Marill Re-Reads "Precise Timings"

"Your parents travelled there to get supplies for the ship. During their trip they got infected with an insect bite. They were forced to stay behind on the planet. During their time there they both become very close friends. But you contacted your mother when you arrived in this timeline. She thought intruders were onboard the ship, so she and your father returned to Voyager without even setting foot on that planet. In this timeline they never became close friends, Kiara was never born, you get the idea," Kes replied.

HOLY MOLY

Likely spoilers cos I can't avoid not diving into this one. It's asking for it.

This J/C not happening would screw over Voyager does feel very fanfiction esque, and I was concerned at the time that it would be taken at face value. However a lot of thought's gone into this, it's not as basic as "ohnoes J/C don't hold hands, we're doomed" and you'll see the evidence in the next exposition paragraph.

My other thoughts involving this paragraph, I can easily save for the spoiler section.

"But how come the Sixes have severely damaged the ship? How come Jessie and James are, or were married? How come most of my friends aren't on the ship? This doesn't make any sense," Morgan asked.

Good questions. First one is sorta answered, still I find it hilarious that the Sixes were apparently laughably weak and that's probably why I picked them here, to show how dire things are. EVEN SEVENTH VOYAGER IS WINNING would illustrate the point, less believable though.

I know her first question will definitely be answered. Not sure about two, but that definitely will be later in the season. Three, not sure, I'm curious myself. Craig would be there, unless he was dead. Triah could've been simply a case of not being in the right place, right time but no "her shuttle was destroyed". Lilly/Emma too for that matter. As for Tani, that reminded me that Morgan hasn't noticed or voiced that she's noticed she's not in this flash forward.

Let's continue.

"It does if you think about it. Voyager reached Borg space early, before the war. They managed to fight their way through. Not long after Species 8472 destroyed the Borg since Voyager wasn't around. Voyager was too damaged to defend itself against the Sixes, and it still is now. Most of the crew have been assimilated.

Winkwinknudge

Yep, there it is. Spoilertastic. I'll save my thoughts for later. For the moment I can expand on what I said earlier. No J/C dooming Voyager wasn't ever the sole point of the plot. If you remember Resolutions, J/C were stranded for quite some time while Voyager continued their journey. They got the cure and travelled back to retrieve them. I can't remember if it's said or if I worked it out or what, but two months was the time I used for how long they were there.

So imagine that they didn't go there. Voyager doesn't waste 2 months and keeps going. Everywhere since Resolutions they arrive earlier. A lot of episodes would be time dependent. Basics would be the first example, directly after it. Seska gives birth and manipulates Voyager to where she wants them. Two months earlier might ruin that idea, she'd at least have to make up a new one.

There's many more, but none so as important as Scorpion. The timing is crucial. In two months the war could've taken a turn, one way or another, that would jeapordise Voyager's chance of allying with the Borg and surviving 8472. Even then it may not be "just two months", as again the events between Resolutions and Scorpion may turn out differently because of their different arrival time. It could be shorter cos they're not held up, or longer due to running into further trouble.

One minor change, such as Morgan stepping into the past and tapping her commbadge can have a massive impact on the present and future. I just hope no one leaves this episode with "lol she thinks J/C are that crucial to Voyager's plot". There's more to it than that, the paragraphs are even bigger.

Jessie & James never split up in season three, since Kathryn & Chakotay were chosen to perform in the ritual instead of them two," Kes said.

Seeing "season three", even with no capital letters, complicates things. Should've used years or heck if you want to be fourth wally, call it as it is; B4FV Season Three. sheesh

And this, this kinda ruins what's come before. There's no context whatsoever. Morgan wasn't the one who heard about the ritual, Jessie told the Doc, not her. Also it doesn't make sense and it did cause problems for me cos I had to really dig through my files and my own memory to understand why J/C do the ritual instead of James/Jessie in this AU, especially if J/C didn't have their shippy moment in Resolutions.

Shouldn't it be the other way around? J/C don't do the ritual because they're not close, so James/Jessie do instead. But when they do have Resolutions, J/C are picked first. gah

And yes, I couldn't find the answer as to why it's the "wrong way" round, and so improvised when this is brought up in a later episode.

I'll let the episode explain, hopefully...

"Oops, nobody knows about that yet, forget I said it.

oh never mind. I guess that's another one for the spoiler section.

Anyway, Lilly & Emma weren't rescued because Voyager never had an encounter with Seventh Voyager in the first place. The device Triah used to get into the Delta Quadrant didn't work because the link was shut down early," Kes replied.

You're losing it Kes. This made sense, now it's like you're making s$$$ up to suit your narrative. gosh, that couldn't be true, could it?

"What should I do? I can't change it, it's already been done," Morgan asked.

"I don't know. I'm hoping you can figure it out for yourself," Kes said.

THANKS KES, VERY HELPFUL

James and Tom walked into the Mess Hall, followed by Bryan, who's three years old. "Oh, and another shocker. Tom and James work out their differences, and they become friends, at least there was some good out of Jessie & B'Elanna's deaths," Kes said.

SEE, IT'S GETTING MORE UNBELIEVABLE WITH EVERY PARAGRAPH

"Hmm, you're more shocked with the good news than you were about the bad news," Kes said.

"Good news? This is horrible news!" Morgan exclaimed.

Shocked, I'd say she's had enough of this fiction you're shoving down her throat, Kes.

"I don't. The show's bad enough without all of the new characters, excluding James, Tani, me and Craig. Now the show doesn't have the constant fights between Tom and James. Geez, this show will get cut," Morgan said.

Oh my.

This is a terrible paragraph but she has a god damn point with the last bit, and it's something I whined about in the Thrown Key Part 1 review; Why was Morgan friends with Lilly and Emma? Why are everyone friends? It's boring, there's no conflict. So yeah, she's not wrong.

"I take it this is a bad time to tell you that Annika is seeing Chakotay in this timeline," Kes muttered.

YOU GO TOO FAR KES, TOOOOOOOO FAR

"Wait a second. How come you're not affected by all of this? Secondly, how come me, Tani, Kiara & Bryan aren't affected?" Morgan asked.

Short term memory loss, so sad

I'd let Kes explain it but I'm mad at her now. My explanation is the same:

1) Kes is all powerful, evolved into a higher being so of course she's not affected.

2) Morgan and Tani have the temporal chips that keep them around after the Borg Sphere and Kiara's assimilation was erased. Time changes don't affect them.

3) Kiara and Bryan were busy with their own temporal issues, aging rapidly thanks to blue energy gunk.

"Just say why for the sake of the readers that have either not read Timeline or they can't remember it," Morgan said.

NO

NO, an average writer can do this without resorting to bad fourth wall comments. I imagine if I thought about it I could, so even less than average writers could do this. god!

"Rather disgusted actually," Morgan replied as she sat up. She stood up. "Come on, we've got the J/C relationship to save," Morgan said and she walked out the door.

"The what relationship?" Danny asked. Craig shrugged his shoulders and he followed Morgan out.

There's something a bit odd and funky about Morgan having to get her own parents together in the past.

"There, that's the anomaly," Morgan said.

"There's ten ships guarding the anomaly," Jessie said.

Why are Species 8472 guarding the anomaly?

Why is the anomaly still there, anomaly?

"And they must be guarding it to stop us from using it to fix the timeline," Tani said.

"But why did they want to change it in the first place?" James asked.

"The Borg," Morgan replied.

no comment

its time will come

"Voyager didn't spend ten or so weeks travelling backwards and forwards to New Earth, so they reached Borg Space before the war started. So we never got involved. The Borg were destroyed," Morgan said.

Thanks Morgan, I got it when Kes explained it. You could've explained this off screen, James would've understood it instantly lawl

"Not really, we just had the weapon to destroy them. Of course we never discovered it so the Borg couldn't win against them," Morgan said.

To be fair to Morgan, the FV crew didn't do this crap. The most they did was put up with the writers showing up and Tom & Janeway racing each other to the drugs tray.

"But how, the change has already been made, that's our present decided," Tani said.

"Tani, that can't be right. If it was the case why are 8472 guarding the anomaly? If it wasn't a threat to them they would of left it alone," Morgan said.

maybe they've lost their keys

"What would happen if we went through the anomaly?" Jessie asked.

"Well our Voyager went through the anomaly and it changed to B4FV Season Two's Voyager. Maybe if we go through the anomaly, we'll turn back to FV's Season Two's Voyager. Tani and I will have a chance to stop us from going through the anomaly in the first place. The question is, how do we change the anomaly so we end up before this incident," Morgan replied.

I was just gonna say that'll only bring you to the point you left and won't help, since you'll have already been seen in the past since you've already gone. Close enough.

"We can re-route power to the deflector, we can then fire some sort of technobabble beam at the anomaly. This will cause it to reset to the time when it was first created, before your Voyager went through the anomaly," Craig said.

"You're a genius," Morgan said and she hugged him.

admit it, you don't know how to solve this, do you?

"All we have to do now is figure out a way to get past the guards," Jessie said.

"What about those nanoprobe weapons you mentioned?" Craig asked.

YEY LETS VIOLATE THE TIME DIRECTIVE SOME MORE

now that I think about it, does anyone else even know what's happening?

"You've done it again," Morgan said and she kissed him on the cheek. 

god damn

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 2, one for the hug and now the cheek kiss

"We'd better tell Janeway about the plan," James said.

yes I'm sure she'll be thrilled. at least it answers my previous question

"Easy, we discovered that the anomaly is powered by the 8472 ships in our timeline. If we destroy them, we can escape," Morgan replied.

I had a better idea while reading technobabble beam. Destroy the anomaly before anyone goes through. Its influence is gone.

Yeahyeah paradox and whatnot, but I know it'll be fine. Ack, spoilers paragraph

"Kiara and Bryan, I have to stop them from being involved in that explosion," Morgan replied.

"Since when do you take the minor missions?" Tani asked.

Tani really hates kids

"Because you told me that I was turning into Annika, I don't want to be her. I'll let somebody else save the ship this time. I just want to help my sister in this case," Morgan replied.

Or "I want to help my sister first"

That's it, done.

"But I like being this age," Kiara moaned.

"Tough," Morgan muttered.

YEAH, THE ACTRESS HAS ALREADY SIGNED THE IMAGINARY CONTRACT. MAY MARILL HAVE MERCY ON HER...pfttyeahrightlol

anyway, game on

Voyager fired more torpedo's, three hit and one missed. One 8472 ship fired at Voyager.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Kathryn commanded. Tom acknowledged with a nod, he keyed in commands and the ship swerved to the left. The hull was hit by the blast, causing the ship to spin out of control.

I'll acknowledge the attempt to write a space battle, even if it is pretty basic. thumbsup

This is a time episode so who wants to bet this Voyager, that was about to be erased anyway, gets turned into flying debris?

Both 8472 ships fired at Voyager, just as it reached the anomaly. The weapons fire hit the back of the ship. The hull buckled and the ship blew up inside the anomaly. The anomaly started collapsing.

Tale as old as time. Tales as old as um... line?

Back to the present, some of an earlier scene is copy and pasted until...

"Hang on a sec, the anomaly is collapsing," Faye said. Lilly stopped headbutting the console.

"What?" Lilly muttered.

yep that's it

however, on Voyager no one's gotten the memo

"Hull breach, Deck Five," Tuvok said.

"Evacuate that deck," Kathryn ordered.

Sickbay:
In: "All hands on Deck Five, evacuate, hull breach."

"Well here goes," Morgan muttered.

you waited until now?

In the previous version you're told to go evacuate the kids after the evacuation line. Why wait until the same exact time? What kind of a Sue are you??

"No time to explain, we'd better get those nanoprobe weapons operational," Tani replied.

"Don't you think we know that," B'Elanna said.

"If we don't, the anomaly will pull us in," Tani said.

phew, so glad Tani was there to save the day!

Morgan rushed in. The console exploded again, Kiara and Bryan flew backwards to the ground again.

"S**t!" Morgan grunted and she slammed her fist into the wall, creating a huge dent in it. 

Duncan: HEY I WAS GONNA DENT THAT

see, no one listens to me? Why did you wait?

So yeah, Duncan's the only kid character now. If you think about it that's quite mean, who's gonna be his friend? :( Oh yeah Danny's kids... ohdear, if I didn't know any better I'd predict much harrassment in Duncan's future. I know, Tani's James' current sex pest, not Danny. But give it time, give it time.

In: "Torres to Bridge, we have our nanoprobe weapons."

"Good, lets get those 8472 scum," Kathryn said.

um... time to take out the coffee nebula, now?

Voyager fired the nanoprobe torpedo's and the three ships were destroyed.

"That was too easy," Chakotay muttered.

"Yeah, this episode didn't last long, did it," Kathryn said.

*painful laugh*

Captains Log Stardate, oh for god's sake I can't remember. Anyway, we were attacked by Species 8472, they didn't pose much of a threat. I bet they've learned not to mess with us again.

Yes I'm sure this won't backfire in the slightest

"Tani told me that I was becoming the next Annika," Morgan replied.

"Er.." Craig muttered.

"Please tell me that she's wrong," Morgan said.

"Well, I don't know. You are in episodes a lot, but.." Craig said.

DUCK CRAIG, DUCK

"You're a lot more likeable than Annika. Face it, I bet you don't have angry J/C shippers against you," Craig replied.

Well, with the last point he's probably right

"That's true, I saved J/C, I should be popular for that," Morgan said.

"Er, when and how did you do that?" Craig asked.

blahblah Shattered joke, blah

"Er..ok. Change of subject, I doubt you'd still want to go out with me," Craig said.

"I was drunk when I agreed," Morgan muttered.

please recognise that as a no, please recognise that as a no

"I understand," Craig said quietly, looking rather sorry for himself, he hung his head.

oooph, almost. He understood but he moped about a lot. getting there.

"However, I'll still go out with you, if the offer's still open," Morgan said. Craig looked back up at her.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

"Cool, you can choose next time, if there is a next time that is. I have the perfect place," Craig said.

"Really, where?" Morgan asked.

"Oh I can't tell you that," Craig replied.

TEMPORAL PRIME DIRECTIVE *CUE AUDIENCE LAUGHTER*

THERE, SAVED YOU THE PAIN

 Craig stood up too. He held his arm out, Morgan laughed and she put her arm around his. They both walked out the door. Meanwhile Jessie & James were watching. Jessie sulked, but James grinned. Jessie groaned and she handed him some replicator rations.

JC called and they'd like their moment ba... what I've done that joke before? OH YEAH WELL, TEMPORAL PRIME DIRECTIVE HAHA.

but lol with James and Jessie's part in this, nice.

Did this episode make any sense at all?

Actually it did after the rubbish with plague rats and dejavu shuttle rides were over and done with.

 How many readers had to take some tablets for their headaches?

I'd imagine all of them, but I can't speak for myself. um... er... cough

Why was Morgan, Craig and Kathryn quoting the popular lines from Shattered?

Because it's the best joke ever, do you not appreciate great comedy!?!?!?!

Why does Morgan not like Kes' method of communication?

None of these questions are rhetorical "next time" questions. Give me something to work with here!!!

 And what did Jessie & James bet on?

GEE I DUNNO, THEY PROBABLY BET ON WHICH OF THEIR ACTORS BAND SPLIT FIRST, AQUA OR STEPS. THAT'S WHY JAMES WAS GRINNING COS HE KNOWS WHEN THAT S$$$ GOES DOWN, HE'S ALREADY GOT HIS RESIGNATION LETTER SPELL CHECKED. POOR JESSIE WON'T SEE IT COMING AND NEITHER WILL WE.

THEIR NEXT BET WILL BE WHICH BAND RETURNS FIRST, WHICH ONE LOSES MEMBERS FIRST, WHICH ONE HAS A COMEBACK DOCUMENTARY FIRST, WHICH ONE CHURNS OUT A GREATEST HITS ALBUM AGAIN FIRST, AND WHICH ONE HAS A PAINFUL DIVORCE...ER FIRST. OHMY SEEING THE FUTURE IS A PATH TO THE DARK SIDE ALRIGHT.

and you know what I'm not sure who wins those bets, yep I suck. Guessing: Aqua on all accounts. Woah. Poor Steps didn't stand a chance.

 Find out the answers to maybe some of these questions next time on Fifth Voyager.

Find out the answers to none of these questions cos they're only about this episode and nothing else, so FU PAST MARILL. Oh well, hope is not lost. The Resurrection is next and by golly, that better be better than this or I'll go on ReRead strike. lolyeahright

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spoilers Time:

This is your last chance. If you're not well aware of the majority of the series' plot twists, and/or the details about the series' lore, I'd skip ahead to the score. Right now.

This will be the final warning.

Okay good. Here goes.

Now, Precise Timings had one goal and that was to put my vision to "paper". When FV started the paradox with Morgan and Kiara was simply this; original and FV split the moment Kiara appeared and that Q was involved in making this happen (in the latter's inspiration Q did this as a thank you, nothing more. I bet you're glad that's no longer the case). I wanted there to be more to it like its Kidz Trek inspiration but hadn't decided on the how and why's. It quickly developed, effectively changing the Morgan and Kiara dynamic behind the scenes, to be revealed in a future episode and until then foreshadowed/hinted at. I'm not sure when but I decided the dimension split wouldn't have happened around Scorpion or rather Q and the Grey like Aggressions failed to show, at least not the Original Voyager > Fifth Voyager one anyway. It happened a lot earlier. One of my reasons were James and Jessie, as well as the tone of the series and the want to do the prequels. The "Fifth" title gave me the idea and freedom to develop and deepen the premise of the series, and the Morgan/Kiara paradox.

Long before Precise Timings, True Q was planned. So basically there was already a different split from original Voyager than what was originally planned around Aggressions time, going like so;

Original Voyager > Lena's Dimension > Fifth Voyager
Both timeline's would have split from its predecessor due to the births of Lena and Kiara respectively.

It wasn't really a matter of "needing" two more dimensions so the Fifth title made sense. "Fifth Voyager" originally got its name as a nod to my old Kidz Trek days, which was based in a fifth dimension. Nope, the reason why I went further than this was that I felt there was still a missing link between Original and Lena's dimension. I also had another twist up my sleeve and that gave me a crazy "little" idea that would spice up the entire premise of the series.

Enter Precise Timings. I really wasn't sure if this would work. Lena's dimension splitting into FV made sense already to me without showing it, and I'll get into that later on, but this new idea could have very easily been a load of senseless tosh. I think I already had the idea to have a time travel episode revolving around Resolutions planned, as at the time of its conception the prequels didn't exist and I needed my Resolutions/JC fix ya know, duh! This created the opportunity to work on this new idea without giving it away as something important, since it was definitely too soon to reveal it. Not only was True Q's twist still awaiting writing, but this idea needed a certain other reveal nearly a season away to really hit home.

While I think Precise Timings started out pretty poor and goes a bit, um, silly near the end of Kes' flashforward, it did enough to convince me that yes, this idea would work after some tinkering. I do need to go over the differences between what Kes showed and the actual dimension itself, as while some were made up on the spot to outrage Morgan, some were me simply messing about and as I didn't like said ideas, were scrapped. I'll definitely get that opportunity while going back through the Re-Read to look for the moments where it's clear I was dying to say something.

Now that that's out of the way, I can finally comment without fear of spoilers on the content itself.

"I told you she wouldn't recognise us," the girl whispered. The lad nodded his head.

OH AND WHY WOULDN'T TANI RECOGNISE YOU "THE GIRL", HUH..... HUH1?!?!!?

the foreshadowing is yummy *licks fingers* mmmm beefy Monster Munch

I rarely pat my 2001 self on the back, not gently anyway, but this earns many brownie points. Damn I'm hungry. This is a clever hint I think, foreshadows the twist in True Q pretty nicely. I also think it could be easily missed. Some may spot it and go "wait a god damn minute" after the reveal she's teen Kiara, while some may have forgotten about it by then since it's such a blah line you're likely to skim over.

Some background info before I go on. Yeah Bryan was aged for two reasons, one to give him MC status as I couldn't find a suitable child actor, and so Kiara had someone other than Naomi to hang out with. Kiara though, she was aged for a pretty good reason and this was it, to cast doubt on the Morgan=Kiara reveal in Timeline. I'm glad I did this. I may be remembering it wrong but originally I either didn't plan to do this at all, or to do it in a much later season, long after the reveal. So dumb.

It is a nice touch though Morgan recognises her while no one else does. More sweet than foreshadowy.

B'Elanna walked over to the Engineering station. "Jessie, you're relived," she said.

"Yeah, let me just finish this," Jessie said. The ship shook violently as another weapons blast hit the hull. The engineering console exploded sending Jessie and B'Elanna backwards. Tom and James rushed over to them. Morgan and Kes walked closer to them. Tom was checking both B'Elanna and Jessie's pulses.

"They're dead," Tom stuttered.

Ah ha, the first forwardflash and yet the first true inconsistency. Kes always did have hidden intentions for showing Morgan all of these, the first vision doesn't really clue you in on that. That's fine, it never meant to. Generally speaking this vision was one of the events that was set in stone for the dimension pre-Lena, and by general I really, truly mean it. The "minor" details like Jessie and B'Elanna dying "Year of Hell" style, who were around for it and who were the aliens dishing the damage weren't. Later on the characters bring up the Borg and 8472 war, which is very important. Thankfully it is the only thing actually explained within the episode and doesn't need to be here in spoiler land.

However the original plan for what should be dubbed as "Third Voyager" but probably should be called "Timeline 3" to avoid Return of Third Voyager or FANFIC DIMENSIONS mixups, was what was stated in Precise Timings: no Resolutions = the lost two months going back and forth give the ship a headstart, they reach Borg Space earlier before the war either starts or before it really gets bad for the Borg, the Borg aren't (as) busy and give Voyager the business, it's pre THERE ARE 15 BORG VESSELS debris field so they don't run into 8472 to develop the weapon, Kes does the same thing as she does in Original but the damage is done, the Krenim then basically finish the job.

I think it makes sense and I'm one of the first to criticise my own work, especially when it goes into needless convoluted territory. Please tell me you make sense of it. Yeah that explanation misses out the more complicated stuff like the 2 month head start making it so some events pre-Scorpion don't happen or happen differently, which also effects when they reach Borg Space. Which brings me to my next point;

Kes wants to show these consequences to Morgan but can't show the real reason why. The original conceived idea for why she can't was fear of retrubition from the Q Continuum. This way she can hint to Morgan without really giving away that she's giving something away. It still sorta is this, it's been deeply developed since.

The real reason is contradicted by the scene itself, with the appearance of one character and again, if you're here reading spoilers you shouldn't, lastlast chance. Yep James. This is where it gets tricky, and no don't panic, I'm not intending to explain that side of the paradox. That one is a more show and not tell complication. I'm bringing this up because (at least) I think it's interesting. I'm not sure when his part in this whole thing was basically finalised, still this isn't a hint that it was (and so it's a "we don't recognise teen Kiara" style hint) or even wasn't (and that's why he's there in the flashforward).

What's also interesting is that Kes chooses this ripped off from her go backwards episode in the original series to tell this fabricated version of Third Voyager. Of course it's likely me being unoriginal, very likely, but it feels fine to me because only Kes witnessed this, so she can use it and no other character would be any of the wiser. True Morgan wouldn't anyway, being a FV only character. STILL

If you're familiar with the episode titled Five I did end up keeping one of the "minor" details from this. Kes' tale of pregnant and anniversary woes thankfully were not one of them, she clearly is trying to push Morgan's buttons at this point, or she wouldn't have opened with "ohnoes James/Jessie won't have their first anniversary". I could be giving PT more benefit than it deserves so, um, moving on.

"Emma and Lilly are still living in the third dimension. Kiara was never born because her parents hate each other. Triah was killed in the shuttle she was using to get into the Delta Quadrant," Kes replied.

Poor Kes didn't think this entirely through. Fine "where are Emma and Lilly? Where's Triah?", there's a slight chance of her asking, no probs with them being answered. However she should've known Morgan would bring up Kiara, who is harder to explain away without either lying or bowing to the plottwist gods.

"Your parents travelled there to get supplies for the ship. During their trip they got infected with an insect bite. They were forced to stay behind on the planet. During their time there they both become very close friends. But you contacted your mother when you arrived in this timeline. She thought intruders were onboard the ship, so she and your father returned to Voyager without even setting foot on that planet. In this timeline they never became close friends, Kiara was never born, you get the idea," Kes replied.

This pushes the episode a little too far off course. Close friends don't usually make kids (out of thin air).

James & Jessie: WHAT? NOBODY TOLD US

lol sorry/notsorry

Cough so yeah, it's a bit weird for Kes or the episode to keep pushing this angle, especially when the rest of the episode focuses on the two months lost and the Borg/8472 war. I guess she is answering Morgan's question, which again I should point out Kes should've been better prepared for.

It's not entirely a lie, I suppose. She basically says J/C aren't close enough to get a baby out of nowhere, while Timeline 3 J/C aren't close enough to have Lena much later on, who then can't have Kiara and so on. It's just, Kes shows Third Voyager's first steps to their demise (and I can't remember if she flat out says it is destroyed in this ep, or if she saves that for Season Four's Lullaby), which is really the biggest factor on whether Lena/Morgan and Kiara exist. I'm grasping at staws here over something I've said is not entirely a lie. It's true, Kiara can't exist if J/C doesn't. No Lena/Morgan, no Kiara. Simple as.

"But how come the Sixes have severely damaged the ship? How come Jessie and James are, or were married? How come most of my friends aren't on the ship? This doesn't make any sense," Morgan asked.

Only realising now that Kes seems to mix Third and Fourth's Voyager into this little tale of hers. When the James/Jessie bit came up earlier I chatted about it as if this was a bastardisation of Fourth, not Third. "Fourth Voyager" did have quite a bit planned out for it including James/Jessie's AU story, namely because of a little "movie"/special called Dimension Rewritten. It was the true victim of the writers block which delayed Season Five. It was basically an AU Season One, only it would venture further up until Lena's birth and then Kiara. Really, it was a good thing the block happened because it was a spoiler infested, worthless entry to the series. It being placed at the end of the prequels would've been a terrible idea, especially for anyone reading in chronological order (I actually have misgivings about Alternate Scorpion as well but hey). Better yet, since it was an excuse to rewrite Season One without touching the original, its cancellation was partly responsible for the Reboot. That took elements from its Year of Hell, as well as the ship being damaged arc, while the canon Fourth Voyager events were given to 200th episode Five. So yes, the writers block had more good come out of it than bad, I'll admit.

That was a whole lot of rambly nothing, ahem. All of that to point out that this was foreshadowing something else True Q had up its sleeve. At least it looks like it is. I know for sure that James and Jessie's prequel story was basically laid out, ready to write, and that included the pregnancy that didn't end well. By True Q at most, the pairing in the AU/Fourth timeline were meant to be still together and married, likely with other kids. Kes' "ohnoes the anniversary" could be seen as her messing up, about to bring up that her death leaves "the lost prequel son" motherless, a boy which Morgan/Lena used to know. Not a good idea, especially when in Timeline 3 that's not even true. Doesn't really explain the "oh yeah she's pregnant too, my bad!" part though, Morgan is distraught without it.

Jessie & James never split up in season three, since Kathryn & Chakotay were chosen to perform in the ritual instead of them two," Kes said.

I said I'd come back to this but I really don't know what else I can add. It's mere speculation, I know that for a fact.

I honestly don't know why this ritual malarky happens the way she says it. I would normally say J/C originally did the Grove of H'Taria because James and Jessie didn't exist then, but Grove of H'Taria was always a prequel episode, a series which exists because of James/Jessie. *insert Janeway error pic here* So no, it's not a fourth wall joke or reason. I'm 100% certain James and Jessie were always the stars of Grove of H'Taria. It was one of the first prequels, NO originally a mere backstory before the prequels existed, to explain Interactions and the Duncan plot. And as I've said already, this way round makes no sense. The ritual was never changed. It was a "life goes on" death ritual performed by people who love each other, to quote James himself: "the dead can't rest until the living can prove it can go on without them." I don't remember it being anything else but this, so yeh no sense this makes.

It's why Five improvises by making James unavailable when the ritual needs to be done, so J/C are volunteered in his and Jessie's place. Heck writing this I know now why that was done and I'm not impressed. I took Jessie's story in Interactions far too literally here, and made it so even though the break up doesn't happen in H'Taria, the ritual was still the reason it happens. So without the ritual, they don't break up which is utter bulls$$$, there's always been more to it than that. I clearly knew how complicated their relationship was even back in Season Two, Resistance is proof on its own. But no, Precise Timing pins the blame on a ritual and so now the ritual is cursed, no J/C, and James/Jessie thrive forever after. Yeaaahnooo.

So yeah reboot version is fixing this, which is a shame cos Five did its best to fix it without changing anything and now it's for nothing. Sigh. That's a negative, which I wouldn't have bothered with if it were not for me figuring this out. Yes it's still speculative but I have a feeling that's what was going through my head while writing this episode.

James and Tom walked into the Mess Hall, followed by Bryan, who's three years old. "Oh, and another shocker. Tom and James work out their differences, and they become friends, at least there was some good out of Jessie & B'Elanna's deaths," Kes said.

Okay I picked this one out of the others, no particular reason. I dunno why Kes goes to the trouble of freaking Morgan out with clearly, definitely not Third (or Fourth) Voyager events. Firstly Morgan's already panicking and wanting to fix things after Jessie and B'Elanna snuff it. Secondly, it's not believable in the slightest and Morgan calls it out as such. Thirdly, James and Tom's bromance and C/7 have nothing at all to do with any of the past timeline's, so what's she trying to tell her? It's a shame cos it's probably just a joke, which IMO ruins what Precise Timings set out to do. On its own as a weird time travel episode it might be fine, at least a "lol Tom and James best mates 4eva" joke might land. In an episode where Kes is trying to hint to Morgan that all is not how it seems and disguising it as a genuine time travel incident, makes fun of the paradox I created and since even back in 2001 a lot of work's gone into it, rubs off badly on me. At some point you stop taking Kes' warning seriously and wonder if she's cooked this whole thing up cos she's bored, or she wants another stab at Fury.

All Kes had to do was show further, show Voyager's destruction and while Morgan's still reeling from that, mention either in response to something or just out of the blue something minor. Like oh I don't know "Neelix's pot roast survived the blast", I dunno... I'm not in a funny mood as of late, and you achieve the result the episode intended with this C/7 malarky; Serious incident + even more serious incident + funny but realistic in the FV's universe minor incident slapped on the end. It's not hard.

I'm not sure if anything later directly says it, it might hint though, that the majority of the episode is Kes' doing. I know Kiara's aging was hinted at, while obviously the flashforwards are of Kes' making. Even though the timeline was reset in a very Star Treky manner and so Resolutions once more happens as it did before, it must be said that even though the episode is a hint to Third Voyager primarily, it's actually not Third Voyager, it has no bearing on the actual series paradox. It's a nudge to Morgan, and if that doesn't work Kiara's aging should do the trick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Counter Results:

Muttered Count: 52 (642)

Sexist Crap Count: 6 (23)

Jessie's Sin Points: 0 (20)

Morgan the Sue Count: 1 (17) Why do I keep forgetting to mark this?? I guess in this ep it's hard, as its called out a lot. I'll give it a 1 just for that.

Annika Dies Count: 0 (8) SHE DOESN'T EVEN DIE IN THE FLASHFORWARD, WTF?

James Dies Count: 0 (3)

James Kill Count: 0 (2) I don't think the wall counts. Don't worry, his time will come ;)

James Badasses Off Screen For Our Sins: 0 (14)

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 3 (25) 1 extra for the last scene.

Just A Little Bit More: 3 (15)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Score:

Negatives:

1) Sometimes I can nail foreshadowing pretty well. Precise Timings is actually in general a good example of it. It's also a good example of me truly sucking at it. The "you wouldn't know, you weren't there" malarky in a nutshell. Adds nothing and is painfully forced. I suppose the James walks into a wall and denting it, then Duncan later punching a wall and denting it is another example. Trouble is this has nothing to do with the episode itself. Not really, so it fails even more so than everything else.

Oh yes the drunk driving of a shuttle and crash, still counts as point 1 since yeah, it's a rehash of past events supposedly intended to "foreshadow" the time jump.

2) Neelix and the rat. Enough said.

3) Chain Reaction promotion. Not very good promotion either.

4) In order to get Morgan to Sickbay she must first have enough alcohol to accept a date with Craig, but not too drunk so she's Voyager Conspiracy-ed, to be scolded by Harry which prompts her to break into her mum's Ready Room and steal coffee. The coffee then also be spiked with booze because Janeway's suddenly an Irish Coffee fan now. Now completely hammered and hyper, she can be in the right place at the right time to................................

Um. Witness Duncan early foreshadowing? Witness Kiara and Bryan aging foreshadowing? Be in the right place to not save Kiara and Bryan from aging when they try again?

So, let me get this straight. The episode wasted time getting Morgan completely hammered, when she could've been from the first couple of scenes without the faffing about with coffee and dates, and it's NOT TO KICKSTART THE PLOT. It's pretty much for nothing. It's so she witnesses things she finds out later and doesn't fix later when she has the chance, despite being in the right place. Sigh. Surely it'd make more sense for her to not be in Sickbay when this went down and so had to go during the reset button, and that's why she fails. I don't know why any of this happened.

5) Morgan randomly collapses during this scene. A separate point because it's not related to her being drunk, since she does it later to talk to Kes. It's almost like Morgan got her cue far too early and like most of FV wasn't fixed in editing. It's almost like James' collapse in the prequels, only that served a purpose and was meant to look random until the reason is spotted by its reader probably during a second read through (lol why you ask). This does nothing of the sort, it's simply random and wouldn't surprise me if it was another bad stab at foreshadowing.

6) Lilly and the Dellia's are shoehorned into the story for no reason other than Marillservice (as if Kidz Trek/Lilly/Dellia have fans, lawl).

7) I know it was the point but Tani really is grating on me. I probably wouldn't mark it as a negative, again since it's planned, if it weren't for the fact that her predatory stalker act contributes to the majority of the SLUT soap opera crap this season has going on.

8) God, it looks like I'm ragging on this one, and I am, but wtf was Craig doing in Security during the flashback? - SPOILERS BELOW - I know this isn't meant to be a real time jump but sheesh, why wouldn't you make it consistent Kes? Using Tuvok or James instead of Craig wouldn't have altered the point of what you were doing.

9) Probably shouldn't mark this as it happens in the past, but James regresses once more to scared child when a girl flirts with him, hiding behind Jessie while she answers for him. I'm still marking it as so because he doesn't develop into not doing this anymore, it's just me writing him better, so past James doesn't have to act like this. The prequels were already planned to use the Season Two era James, retconning the Season One version intentionally. So yeah, no to doing this.

10) I really couldn't decide what tense to write the flashforwards in. Maybe I wanted to do future tense, didn't have a clue how (no change there then!) and promptly gave up, leaving the remnants behind as proof.

11) While the flashforwards do the trick of showing the minor change can lead to disaster to Morgan and the reader, foreshadowing the later twists, Kes really ruins it with the C/7 happens and James/Tom buddies bit, which is clearly played for laughs.

Sub-total: 11

Positives:

1) A basic point for the premise of the episode in all its foreshadowing-when-done-right glory.

2) SPOILERS FOR MID SEASON TWO+ - Nobody recognising Kiara when she's bumped up to near-Morgan's age is just, wonderful. That's how you do it past me, learn from this and make it snappy.

3) James blatantly admitting to Tani about his then relationship with Jessie in the prequel era is a nice continuity nod and treat, with the added bonus of making Tani sulk. Sure it might seem a bit out of character for him to do so, what with their usually keeping things a secret (F9 Character Failure cannot beg to differ, it's not allowed). You could be right, however in his perspective Tani's from five years in the future and he says this as if it should be common knowledge by then. He hasn't considered they've broken up in that time and so still a secret. Tani mentioning their having a son probably didn't help matters either. So yeah, I'm okay with this

4) Call me crazy, we all know it's true anyway, but I like that the first flashforward Kes shows to Morgan is inspired/ripped off from the AU Year of Hell shown in the Kes goes backwards episode (halp, what's that called?). "Whhaaaaa Marill, you're liking ripoffs? What's the matter, are you sick?" Yes, that's got nothing to do with it. My reasons lie within the spoilers, which if you've already read the spoiler section, have a clue why. YES SPOILERS MWAHAHA - I mean why not, this one was always made up to shake Morgan up, so use what you know, Morgan's not gonna know about Before And After (YES I REMEMBERED)

5) I tried not to let the later attempts at humour ruin this for me. Kes' story of the missed trip to New Earth seeming so minor, yet escalating to Voyager being hammered by the Borg, missing the 8472 war (so in this version of events the Borg are gone, no doubt) and being chumped by the Sixes of all people due to the damage, killing the majority of the crew... well I like it. That's the spoilerless version of my feedback. SPOILERFUL would be that it basically worked pretty well or I would've done something else for Timeline 3. Which is the other reason why it's intent was hidden, if it didn't work and make sense, it can be turned into a one off time episode that's reset at the end. The stuff not shown fit neatly into this weave later, it's something I'm very proud of. My only concern overall would be the J/C overselling of the paradox, which is relatively minor in the grand scheme of it all. I guess it works with the "this is only a one off time ep, I swear, whistle" theme the episode was going for.

Sub-total: 5

Marill's Rating: 31%

Season Two Rankings So Far:

#1 Resistance: 53%
#2 Disconnected: 40%
#3 Interactions: 37%
#4 Saturday Night and Precise Timings: 31%
#5 Games Resistance: 29%
#6 Thrown Key Part 2: 23%
#7 F9: Control Failure: 21%
#8 Dimension Jump: 14%
#9 The Love Spell: 10%

Not bad, especially after that opening. That almost ruined the entire episode for me. BUT IT'S A TIE, I did not see that coming. Strange, I liked Saturday Night a heck of a lot more than this. What happened?

Who cares, it's almost time for the first contender for Resistance's top spot. Will it even come close? Hmmmmmmmmm

Before I move on, we're ten episodes into Season Two so do you know what means? Yes I waste a lot of time, and no that's not what I meant. It's time to see how Season Two is shaping up compared to good ole Season One.

Entire Series Rankings So Far:

#01  Worse Case Scenario 2: 69%
#02  Resistance: 53%
#03  The Voyager Conspiracy: 47%
#04  Dark Frontier: 42%
#05  Once Upon A Time, Collective Instinct, Fugitives, Disconnected: 40%
#06  Fear: 38%
#07  Mental Illness and Interactions: 37%
#08  Timeline: 36%
#09  Holo Q, Spirits, Prepare For Trouble: 33%
#10  Test of Time and VTV Live: 32%
#11  The Fight, Upendi, Saturday Night, Precise Timings: 31%
#12  Aggressions Part 1 and Hunters: 30%
#13  Games Resistance: 29%
#14  Demon²: 28%
#15  Unforgettable and Fair Haven 2: 27%
#16  Too Q and Thrown Key Part 1: 25%
#17  Mirror Universes, Voyager's Drinking Game, Thrown Key Part 2: 23%
#18  F9: Control Failure: 21%
#19  Timeless: 20%
#20  Muse and Dimension Jump: 14%
#21  Year of Hell: 13%
#22  The Love Spell: 10%
#23  Aggressions Part 2: 9%
#24  World Domination: 0%

Nooooooo Voyager Conspiracy!!!"1242e       at least it was Resistance that beat you. I can live with it.

Hahaha, well deserved Love Spell and Dimension Jump. Your own spot in the dumpers with Aggressions 2 and World Domination, beaten by Year of Hell, OR sharing with Muse. Couldn't happen to nicer episodes.

I dunno why but I thought it was hilarious that F9 beat Timeless by a mere 1%. All I can think of that they have is common is Jessie's wildly OOCness. And being bad of course.

Mental Illness and Interactions feel like an unlikely pair. Apart from Disconnected scoring below Dark Frontier, I'm not really that surprised with any of their placements. Though I'm still questioning Saturday Night's low score, it just doesn't feel like it deserves it and I have no idea how it happened. I might have to look through my points dishing for that episode, it looks unnecessarily harsh for an episode I did enjoy reading. If I didn't do a points system, I'd rate it 2nd or 3rd in Season Two, probably 2nd cos while I like what Disconnected was trying to do, it still really disappointed me.