Star Trek: Voyager
"Fury"
Air date: 5/3/2000
Teleplay by Bryan Fuller & Michael Taylor
Story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Directed by John Bruno
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"It was a fire hazard." — Tuvok on elaborate special effects
Nutshell: A pointless mess of a story punctuated by nice-looking, pervasive, pointless special effects.
The best shot in "Fury" is the one right before the opening titles, where an aged Kes walks down a Voyager corridor with a calm look on her face, as the walls behind her explode and crumble. It's the sort of shot that a storyboard artist might be excited about—comic-book cover art that gets its hook into you.
Alas, the shallowest aspect of "Fury" is the titular fury. For most of the hour we're thirsting to know why Kes is going berserk, and when we finally get the answer, it's ... well, pretty lame. The wrath of Khan was sold on a deliciously believable, obsessive conflict. The wrath of Kes is arbitrary. The character, whom we haven't seen in two-and-a-half years, is reduced to a cardboard villain with dubious motivation. And for what?
The episode delivers, I guess, on its promise to be full of apocalyptic action, mayhem, and special effects. But it fails as a story with characters we can care about. Yet again we have the characters, especially Kes, reduced to the mechanics of the plot, one that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The key questions I figured might be important for a return-of-Kes show would be what she had evolved into in "The Gift" and why, and what returning to revisit the Voyager crew might mean for her (and the crew).
Welp, might as well just throw those questions out the nearest window, because they're the least of this story's worries, which instead is built upon paradoxical time travel, mistaken identity, deception, and a big showdown with the Vidiians—in other words, "action," the hallmark of Voyager.
The episode's action requires that we accept Kes as a villain. I suppose it's slightly easier to do that when upon beaming aboard Voyager she immediately knocks down walls, buries security officers under tons of rubble, kills Torres, absorbs energy from the warp core, and then vanishes without a trace to travel back in time with an Evil Plan. She travels back to "season one," at a point when Voyager had been in the Delta Quadrant for eight weeks. She renders the Kes of this time frame unconscious and assumes her place.
Why? Sorry—won't find that out until the big Janeway/Kes showdown in act four, although we get the general idea when Kes contacts a Vidiian ship that is tracking Voyager and agrees to help them capture and "harvest" the crew in exchange for safe passage to Ocampa for her younger counterpart. (I always liked those Vidiians, probably the series' best original alien bad guys.) She explains to the Vidiians that her crew "abandoned me a long time ago."
"Fury" is mostly interested in the mechanics of Kes' plan and the crew's investigation of the oddities that arise as a result of it (and action, of course). Some of the procedural aspects of the story are actually fairly well constructed. The plot utilizes Tuvok's telepathic abilities, giving him premonitions of things to come, in a way that probably makes little logical sense but is believable on its terms nonetheless. Janeway and Tuvok begin an investigation that follows the clues competently.
But other moments aren't so skillfully handled, like when bad Kes, pretending to be good Kes, walks into sickbay and steals a hypospray, duping the Doctor by hiding it all too obviously behind her back. Doc's degree of lacking observation is the sort typically reserved for sitcom characters and played for laughs. ("Is that a hypospray behind your back or are you just glad to see me?" Cue canned laughter.)
Kes undermines the crew by giving the Vidiians information that will help them capture Voyager, which is traveling through some sort of anomaly that will permit the upcoming battle to take place in front of a more interesting-looking background than a black starfield. When the Vidiians board the ship, we get lots of phasers in the corridors and big mechanical Vidiian clamps that attach themselves to Voyager.
The real confrontation is of course between Janeway and Kes, where we finally get our explanation about why Kes is doing all this (confusion, loneliness), at which point my reaction was, "That's it?" The story makes Kes come across as an unreasonable ingrate.
As for Kes' powers, it would seem they are controlled solely by the Plot Gods. At the beginning of the show she can crush walls. By the time of her big showdown, she knocks down Janeway, and Janeway gets back up. Repeat. Repeat again. Why is it Kes can't knock the phaser out of Janeway's hand? How do these powers work? Are all Ocampa like this in some way? Why can Kes absorb a warp core but not a phaser beam? How is it sometimes she can control computers? Why didn't she simply travel back in time and prevent herself from leaving her homeworld rather than messing with Voyager? The answer to all these questions: Her powers constitute the perfect flexible plot device which is limited or unlimited at the writers' will.
And can somebody please tell me why Lieutenant Carey (Josh Clark), that guy who vanished in the first season, vanished in the first season and now only shows up in time-travel episodes that take place during or before the first season (this episode and "Relativity")? And no, we never saw him die; you're probably thinking of Ensign Hogan if you say he was eaten in "Basics II."
There's of course a time paradox in "Fury" that beggars logical analysis, so I'll resist trying. Okay, I won't. Where does the circle of events start (or end), and if Kes never goes back in time to ruin the Voyager crew, how can information of her plan be remembered in order to prevent her from going back in time in the first place (last place, no place, etc.)? Usually somewhere in the dialog is a joke about the time paradox, but here it's ignored completely, hoping we'll do the same. I dunno. Somehow—and I'm not sure why—that approach seems wrong. In any case, this is one of the least convincing time paradoxes in a long time. It turns the story into a mess.
This episode also furthers the series' crusade of reducing any possible trace of Voyager's long-term credibility to zero. There's a sequence here where a section of the hull on one side of Voyager is literally ripped off by the Vidiian clamp, and twisted metal goes spinning off into space and a fireball shoots out the side of the ship. Presumably, significant areas on several decks are destroyed. It's an elaborate CG effect, yes, but is it believable in the slightest? No, because it's the usual FX Sans Consequences™, destruction brushed off as a non-issue when it should mean hell to pay. (Ironically, these events happen during what was season one, when matters of supply and damage were actually taken halfway seriously; remember the bio-gel packs in "Learning Curve"?) Maybe I should just let it all go and assume the Voyager crew can fix anything—but by this point, I'm guessing the crew could self-destruct the ship, and then build another one during four or five rerun weeks.
There's plenty of plot to nitpick, but I wouldn't bother if there was enough actual story underneath to keep me interested. I should probably point out that "Fury" possesses some technical skill. Stylistically, under John Bruno's direction, the episode looks good (except for the corny bouncing off the walls in the Janeway/Kes encounter). But if you scratch the surface, there's nothing underneath. I'll go back to the central problem with "Fury"—Kes' wrath. I simply don't buy her pulling this 180. This is the same Kes who gave 10,000 light-years to the crew she so much loved in "The Gift." Why is she now so hell-bent on vengeance? I might buy it if the story had bothered to supply the depth necessary for her anger, but it doesn't. The explanation of her loneliness isn't nearly enough; it gives the character the stature of any crazed random alien.
The show tries to bribe us with visuals and chaos when what we really want to care about is Kes. In the end, we're saying goodbye to Kes again, after time paradoxes and heartfelt understanding have given her a second chance to reach peace with her former crew (pulling an arbitrary 180 on top of a 180, making it a hopelessly dubious 360). She decides she is now strong enough to return home. But so what? We said goodbye to her once already, nearly three years ago. Now we do it all over again, having learned no more about her. (Y'think she'll make it back to Ocampa in her remaining few years of life? After all, she's only got 40,000 light-years to cover in that little shuttle of hers. Maybe it can go warp 57. Maybe her powers can make it go warp 57. Maybe she could've made Voyager go warp 57 and helped gotten her friends-turned-enemies-turned-friends home. Or maybe she doesn't forgive them that much.)
Another problem, which I actually found very surprising, was that Jennifer Lien's performance was sub-par. The scene where she (sort of barely) tears up her quarters is almost laughably phony. And in other scenes, Lien seems to be underacting when going over the top like she did in "Warlord" might actually have been better. (As played by Lien, a better title for this show might've been "Mildly Miffed, But Everyone's Gonna Die Anyway.") Lien seemed approximately as convinced of her character's motivation as I was.
Ultimately, "Fury" is an expensive-looking episode that's missing the center it needs—an actual story about Kes. When Lien was written off the show when Jeri Ryan was written in, there was much speculation as to why. I never found out the real story, though I've seen enough traffic on the Internet to conclude she was probably forced out more than she wanted out. I always felt the writing had been what failed her character. In "Fury," when Kes accuses Voyager of abandoning her, one almost begins looking for the ironic self-allegorical subtext. But never mind—that was "Muse."
Next week: In the trailer, Jeri Ryan says "sexual activity," so that's probably all UPN really needs you to know.
Previous episode: Muse
Next episode: Life Line
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144 comments on this post
Sat, Sep 15, 2007, 2:26pm (UTC -6)
Seriously, how did this script even make it to production? Here we have the return of an original cast member who's character left to experience a higher form of existence, and never got a chance to say goodbye to many of her friends, but sorry...we simply won't have time to follow-up any of that, with the Vidiians and all. What a wasted opportunity.
"Fury" is unbelievable. And I mean that in the literal sense. I'd like to know how Kes managed to forget (in *both* timelines, no less) that she was the one who felt compelled to leave the ship...and that Janeway was the one who practically pleaded with her to stay.
Continuity quibbles: It mildly annoys me when they get most of the little details right in these time travel shows, but overlook others. In this case, they got Janeway & Torres' old hairdos right, but didn't give Chakotay an appropriate haircut. Also, the fluid in the warp core was colored differently during the first season.
Wed, Feb 20, 2008, 5:15am (UTC -6)
Shouldn't Voyager at least look like the Enterprise in "The Search for Spock"? With scars on her outer hull and burns on the walls? This would be expected of repairs done in space!
This episode also reminded me, how much I'd liked to see more "Other-Senior-Officers-command-the-bridge-during-a-crisis"-episodes. I mean, here we see Chakotay doing so and it really works for him. When I think of TNG, EVERY charakter there got to command the ship at one time or another - even TROI!!! And I always liked those shows.
Tue, Feb 26, 2008, 9:48pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Apr 25, 2008, 3:30pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 5, 2008, 9:35pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 1, 2008, 4:48am (UTC -6)
Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 9:53pm (UTC -6)
Thu, May 21, 2009, 7:42am (UTC -6)
* 4th worse: Bad, but has some smidge of redeeming value as an inadvertent self-parody. Stuff like TOS:"Spock's Brain" and VOY:"Threshold" goes here.
* 3rd worse: Just flat out bad TV without even inadvertent parody to redeem it, but at least mostly harmless to the Trek lore as a whole. Examples: Much of TOS Season 3; that low-budget flashback ep at the end of TNG Season 2.
* 2nd worse: Bad, and screws over some beloved part of Trek in the process. Here's where our VOY:"Fury" goes.
* Worst of the worst. Anything episode centered on the moral obscenity that is the Prime Directive, at least in its full "let other people die without lifting a finger to help them form." The TNG episode with Worf's step-brother goes here, but at least a few of those natives survive. No, to win the true "Worst Episode in all of Trek" award, you gotta do like TNG:"Pen Pals" and just let 'em all die.
Thu, Dec 3, 2009, 5:21pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Dec 14, 2009, 11:27pm (UTC -6)
Did the writers actually watch the first 3 episodes of voyager before writing this episode? If you wanted to make an episode about Kes in Season 6... this is what your brilliant minds came up with? Yuck.
The thing with time travel episodes is that they often filled with holes. Going to the future to the present can work logically, but never in the past. There is thing called the butterfly effect... having all that crap happen with the Vidians will most certainly impact how their trip plays out.
Or if you prescribe to alternately created universes when people go back in time to change something... then there is still the matter of the one universe where B'Elanna is still in fact dead. But I guess we aren't following that universe anymore.
But let's ignore that... are we ready to believe that Kes forgot about her childhood on Voyager, which by and large, was positive? I can understand bad childhoods being suppressed... but people with good childhoods often remember way more details than those who had shitty upbringings. Not really buying it, even if you say that Okampa psychology is different than humans... I don't buy it. She's demonstrated the same emotional capacity and similarities as humans and other species.
Lastly, I don't know how Kes plans on getting back home. Isn't she 40,000 light years away? I mean, holy crap... unless she gets a warp-core to drain power from, I don't know how she's going to make it. She seems pretty weak.
And if she can get back to planet Okampa... why not send Voyager home then if she's ever so powerful? Hell... why do you even need a shuttle for?
Minor quibble: Kes is using the same shuttle used by the first timeship in season 3 - the one that got them trapped in the very late 20th century for 2 episodes. They've used this ship in other episodes as well. Those 3 blinking lights on either side of the pilot's face are a real give-away. It's just not believable if they keep using the same shuttle for everyone's ship!
Ugh, the episode was just bad. This isn't the way to remember Kes on this series. It has plot holes galore.
Mon, Dec 14, 2009, 11:28pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Dec 31, 2009, 8:27pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Jan 25, 2010, 5:58am (UTC -6)
Then there are episodes like "Fury." Character assassination, for the point of what? Ruining a beloved character who was never properly utilized on the show in the first place?
I just don't understand how the show's co-creator and Braga, whose been there from the beginning as well as writer/producer, could bring back an original character and think that this was the best Kes story to tell? I want to talk to Berman, Braga, Lien, Mulgrew and co. I want to ask them what they thought of when they were planning Kes's return. Why this was the best story to tell, rather than explore what Kes's transformation had meant. Why we couldn't get a scene between Kes and Neelix which gave a legitimate and definitive reason for their breakup in Season 3. I want to ask Lien what she felt when she read the script. Did she really feel this was a quality story for her or was she so anxious to return to VOY that she agreed to film whatever was given her. I want to ask the rest of the crew if they thought this was good stuff.
I don't know how much input Berman had in creating Kes, but it's obvious that Kes was the one main character no one really knew what to do with. All the other crewmembers had their assigned posts and their personality quirks: Paris was flippant, Torres was surly, Chakotay was spiritual, etc. But Kes defied the parameters. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that if no one could get a handle on the character during her time as a main character on the show, that her one shot guest appearance would also be mishandled.
It's a shame. Kes was such an intriguing character. And this is all we have with which to say good-bye to her. I like to think that Kes did make it back home and lived the rest of her life in peace and happiness. Which is a more dignified exit, than what was given to her in "Fury."
Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 3:34am (UTC -6)
Tue, Jul 13, 2010, 3:43pm (UTC -6)
I LOVED this episode because it's science fiction at its best. How I wish more of Voyager was like this: Plenty of action, use of technology, conflict, lasers and phasers, special effects, etc. Even Kes - whom I couldn't stand - didn't spoil it. She, with her serene monotone faux-condescending voice and no personality, managed to be really interesting here. BTW, is it me or did she put on some weight since Season 3?
I have one objection: The "fight" between Janeway and Kes in the airponics bay. The psycho-Kes obviously has the ability to kill people with the power of her mind (q.v. what she did to Torres at the beginning of the show), yet she chooses to just stun Janeway, and reluctantly so, no fewer than three times when it's obvious that Janeway would not stop. And for her part, Janeway is hesitant to even take the phaser out of the holster, let alone use it, even though it's evident Kes was bent on causing huge damage. What the hell kind of confrontation is that: A tickle-fight with feather-dusters??
The ending was kinda lame but other than that, 3.5 stars minimum.
Fri, Jul 16, 2010, 7:37pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 9, 2010, 7:38pm (UTC -6)
Well, at least the review was good. Otherwise I share the others "fury" on behalf of Kes (excluding Michael).
Thu, Dec 2, 2010, 12:32am (UTC -6)
Tue, Jan 4, 2011, 9:49pm (UTC -6)
I enjoyed, but I had never seen all TNG episodes, only a few.
Now I am watching TNG's every episode, and I am becoming aware of all Voyager shortcomings.
What annoyed me most was this episode, "Fury".
I felt that it almost managed to destroy the credibility of the entire series by its own. As it has been noticed here very well, it is the exact opposite of what we saw in "The Gift", a beautiful and "daring" episodes. This one is sheer lunacy.
There are so many contradictions I have later noticed about Voyager: Janeway can be "maternal" but she can also become unreasonable and neurotic, almost hysterical all of a sudden, without any apparent reason. What a difference with Picard!
Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 1:31pm (UTC -6)
This is one of those eps that I refuse to rewatch. I agree with the poster who rated it worse than Threshold. That was acceptable for the first half, and then went batshit insane. But this was just evil.
Sat, Apr 2, 2011, 9:56am (UTC -6)
I can understand her potentially being angry that she'd been encouraged to develop before she was ready, although it's a little unreasonable since the Voyager crew certainly didn't do it through malice. But to turn to mass murdering her old friends? Excuse me? Even with the all-too-easy 180 on her 180 (It happened in another recent episode and I call it Pancake Syndrome after that episode where Torres 180s after eating some pancakes), it's still unforgivable.
Why would she think that? Why would she do that?
The only way I can accept this is by assuming that Kes in her old age is suffering from some exaggerated Ocampan form of dementia. Anything else is just ruining a previously lovely character.
Yeah it's made pretty obvious I thought that she can travel very quickly so will be home very soon. Why she didn't give them another nice 10000 light year kick or just escort them home though I don't know (aside from the fact this is only season 6). Guess she forgot.
Speaking of old characters only appearing in flashback episodes, nice to see Ensign Wildman back but where the heck is she in the present?? She's got a frickin' *daughter* to look after. I'm sure she didn't die? I remember her nearly dying (and recording a goodbye to Naomi) in a shuttle crash way back when, but I'm sure she came out of that one alive. Weird.
Good to see attention to detail like making sure Paris is a Lieutenant. It's the sort of thing I'd half expect them to forget about. I almost opened my mouth to shout when Tuvok mentioned the Delta Flyer until they were all "Delta what?" - fooled me. Cheeky :)
This should be up there in the 3+ star region but for those of us who care about the characters it drags it wayyy down. I almost envy Michael's inability to give a flying fork about the characters :P
Thu, Apr 14, 2011, 3:28am (UTC -6)
Good seeing Kes back again - probably my favourite character after the Doc. Wish they hadn't got rid of her. I also kinda miss the Vidiians and the Kazon. Recent villains have been pretty uninteresting (8472, The Hirogen, The Borg over and over and over again, whatever those smelly guys who pollute everywhere were called).
Thu, May 12, 2011, 6:15pm (UTC -6)
Fri, May 13, 2011, 3:48am (UTC -6)
Fri, Sep 9, 2011, 3:27am (UTC -6)
It makes me really sad that this is our farewell to the character. I actually wish Jennifer Lien had refused to do it and prevented this travesty from being produced. As it is, she seems deeply disenchanted with the script, if her performance is anything to go by. As someone above commented, the ONLY way they could have salvaged this pile of dreck would have been to make it clear that Kes was suffering senility or Ocampan alzheimers...that might actually have been quite powerful if handled well enough. But not this drivel :( farewell Kes...
Wed, Mar 14, 2012, 12:17pm (UTC -6)
You have to be a fucking troll, that is the dumbest thing I've ever read on this site. I didn't realize morons like you even watched Trek.
ANYWAY, the reason "Fury" was terrible was about twenty-fold but the main reason is just the stupidity of the writing. Everything from Tuvok's age being COMPLETELY wrong to the dumb "can't maneuver" at warp bullshit they pulled. The storyline was dumb and ill-suited considering Jennifer Lien's post-baby weight and the execution was even worse and frankly just upsetting. People wanted to see what Kes had been up to and reconnect with old friends/talk to Seven, not that contrived time-travel bullcrap.
Sat, Apr 14, 2012, 11:58pm (UTC -6)
1. "Michael" has now clearly identified himself as a troll, and a good one at that. He pushed all our buttons and got the reactions he wanted, but praising this episode is inconceivable for anyone with any affection for Star Trek.
2. I really like 'Voyager' as a series. I like the characters, I like the situations, and I've enjoyed many of the episodes that have been nitpicked to death by others on their comments pages. But I cannot defend 'Fury.' Those who have said it is worse than 'Threahold' are right on the money.
Sun, Apr 15, 2012, 4:54am (UTC -6)
I'm a troll because I refuse to subscribe to the Oprahesque latter-day schmaltzy sentimentality??! Well, you and your pathetic argumentum ad populum are cordially invited to kiss my six. If I want drama or the Chronicles of freaking Narnia, then that's what I watch. I have certain expectations of a sci-fi show -- particularly one whose Next Generation series I used to watch religiously and skip school for as a kid -- and Voyager by and large ain't fulfilling them.
I'm not a Trekkie fan(atic) who dresses up in silly costumes and attends "conventions," but I DO have fond memories (affection, even?) of what I would go as far as to label a genre of its own. I don't care about the characters though, no: They're too one-dimensional and cliched, too sanctimonious, too predictable. And they serve the purpose of conveying and trying to inculcate moralistic messages, which don't jive with my worldview, and which are very often not how real people (military or civilian, whichever the century) behave.
There's this fantastically awesomely incredibly talented yet rebellious pilot who has unresolved issues with his father, and that issue pops up intermittently to interfere with his duties and require a resolution. Or a hot-tempered, obstinate floozie, a loose cannon, with childhood traumas that pop up intermittently to interfere with her duties and require a resolution. Or a nondescript nebesh, completely forgettable, with self-confidence problems that pop up intermittently to interfere with his duties and require a resolution (that’s Harry “Can’t-Get-a-Lock” Kim I’m referring to here, in case it’s not obvious). Gee, how novel, how intriguing, how captivating. THAT's certainly never been done to death and back before!!
So, if I don't care about the characters, I'd better care about the story, because there's not much else that can be cared about! Now, the story itself is lackadaisical: You're stuck in an inhospitable environment, far away from home, wading your way back through a path riddled with deadly perils. Revolutionary. NOT! So, for me, to make this show interesting in the least bit, they need to add some shizzle. Give me lasers, give me phasers, give me action, give me science, even pseudoscience. Many episodes of Voyager don't, which is why I find them stale, tedious, disengaging, unimaginative... - you get the picture.
This episode, however, did catch my attention, and kept me riveted from start to finish. Voyager accomplished that with very few and far between shows.
If the above makes me a troll, then I wear that badge with honor and pride (insofar as any of this matters).
Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 10:06pm (UTC -6)
But to my own great surprise, I had a much different reaction this time around. There's really a lot here to like. For one thing, this was a pretty good time travel episode and it was a lot of fun seeing the crew reprising their Season One roles. The inclusion of Carey and a pregnant Ensign Wildman was especially nice. Tuvok's premonitions, which included visions of Naomi, Seven and the Borg children was a lot of fun. And it was really nice to see the Vidians again, in a scene that put Voyager in real danger.
Since I went into this knowing the basic premise, I guess I had a lot less of a negative emotional reaction than the first time around. Yes, we're still left with an initially wrathful Kes, but one who quickly comes to her senses and leaves on good terms. Now that my emotions aren't so engaged, I'm seeing this elderly Kes as someone who's suffering from dementia or something similar. It's tragic, but not unbelievable given what we know about Ocapan aging.
I liked it; Ithink I'd give it three stars now.
Sun, Jun 10, 2012, 1:32pm (UTC -6)
1) The Time Travel premise is completely laughable. Think of an N-Jump, where point A is the point at which the time traveller returns from the future. Point B, is the point where the time traveller leaves for the past. This original A - B timeline is pure - but the moment the time traveller leaves B and arrives at A, the A - B timeline is destroyed, contaminated by the traveller's very presence and point A, now becomes a new point C. A new, alternate, C - D timeline will now progress with point D replacing point B (A-B, C-D forming and N as you write it out, thus, an "N-Jump"). If at point D, the time traveller can and does return to point C with the same intentions, the timeline can progress. In this episode, Kes does not return to the past. The moment when she would have dissapeared into the past - as she was smiling and remembering - she would have ceased to exist. Everything would have ceased to exist. The new, alternate C-D timeline would have been restored to the original A-B timeline, which in turn would progress towards the C-D timeline once again. This is what is known as an infinity loop where time flow from A-B, to C-D, to A-B in a perpetual loop where there is no future beyond the points represented by B and D. This episode would have been the C-D timeline and I'll just cozily let myself imagine that right after the cameras went off, everything went back to A-B.
2) I think the ending pretty firmly established that Kes' 180 was, indeed from Dementia. I would have liked for the writers to have told me so straight out a little earlier. It makes me think of "Muse" where the poor guy who plays Tuvok worries that the audience will think he's a bad actor because they can't understand. I thought Lien's performance was wretched so I guess I didn't understand. Her performance is more palatable when reflected upon with "dementia" in mind but I still just spent 39 minutes of a 44 minute show thinking she was a bad actress.
3) Everything else aside, Micheal would have loved THIS episode - Imagine if Kes travelled back to the episode where the Viidians actually took Voyager and the parellel universe Voyager crew replaced them! It would have been Kes who had fed all that information to the Viidians and finally we would have explained the utter incompetence of the ship's response to that attack. Maybe young Kes could have reasoned with Emperor Palpatine, ER I mean, Old Kes and Old Kes could have caused the other universe Voyager to be there as well. I dunno how it would have worked but for the first 10 minutes I was hoping the plot would be that. Dissapointed it wasn't and instead we got this. Solid D from me.
Sun, Jun 10, 2012, 1:56pm (UTC -6)
Sit back, relax and enjoy, bro :)
Sun, Jun 10, 2012, 2:36pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jun 15, 2012, 11:51pm (UTC -6)
Dr. Phil? Oprah? Seriously, WTF is wrong with you? Which law firm do you work for, anyway? Zuckerkorn and Loblaw?
You're not a troll, Skeezix, you're just an ass.
Oh, and you say you're a TNG fan?? Well, no Trek series was more "feel-good" or moralizing than TNG. By your own firmly established lo-brow standards it should be your least favorite Trek series.
Now please...go take your only redeeming quality - your moderate ability to turn a phrase - and bugger off to some dark corner of the internet where mouth-breathers like yourself talk all day and night about T&A, guns, and stuff gettin' blowed up. You'll probably feel better...
Sat, Jun 16, 2012, 1:35am (UTC -6)
Thu, Aug 2, 2012, 4:02pm (UTC -6)
Seriously people, she's old, her memory's degraded (as is inevitable for someone her age, or the Ocampan equivalent) and therefore she's remembering things wrong. They didn't "explain" her motivations because it's blindingly obvious.
Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 10:06pm (UTC -6)
I think it would have been interesting if Kes HAD returned to Ocompa and found that, without the Caretaker looking after them, they had all died in darkness. That would have been a pretty excellent reason for her fury.
Wed, Oct 17, 2012, 2:20am (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 7:27pm (UTC -6)
Fri, May 3, 2013, 3:43pm (UTC -6)
When Tasha Yar was killed of in TNG, her ghost and presence sort of hang over the show. You see her mentioned, you see her likeness. With Kes, even shows that involves flashback (Latent Image) or a hallucinatory one (Barge of the Dead), not a reference...and she is barely mentioned by the other cast members, even Neelix and the Doctor.
At the end of The Gift, we are lead to believe she have evolved into a higher state of being and I guess that was not what happened.
"Fury" was just character assassination.
Mon, May 27, 2013, 5:00pm (UTC -6)
Eh, I'd still hit it so long as her voice hasn't changed.
Thu, Jun 27, 2013, 3:29am (UTC -6)
Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 7:05pm (UTC -6)
1) Doc FINALLY confirmed that Ensign Wildman's almost 2-year pregnancy was because of the baby being half Ktarian. We all pretty much guessed at it, but at long last something conclusive!
2) Chakotay got a chance to be all bad-ass during an attack on the ship while Janeway was getting psychically bitch-slapped around (insert Nelson-esque "HAHA!"). I felt it really suited him. The poor guy almost never gets anything cool to do, wasting Robert Beltran's talent in the role, so this was great to see. Yeah, I actually like Chakotay, and I think he could have been a freaking awesome character if given the proper development.
Sun, Aug 18, 2013, 1:26pm (UTC -6)
I could go on, but it's all been sad.
Worse than Threshold? I don't know about that, but at least Threshold made me laugh at how ridiculous it got. This one just made me angry on behalf of both Kes and Lien.
Mon, Aug 19, 2013, 12:04pm (UTC -6)
I, along with LaughOutloud, am amused when i see people say how much they hate voyager but they are posting in a commments section of a voyager website.
as for michael, i cant wait for his comments. i usually know when he is going to like an episode nor not. however, unlike him i like the character develpment and interactions.
Tuvok's line about about blowing out the candles was way too funny..
i was fully entertained and i dont know why people harp on the time travel episodes. they are the BEST episodes!
Sat, Oct 5, 2013, 11:06am (UTC -6)
Wasn't that the same reason she's supposed to grow so fast?
@azcats I'm more amussed by people who think that not liking something means completely ignoring it or not teling their opinion in a place where there are people that have a different one.
Fri, Jan 10, 2014, 10:18am (UTC -6)
Same thing with Wesley Crusher.
Star Trek must consider ascendance a bait and switch scam that two main characters have now fallen for.
Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 6:05pm (UTC -6)
Did I like the idea of Kess returning with a huge chip on her shoulder, wreaking havok on Voyager in the proces in visuals that kind of makes youe think of the Terminator movies? You bet I did!
Did I agree with the motivation they gave Kess in order for her to return and wreak havok? Not in the least! There was NO part of it that I bought, even in the slightest. The words "character assassination" have been thrown around quite a bit here ... and I think that is very appropriate!
An otherwise pretty exciting episode ruined by the writers presenting us with faeces - as it was the rule rather than the exception on Voyager.
Boo hiss!
Wed, Jan 29, 2014, 9:57am (UTC -6)
Anyway. I'm with the majority here. A complete rape of a controversial but--for some--beloved character. For no discernible reason other than to provide a villain-of-the-week combined with a time travel story. They wrecked our memories of her Seaon 4 send off and managed to give her no motivation here at all. Terrible to the point of maliciousness; it had to be purposeful.
This episode convinces me that the producers were hellbent on shutting up the few still concerned with Lien's departure.
Fri, Feb 7, 2014, 4:35pm (UTC -6)
Regarding the episode: the reason I disagree with the people citing dementia is that there was no effort to indicate dementia. She had a clear plan that involved some fairly intricate steps and seemed fully in control of her abilities. She recognized everybody. She was simply evil because the script said she was evil. Arbitrary character traits for the sake of the story are cheap devices and were outdated even in the late 90s when this was made.
Wed, Mar 5, 2014, 9:39am (UTC -6)
Just horrible.
Tue, Apr 1, 2014, 1:11pm (UTC -6)
I love Trek, but abandoning temporal mechanics and Kes' evolution/ascension for the sake of character assassination makes no sense. She left her body behind to evolve. At least a higher state of being and this message of revenge contradicts 'the gift'. Voyager shows promise every so often, but the writers abandon the science and history of previous eps and Star Trek as a whole that at times I wonder why the powers that be didn't just drop Star Trek off the title and call it Voyager. A shame that the actors couldn't stop the writers by saying, 'my character would never do that.'
Tue, May 27, 2014, 1:24am (UTC -6)
It is incredible how almost all dramatic decisions regarding this character were wrong, poor or underdeveloped since ever. Not to mention that all attempts to add layers to Kes were always forced, sudden, felling really bizarre. Not an horrendous episode, but still quite a bad hour of Trek.
Sat, Jun 7, 2014, 3:26am (UTC -6)
Jammer this is the paradox of the DS9 episode Children of Time. In the same episode you have the problem that if they're able to get out of the atmosphere of the planet, they would crash land on it the next time as there's no settlement and no Odo to get them out of the atmosphere. But then if they crash on it, they don't escape. It's a double time loop as is the case with this episode. In one universe, the crew has been trapped on the planet and builds a society, in another universe, the crew has escaped that situation entirely.
When Kes arrives, she goes back in time and gets killed. But her doing that causes younger Kes and Janeway to use their foreknowledge to stop her. But because they stopped her, the next time it happens, she goes back in time again. Hence double time loop. In one universe Kes dies in the past. In another, the situation is avoided entirely.
While this episode is infinitely worse, obviously, then Children of Time (given its lack of motivation, or flimsiest of motivations, and its mindless action and Children of Time's much more interesting and heartfelt story and dialogue), it's the same time loop going on as that episode. Hopefully that clarifies it.
Sun, Nov 30, 2014, 10:23pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Dec 29, 2014, 10:35pm (UTC -6)
Jammer notes that Lien's performance was subpar. Lien herself has gone on the record that she was unhappy with her acting choices in the episode.
Disappointing that they couldn't come up with a better reunion episode.
Sat, May 23, 2015, 12:04am (UTC -6)
Tue, May 26, 2015, 8:43am (UTC -6)
Tue, Jun 2, 2015, 10:20pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 8:09pm (UTC -6)
This episode is painful to watch. It's like Jennifer Lien didn't even want to do this. She comes across completely uninterested and she doesn't put in any effort.
Did I want to see a 'Kes returns' episode? You better believe I did. Kes is one of my favorite Voyager characters.
Did I want to see Kes tearing Voyager to pieces with her powers? Yes, I did. A beloved character blowing stuff up with her mind and going all 'Carrie' on Voyager? Sign me up!
And then she explained why she was doing it. After having to watch her skulk around the ship and deliver unconvincing dialogue.
I won't even get into that stupid Janeway/Kes fight. Just... just no. If I had to vote for any scene of Voyager as absolute worst, this would be it.
Poor Kes. Voyager did not treat you well. Even your final goodbyes are once again gravely underplayed and underwhelming. That's twice in a row now. And also twice that the Doctor completely misses it, despite being one of her closest friends.
Where did they even send her off to? Ocampa? Isn't that like 40 years away at the highest warp? Through Borg space and everything?
Just so many stupid things in this episode. Ugh. Kes deserved better. She deserved a better send off. Both times.
Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 2:20pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 5:59am (UTC -6)
I didn't think this episode was all that bad except for the explanation of why Kes was so angry--that was stupid. But that needed to be good for the episode to work, so this just failed badly.
What is ironic is that this kind of non-reason for being angry is like real life. In real life, we go downhill sometimes for no logical reason. And sadly, this is what seems to be happening with the real Jennifer Lien. I hope she is able to regain her life.
Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 7:16pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Nov 4, 2015, 8:42pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Dec 15, 2015, 3:48pm (UTC -6)
my primary issues:
- how did Tuvok foresee the future events that eventually led to their overcoming Kes' traitorous action?
- why is this the first we hear about a biological weapon against the videans?
- what happens to the crew that continues in the timeline when Torres is murdered?
- why didn't Kes just kill Janeway?
- why didn't Kes just go back in time to before leaving Ocampa?
- why didn't Kes blame Neelix for taking her from her home?
this episode could have been a great way to use the very real drama concerning loss of brain function relating to aging. but short of the grey hair and wrinkles, there's really no direct mention of it. this leaves the opening sequence as nothing more than a fit of rage from a menopausal Kes. so lame.
they should have left out the videans, and focused on rebuilding the bond between Kes and Janeway as well as Neelix. There's plenty of real drama available from the tragedy of dementia. And they could have found a way to restore our faith in the character, as well as the integrity of the primary timeline. And explained that extra weight on Kes that only Neelix noticed as she beamed out to who knows where.
lots of potential, can't believe they let this get on the air. i definitely would have done better myself.
Fri, Jan 29, 2016, 4:17pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Feb 3, 2016, 5:13pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Feb 5, 2016, 9:42am (UTC -6)
Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 11:43pm (UTC -6)
Some have said maybe she was suffering from some kind of dementia. That does seem plausible, except for two things. If she ascended to a higher plane of existence, she wouldn't have a physical body with a physical brain to get dementia. Also if she did get her real body back, she wasn't old enough to get dementia. It was established in "Before and After", that didn't start until an Ocampa was nine years old. Kes would only have been about six. Unless there was something else going on to cause it.
Some other theories. She was from an alternate universe. Or she was the female caretaker pretending to be Kes, out to get Voyager again.
Something else. Why did she kill B'Elanna other than she was trying to stop her. The first (and maybe only time) I've watched this, my first impression was, maybe Kes thought about how saving Torres and Janeway in the alternate timeline of "Before and After", had cost her a family and a whole future and she was pissed. But that's just my opinion at the time.
Tue, Feb 16, 2016, 4:00pm (UTC -6)
I really liked Evil Kes (despite never caring for regular Kes), and I thought the show gave a nice thriller vibe. We saw what she was capable of, but then when she started working as a covert op, her actions became all the more ominous.
Half of me wishes Tuvok's visions and Janeway's final showdown with Kes could've been handled better. I'll just assume for the moment that Kes had some sentiment left over somewhere in her head that stopped her from seriously harming Janeway in person.
2.5 - 3 stars.
Sun, Mar 6, 2016, 7:14pm (UTC -6)
Yes, I could list a hundred ways to make a better Kes return story, and some were suggested above, so I won't.
For those who didn't understand why she kept stunning Janeway instead of killing her; I took it as Kes wanted her to suffer at the hands of the Vidiians. Janeway didn't deserve a quick death in Kes' mind.
Wed, Mar 16, 2016, 5:14pm (UTC -6)
If I was irritated by that episode though, this one actually got me angry, and everyone else has hit the nail on the head. This subverts the character of Kes so badly as to almost be a "fuck you" to the audience. So we still don't know what happened to Kes after 'The Gift', only that whatever it was she got bitter and vindictive to the point of selling the crew out to the Vidiians? That's not entirely uplifting, is it? And not least of which because after making the effort to get Jennifer Lien back you'd think there would be more effort at a decent conclusion - writing wise this is such a mess as to be a write off.
Ironically there is a lot to like here. Evil Kes' entrance is a marvelous image and the first season flashback is full of nice touches and a note perfect recreation of the state of play at that time - with some seriously updated FX. But that can't overwrite the disservice we were done here. 1.5 stars.
Sat, Apr 2, 2016, 3:45pm (UTC -6)
But I liked this potential. I can agree with the idea of turning Kes into a bad guy. I like the possibility of Ocampa being, well, fairies: creatures of exceptional power but without a normal human morality. Y'know, like we saw in Cold Fire. Also, there was potential in the reason for her anger: she was merely a child when she was taken from Ocampa.
Of course, it sounded strange to us, since she never felt like she was "taken" in the first three seasons. But let's face it, she was less than a year old when Caretaker happened. She was, by all accounts, a child. Tell me, are you the same person you were when you were 14? Would you accept that you could make a complete life-altering decision at the age of 14, such as running away from your only home? Isn't that the reason we have age of consent? "Yes honey, I'm sure you love him deeply and you'll never love another boy the same way, but you aren't marrying him before graduating from middle school." Neelix definitely came off as a creepy predator in the first season, and even though Janeway couldn't be expected to know how fast Ocampa mature, she did make sure Kes would never see her home again. Isn't it possible, when she was all alone, trying to learn her knew psychic abilities, that she got severely homesick? That she became scared of what she had become? That she, being permanently alone, began to regret her decision? That, with no one around to ground her, she began to lose sight of her previous way of life? Stopped having the same morals as we do?
Isn't it possible that, while she gained so many powers, she might have lost something too?
I think that would have been a worthwhile avenue to explore, but of course we didn't. We desperately needed more interactions with Kes and the rest of the crew. Whether it be Janeway, Neelix, young Kes, I don't know, but it would have been worthwhile to get more out of her. It could have been a race in time to allow her to regain her humanity, allow her to come to grips with what she was planning to do. Give her at least a little bit of guilt over it. Play up some inner angst over her decision, or play up the conflict between her and young Kes. Just do something with it! I know it's a bit of a cliche to say that it should have been a two-parter, but heck, this episode was clearly designed to be a ratings-grabber. Why not make it a two-parter then, so that all these issues could be thought out? I mean, on its own, the cat-and-mouse game with the Vidiians was pretty good (I especially liked that they were herding Voyager into a trap; that was quite reminiscent of their first episode and was pretty clever), as was Kes sneaking around. So I'd be a bit hesitant to say all of that should be excised. But because it took so long, it meant there was absolutely no emotional impact of Kes' fury. And not just because Lien delivered her lines with such a complete lack of emotion as to make a Vulcan burst with pride. I'd blame her for a poor performance, but given how insulting this script was, maybe she did it on purpose.
As an aside, I must once again commend the Voyager crew for being stupid. Now, I'd like to think that I had no advanced knowledge here. I'm honestly not sure I ever saw this episode before; after all, the time travel plot surprised me, and I'm sure I would have remembered that. But when she was walking toward Engineering, with destruction in her wake, I kept thinking "why aren't they shutting down the reactor?" Shouldn't that be obvious? You've got two options here. Either Kes can't help making everything go explody (like in The Gift), in which case it would behoove the crew to lock up the antimatter tightly; or she's purposely making everything go explodey, in which case... you lock up the antimatter! We know the reactor can be shut down fairly rapidly, so why didn't they do that as a safety precaution? I wouldn't want antimatter flowing through pipes while all the pipes behind her keep snapping...
And as an even smaller aside, so the Season 1 EMH, who wasn't supposed to be sentient, can just break his Doctor/Patient confidentiality if the captain says pretty please? Bleh... Seriously, Samantha was right there! Just ask her instead!
Wed, Apr 6, 2016, 1:48am (UTC -6)
I also think it's easier to view this episode more sympathetically now than when it was released because it's now possible to read in the chilling parallels to Jennifer Lien's tragic fall from grace, when before you could only scratch your head and wonder, "what the hell is this character's motivation for becoming a crazy bitch all of the sudden?" and then decry character assassination on the part of the writers.
Whereas Kes' excuse that her downfall was perpetrated by Voyager taking her from her home where life was simple and filled her head with overly idealistic hopes and dreams that were later crushed after she had to leave, would have rung hollow to viewers 16 years ago, it now resonates with ironic pertinence when you consider that Voyager did indeed take an impressionable young actress from humble beginnings and then instilled high hopes, seeming to assure a place among the stars before summarily casting her out. She never quite caught herself with no one to break her fall and eventually her fragility became known to all even though no one saw it coming.
Knowing what we do now, that confrontation between Kes and Janeway is especially touching, even a bit heartbreaking.
Thu, Jun 16, 2016, 9:42am (UTC -6)
Kes taken?
Kes hates?
Kes revenge?
I'm STILL trying to make sense of the time travel thingy...
It's all lunacy.
I feel sorry for Jennifer.
.5 stars for the opening... it looked very cool.
Thu, Jun 16, 2016, 10:44am (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 16, 2016, 10:53am (UTC -6)
And while this gets into the realm of time travel paradoxes, are we supposed to believe that Young Kes, despite knowing that she's destined to have some sort of horrible experience after leaving Voyager, lose her marbles, and embark on a plan to kill her former crewmates, manages to behave as if she doesn't know any of this for the rest of the events of S2 and S3?
Thu, Jun 16, 2016, 11:25am (UTC -6)
I'm honored.
and FlyingSquirrel,
"And while this gets into the realm of time travel paradoxes, are we supposed to believe that Young Kes, despite knowing that she's destined to have some sort of horrible experience after leaving Voyager, lose her marbles, and embark on a plan to kill her former crewmates, manages to behave as if she doesn't know any of this for the rest of the events of S2 and S3? "
Glad you mentioned that as I don't believe it for a second either.
Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 10:19pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Sep 9, 2016, 6:27pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Sep 9, 2016, 6:38pm (UTC -6)
Wasn't the greatest time travel story but I've seen worse.
Sat, Sep 10, 2016, 12:05pm (UTC -6)
Unlike some other commentators here, I thought the idea behind "Fury" was a good one. One of the reasons I appreciate Star Trek, The Motion Picture is that it took the risk of portraying the holy trinity of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy as not actually having lived happily ever after the conclusion of the original series. Similarly, I think Kes' psychic voyage of self-discovery not working out the way she'd hoped it might have done, even leading to bitterness and resentment on her part, could have been an interesting direction to take her story.
However, turning her into some cartoon villain version of herself was a terrible idea, particularly because her long absence meant that even if there were a concrete series of events precipitating such a radical change in her character, we're not privy to those. This works out especially poorly for viewers like myself, who've come (very) late to the show and are binge-watching it for the first time. For me, this improbable transformation happens off-camera over a span of a few weeks, rather than years.
For me (as for others) the only real poignancy this episode has is as a precognitive commentary on the real life story of Jennifer Lien, A young, talented, beautiful actress with a promising future in television, whose career was cut short, and whose serious mental health issues have only really come to public light in the last few years. Whether those issues were the cause or the result of her career troubles, I have no idea. Either way, I wish her well and hope she's getting the help she needs to live long and prosper.
Mon, Sep 12, 2016, 1:25pm (UTC -6)
Unless she doesn't remember, but that brings me to perhaps the most ridiculous part of the episode. From the transcript, when we're back in the "present":
CHAKOTAY: We're receiving a distress call. A small vessel on an intercept course.
JANEWAY: Life signs?
KIM: One. It's Ocampan.
(Janeway turns and looks at Tuvok.)
JANEWAY: I'd almost forgotten.
You'd...almost forgotten? You'd almost forgotten that a former crew member is on schedule to travel back in time and try to murder everybody? How the hell do you "almost forget" that?! This is almost enough for me to join the "Janeway should be court-martialed when the crew gets home" crowd.
And then there's Kes herself, also suffering selective amnesia, after viewing the holo-recording of her younger self urging her not to go through with this:
JANEWAY: You told me you had the ability to get home, but you were afraid the Ocampans wouldn't accept you. Why?
KES: I remember.
JANEWAY: What? What do you remember?
KES: The holo-recording. I remember making it. You asked me to help you, to help myself. You wanted me to remember who I was. These years were so filled with confusion and anger. I buried the memory. I'd almost forgotten.
: sigh: Seriously, Kes? We're talking about SEEING YOUR OWN FUTURE SELF TRY TO MURDER YOUR FRIENDS. Now, in a sense, I could *sort of* understand this if they'd established that, for example, they had to erase Young Kes's memory after she made the holo-recording because she was just too disturbed and distraught by all this, or that she developed full-blown psychosis during whatever happened to her after leaving the ship. But the episode doesn't even address this. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it's as if Kes simply put up a "front" all through the rest of S1-S3 and acted like she didn't know that any of this was going to happen. Or at least we have to assume she did - if her behavior was any different, it evidently wasn't enough to change anything else of significance in the timeline.
Wed, Nov 2, 2016, 3:22pm (UTC -6)
And I feel bad for Jennifer Lien as well and hope that maybe if any good will come out of her troubles and notoriety is that she'll receive proper medical attention. Mental disorders can be just as devastating as an outwardly obvious physical injury or disease and needs to be taken care of promptly before self-harm or harm to others can occur.
Fri, Nov 18, 2016, 6:04am (UTC -6)
Still pretty bad though...
Thu, Jan 5, 2017, 11:43pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jan 13, 2017, 10:11pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Feb 5, 2017, 10:15am (UTC -6)
The reason for Kes turn 180 is weak. For no good reason just turned into 'Hot Headed Allien' of the weak. If she's even that angry brought to Voyager, why dont go to earlier time and dont join Voyager the first place?
Why they even brought back Jennifer Lien just to ruin her character and at the end of the stories it doesn't even matter anymore? Nothing change.
Although nothing has change itself doesn't make sense. Do we can believe the young Kes will act the same way after know the Captain will kill her in the future? That will change the future dont it. No reason to believe it will be the same after all that been done.
The stories is messed up all over. Full of hole as many already mention. It's not even beliavable and stand a reason!
Heck. I'll give 1 (*) star just for the kewl Visual Effects
Thu, Feb 16, 2017, 8:11pm (UTC -6)
To be clear, I never liked Kes. The Kes/Ocampa concept was interesting if not for the icky relationship with Neelix, another character I couldn't stand. (Robbing the cradle was too conformist. Neelix had to assjack the incubator.) However, the actress that played Kes (hated her so much I refuse to look up her name) was atrocious. Her perpetual monotone drone was like 9 inch nails on my eardrums. Originally, the woman who played Ensign Kim's girlfriend, Libby, was supposed to play Kes. I really wish they'd gone with her instead. Maybe she would've been a better fit, maybe not. In any case, I was ecstatic that they replaced her with 7 of 9. There hasn't been a smarter roster change since Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant to take over the union army.
The Gift was the most adequate send off anyone could hope for, but this is just kicking a dead horse and then sending its dead ass to the glue factory for poop and giggles. The character would never crap all over the people who were so good to her without a damned good reason, which the writers failed to provide. This whole episode was one big ginormogantualossal ass pull. Can't change direction at warp without tearing the ship apart?!? That didn't seem to be a problem when they changed directions using the Quantum Slipstream drive in "Hope and Fear," which leaves regular warp in the dust. I guess the QS has that much needed greased lightning lubrication that makes warp juke moves so easy.
Ridiculous.
Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 1:35am (UTC -6)
I think that pretty much says it all.
Tue, Jul 18, 2017, 1:13am (UTC -6)
Well, maybe I should be honest and say it's not the Vidiians, but Voyager's reaction/handling of them. Here is a species that LITERALLY looks at every other sentient species as consumable. They're not desperate, they're evil. They may have begun as desperate, but now they only look to consume. Why would you treat them with kid gloves...ever? If you don't put them down when you meet them, they will turn on you without exception.
When the grappling things were broken off, Voyager fired torpedoes at it and they obviously got through the shielding. They should've kept firing until there was nothing left. Anything left alive would just attack and consume whoever passed by.
They were an excellent villainous force in the show - my angry reaction to them is a good indication for me, but it was the kid glove treatment that pissed me off. Voyager should've built a coalition of species predated by the Vidiians and led a massive fleet to wipe them all out. (Hmm...maybe they should've done that with the Borg, too...but hell, I like the Borg. Yeah, I know. But at least the Borg want to use you as a living being to increase their own. The Vidiians want to literally rip you to pieces to fix themselves.)
Thu, Aug 3, 2017, 4:56pm (UTC -6)
I'm fully aware of the issues in this episode--chief among them Kes' reason for doing all this--but despite them I enjoyed it on its action adventure terms. The episode did a great job stirring my nostalgia of yesteryear with the Doc confined to sickbay, the Vidiians, bio neural gel packs, janeways bun, pre-Borg days, hydroponics, the Foctorvtrying to determine a name etc
The battle with the Vidiians was thrilling and the subspace vacuole field provided a nice backdrop. And the ending with Kes was bittersweet
Sat, Aug 12, 2017, 2:41am (UTC -6)
The Bitch Kes I recall thinking on airing that I wasn't happy for reasons above, in that it's not the Kes I knew. Having re-watched it many times I appreciate it far more. Though I feel the ending could have killed her off. Disappearing off to a higher form of existence in The Gift was a rubbish ending for Kes.
It's not perfect, but it's a fun bit of sci-fi entertainment. Paradox flaws, but Star Trek is full of them.
Time travel, mystery and powerful person wanting to alter history. If that person wasn't Kes and it hadn't "insulted" people's memories of her (dull) character ;) , then I wonder if people would feel so bad about it.
Thu, Sep 28, 2017, 2:30pm (UTC -6)
Well, now we have an aged Kes on death's doorstep who, by some means has managed to replicate these feats in what amounts to a piece of crap little shuttlepod. Was it powered by her psychic abilities? And how is it going to get her back to Ocampa before she croaks?
What would have made this episode for me would be if Neelix had asked her in the mess hall, "Sweeting, have you put on a little weight?"
Thu, Mar 8, 2018, 11:25pm (UTC -6)
The main thing I'll give this episode is Kes' sarcastic glances when dealing with these people she used to like and now views with contempt. Her agony as the Doctor pontificates about his name or Paris incompetently flirts with her or Neelix is saccharine feels genuine and even funny, and is also a recognizable emotion -- where she's angry primarily at herself for ever loving these rubes. (I'm not really trying to criticize Doc, Paris or Neelix here -- just that I think this is Kes' POV.) It's even kind of a neat metaphor, the idea of Kes a bitter old woman in the body of a young one back in season one.
1 star probably.
Thu, Mar 8, 2018, 11:28pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 6:32pm (UTC -6)
Before and After
Tuvix (some good material)
The Gift
Warlord
The Swarm (role as Doctor's advocate)
Darkling
Cold Fire
Elogium
Fury
Kes was generally neglected and then offered poor episodes, but there are a few exceptions, and I really like Before & After in particular.
Thu, Apr 26, 2018, 2:23am (UTC -6)
Sun, Jul 22, 2018, 1:09am (UTC -6)
"Why didn't [Kes] simply travel back in time and prevent herself from leaving her homeworld rather than messing with Voyager?"
Maybe she can travel only in time and not in space -- in Voyager's present day, she traveled back in time while touching the warp core, and when she arrived in the past (conveniently, no one was looking at the warp core at the time) she was still touching the warp core. Though you'd think that for Old Kes, traveling in space would be easier than traveling in time.
Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 3:31pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 24, 2018, 3:47pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Aug 27, 2018, 1:13am (UTC -6)
Mon, Oct 8, 2018, 7:01pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 9, 2018, 4:13am (UTC -6)
Even though I completely agree that this is nothing but a slap in the face to all Kes fans, myself included, I have defend Braga on this one.
He was only one of four people involved in the writing.... including Rick Berman himself. That means Braga and the other two were most likely only doing what Berman commanded them to do.
Berman deserves all the blame for this train-wreck.
Tue, Oct 9, 2018, 10:52am (UTC -6)
And if we liked this one, who deserves all the credit?
Tue, Oct 9, 2018, 11:59am (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 11:43am (UTC -6)
Thu, Nov 1, 2018, 9:45pm (UTC -6)
And not a very good ep. Just . . . pointless.
The best part of the ep was Chakotay getting them out of the mess with the Viddeans. He makes a good crisis Captain.
All that Kes-fury unexplained really, yet so easily abandoned . . . murderously angry to calm and accepting in just a few seconds?
One of the worst Voyager eps ever. Almost rivals Threshold.
I give this ep 1 salamander.
Thu, Nov 1, 2018, 10:44pm (UTC -6)
--Dementia? Yes, that occurred to me, but it doesn't really help. I've seen how dementia can result in unreasoning fury over imagined or misunderstood "slights," but in that case the person isn't suddenly made calm and reasonable by a few words. And if by some miracle, you do manage to get thru, it's never in a lengthy or permanent way. It's momentary.
--Kes was so angry, she was willing to help see that the whole crew got sliced and diced!! She was willing to be instrumental to them experiencing this extremely cruel fate. She was really, really angry! Just made no sense, no matter how you slice it (pun intentional).
--Carey: He must have died somewhere along the way. True, we didn't see him die, but it sure seems like he did.
Ok, well, Bedtime for Springy.
Tue, Jan 1, 2019, 10:10pm (UTC -6)
During her "fight" with Janeway, Kes suggested that they sent her away to explore her abilities. Never mind that they had to put her on that shuttle during The Gift because she was *destroying* Voyager with her uncontrollable powers. She then threw them 10,000 lightyears away. Maybe if Kes hadn't thrown Voyager so far they could've hung with her and helped her out some, but that wasn't an option. Voyager was literally powerless to help Kes in any way at that point.
Now, had the writers come up with a better motivation for Kes' anger, I think this would be a decent episode. Not great, but not the turd that it is. Anything would be better than "I was a child, you corrupted me with your ideas...exploration, discovery, I believed you." That line is so bad, and the delivery is atrocious too. Senility or the fairies with no morals, like Skeptical mentioned about Cold Fire, or some combination would at least be a start. She should be mad at Neelix more than anyone, do something with that. As for convincing old Kes to do her 180º at the end, I think that's a harder problem to solve. It happens so quickly and in such a pat way, ugh.
Chakotay really did get to be a badass in this episode, that was nice.
Sat, Jan 5, 2019, 12:34am (UTC -6)
Cuz if she was a pain in the arse, then the writers probably just wanted to have a good laugh shi*&^% on her character after they forced her off the show. I wouldn't blame them in that case...
Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 10:46pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Mar 27, 2019, 9:25pm (UTC -6)
What bugged me (in addition to the nonsensical use of time travel) is Kes's arbitrary powers (which also bugged me big time in "The Gift"). These power just do whatever the writers want them to. Like how many times was Janeway stunned by Kes' powers, yet she still gets up and phasers Kes?? What a stupid scene.
But I also liked the Vidiians who are a good, original enemy VOY created (much better than the Kazon) getting back into the mix. That added some needed threat in addition to old Kes getting vengeful. Kes and the Vidiians reminded me of Seska and the Kazon -- it was as if VOY had gone back to S1/S2 to remind us in S6 how things used to be.
A lot of handwaving is needed to enjoy this episode and I wasn't prepared to do all that's needed. The writers are sloppy here and given that it's Berman & Braga, one would expect much better. How we get to Janeway in the present time knowing how to react to Kes's approaching shuttle made no sense. And then when all is said and done Kes is supposed to go back like 40K light years back to Ocampa in her shuttle again? Not buying it.
A low 2 stars for "Fury" -- too much nonsense here and a poor use of a returning character, but the episode had its moments. You gotta shut off your mind to get something out of it. Think too hard and this one's a dud. I thought Tuvok's premonitions were interesting but also unjustified. Overall sloppy and poorly conceived but not terrible.
Thu, Apr 18, 2019, 6:32pm (UTC -6)
How sad is it that the closest we get to a real character moment is that final scene with Neelix sadly looking at aged Kes, trying to show her affection while downplaying how much her appearance upsets him? It's hardly even there as a scene, and yet its so much deeper than anything else we get here. As so many others have said, all we're allowed is a huge wasted opportunity coupled with character assassination. I preferred Threshold over this. At least I could laugh at that one. This was just the destruction of a character as pure ratings ploy.
One thing I haven't noticed anyone mention - the attempt at giving Chakotay a crowning moment of glory. He orders "Reverse thrusters, full power!" to which Kim replies "that'll tear the hull apart." In what the writers clearly wanted to be Chakotay's Captain Sulu moment, he yells "then tear it apart!" Alas, despite clearly aping that incredible, character defining moment from STVI, the direction and Beltrand's delivery just can't hold a candle to Takei in that film (the knowledge that no damage on Voyager has consequence making the whole thing feel hollow doesn't help).
Overall, I've really been enjoying Voyager these past two seasons, but this episode almost makes me want to rethink my positive feelings for the show as a whole (and just "Live Fast and Prosper, feels strangly like the terrible episodes of seasons 1-3 of the show). I'm glad the next outing is supposedly much better. Too bad there was never another outing for Kes. In some ways, the lasting insult here feels a bit like what happened to Kurn in DS9 - a horrible end to a beloved character that should have been reversed, but never was. But at least the episode in which Kurn's fate was sealed was itself a compelling episode. This, alas, was simply not.
Mon, Apr 22, 2019, 12:36pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 2:16pm (UTC -6)
What really should concern folk is how the fact that Kes caught up with Voyager with a ship with MAYBE a similar top speed shows how much Janeway & crew dilly-dallied on their way home (which ends up being moot in the end, but they didn't know that)
I always thought that it should have been mandated in the series writers' "bible" that every episode (unless there was a specific reason to the contrary) should end showing Voyager travelling at warp.
Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 5:04pm (UTC -6)
"I always thought that it should have been mandated in the series writers' "bible" that every episode (unless there was a specific reason to the contrary) should end showing Voyager travelling at warp."
They're constantly traveling towards the AQ. Janeway says it in every other Captain's log - something along the lines of "we've traveled X lightyears which puts us X amount of time closer home". This isn't even including episodes where the random friendly phenomenon shaves a few years off their trip. In fact, one of the real issues about the Kazon being "recurring villains" is that in order to keep up with Voyager they'd have to be unbelievably large (like, larger than The Dominion) for Voyager to remain in their space. Considering the Kazon are considered *primitive* in the series and have trouble with basic necessities like water, it was just impossible to believe and they had to dropped.
I don't mind beings like Kes catching up to them because she has what appear to us as supernatural abilities, but the other humanoids that work on conventional physics? Just no.
Tue, Sep 24, 2019, 12:50pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Sep 24, 2019, 1:04pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Sep 24, 2019, 3:04pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 3:59am (UTC -6)
Fri, Feb 7, 2020, 4:53am (UTC -6)
Tue, Jun 9, 2020, 8:17pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Jul 1, 2020, 11:13am (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 2, 2020, 4:37am (UTC -6)
Lien said in an interview years after she was not happy with her performance in this...
Voyager really seemed to suffer with good ideas by season 6, forcing 26 episodes out of a season meant many are rubbish... yet DS9 was always consistently good.
Thu, Jul 2, 2020, 2:55pm (UTC -6)
The irony in her torpedoing her own future job prospects is hard to overlook.
Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 7:41pm (UTC -6)
Any why does Kes hail Voyager to ask Captain Janeway if she can come aboard if she just was going to immediately crash her shuttle into the ship? I never understood that.
I do like watching this episode though because Jennifer Lien's commitment to the role is so hilariously half-hearted that it inadvertently turns into a meta take on her feelings about her dismissal from the show for me. It's hard to tell if the annoyance and impatience that Kes exhibits toward her former crewmates are completely Lien's acting choice, or if Lien was just not into being there for this episode and her resentment bled into her performance. Either way, I'm entertained but probably not for the right reasons.
Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 5:53pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 2:00am (UTC -6)
Mon, Dec 28, 2020, 11:09am (UTC -6)
The bottom line is that it's just difficult to make a former main cast member (credited in the episode with an "also starring" I note, which is nice) into the villain for the week. We're all sympathizing with Kes, we want to see that long lost friend return and relive memories of Voyager past. We don't want to see her acting out some plan for revenge, so the episode has an uphill climb in the first place.
I'll be very curious to hear their take on the episode if Garrett Wang and Robert McNeill's Delta Flyers podcast gets this far.
Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 10:26pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Feb 28, 2021, 5:12am (UTC -6)
Good idea. That would have been much better. Would have been a nice tie-in with earlier seasons and 'Caretaker' as well.
Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 10:18am (UTC -6)
Sun, Mar 28, 2021, 7:16pm (UTC -6)
Her psychosis or whatever it is is tragic.
Sun, May 2, 2021, 1:29pm (UTC -6)
It's not hard to figure out the actress-suddenly-canned -- show-formula-changed -- actress-has-3-yr-dry-spell -- actress-brought-back-for-weird-coda -- actress-stops-working-after-Voyager-coda -- actress-later-revealed-to-have-substance-and-mental-health-issues progression. She was having trouble; they cut her loose, then tried (halfheartedly) to help her out; things didn't go well.
See also: Glenn Quinn (Doyle) on Angel, Johnny Lewis (Kip) on Sons of Anarchy.
Fri, Oct 8, 2021, 12:10am (UTC -6)
Two life signs in the Airponics lab. Both read as Kes.
Next we see aged Kes holding younger Kes....
Snookered once again.
A melange of an episode...difficult to watch for a variety of reasons, but I have to say that the next to last scene (seeing Kes off in the transporter room) was rather powerful.
Kes (to Neelix) "See anyone you know?"
Neelix (awkwardly) "Only You."
Kes' appearance and world-weary distant gaze really reminded me of Vina (Susan Oliver) at the point at which she was revealed by the Talosians as that 'lump of flesh'. (TOS--"The Cage")
Lien's performance was muted...not bad...just muted, conveying the total exhaustion she no doubt was actually feeling.
AND the last point of dialogue sounded like something one would hear in a somber episode from TOS.
Tuvok: "What should we tell the others?"
Janeway: "A friend got lost. We helped her find her way."
Too ironic.
Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 1:18pm (UTC -6)
In content terms, of course, ‘Fury’ is a seriously missed opportunity. The most striking failure here – as many, many posters above have pointed out – is simply the utter failure of the writers to articulate a plausible justification for Kes’ extreme (by any measure) change of character. Kes’ dementia, which seems to be the most logical explanation, is only ever implicit; that Kes could not just simply turn on her former friends and hate them, but actually have come to hate them so much that she would conspire to deliver them to a grisly fate on a Vidiian dissection table, is absolutely appalling. It makes no sense; it is as if the producers began with that (admittedly) striking image of an aged Kes trudging determinedly through the deck with the bulkheads sparking and crumpling behind her, and then worked backwards to find a reason for it. Their ultimate explanation was not a believable one.
As Robert rightly suggested above, there is potential for a much better episode and end to Kes’ arc here, specifically explaining Kes’ sudden rage as the outcome of her energy form returning to the Ocampan homeworld only to find all the Ocampa murdered by the Kazon in a fit of unforeseeable post-Voyager vengeance. After all, Kes only wanted to see the surface, not get her people killed. Or, one step further, a scenario in which Kes could have been moving back in time – perhaps even to the Alpha Quadrant – to try and stop Voyager ever being drawn to the Delta Quadrant, thereby also preventing the events that led to the Kazon (presumably) slaughtering the Ocampa. Or perhaps even multiple alternate events in which Kes, as an energy being, actually successfully stops Voyager’s arrival in the Delta Quadrant only to see the Kazon take over the Caretaker’s array and kill all the Ocampa anyway, or an alternative future in which Kes never makes it to the surface at all.
All of this shows there is rich potential here, and none of it necessarily involved Kes being entirely re-written as a bitterness-crazed fury. I was actually intrigued by the idea that Kes, as an energy being (or whatever she becomes in ‘The Gift’) might nevertheless *descend* from that presumed higher plan of existence because she missed her homeworld, or her family, or that it wasn’t all it had cracked up to be. That Kes might then regret squandering her brief lifespan, lured away by the stars being brighter on the other side type of thinking, is also interesting. Kes might have even decided to settle on that other Ocampan colony Exosia (‘Cold Fire’) to live out her days. There could have been a peculiarly Trekkian exploration of the old adage of be careful what you wish for here.
But none of this is the crew of Voyager’s fault, so it makes no sense that Kes would turn on them, much less turn on them so viciously and vindictively. It is definitely a frustrating – some might say *infuriating* – ending to Kes’ arc and that of the Ocampa (not to mention Lien’s contribution to the show), but more than anything I feel it is simple a terribly, terribly missed opportunity. While not a great character, Kes (and Lien and the rest of the cast for that matter) deserved better.
Sun, Nov 7, 2021, 8:46pm (UTC -6)
"However I thought the episode now carries a lot of tragic irony given the real-life struggles of Jennifer Lien. I wonder if any Trek people have reached out to her and tried to help her?"
A lot of people have been saying for years that taking care of one's mental health is as important as taking care of one's physical health. The Doctor, who has been pre-loaded with the information from 47 bazillion medical texts, can tend to the crew's physical health. What about their mental/emotional health, especially given their unique situation? Evidently Dr. Zimmerman didn’t equip the EMH with any information about Freud or Jung or any of those guys. Janeway mentioned once that she wished Voyager had a counselor, but "the nature of our mission didn’t require one." Leaving aside the issue of whether the crew should be cavorting on the holodeck while replicator rations are at a premium, why couldn’t they have a holo-counselor? Not Troi, because they’d probably have to pay Sirtis more than they’d pay some no-name actor.
Sun, Nov 7, 2021, 8:49pm (UTC -6)
"But I also liked the Vidiians who are a good, original enemy VOY created (much better than the Kazon) getting back into the mix."
The Kazon were basically low-rent Klingons with big piles of dog shit on their heads.
Sun, Nov 7, 2021, 10:11pm (UTC -6)
Where was Kes between "The Gift" and "Fury," and what was she doing?
Where did she get her ship? It wasn’t the Starfleet shuttle she left Voyager in — it was (at least on the inside) Captain Braxton's ship from "Future's End."
Tue, Dec 28, 2021, 3:38pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 7:11pm (UTC -6)
For some reason, Tuvok saying "we should use the Delta Flyer" 3 years before they built it in that timeline really tickled me. I also thought the "flash-forward" to Seven and the borg children in the storage bay was well done.
As has been said, what was the point of bringing Kes back just to say goodbye to her all over again when it's already been done better. And I also felt really sorry for old Neelix in all those scenes where Kes was just using and manipulating him, and then again at the end where he has to say goodbye to her again, three years after he already did that and was probably getting over it by now!
Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 1:38am (UTC -6)
Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 6:46pm (UTC -6)
Fri, May 5, 2023, 7:42pm (UTC -6)
-Time travel
-Plot incompetence
-Character inconsistency
-Kes
So this episode gets a big no thanks.
A few thoughts:
- It took a while, but turns out Kes is just another hardheaded DQ alien. It’s nice to know that that patented delta quadrant hostile irrationality is alive and well in the ocampan home world.
- Kes mentioned that she considered herself a child while on voyager, “corrupted” and misled. This makes her and neelix’s relationship all kinds of fucked up in retrospect.
- When Kes travels back in time shouldn’t she have arrived at the same location from where she left? I mean, five years previous voyager was, what, 30,000 light years deeper into the DQ? So why would Kes still be on voyager when she time jumps? She should have wound up floating in the vacuum of space in the location where voyager would eventually occupy, right? Right?? I hate time travel.
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