Embracing all aspects of science fiction has been Star Trek’s thing since it’s inception and time travel was no exception. Ever since the first time travel adventure with Kirk’s Enterprise ending up in the 1960’s, we’ve seen the various crews out of time and desperately trying not to change their own history. In one adventure, history would constantly change around the USS Voyager.
One of the most memorable and loved two parters, Year of Hell remains a symbol of how desperate the situation could have been for the Voyager crew. As Janeway negotiations with an alien species for free travel through their region, a small annoyance of a ship interrupts them. Then suddenly, the timeline changed. The aliens, the Zahl, were gone. Erased from history. And the unsophisticated Krenim ship that was no match for Voyager one second was now a powerful warship ready for the kill shot.
In the blink of an eye an average days travel becomes the beginning of a long and difficult battle that Voyager can’t win. And it’s wonderfully grim.
For years the episode has been heralded for being an indication of what Voyager could have been. The story revolves around Annorax, a Krenim scientist who has been making adjustments to history in order to correct a mistake. Young and arrogant in his experiments, an early demonstration of how removing parts of history would strengthen his people did the opposite. One miscalculation meant that the events of the past didn’t occur in the right way to find a cure for a devastating disease, wiping out a significant percentage of the Krenim including his wife and family.
Since then Annorax has been a rogue time altering maniac determined to restore his people, not stopping until everyone he list has been restored. In the present, Voyager has some clever people on board who can build a defence against the timeline changes, but each change puts Voyager in a weaker state forcing them to fight for their lives the whole way through.
Voyager started with the feeling that they were at risk from untamed fighting territories but that never really landed. This was the first time we got to see Voyager face a real threat. Month by month the ship takes a little more damage until most of it is barely habitable. Paris and Chakotay are kidnapped for information on how to get rid of Voyager. Morale is a low when people are dying around you, and even the calm and cool Tuvok take a a beating that leave shim blind with Neelix putting on a uniform to help out the tactical officer.
It’s a slow descent into dark desperation and Kate Mulgrew shines as Janeway under pressure, recklessly working through every failed system, every attack, throwing herself into danger to the point she knows she’s cracking under the pressure but she has no choice but to keep going. Following the ship through the worst of it as they struggle to survive and make allies makes for one of the most challenging and compelling episodes of the series, showing just what could have been if the producers had let the ship take a bloody nose every now and then.
Annorax as a villain is also wonderful. He’s obviously a little bit off his rocker, even facing down his crew when they look to have achieved their goal only to keep going because that one person – his wife – wasn’t saved. Kurtwood Smith, one of several Star Trek regulars, plays it perfectly. There’s no real over the top bad guy stuff going on. There’s also no pretence that his quest is reasonable or pulling of the heartstrings about why he’s doing it.
There’s a strange balance to him thats played out with Paris and Chakotay; the latter empathising and delving into the science of possibilities while the former rebels against the plan. While Annorax kind of plays it straight, letting the morality of what he’s doing play out with the regulars conflict. Though Robert Beltran gets the good material here for a change, showing the complexities of Chakotay looking for the hopeful solution.
On both Annorax’s time twisting mission and Voyager’s fight to stay alive long enough to put things right there’s a lot of compelling ideas and drama here that takes the episode beyond it’s reputation of being dark and miserable. But the darkness does give way to a lot of missed opportunities for the show, of how much more compelling the journey would have been if the struggle of survival took over from the clean comfort of starfleet every now and then.
The ending is also a wonderful thing. After an hour of Janeway finding the badass within, we sadly get our reset button with a suicide mission to ram Annorax’s ship which would, in turn, restore the timeline back to how it all began even before Voyager arrived. I hate the reset button. It’s one of Voyager’s biggest sins. But I’ll allow it for once here and it also gave us one of the best moments of the season with Tuvok letting his subdued emotion and loyalty take over. The Captain goes down with the ship, as always, but not without his objection.
Moments like that really make the episode. Neelix fretting over Tuvok cutting himself shaving, ridden with guilt over the tactical officers injury. Chakotay talking with wonder about what could happen removing just one comets existence and how that small things could change reality. Janeway sending her crew away to keep them safe from the constant bombardment…
And then it ends with another wonderful moment. After an all too quick battle, Voyager smashes into the time ship. Everything goes boom and once time is restored, we’re taken back to the starting point; where Annorax’s real chance of saving his wife began. Putting down his plans for the ship to spend time with her. Poetically, with no explanation on whether it was just a happy memory, or if that decision would lead to his ship being removed from history and save the future.
Year of Hell will always be the ‘What If’ of Voyager, being a constant tease to what the show would be like if they took bigger risks or the Ron Moore approach that led to Battlestar Galactrica. But above that, it’s just one of Voyager’s best hour (and a half)’s that show the series at it’s best.
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 […]
