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05/28/2001 Archived Entry: "Voyager"

I recently downloaded the last episode of Star Trek Voyager (so you'd better look away if you don't want to read any spoilers).

I could write on for a while about what I feel was wrong with it (usual dependence of technowizardry, time-travel shenanigans and more deus ex machina that you can poke a stick at), but I think I can sum it up much more succintly: The part of the episode that will stick in my mind is the first thirty seconds, when you see Voyager flying over the Golden Gate with fireworks. Everything after that just went downhill - I'm not even sure I understood the whole bit with Voyager popping out of the Borg sphere at the end.

The thing is, it wasn't that terrible an episode and if it was, say, a season finale that would have been fine. For the end of the series though, it could have - it should have - been so much better. I guess in that respect it's a little like the ending of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was pretty average as well, falling back on the usage of Q.

Babylon 5, on the other hand ['here we go again...'] had a fitting ending which brought the entire story to a satisfying close; it wasn't what everyone would call a happy ending, but people are agreed in that they felt it was the right ending. It didn't have huge explosions (well, it had one, but that didn't count as it wasn't in a battle) or deus ex machina. It wasn't about technology getting the heroes out of a tight situation. It was about what happens to the heroes when the journey is finished and the storytellers have moved on - about what happens after 'happily ever after'.

Oh well, at least there are a couple of promising looking science fiction shows coming out very soon; the new Star Trek series Enterprise and the new Babylon 5 series, Legend of the Rangers.