User Reviews

This episode opens with Captain Janeway and Chakotay going to a nearby planet but as they enter the atmosphere they hit an electrical storm and the shuttle crash lands. It looks like the Captain has died but Chakotay manages to revive her. It soon becomes apparent that it wasn't a storm but phaser fire that caused them to crash; surprisingly from Vidiian weapons. Some thing odd is happening, soon they are back in the shuttle being fired upon again unable to escape the shuttle is destroyed. Once again they return to the shuttle, this time however it looks like they have avoided the anomaly that is causing the strange time loops and they return to Voyager. This is only the beginning of further strange occurrences, the Doctor diagnoses the captain with the Vidiian Phage and when he can't find a cure he euthanises her against her will. In the next loop she sees herself die and witnesses the time look from the outside; seeing herself die as though she were a ghost, she even meets her late father who tells her she is dead. Unable to believe that she is dead she tries unsuccessfully to communicate with Kes and even attends her own memorial service. When it is finally revealed that everything she has seen since the crash was caused by an alien presence in her mind it came as a bit of a surprise.

This was an interesting episode; while I didn't believe that the captain would end up dead I couldn't figure out just what was happening to her. It was clear that something was not right when the Doctor killed her; no matter how ill a patient was he would never do such a thing, especially not against their will. The way the alien presence took the form of somebody she trusted made him more sinister than many of the 'monsters' they have encountered.

Not a really good episode. Too many things don't convince. At no time did I think that Janeway was really accompanied by her dead father to the afterlife. Not to mention a few plotholes ... In addition, the plot is very confused and therefore badly told. It's a little too much too: Timeloop, Vidians, and a murderous doctor. It would have been better to shorten the stories, especially because the beginning and end don't match. After all, you've actually seen all of the subplots and ideas of this episode on TNG, DS9 or even VOY (cause & effect, the next phase, remember me, flashback, etc.). Some nice moments (Janeway's pride when she sees the team working together) and good actors in some scenes make this episode overall ... average.

While on a mission to a planet which is enduring an ion storm in its atmosphere, Janeway suffers a serious head injury as Chakotay attends to her after they crash their shuttlecraft on the surface. Janeway suffers what she first believes is a time loop repeating every time her and Chakotay encounter death (variations include being assaulted by Vidiians, their shuttlecraft exploding, Janeway and Chakotay returning to ship but Janeway contracting the phage from a Vidiian chokehold), but eventually she sees him trying to bring her back to life, as if an out of body experience! When Chakotay returns to the ship with Janeway's body, attempts to resurrect her fail, and a move to interact with telepathic Kes leads nowhere. Soon, emerging from this rift of light, is Janeway's "father" (Len Cariou), encouraging her to abandon her crew and follow him into eternity, a consciousness of everlasting joy. But Janeway isn't ready to let go and "move on".

Odd premise aside (and the time loops at the beginning certainly would seem to introduce a far different plot than what eventually occurs), there is a nicely poignant "funeral" where Torres and Kim speak warm and lovingly about their Captain as others solemnly reflect on her time with them. The euthanasia scene where Picardi's Doctor "gases" Janeway when she suffers the phage is particularly a bizarre sequence, as are the use of the Vidiians (maneuvers with the shuttlecraft as the Vidiians' warships attack produce brief space excitement), merely bit players in a much larger story involving a type of "death alien entity" hoping Janeway will give in and follow him into his "matrix". Janeway "cheating death" by staring him down and seeing past the "disguise" trying to manipulate her is rather ironic as Star Trek Captains often do just that…with this time literally squaring off with death. Cariou is really a smart choice to portray a simulation of Janeway's father, producing enough presence and command worthy of a great man influential in the development of a sterling starship captain, yet gradually slips those qualities away until his motives are revealed. Janeway refusing to give up, dogged in returning to her crew, and seeing behind the façade, is what I thought was the episode's greatest asset. Just Kate Mulgrew giving us that range of emotions, enduring quite the roller coaster, leaving the episode full of enthusiasm, as if granted a lease on life she plans to enjoy with Chakotay agreeing, happily, to join her in a bit of entertainment during some downtime. I really liked the little moments of Janeway following Torres and Kim as they work on the theory of her caught in some type of anomaly and seeing Tuvok using a Vulcan telepathic meld with Kes that results in disappointment. I especially liked her response to Tuvok, entering a log about his failure in finding her presence through Kes. Cariou using methods of desperate pleading after softly trying, with Janeway unyielding in her defiance, is also quite fun. I found this to be a weird experience because I thought it was all over the place, but still thought it had some really great moments truly reaching out from within a messy structure.

An entire episode about an alien attempting to get Janeway to submit to death so that it could enjoy her tasty consciousness for all of eternity.

Great ----- Like I need any more of a reason to fear dying.... Now I have to wonder if some alien is going to snack on my spiritual space force energy.

Overall this is a solid episode but the time loop / conjured reality did not elegantly tie-in to the big reveal for me.

The exploration of life after death and uneasiness around Janeways father was the best part. I wonder if they should have done a twist on the 'Tapestry' episode of TNG ---- Janeway relives moments from her life but something is out of place and she unravels the mystery as the episode progresses with her father being 'presented' as a passive guide to her next life?

This was just missing a few elements for me despite enjoying the idea behind this space monster.

When making this episode, I believe the writers tried to work into a feeling of dread for Janeway, and for its audience, however, even after the first or second "death", it just felt false and cringey.

The other part was in the way that Star Trek portrays Robert Beltran's character To be fair, I can see why Robert Beltran wanted to leave Star Trek. Even his responses made no sense. During the first come back where they're both in the shuttle after dying by being shot and strangled, Janeway makes the comment "wait a minute!" - and Robert Beltran's line was "Your right we've been here before!" Not only did it not make any sense, but make it Chikotay seems stupid. The show tried to push a boundary and it just didn't work. I think I was more than fair in the reading. I gave them and probably a little bit over because I think it deserves a little bit more than 1 or 2 stars.

Janeway meets an Alien monster!!!

In this episode, Captain Janeway and Chakotay are going to a nearby planet... but they enter an electrical storm and the shuttle crashs on a planet. Captain has become unconscious but Chakotay revives her. And then it turns out she is in a time loop and there are many different versions of the same event... Some involving Vidiians... it turns out an alien presence, an alien monster is trying to lure Captain Janeway when she is near death so it would be able to feed on Captain Janeway's dead soul's life energy forever like a spider feeding on it's prey... later, Captain Janeway and Chakotay are safely back on Voyager and they hope the alien monster they encountered only exists in the delta quadrant. I think this episode is similiar to the star trek movie "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" in which they meet God... maybe star trek is trying to replace God and become a new religion...

This is almost definitely the best Star Trek Voyager episode I ever saw! I had to wait weeks to see it, and it was well worth the wait! The episode sees Captain Janeway getting killed time after time after time, and contains some first class acting from both Janeway and Chakotay (Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran),and also introduces us to Janeway's deceased father, and her reaction to him. I think it gives you another insight into her character, and makes you consider another side to her. This episode makes you think about what might happen if there was no Captain Janeway, and how her ever so loyal crew would react to her absence, and it is well worth watching! I would recommend it to anyone!

I absolutely love this episode to bits, it's excellently put together and plays-out so brilliantly, and I find the whole premise and idea of it fantastic and quite chilling, and I love that, that a series like Voyager which is predominantly science-fiction could actually be genuinely unnerving when it was trying to be, and this one has a great creepy tone and atmosphere, a lot more so when you watch it knowing all the twists, and you're aware that everything following Janeway's injury in the crash at the prologue are all dreams of a sort generated by the powerful mental abilities of a mysterious and very likely malevolent being from some inter-dimensional neatherealm that seems to lie at some point between life and death, who tries a multitude of scenarios to manipulate, confuse and entice the captain into willingly entering this "Matrix" of wonder, where her very 'soul will give him sustenance for a very long time - maybe even forever! But our Kathryn is far too wily and naturally suspicious to ever allow herself to truly be manipulated in such a way by anyone, even if they're wearing the guise of her own deceased father. Apart from the end, my favourite part is the entire sequence where she's led to believe that she's passed on and is a spirit watching over the grieving crew, there's a couple of really touching scenes. I don't count Harry Kim's ridiculous and drawn-out "berry" speech, although Janeway was certainly moved by it, maybe I'm missing something.. I did find it moving what Tuvok says after Kes leaves, that did get me a bit misty-eyed. Anyway the plot just smoothly builds upon itself so superbly that when it gets to the climactic scene where Janeway puts her foot down and says: "Let me tell you this, we can stand here for all eternity..." I'm just riveted every time, in my opinion it's one of the best episodes in terms of atmosphere that they ever put out, and it's a great little showcase for Captain Janeway's tenacity and fearlessness. I love the hilarious tone her voice suddenly takes on as she declares; "...and I will never choose to go with you!" I also find it pretty cute in the closing scene how animated she is as she rushes to join Chakotay on the holodeck! Len Cariou gives a terrific performance that allows him to show his talent for being subtly menacing as an alien devil in disguise. Terrific. See ya, and..~Beware the light!!!~

Back to the joys of Voyager: Janeway dies, and refuses to go for the white light.

Yes, it seems that when you die, an alien disguised as one of your dead relatives appears and convinces you to pass into the next world so that your very soul may nourish him for eternity. And you thought the maggots were bad.

First, Janeway is caught in a temporal loop with Chakotay in which they're forced to repeat the most boring conversation in history indefinitely. Those are her words, not mine. Then we learn that the time loop was actually filler until we could get to the heart of the episode, which is dealing with death. The Voyager crew seem to deal with the death of their captain by going into denial, using Kes' half-ass psychic abilities and Tuvok's tutelage of the same to try and sense the dead Janeway's spirit so that they might bring it back.

When all that fails we are treated to a teary- and genuinely sad- memorial service in the mess hall during which Neelix serves... I believe it was S'mores. Anyway, Janeway fights the spirit of her "father" so stubbornly that she pushes his alien presence out of her brain and manages to come back to life. Too heavy, too dark, too much for me.

GRADE: C-

Time loops and angels of death!

The premise was there but it was poorly executed. I do like the time loops being identified quickly and the fact they are never the same twice, but they're not explained!

Certain elements also don't add up either, the doctor giving up for one. Janeway getting through to Kes by passing through her and not trying to repeat it!

The worse part is the over sickening "love in" for Janeway at her memorial gathering, we didn't need to hear it and certainly Janeway's ego didn't need that boost. What would have been a better ending is for Janeway to learn some home truths and watch Janeway grow some humility!

Finally don't get me started on the Janeway/Chakotay relationship, it's like watching your parents trying to rekindle lust! Just no, stop it!

Some of the worst episodes in the Trek franchise are ones about temporal anomalies and time loops. So, after watching this one for a while and then seeing everything starting over like a time loop, I yelled! Then, again and again Chakotay and Janeway keep experiencing the same events again and again...but the results seem to change each time.

After one of these many repetitions, the shuttle is able to make it back to Voyager. However, the Captain has inexplicably come down with the Vidiian phage. She is going to die in a horrible and lengthy manner and the Doctor wants to euthanize her! This doesn't make a lot of sense. Naturally, after she dies, she ONCE AGAIN is on the freakin' shuttle and it all starts over again!! Oddly, however, she stands there and watches it all occur.

So basically you keep repeating the same things again and again and again. Wow...that sounds pretty dull and unimaginative. Is it? Not really. Like most similar episodes, this one is insufferably dull and one that seems like the same old same old with a few twists. The big twist you'll have to see for yourself. Suffice to say it's not enough to save this one.