Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Voyager, Episode 63: Before & After [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Entering the world of Voyager at precisely the time that Kes was leaving, I never really got to know her. It wasn't until I saw this episode that I understood just why everyone was sorry to see her go. Jennifer Lien gives a great performance as a woman who is initially confused but is discerning enough to put the pieces together, and determined enough to free herself from the puzzle. The story's methodology is refreshingly clever: starting in the future, working backward all the way to the past, and ending in the present. Despite a few plot holes, this intelligent episode is far superior to the "other" time-traveling-Kes story ("Fury") and explains why the spirited Ocampan had so many fans.

This is a rather strange episode. At the beginning, you probably won't understand what's going on, but as the show progresses, you will soon get it. The plot is mainly focused around Kes, who is continueing to go backwards in time. The Doctor keeps trying to come up with a way to get her back into temperal sync with everyone else, but just as they're coming up with a solution, Kes jumps back again. There is one thing that really peeves me about this show. It's the forshadowing at the end. I mean, we all know that Kes is going to be leaving pretty soon, so ya don't have to rub it in. But, on the whole, I'd say this is a pretty good show.

It seems that early on in each of the later "Star Trek" series there was also some interesting little thing that was thrown in that the creators seemed to regret later on. For "Star Trek: The Next Generation" it was the whole Imzadi bit between Riker and Troi (although it produced an absolutely superb novel by that name written by Peter David). For "Star Trek: Voyager" it was the idea that Kes (Jennifer Lien) was an Ocampan, which meant that she would have a lifespan of only nine years. Of course the series would have to last several seasons before that would come into play and ironically Lien would leave "Voyager" long before any of that mattered, so very little of what was originally planned for Kes every came into play. One of the rare exceptions to that rule is this third season episode.

Episode 63, "Before & After" (Written by Kenneth Biller, Aired April 9, 1997) begins with Kes in the Sickbay on the verge of death. To save her life the Doctor (Robert Picardo) puts her in a bio-temporal chamber, at which point Kes starts jumping around in what is apparently her future life. One moment her grandson Andrew (Christopher Aguilar) is giving her a birthday gift, the next the Doctor is explaining she is in the Morilogiu, the final phase of hte Ocampan lifecycle. Then she is in her quarters, where Andrew is working on the present he has already given her and she discovers she is married to Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and her daughter, Linnis (Jessica Collins), is married to Harry Kim (Garret Wong). Before she can absorb the implications of all this future matrimonial bliss, she is back talking to the Doctor.

The jumping backwards through her life is pretty constant in "Before & After" (they should have been able to come up with a title more indicative of the premise) and since she already knows her "future" the rest of the jumps have to do with picking up clues as to why this is happening and what can (or should be or should have been) done to keep it from happening. Ironically, the episode does not play as well today, when the series has concluded and we know what happens to both Kes and Tom Paris, than it did when it first aired. That is because what ends up happening purges "Before & After" of all of its pathos. Even as the road not taken, there is not anything especially poignant for this particular glimpse of the future. However, the episode does give Kes more to do in this episode than she had seen the rest of that third season.

This is one of the highlights of the 3rd season. Kes was greatly under-used and it is great to see her at as the focus of this episode. It is wonderfully put together and really clever. I started collecting all the vidos since they started in 1995 and I almost have a full collection. This episode is definately one of my favourites over all six seasons. Jennifer Lien is an excellent actress and it was really interesting to wonder if any of these things would ever happen. FAB

This episode offers a glimpse into Voyager's "possible" future through the life of Kes. What is most clever about this episode is the way it begins . . .at the end! Although some events in this episode never come to be, one major event in particular surfaces in the episode "Year Of Hell".

I LOVED Kes!I love this episode and Voyager lost out BIG TIME
when Kes was written out of the series!The story here is that
Kes,now at the end of her life at the ripe old age of 9 (that's
like 100 in human years)is dying in sickbay when the doctor puts her in a bio-temporal chamber.Then everything runs amok
when Kes begins living her life backwards.In order to save her
own life she must convince her friends and comrads of what's
happening to her,even in some very perilous situations!Jennifer
Lien's kept her cool as Kes even as she kept leaping backward in her life,delivering one of the greatest acting performances
in all of Star Trek.This should have been a good tip to keep
her in the cast!!Too bad-I wanted to see more shows like this
one!

This is a good episode that expands on Kes' character. She was never really the main character in any episode (with perhaps a few exceptions). An outstanding performance by Lien!