11:59

This is an okay episode with some reasonably thought provoking themes about characters with very different outlooks on life, but I struggled to maintain an interest in the story as it unfolded.

I find genealogy a fascinating subject and the process of examining accepted histories to reveal the truth, but when it involves the family history of a fictional character I think it is a bit of a stretch to call it interesting.

For me the plot is not helped by the shifts back and forth between past and present, halting the momentum of the Shannon O'Donnell story. I think the writers would have been better starting the episode during the flashback time period and only revealing towards the end who the main protagonists are in relation to Captain Janeway (who is in the process of doing some genealogical research).

I think Katie Mulgrew and Kevin Tighe deserve credit as they lift the material to make the episode quite watchable, but I would not describe it as riveting.

I'd like to start this review by saying that I have never before written a film/TV show review on IMDb, or anywhere else that I can recall. I just don't have interest in doing so. The fact I have now taken the time to write one for this episode is a testament to just how bad this episode was.

I've always enjoyed Trek, from a very young age I watched TNG, and then DS9. DS9 was by far my favourite and some years ago I re-watched them all on DVD. But I was never able to get into Voyager. After having re-watched TNG I decided it was time to give Voyager another go. And it's not half as bad as I recall - it's not great and overall seems a bit wanting at times with rather 2D characters, but there are some great stories and overall I'm enjoying it.

Series 5 has been hard work, though. It feels like the whole series is filler with (virtually) no killer. The episode before this (the Doctor falling in love with Seven) was pretty poor - character development, particularly for the Doctor and Seven is interesting, but there was no B-plot. The ambassador who is essentially monk-like who ends up completely inebriated is not a plot, it's all utterly pointless. Still, I digress. Then came 11:59.

Dear, sweet Lord - 'dull' doesn't do it justice. It's mind-numbingly boring and, worse, utterly pointless. An important part of a TV show, especially one as long-running as Voyager, is that we have to care about the characters and be invested in them. This obviously happens over time and develops over time also. And that's where the problem with this episode lies: why do we care about Janeway's almost-400-year-old relative and her frankly boring story? We don't. It has no bearing on the events of the present (within Voyager), it doesn't explain anything or add anything to Janeway's character that we didn't already know. Which makes it entirely redundant.

I honestly couldn't watch it all the way through to the end, I was too bored. I should add that I'm someone who can happily watch a 6 part 1960s Dr Who story, so it's not my impatience that's the problem here.

Thankfully, I'm now watching the next episode (Relativity) and while I can't yet say how good it is, at least something is actually happening.

This is a fairly boring and inconsequential episode. Overall, however, the thing it makes me wonder most is this: why does every starship seem to have nearly unlimited information about earth history?

Voyager apparently has access to 20th/21st century birth/death/marriage certificates, voter registration forms, census forms, &c. At least in TNG or DS9 that could be explained-away as them accessing the Federation network, but that's certainly not the case here, out in the Delta Quadrant. Anyhow, it is one of those silly little inconsistencies which makes this show so very weak.

Even keeping the ancestor theme, wouldn't it be more interesting if Janeway's ancestor was a janitor, secretary or bartender for the people building the Millenium Tower, or perhaps worked in it? Anything more interesting than such a cliché story.

Voyager meets a new species every other week but rarely learns anything about them that's not necessary for the action plot. A short brainstorming session could develop far better stories. Just a few episodes ago we met Species 8472. Imagine the stories that could have been created if that was developed over 2 episodes. If the crew had to really prove that humans are not a war mongering species that needs to be wiped out. Species 8472 knows our history and shows examples of our bad nature while the crew needs to explain these, perhaps reenact them to show why they happened. Or show good things. Or simply be an exploration of Species 8472, learning what life is like in fluidic space, finding similarities and differences. Janeway could meet their leaders in fluidic space. Or, before that, we met a race that was trying to harness the omega molecule. We could help them change their power source and have interesting stories along the way.

We have entire series and movies that are based on human stories, that are so much better than this.

This was a colossal waste of time & resources. A 100% story episode should be far far better.

I guess this is based on the premise that Janeway and the others have to have diversion, and a look at the past fulfills this as bit. Janeway had an ancestor, going back centuries, who had some function with NASA. It then tells how, after losing her job, she winds up in a small town that is about to get big. Except for a bookseller who refuses to sell his property to developers. It now becomes a rather maudlin story that really doesn't fit well with the Star Trek thing. It was entertaining at times, but filled with cliches and precious behavior.