Star Trek Voyager S5E22: 11:59

The other 11:59.

Some time ago, I wrote about the short story The 11:59 by Patricia C. McKissack. Trains plus a bit of paranormal and a countdown to doom, it’s one of those self-fulfilling prophecy cautionary tales. I read it as a kid and haven’t been able to get it out of my head since.

Whether it’s the looming deadline, or the approaching fresh start that comes with a new day, there’s a fascination with the minute before midnight that transcends any single story. Star Trek Voyager (another favourite from my childhood, as it happens) also has an episode called 11:59.

The episode opens with Captain Kathryn Janeway and Neelix (The Talaxian cook/ambassador/morale officer, in case you’re unfamiliar with the cast) talking about Earth history, which Neelix has been studying up on. Janeway asks Neelix what he knows about the Millennium Gate (a fictional Earth landmark).

We learn the Millennium Gate is a self-sustaining ecosystem that paved the way for habitats on Mars. According to family lore, Janeway’s ancestor Shannon O’Donnell was a key figure in getting the project off the ground. An ex-astronaught and highly sought-after engineer, she was flown in on a private jet to consult on the project. The entire town was against the development, but through determination and perseverance, O’Donnell swayed public opinion.

Next we find ourselves a few days shy of the New Year 2001. A woman who bears a striking resemblance to Kathryn Janeway rolls into a small Indiana town, not in a private jet, but in a broken down station wagon. Yes, it’s Shannon O’Donnell. She meets Henry Janeway, the curmudgeonly owner of an independent book store and the only businessman in town refusing to sell.

Henry is single handedly preventing the Millennium Gate project from going forward. Consequently, he is being shunned and boycotted by everyone else in town who all want the project to go ahead. If he doesn’t agree to sell before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, the project will be moved to another town.

Henry gives Shannon a place to stay while her car gets fixed. In return, she helps him in his quest to save the town. Or, prevent the town from moving forward, depending on your point of view.

As the episode goes on, the crew of Voyager start sharing stories of their ancestors and their connections to early space travel. Kathryn Janeway soon realises there are some inconsistencies between what she’s been told about Shannon O’Donnell and what historical records show. Meanwhile, we’re also getting to know Shannon and Henry in the countdown to 2001.

Shannon has many of the qualities Kathryn admires. She’s adventurous and loves to explore new places. She’s determined and keeps going in the face of challenges. But her life is much more ordinary than Janeway family lore has led Kathryn to believe. Shannon was an engineer, but she was cut from astronaut training and lost her job in aerospace due to cutbacks. Kathryn has to come to terms with a childhood hero who doesn’t live up to expectations.

It's a story about coming to a crossroads in life. How do you decide which way to go? Shannon and Henry have an immediate connection, but their personalities and values are at odds with each other. Henry wants to keep the bookstore, and the town he has lived in his entire life, from changing. Shannon is drawn to the possibilities that come with progress. The more she learns about the Millennium Gate, the more intrigued she is. She wants to see it built.

Shannon is offered a job on the Millennium Gate project, but if Henry refuses to sell his bookstore then taking the job will mean leaving. Henry has to choose between hanging on to his past, or taking a chance on an uncertain future.

What irks me about this episode:

Not much. There are a few things that don’t make sense on close inspection, but I probably only notice them because I’ve watched the episode multiple times. One example, Neelix tracks down a family photo depicting Shannon as an old woman surrounded by her ‘sons and daughters’. So, she has multiple children. Ok, but when Shannon meets Henry and his teenage son, Jason, she doesn’t yet have any children of her own. She also mentions to Jason that she watched the Moon landing on TV when she was 11 years old.

The Moon landing was in July 1969, which would make Shannon 41 or 42 when she meets Henry at the end of December 2000. I can buy that she could get pregnant at this age, many women do, but unless she had twins or triplets, I have trouble believing she and Henry went on to have multiple children together.

But I’m nitpicking.

What I like about this episode:

What makes most Star Trek episodes so good are the characters. The show explores interesting ideas, but it’s as much about how the people are affected by the situations they find themselves in as it is about the situations themselves. 11:59 is one of the most relatable Star Trek episodes. It explores the kinds of dilemmas everyone finds themselves in. What to do when professional goals conflict with personal ones? What sacrifices are worth making for what payoff? Do you do what’s best for you, or what’s best for someone you care about? When something you’ve believed for a long time turns out not to be true, how do you process that and move forward?

Despite the seemingly everyday themes in this episode, it still manages to have the charm of other Star Trek Voyager stories. The way it splits between Shannon’s time and Kathryn’s gives it the vibe of time travel, even though none of the characters leaves their own time. It’s one of my favourite episodes of the series.

Also, fun fact, it would seem the writers of Voyager didn’t buy into all the panic and hype that surrounded Y2K. A quote from Shannon talking to Henry about the new millennium:

“Last year, when 2000 arrived, everyone was convinced it was the dawn of a new era. But when the world didn’t end and the flying saucers didn’t land and the Y2K bug didn’t turn out a single light bulb, you’d think everybody would’ve realized it was a number on a calendar…”

All true. The arrival of Y2K was unremarkable. But this episode aired in May 1999, so they didn’t know that yet.