"If you can't stand the heat..."

The situation a few days before Voyager's finale

April 18th, 2001

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the warp core." - Barclay, "Pathfinder"

If you remember early March, than the Series V casting sheet leaked, I called the situation  "a mine field". Now, only about a month before Voyager's finale (finished the week before) airs and only a half one before the shooting of the Series V pilot starts, it's somehow resembling Barclay's warp core. Just like matter and antimatter annihilating themselves, we have rumours on this and anti-rumours on that concerning both Voyager's finale and series V, we have official bits and pieces on these two topics which shatter Trekdom at the moment - but putting it together results in... nothing!

We still can't get the whole picture of the puzzle, especially concerning Voyager's ending, and that's quite frustrating after weeks of hoping, wondering and speculating. It's so sickening because there's no real outcome to it. Officially, we basically DO only know - besides the title "Endgame" - from Biller that it's supposed to be a "rip-roaring, slam-bang action adventure" involving the Borg and from Kate Mulgrew that it will be "unsettling for the fans" - but in what way? The rumours have become far more specific - and indeed unsettling. The involvement of time travel, with a part of the episode playing 23 years in the future, and an actual relationship between Seven and Chakotay (!) have been mentioned in the rumors of the last weeks - and now it seems they are true, with the leaked press information (which still could be faked or part of a clever misinformation campaign of Paramount, for the hardcore optimists!) pointing out a) a visitor from the future and b) a new, emerging romance. Well, given these two pieces I can't be help but being extremely worried. I will try to explain why.

I already mentioned the two premises for the finale that are absolutely necessary to ensure its success and the satisfaction of the fans in one of the last issues:  it has to be unique, creative and original, not trying to re-hash any already used plots or even re-doing TNG, the pursued, but never quite reached ideal for the Voyager writers. And it strictly has to concentrate on the matters that are essential for the finale as the ending of an entire TV series: the conclusion of the premise of the series, and the inclusion of a connection to the pilot of the series.

Now I simply have to ask: we (supposedly) have the homecoming of Voyager and her crew in the finale, resolving the central theme (or problem) of the series, and we have the Borg involved, as the central adversary of the crew, prominently featured in four "Voyager" seasons. Isn't this enough? Why dilute the final two hours with additional themes, with some hastily introduced plot complications not fitting the context (time travel) and incredible sudden character developments (new romances!). Why make it feel rushed, crowded and shallow with too much plot lines, too ostensible action and too less deepness? Why mess it up with half baked ideas and last minute contrivances? A good finale is the one where you can sit back and enjoy and finally say: that pretty much summed up what this show was about, and put a worthy ending to it. And not a shaky ride for the viewers full of "WHAT THE HELL..."s and "HOW CAN..."s on his side.

It's the dreary pressure the writers are exposed to when writing a finale (especially for a show belonging to a network channel): fulfil the expectations of all fans, tie up all threads, make it bigger and louder, more surprising and shocking than any episode before in order to guarantee the desired effect to both the hardcore long-term fans, the normal fans and the casual "just for fun" viewers.

AND I STILL HOPE this does not apply to "Endgame" - despite the supposed involvement of time travel issues that would make the episode look either like a re-hash of "Timeless", "Shattered" or "All Good Things", but most likely elements of all these episodes (the change-the-past-aspect of "Timeless", the glimpse-the-family-in-the-future aspect from "Shattered" and the general ship-in-several-times aspect of "All Good Things"), and the rumored, already hated Chakotay/Seven relationship which would not only be totally made up without logical reasons and a credible (gradual!) development, but also a mean slap in the face of all Chakotay/Janeway fans (or should I say: hopers?).

Now: having traced this development in the past days, I really nearly arrived the point where I don't want to be spoiled at all anymore. How valuable and needful are these rumors and so-called "official confirmations"? I said it in the beginning: they are useless, since we don't know the entire story yet and can't assess an episode based on a few ideas and basic plot lines we got. Remember the "Q2 riots": everyone was so upset because of the "naked Seven scene" the trailer emphasized so proudly. Having seen the whole episode, it turned out that this is totally meaningless for the entire picture. So concerning the finale, the selection of the facts we know may be arbitrarily (or intentionally?) bad, and we're lacking the connections and interrelations. 

But even assuming that time travel and this new romance are a essential part of the story...  I will give you another example. I never watched "Star Trek: Generations" in the cinema, because back in 1994, I wasn't the big fan I am today. I got to know a year or so later that the Enterprise-D will be (or better: has been) destroyed and Picard's family has been killed. I was shocked. Outraged. Upset. I thought I could never forgive the producers what they've done that for the sake of the story. Having seen the movie several times now, I still feel unhappy of these developments, morning for the most beautiful Enterprise ever with its organic shape, the warm contours and the comfortable, friendly interiors, but I understand that they are part of a larger context, enriching the philosophic background behind the story: life and death, passing on the torch to the following generations.

With regard to this, the finale may be "unsettling" or demanding in some aspects, and even shocking in others, but hopefully as a whole, "Endgame" will be the finale everybody (even the Voyager haters) wishes and desires. And up to then - we have to either stand the heat of the moment and hope for a soon revelation of the *complete* premise or we may leave the core and let us surprise by things we might not even imagine...

Up to a different topic: series V. Here, in my opinion things are not half as nebulous anymore as aboard our favorite starship. It's still mere speculation (because we're still waiting for this official announcement, Mr. Berman!!!), but the picture is getter clearer and clearer at the moment. You may have also heard of this new rumor which emerged about one and a half weeks saying that series V will be set before TOS but will *not* have the Birth of the Federation (BOTF) premise.
Instead, it may play some time before the foundation of Starfleet and the Federation, showing the aftermath of the First Contact (shown in the eigth Star Trek feature film): the working together of Humans and Vulcans to built up a better world without poverty, crimes and wars with the final goal of a interstellar Federation. Though every exact point of time between around 2070 (shortly after Star Trek: First Contact) and 2150 (shortly before the Romulan Wars and the foundation of the Federation) is possible, the latter time is much more probable since the first one would include the post-atomic horror ("Mission Farpoint"), could not feature very sophisticated starships or many alien races. So why should this rumor be any more than that - a rumor, without an official confirmation for any of the speculated plotlines (which may, and this still is a big MAY, come very soon)?

Having thought over it quite alot of time, it sounds very right to me regarding the following oddities:

- Rick Bermans statement the premise hasn't leaked at the time the BOTF idea was discussed in the World Wide Web for months. The new premise wouldn't make him a lier, and yet it's very close to BOTF.

- The strange "Sub-Commander T'Pal" of the alleged casting sheet. In a series playing before Starfleet was founded, of course a Vulcan officer wouldn't be part of the Terran forces and carry a different (Vulcan) kind of rank.

- Difference issues. With a series playing that close to our times and that distant from the 24th century Trek we are so familiar with now, the producers would be in the ideal positions to present an entirely different Star Trek concerning the framework (imagine. no Federation, no Starfleet!), atmosphere, look & feel etc., while they haven't to change the basic ingredients: a starship, a crew, the mission to go where no one has gone before... It could be all the same, and yet it would be extremely different.

- Continuity issues. It would be quite a coup. Especially for Brannon Braga, the well-known continuity-hater of the franchise. In fact, they wouldn't have to care of much "inter-series-continuity", since we know virtually nothing of the years before 2161. The only constant would be that the events have eventually to lead to the foundation of the Federation (perhaps even only years after the ending of the new series) and that many of the known technologies (phasers, holodecks, perhaps even subspace communications, though I doubt that) and many races (Cardassians, Ferengi, Trills and many others) could not be used under any circumstances.

That said, I will leave the personal evaluation of these rumors up to the readers. Hopefully we will know more next week, so that you can either shoot or hug me. Well, I would be very surprised if everything we've heard this month would be untrue. Remember: every rumor has a grain of truth.

Christian Rühl

Webmaster - Star Trek Dimension