"Timeless" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and was also the series' 100th episode. The episode was directed by

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''R ...

, who was also featured in a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

as his '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' character Geordi La Forge. The episode also marks an important turning point among the series when Janeway notes in her personal log the changing perspective of their journey home: it's no longer "if" the crew will ever return to Earth, but "when." The episode begins with a "

cold opening A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...

" on a frigid windswept planet. Two figures wearing survival gear beam onto the scene and search until they discover what they are looking for: ''Voyager'', buried beneath the ice. "Timeless" was the 100th episode of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' to be broadcast, which is a number noteworthy in television as it is the threshold for

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viability.

Plot

Fifteen years in the future,

Chakotay Chakotay is a fictional character who appears in each of the seven seasons of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Portrayed by Robert Beltran, he was First Officer aboard the Starfleet starship USS ''Voyag ...

and Harry Kim discover ''Voyager'' frozen on the surface of an ice world. They recover the body of

Seven of Nine Seven of Nine (born Annika Hansen) is a fictional character introduced in the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Portrayed by Jeri Ryan, she is a former Borg drone who joins the crew of the Federation starship ' ...

, collect the

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

via his mobile emitter, and return to the ''

Delta Flyer Shuttlecraft are fictional vehicles in the ''Star Trek'' science fiction franchise built for short trips in space, such as between a planetary surface and orbit. Also referred to as shuttles, their introduction preceded the development of the Sp ...

'', joining Chakotay's girlfriend Tessa Omond ( Christine Harnos). Kim explains to the Doctor that fifteen years prior, the crew had attempted to use slipstream engine technology to bring ''Voyager'' home, with Chakotay and Kim in the ''Delta Flyer'' leading the larger ship. However, the slipstream became unstable, causing ''Voyager'' to crash into the ice world. Chakotay and Kim have spent the last fifteen years searching for the ship. Kim explains that he can send a message back in time to Seven using a stolen Borg temporal transmitter, which would then prevent the accident. As the Doctor and Kim work, they are pursued by USS ''Challenger'', commanded by Captain

Geordi La Forge Geordi La Forge ( ) is a fictional character who appeared in all seven seasons of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and its four feature films. Portrayed by LeVar Burton, he served as helmsman o ...

. La Forge warns them that he knows they are trying to alter the past, a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive and although he's sympathetic to them, La Forge must stop their efforts. Chakotay offers Tessa the opportunity to be safely transported to the ''Challenger'' but she refuses. The Doctor successfully discovers the correct Borg time index, and Kim sends the information, but this ultimately has no effect on the slipstream, and ''Voyager'' is still lost. Kim realizes the changes have not worked and blames himself for destroying ''Voyager'' twice. The Doctor convinces him to try again, but with a less optimal solution: to have the changes collapse the slipstream, keeping ''Voyager'' stranded in the Delta Quadrant but with all hands alive. As the ''Challenger'' opens fire on the ''Delta Flyer'', an overload starts to build in the warp matrix. Kim successfully sends out the signal before the ''Delta Flyer'' warp core breaches. In the present, ''Voyager'' once again enters the slipstream, losing communications with the ''Delta Flyer''. Seven receives the new calculations, and Janeway orders her to implement them. As planned, this causes the slipstream to fail, leaving ''Voyager'' and its crew safely in normal space, unharmed, and nearly ten years closer to home. Janeway orders the crew to dismantle the slipstream technology, believing it not yet ready for safe usage. She later provides Kim with an encoded message found in the signal telemetry: a recording that the future Kim had sent to his past self, giving him much-needed confidence in his abilities.

Notes

In a future episode, " Relativity,"

Starfleet Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conduc ...

officers from the 29th century, dedicated to protecting the flow of time, are said to have been left to clean up the "mess" caused by future Harry's message to his past self; they refer to it as "the temporal inversion in the Takara sector."

Garrett Wang Garrett Richard Wang () (; born December 15, 1968) is an American actor. Wang is known for his role in '' Star Trek: Voyager'' as Ensign Harry Kim. Early life Wang was born in Riverside, California, to Taiwanese immigrant parents. He has one ...

said: "Brannon Braga told me that 'Timeless' was to serve as ''Voyagers ' City on the Edge of Forever'." Captain LaForge is wearing the same movie grey-shoulder uniform from the last three ''TNG'' movies and the later seasons of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', but with the future combadge from " All Good Things" and " The Visitor" in place of the 2370s combadge.

Reception

In 2013, ''

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'' ranked "Timeless" the 25th best episode of all ''Star Trek'' television, calling it a "compelling struggle" centered on Harry Kim and with a cameo by Geordi La Forge. In 2014,

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at ''

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'' ranked "Timeless" as the 93rd best episode of ''Star Trek'' in their list of the top 100 ''Star Trek'' episodes. In 2016, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' rated "Timeless" the tenth best ''Star Trek: Voyager'' episode. The episode was also ranked as one of the top 10 episodes of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' in 2018 by

ThoughtCo Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

. (There were 172 episodes between 1995 and 2001.) The appearance of a Galaxy-class (e.g. like the '' Enterprise D'' of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''), called the USS ''Challenger'' and commanded by Geordi was noted for a special effects sequence. LeVar Burton reprising his character Geordi La Forge from ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' was noted by ''Wired'' in 2015, in their

binge-watching Binge-watching (also called binge-viewing) is the practice of watching entertainment or informational content for a prolonged time span, usually a single television show. Statistics Binge-watching overlaps with marathon viewing which places mo ...

guide for ''Star Trek: Voyager''. ''

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'' rated "Timeless" the third best episode of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' in 2012, and in 2015, suggested "Timeless" for a binge-watching guide that focused on ''Star Trek: Voyager'' episodes featuring time travel. One '' SyFy'' reviewer ranked "Timeless" as the 13th best time travel plot in ''Star Trek'' in 2016. A 2020 ''SyFy'' review ranked it as the second-best episode of the ''Star Trek: Voyager'' series, praising it as a highly entertaining episode and "one of the greatest ever produced on any ''Star Trek'' series". In 2017, ''

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'' listed this episode as one of the best of ''Star Trek: Voyager''. In 2018, ''CBR'' ranked this one of the top twenty time travel themed episodes of all ''Star Trek'' series. In July 2019, a reviewer for '' Screen Rant'' ranked "Timeless" as one of the top five episodes of the series, describing Burton's cameo as "heartbreaking and uplifting" and adding that it explored Harry Kim's

survivor guilt Survivor guilt (or survivor's guilt; also called survivor syndrome or survivor's syndrome and survivor disorder or survivor's disorder) is a mental condition that occurs when a person believes they have done something wrong by surviving a traumati ...

. They also praised the episode's special effects and overall story. In 2020, ''Screen Rant'' said this was the sixth best episode of ''Star Trek: Voyager'', based on an

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rating of 8.8 out of ten. In 2021, they also said this is one of the best episodes for Harry Kim.

Releases

On November 9, 2004, this episode was released as part of the season 5

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box set of ''Star Trek: Voyager''. The box set includes 7 DVD optical discs with all the episodes in season 5 with some extra features, and episodes have a Dolby 5.1 Digital Audio track. On April 25, 2001, this episode was released on LaserDisc in Japan, as part of the half-season collection, ''5th Season vol.1'' . This included episodes from "Night" to "Bliss" on seven double sided 12 inch optical discs, with English and Japanese audio tracks for the episodes.

References

External links