annorax star trek voyager

Star Trek: Voyager's Best Episode Delivered Its Own Version of Kang the Conqueror

"Year of Hell" is considered one of Star Trek: Voyager's best episodes, thanks to its time-altering villain. Kang the Conqueror should take notes.

• "Year of Hell" is widely regarded as one of Star Trek: Voyager's greatest episodes, as they battle an enemy who has the power to go back in time and erase his enemies from existence.
• "Year of Hell" also delivers one of the series' best villains, Annorax, who seeks to restore his declining civilization by eliminating rival species from the timeline.
• His methods parallel Kang the Conqueror, who keeps coming back to torment the heroes and seeks to dominate all of creation.

Star Trek: Voyager was a series of peaks and valleys, swinging for the fences every week and scoring some of the franchise's very best episodes as well as a few of the absolute worst. Season 4, Episodes 8 and 9, "Year of Hell" consistently ranks among the very top, demonstrating what the show was capable of when everything was firing on all cylinders. It features a fascinating sci-fi concept, as well as a terrific antagonist in Kurtwood Smith's Annorax, who might be one of the saga's biggest monsters. He discovered how to manipulate the timeline by erasing entire species from existence in order to achieve a desired outcome.

In the process, he takes on surprising similarities to another time-hopping villain, Kang the Conqueror , whose threat to the Marvel Cinematic Universe entails many of the same methods and tactics that Annorax demonstrates. "Year of Hell" tells its own story, and the similarities are mainly conceptual, but they're also too prevalent to readily ignore. Both figures act out of what they believe to be pure motives, and both try to take control of reality in an effort to give it what they want. They even use similar visual cues in their methods, along with a "safe space" that renders them immune from their various incursions. Annorax exemplifies Voyager's very best storytelling instincts, and although the MCU applies the same concepts on a much larger scale, it could take notes from the way the Star Trek franchise handles its most "Kangian" villain.

'Year of Hell' Is Voyager at Its Best

How voyager became star trek's wildest show.

Voyager didn't have the luxury of falling back on Star Trek staples like the Klingons or Romulans for story ideas. It arrived on the heels of two other very successful shows -- Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- and sought to break from their pattern by stranding its crew on the other side of the galaxy. Accordingly, it leaned into wild scientific theories and one-shot planets, as well as recurring threats like the Kazon and the Borg. When the show combined a brilliant notion with a tension-filled plot, it could produce magic of a kind unseen in the franchise since the days of Star Trek: The Original Series.

"Year of Hell" hits upon a brilliant notion that it develops into an extremely well-crafted story. Belonging to a declining civilization known as the Krenim Imperium, a scientist named Annorax invents a temporal weapon designed to wipe his people's enemies out of the fabric of space-time. In this manner, he eliminated entire species from ever existing, but the resulting changes to the timeline are like ripples in a pond. They create unanticipated outcomes, such as the resurgence of deadly pandemics that kill millions and the rise of new political powers as older ones vanish. By the time Voyager enters his territory, he and his crew have spent over two centuries trying to tweak the timeline just the right way to get the outcome they desire. It boils down to restoring his wife, who was inadvertently eliminated from time-space during his very first incursion.

The Voyager's Captain Kathryn Janeway becomes a fatal fly in the ointment and one of the variables Annorax hadn't counted on. Initially just trying to pass peacefully through Krenim territory, Voyager is subjected to increasingly brutal attacks as the manipulation of time increases the Imperium's power. The crew gains an edge when one of the enemies' torpedoes lodges in the ship's side, allowing Seven of Nine to analyze it and devise protection for the ship. It comes at a staggeringly high cost, with Voyager damaged almost beyond repair and the bulk of the crew forced to abandon ship at the end of the first episode. Annorax takes Paris and Chakotay hostage, giving them an opportunity to sabotage Annorax's ship amid a surprise attack in the finale of the second episode. Alone on the bridge of a fatally damaged Voyager, Janeway plots a collision course: destroying Annorax's vessel and restoring the timeline to its original path.

Annorax May Be Voyager's Greatest Villain

"Year of Hell" thrives because of its concept genuinely exploring the implications of altering the timeline rather than viewing time travel as just another way to visit an interesting setting. That informs every other aspect of the episode, including the shocking damage to Voyager's structure as the evolving timeline puts it through the wringer. In the end, it's a battered hulk with Janeway alone on the bridge piloting it to destruction, but beyond the visuals, the real tension comes in seeing its fortunes change rapidly beneath a seemingly unstoppable weapon that has the power to re-write reality. Like all good Frankenstein monsters, that ability grows out of its creator's control: inviting disaster in a futile effort to master cosmic forces best left alone.

All of that is bound up in Annorax, who quietly becomes one of Janeway's greatest antagonists this side of the Borg. Smith had already played multiple characters in the franchise, starting with the Efrosian Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . But none of them are as nuanced, nor as self-aware. Other onscreen Krenim are portrayed as blustery and bullying, but he's polite, thoughtful, and even sympathetic to Voyager's plight, offering to restore their damaged ship in exchange for Chakotay's help.

Annorax made a mistake by inadvertently erasing his wife from existence and spends two centuries erasing entire species in an effort to correct it. It makes him utterly implacable beneath his seemingly reasonable facade, even as he acknowledges the horrifying moral cost to his efforts. "Year of Hell" comes down to a battle of wills between him and Janeway, and Janeway prevails only because she's willing to sacrifice everything in the attempt. Annorax, pining for his lost wife, can't quite match it. In the episode's ironic conclusion, the reset timeline restores him to his former state as a theorist, with his wife still alive and the weapon presumably forever unfinished.

Annorax Plays the Same Games as Kang the Conqueror

How one star trek: voyager episode almost visited the mirror universe.

His tactics and methods bear an eerie similarity to Kang the Conqueror, and more specifically the villain's various MCU incarnations . Kang, like Annorax, is a scientist who makes a cosmically powerful discovery with which he ostensibly intends to do good. Both characters come to feel that they're above consequences, and can destroy their enemies simply by going back in time and erasing them. Both characters are happy to make a devil's bargain with the protagonists provided it gets them what they want. In Kang's case, he offers to help Scott Lang regain the time he's lost, while Annorax promises to restore Voyager.

Even at their most maniacal, they seek what they consider reasonable solutions -- a sign that underneath it all, they're still just a pair of scientists at heart. Their methodology is surprisingly similar as well. Annorax's ship exists outside the space-time continuum, much like the TVA and The Citadel at the End of Time in the MCU. And like the TVA workers, Annorax and his crew don't appear to age as long as they remain there. Annorax has spent over 200 years trying to stuff his genie back in the bottle, and has the capacity to take the rest of eternity if he wishes. The vessel even has a display screen charting the ebb and flow of the timeline that closely resembles similar displays in TVA headquarters, complete with extending branches to chart the resulting divergence.

Loki Season 2 Finale Reveals What Happened to Quantumania's Kang

Their respective reigns end with the destruction of their time-traveling devices, and just as Kang is certain to return after Scott Lang destroys his Time Sphere in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania , Annorax ends "Year of Hell" with the door open to repeat his crimes once Voyager safely exits Krenim space. Most importantly, both characters demonstrate what the road to hell is paved with, and how they tell themselves that it's all for the best even as they condemn untold billions to nonexistence. Those intentions tie into their primary gimmick, time travel, which in turn informs the more interesting implications of using it.

Character ends up informing the plot, and in the case of "Year of Hell," it turned into one of Voyager's high points. Kang's road has been rockier, with Quantumania being a box office failure and his future in the MCU is suddenly quite uncertain. But the similarities remain, and point to the tremendous potential he still holds as a Thanos-level villain. Annorax works because Voyager committed fully to the concept, which was part of the show's bold creative efforts that also produced some of its misfires. With a little of the same boldness, the MCU can do far better by Kang, and perhaps help right its own troubled ship in the process.

Star Trek Voyager

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

The Best One-Off Characters In Star Trek: Voyager

Across its seven seasons , "Star Trek: Voyager" followed the crew of the titular Starfleet vessel as it traversed the faraway Delta Quadrant to return home to Federation space. Led by Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway , "Star Trek: Voyager" featured a memorable ensemble cast as the starship braved dangerous territory throughout its long journey. However, as beloved as the principal cast is, there are plenty of one-off guest stars on"Voyager" that helped elevate the show to new heights .

From formidable adversaries and villains to supporting characters that brought new dimensions to "Star Trek: Voyager," there is no shortage of excellent guest roles. Featuring a mix of prolific character actors and big-name stars, these characters not only enhanced their respective episodes but brought out the best in the main cast. With all that in mind, we've narrowed it down to the 12 best one-off characters from "Star Trek: Voyager's" 172-episode run,

Telek R'Mor (Vaughn Armstrong) — Eye of the Needle

Stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager often turned to help from unlikely sources, including the Romulans in the first season episode "Eye of the Needle." Finding a wormhole capable of relaying messages back to the Alpha Quadrant, Voyager is surprised when the first presence they make contact with is Romulan Captain Telek R'Mor (Vaughn Armstrong). Janeway strikes a rapport with Telek, and the two captains overcome their mutual distrust for one another in a gesture of cooperation and good faith.

At this point in "Star Trek" history, the Romulans hadn't enjoyed the evolution into allies of the Federation that the Klingons had, and Telek brings a heightened level of tension and paranoia to the proceedings. However, this gives way to a touching chemistry between Telek and Janeway, a rare foil for the seasoned, no-nonsense Starfleet officer that makes Telek stand far above most guest stars on the show. As with most things "Voyager," this budding dynamic would take a bittersweet turn, but Telek is one of the more memorable one-off characters in the series early years that would help set the overarching tone.

Quinn (Gerrit Graham) — Death Wish

The second season episode, "Death Wish," as the title would suggest, is oddly morbid but also fits in the exploration of the human condition that "Star Trek" is known for. The Voyager is visited by Quinn (Gerrit Graham), one of the omnipotent Q Continuum, who pleads for the right to end his life after his long cosmic existence. As Q (John de Lancie) arrives to bring Quinn back to the Continuum to ensure this doesn't happen, Janeway becomes an arbiter between the two demigods.

As a god who has grown tired of his existence after witnessing untold eons pass, Graham brings immense world-weariness and end-of-life serenity to Quinn. Quinn's argument to be allowed to die before in an impromptu trial overseen by Janeway on a moral question with no easy answer is a standout scene. Juxtaposed against de Lancie's mischievously manic Q, Quinn's old soul performance is elevated all the more, balancing determination with melancholia in equal measure.

Henry Starling (Ed Begley, Jr.) — Future's End

The Voyager managed to arrive on Earth in the two-part Season 3 episode "Future's End," albeit with a time-bending twist. The crew is transported to Earth in 1996 rather than the 24th century. A time traveler that had been pursuing Voyager accidentally opens a temporal rift, with unscrupulous businessman Henry Starling (Ed Begley Jr.) harvesting technology from the time-traveler's ship and passing it off as his invention. As the Voyager moves to stop Starling from disrupting history further, they must contend with their presence threatening to upend the timeline.

Begley is a beloved character actor who has played numerous kindly, paternal figures throughout his extensive career and effectively plays against type as Starling. Starling is one the most conniving and manipulative antagonists in "Star Trek: Voyager," playing on the crew's sympathies to his advantage. In an age filled with egotistical technocrats with delusions of grandeur, Starling is one "Star Trek: Voyager" character that has aged particularly well and is certainly a worthy enemy for the crew.

Rain Robinson (Sarah Silverman) — Future's End

Ed Begley, Jr. isn't the only memorable guest star to appear in "Future's End," with comedian and actor Sarah Silverman getting in on the two-part time-travel action. Silverman plays Rain Robinson, an astronomer hired by Starling to keep an eye out for any additional starships passing near Earth. However, after making contact with the Voyager crew, Robinson finds herself targeted by an assassin hired by Starling to maintain the secret behind his ill-gotten technology empire.

What makes Silverman's performance as Robinson so enjoyable is her character's on-screen chemistry with Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Tuvok (Tim Russ). More than just providing comic relief, Silverman lights up the proceedings whenever she's on the screen. She plays particularly well off McNeill. If Begley is playing against type as the villainous Starling, Silverman, quirky and funny without overstaying her welcome, leans into her natural strengths as Robinson's world is completely turned upside-down.

Belle (Lindsey Haun) — Real Life

Throughout the entire run of "Voyager," the Doctor (Robert Picardo) developed a burgeoning sense of humanity as he became more autonomous from his base emergency medical hologram programming. Perpetually curious about the human experience, the Doctor programs an elaborate holodeck program that gives him a suburban family to come home to in the episode "Real Life." This descends into outright tragedy as the Doctor's programmed daughter, Belle (Lindsey Haun), has an accident that leaves the Doctor to discover the pain of enduring death.

"Real Life" could've very easily been one of the more distractingly melodramatic episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" if it wasn't for Picardo and Haun giving this familial relationship a firm emotional foundation. If there was ever a character to remind audiences of the genuine human stakes behind the virtual realities on the Holodeck, the Doctor is the best suited to make that argument. Haun stands out from the rest of the guest cast to underscore the sense of heartbreak that the Doctor suffers as he faces the most traumatizing aspect of his newfound fatherhood.

Annorax (Kurtwood Smith) — Year of Hell

The Season 4 two-part episode "Year of Hell" perfectly captures the stranded premise and occasionally desperate tone of "Voyager." After taking a detour, Voyager is dogged by constant attacks for a year, incurring heavy damage and casualties to the starship. Leading the hunt is a maddened scientist named Annorax (Kurtwood Smith), who obsessively believes that destroying Voyager will undo fluctuations in the timeline and restore his deceased wife.

As Annorax, Smith pulls off the tricky feat of playing a pursuer as single-mindedly driven as Captain Ahab but with enough sympathy that we feel for the guy, even as he plots to destroy Voyager. "Year of Hell" is easily one of the best episodes in the entirety of "Star Trek: Voyager," and much of that elevated quality comes from the earnest intensity of Smith's performance. While Voyager may still be far from home by the episode's ending, Annorax has the best possible happy ending, giving the show a surprisingly heartfelt and hopeful note.

Quarren (Henry Woronicz) — Living Witness

"Star Trek: Voyager" has the benefit of largely taking place in a quadrant of the galaxy unfamiliar with Starfleet and the Federation, making the starship and its crew strangers in a strange land. "Living Witness" from Season 4 flips the perspective on Voyager's exploits through a museum exhibit approximately seven centuries in the future. The museum activates a backup copy of the Doctor, who is appalled by how Voyager is depicted and recounts to museum curator Quarren (Henry Woronicz) how history truly unfolded.

In Quarren, "Star Trek: Voyager" receives a somewhat impartial observer who puts the starship crew under scrutiny, with the Doctor serving as his friends' defender. With established history challenged, Quarren has to choose whether he stands with his people and what they've grown up to believe about Voyager or side with the Doctor's account. "Living Witness" is a unique transposition of Voyager's place in the Delta Quadrant in the eyes of those affected centuries later, with Quarren providing a point of view for the audience that is elevated by Woronicz's dynamic with Picardo.

One (J. Paul Boehmer) — Drone

"Star Trek: Voyager" continues themes of looking at trauma inflicted by the Borg Collective introduced in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" while humanizing the relentless enemy. These themes are primarily explored by Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), who finds a surprising kinship with a newly formed Borg drone, played by J. Paul Boehmer in the fifth season episode "Drone." Known simply as One, the drone is formed by nanobots from Seven interfacing with the Doctor's 29th-century technology during a transporter accident, with the Borg Collective hunting him to assimilate this advanced tech.

One helps Seven of Nine understand her status as a former drone liberated from the Collective, making their own observations about the Borg and humanity. Although the Borg are among the most menacing races in "Star Trek," Boehmer brings a sense of innocence to One as a drone naive to their nature and place in the galaxy. Innocence quickly gives way to tragedy when One, recognizing his entire existence poses a threat, must destroy the pursuing Borg. The moment is a beautiful full-circle scene, as a drone partially born of Seven reminds her of her resilience as he makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Kashyk (Mark Harelik) — Counterpoint

From the start of "Star Trek: Voyager," Capt. Janeway faces crisis after crisis as she maintains command over a composite crew and ship stranded without support from Starfleet. The fifth season episode, "Counterpoint," shows just how keenly strategic Janeway is as a commander. As Voyager passes through a sector with a ban on telepaths while secretly transporting refugees to safety, they are dogged by Inspector Kashyk (Mark Harelik), who takes a strong interest in human culture — and Janeway.

Janeway rarely gets an overt romantic foil, and Kate Mulgrew's dynamic with guest star Harelik makes for a gripping game of cat-and-mouse as both characters size each other up. More than just making eyes at each other, Janeway and Kashyk are playing mental chess with lives hanging in the balance. As Kashyk thinks he has finally tricked Janeway into lowering her guard, the captain reveals she has been playing him all along. This interplay is only made possible by Harelik being a credible opponent and love interest for Janeway, and the two actors take full advantage of this.

Noss (Lori Petty) — Gravity

Virtually every actor portraying a Vulcan in "Star Trek" has to convey the bulk of their character's repressed emotions through subtext and nuance. Tim Russ mastered this as Tuvok in seven seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager." The fifth season episode, "Gravity," gives Tuvok a love interest in Noss (Lori Petty). When Tuvok, Paris, and the Doctor are stranded on a remote planet (with the added wrinkle of their universal translators being broken), they struggle to find a way to contact Voyager. Tuvok keeps his emotions in check rather than admit his mutual attraction to Noss. This is made all the more complicated by the language barrier between them.

Having to speak primarily in an alien language and pretend to learn English is a thankless task for any actor and carries the risk of venturing into outright camp. In addition to deftly pulling off this daunting assignment, Petty creates a character charming enough for us to believe that Noss could compromise Tuvok's typically unflappable facade. Petty brings a steely resilience to Noss that cuts through her usual higher-pitched vocal delivery and demeanor, blending vulnerability with a determination that plays superbly opposite Russ.

Hirogen (J.G. Hertzler) — Tsunkatse

This might be a hot take, but while Dwayne Johnson's guest-starring appearance in the sixth season episode, "Tsunkatse," is the show's most memorable, it's not the best guest performance in the episode. This isn't a slight to Johnson so much as it is a compliment to the other guest stars appearing in "Tsunkatse," one of whom is "Star Trek" veteran J.G. Hertzler, whose character is simply credited as a Hirogen hunter. Of the two opponents that Seven of Nine takes on in the episode's central gladiatorial spectacle, Hirogen outshines the Champion (Johnson) because of the complexity Hertzler brings to the role.

When Seven of Nine is forced to fight in a series of mixed martial arts fights, she is mentored and healed by the Hirogen, who offers his sage wisdom to the new combatant. Of course, the Hirogen ends up being the final opponent Seven of Nine faces, with Hertzler displaying the quiet turmoil his character endures during the brutal duel. Hertzler excelled as noble Klingon leader Gen. Martok in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and brings a more understated sense of honor as the Hirogen as a grizzled teacher and a tragic pugilist.

Penk (Jeffrey Combs) — Tsunkatse

J.G. Hertzler isn't the only "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" alum to appear as a different character in "Tsunkatse," with fan-favorite Jeffrey Combs playing the conniving fight coordinator Penk in the episode. Penk captures Seven of Nine and Tuvok, coercing Seven of Nine to fight in the eponymous mixed-martial arts competition in exchange for life-saving medical treatment for Tuvok. Manipulative and sadistic, Penk revels in his dark side in contrast to Combs' more stoic antagonist Weyoun in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

Like Hertzler, Combs is heavily made up for his "Voyager" role and scarcely recognizable. He clearly relishes the chance to play a much more gleeful villain. The sense of fun Combs' performance brings carries through the entire episode. Penk is as calculating as he is vicious. The Champion and the Hirogen may provide "Tsunkatse" with its physical opponents, but Penk stands out as the primary adversary.

Star Trek: Voyager's Greatest Villains, Ranked

Here's the worst of the worst.

Star Trek: Voyager encountered many villainous obstacles on its long journey back to Earth, but which among these would fans consider the best? Better yet, where do they rank compared to each other? 

I’ve been binging Star Trek: Voyager with my Paramount+ subscription , and feel like I have a solid lock on some of the show's best villains fans might remember. Ranked from great to greatest, here is a rundown of the worst Captain Janeway and her crew faced as they made their way through the Delta Quadrant. Given all the chatter as of late about Kate Mulgrew potentially reprising her role in live-action , it feels like as good of a time as any to remember why so many folks are still clammoring for new Voyager projects these days.

10. Angry Tuvok

Star Trek fans received a taste of an unhinged Tuvok in Season 2's “Meld,” where the crew worked to solve the mystery of a murder on the Voyager . The Vulcan, disturbed by the fact the Betazoid responsible for the crime didn’t have a motive, attempted a mind meld in order to try and understand what occurred. As a result ,he found himself with a murderous rage, and it took a good deal to get him back to his normal self. 

Angry Tuvok is toward the bottom of the list because, let’s be honest, he’s not actually a villain. With that said, seeing him unhinged and out of control of his emotions shows just how dangerous Vulcans were before they committed to logic and suppressing feelings. He could easily bring Voyager down if he wanted to, so I have to commend his restraint in not doing that, or strangling Neelix to death. 

9. The Nazi Hirogen

The Hirogen species had a few encounters with Voyager during the show’s run, but one particular misdeed of theirs really sticks out. The Season 4 two-parter “The Killing Game” sent the crew back to Nazi-occupied France as Janeway and the crew attempted to combat the soldiers. In reality, the Hirogen had captured them, and forced them into a holosimulation without their knowledge in an effort to enjoy the thrill of ongoing hunts. 

The Nazi Hirogen, while not truly Nazis outside of the simulation, were still pretty dastardly. They used technology to brainwash the crew, and disabled safety protocols on injuries, which required the Doctor to perform operations on the crew to keep them alive between hunts. Thankfully, Harry Kim was able to free the crew by working with the Doctor, which was one of the few times Voyager made him look competent and capable .

Devore inspector Kashyk from Season 5's "Counterpoint" was about as charming as he was conniving, and Janeway and crew were forced to deceive him to protect its telepathic passengers. While their initial efforts were effective, Kashyk duped Janeway by claiming he'd defected from his species, only to expose the whereabouts of the telepathic crew and capture them. 

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Kashyk wasn’t the worst of the worst of Star Trek: Voyager , but he was quite a snake. He also toyed with the heart of our beloved captain at a vulnerable time in her life. Luckily, she was a bit more clever, and managed to turn the tables on him yet again. Still, the guy was just a rat bastard, and I’m glad we didn’t see him again for the rest of the series. 

Some might say Seska is the primary villain tied to the Kazon, but even she suffered at the hands of Culluh. The Kazon gave the crew hell during Seasons 1 through 3, and honestly, nearly ended this mission well before it really made any progress. 

What makes Culluh especially evil, however, is using Seska and his own child in a ploy to stop Voyager , under the guise that the child was Chakotay’s. Culluh’s actions ultimately resulted in Seska’s death, which was the only thing that really led Culluh to leave Voyager be. 

6. The Clown

Some folks will argue Season 2's “The Thaw” is one of Star Trek: Voyager ’s most frightening episodes. I wouldn’t go that far, but I will agree that one of the show’s worst villains appeared in the episode, and I’d certainly hate to come across The Clown after what he put his captives through here. 

The Clown was merely a manifestation created inside of a neural network but was able to hold a group of individuals hostage in stasis for fifteen years before Voyager came along. The psychological torture is just unfathomable, and while he ultimately was defeated, there’s no doubt that the impact of his influence was felt by those affected for years to come. 

5. Icheb’s Parents

Star Trek: Voyager introduced the young refugee Borg Icheb’s parents in Season 6's “Child’s Play,” and in hindsight, we should’ve guessed they weren’t great people. After the Voyager crew convinced Icheb to reconnect with his family, it seemed like we were headed toward a happy ending. Unfortunately, we later learned that he was intentionally assimilated by the Borg, as his Brunali parents infected him with a pathogen that damaged the Borg cube and protected their people from attack. 

Icheb’s parents are here on the list because they never intended to make a meaningful reconnection with their son, but rather wanted to send him out again in an effort to infect more Borg with their virus. Pretty heartless, and upsetting for viewers.

Kes was always a complicated character for Star Trek: Voyager to tackle, and it seemed the series never knew what to do with her before writing her out of the main cast. Though Lien left the series as a main cast member, she did get a return episode in Season 6's “Fury” in which Kes went on a misguided quest for revenge against Voyager . 

Kes was much older due to her species’ shortened lifespan, but her psychic abilities made her effectively unstoppable. She would've succeeded, but her past self managed to talk some sense into her. 

3. The Wormhole Creature

Season 5's “Bliss” offers the crew hope when they seemingly find a wormhole that will transport them instantly back to Earth. Understandably so, the entire crew was thrilled and eager to go to any lengths to make it happen, but Seven of Nine had her doubts. It soon became a battle between Seven and the rest of the crew, as she attempted to save her friends from themselves. 

The wormhole creature from “Bliss” might be a wildcard choice for Star Trek: Voyager villains, but I can’t think of a more perfect creature for this list. If it wasn’t for a last-minute push from the EMH Doctor and Seven, the Voyager crew would’ve perished under the illusion they were on a fast track back to Earth. On one hand, it’s probably not the worst fate they could’ve succumbed to, but man, what a cruel fate considering all they’d been through to that point.  

2. Annorax 

The Star Trek: Voyager crew was brought to its knees during Season 4's “Year Of Hell,” after encountering a temporal scientist named Annorax hellbent on restoring the status of his homeworld. Janeway and the crew tried to fight back, but his weapon systems were engaged with a device capable of wiping an entire species from existence. This led the crew to be cautious, and engage in a long conflict that nearly wiped them out entirely. 

The “Year Of Hell” arc is an all-time great Star Trek storyline, and part of that is due to Kurtwood Smith’s incredible performance as Annorax. One man’s quest to restore his planet’s status and bring back his wife becomes obsessive and results in the deaths of countless individuals. Thankfully, the time element managed to reset things to normal, though his impact on the crew makes him an easy choice for one of the greatest enemies Voyager ever faced. 

1. Borg Queen

As if there were any choice for number one, the Borg Queen stands as the definitive villain for Star Trek: Voyager . Hell, the Borg Queen is an all-time villain for the Trek franchise. There’s definitely something special about Voyager ’s connection to the Borg, and that’s largely because of the queen's encounters with Jeri Ryan ’s Seven of Nine in Seasons 5 through 7. 

The Borg Queen is a master manipulator and always seemed capable of pulling just about anyone into her grasp if given the opportunity. This dynamic was so strong that it became a major part of the latest season of Star Trek: Picard , so it’s no surprise the Borg Queen reigns supreme in terms of the series' greatest villains. 

Stream Star Trek: Voyager right now on Paramount+ . After that, be sure to check out Kate Mulgrew’s Janeway on Prodigy , and keep that subscription for the number of other upcoming Trek shows slated for the coming months. 

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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Recap / Star Trek: Voyager S4 E8: "Year of Hell"

Edit locked.

This is one year I'd like to forget.

This two-part episode provides examples of

• 2-D Space : Averted with the creation of the Astrometrics lab , so Voyager 's course no longer has to be represented on flat screens. Annorax's vessel plays the trope straight.
• A Million Is a Statistic : Annorax and his crew are willing to erase billions of people from existence, simply to get a few percentage points closer to their ideal timeline.
• Abandon Ship : Averted at first; Chakotay suggests they abandon Voyager and use the shuttles to sneak through Krenim space. Janeway refuses to consider the idea until the cliffhanger end of Part One. " I’m not breaking up the family , Chakotay. We’re stronger as a team — one crew, one ship."
• The temporal shields make Voyager immune to the changes caused by the Timeship when the crew didn't even know that was a threat they needed to be protected from.
• Unfortunately, the temporal shield also prevents the damage to Voyager and her crew from being "healed" from the reset.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head : When saying goodbye to a blind Tuvok, Janeway cups his face in both hands.
• Brought up by Janeway when the Doctor tries to relieve her of duty due to her potential PTSD, as she forces him to acknowledge that the ship doesn’t have the resources to keep her confined even if they would go through with that order.
• Janeway also asks this when Chakotay first suggests the idea of abandoning the ship - sure, a bunch of escape pods and shuttles could probably sneak through Krenim space much easier than the starship itself, but those pods and shuttles would have a distinct disadvantage with weapons and shields, and, even if they did make it through to the other side, what would they do without Voyager 's resources going forward in their journey home? Even Chakotay acknowledges that he didn't like the idea, but he had a duty to suggest it all the same.
• Anyone Can Die : Surprisingly averted despite the inbuilt Reset Button , and the alternate timeline of "Before And After" in which both Janeway and B'Elanna were killed during the Year of Hell. At most, two Nihydron vessels are erased during the climactic battle, but it's unclear whether the two crewmembers (B'Elanna and Harry) assigned to work with the Nihydron are actually on-board those ships.
• Apologetic Attacker : Annorax has the grace to apologize before trying to wipe Voyager from existence.
• Artistic License – Ships : Contrary to what Paris seems to think, compartmentalizing a ship via transverse bulkheads did not originate with the Titanic , having been invented in China in the 5th century AD and having become near-universal in Western ships as well a century before Titanic . It's also ridiculous that Starfleet vessels wouldn't already have such compartmentalization.
• Attack Pattern Alpha : In this case, Janeway orders Attack Pattern Omega.
• Beard of Sorrow : Chakotay gets pretty scruffy on the damaged Voyager .
• Beauty Equals Goodness : Inverted with the Krenim and the Zahl—the latter look less like humans but are friendlier to Voyager .
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished : Averted when Janeway gets a severe burn scar on one side of her face, though strangely her famous red hair is unsinged. Meanwhile Seven's face is pristine as always.
• A Birthday, Not a Break : Janeway's birthday means little on a half-destroyed ship.
• Bomb Disposal : Seven finds an unexploded chronoton torpedo lodged in the hull. She can't defuse it as it's about to explode, but she can scan it for the exact temporal variance which will enable them to create effective shields.
• Book Ends : The two-parter started with Voyager coming across an aggressive but underpowered Krenim ship trying to bully Voyager while lacking any sort of weaponry to back it up . After Annorax restores most of the Krenim Imperium, the timeline shift has Voyager being pounded on by a much more powerful ship, and the same commander is now a full-on Jerkass who casually threatens to have the crew executed, with Janeway commenting that they have been dealing with these attacks for weeks now. After the timeship is destroyed the timeline resets to Day One where Voyager comes across the original, smaller Krenim ship, whose commander is now much more reasonable and politely requests that they divert around the area, which Janeway agrees to do.
• The Bore : The Doctor insists on giving a speech at the opening of the Astrometrics Lab, despite the ill-concealed impatience of his fellow crew, who take the first excuse available to leave the room en masse.
• Brutal Honesty : Janeway says they need to leave the nebula before their repairs are complete. Only Seven voices what everyone's thinking , and is told off for it later by Tuvok. Seven: As a Borg, I submitted to a single authority: the Collective. Over the past several months I've been encouraged to think and act as an individual. It is difficult to know when to restrain myself. Tuvok: Remember this guideline. The Captain is always right. Seven: Even when you know her logic is flawed? Tuvok: ( Beat ) Perhaps...
• Bullying a Dragon : Subverted; a fifteen-man, lightly-armed Krenim vessel makes a pathetic attempt to scare off Voyager ... until a time shift turns it into a powerful warship with torpedoes that can pass right through their shields.
• A time distortion passes over the bridge; when it clears, Janeway is still standing in center frame, except the ship is now on Red Alert . This shot is very similar to one from TNG’s " Yesterday’s Enterprise ".
• Seven hints at the events of Star Trek: First Contact , in which the Borg also tried to remove a troublesome enemy by changing the timeline.
• A tea cup falling from the table and shattering is from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .
• Captain Nemo Copy : A man of culture who isolates himself and his crew from the outside world, driven by a quest that wrecks destruction on them all.
• The Chains of Commanding : The Doctor diagnoses Janeway as suffering from traumatic stress syndrome. It's not a stretch to guess Annorax is under similar strain, though his is largely self-induced.
• Many of the events depicted in "Year of Hell" were foreshadowed in " Before & After ", e.g. Neelix becoming a security officer and the torpedo stuck in the hull. This despite the fact that the character used to foreshadow the events (Kes) is no longer on board.
• Paris' transverse bulkheads idea comes in handy when Voyager needs to pull a Hyperspeed Escape and loses part of the outer hull.
• Cliffhanger : At the end of Part One, Tom and Chakotay have been abducted by Annorax, and Voyager’s crew takes to the Escape Pods .
• Close-Enough Timeline : Defied; Annorax achieves this at the start of the episode, with the erasure of the Zahl restoring the Krenim Imperium to 98% of its original scale. However, because his wife's colony has not been restored to him, he is determined to keep trying.
• Cold Equation : The Doctor leaves a hatch open as long as he can, but eventually has to close the door on two crewmen who wouldn’t make it before an explosion destroys most of that deck.
• Companion Cube : Janeway gives a moving speech on behalf of Voyager. Tuvok: Curious. I have never understood the human compulsion to emotionally bond with inanimate objects. This vessel has done nothing. It is an assemblage of bulkheads, conduits, tritanium, nothing more. Janeway: Oh, you're wrong. It's much more than that. This ship has been our home. It's kept us together. It's been part of our family. As illogical as this might sound, I feel as close to Voyager as I do to any other member of my crew. It's carried us, Tuvok, even nurtured us. And right now it needs one of us.
• The Krenim timeship is immune to conventional weapons fire because its shields keep it outside the space-time continuum, an Outside-Context Problem . When the time core is disabled, the ship becomes a Glass Cannon .
• The Wave-Motion Gun on the ship has no other setting besides "erase from existence," which means no matter how precise their target the results are always taking a sledgehammer to the timeline. In fairness, it has to be said that Annorax is perfectly aware of this, hence his rigorous attention to detail and trying to take every outside factor into account when making the temporal calculations.
• Critical Staffing Shortage : With several dozen crewmembers dead already from the Krenim attacks, Part 1 ends with significant damage to Voyager 's basic systems to where it can't support everyone anymore. Janeway orders most of the crew to escape pods to find help.
• Curb-Stomp Battle : When the timeship's conventional weapons open fire, they cripple the attacking fleet in seconds.
• Damage Control : With only a skeleton crew on board, their entire time is spent fixing repairs.
• Death Seeker : Janeway chooses to remain on Voyager for the final battle even though it's almost certainly too damaged to survive combat.
• Deflector Shields : Voyager is getting hammered because the Krenim torpedoes use temporal technology that can pass right through Voyager ’s shields. Thanks to Seven's analysis of the chronoton torpedo, they develop temporal shields that have the unexpected side-effect of leaving them unaffected whenever Annorax changes the timeline, which previously they hadn't even been aware of.
• The Determinator : Janeway and Annorax are each, in their way, determined to protect their people, but Janeway's actions are all defensive and focused on a clear threat where Annorax is consumed by an obsession that drives him to eliminate innocents in the name of restoring one specific person.
• Distinction Without a Difference : Tuvok: It is inappropriate to contradict the captain in front of the crew. Seven: That was not my intention. I simply pointed out that her decision was wrong.
• Doctor's Orders : Averted — using a precedent well-established in Star Trek continuity, the Doctor tries to relieve Janeway on medical grounds, but Janeway counters that he has no way to enforce that order.
• Dramatic Shattering = Portent of Doom : Janeway finds her lucky coffee cup has survived the destruction of the Ready Room. Just then the Krenim attack and the cup is knocked off the table and smashes .
• Enemy Mine : Annorax tries to make an ally out of Chakotay in order to solve their common problems. Tom and Janeway are more successful in gaining allies to oppose him.
• The End... Or Is It? : After the timeship is destroyed, history gets a Reset Button back to 'normal' and we see Annorax in a happy moment at home with his wife whom he'd previously wiped from existence. She convinces him to put his work aside and join her, and the camera finishes on a shot of his table, on which lie the plans for the timeship. Even then, the Point of Divergence condition still applies. Even if Annorax builds a "second" (original) timeship, the complexities of the time-line do not guarantee a repeat of the past events.
• Exact Time to Failure : The Doctor gets angry at Janeway for spending more than the time he recommended breathing a Deadly Gas , though it's justified in this case as him trying to minimize Janeway's exposure. EMH: I told you eight minutes on that deck, not eight-and-a-half, not nine, and certainly not twelve!
• Fake Better Alternate Timeline : Double example. A Krenim named Annorax had previously tried to win the Krenim war against the Rilnar by removing the latter from history. This caused a plague that would have been averted by the presence of Rilnar DNA in the Krenim genome. Annorax attempted to fix that with another temporal incursion, causing the disappearance of his home colony and his wife.
• Final Solution : Annorax isn’t just trying to make the Krenim Imperium greater than its rivals, but to destroy those rivals from ever having existed (as well as restore the colony planet where his wife lived). He's at least humane enough to realise what he's doing is wrong, but not enough to stop .
• First-Name Ultimatum : Chakotay calls his captain “Kathryn” when she rejects his birthday present. She ignores him .
• Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon : The Krenim timeship’s temporal disruption beam. Makes you wonder why any of the ships of Janeway’s fleet would willingly fly in front of it during the final battle ...
• Forever War : The crew of Annorax’s vessel have been trying to change history for over two hundred years as no-one can age inside the temporal field. When Annorax tells his Number Two they have all of eternity to get it right, he doesn't look happy .
• Going Down with the Ship : Janeway even invokes the trope.
• Hair Memento : All Annorax has left of his wife is a lock of her hair.
• Hand of Death : The Krenim all wear black gloves.
• Heel Realization : Chakotay gets this when he sees Annorax wipe out another civilization, simply to see what will happen.
• Heroic Sacrifice : Janeway crashes Voyager into the timeship in the hope that the destruction of the ship will cause the timeline to revert to normal. Luckily, it works.
• He's Dead, Jim : Time changing for the worst is immediately marked by a dead ensign on the bridge.
• After achieving a 98% restoration, a result they had never witnessed in 200 years of trying, Obrist argues that they should dismantle the weapon and return to their people. But Annorax is determined to keep going until his homeworld is restored.
• Hyperspeed Escape : Krenim warships can only do Warp Six, so Voyager (with a maximum cruising velocity of Warp 9.975) at least has the option of outrunning them. The last time Janeway tries this, however, large parts of the hull come flying off due to the structural damage it has sustained so far.
• I Ate WHAT?! : Annorax makes a meal for Chakotay and Paris . They seem to enjoy the food until they find out where it came from. Each dish that Annorax has had prepared is the last remnants of a civilization he has completely removed from history with his temporal weapon. There are about 20 different items on the table, showing the scale of what he has done. Chakotay and Paris' horror is palpable. "This bottle is the only component left of the once powerful Malkoth race. Everything else about them, cities, culture, the very species itself never existed, because of me. Every dish you see here comes from a civilisation that has been erased from time. Mister Paris, you're devouring the last remnants of the Alsuran Empire."
• Immortality Field : The timeship is clearly protected by one, considering that Annorax and his crew haven't aged a day in over 200 years.
• Internal Retcon : Implicit for every Series Continuity Error up to that point.
• Ironic Echo Cut : From Annorax and Chakotay toasting their alliance with crystal wineglasses to the crew of Voyager toasting their absent friends with the Elixir of Endurance in battered metal cups.
• It's All About Me : Annorax claims his time-alterations are to restore the Krenim Imperium to its former glory. But it's obvious he only really cares about bringing back his wife and homeworld, especially after he declares a 98% restored Imperium (with his wife's colony in the missing 2%) isn't good enough. Paris even notes that Annorax has reached a point where he appears to basically believe that Time itself has a grudge against him and is punishing him for his hubris by 'withholding' his wife.
• It's a Long Story : Seven knows about Zephram Cochrane's vessel The Phoenix because the Borg were present during those events . “It’s a complicated story.” Since this episode took place before Voyager had re-established contact with the Federation, it's understandable that they wouldn't be aware of those events.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope : Annorax reflects on how easy it was to use the temporal weapon the first time, and how easily he's continued to justify it.
• Krenim chroniton torpedoes generate a field which pushes them out of normal space-time until the moment of impact, rendering all defensive measures worthless against them until Voyager can generate a similar field of its own.
• Annorax's ship has a temporal core which has the same effect, rendering the entire ship immune to changes in the timeline and somehow making the entire crew immortal as long as it's active.
• Karma Houdini : Annorax ends the episode living happily with his wife on their home colony, with no memory of his 200+ year campaign of temporal genocide. Of course, technically he never committed those crimes in this new timeline...
• Lethal Chef : Voyager 's crew drink a toast to absent friends, only to pull disgusted expressions at Neelix's latest concoction. At least this time the limited resources give him a good excuse. Neelix: I call it the Elixir of Endurance. It's loaded with amino acids, carbohydrates; all the nutrients necessary for the crew to withstand these stressful conditions. Torres: Ration cubes. Neelix: Well...yes, but this time, pureed and mixed with water and enhanced with Talaxian spices. Seven: It is offensive. Fortunately, taste is irrelevant.
• The Lost Lenore : Annorax is obsessed with tweaking the timeline until his wife is brought back to him.
• The Main Characters Do Everything : An egregious example, as Tom goes straight from showing off his modifications to Voyager's hull to assisting the Doctor with triage. This is literally the case when the crew Abandon Ship except for a scratch crew made up of the main characters.
• Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds : Chakotay suggests using the weapon ship to erase a comet, which would prevent Voyager from entering Krenim space. Annorax has him run a simulation that demonstrates what the actual result of this would be — namely the eradication of all life within 50 light years, as fragments from the comet had landed on a planet billions of years in the past and helped create life on it, which eventually gave rise to a spacefaring species.
• Minion with an F in Evil : Obrist helps Tom sabotage the timeship because he wants their ordeal to end .
• My Friends... and Zoidberg are True Companions The Doctor: Who would have thought this group of voyagers could actually become a family: Starfleet, Maquis, Klingon, Talaxian, Hologram, Borg, even Mr. Paris.
• Necromantic : The reason Annorax keeps aiming for the perfect result is because he erased his wife from existence, and they lived on a colony that only exists in the original timeline.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : Voyager's temporal shields are enough to throw off Annorax's calculations, causing him to come after them when his latest incursion reverts the Krenim to a pre-warp status.
• Never Trust a Title : The final date subtitle is Day 257 as they engage in the final confrontations with the Timeship. This makes the span of the episode closer to 9 months. Day 1 with the first temporal incursion Janeway comments that their Krenim attacks have been going on for several weeks at that point, so there is some wiggle room but still not a full year. That said, it came from the previous Voyager episode "Before and After" as the term used by the crew to describe the Krenim encounter, and such nicknames are rarely precise.
• No-Sell : As long as the temporal core is active, Annorax's ship is immune to enemy attacks.
• "Not So Different" Remark : Annorax compares his attempts to restore his original timeline to Voyager's journey home, in an attempt to sway Chakotay. Chakotay : You've been at this for 200 years, Annorax. What makes you think you're ever going to succeed? Annorax : What makes you think Voyager will ever reach Earth? The odds against you are astronomical. Yet you keep trying.
• Nothing Personal : Annorax tells Janeway that he bears her no malice; she's just an obstacle he needs to get rid of.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : When the Doctor tries to relieve Janeway on medical grounds, she threatens to shut down his program. He points out that threat alone is proof that she's not thinking rationally. To her credit, she apologizes.
• Open Air Driver : In the final battle, the Voyager has it's bridge opened up and a makeshift forcefield keeping Janeway inside. Janeway decides to ram the timeship, which causes time to revert to before the ship came to be in the first place.
• The Krenim, and specifically the timeship and their temporal-based weapons. Janeway and the Voyager crew have no idea what is causing the temporal shockwaves, let alone that they are a weapon, and have no defenses against the Krenim’s temporal torpedoes until near the end of Part I.
• The timeshield they developed ended up protecting them from another timeline alteration from Annorax, which in turn throws off all their calculations to where the Krenim fleet are cargo transports instead of warships. This serves to attract Annorax to target Voyager for temporal destruction...
• The Perfectionist : Annorax. After being told that they've achieved a 98% restoration, he orders another temporal incursion and makes it clear he won't stop until "every colony, every individual, every blade of grass is restored."
• Plot Armor : Tuvok is only a few feet away from an exploding torpedo, and while he's permanently injured, his only injury is blindness. Seven, who he shielded with his body, is uninjured.
• Plot Parallel : As noted under The Determinator , Annorax and Janeway are both facing the annihilation of everything they hold dear, with the viewer getting a ringside seat to how well they handle it (or don't) and what means they are willing to justify to achieve their desired ends. Janeway is proven willing to give up everything , even her own life , while Annorax will sacrifice everyone but himself (and his power). This is even represented symbolically by their Tragic Keepsakes : Janeway, though touched by the watch Chakotay gives her, insists that it should be recycled because its components would be better used helping everyone on the ship, while Annorax refuses to "recycle" the lock of his wife's hair, instead retaining it in a stasis field to keep him focused on his goal. * And ironically, it may be his refusal to sacrifice, to let this piece of her go, that is preventing him from achieving what he seeks, thanks to the way the timeshield and Ripple Effect Indicator works.
• Point Defenseless : Averted. The timeship has gatling gun like conventional weapons on the sides of its hull.
• Annorax gains a 98% restoration of the Krenim Imperium which his Number Two insists is a Close-Enough Timeline , but Annorax continues with his quest to change the timeline because he's obsessed with getting the perfect result (his wife is part of the unrestored 2%). The second time he tries, Voyager ’s new temporal shields are enough to throw off his calculations and revert the entire Imperium to a pre-warp state.
• In Part 2 Annorax demonstrates why such precision is important. Chakotay tells him Voyager made a course correction eight months ago to avoid a comet, putting them on a heading into Krenim space, so he suggests erasing the comet from time. Annorax says that would destroy almost 8000 civilizations . Annorax: Four billion years ago fragments from that comet impacted a planet. Hydrocarbons from those fragments gave rise to several species of plant life which in turn sustained more complex organisms. Ultimately several space-faring civilisations evolved and colonised the entire sector. Chakotay: By erasing the comet I altered all evolution in this region. Annorax: Past, present and future. They exist as one. They breathe together. You're not the only person to make this mistake. When I first constructed this weapon ship I turned it against our greatest enemy, the Rilnar. The result was miraculous. With the Rilnar gone from history, my people, in an instant, became powerful again. But there were problems. A rare disease broke out among our colonies. Within a year, fifty million were dead. I had failed to realise that the Rilnar had introduced a crucial antibody into the Krenim genome and my weapon had eliminated that antibody as well . Chakotay: And you've been trying to undo that damage ever since, but each time you pull out a new thread, another one begins to unravel.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner : Just before crashing Voyager into the timeship , Janeway declaims rhetorically, "Time's up!"
• Ramming Always Works : Janeway rams Voyager straight into the timeship, causing all history to reset to the beginning of the year .
• Red Alert : Newly-promoted security officer Neelix consults Tuvok on what the audio warning should be. “Do you want it to say, ‘Intruder alert’ or do you want it to say something more dramatic like ‘Warning – intruder alert’ or ‘Intruders among us! Danger! Danger! Intruders among us!’?
• Real Men Get Shot : Tuvok takes getting blinded with the expected Vulcan poise. Janeway shows this trope applies to women too. Janeway: Tell the Doctor I'll be coming back with severe burns.
• Invoking this trope, to restore the lost greatness of Annorax's society, is the timeship's entire purpose.
• Destruction of the timeship undoes two centuries of Annorax's timeline tweaks and returns the timeline to its original form with a single difference; Annorax never built the timeship.
• Retcon : "Year of Hell" was originally meant to be all of season 4, and wasn't going to involve a Reset Button , and would have involved a more general conflict with the Krenim, rather than a single time-ship. The departure of Kes also means that it's Seven who deals with the chronoton torpedo; neither is there any mention of Kes' warning about the Krenim. Although the former, at least, is explainable by Kes altering the timeline. What is not, however, is how, the Year of Hell went from Constant attacks by the Krenim as stated in Before and After, to dealing with a single timeship (although that could be explained by the fact that, without Seven around, Voyager likely never devised the temporal shield in that timeline — meaning that Annorax's calculations were never thrown off, the Krenim just got stronger with each incursion and Annorax himself never had any reason to go after Voyager ).
• Ret-Gone : Essentially what the Krenim timeship is designed to do in-universe, and what it ultimately does to itself when Janeway rams it.
• Retro Upgrade : Paris comes up with transverse bulkheads to seal off Voyager ’s sections in case of a hull breach. He got the idea from the Titanic . Janeway: As I recall, it sank. Paris: I admit I’ve improved on the design.
• Ridiculously Difficult Route : Janeway doesn't take the first warning seriously as the Krenim commander is hardly a threat, and she's never been the type to back down from casual bullying. Suddenly they're inside the territory of an aggressive species, but it's not revealed how they got there in this alternate timeline (it's possible they got in the path of a Krenim offensive). Averted when Janeway accepts the polite warning of the Krenim commander at the end, and avoids the 'disputed' region.
• The weaselly Krenim subcommander who cringed in the presence of Voyager becomes very smug indeed when his guns outmatch theirs. At the end of the episode, he's a little cool, but respectful.
• Subverted with the lock of hair belonging to Annorax's wife , which is not only on the timeship but kept preserved in a stasis crystal, so it can never be affected by any of the changes in the timeline he causes. It's entirely possible that this is why he can't ever get 100% recovery, because time can never fully change or reset to bring her back so long as a piece of an erased timeline still exists; his smile when the crystal is broken and it vanishes could suggest he's realized this. See the YMMV tab for more details.
• Rousing Speech : Janeway to her crew before they abandon ship.
• The first time, he's a xenophobic but pathetic nuisance, trying to assert his will over a ship ten times larger than his. Janeway all but laughs at him.
• When the timeline changes, he becomes a Smug Snake , calmly and heartlessly discussing the wholesale slaughter of Voyager 's crew.
• And, finally, after the Reset Button , he shows a professional demeanor, firmly yet politely requesting Voyager avoid this area of space, and wishing them safe travels when they comply.
• Rule of Symbolism : Chakotay gives Janeway a watch for her birthday in an episode about time. Counts as an In-Universe version too, as it's a replicated reproduction of a watch belonging to a 19th-century captain who brought his ruined ship home against all odds. Janeway originally refuses to accept the gift, as they have limited replicator supplies. Later, she finds it again and attaches it to her belt.
• Serious Business : What's the first thing Janeway retrieves from the trashed Ready Room? Her coffee pot, of course!
• She's Dead, Jim : The first temporal shift reveals a ruined bridge and a dead female crewman. Chakotay: She's dead...

• Paris sarcastically calls Annorax 'Captain Bligh', referencing the Mutiny on the Bounty .
• His anthropomorphism of time as a ruthless, cunning foe is straight out of Moby-Dick .
• Janeway demands trioxin to treat her injuries. The Doctor refuses, perhaps because it has a habit of turning people into zombies .
• Small Name, Big Ego : The initial Krenim attack on Voyager is brushed off because the Krenim in that timeline have limited warp and weapons capability, despite his arrogant posturing, but that timeline only lasts a few days before Annorax's next major temporal incursion.
• Something That Begins with "Boring" : Stuck in a turbolift, Harry and B’Elanna play a quiz game. Most fanfic writers would make them have sex instead, but B’Elanna has internal injuries.
• Space Clouds : A crippled Voyager hides inside a nebula so dense that it produces a visible fog inside the ship's corridors. Captain Janeway even orders the hull breaches sealed to avoid having an "indoor nebula." One would think she'd be more concerned about all the air escaping...
• Spanner in the Works : Voyager is able to rig up temporal shields; however, this leaves it unaffected by the temporal shift, while at the same time upsetting all the changes that Annorax is trying to make.
• Standard Female Grab Area : Averted; the Doctor grabs Janeway's upper arm to stop her leaving Sickbay. She responds with a Death Glare and a threat to shut down his program.
• Swivel-Chair Antics : The Krenim captain after the time shift lets him take a level in arrogance.
• Taking the Bullet : Tuvok shields Seven from an explosion, permanently blinding him.

• Janeway gripes that this is turning into the Week of Hell. A year later, things have gone From Bad to Worse .
• Tuvok to Seven when she stays to calculate the temporal variance of the torpedo, enabling Voyager to construct a shield against them...and delaying Tuvok so he gets blinded by the exploding torpedo.
• The Doctor insists the captain give him time to treat her injuries, whereas Janeway just wants a hypo of trioxin to keep her going. EMH: Trioxin is used in emergency situations as a stop-gap measure. Your lungs have suffered serious damage. They need to be treated properly. Doctor's orders. Janeway: Captain's orders. Trioxin. Now. EMH: Aye, aye. It's your body. Who am I to judge? I'm only the Chief Medical officer.
• Chakotay ordering Tom to not do anything against Annorax. Not that Tom seems inclined to obey that order.
• Time Is Dangerous : Obviously Annorax's weapon is one of the most horrific ever shown in the franchise, but his obsession with it has led him to think of himself as less of an engineer confronted with a problem so much as a profiler chasing an UnSub . Annorax: When I tell that Time has moods, a disposition to be intuited, I'm not speaking metaphorically. Chakotay: What do you mean? Annorax: Anger is one of its moods. Anger and the desire for retribution, vengeance. Time itself has tried to punish me for my arrogance. It has kept me from my wife, denied me my future.
• Time-Passage Beard : Chakotay starts growing at least a Time-Passage Mustache when he is first seen in Part 2 on board Annorax's time ship. It is soon shaved off when he is brought out of his holding cell to meet with Annorax.
• The Time Traveller's Dilemma : Invoked and played to its obvious conclusion; the best thing to do with a time machine is un-invent it.
• The Title Drop actually occurred in "Before and After"
• To Absent Friends : Well, "distant" friends, actually, but the sentiment is close enough.
• Too Dumb to Live : During the final battle, two of Voyager's allies fly directly in front of the weapon ship after making an attack pass, leaving them open for a full temporal burst that erases them from time.
• Annorax keeps a lock of the hair of the wife he accidentally erased from time in a special container that shields it from dissipating into nothing because it can't exist in the world he created. As his vessel is destroyed, he watches helplessly as the container breaks and the hair vanishes from existence... and then he smiles as he realizes he's about to get exactly what he's wanted; the weapon backfiring erases itself from history, restoring all of his victims — including his wife.
• Janeway is quite moved when she finds Chakotay disobeyed orders to recycle the watch, and wears it from then on.
• Trash the Set Janeway: You have the Bridge...what’s left of it.
• Unperson : In a sad moment, Obrist admits that he stopped celebrating his family's birthdays because they probably died centuries ago. Or worse, they may have been erased from history altogether.
• Vestigial Empire : When Annorax first built the weapon ship, the glory days of the Krenim were long behind them and he used it on their greatest enemy in an attempt to restore the Imperium to power.
• Villainous BSoD : Annorax has been frustrated in his quest for so long, he believes that Time itself is somehow punishing him for trying to change it.
• Voodoo Shark : Annorax and his crew are ageless due to their ship's temporal shields, which protect them from the flow of time. It doesn't stop them from eating and breathing.
• The Watchmaker : Janeway realizes that she's starting to lose track of time. Chakotay chirps that he has a remedy for that, and presents her with a pocket-watch. She later finds the watch again while rooting through Voyager 's wrecked upper decks. It also symbolizes Chakotay's newfound power as an apprentice onboard Annorax's timeship.
• Wave-Motion Gun : An unusual one in that it doesn't just destroy its targets; it erases them from history.
• We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill : The Krenim Imperium's response to Voyager trying to negotiate a way through their space is just to shoot at them.
• What the Hell, Hero? : Tom tells off Chakotay for working with Annorax, and various crewmembers question Janeway on her recklessness.
• Who Wants to Live Forever? : Annorax may be content to spend eternity rewriting history, but his crew sure isn't...
• Whole-Plot Reference : At least the portion set aboard the Krenim temporal weapon ship is this to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . Referenced in the name Annorax — a version of Arronax, The Narrator of the aforementioned novel.
• Wild Card : Voyager for Annorax; because she arrived unexpectedly from such a faraway sector and is generating her own temporal field, it's impossible to predict her effect on the timeline. Annorax initially considered the ship to be a minor element, but when the temporal shields throw off his latest incursion, he decides to take a closer look.
• With All Due Respect : As per usual for this trope, Janeway uses it on someone she obviously doesn’t respect at all. Krenim subcommander: Reverse course, or be destroyed! Captain Janeway: With all due respect, unless you’ve got something a little bigger in your torpedo tubes I'm not turning around.
• You Can't Go Home Again : Annorax can't, because his home no longer exists — he accidentally Ret Goned it two hundred years ago, along with his wife and children. He's been desperately trying to correct that mistake ever since, without success. note  And even if he somehow managed it, he still wouldn't have a family to go back to, as they'd be long dead by now. Whether he would retire satisfied that they got to live out their lives, or continue to rant and rave at time for keeping them from him, we'll never know. In the end, however, history is changed so that he never left home in the first place.

Video Example(s):

Throughout its seven seasons, the series "Star Trek: Voyager" became notorious for pushing the reset button. One moment, however, will likely always stand out in the minds of fans: when Captain Janeway declared "Time's up," ramming the starship Voyager into the Krenim weapon ship and negating the alternate timeline known as the "Year of Hell."

Example of: Reset Button

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Den of Geek

Star Trek Voyager: 10 Great Guest Performances

Remember when Sarah Silverman was in Star Trek: Voyager? We salute that and 9 other great guest stars on the show...

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Star Trek: Voyager doesn’t share the good reputation of its predecessors The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine , with some fans disappointed that the inherent conflict between Starfleet and Maquis characters was not explored further, others perhaps put off by the really rather dull and occasionally ridiculous second season. However, Voyager was as capable as any other Star Trek series of producing memorable stories and excellent performances, and for those of us for whom it is our favorite branch of the Star Trek franchise (yes, we do exist) it is worth celebrating some of the things it did really well – in this case, the actors and actresses who came to join the show for guest performances.

Note: This list is celebrating guest performers who came in for one, or at most two, guest performances as a specific character (though their character may have made more appearances in other branches of the franchise, or the actor may have appeared as other characters). This is why you shouldn’t expect to see characters like John de Lancie’s Q or Dwight Schultz’s Reg Barclay on the list – although they were guest stars, they recurred several times.

10. Sarah Silverman as Rain Robinson in Future’s End Parts 1 & 2

Sarah Silverman is best known as a comedian, but in Voyager she played the fairly straight role of Rain Robinson, perky astronomer and brief love interest for Tom Paris. It’s a fairly thankless role, mostly requiring Silverman to stand up for herself while utterly confused, but she does it well, standing up to Ed Begley Jr’s maniacal scientist and offering Paris a genuine reason to hesitate as he leaves her behind in the twentieth century.

9. Mark Harelik as Kashyk in Counterpoint

Janeway had a few one-off love interests over the course of the show, plus her ongoing seven-year flirtation with Chakotay and a thoroughly indecent proposal from Q. Kashyk, however, was one of the most interesting, a ruthless Space Nazi Janeway never quite trusts, but very much wants to. Mark Harelik walks a fine line as he makes Kashyk simultaneously charming enough to provide a believable match for the Captain, but slimy enough not to appear entirely trustworthy. A good performance in a nicely put-together episode.

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8. Lori Petty as Noss in Gravity

We’ve seen a few variations of the story of an emotional human falling in love with an emotionally unavailable Vulcan since Christine Chapel’s unrequited love for Spock in the early years. For Noss and Tuvok in Gravity , this uncomfortable situation is amplified by their situation, stranded on a hostile planet with only Tom Paris and the Doctor for company, not even sharing a common language.

Lori Petty’s performance is fragile and brittle, but tough at the same time, her high-pitched voice put to excellent use making Noss sound foreign and alien as she struggles to learn English with the universal translators broken. To be alien and relatable at the same time is not easily done, and she does it very well.

7. Henry Woronicz as Quarren in Living Witness

The story in this season four episode is carried by one of Voyager ’s most popular characters, the Doctor, and Henry Woronicz as a man whose entire world-view is turned upside down over the course of the story. Woronicz, playing a historian with a serious attitude but also a more romanticising side, gives a performance that’s quiet but intense, helped by nice chemistry with Robert Picardo. An episode like this rests on the abilities of the guest performer, and Woronicz pulls it off perfectly.

6. Lindsey Haun as Belle in Real Life

Real Life is an odd episode in many ways, partly rehashing elements of The Next Generation ’ s The Offspring , adding a dose of soap opera, and mixing them in with some very odd attitudes on the part of some characters. What does work about it, though, is the Doctor’s relationship with his holographic daughter, Belle, and that couldn’t work without a lively performance from a young Lindsey Haun (later to appear in a rather different role as Hadley in True Blood ).

The character has the potential to be rather grating, but Haun brings a humanity to her non-human role that makes the story’s emotional climax work and work surprisingly well.

5. Vaughn Armstrong as Telek R’Mor in Eye Of The Needle

Eye Of The Needle is an early classic, making use of Voyager ’s unique situation in a well-structured episode with a gut punch of an ending. That ending couldn’t work without a performance from the guest star that makes Telek both believably cold and Romulan, and simultaneously extremely likeable.

Vaughn Armstrong holds the record for playing the largest number of separate characters across four series in the Star Trek franchise (12), and the reason various producers and casting directors kept asking him back is because he can always be relied upon to give a heartfelt, nuanced performance, inhabiting each different alien, human or cybernetic character in a different way. Of his five roles in Star Trek: Voyager , Telek R’Mor is the most memorable and, along with Lansor/Two of Nine in season six’s Survival Instinct , the most touching.

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4. Susan Diol as Denara Pel in Lifesigns and Resolutions

Season two, overall, was not a high point for Voyager , but one of its genuine high points was Lifesigns , also the episode that made the most effective use of the permanently unhealthy Vidiians (though season one’s Faces come close). Much of the episode’s success is down to Susan Diol’s quietly emotive performance as Denara Pel, a woman living with a serious chronic illness who gets the chance, for just a few days, to live without it, and who takes full advantage of that opportunity.

The story is designed primarily to provide character growth for the Doctor, but Diol’s sympathetic performance ensures that it is also a story about the on-going effects of chronic illness on the sufferer’s sense of self, told through her carefully understated but heartfelt reactions to her situation.

3. J. Paul Boehmer as One in Drone

J. Paul Boehmer gave tow equally impressive performances in Voyager , and it’s hard to say which is the more effective between his chillingly authoritarian Nazi officer in season four’s The Killing Game , or his innocent, childlike baby Borg in season five’s Drone . Both are effective, but Drone just pips it, because the Nazi officer, as well done as he is, is something we’ve seen before (owing a little to Ralph Fiennes’ performance in Schindler’s List , and helped by the fact the Boehmer actually looks a bit like Fiennes).

In Drone , however, Boehmer takes a character we’ve already seen two iterations of, the Borg drone learning to be an individual, and adds his own special sense of vulnerability. Comparisons with The Next Generation ’s Hugh are inevitable, but Boehmer makes the role his own despite the obvious similarities.

2. Kurtwood Smith as Annorax in Year Of Hell Parts 1 & 2

It would have been easy to overplay the time-altering villain of arguably Voyager ’s best two-parter (perhaps its best episodes). Over the course of two episodes, it becomes increasingly clear that Annorax has started to become a little unhinged in his endless quest to repair the damage he did the first time he used his reality-changing device, convinced that Time itself has a grudge against him.

However, former President of the Federation (in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ) Kurtwood Smith plays Annorax with a quiet intensity that only slowly allows the extent of his mania to be revealed, making Chakotay’s initial sympathy with him plausible and ensuring that he is a tragic and understandable character, rather than a simple moustache-twirling villain.

1. Gerrit Graham as Q2/Quinn in Death Wish

Some Q episodes can be a bit like marmite, beloved by some, heartily disliked for their occasional silliness or stretched plausibility by others. Some, however, are genuine classics, and this is one of them, thanks in no small part to Gerrit Graham’s whimsical but simultaneously sad performance as a suicidal member of the Q Continuum. An episode that essentially debates the right to die, the underlying moral question is one for which there is no simple resolution, but Graham’s thoughtful performance ensures that the episode as a whole works well, presenting a character the audience can sympathise with regardless of whether or not they agree with his ethical point of view, and offering a neat balance to John de Lancie’s more emotive, extravagant Q.

Honorable mention: both Susannah Thompson and Alice Krige do excellent work as the Borg Queen (Thompson in Dark Frontier and Unimatrix Zero Parts 1 & 2 , Krige in Endgame ) but while each actress only appears once or twice, the character recurs too often to count for this list. I don’t make the rules. OK, that’s a lie, I do make the rules, but we have to draw a line somewhere!

Juliette Harrisson | @ClassicalJG

Juliette Harrisson is a writer and historian, and a lifelong Trekkie whose childhood heroes were JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. She runs a YouTube channel called…

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Published Jan 19, 2024

Why Voyager is The Only Thing I'm Streaming

One fan turns to Captain Janeway and her crew.

StarTrek.com

You never realize how many plagues are in Star Trek until you are in the middle of one. Perhaps that’s why I find myself drawn to Star Trek: Voyager , and maybe, so should you.

Star Trek: Voyager follows Captain Janeway and her crew, as well as a sundry band of Maquis rebels, flung by the Caretaker into the Delta Quadrant. Over the course of its seven-season run, the crew expands to include the holographic medical doctor, a telepath, and a former Borg drone. Far from the known risks of the Alpha and Gamma quadrants, supplies, and Janeway’s adorable Irish Setter Mollie, the disparate group aim to survive a projected 70-year trip back to Federation Space.

And so, for the homebound, may I suggest watching those bound for home?

"Once Upon A Time"

While I haven’t been slingshot to the far reaches of the galaxy, life as I know it has changed dramatically in the past few weeks. My job as a college instructor has shifted from in-person to online instruction and suddenly my children are home. All the time. I am acutely aware of how small the universe can get in a short period — mine wouldn’t take decades to cross, but seconds. And during those seconds, it’s likely my children will have asked for two more snacks and spilled one of them on the floor already. My three kids are under the age of seven, and with daycares closing and schools closed, we are all together — in close quarters — for the first time in my parenthood.

It’s not that we’ve never spent time together before, but without the routines of school and daycare, plus libraries to visit, playgrounds to climb, and playdates to plan, we are rudderless. Perhaps if I refer to my young children as my crewmates, that'll help us all get along? I’m not a starship captain and they’re not anti-Cardassian rebels (that I know of), but the close quarters have already started getting to all of us.

"Learning Curve"

Early in Voyager , the differences in style and organization between the Maquis and Federation crew become apparent. Maquis would rather fight than talk, would rather do than get permission. The Federation runs on order and chain of command. Chakotay, a former Federation officer turned rebel, seems like the natural leader to bring the crew in line, but instead Janeway appoints Tuvok that job in " Learning Curve ." Tuvok’s Vulcan logic would seemingly be the best way to ice those hot tempers, right?

Let me tell you about my kids and "homeschooling" right now.

• Day 1: four worksheets, a digital field trip, built a puppet theater.
• Day 2: two worksheets and play-doh time.
• Day 3: scrub play-doh out of the carpet, then an educational show. (That counts, right?)
• Day 4: Stop body slamming your brother. Three shows of dubious-educational value.
• Day 5: The puppet theater is not for wiping your boogers on and for god’s sake if the only thing you learn from this is to be clean and wash your hands it will have been enough!

There is no shore leave here. There is no map. There is no one coming to visit this ship. Like Voyager , we are adrift.

But we might be okay. Tuvok, after struggling with his new recruits, finally realizes he must bend to accommodate them. Neelix demonstrates this with flowers — the ones who survive are not the brittle ones. When the ship itself gets a virus in its gel-packs during that episode, it is the Maquis who aid in the problem-solving. Likewise, I’ve lightened my expectations for color-coded schedules and am letting my kids lead me to what they want to know and explore. We’ve learned about spiders and how video games are made. We invented new spiders and have watched a lot of Sesame Street .

I had coincidentally started my re-watch of Voyager before Covid-19 hit America. I discovered Star Trek in my 30s and, like many late-comer Trekkies, I enjoy the pleasure of binging plot lines that used to take months to untangle when the shows aired live. Voyager gets the rap of being a quieter show, but it is the perfect bingeable series for this era. The lesson of every episode seems to be "do your best," and honestly, that’s all we can ask of ourselves, is it not?

Where Jean-Luc demands higher moral accountability, Janeway demands survival. Where Sisko defends and fights, Janeway persists. Sometimes that’s all you can do.

"Year of Hell, Part II"

The best episodes to watch come during Season 4 and are no doubt the most famous of the series. Don’t let the title " Year of Hell " dissuade you, or its overall darker themes. In this two-parter, Voyager finds itself attacked by a temporal weapon wielded by an alien race called the Krenin, led by their captain Annorax. Not only do Voyager ’s systems fail and the crew disbands, but Chakotay and Tom Paris are taken captive by the Krenin who are bent on resetting the universe to undo a pandemic that killed Annorax’s wife.

Part of the surrealism of watching these episodes during quarantine is the focus, from the beginning to the end, on the idea of the family. In the first scene, before the attack, the holographic Doctor gives a speech about how close the crew of the ship has become. Time and again in these episodes, Janeway does something I don’t remember other captains doing often — referring to the crew as family. No spoilers, but the plot unfolds to challenge every member of that family as they weigh what is worth sacrificing.

"Macrocosm"

If you need another incentive, any episode featuring Janeway in a tank top promises high levels of badass.

I can’t channel Janeway in my house when I’m forced into the roles of captain, cook, engineer, and morale officer, all at the same time. I am an imperfect instructor right now, but I hope to lead my students to knowledge in some form by the end of the semester. I am an imperfect mother right now, but I love and listen to my children and let them make whatever messes help them learn. Janeway was the perfect imperfect captain to unite her ragtag crew, and like her, I need to stay flexible to ensure we can adapt to new changes. Even if we, like the Voyager crew, escape a bit too often into imaginary worlds built by computers and screens, we will survive. While we don’t have a Holodeck, at least we have windows to watch the daffodils come up outside and some Star Trek to watch inside, together.

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This article was originally published on March 31, 2020.

Rachel Mans McKenny is a writer, professor, and parent in the Midwest, found @rmmckenny on Twitter. Her book, featuring a Star Trek-loving heroine, is coming out from Alcove Press in late 2020.

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Krenim script

The Krenim were a technologically-advanced humanoid species from the Delta Quadrant , first encountered by the Federation starship USS Voyager in 2374 . The Krenim government was called the Krenim Imperium .

At 98% restoration, the Krenim Imperium of 2374 was composed of over two hundred star systems, nine hundred planets, and thousands of warp-capable vessels spread out over five thousand parsecs . ( VOY : " Year of Hell ")

In the Year of Hell , Voyager traversed Krenim space beginning on stardate 50973, enduring constant Krenim attacks. A large number of the crew was killed, including Captain Kathryn Janeway , B'Elanna Torres , and Joe Carey . During one of the Krenim attacks, Kes was exposed to chroniton radiation which leaked through the hull from a chroniton torpedo fragment. Much later in 2379 , The Doctor 's attempt to extend her short Ocampan life span using a bio-temporal chamber activated the dormant chronitons inside her body, causing her to travel randomly backwards in time to various points in her own life. The Doctor of 2373 was able to purge the chronitons using anti-chronitons , synchronizing Kes to the year 2373 . While she was in 2373, Kes warned Janeway of the Krenim danger. ( VOY : " Before and After ")

According to the Krenim officer known as Annorax , their greatest adversary was a race known as the Rilnar . Unbeknownst to the Krenim, however, the Rilnar had introduced a crucial antibody into the Krenim genome which prevented certain diseases from affecting the Krenim. In at least one alternate timeline, Annorax wiped out the Rilnar civilization without realizing the existence of the antibody and an epidemic swept across the Krenim homeworld , killing fifty million people in the first year alone.

In a number of separate alternate timelines in 2374 , Voyager attempted to enter Krenim territory. Initially, they encountered only a small, poorly armed Krenim ship. In this timeline, the region was dominated by the Zahl , who had ended the Krenim domination of the region a generation previously. This timeline was changed when the Krenim weapon ship erased the Zahl civilization, removing the entire species from history. In this new timeline, the Krenim Imperium was near the height of its power, and launched a series of devastating attacks on Voyager much like the "year of hell" of Kes's possible future.

Eventually, Voyager developed temporal shields to defend against the Krenim, which in turn perturbed the temporal calculations made by the weapon ship. Thus, the elimination of the Garenor species, intended to further restore the Imperium, instead created a third alternate timeline where the Krenim regressed to a pre-warp society. The temporal shields protected Voyager from the changes to the timeline, and its crew was able to see the changes the Krenim had made. ( VOY : " Year of Hell ")

Eventually, Voyager created an alliance with the Mawasi and the Nihydron in order to attack the weapon ship. The damage they dealt to the weapon ship caused it to erase itself from the timeline, undoing all of the damage it had done.

In this restored timeline, Voyager encountered a Krenim warship in 2374 . Its commandant warned Captain Janeway that the region of space they were passing through was in dispute and that they should avoid it if possible. He wished them good journey and the two ships went their separate ways. ( VOY : " Year of Hell, Part II ")

Members of this species had been assimilated by the Borg by 2375 . ( VOY : " Infinite Regress ")

The Krenim took part in the Temporal Wars and created a device called the chronophage , commonly called a time bug. By 3191 , they were available on the black market , left over from the Temporal Wars. ( DIS : " Face the Strange ")

• 1 Individuals
• 2 Krenim starships
• 3 References
• 4.1 Apocrypha
• 5 External link

Individuals [ ]

• Unnamed Krenim

Krenim starships [ ]

• Krenim weapon ship
• Krenim warship
• Krenim patrol ship

References [ ]

• " Before and After "
• " Year of Hell "
• " Year of Hell, Part II "
• " Infinite Regress "
• " Face the Strange "

Appendices [ ]

Apocrypha [ ].

In the computer game Star Trek Online , the Krenim have been specifically targeted by the Vaadwaur (under the direction of the Iconians ) and nearly driven to extinction, likely due to their expertise in temporal mechanics. Though the race appears to have been all but destroyed, a lone Krenim colony - ironically, the colony on Kyana Prime - was able to use Annorax's research to hide their entire planet from the Vaadwaur and their Iconian masters. The player character and Captain Nog discover the colony and convince them that the Delta Alliance (the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Republic, and several Delta Quadrant species) mean them no harm. The Krenim band together with the Delta Alliance to construct their own version of Annorax's temporal weapon ship to combat the Iconians. A rogue band of Krenim, led by the scientist Noye, become major antagonists of the Agents of Yesterday storyline as they form the "Temporal Liberation Front", consisting of the Sphere-Builders , the Vorgons , and the Na'kuhl , in opposition to the Temporal Accord .

In the novel A Pocket Full of Lies , following the events of the Year of Hell, the Krenim of the new timeline have established a variation of the Department of Temporal Investigations known as the Krenim Temporal Defense Agency. In contrast to the DTI's goal to preserve the current timeline, the Agency's goal appeared to be to use time travel to subtly ensure Krenim supremacy in the present timeline, to the extent that they altered a timeline where their past enemies, the Rilnar and the Zahl, lived on a peaceful near-utopian planet, in favor of a timeline where the two were engaged in a protracted and pointless conflict on the same planet, because the peaceful timeline restricted Krenim expansion. Having discovered 'log buoys' created by Voyager during the original timeline that were protected from changes to history by Borg phase technology, the Krenim attempted to eliminate Voyager to prevent the crew affecting their history. This attack resulted in Voyager being briefly fractured across multiple time periods in its history (" Shattered "), but when the crew were able to undo that attack, the Krenim were able to abduct a version of Janeway from the ship's history at a point before she had even arrived in the Delta Quadrant. Believing that they had eliminated Janeway as a threat to their history, the Krenim manipulated her into becoming a leader of the Rilnar against the Zahl during the aforementioned planetary conflict. Having learned about the Krenim manipulation, Voyager managed to rescue the alternate Janeway, who was taken into an alternate past to raise her daughter – conceived with a Krenim who posed as a Rilnar to manipulate her – as part of an attempt by Q to make up for some of the hardships the "Prime" Janeway had endured.

According to the All Our Yesterdays sourcebook, the Krenim homeworld is called Krenna.

External link [ ]

• Krenim at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Star trek voyager: a celebration–excellent chronicle of the seven-year series arrives for 25th anniversary.

Review by C.J. Bunce

For a fan like me, Star Trek: Voyager was the definitive Star Trek series, the crew that most fully embraced Gene Roddenberry’s vision beyond the television series he created in 1966.  It featured a crew on a ship that explored like no crew before it, with only their available technology and their wits to survive.  Helmed by Kate Mulgrew’s personable yet tough Captain Kathryn Janeway, the crew would travel 70,000 light years home after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant.  The 25th anniversary of the launch of the series was 2020, and worthy of the celebration, authors Ben Robinson and Mark Wright have created the definitive behind the scenes account of the 1995-2001 series, Star Trek: Voyager–A Celebration , available now here at Amazon.

A few good books have been written about the series, including Paul Ruditis’s Star Trek: Voyager Companion .  Ruditis’s book was an episodic guide to every episode of the series from an in-universe story standpoint.  Star Trek: Voyager–A Celebration is a giant, 248-page, glossy, full-color, hardcover volume full of new interviews from the actors, writers, directors, and creative crew–a true look behind the scenes, including stories fans have never read before, and images from the production they probably haven’t seen before.  Like the spectacular look back at Star Trek: The Next Generation, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens’ The Continuing Mission (which I called one of the best Trek resources available here at borg back in 2012) this is the landmark book for its series that fans have been waiting for.  It’s the ultimate love letter to the series in the words of those who created it–reading these visionaries taking us back through the development of the show and the characters is a real treat.  I forgot how much I loved Bryan Fuller’s Star Trek, the scripts produced by Jeri Taylor, the late, great Michael Piller, the prolific Star Trek series writer Joe Menosky, and Brannon Braga. 

The authors interviewed key cast members (and some guest stars, excepting only Kes actor Jennifer Lien), each looking back with specific memories and tales of their experiences, about being cast, the first season development, when their characters “came into their own” on the show, and how they worked with each other.  Each actor and character is featured in several pages of content, separated by an important episode highlighted in a two-page retrospective, followed by sections on the major production departments.   Rick Sternbach discusses development of concept art for the Voyager ship and development of the ship interior set designs, Robert Blackman discusses how he approached the costume design for this new setting after already working on Star Trek for more than a decade, Michael Westmore recounts his makeup for the show’s featured alien races and lead characters Neelix, B’Elanna Torres, and Kes, and Dan Curry recalls the workload producing the show’s visual effects (both practical and digital).  The authors engage in discussions featuring the changing writers room and directors, and Mike Okuda, Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler discuss nuances behind some of their creations in the art department. 

Kate Mulgrew recounts how Mike Okuda’s book of Trek details for the staff, called the Okudabible, helped her immerse herself into the role of Janeway and the future world of Star Trek.  Brannon Braga recalls that he wanted the brilliant “Year of Hell” two-part story to be a serialized story that lasted an entire season, but the studio wasn’t ready for that commitment then.  The story featured Kurtwood Smith as Annorax, the Krenim leader who wouldn’t stop changing timelines via a powerful weapon, until he “undid” his wife’s death–and almost destroyed the entire Voyager crew in the process–one of the series’ finest stories.

Another section of Star Trek: Voyager–A Celebration delves into the parallel success of Star Trek: First Contact, and how themes from that feature film were incorporated into the remaining seasons of Voyager to provide greater opportunities for storytelling.  One chapter reproduces production blueprints for the Klingon Barge of the Dead, another chapter covers designing the Delta Flyer, and another includes a list of some of the EMH’s best Dr. Bones McCoy-inspired sayings.  Also insightful is writer Nick Sagan describing The Twilight Zone episode “The After Hours” as inspiration for the episode “Course: Oblivion,” which he wrote with Bryan Fuller.  Braga recalls coming up with the Hirogen after watching Monday Night Football.  The book is full of great tidbits and trivia like this.

I was especially happy to read the biggest interview I’ve read in more than a decade with Robert Blackman, discussing the ever-changing workday for him and his costume shop, discussing actor reactions to his work, and how he had five Starfleet uniforms for the season for each crewman (there’s even a solo section on Jeri Ryan’s brief stint in that silver Seven of Nine catsuit).  I also loved seeing an interview with Star Trek: Voyager theme composer and soundtrack creator Jerry Chattaway.  

The authors of Star Trek: Voyager–A Celebration provide a nifty analysis of how Voyager got home–how it specifically traversed 70,000 light years–via a Kes-powered “push” forward, unique spatial conditions, improvements in astrometrics, a wormhole, the quantum slipstreams, the transwarp conduit, the space catapult, and some help from our old supernatural frenemy Q.  A large survey includes pages of alien ship design concept artwork, and specific sections are devoted to The Borg, the Hirogen, Species 8472, and the Captain Proton holodeck program.  The book wraps with a description of every episode of the series’ seven seasons.

It’s the ultimate celebration for Star Trek: Voyager fans, and the very best behind the scenes account ever created for the series.  Celebrating 25 years of the Federation’s bravest crew, Star Trek: Voyager–A Celebration is available now here at Amazon, from Hero Collector.  All seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager are now streaming on Netflix.

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Surviving the Year of Hell: Insights from Star Trek Voyager

Kelli fitzpatrick  •  june 7, 2020.

All this, riding on four years of federally sanctioned assaults on human rights , on environmental protections , and even on truth itself . Many of these problems have been brewing for decades or centuries, the festering consequences of unchecked capitalism, institutionalized racism, and human-caused climate change. While some of us cope by finding the dark humor in apocalypse bingo , at heart we are weary to say the least. Activism burnout is real and vicious, as is allostatic load in traumatic times.

And we’re only halfway through the year.

While Star Trek is often looked to as a source of hope and optimism , the franchise also depicts some compelling instances of resilience in the face of unspeakable suffering. Voyager’s two part “Year of Hell” episode in Season 4 puts the ship through the revolving hell of a fascist megalomaniac rewriting history, and I would argue the crew’s responses offer valuable insight for our own trek through troubled times.

Annorax (Kurtwood Smith)

The central problem in the episode is caused by a man named Annorax, a Krenim officer bent on resurrecting the past to empower the Krenim empire while simultaneously bringing back his wife, a casualty to his own arrogant meddling. He is aiming for a “complete temporal restoration.” Make the Krenim Imperium Great Again, essentially. To do that, he uses a weapon ship which can alter reality using precisely-calculated temporal incursions, but it’s a bit like calculating orbit trajectories: screw up one variable and the outcome can be disastrous. Despite centuries of trying, he is never able to recover what he lost, and he destroys countless worlds in the process.

That is what makes Annorax such a pernicious villain–his willingness to “wipe out civilizations to help his own race,” as Tom Paris puts it. “We must erase the entire species from time,” Annorax says in the teaser. “Every lifeform, every molecule.” The episode does not explore the narratives of the billions of lives that are impacted by his genocide, but it is profoundly disturbing to think about that many voices being silenced.

Annorax’s authoritarian campaign has dire consequences for Voyager as well, which, when in the wrong place at the wrong time (pun intended), becomes the target of relentless Krenim attacks. So begins the crew’s year-long journey through privation, isolation, and loss. Early on, Deck 5 loses structural integrity, and the Doctor must leave people behind to die. The turbolifts are rendered inoperable. Tuvok is blinded by an explosion. By day 65, they’re on emergency rations. “I’m not sure what’s more difficult to maintain,” Captain Janeway says, “ Voyager’s systems or the crew’s morale.” (I know the feeling–it is day 77 of quarantine for me as I write this, and I’m still trying to teach high school students). With half the ship destroyed and life support nearly gone, Janeway breaks her oath of keeping the family together, sending most of the crew off in escape pods for a better chance at survival.

Through this harrowing trial, the Captain remains stalwart and resolute, charging boldly into everything from lung-searing gas to a fire in deflector control. Her dauntless grit is inspiring, but since she repeatedly refuses necessary medical treatment and rest, she is eventually diagnosed with Traumatic Stress Syndrome which affects her judgment. It’s a hard lesson for those who lead advocacy efforts in times of emergency–you can’t help the cause if you don’t keep yourself intact. Everyday Feminism has some solid suggestions of ways to prevent burnout, all of which are healthier than endless hyposprays of stimulants.

Seven and Tuvok

Despite the creeping despair, the crew manage to find strength in each other. Tuvok and Seven of Nine become close friends, a comradeship born of shared struggle and sacrifice, and their conversation inspires Seven to create temporal shielding that disrupts Annorax’s mission. Janeway’s sentimental objects become touchstones of human emotion in the midst of chaos–her teacup, a symbol of luck, doesn’t survive the fray, but the pocket watch from Chakotay, a symbol of hope, does. Tom and Chakotay, kept in solitary for months, must work together with Krenim officer Obrist to take the time ship’s temporal core offline. Voyager must ally with other ships to mount an offensive against Annorax.

Janeway and an officer on the bridge during the Year of Hell

In all cases, it is collaborative effort that pulls them through. Social support, even from a safe distance, is essential to human well-being. As reported in a March 2020 Science Magazine article, studies have shown “a correlation between perceived social connectedness and stress responses.” Knowing we have friends we can count on lowers the overall stress load in the bodies.

The saga of stress in the episode ends when Janeway growls an iconic “Time’s up!” and crashes the remains of Voyager into the weapon ship, instantly restoring all of history to the pre-hell timeline. It’s as if their protracted fight for survival never happened, and the crewmembers recall none of it, continuing on their voyage in blissful ignorance.

For us, there is no reset button. There is no forgetting this year, nor should there be. The 100,000+ deaths from COVID-19 can never be undone. George Floyd and the long list of victims of police brutality cannot be brought back. We have no choice but to forge our own way out of these hells.

Activist Rebecca Solnit points out , “Many of these things — financial desperation and inequality and, you know, callous and selfish government — were already with us. And now we’re looking at them in a kind of stark new light…Disasters shake things loose. And the things that we regarded as fixed and unchangeable can suddenly be changed.” Just as Voyager was dragged out of its timeline, the events of 2020 have knocked the engines of our civilization out of the status quo, offering a rare chance to remake society, not in the selfish ethnocentric manner of Annorax, but as a people united by the democratic values of justice, equality, and the common good.

As Charles Marohn states in a March 16, 2020 article in Resilience , “Despite the scariness of the unknown, this is an opportunity to reshape the direction of our entire country. To make our systems more bottom-up and responsive. To make them more humane.” Time has long been up on this need.

As you weather the challenges you face in this historic moment, I hope you can pull some strength from Voyager . As Janeway says, “I say we make our stand together.” Practice self-care, stand in solidarity to protect others, and let’s build a future together that’s a little more Star Trek, and a little less 2020.

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  2 comments for “ surviving the year of hell: insights from star trek voyager ”.

A brilliant two-parter of a brilliant series, with an equally brilliant article. Thank you; a very inspiring, wonderfully written and insightful piece.

I am no fan of Voyager. I remember very little of it but this two parter I enjoyed because there was a real sense of journey and movement within the framing device of being lost in the wrong quadrant. Inevitably the Pandemic brings into even sharper relief the nature of place. I spend half of my year in Indo China and New Zealand and half in the UK and Europe. To keep it simple the Virus looks and feels different in both but their are similarities 50% of the deaths in New Zealand are Elderly Dementia Patients and the UK 25% plus. The two parters core story is about the restoration of a Loved One. The behaviour of my two governments is to protect their health systems from being overwhelmed by the death of the elderly and generate huge debt for the next generation. The road to hell is paved with good intensions. I will not comment on the United States but here in New Zealand there is a real sense of community in amongst Paradise and Kiwi’s have in the main come together followed each level of lock down and are now ready to rebuild their shattered economy. Their are pockets of gang culture, a continuing entitlement narrative from the Maori (for which I have noticed an increasing resentment over the years not helped by their policy of reverse Ghettoisation), but what I hope they decide is to control inward tourism which brings little financial benefit and is disrupting the environment. People need to remember they can be happy and travel to the far reaches of their minds without moving.”As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.” Buddha. Most tourists move their body and not their mind and are merely ticking boxes offered as a badge of success. The best journeying in Star Trek is within something Jim talks about in The Final Frontier.

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Star trek returns to a ds9 & voyager location for the first time in 25 years.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Star trek actors & executive producers react to peabody award, shogun's success is a reminder to watch this $177 million jet li movie with 94% on rotten tomatoes.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 7, "Erigah".

• Star Trek: Discovery season 5 returns to the Badlands, a crucial location from DS9 and Voyager after 25 years.
• The next clue to the Progenitors' technology is hidden in the Eternal Gallery and Archive inside the Badlands.
• The Badlands pose a dangerous journey for the USS Discovery as they navigate plasma storms to find the final treasure piece.

The Star Trek franchise is returning to a very important location from both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager for the first time in 25 years. In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 7, "Erigah", written by M. Raven Metzner and directed by Jon Dudkowski, the final clue to the location of the Progenitors' technology is contained within The Eternal Gallery and Archive , an ancient library with the ability to change locations. It's current position during Discovery 's period of the Star Trek timeline is in a location that is well known to fans of DS9 and Voyager .

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 has contained multiple references to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from the USS Discovery's Ferengi bartender, to the Trill zhian'tara ritual, and Breen villains. Now, the ending of Discovery season 5, episode 7 sets up a return to the very region of space in which Star Trek 's Deep Space Nine station was located. With their treasure hunt almost at an end, the USS Discovery is setting course for the Badlands, a location of vital importance to DS9 and to Star Trek: Voyager , for the first time in 25 years .

As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

Star Trek: Discovery Is Returning To An Important DS9 & Voyager Location

Working to decipher the clue left by Star Trek: Discovery 's Betazoid scientist Marina Derex , Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) are pointed in the direction of The Eternal Gallery and Archive by Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro), an expert in rare books. To narrow down the Archive's location, Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) enlisted the help of the empathic Cleveland Booker (David Ajala), who was able to see violent plasma storms while holding Derex's library card. It was plasma storms such as these that aided Maquis activities during both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager .

Judging by the visions of Book in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 7, the Badlands are still beset by the same intense plasma storms that caused trouble for the Cardassians, the Maquis, and the USS Voyager . While the USS Discovery has a spore drive that can drop them in and out of a location quickly, they could still find themselves victims to the punishing plasma storms while an away team explores the Eternal Archive. This means that the road for the final piece of the map to the Progenitors' treasure could be a very rocky one in Discovery season 5, episode 8, "Labyrinths".

Star Trek's Badlands And Missing Ships Explained

The Badlands were introduced thirty years ago, when it was revealed as a major staging ground for the Maquis terrorist organization in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2 . The introduction of the Badlands was part of a larger plan for DS9 to set up Star Trek: Voyager a year in advance of its 1995 premiere. In the Voyager pilot, "Caretaker", Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the crew of the USS Voyager were lost in the Badlands after trying to trace a missing Maquis ship, containing her closest friend, Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ). Voyager was then caught in the Caretaker's array and sent to the Delta Quadrant.

In the 24th century, the Badlands were located along the border between Federation space and the Cardassian Union. It's currently unclear how these borders have shifted in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century.

The USS Discovery won't have to contend with the Caretaker's array when they visit the Badlands, but they'll still have to account for the plasma storms and spatial anomalies . Many ships were lost in the Badlands during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , including the Valjean, commanded by Chakotay (Robert Beltran), and the IKS Koraga, aboard which Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) had served during the Dominion War. The Eternal Gallery and Archive being located in Star Trek 's Badlands means that Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) shouldn't expect a quiet trip to the library as Star Trek: Discovery 's treasure hunt continues.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

Star Trek: Voyager

The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before. 

Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)

Kurtwood smith: annorax, photos .

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