Before and After (episode)

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"Before and After"
VOY, Episode 3x21
Production number: 40840-163
First aired: 9 April 1997
←  62nd of 168 produced in VOY  →
←  62nd of 168 released in VOY  →
←  462nd of 911 released in all  →

Kes finds herself in temporal flux with her consciousness moving back in time through various episodes in her life up until her birth.

Summary

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A blur slowly transforms itself into a view of sickbay from a lying position, with a hairy-headed doctor known as Dr. van Gogh standing over. The year is 2379 and Kes has nearly reached the end of her lifespan.

A young boy approaches her, giving her a present that he apologizes for delivering so late. Kes has no idea what the boy is talking about but before she can do anything, a blinding flash hits her and she finds herself in her quarters, lying in her bed.

Walking into her room, she finds a young woman and the boy there. The young woman identifies herself as Linnis, and the young boy is Andrew, her grandson. Andrew is startled when she comes in, because he is still working on her birthday present. She starts to explain her dream to Andrew, but Linnis decides they should go to sickbay. On the way to sickbay, Kes finds out that Linnis is her daughter. When they arrive in sickbay the doctor discovers that over 98% of her memory engrams have been lost. The Doctor is in the process of perfecting a device he invented that he believes will extend her lifespan for at least another year. Tom Paris and Harry Kim arrive in sickbay. Confused as to what is going on, she just tries to explain, despite her situation being dismissed as being part of the morilogium, when another flash appears and she finds herself in the mess hall.

It is now Kes' ninth birthday party and everyone is singing "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" to her. Startled, she blows out her candles, and Tom kisses her on the forehead. She runs into Andrew, who apologizes because he doesn't have a present for her yet. She approaches The Doctor and tells him her situation but the Doctor is amazed when she mentions the bio-temporal chamber, because he had just come up with the idea that morning and had meant to tell her about it as a birthday surprise.

Captain Chakotay checks in on Kes in sickbay, wondering what is happening to her, as are Paris and Kim. This time she has lost 95% of her memory presumably because she is retaining her memory of the original future events. Kes explains that she at first remembers Andrew giving her a belated birthday present, then later Andrew working on that same present and then just recently Andrew apologizing for not starting on her present.

Chakotay surmises that there must be a time paradox at work, while The Doctor believes that Kes must have developed a form of precognition that allows her to see future events that have not yet happened. Chakotay decides that he and Paris will scan for any temporal anomalies that may be causing Kes to experience these events.

Sometime later, Paris meets Kes in their quarters where they reminisce about their life together, which Kes cannot remember. Going through her records, she finds an incident in 2374, where a fragment of a chroniton torpedo, used by a race called the Krenim, leaked radiation through the hull of USS Voyager, irradiating the entire crew with chroniton radiation. This was what Paris had called the beginning of the "Year of Hell". Kes also learns during this period that Captain Kathryn Janeway and B'Elanna Torres died in this attack. Paris had a sense that the chroniton radiation may have something to do with Kes' current situation. But before they can make progress on it, Kes again experiences a shift through time – back to her quarters, holding an infant, Andrew, her new grandson.

Now thoroughly perplexed, she runs straight to The Doctor, to whom she must again describe her dilemma, using the information she had gleaned from her previous jumps through time. The Doctor says he inoculated the entire crew against the radiation but maybe the bio-temporal chamber reactivated the chroniton particles and started her backward trip through time. Having all this information ready, the crew gets Kes to sickbay, where The Doctor creates a force field that might keep Kes in temporal sync with them, but it fails and Kes jumps back again – to a shuttlecraft, where she is giving birth to Linnis.

After the successful delivery, Kes goes back to USS Voyager but then the ship comes under attack. After the attack is over, Kes sits on a cot in the mess hall, while Captain Chakotay tries to understand what is happening. Before anyone can do anything, she begins to shift, and Kes reverts back to –the first Krenim attack.

Krenim ship firing a chroniton torpedo

Kes in 2373 before the Krenim attack

This time she is on the holodeck and she she begins talking to Paris. Before she can get very far, B'Elanna arrives and she and Tom exchange a kiss. Kes quickly realizes that this is B'Elanna Torres but then the ship comes under attack. Kes goes to the bridge and realizes that this is the Krenim she had been worried about. When she figures out who Captain Janeway was, Kes gives her information about the torpedoes but then a console explodes, killing Janeway and Torres. With The Doctor offline due to the attack, she goes to where the fragment of a chroniton torpedo was lodged in a Jefferies tube to find out the exact temporal variance frequency of the missile, inadvertently exposing herself to the chroniton radiation. She smiles as she finds the exact frequency – 1.47 microseconds – before she passes out and reverts yet again – to the present time period, 2373.

Janeway and Torres killed in the Krenim attack.

Once here, she tells Janeway about the Krenim in the future, then informs The Doctor that he needs to create a bio-temporal chamber to purge her system of the chroniton particles. If he is successful, her jumps will stop. He creates it, and places her in it, having Torres bombard Kes with anti-chroniton particles. As her chroniton count begins to drop, she experiences another jump – and arrives on her first day on Voyager.

Kes as a child.

Her meeting with Janeway goes awry as she explains that she doesn't belong here, before another rapid jump takes her back to one year old – below Ocampa's surface when she was a young girl. She tries to tell her father about Voyager, but he assumes she's just fantasizing about exploration. In 2373, her chroniton count is almost gone.

Kes jumps back to the day she was born. She then becomes a fetus, then a simple egg cell and finally vanishes completely. But just as she does so, she reappears as an egg cell, then rapidly matures into a fetus, is born to her mother and then her final flash transports her back to 2373, where The Doctor tells her he has purged her chroniton count completely and she is a healthy three year old.

On the holodeck, the crew pushes Kes to tell them about the future but Tuvok rightfully points out that what Kes experienced was only one possible future. Kes does promise to write a report to give Captain Janeway all her information on the Krenim but decides to keep the rest to herself.

Log Entries

• (log entry made by Captain Chakotay)

• Captain's log, stardate 55836.2. Kes has remained in temporal sync with us for two days now, but since we don't know when she may jump again, we can't afford to rest until we've found some way to help her.

Memorable Quotes

"Doctor, you've lost your hair!"
"I beg your pardon?"

- Kes, after time jumping and The Doctor

"So, l'm going to become a security officer. How about that?"
"Fortunately, Mr. Neelix, what Kes has been describing is merely one possible future. On each occasion that she jumped to a previous time, her subsequent actions most likely altered the future from that moment on. "
"Good point, Tuvok. Maybe l'll turn out to be Chief Security Officer."

- Neelix and Tuvok

Background Information

Story and Script

• In devising this installment of Star Trek: Voyager, Kenneth Biller took inspiration from a work of literature and decided to base the story around Kes, due to his interest in the character. "It's always a challenge to come up with a new and different time travel story," explained Biller. "One of my favorite novels by Martin Amis called Time's Arrow has as its narrator a man who is moving backwards in time. I thought it would be an interesting thing to try to do on Star Trek. Kes is an interesting person to do it with. She has interesting physiology." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 110)
• Actor Robert Picardo once described the time-jumping element of this episode's plot as "sort of like Slaughterhouse-Five." (Star Trek Monthly issue 26, p. 11)
• Director Allan Kroeker found he could relate to the episode's plot, thanks to a dream he had once. "Every script has to have a heart or a leitmotif–some vision behind it, something that you can distill into one image," he commented, before recalling, "I remember having a dream once where there were people I knew and loved and they didn't see me. I kept talking to them and I could get no response; they didn't know I was there. And I woke up feeling this anxiety. I was very disturbed by this image of not being able to reach the people who are close to me; it was like being invisible. I thought, 'Well, that's kind of a hellish image,' and that's what I felt was driving this episode. Kes was always just on the verge of explaining it to the crew; she was trying to get home in a way." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)
• The episode's final draft script was submitted on 6 January 1997. [1]
• In the episode's final version, Kim warns that – to stop Kes' time-traveling – the crew would have to determine the temporal variance of the chronoton torpedo whose radiation affected her. The Doctor was originally to have given this warning, phrased in exactly the same words that Kim uses.
• Another change was that The Doctor was originally to have pronounced that Kes would be lost in "a matter of days", although this was ultimately changed to "a matter of weeks."
• While the script was being written, the name of Kes' father also changed from Amis to Benaren. The script describes him as "warm and energetic".
• Similarly, the script refers to the girlhood Kes as "a six-month old Ocampan girl (who has the approximate appearance of a twelve-year old)".
• In the teaser scene where Andrew presents Kes with the birthday gift he makes for her, he is described thus: "He looks to be about twelve years old. He has Eurasian features, yet his ears bear traces of distinctly Ocampan physiology." A statement from The Doctor establishes that, at Kes' ninth birthday party, Andrew is younger than one year of age.
• In the scene where Kes meets Linnis and Andrew in her own quarters, the script establishes Linnis' age: "Though she appears to be in her late twenties, she is in fact four years old."
• The script also firmly establishes that the camera used to photograph Kes holding baby Andrew is a "twenty-fourth century camera".
• Additionally, the episode's script specifies about the Ocampan birthing pod where Kes is born, "This should be a redress of one of the pod sets from "Favorite Son"."

Cast and Characters

• Before appearing in this installment, Andrew actor Christopher Aguilar was unfamiliar with Star Trek. "Star Trek was really, really new to me when I first approached the episode," he remembered. "I wasn't a Star Trek fan then because I had nothing to do with the show." This episode was, actually, not only Aguilar's introduction to Star Trek but also his first major television acting work. He explained, "I've done a few commercials but this was my very first kind of dramatic role." (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 61)
• Christopher Aguilar enjoyed working with the seasoned regular cast of Star Trek: Voyager. He said of those performers, "All the actors were really nice to me, and they brought me into the cast really well." He found the experience of working with them to be not only fun but also educational. Among the things that the main cast members taught him (including how to prepare for a scene, as well as courtesy and job security on the set) was how to be "really nice to the people behind the camera, too!" (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 61)
• Of the regular cast members, Christopher Aguilar particularly grew fond of both Robert Picardo and Kes actress Jennifer Lien. Aguilar found Lien to be especially friendly and supportive, noting, "She really talked to me." (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 61)
• Allan Kroeker was impressed by the performance that Jennifer Lien delivered for this episode. He noted, "It was a lovely performance." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)

Production

• This episode was the first of thirteen Star Trek: Voyager episodes directed by Allan Kroeker. He found this episode extremely challenging, later recalling, "It was very complex and very difficult to shoot. I was so high-strung when I was doing it, I kept saying 'Action' before they had actually rolled the camera." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)
• The technical aspects of this episode's production impressed Christopher Aguilar. He remarked, "Once you're in there [on the set], you feel like you're really on a ship... The make-up was also pretty cool, and was the most interesting part of the show I did." (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 61)
• The fact that the newly-born Kes is shown with ears that more closely resemble a Human's than those of an Ocampa was probably due to restrictions associated with placing make-up on an infant. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion)
• During the production of this episode, Robert Picardo was interviewed while surrounded by sleeping babies, in Star Trek: Voyager's trailer for them and their mothers when the babies were not required on the set. In the interview, Picardo commented, "The side-effect [of the 'Before and After' storyline] is that I have a baby in my trailer, which I'm delighted about, because I like babies." (Star Trek Monthly issue 26, p. 11)
• The final day of production on this episode included a poignant discussion between Christopher Aguilar and Jennifer Lien. Aguilar recollected, "On the last day I told her I was going to be really sad when I left, and she said I should first enjoy the time that I was spending during the show, and then I would be able to enjoy the memories after it." (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 61)

Continuity and Trivia

• This episode introduces the Krenim, who eventually reappeared in the two-parter "Year of Hell" and "Year of Hell, Part II". Although Star Trek: Voyager's producers originally intended that two-parter to bridge Seasons Three and Four, they ultimately decided to postpone the "Year of Hell" duology and replace it with the episodes "Scorpion" and "Scorpion, Part II". (Star Trek Monthly issue 34, p. 12) This was due to the planned addition of Seven of Nine to the starship Voyager's crew. (Delta Quadrant, p. 207) Owing to not only the eventual placement of the "Year of Hell" two-parter but also to Kes' departure in the fourth season (in the episode "The Gift" – which takes place immediately after the "Scorpion" duology), Kes is no longer aboard Voyager during the "Year of Hell" two-parter, in which her place in the Jefferies tube is instead taken by Seven of Nine.
• This is the second time we see Neelix in an Operations gold uniform. Other occasions include "Tuvix" (season 2), "Year of Hell", and "Living Witness" (both season 4). The future Neelix' hair was also trimmed short, to match how he is described in the episode's teleplay.
• In Kes' future, Chakotay has become captain of Voyager after the death of Captain Janeway, Tuvok has been promoted to commander and is first officer (albeit he retains his operations/security gold uniform), Tom has been promoted to lieutenant commander, and Harry has been promoted to lieutenant.
• In addition to performing the role of captain, Chakotay also has the official rank of captain, complete with four Starfleet-style rank pips instead of a provisional insignia worn by the former Maquis members. It is not explained how he received the new rank without anyone from Starfleet being around to give him a field promotion. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" (Commander Riker receives an official field promotion to captain after Jean-Luc Picard's assimilation). In the TNG installment "Tapestry" (Picard taking command of the USS Stargazer upon the death of its captain) shows command without a change in rank. Picard's promotion to Captain was granted officially by Star Fleet after the incident was over. In most military organizations and those with a similar hierarchy like Star Fleet, the second in command automatically assumes command of a vessel if the captain is killed. If the command is assumed to be for an extended period of time, naval tradition dictates that that person is then called "Captain" regardless of their actual rank. O'Brien references this tradition specifically in the Deep Space Nine episode "Behind the Lines". "It's an old naval tradition. Whoever's in command of a ship, regardless of rank, is referred to as 'captain.'" The question left unanswered, however, is how Chakotay's official rank, as reflected in his uniform, was elevated also.

• This episode introduces Kes' longer hair style instead of the very short hair style from seasons 1, 2 and part of 3. Jennifer Lien was apparently sensitive to the make-up and adhesive used to apply her Ocampa ears. With the longer hairstyle, it was no longer necessary to apply the Ocampa ears each time she was filmed. (Delta Quadrant, p. 177; fCinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 109)
• This episode is the only Star Trek: Voyager installment to show what an Ocampa baby looks like.
• The Doctor's mobile emitter does not appear in any of the scenes set in the "future." It might be assumed that, having lost him temporarily in the destruction of Sickbay during the Year of Hell, the crew renewed their attempts to project him throughout the ship (as seen in "Projections" and "Persistence of Vision") and retained the mobile emitter only for use off the ship. No such explanation is given in canon, however.
• This episode includes the third of many times Janeway "dies" during the series – on this occasion, as observed by Kes during a Krenim attack. It also marks the first time B'Elanna "dies" with other examples being "Timeless", "Course: Oblivion", "Barge of the Dead" and "Fury".
• Most of the Voyager crew members in this episode seem to have disregarded the Temporal Prime Directive, as they keep asking about Kes' time-traveling experiences. One possible reason for this as that, as Tuvok states, the events she witnessed are only possible futures. (The same justification was given for Picard revealing the events of the Anti-time future to his crew in "All Good Things...").
• The scene in which Kes interrupts Neelix as he tries to persuade Janeway to allow them on board is meant to be set during the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Caretaker". This episode's script not only notes this fact but also states that the cave garden in which Kes finds that she has reverted to her childhood is "similar to the "enclave" setting in "Caretaker" Scene #123".
• Even though the crew is celebrating Kes' ninth birthday, the cake Neelix serves has ten candles. This may be from a tradition in some cultures of adding an extra candle as "and one to grow on." Seven of Nine specifically mentions this tradition in the episode "The Raven" when she says the birthday cake for her 6th birthday had "six candles--and one to grow on."
• According to the Star Trek: Myriad Universes novel Places of Exile, the Borg-Species 8472 War began in the same manner in this timeline as in the proper one but Species 8472 eventually emerged victorious by using the Omega molecule to destroy approximately half of the Borg Collective while restricting the remaining Borg vessels to sublight velocity. Voyager was not affected as it had already moved out of range when this occurred. Several months later, the ship entered Krenim space, marking the beginning of the Year of Hell. Seven of Nine was never liberated from the Collective in this timeline as the Borg cube on which she was travelling was never destroyed by Species 8472 and she therefore never boarded Voyager, as occurred in the proper timeline in "Scorpion, Part II". It was believed that she was eventually killed in the onslaught resulting from Species 8472's use of the Omega molecule.

Reception and Aftermath

• This episode is commonly regarded as being one of the best episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #15)
• Ken Biller said of this episode, "I [...] loved 'Before and After' [....] That was a fun, high-concept show." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #18) In addition, Biller noted, "It also has the fun of showing the audience some possible futures for some of the characters on the show." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 110)
• This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 4.5 million homes, and a 7% share. [2]
• Cinefantastique rated this episode 3 out of 4 stars. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 108)
• Star Trek Monthly scored this episode 3 out of 5 stars, defined as "Warp Speed". (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 60)
• The unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 179) gives this installment a rating of 9 out of 10.
• Having appeared in this episode, Christopher Aguilar subsequently became a Voyager fan. He stated, "The first time I really got to know about [Star Trek] was after I shot it. That's when I started watching the series, so that I would know when my episode came on." Aguilar, speaking shortly after this episode's production, also commented, "I'm sort of a Trekkie now, but only for Star Trek: Voyager, because I've been to the set, and I know the people. Because I've been on the show, I've gotten hooked." (Star Trek Monthly issue 31, p. 61)
• When speaking in the fourth season about executive producer Jeri Taylor's imminent departure from the series in the fifth season, Ken Biller gave assurances that – despite the fact that Voyager's writing staff would predominantly consist of males – the writers would still focus on the female characters, as Biller noted he had done in this episode. "I'm interested in the female characters, and I like to write for them," Biller stated. "I've written some shows–'Before and After,' for example–that play to a female's strengths." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue 18)

Video and DVD releases

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.11, 1 September 1997.
• As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection.
• As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Alternate Realities collection.

Links and references

Ensign Neelix

Starring

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring

• Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay
• Roxann Biggs-Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres
• Jennifer Lien as Kes
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok
• Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Guest Stars

• Jessica Collins as Linnis Paris
• Michael L. Maguire as Benaren
• Christopher Aguilar as Andrew Kim
• Janna Michaels as young Kes

Co-Star

• Rachael Harris as Martis

Uncredited Co-Stars

• John Copage as a science division officer
• Tarik Ergin as Ayala
• Grace Harrell as Ocampa midwife
• Richard Sarstedt as William McKenzie
• John Tampoya as Kashimuro Nozawa

Stunt doubles

• Leslie Hoffman as stunt double for Roxann Dawson
• Unknown stunt performer as stunt double for Kate Mulgrew

References

47; amnesia; angla'bosque; anti-chroniton; best man; Beta Quadrant; biobed; bio-temporal chamber; bio-temporal field; bio-temporal flux; Carey; Joseph; champagne; chroniton; chroniton radiation; chroniton torpedo; diaper; engram; holodeck; humor; hypothalamic scan; Jefferies tube; Jimbalian fudge; Kazon; kilodyne; Krenim; Krenim warship; medical tricorder; mess hall; MeV; microsurgery; molecular scanner; morilogium; Mozart; Ocampa; Ocampa (planet); parametric frequency; precognition; red alert; replicator ration; röntgen; senility; sickbay; tactical sensor; tea; telepathy; telekinesis; temporal flux; temporal sync; temporal variance; toast; tricorder; van Gogh; Vincent; Vulcan; wedding; Yattho; "Year of Hell"

Previous episode: "Favorite Son"

Star Trek: Voyager Season 3

Next episode: "Real Life"