S01E02. Relativity
Content Warnings: discussion of mental health, incarceration, and sexual harassment; excessive use of mild profanity
It’s time! Melissa brings “Relativity,” the 24th episode of the fifth season of Star Trek: Voyager, written by Bryan Fuller, Nick Sagan, and Michael Taylor and directed by Allen Eastman. Like First Contact, this episode features time travel and the Pogo Paradox. We talk about how Star Trek explores trust, curiosity, and power. We also chat about temporal mechanics, nascent continuity, Seven of Nine’s character, space sickness, Janeway’s first day, and how Star Trek technology always seems to lag behind the real world.
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Connections:
- Seven of Nine debuts in Star Trek: Voyager S04E01, “Scorpion, Part II.”
- The Temporal Prime Directive is first mentioned by name in Star Trek: Voyager S03E09, “Future’s End, Part II.” It is confirmed to be Starfleet policy prior to Voyager‘s departure from the Alpha Quadrant in the series finale, “Endgame.”
- Captain Braxton previously appeared in Star Trek: Voyager S03E08-09, “Future’s End.”
- Out of phase:
- Crusher is trapped in a warp bubble that is “phasing” into a parallel universe in Star Trek: The Next Generation S04E05, “Remember Me.”
- La Forge and Ro find themselves out of temporal phase in Star Trek: The Next Generation S05E24, “The Next Phase.”
- The Devidians conceal themselves by being out of temporal phase in Star Trek: The Next Generation S05E26, “Time’s Arrow.”
- Captains’ First Days:
- Kirk’s first day as captain of the Enterprise (in an alternate universe) is portrayed in the 2011 film Star Trek.
- Picard’s first day as captain of the Enterprise D (but not his first day as a captain) is depicted in Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint,” and finale, “All Good Things.”
- Sisko’s first day as commander of Deep Space Nine is depicted in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s premiere, “Emissary.”
- Archer’s first day as captain of the Enterprise NX-01 is depicted in Star Trek: Enterprise‘s premiere, “Broken Bow.”
- Pike’s first day as captain of the Enterprise (but not his first day as a captain) is depicted in Star Trek: Discovery S02E01, “Brother.”
- Burnham’s first day as captain of the Discovery is depicted in Star Trek: Discovery S03E13, “That Hope Is You, Part 2.”
- Dal’s first day as self-appointed captain of the Protostar is depicted in Star Trek: Prodigy S01E03, “Starstruck.”
- An alternate future version of Janeway appears in the Voyager series finale, “Endgame.”
- Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker have a heated argument in Star Trek: Picard S02E08, “Mercy.”
- The crew of the Discovery receive new multipurpose combadges in Star Trek: Discovery S03E06, “Scavengers.”
Works cited:
- Frakes, J. (Director). (1996). Star Trek: First Contact [Film]. Paramount Pictures.
- Holland, T. (Writer & Director). (1995). The Langoliers [TV miniseries]. Laurel Entertainment.
- Kōjina, H. (Director). (2011-2014). Hunter x Hunter [TV series]. Nippon TV, VAP, Shueisha, & Madhouse.
Our next episode will cover the two-part premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, “The Vulcan Hello” (written by Bryan Fuller, Alex Kurtzmann, and Akiva Goldsman and directed by David Semel) and “Battle at the Binary Stars” (written by Bryan Fuller, Gretchen J. Berg, and Aaron Harberts and directed by Adam Kane).
Before the Future Came is edited by Lucy Arnold, transcribed by Melissa Avery-Weir, and webmavened by Gregory Avery-Weir.
Our theme is “Let’s Pretend” by Josh Woodward, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.