History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell

* ArtisticLicenseShips: Contrary to what Paris seems to think, compartmentalizing a ship via transverse bulkheads did not originate with the ''Titanic'', having been invented in China in the 5th century AD and having become near-universal in Western ships as well a century before ''Titanic'' (to be fair to Tom, though, it's been shown on several occasions that his Old Earth knowledge isn't ''quite'' as accurate as he thinks it is, and ''Titanic'' was arguably the most famous shipwreck in history, with nearly every mention of it highlighting the "watertight compartments" which supposedly made it unsinkable). It's also ridiculous that Starfleet vessels wouldn't '''already''' have such compartmentalization.

* PlotParallel: As noted under TheDeterminator, [[MirrorCharacter Annorax and Janeway]] are both facing the annihilation of everything they hold dear, with the viewer getting a ringside seat to [[TheChainsOfCommanding how well they handle it (or don't)]] and [[IDidWhatIHadToDo what means they are willing to justify]] to achieve their desired ends. Janeway is proven willing to [[HeroicSacrifice give up everything]], even [[DeathSeeker her own life]], while Annorax will [[AMillionIsAStatistic sacrifice everyone]] ''but'' [[ItsAllAboutMe himself]] (and his power). This is even represented symbolically by their {{Tragic Keepsake}}s: Janeway, though touched by the watch Chakotay gives her, insists that it should be recycled because its components would be better used helping everyone on the ship, while Annorax refuses to "recycle" the lock of his wife's hair, instead retaining it in a stasis field to keep him focused on his goal.[[labelnote:*]]And ironically, it may be his refusal to sacrifice, to let this piece of her go, that is preventing him from achieving what he seeks, thanks to the way the timeshield and RippleEffectIndictor works.[[/labelnote]]

** Subverted with the lock of hair belonging to Annorax's wife, which is not only on the timeship but kept preserved in a stasis crystal, so it can never be affected by any of the changes in the timeline he causes. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard It's entirely possible]] that this is ''why'' he can't ever get 100% recovery, because time can never fully change or reset to bring her back so long as a piece of an erased timeline still exists; his smile when the crystal is broken and it vanishes could suggest he's realized this. See the YMMV tab for more details.

** Unfortunately, the temporal shield also prevents the damage to Voyager and her crew from being "healed" from the reset.

** Janeway also asks this when Chakotay first suggests the idea of abandoning the ship - sure, a bunch of escape pods and shuttles could probably sneak through Krenim space much easier than the starship itself, but those pods and shuttles would have a distinct disadvantage with weapons and shields, and, even if they did make it through to the other side, what would they do without Voyager's resources going forward in their journey home? Even Chakotay acknowledges that he didn't like the idea, but he had a duty to suggest it all the same.

* BookEnds: The two-parter started with Voyager coming across an aggressive but underpowered Krenim ship trying to bully Voyager while [[BoisterousWeakling lacking any sort of weaponry to back it up]]. After Annorax restores most of the Krenim Imperium, the timeline shift has ''Voyager'' being pounded on by a much more powerful ship, and the same commander is now a full-on {{Jerkass}} who casually threatens to have the crew executed, with Janeway commenting that they have been dealing with these attacks for weeks now. After the timeship is destroyed the timeline resets to Day One where Voyager comes across the original, smaller Krenim ship, whose commander is now much more reasonable and politely requests that they divert around the area, which Janeway agrees to do.

* CriticalStaffingShortage: With several dozen crewmembers dead already from the Krenim attacks, Part 1 ends with significant damage to Voyager's basic systems to where it can't support everyone anymore. Janeway orders most of the crew to escape pods to find help.

* ItsALongStory: Seven knows about Zephram Cochrane's vessel ''The Phoenix'' [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact because the Borg were present during those events]]. "It's a complicated story." Since this episode took place before Voyager had re-established contact with the Federation, it's understandable that they wouldn't be aware of those events.

* PreMortemOneLiner: Just before [[RammingAlwaysWorks crashing ''Voyager'' into the timeship]], Janeway declaims rhetorically, "Time's up!"

* RippleEffectIndicator: The weaselly Krenim subcommander who cringed in the presence of ''Voyager'' becomes very smug indeed when his guns outmatch theirs. At the end of the episode, he's a little cool, but respectful.

* SmallNameBigEgo: The initial Krenim attack on Voyager is brushed off because the Krenim in that timeline have limited warp and weapons capability, despite his arrogant posturing, but that timeline only lasts a few days before Annorax's next major temporal incursion.

** In Part 2 Annorax demonstrates why such precision is important. Chakotay tells him ''Voyager'' made a course correction eight months ago to avoid a comet, putting them on a heading into Krenim space, so he suggests erasing the comet from time. Annorax says that would destroy almost 8000 civilizations.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: The temporal shields make ''Voyager'' immune to the changes caused by the Timeship when the crew didn't even know that was a threat they needed to be protected from.

* AndThenWhat: Brought up by Janeway when the Doctor tries to relieve her of duty due to her potential PTSD, as she forces him to acknowledge that the ship doesn't have the resources to keep her confined even if they would go through with that order.

* TheEndOrIsIt: After the timeship is destroyed, history gets a ResetButton back to 'normal' and we see Annorax in a happy moment at home with his wife whom he'd previously wiped from existence. She convinces him to put his work aside and join her, and the camera finishes on a shot of his table, on which lie the plans for the timeship. Even then, the ForWantOfANail condition still applies. Even if Annorax builds a "second" (original) timeship, the complexities of the time-line do not guarantee a repeat of the past events.

* ForWantOfANail:
** Annorax gains a 98% restoration of the Krenim Imperium which his NumberTwo insists is a CloseEnoughTimeline, but Annorax continues with his quest to change the timeline because he's obsessed with getting the perfect result (his wife is part of the unrestored 2%). The second time he tries, ''Voyager'''s new temporal shields are enough to throw off his calculations and revert the entire Imperium to a pre-warp state.
** In Part 2 Annorax demonstrates why such precision is important. Chakotay tells him ''Voyager'' made a course correction eight months ago to avoid a comet, putting them on a heading into Krenim space, so he suggests erasing the comet from time. Annorax says that would destroy almost 8000 civilizations.
--->'''Annorax:''' Four billion years ago fragments from that comet impacted a planet. Hydrocarbons from those fragments gave rise to several species of plant life which in turn sustained more complex organisms. Ultimately several space-faring civilisations evolved and colonised the entire sector.
--->'''Chakotay:''' By erasing the comet I altered all evolution in this region.
--->'''Annorax:''' [[TimeyWimeyBall Past, present and future. They exist as one. They breathe together.]] You're not the only person to make this mistake. When I first constructed this weapon ship I turned it against our greatest enemy, the Rilnar. The result was miraculous. With the Rilnar gone from history, my people, in an instant, became powerful again. But there were problems. A rare disease broke out among our colonies. [[GenocideBackfire Within a year, fifty million were dead. I had failed to realise that the Rilnar had introduced a crucial antibody into the Krenim genome and my weapon had eliminated that antibody as well]].
--->'''Chakotay:''' And you've been trying to undo that damage ever since, but each time you pull out a new thread, another one begins to unravel.

-->'''SF Debris:''' Imagine if the torpedo had actually ''collided'' with him! It just ''might'' have killed him!

* TheChainsOfCommanding: The Doctor diagnoses Janeway as suffering from traumatic stress syndrome.

* ArtisticLicenseShips: Contrary to what Paris seems to think, compartmentalizing a ship via transverse bulkheads did not originate with the ''Titanic'', having been invented in China in the 5th century AD and having become near-universal in Western ships as well a century before ''Titanic''. It's also ridiculous that Starfleet vessels wouldn't '''already''' have such compartmentalization.

* PlotArmor: Tuvok is only a few feet away from an exploding torpedo, and while he's permanently injured, his infirmity isapologized. Seven, who he shielded with his body, is uninjured.

* BookEnds: The two-parter started with Voyager coming across an aggressive but underpowered Krenim ship trying to bully Voyager while [[BoisterousWeakling lacking any sort of weaponry to back it up]]. After Annorax restores most of the Krenim Imperium, the timeline shift has ''Voyager'' being pounded on by a much more powerful ship, and the same commander is now a full-on {{Jerkass}} who casually threatens to have the crew executed, with Janeway commenting that they have been dealing with these attacks for weeks now. After the timeship is destroyed the timeline resets to Day One where Voyager comes across the original, smaller Krenim ship, whose commander is now much more reasoable and politely requests that they divert around the area, which Janeway agrees to do.

* BookEnds: The two-parter started with Voyager coming across an aggressive but underpowered Krenim ship trying to bully Voyager while [[BoisterousWeakling lacking any sort of weaponry to back it up]]. After Annorax restores most of the Krenim Imperium, the timeline shift has ''Voyager'' being pounded on by a much more powerful ship, and the same commander is now a full-on {{{Jerkass}} who casually threatens to have the crew executed, with Janeway commenting that they have been dealing with these attacks for weeks now. After the timeship is destroyed the timeline resets to Day One where Voyager comes across the original, smaller Krenim ship, whose commander is now much more reasoable and politely requests that they divert around the area, which Janeway agrees to do.

* BookEnds: The two-parter started with Voyager coming across an aggressive but underpowered Krenim ship trying to bully Voyager while [[BoisterousWeakling lacking any sort of weaponry to back it up]]. After Annorax figured out how to restore most of the Krenim Imperium the timeline shift showed Voyager being pounded on by a much nastier ship, with Janeway commenting that they have been dealing with these attacks for weeks now. After the timeship is destroyed the timeline resets to Day One where Voyager comes across an authoritative Krenim ship but with moderate policies, simply warning them of local threats before allowing them to pass.

** Paris' transverse bulkheads come in handy when ''Voyager'' needs to pull a HyperspeedEscape and loses part of the outer hull.

* ColdEquation: The Doctor leaves a hatch open as long as he can, but eventually has to close the door on two crewmen who wouldn’t make it before the hull breaches.

** The WaveMotionGun on the ship has no other setting besides "erase from existence," which means no matter how precise their target the results are always taking a sledgehammer to the timeline.

* TheEndOrIsIt: After the timeship is destroyed, history gets a ResetButton back to 'normal' and we see Annorax in a happy moment at home with his wife whom he'd previously wiped from existence. She convinces him to put his work aside and join her, and the camera finishes on a shot of his table, on which lie the plans for the timeship.
** The ForWantOfANail condition still applies. Even if Annorax builds a "second" (original) timeship, the complexities of the time-line do not guarantee a repeat of the past events.

* HeroicSacrifice: Janeway crashes ''Voyager'' into the timeship in the hope that the destruction of the ship will cause the timeline to revert to normal.

* KarmaHoudini: Annorax ends the episode living happily with his wife on their home colony, with no memory of his 200+ year campaign of temporal genocide. Of course, technically he never committed those crimes in the new timeline...

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When the Doctor tries to relieve Janeway on medical grounds, she threatens to shut down his program. He points out that threat alone is proof that she's not thinking rationally.

* PlotArmor: Tuvok is only a few feet away from an exploding torpedo, and while he's permanently injured, his infirmity is blindness.

* RippleEffectIndicator: The weaselly Krenim subcommander who cringed in the presence of ''Voyager'' becomes very smug indeed when his guns outmatch theirs.

'''JANEWAY:''' Captain's orders. Trioxin. Now.\\

-->'''The Doctor:''' Who would have thought this group of voyagers could actually become a family: Starfleet, Maquis, Klingon, Tallaxian, Hologram, Borg, even Mr. Paris.

* SeriousBusiness: What's the first thing Janeway retrieves from the trashed Ready Room? Her coffee pot of course!

* SpannerInTheWorks: ''Voyager'' is able to rig up temporal shields; however this leaves it unaffected by the temporal shift, while at the same time upsetting all the changes that Annorax is trying to make.

* TimeIsDangerous: Obviously Arronax' weapon is one of the most horrific ever shown in the franchise, but his obsession with it has led him to think of himself as less of an engineer confronted with a problem so much as a [[TheProfiler profiler]] [[Series/CriminalMinds chasing]] an [[MonsterOfTheWeek UnSub]].

* TheWatchmaker: Janeway realizes that she's stating to lose track of time. Chakotay chirps that he has a remedy for that, and presents her with a pocket-watch. She later finds the watch again while rooting through ''Voyager'''s wrecked upper decks. It also symbolizes Chakotay's newfound power as an apprentice onboard Annorax's timeship.

* WholePlotReference: At least the portion set aboard the Krenim temporal weapon ship is this to ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea''. Referenced in the name Annorax -- an anagram of Aronnax, TheNarrator of the aforementioned novel.
* WildCard: ''Voyager'' for Annorax; because she arrived unexpectedly from such a far away sector and is generating her own temporal field, it's impossible to predict her effect on the timeline. Annorax initially considered the ship to be a minor element, but when the temporal shields throw off his latest incursion, he decides to take a closer look.

* OpenAirDriverLaunchingOnJuly09: In the final battle, the ''Voyager'' has it's bridge opened up and a makeshift forcefield keeping Janeway inside. Janeway decides to ram the timeship, which causes time to revert to before the ship came to be in the first place.