Endgame

Taken on its own, this double episode wouldn't be so bad: battles with the Borg, time travel, Janeway in a dual role and the big homecoming. But if you look at this episode as the conclusion of a saga, then you can only be disappointed with this finale. This ending doesn't do the series justice. It seems rushed.

Somehow, while watching this episode, I thought of the disastrous ending of Game of Thrones. Same story. Or imagine Frodo in the Lord of the Rings being in Khazad-dûm one moment and suddenly in the next scene he's standing at Mount Doom and throwing the ring into the volcano. And Samwise is now engaged to Galadriel. You simply skipped half the journey.

It's pretty obvious what happened here: the showrunners were convinced there would be a few more seasons of Voyager. The stories for the episodes of the seventh season had been written, the return to Earth was not the focus. After all, Voyager was still 30,000 light-years from home. The season clearly wasn't focused on the big finale at the end. Then someone from the network called and pointed out that TNG and DS9 only had seven seasons each, which should be enough for Voyager also. So the last episode that had already been written was thrown into the bin and this double episode was filmed instead. Since the season didn't come to an ending, the entire resolution of seven seasons had to be squeezed into this one episode. And how do you usually do that in the Star Trek franchise? With time travel, of course! Make it so!

The writers even packed a lackluster romance between Seven and Chakotay into this episode. For four seasons, Chakotay has given no indication that he is romantically interested in Seven. Harry invested more energy than Chakotay. But in the last episode, Chakotay is suddenly head over heels in love with Seven? What far-fetched nonsense.

Extremely unsatisfactory. Into oblivion with warp 9.9.

It appears the writers got the information about the termination of the contract for the series on a very short notice!

They not only produced an episode that was clearly rushed but also contradicted many of the past episodes involving time travel, and commits a time travel paradox (also recognized as such in past episodes) which by definition would be impossible: if Janeway was to be successful in her reckless plan as it appears to be the case at the end, how could her sad self exist to get back in time to execute it in the first place? Besides, where are time cops from 29th century to stop her?

I enjoyed the series very much but the finale left a sour taste that I still cannot forget; hence my review here to vent.

Mind you I still think "The Sentinel" and "Smackdown" and "Malcolm & Eddie" were better show but only because of Jeri Ryan ruining this show with her Allied Nordicist Yankee "Friends"-watching "Seinfeld"-hating presence. Anyways, this episode is also proof that "Voyager" knew how to chill when it came to the futuristic, at the expense of the old, beliefs. In this episode, the Borg try one final attempt to silence Voyager and capture Earth and the Federation. It's a brutal cat and mouse. Unfortunately (in something that doesn't detract from my rating), "Voyager" has already done irrepairable damage to the once threatening superpower. They have a leader and she resorts to threats and pettiness, and even compared to the renegades in "Descent," they come off as harmless. Nevertheless this is a hard-hitting episode that bought big ratings for UPN, and is testimony to my UPN/Warner Bros./WB flagship. :) And another reason why UPN consistently stomped non-Warner Bros.ish The WB left and right all 11 years in the ratings, and even in accolades. "The Sentinel" was critically acclaimed but given the TV Academy's bias towards CBS and (sorry I know Disney changed them but they still have the stigma from the pre-Disney days) ABC and The WB, as well as the Academy's bias towards Universal and Columbia Pictures, they got snubbed. Establishment "Friends"-watching fatcats

Still, this was a hard-hitting episode, and yes I prefer "Barney" over "Seasame Street" anyday, and "Barney" also aired in syndication on UPN (as opposed to Tribune favorite "Seasame Street.")

My favourite TV show. Not my favourite episode. But I loved how they kept things open regarding the crew's future. Easy 10 stars. Here is how I would want VOY to continue from here: The exact same crew explores Romulan space. In a cloaked ship that looks Federation, except it's all Borg-like square shapes, instead of round circles. 'We look like Federation, but we're not. Hence, we're allowed to cloak.' Tuvok turns out to be a Romulan, really. The adventures of the new VOY crew resemble Indiana Jones from here. The crew constantly has Romulans in their backs. Romulan space is vast. And why are Romulans so secretive, anyway ? Let's have that kind of show, shall we ? Star Trek Voyager was the slickest, shiniest, smartest show I ever was so privileged to witness. Thank You. --- Find an invitation to my Star Trek Fan Project STAR FLEET: ROMULUS on Google Play Books. Codename Greenspace.

Star Trek can be very hit and miss with finales. Voyager, however, is the cream of the crop. It just has so much that works in its favor. Time travel shenanigans, action, drama, humor, a baby being born amidst the chaos, the return of Alice Krige as the true Borg Queen (thank god the other actress was unavailable, she sucked and Krige killed it as ever). The conclusion itself was extremely satisfying.

It just has one glaring flaw: a forced romance subplot that neither makes sense or works on a basic chemistry level. It comes absolutely out of nowhere and drags the story to a halt every single time they cut to it.

Bad romance aside, however. If you're a fan of Voyager, it will satisfy you on every other level. Kate Mulgrew in particular absolutely shines in a dual role.