Voyager’s first episode set the mission to get the lost ship back to Earth. In the serie’s final episode, it would be somewhat of a let down if they just left the crew in the middle of nowhere. Even then the ending seemed like an obvious one and with it all being telegraphed 170 episodes before, the fun wasn’t about if they got home, but how…
Kicking off with a celebration, we skip to the end with a reunion celebrating the tenth anniversary of Voyagers return to Earth. Sixteen years after the previous episode, Voyager found it’s way home. And now twenty six years into the future from our viewer perspective, we get a bit of a catch up with the former crew. Harry finally got promoted and is now a Captain. Paris and Torres have a daughter, Miral, who’s following their footsteps by joining Starfleet. The Doctor’s even managed to get over his struggles being recognised as a ‘real’ person, having gotten married and leading a relatively normal life.
But not everything turned out well. Being away from Vulcan medicine for so long, Tuvok wasn’t able to be treated for an otherwise preventable illness and is now institutionalised under permanent care. Chakotay died on the return trip, with Janeway visiting his grave and mentioned his wife, Seven of Nine, died years before. It’s space, things happen. But it’s not good enough for Admiral Janeway who’s spent all her spare time figuring out how she can go back and bring everyone home…
Swapping between the distant future and the present, Admiral Janeway rallies the troops with Torres and her daughter Miral helping to get some secret Klingon time travelling tech, while Captain Kim joins the fun. Meanwhile in the present, Captain Janeway’s very much all alive crew are looking into another hopeful route home; a nebula with just the right kind of wonderful properties that can zoom them all way back to Earth. One that we know won’t work as it’s sixteen years too soon. But as soon as the Admiral engages the Time Travel Shenanigans button, taking a shuttle to her past with a plan to get Voyager home early, things get a little more optimistic.
Well, ish. There’s Borg around. Because of course there is. But Admiral Janeway orders her younger self to pay attention and listen. In her time the Nebula was a dead end as it was too risky. Now armed with future knowledge and technology, the Admiral wants to change this precise moment in time and make sure Voyager gets home now – not after things get rough. Unfortunately, after a quick peek inside the Nebula, it just happens to be a massive transwarp hub for the Borg.
To get the bad stuff out of the way, the whole plot has an unaddressed morally grey area. Admiral-J comes in to save the day at the seven year mark nullifying everything that happened in the past twenty six years. The Doctor – or Joe as he prefers – getting married. Harry’s ascent. Any number of things that happened in that twenty six years is being wiped out to essentially save a few people and some hardship. And why that point? We know there were earlier points and there are other ways Voyager could get home. Doesn’t the Admiral not want to save Joe Carey? Was Ahni Jutal not worth saving?
And then there’s the classic plot hole. Janeway gets hold of a chronotron deflector that lets her travel through time and simultaneously travel to the Delta Quadrant. Yes, Captain Harry does throw limitations out there for the audience, but why not just throw that new tech into the mix and let them figure out a way home with that instead of a suicidal mission against what’s essentially an entire star system filled with Borg?
It leaves a lot of questions on a rewatch, but tat the time everyone was just excited to see an action packed finale. And it does deliver…
There’s some cool stuff in the mix here. The transwarp hub being the big one. It’s a visually impressive feat that shows they threw a lot at the spectacle. Bringing back Alice Krige as the Queen for the finale was also a nice touch. And of course there’s moral dilemma as Janeway fights against herself with her Admiral self wanting to do whatever it takes to get home, while the Captain is more focused on crippling the Borg and saving lives beyond her crew. The two Janeway’s in the mix help play on Voyagers core theme of Janeway’s promise to get everyone home, and Starfleet morality having them give up the chance.
Of course, this episode ends with the “Why not both?” option that could have been right at the beginning with the Caretaker Array; Cause chaos for the Borg by using the transwarp hub while blowing it all to pieces. Just like the rest of Voyager’s action focused plots, it all leads to conflict with a big mash of cool stuff happening towards the end. It’s not quite the perfection the Borg seek. Some elements are still a bit wacky, like the Queen’s more human side showing through and deciding she and Janeway were the new Batman and Joker, but the pacing and action through the end fight works well. It’s visually stunning, broken up with the usual interpersonal drama such as B’Ellanna giving birth to Miral in the middle of it all, and we even get to see Harry give a rousing speech that was so inspiring it would get anyone who wasn’t him promoted.
The last act has everything from hiding Voyager inside a Qube, to Admiral Janeway blowing up along with the Queen. But it all comes down to that last hurrah where Voyager escapes into the trans warp network and just drops into the Sol System with Earth in sight.
Fireworks. Fade to black.
There’s two ways to see Endgame; either its a weird story with a lot of contrived moving parts to get to the end, or it’s an exciting action packed way to close the show. And lets be honest, there’s no other way to close Voyager with any sense of satisfaction other than getting everyone home. The finale leaves a lot of open questions for what happens next as it ends with Voyager just gliding towards Earth, what will change after the future we’d seen was altered and what happened to the Borg themselves. Some of those questions were answered, eventually, through other shows in recent years. But it also closes with classic Voyager – questionable decisions and high stakes and it was nice to see their journey finally come to a happy ending.
About the author
A Fistful of Spooky Encounters
Since it's inception Star Trek hasn't just been a sci fi show, but a show that used it's science fiction setting to tell a variety of stories from a large pool of themes and styles. And since we're officially in 'Spooky Season' on the countdown to Halloween, why not take a look at some of Star Trek's best dives into darkness? EMPOK NOR DEEP SPACE NINE, SEASON 5 Deep Space Nine is falling apart and thanks to the war, O'Brien can't exactly ask the Cardassians for spare parts. But he has a plan. Along with Nog and Garak, O'Brien leads an engineering crew to another abandoned Cardassian station to salvage what they can. Only problem is... there's a reason it was abandoned... Possibly the most straight forward horror story in the series, Empok Nor was host to an experiment gone […]
Delta Quarter Promotions & Citations: September 2026
Throughout it’s entire existence SFC has grown, evolved and thrived due to the commitment and passion of our officers and crew. Keen members can make a huge difference within their unit or the fleet as a whole, and we like to ensure members are rewarded and recognised for all they bring to the organisation. Starting this year, we're opening every new period within the fleet celebrating those who have made an impact and engaged in being a positive influence in their unit or in Q2 overall. And while we're getting in a little bit earlier, we'd like to introduce our Delta Quarter awards. While promotion is one of the most visible awards available to members, one of the most vital are our commendations. Commendations are a formal recognition awarded to members of Quadrant 2 who have shown commendable service and […]
Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey: ‘Tomorrows Enterprise’, Strange New Worlds S4E10
Focusing on two timelines, Tomorrows Enterprise leads with Uhura of the present linked to her future as the two work together, manipulating the timeline to their advantage to solve the mystery of an undecipherable alien message, and a certain Scottish engineer who seems to have vanished from the timeline in the future... Writers: Henry Alonso Myers & Robbie Thompson. Director: Chris Fisher. In the present, there's some weirdness for Pike's Enterprise as they investigate a White Hole thats giving off some weird signals and an energy pulse that causes a temporal shift that directly effects Uhura after she hears strange sounds over comms. As she begins to hear things, such as Scotty screaming for help, her future self is going through some oddities of her own. A year in the future, the Enterprise is on the other side of […]
What If…. the Whales Were Never Extinct?
Fondly remembered as the lightest, more comedic entries in Star Trek's film offerings, The Voyage Home is the story of an alien probe coming to Earth to talk to it's whale pen pal, a little bit miffed that they've not had a letter in a while. In the 21st century, those pen pals – Humpback Whales – had been hunted to extinction. Meanwhile, Kirk and his disgraced crew were on the way home to stand trial and through some time warp shenanigans, take a stolen Bird of Prey back to the 20th century, kidnap some whales, and take them to the 23rd century to save the day. The charges against Kirk were a fairly big deal. Previously Kirk had stolen a soon to be retired Enterprise, went against orders and along with support from his long standing command crew barged […]
It’s a Kind of Magic: ‘Once La’an A Time’, Strange New Worlds S4E09
Developed by an alien tapping into the mind of M'Benga's daughter, turning reality into her favourite book, the Elysium Kingdom is now more reality than fantasy. Having morphed from a surreal experience to a flat-Earth like planet replica floating through space, the Elysium Kingdom lives on with it's evil queen continuing dream up new schemes. But the Kingdom's purpose has shifted with it arriving to unsubtly help one of the Enterprise crew... Writers: Onitra JohnsonDirector: Sydney Freeland Not quite by chance, the Enterprise runs into the 'unknown flat planet', a disc-shaped world moving through space with it's own power, air and life. Beaming down, Pike, Spock, Pelia and La'an find themselves in a fairy tale world. Complete with real fairies. And a fairy castle. After running into King Ridley, the part played by M'Benga in the season one episode, they […]
[Retro Review] The Doomsday Machine
Responding to a distress call from the USS Constellation, the Enterprise race to the rescue but they arrive too late to save the day. Coming under fire from an alien entity, the Constellation has been heavily damaged and with only one survivor within it's charred shell; Commodore Matt Decker... Still in shock from the attack, Decker isn't able to say if it was an alien ship, or a creature that tore his ship apart. It doesn't take long to track the aliens flight path. It's not from around these parts, entering the Galaxy and on course towards populated areas that would undoubtedly be next in it's devastating path. Beaming on board with an away team, Kirk aims to try and get whats left of the ship back up and running while getting Decker to safety. But during the transit, the […]
Related
[Retro Review] Dagger Of The Mind
Dropping by a penal colony focused on rehabilitating the criminally insane, the Enterprise beams down some much needed supplies while one of the inmates sneaks on board to beg for asylum. But it's no regular stowaway. Dr Simon Van Gelder used to be part of the staff before he began to lose his mind and he's not just afraid of having dodgy meals and no windows, but reveals to Kirk that the facility runs through torture and abuse. Van Gelder arrived broken. His memories scattered, and any glimpse of those memories would trigger a painful and violent reaction. The colony's lead scientist and essentially warden, Dr Tristan Adams, waves it off claiming Van Gelder's techniques were tested on himself and that the rest of his story was delusional ramblings. Not entirely convinced, and given a heavy nudge by McCoy, Kirk […]
[Retro Review] The Doomsday Machine
Responding to a distress call from the USS Constellation, the Enterprise race to the rescue but they arrive too late to save the day. Coming under fire from an alien entity, the Constellation has been heavily damaged and with only one survivor within it's charred shell; Commodore Matt Decker... Still in shock from the attack, Decker isn't able to say if it was an alien ship, or a creature that tore his ship apart. It doesn't take long to track the aliens flight path. It's not from around these parts, entering the Galaxy and on course towards populated areas that would undoubtedly be next in it's devastating path. Beaming on board with an away team, Kirk aims to try and get whats left of the ship back up and running while getting Decker to safety. But during the transit, the […]
[Retro Review] Errand of Mercy
Relations between the Federation and the Klingons are in tatters and the prospect of an all out war casts a shadow over the region. To help prepare for the worst, Kirk and the Enterprise are sent to Organia, a planet populated by inherent pushovers right on the border between Federation and Klingon space. With the prospect of the Klingons getting a foothold that would help their war efforts, Kirk's job is to negotiate a protection order, getting the Organians on their side before the Klingons annexe the planet as a launching pad for conflict. Problem is, the Organians are hardcore pacifists and their native tech is limited. They don't want to be part of any war, and they don't want to change their values to resist. Which becomes a bit of a problem when the Klingons arrive ready to occupy the […]
[Retro Review] The Galileo Seven
Pulled in two directions, the Enterprise has to deliver critical medical supplies to avert a plague and conduct vital research at the same time. Unable to turn down the order, Kirk thinks on his feet by carrying forward to save the planet, while sending Spock to lead a research team on the Galileo shuttle to carry out their mission until the Enterprise has finished it's mission of mercy. It's a good idea. Until it isn't. Isolated form the Enterprise, the Galileo runs into a bit of bother. Thrown off course by plot, the shuttle crash lands on a primitive planet. Alone with a broken ship and a people who are as barbaric as they are terrified by the shuttles sudden arrival, Spock has to lead his own team through fear and frustration with cool and calming logic. On the first […]
[Retro Review] Space Seed
By chance, the Enterprise comes across an ancient Earth ship drifting through space. On board they find a whole bunch of people held in suspended animation, wake up the leader of the gang and accidentally unleash one of the most iconic villains of the franchise. Being coy with his identity at first, ship historian Marla McGivers becomes fascinated with a glimpse at the past while Kirk and the rest of the non-historians figure out that he just happens to be one of the most notorious war lords in Earths history... Star Trek, Season 1 , Episode 22 For all the action and adventure of deep space and the idea of using alien make up to mask more down to earth stories, Space Seed gives the first real glimpse of Star Trek's history. Khan is a relic of Earth from long […]
[Retro Review] Let This Be Your Last Battlefield
Often shown in highlight reels and quoted in discussions about Star Trek's more forward thinking messages, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield is at it's simplest, a story of the ridiculousness of segregation. En route to a vital mission of mercy, Kirk and his crew end up in the middle of a political minefield. Interrupted in the mission by a stolen Federation shuttle carrying an injured alien, Lokai from the planet Cheron, they're soon further interrupted by Commissioner Bele, an official representing Cheron who announces Lokai as a political traitor and demanding custody. One asylum request later, Kirk's stuck between the two trying to find the right course of action knowing he has orders to follow beyond the situation. The separation between Belle and Lokai is a simple context. And also a strangely charged one looking at it from a […]
