Star Trek: Future's End

Episode: "Future's End"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 8

Original Air Date: November 6, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Voyager encounters Captain Braxton, a time traveler from the 29th century.  In fact, Braxton, formerly of the Starfleet Temporal Integrity Commission, is trying to destroy the ship in order to avoid the role it is to play in a temporal explosion in his own time.  Man, it's like he's never read a Greek tragedy...

Anyway, both Voyager and Braxton's ship get pulled into the gravitational field from which Braxton came.  It throws them all the way to Earth.  Great news, right?  Except that it's Earth in 1996.  

Star Trek returning to "present day" is well-tread territory for the franchise.  Prior to "Future's End," it had been done in TOS's "Assignment: Earth" and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  There are other stories involving Earth's past but to this point these were the only ones that pinpointed the current time of production.  There is something funny about watching our heroes navigate the, for them, inconveniences of the 20th century.  How handy that because of his hobbies, Tom Paris already knows how to drive a car.

Our villain is Henry Starling.  In 1967, Starling discovered Braxton's crashed ship and has been mining its technology to build his own corporate empire ever since.  The story asserts that this chance encounter accelerated Earth's computer advances at a much greater rate than should have been.  In their effort to set the timeline right, our heroes have to mess with Starling's plans.  He's none too happy about it.

Part 2 in two weeks...

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Ed Begley Jr. played Henry Starling.  Begley was born in Los Angeles, September 16, 1949.  His father, Ed Begley Sr., was an Oscar-winning actor himself.  He attended Los Angeles Valley College.

Ed Jr.'s resume is lengthy with literally hundreds of professional credits.  Films include An Officer and a Gentleman, The Accidental Tourist and Batman Forever.  His portrayal of Dr. Victor Ehlrich on St. Elsewhere earned him six consecutive Emmy nominations.  Recurring television credits include Better Call Saul, Young Sheldon and Arrested Development.

Ed Begley, Jr. is the most outspoken environmentalist in Hollywood.  In particular, he is closely associated with electric vehicles.  He and his wife Rachelle Carlson co-hosted a green living show called Living with Ed for three years.