Future ' s End ( episode ) After encountering a Federation timeship from the future , " Voyager " is flung back to 20th century Earth . Summary . Teaser . On Earth , in the High Sierras in the year 1967 , a young hippie with a tattoo on his left wrist is camping in the mountain s , listening to music on his portable radio . He begins to tap his canteen and pots with makeshift drum sticks along with the music , when his radio loses its frequency . Suddenly , in the sky , he spots a strange phenomenon : a starship seems to be crashing to Earth . It impacts on the surface very near to him . " " Far out " " , he remarks . Act One . In the 24th century in the Delta Quadrant , Captain Kathryn Janeway is practicing her tennis serve in her ready room on the , when Lieutenant Tuvok enters . He catches her tennis ball in his right hand . She tells her chief of security that she is planning on taking up tennis again after 19 years but she says she is a little rusty as she lost her first match in straight sets in a novice tournament on the holodeck . Tuvok tells her that her serve would be more effective if she maintained eye contact with the ball at the apex of its trajectory . Moving to official ship business , Tuvok tells the captain that he has completed his month ly security evaluations and is about to show her his PADD when first officer Commander Chakotay calls for " Voyager " to go to red alert and requests that Janeway come to the bridge . " Voyager " has encountered a graviton disruption , a distortion in the space - time continuum . Ensign Kim tells the captain the rift seems to be artificially generated . Then , a small vessel emerges from the distortion . According to Kim , it is a Federation vessel . Janeway orders it be hail ed but Tuvok announces it is charging weapons . Chakotay orders the shields be raised but the ship is hit , knocking out the helm in the process , trapping " Voyager " there . The vessel is firing a subatomic disruptor , which is tearing " Voyager " s molecular structure apart . Chakotay orders that Tuvok send out a high energy polaron pulse from " Voyager " s navigational deflector to disrupt the firing vessel ' s weapon . The plan works and the ship hails them . The pilot of the timeship , Captain Braxton , says he is from the 29th century and his vessel is the timeship " Aeon " . He further claims that " Voyager " will be responsible for a temporal explosion in the 29th century that will destroy the entire solar system . He asks the ship to disengage its deflector pulse and let him destroy their vessel . Captain Janeway responds with force to Braxton ' s tactics and eventually " Voyager " overpowers the timeship , causing Braxton to lose control of it . The graviton field begins to collapse and both ships are pulled into it . When the ship emerges from the rift , a shaken Kim announces that it has closed . Chakotay asks where they are . The viewscreen shows they are inexplicably in orbit around Earth . " " Home " " , a startled Tom Paris announces . Janeway theorizes that the rift must have originated in the Terran solar system . She asks to be put through to Starfleet Command . However , Tuvok cannot pick up a response on standard frequencies but is getting a multitude of EM signals . When patched through , the signals are most certainly " not " from the 24th century . " " The question isn ' t where we are . . . but " when " , Janeway says . Ensign Kim announces , according to his astrometric readings – the year is 1996 , the late 20th century . To avoid " Voyager " being detected by surveillance satellites , Janeway orders that the ship be placed in high orbit and has the shields modulated to scatter radar . Tuvok informs Captain Janeway that low frequency subspace readings are emanating from the city of Los Angeles . The readings are no doubt coming from Braxton ' s ship as the technology for it should not exist for close to a hundred years . Janeway decides they must find Braxton so they can return to their own time . She chooses Chakotay , Tuvok , and Paris to transport to the surface with her , leaving Ensign Kim in command of " Voyager " . Recalling Lieutenant Paris as an aficionado on the 20th century , Janeway asks what they will need to pass as locals of the current era . " " Simple . Nice clothes , fast car , and " lots " of money " " , he says as the turbolift doors close . In Los Angeles , the away team from " Voyager " looks upon the colorfully dressed 20th century inhabitants of the city . " " We could have worn our Starfleet uniforms . I doubt if " anyone " would have noticed " " , Tuvok observes dryly . Act Two . Through Janeway ' s tricorder , she finds that the subspace readings they detected are within a hundred meter radius of their position but she cannot localize the source . She orders Tuvok and Paris to search the shoreline and that she and Chakotay will take the boardwalk . " " Well Kathryn , you got us home " " , Chakotay tells his captain . " " Right place , " wrong " time . But it is good to be back , nevertheless " " , she says . Chakotay thinks of looking up one of his ancestors from the 20th century , a teacher in Arizona . Janeway remarks that she has no clue what her ancestors were doing in this time , when a rollerblader runs into them . " " For all I know , she could be my great - great - great - great grandmother " " , Janeway says of the woman . " " She does have your legs " " , Chakotay says . Janeway asks Chakotay if he has ever been to Southern California . Her first officer says he has not . Janeway recalls that the entire region in Los Angeles sunk under two hundred meters of water during the Hermosa Quake of 2047 and became one of Earth ' s largest coral reefs . It became home to thousands of different marine species . " " Some interesting species in " this century " , Chakotay says as a couple of individuals with colorful mohawks pass by them . Meanwhile , Paris and Tuvok are walking together on the . Paris encourages Tuvok to remove his shirt and enjoy the sunshine but the Vulcan declines , not wanting to risk exposing himself to dermal dysplasia . Paris notes that deep down , all Vulcans are hypochondriacs . Elsewhere , Janeway has finally detected the source of the subspace readings – they are coming from a homeless man scavenging from garbage cans . Elsewhere in Los Angeles , a young astronomer is sitting in her laboratory in the Griffith Observatory when her computer emits a beeping noise . " " No way " " , she says . With her computer ' s keyboard on her lap , she enters a few commands . " " Way " " , she now says . In another location , a man named Henry Starling is lying a computer chip on a glass table . " " It ' s crap " " , he says to a man called Jim . As Starling continues to complain about the lack of sophistication of the chip , including its color , he tells Jim that the HyperPro PC will be introduced within the next six months . With a chip like the one his company has come up with to drive it , they will have to change the name of the computer to Edsel . He tells Jim to leave , lose sleep over this problem , and give him a full report by the middle of next week . When Jim leaves , an employee of Starling ' s named Dave pages him through Starling ' s intercom . When told he does not want to be interrupted during meetings , Dave tells him one Rain Robinson from Griffth Observatory has urgent news for him . She is put through . Robinson recalls that Starling was to be notified when a certain kind of gamma emission matched a frequency profile that he gave her . She reports her findings to Starling . Robinson excitedly tells Starling that the source is in orbit , 20 , 000 kilometers above North America and she is not picking up anything from the standard search parameters – meaning that no one as of yet has discovered it . " " We ' ve got to call NASA ! " " , she says . She offers to send a message to it but Starling tells her not to reveal her discovery to anyone else until they have more data . He humorously asks her if E . T . likes Chateau Coeur but Robinson assures him that if he does not , she has a six pack of beer in her fridge . They end their phone call and Starling goes to get a drink , revealing the tattoo on his left wrist , showing him to be the hippie who saw the starship crash back in 1967 . Back at the observatory ' s laboratory , Robinson ignores Starling ' s instructions and sends a message anyway to whatever is in orbit . On the bridge of " Voyager " , chief engineer Torres reports to Kim that the trip they took through the rift damaged several key systems . Weapons , three EPS conduit s and the main transporter buffer are all offline . Kim asks how close " Voyager " will have to come to the surface to initiate a transport . Torres informs him they will have to be at least within ten kilometer s . Just then , Ensign Kaplan reports that she is picking up an EM signal directed towards their coordinates . Kim orders it on screen , which then shows a standard SETI greeting sent from Robinson ' s observatory . The audio portion of this message include international morse code with the cryptic message " bc 3ta0wbc 0310h0 3 . When Kaplan asks if they should respond , Kim gives the order " " Absolutely not ! " " Meanwhile , in Los Angeles , Janeway and Chakotay tell Tuvok and Paris that the homeless man lives on the street , with a cart containing his belongings . Chakotay notes that he seems to spend most of his time posting " End of the World " signs . Janeway is contacted via her combadge beeping , which confuses nearby people into thinking their cell phones are ringing . Kim informs his captain that " Voyager " has been sent a message from Earth and they have tracked the signal to a nearby observatory . Janeway orders that Tuvok and Paris be beam ed there but Kim informs her that the transporter ' s pattern buffer s are currently inoperative . Instead , she has the address uploaded to Tuvok ' s tricorder and tells him and Paris to find out who sent the message and how many people know about " Voyager " . Paris tells her he and Tuvok will have to find " " some wheel s " " . Afterward , following the subspace readings , Janeway and Chakotay walk into an alleyway and find the homeless man they ' ve been watching , who rants and raves about social worker s constantly bothering him with their surveys . He is about to continue ranting when he stops , moves towards Janeway and remembers her and Chakotay . " Voyager ! " This is all your fault , all " your " doing ! " " Janeway finds a 29th century Starfleet combadge in the homeless man ' s clothes . She realizes it is Captain Braxton , aged nearly thirty years . " " I told you to turn off your deflector pulse but you wouldn ' t listen to me . " Voyager " . Fools ! " " Act Three . Braxton explains that he was trapped on Earth thirty years ago , in 1967 , when his timeship crashed in the mountains . He initiated an emergency beam out but was unable to reach his ship in time and instead it was found by Henry Starling , who began exploiting its 29th century technology , beginning the microcomputer revolution of the 20th century on Earth . Braxton believes it ' s too late and that " the future ' s end " is inevitable . He explains the paradox he believes will occur . Braxton explains that he now knows " Voyager " did not cause the explosion in the 29th century , but Henry Starling will use Braxton ' s stolen ship to fly into the future without properly recalibrating the temporal matrix then that could cause the kind of explosion he witnessed in the 29th century . Braxton has been tracking Starling , but can ' t get close to him . He appears somewhat deranged , but makes his point . Chakotay and Janeway offer to help him but he says they are part of the problem ; " Voyager " will also be destroyed by the explosion , hence why he found part of the ship ' s hull in the 29th century . The LAPD arrive to talk to Braxton for posting his various " End is Near " posters around the city . " " You stay away from me , you quasi - Cardassian totalitarian ! " " , he yells at the officer . Braxton continues to say he came from the future , and tells LAPD officer Sims that Chakotay and Janeway followed him in a starship , also from the future . In no position to help , Janeway simply shrugs as the officer decides to take Braxton away , and he calls her a traitor . He runs away from them and the police chase after him . Shortly after this , Janeway and Chakotay decide they have to try to reach Starling themselves . Starling is in his office at Chronowerx Industries , complaining to his assistant because Robinson has contacted other astronomers and now several people know about the orbiting gamma source . He says she is a security risk , and he may have to use " the weapon . " Meanwhile , Tuvok and Paris have " acquired " a Dodge Ram truck they " borrowed " for a test drive from a car dealership . The drive it to the observatory that detected them . They enter Robinson ' s lab and Paris begins to shuffle various papers on Robinson ' s desk . Tuvok complains because Paris is not replacing things exactly as he had found them . Paris holds his tricorder up to her PC and notes that they have indeed detected " Voyager " s warp emission s from the ship ' s nacelle s . Just then , Rain Robinson enters with a pizza box and discovers them . She chides them for being in a restricted area . Paris tells her that he and Tuvok took a wrong turn and got lost . Robinson gives them directions and asks them to leave . Paris informs Robinson that he finds her lab to be " " pretty groovy " " . Robinson mocks his use of the outdated term and again asks the two of them to leave . When telling her her " " curves don ' t look so great " " , referring to her fourier spectral analysis , Paris suggests that she use a theta band filter for better resolution . As he talks , Tuvok moves behind them , discreetly pulling out his tricorder and conducting further scans . Robinson tells Paris that he seems to know quite a bit about astrophysics for someone who got lost in an observatory . Paris says he majored in it at Starfleet Academy – an east coast school – he notes . After connecting with her further over her apparent love of B - movies , such as " Orgy of the Walking Dead " , Tuvok suggests they leave . Robinson suggests they come back to the observatory on Tuesday for a planetarium show she hosts . They decline , saying they ' re both busy and leave . Robinson returns to her computer and sees it completely crash on her . Outside the observatory , Paris and Tuvok walk back to the truck . As Tuvok tries to ask Paris of the meaning of the word " groovy " , Robinson emerges from the door , yelling and running after them . " " Red alert ! " " , Paris says as he and the Vulcan race to the vehicle . She angrily asks what they did to her computer ' s hard drive , as it is wiped clean . When she inquires to Tuvok about " " that thing in your pants " " , Paris sees a man in a suit with a weapon in his hand approach them . " " Get down ! " " , Paris shouts . The man fires his weapon and vaporizes the truck . Tuvok turns around and fires his hand phaser , beginning a shootout . Paris asks Robinson if she has a car they can leave in ; she says yes . Tuvok and Dunbar continue their phaser fight . Tuvok tries to make a run for it , just barely missing a phaser hit . Rolling and losing the bandana that covered his Vulcan ear s , he fires again and succeeds in hitting Dunbar ' s weapon , knocking it out of his hand . Tuvok regains his bandana and puts it back on his head in time to escape in Robinson ' s Volkswagen van . Act Four . On board " Voyager " , Kes and Neelix are monitoring Human television broadcasts in the ship ' s briefing room for any mention of their vessel . The Ocampan woman and Talaxian man get swept up in a televised soap opera . Kim says it just seems flat and unengaging compared to a story in a holonovel , but Neelix and Kes continue to watch , engrossed in the drama on television . Meanwhile , Janeway and Chakotay break into Starling ' s office using a tricorder to deactivate security . Janeway notices Starling seems to have a " massive ego " , observing his numerous awards and a photo of himself shaking hands with President Richard Nixon . They begin downloading his database , hoping to find where the timeship is being kept . Janeway finds this turn of the millennium technology she is using akin to " stone knives and bearskins " . Paris tells Robinson he and Tuvok are secret agents , but she doesn ' t believe him . Tuvok says her life may be in danger . Paris claims the orbiting signal is from a KGB satellite , but Rain reminds him the Soviet Union broke up five years earlier . He says , " That ' s what they want you to think . " Tuvok says they can ' t tell her anything else , it ' s classified . She says she still doesn ' t believe him , and asks about his ears , which he claims are a " family trait . " Tuvok keeps trying to reach " Voyager " without success . Chakotay and Janeway continue to study Starling ' s computer , and realize that much of their own history is based on the technology he released in the late 20th century . They try searching for information on the timeship ' s location . They discover a file called " Timeship Security Portal . " There is a flash from the window next to them , and they walk over to look down into a large room where the timeship is stored . Just then Starling and his assistant walk in . The assistant aims a gun at them . " " I see you ' ve made yourselves at home . Welcome to the 20th century " " , Starling tells Janeway and Chakotay . Act Five . Starling says he knows they are from the future and that they are there to take the timeship . Janeway and Chakotay tell him that if he launches the timeship he will cause an explosion that will destroy the solar system . Janeway ' s combadge beeps . Harry Kim says they have an uplink established and Janeway tells him to start . Starling grabs the combadge and orders Kim to abort the download or he will kill the captain . Kim knows the captain is in trouble and he complies with Starling ' s order . After a brief discussion with Torres about how the transporters were damaged by the rift , Kim orders the ship into low orbit for emergency transport , directly contrary to Janeway ' s earlier order . The danger of this is that someone may see them , but he feels they have to risk it to rescue the captain and first officer . Back in the office , Starling says Janeway won ' t be able to stop him . Janeway says she has a starship in orbit that can vaporize the entire building . Starling says they ' ll die , too , and Janeway replies , " If necessary " . " " Captain . . . you ' ve got some " cojones " , Starling says . Just then , she and Chakotay start to dematerialize . Starling orders his assistant to shoot them , but it ' s too late . Back on the bridge , Janeway gives orders to try to remove the force field around the timeship and transport it onboard as well . She tells Kim he has done well for his first time in command . Starling sees the force field is down , then blocks their attempts and uses his stolen 29th century technology by converting " Voyager " s transporter beam as a downlink to obtain over twenty percent of the ship ' s database , including The Doctor , who can somehow appear in Starling ' s office . " Voyager " suffers minor damage in the attempt . Starling contacts Janeway , rattling off some basics about " Voyager " , and is surprised to learn that " Voyager " is from the 24th century rather than the 29th as he has assumed . . . as a result , he has the " " home field advantage " " of more advanced technology . Unfortunately , the worst damage is soon realized as Neelix alerts the bridge to a news broadcast coming from the surface . Watching on the main viewscreen , Janeway is deeply troubled to learn that someone in Los Angeles videotaping a backyard barbeque has shot " Voyager " flying through the sky . The newscaster commenting on the video says " " the massive , unidentifiable object does not appear to be a meteorite , weather balloon , or satellite and one aviation expert we ' ve spoken to has stated that ' s definitely " not " any kind of US aircraft currently in use . We ' re awaiting investigation by local authorities and we ' ll keep you updated as news develops on this incredible story . " " Janeway looks at the viewscreen in shock , knowing that she and her crew may have just potentially altered history . Memorable quotes . " " Far out . " " " " We could ' ve worn our Starfleet uniforms . I doubt if anyone would ' ve noticed . " " " " My mission is your destruction . You must " not " resist ! " " " " For all l know , she could be my great , great , great . . . great grandmother . " " " " She does have your legs . " " " " No , no , no ! No more questions ! No , no more surveys ! Damn social workers coming around all the time ! " " " " Shall I respond , sir ? " " " " Absolutely not . " " " " Come on , take off your shirt . " " " " And risk dermal dysplasia ? No , thank you . " " " " Aww , Vulcans . Deep down you ' re all a bunch of hypochondriacs . " " " " It ' s crap . The component density is too low , the voltage variance is out of spec , and I don ' t even like the color ! " " " " At first I thought it was a warp core implosion . . . But , then , someone here stole my time ship . . . then it started to dawn on me . If someone were to fly my timeship into the future , without re - calibrating the temporal matrix , that could cause the kind of explosion that I witnessed in the 29th century ! " " " " You stay right where you are . . . you quasi - Cardassian totalitarian ! " " " " Your curves don ' t look so great . " " " " I can ' t wait to see if Blaine ' s twin brother is the father of Jessica ' s baby . " " " " Who are you , and what ' s that thing in your pants ? " " " " I beg your pardon ? " " " " Nobody will know the difference ! " " " I ' ll " know , Sharon ! He ' s my brother ! How can I face him , knowing that " our " son . . . is " his " son ? " " " " All you need to know , Jack , is that I love " you . " " " What does it mean , " groovy " ? " " " " Time travel . Ever since my first day in the job as a Starfleet Captain I swore I ' d never let myself get caught in one of these god - forsaken paradoxes . The future is the past , the past is the future . It all gives me a headache . " " " " I ' ve got a starship in orbit that can vaporize this building in the blink of an eye . " " " [ Chortles ] " And you along with it ! " " " " If necessary . " " " " Captain . . . you ' ve got some " cojones " . " " " " Ensign Kim , you have an impeccable sense of timing . Not bad for your first day in the big chair . " " " " USS " Voyager " , , much bigger than I expected and much less advanced . Says here your ship was launched in the year . . . 2371 ? You ' re from the 24th century ? And here all this time I thought you were from the 29th . Looks like I have the home field advantage . " " Links and references . References . action figure ; " Aeon " ( ) ; Alligator ; Arizona ; astrophysics ; " B " movie ; " B - Movie Poster Art " ; backyard ; barbarian ; barbecue ; Barstow ; Benetton ; Blaine ; boardwalk ; " Bride of the Corpse " ; California ; Caltech ; camcorder ; campfire ; car ; Cardassian ; cellular phone ; CEO ; champagne ; Chateau Coeur ; chronometric data ; Chronowerx Industries ; classic ; coffeemaker ; cola ; computer ; Corleone ' s ; current events program ; dealership ; debris ; deflector pulse ; Drake equation ; DY - 100 class ; Earth ; Edsel ; English language ; entrepreneur ; e - mail ; E . T . ; ethics ; family trait ; Federation ; filing cabinet ; Firepower ; Fourier spectral analysis ; force field ; fridge ; Frilled - neck lizard ; gamma emission ; gigabyte ; globe ; goose ; graviton matrix ; great - great - great - great - grandmother ; Griffith Observatory ; groovy ; Guillotine ; Halley ' s Comet ; hard drive ; Hawaiian ; headache ; hemisphere ; Hermosa Quake ; Hebrew ; high school ; High Sierras ; hippopotamus ; Hollywood ; holodeck ; Hot Dog on a Stick ; Howdy Doody ; HyperPro PC ; hypochondria ; inertial damper ; isograted circuit ; Jessica ' s baby ; JPL ; ; Jessica ; KGB ; Lada ; laser ; lava lamp ; leisure suit ; Los Angeles ; Mars ; ; meteorite ; mile ; moon ; Mexican ; Milky Way Galaxy ; money ; motorcycle ; non sequitur ; Nuptse ; one way sign ; " Orgy of the Walking Dead " ; paradox ; parking ; party ; patriotism ; pencil ; philanthropist ; pictograph ; pinball ; pizza ; planetarium ; polaron ; Polish ; protest ; punk ; RADAR ; radio ; red alert ; rose ; " Sangre del Mumiaazteca " ; Santa Cruz ; satellite ; Saturn ; schoolteacher ; science fiction ; secondary hull ; secret agent ; semester ; sequel ; SETI ; SETI greeting ; Sharon ; six - pack ; skateboard ; skirt ; snow globe ; soap opera ; social worker ( those bothering Braxton ; soda ; Soviet Union ; space - time continuum ; spy satellite ; Starfleet Academy ; stone knives and bearskins ; subatomic disruptor ; tachyon signal ; taco ; Talosian ; tattoo ; taxicab ; tear gas ; teddy bear ; telephone ; telescope ; temporal matrix ; temporal rift ; tennis ; test drive ; thermal radiation ; theta band filter ; totalitarianism ; transporter ; transtator ; treehouse ; tricorder ; truck ; Tuesday ; Turn - of - the - Millennium Technology ; Twinlab ; 247 - Baker ; UFO ; ultraviolet radiation ; Uncle Sam ' s Psychic Readings ; United States of America ; University of California , Santa Cruz ; USSR ; " Vampire Vixens " ; volt ; Vulcan s ; weather balloon Other references . Advanced Technological Sciences ; Astronomical Sciences ; Bachelor of Science ; California State Aerospace Society , The ; Collector ' s Emporium ; International Memorabilia and Collectors Club ; Los Angeles County ; Minnesota Society of Certified Professional Accountants ; Office of Science and Technology Policy ; Partners in Science ; Philanthropology Honors Society ; Silicon Valley ; Technological Studies Honors Society