Time Travel

               An article from Alex van Kaam

After watching the "Future's End" episode of Voyager some things
kept bugging me, hence this article.....

The Story...

Voyager is cruising through the Delta Quadrant (in the 24th
century) when suddenly a time gate opens and a Federation Time
Ship from the 29th century comes through. Its pilot, Captain
Braxton, tells Voyager that it will cause a huge accident in the
29th century and therefore he will destroy Voyager now so that the
mentioned accident can't take place.

But of course this does not happen, Voyager sends out some pulse,
the Time Ship from Captain Braxton gets damaged and he and Voyager
get pulled back into the time gate.

The vessel of Captain Braxton crashes on Earth in/around 1970 and
gets found by a man called Starling, while Voyager ends up in
orbit around Earth in the 1990s. This gave Starling 20 years time
to cannibalise the time ship of Captain Braxton (who if you are
wondering ended up as a homeless man in LA hanging out signs that
the world will end) and caused the 1st Computer Revolution with
his company.

Now Voyager has to stop him using the time ship to go to the 29th
Century and cause a huge explosion (not on purpose) that will
destroy the local galaxy and Earth.

After a lot of silly chasing Voyager finally destroys the time
ship with Starling in it just before it enters the time gate to go
to the 29th Century. The time gate closes and a few seconds later
it opens and Captain Braxton comes through in his time ship. He
remembers nothing since it never happened for him (the huge
explosion never happened so he never went out to destroy Voyager
etc. etc.). He just scanned time and found Voyager on the wrong

place and came to bring then back to the 24th Century in the Delta
Quadrant.

What bugs me...

Well there are several things that are totally wrong in this
story, the 1st and most simple one is that fact that once Starling
got destroyed with the time vessel the disaster never happened in
the 29th century, so Captain Braxton never came to destroy
Voyager, so Voyager never could have been in orbit around Earth in
the 20th century for Braxton to send them back.

@~Phew .... Sue

Like Captain Braxton they should not have remembered anything of
what has happened, at the moment they destroyed the time ship they
should have been back in the 24th century in the Delta Quadrant
like nothing has ever happened. At least this will give the story
an ending that is more correct then how it ended now.

Another (more complex) thing that is does not fit is the
following, in the story you learn that Starling caused the 1st
Computer Revolution (lap tops, Pentiums, Internet etc. etc.)

Now there is no comment in the story that is right or wrong... but
let's check both options...

The 1st computer revolution that Starling started is right and
should have happened:

Ok this is nice, Voyager is Voyager, its technology is a natural
development through time all starting with the 1st Computer
Revolution caused by Starling... but in the end Starling gets
killed, the accident in the 29th Century never happened, so no
need for Braxton to kill Voyager, so Braxton never crashes on
Earth in the 20th Century, so the 1st Computer Revolution created
by Starling never happened since he never found the time ship so
once all is over Voyager and the time vessel might not even exist
(at least not in its current shape) since science / the computer
revolution started later.

The 1st Computer Revolution that Starling started is not right and
should not have happened:

Ok, but then from the moment Braxton crashes on Earth in the 19th
Century everything changes since science / the 1st Computer
Revolution started earlier, so Voyager and the Time Ship should
have changed, be more advanced, but as soon as Starling gets
killed everything (Voyager, Time Ship) should be back to "normal".

The last statement can even be dug out further, if the time ship
was more advanced then Starling's 1st Computer Revolution (based
on the time ship) would have an even greater impact meaning that
Voyager and the time ship would be even more advanced meaning that
Starling's 1st Computer Revolution (based on the time ship) would
have a greater impact meaning that Voyager and the time ship would
be even more advanced meaning that Starling's.......

@~Still with us? ... Sue

(Hmmm think I just found out why they never mentioned if the 1st
Computer Revolution was right or wrong <eg>)

So.......... here we are, maybe I am totally wrong about all of
this, if so then please please enlighten me, if not then I stick
to my point that writers should leave Time Travel alone unless
they dig it out more and better then they do now.

@~Coincidentally, there was a time travel episode in Next
@~Generation around the same time where a ship from the past
@~arrives through a worm hole at the Enterprise's location and the
@~Enterprise immediately changes - eg Tasha Yar is back on board,
@~not having been killed some time earlier. No Worf since the
@~Federation and Klingons are at war etc. Only Guinan knows
@~something is wrong, though she doesn't know quite what it is.
@~Once the proper time line is restored, the Enterprise is also
@~restored and the crew (except Guinan) remember nothing about it.
@~A MUCH better way to deal with the inevitable paradox ... Sue

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