them: Chakote is become the doormat of the captain Geneway, and Tom Paris is one of worst nurses has ever seen.

Too many romantic ties between crew.

Great action but flawed ending..

[twanster-97655 · 10/10 · 11 April 2021]

Part one and two are great, could have even made a movie but the ending is flawed. After janeway rams the time ship to destroy it, it causes a temperal incursion within the ship meaning everything resets and the ship and everything that happened over 200 years never happened... Given the species is meant to be advanced and intelligent, surely someone would have simply done what janeway did once they realised they'd screwed up.. Spending 200 years trying to bring back his family and all he had todo was self destruct and there would never have been any death because none of it would have happened... Right?