11:59

**11:59** is the Y-2K special of *Star Trek*. Kathryn Janeway discovers the truth about one of her famed ancestors, Shannon O'Donnel, realizing that who Shannon was differs vastly from what Janeway had believed all her life.

## Synopsis

Captain Kathryn Janeway walks through a corridor on her way to a turbolift when Neelix, USS *Voyager*'s chef and morale officer, joins her. He hands her the requisition reports for that week and asks her what she could tell him about the Great Wall of China, who built it and why. Janeway states the obvious, that it was built by the Chinese to keep people out. When they enter the turbolift, Janeway orders it to deck one, while Neelix tells her more facts about the wall and that it was one of the only objects before the 22nd century that could be seen from Earth's orbit with the naked eye. Janeway congratulates Neelix on his knowledge about Earth.

When the turbolift arrives at the bridge, Janeway is told by Commander Chakotay that they are on course to the class Y cluster and will arrive in about three days, while she and Neelix walk to her ready room. Janeway asks why Neelix is so interested in the Great Wall of China, and he tells her that he has been studying Earth landmarks. In her ready room, Neelix tells her that he and Tom Paris have been exchanging cultural knowledge about Earth and Talax and that Paris has become very knowledgeable about Talaxian geography. Janeway then asks Neelix what he knows about the Millennium Gate.

Neelix recites the Millennium Gate specifications – its height, base width, and surface material. He states that it was built in the United States of America in the 21st century. It is also one of the objects which can be seen from Earth orbit. Janeway tells him that it became a model for the first colonies on Mars and that one of her ancestors, Shannon O'Donnel, built it, not with hammer and nails, but with words. On family gatherings, Janeway was always told that Shannon O'Donnel was one of the first women astronauts and the driving force behind the Millennium Gate, the first of a long line of Janeway explorers. Neelix asks Janeway to tell him more, so he can impress Tom Paris. He learns that Shannon O'Donnel was in the space program at the time and that she was asked by the governor of Indiana, who wanted her expertise about re-cyclic life support systems. According to Janeway's aunt Martha, Shannon was flown around in a private aircraft.

In the early morning of December 27, 2000, Shannon O'Donnel drives through the state of Indiana. Her car made a strange bumping noise while she added one of the state's curiosities, the world's largest ball of string, to her personal log, which was a small tape recorder on the passenger seat. Seeing the Millennium Gate billboard, she headed to Portage Creek, where she hoped that someone could take a look at her car.

Driving through the town, she stops to ask a passer-by where she can find food, gas, and lodging. The man tells her those things can’t be found any more in Portage Creek. Irritated, Shannon drives off but fails to look ahead and runs into another car. The other driver asks if she has insurance and she tells him it has run out. He says that two hundred dollars would be enough for the damage, but she tells him that she does not have that kind of money. The other driver accepts his loss and leaves. When Shannon tries to start her car it fails to start.

After Shannon calls a tow truck, she looks around for a place to keep warm while she waits. She finds that Alexandria Books is the only open store. Once inside, she meets the proprietor and his son, Henry and Jason Janeway, and asks them if she can wait for the tow truck in their store. She tells them she was trying to get to Florida when her car broke down. She hears Jason joking that Shannon is a corporate hit man and she grins as she explains to him that she does not do that kind of work anymore. Henry Janeway welcomes her and offers her a cup of coffee.

Shannon observes that most stores in town seemed to be closed. Jason replies that their store will never close. As she noticed their fliers lying on the counter, they tell her that they are fighting the building of the Millennium Gate, "the world's first self-sustained civic environment" according to Jason. Henry finds this to be propaganda; he thinks it is nothing more than a glorified shopping mall. Shannon offers to help distribute the fliers using her computer if Henry would hire her. But they tell her that they do not need any help. Edging towards the door, Shannon asks again for a job. She says she really needs the money to pay for her car repairs. After an uncomfortable silence, Jason pleads for his father to hire her. Henry reluctantly agrees.

Later that evening, Shannon and Henry visit a local bar and discussed Portage Creek. They talk about the Millennium Gate and why Henry is against it. Shannon learns that Henry would prefer to have lived in the classical age. Shannon prefers the modern age. They sum up the pros and cons of each. They get stuck on the lack of cold beer in the classical age, whether it may be better with the absence of it. When Henry asks her if she has plans for New Year's Eve she tells him that it will be no different than last year – she plans to be asleep. She asks if Henry believes all the noise about the beginning of a new millennium, whether it would cause all those problems like so many said, and if he believes all those hucksters who claimed that 2001 was the real millennium and not 2000. As far as Shannon herself is concerned, those years are nothing but numbers on a calendar. Shannon mentions Jason telling her the bookstore has belonged to his family for generations and told Henry that she's just the opposite. She loves to visit places where she has never been before and doesn’t like staying in one place for too long. She found that she was an explorer. Henry grins and tells her he thinks her car looks more like a sailing ship than a real car. She tells him that it's actually a rocket ship. Their conversation is interrupted when a rumbling sound shakes their beer glasses. They leave the bar to see what this sound is and see trucks driving by.

The next day Henry Janeway argues with Gerald Moss, who is being interviewed by Marci Collins of *3 Action News*. Henry pleads his case and returns triumphantly when he overhears Moss tell Collins that if Henry's resistance is not resolved, then the Millennium Gate would be built somewhere else. Henry tells Jason and Shannon that all they have to do is to stand firm until New Year's Eve. When Henry and Jason walk into the store Shannon watches Gerald Moss making a phone call. He seems to notice her presence.

That evening Shannon and Henry have a simple meal in the bookstore, which is illuminated by a few lamps and candles. Henry pretends they're in Paris. He places a book about that city alongside the table and tells Shannon he has never left the state of Indiana; he finds himself more comfortable with his books. She asks Henry about her car and he tells her that it has been repaired and is parked behind the garage. Shannon remarks that he should have mentioned that earlier that day. Henry says he forgot. Shannon says she will leave the next day but Henry reminds her that she promised Jason to show him some tricks on her computer. Remembering, Shannon agreed. She thinks he made it difficult for her to say goodbye. During their meal they seem to get along quite well despite their differences.

In astrometrics, Captain Janeway is viewing technical data on the Millennium Gate when Seven of Nine walks in. She asks Seven to help her find more information about the era in which the Millennium Gate had been built, because most of it is lost or damaged. Janeway tells her that the Gate had been built by one of her ancestors over three hundred years earlier. Although Seven finds the Millennium Gate impressive, she questions its relevance to *Voyager*'s mission. Janeway tells Seven that it is relevant to her. When Seven replies that she possesses only a fraction of her ancestor's DNA, Janeway tells her that it is not about chromosomes but about character. Seven asks her to explain and Janeway replies that Shannon O'Donnel inspired her when she was young – she had a great influence on her imagination and goals, and she was the reason why Janeway joined Starfleet.

Later, Seven is researching historical data in the mess hall when Tom Paris and Neelix walk in. They are testing each other's knowledge about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Paris pours himself a cup of coffee just as Neelix is about to name the seventh wonder, but he cannot remember it. Paris tries to recall it, but he cannot remember what it is either. Their contest is interrupted when Seven of Nine tells them that the seventh wonder was the Lighthouse of Alexandria, built by Ptolemy II in 280 BC. Paris sarcastically names Borg photographic memory a modern wonder of the world and tells Neelix the knowledge test is a draw and walks away.

Neelix, curious as always, asks Seven what she is doing. Seven tells him about her Shannon O'Donnel project. Neelix offers to help and notices the PADD containing information about a Sven "Buttercup" Hansen, an ancestor of Seven's. The captain had encouraged Seven to research her own genealogy but she questions Buttercup's relevance to Seven's life. As far as she is concerned their name likeness is a coincidence. Neelix tells her that there is some of him in her just as there would be some of Seven in her descendants. Seven replies that this only would be the case if she chose to procreate, and that she cannot appreciate Neelix's joke about a "Seven of Nine Point Five" running around. When her computer can find no references on Shannon O'Donnel, Seven says that her research has failed. Neelix tells her that researching genealogy is a lot like fishing – she has to use a wider net, and orders the computer to expand its search to non-Federation databases, personal archives and photographic indexes. When the computer finishes searching it displays one reference about Shannon O'Donnel.

In the captain's quarters Neelix and Seven show Janeway what they have found: a picture of Shannon Janeway with her children and grandchildren. Neelix tells her that the photo comes from a Ferengi database. Eleven years earlier a Ferengi historian collected vast amounts of data about the origin of Federation space travel. The Ferengi wanted to market this information as nostalgic gift items. Janeway says she probably would be his first customer. Seven tells her that they also found journalistic articles about the resistance against the building of the Millennium Gate. Janeway observes that the entire town was against Shannon O'Donnel. She asks Neelix to download the image so she could frame it.

Shannon O'Donnel is watching *3 Action News* in the local bar. She is planning her route to Florida where she wanted to visit a cousin of hers, when Gerald Moss walks in. He quotes the slogan her class came up with during her NASA period. Moss feels sorry for her that she had not made it at NASA and asks if she has stayed in touch with her former classmates. When Shannon tells him she did not, Moss tells her that a classmate of hers made it into to the space program and is scheduled for four months on the space station and that he's sorry that she has lost her job. He finds that engineers do not receive the respect they deserve. An annoyed Shannon tells him he had nothing to do with her personal life on which Moss tells her that they always screen their future candidates and makes her a job offer. Shannon could be a consulting engineer on the Millennium Gate project, but the catch is that she has to convince Henry to give up his resistance against it. Moss thinks Henry might listen to her because she seems close to him, Shannon tells him she has to think about his offer whereupon Moss tells her not to wait too long.

The next morning Shannon wakes up from a dream about the first landing on the moon, which she watched on TV when she was eleven years old. When she walks into the bookstore she finds Jason playing with her computer. He's enjoying the games but getting vaporized when playing *Matrix of Doom*, and she advises him to launch a flare before entering the steel fortress. Shannon is offered a cup of coffee by Jason who tells her his father went out shopping in Bloomington and that he is in charge of the store for the time being. When Shannon is asked by Jason if she had any children she tells him that she never got around to it and in return asks him where his mother is. Shannon learns his mother died when he was very young and she asks him if he likes working in the bookstore and what his opinion is about the Millennium Gate. Jason thinks the Gate might be pretty cool. When asked by Shannon if he ever saw the first landing on the moon he tells her that he saw it once in his science class.

Just after eleven o'clock Henry Janeway gets back with supplies and Shannon reads the article about him in the local newspaper and gets into an argument with him about the Millennium Gate project. Shannon finds the Gate more than a glorified shopping mall and admits there is a commercial dimension but explains that it is an experimental biosphere. It is a completely self-sustained city that will help scientists to learn more about the environment so, one day, they can recreate it on other worlds. Shannon confesses she would like to leave Earth and its problems one day and tells Henry that the Millennium Gate has a lot of potential. She accuses him of living in the past, of being afraid of the future. Shannon tells Henry that Gerald Moss has offered her a job, at which he accuses her of sleeping with the enemy. Shannon tells him she might be a consulting engineer on the Millennium Gate project; Henry gets angry with her and asks her what would happen if he told her not to accept. Shannon tells him she does not want to live in her car any more. When Henry asks her to stay she tells him she cannot, afraid to get stuck in Portage Creek like Henry is. An angry Henry Janeway helps her pack when Jason walks into the room; Shannon tells him she has to go when Jason asks her why she is leaving.

In Captain Janeway's quarters, she, Harry Kim, Tom Paris, Neelix and Seven of Nine pass their leisure time by exchanging family stories. Kim is telling about his uncle Jack, who commanded a mission to Beta Capricus in 2210, a deep space mission at that time. The journey took six months and his uncle piloted the spacecraft the entire time – the rest of the crew was in stasis. When he arrived it turned out that Beta Capricus did not exist, but was indeed just the misinterpreted image of a distant galaxy. Jack did not wake his crew because there was nothing to do or see and returned to Earth. When they arrived six months later, Jack brought the crew out of stasis and they wondered why they hadn't left Earth's orbit. The laughter of Kim and his colleagues is interrupted by the door chime; it's The Doctor, who wants to hand the captain a report but who does not want to intrude. When Captain Janeway tells him they were talking about their ancestors, he asks if he might join them. When Janeway agrees, he tells them that he, too, has ancestors. When Tom Paris jokes that his cousin was an electric shaver, he is corrected by The Doctor who tells him he was compiled from the most advanced holomatrices in the Federation; his cousin was an advanced prize-winning chess program. Seven of Nine tells Ensign Paris that he has not yet told them about his ancestors. According to Paris there was not much to tell; most of his ancestors were salt of the earth type of people. Some were planetary colonists and others were farmers, and one of his ancestors was a pilot who flew the first orbital glider over the lower Martian plateau. When Neelix mentions that his ancestors might have known Captain Janeway's, he asks for her name, but does not recall Shannon O'Donnel ever mentioned in relation to a Mars mission, and he knows every Mars mission from the 1970s on, and who participated in them, by heart.

Captain Janeway is in her ready room reading a newspaper article on her computer terminal about Henry Janeway when Chakotay enters to show her the ship's status reports. She had found some more data from the 21st century, but most of it is fragmented and incomplete, so she, jokingly, makes guesses about the contents of Chakotay's report: "*The holographic engineer is having problems with her program. Neelix, the Cardassian cook, is low on supplies. Seven of Twelve is regenerating and Captain Chakotay is doing just fine.*" She explains that she was wondering how future historians would piece together their lives on *Voyager*. Smiling, Chakotay replies that it depended on how big the pieces were. Janeway had gone to dozens of history files about 21st century Earth and found that every alien culture saw Earth's history differently. Vulcans described First Contact with a savagely illogical species, Ferengi revered Wall Street and even viewed it as holy ground, and Bolians expressed their dismay about the low quality of Human plumbing. So she researched the basics – birth, death and marriage certificates, court records, housing records, etc. but she found it all incomplete. When Chakotay asks her if Shannon O'Donnel existed, a slightly disappointed Janeway tells him Shannon did exist, but she only trained to be an astronaut and did not work on any of the Mars missions. She was an engineer who worked on the Millennium Gate as a consultant and the Gate itself was welcomed with open arms; there was no opposition except by Henry Janeway. Shannon married him but did not change history, only her name. Chakotay tells Janeway not to be so hard on her, that Shannon did not know she had to live up to the expectations of Kathryn Janeway. Janeway tries to sound upbeat, saying that the worst part is how she'll break the news to her aunt that the great family legend is false.

Three hours before Moss' deadline, he and Shannon O'Donnel watch *3 Action News* in the local bar. Henry Janeway's resistance is still the main news topic. Moss tells Shannon that the building of the Millennium Gate will be delayed if Henry Janeway cannot be persuaded to give up his resistance before midnight. Shannon tells him she has to leave for Florida but Moss tells her he still could use her on the alternate building site of the Millennium Gate in Canton, Ohio. When Gerald Moss wants to leave the bar, Jason Janeway comes running in and tells Shannon his father still refuses to leave the bookstore and that a crowd is gathering; even the police are present. Shannon tells Jason his father can take care of himself. When Jason pleads her to talk to him she tells him that he won't listen to her, although she likes Henry and Jason Janeway she tells Jason she is sorry, it didn't work out.

At 11:15 pm Shannon drives out of Portage Creek and records her experiences into her personal log. She would not forget the last days and found Henry Janeway an interesting man – he liked to talk, but refused to listen to anybody but himself. Shannon reminisces about her dinner in Paris with him and found his son Jason as bright as his father. While eating a chocolate chip cookie, she decides to return to Portage Creek.

When Shannon drove into the street where the bookstore was located, she noticed the police line and walked up to the bookstore, where Gerald Moss told a policeman to let her through. Followed by a *3 Action News* camera, Shannon walked to the bookstore entrance.

Shannon knocks on the door and tells Henry to let her in. When she enters the store, she grabs his coat and tells him they're leaving; she even threatens to drag him out of the bookstore if he refuses. Shannon tells him it is over and accuses him of living in the past without any thoughts about the future of his son or Portage Creek. When Henry asks why she has returned, Shannon tells him it was because of the chocolate chip cookies which she bought when she left Portage Creek – they didn't taste the same without him. Shannon tells him she'd like to stay with him and Jason but she does not want to work in a bookstore for the rest of her life. Shannon tells Henry that he lives in the past while she wants to live in the future, and maybe together they could try to live in the present. She also tells him about the offer Gerald Moss made to her, but that she is prepared to turn him down if Henry wants her to stay. Henry hesitates for a short time and tells her he could re-open his bookstore in the Millennium Gate, whereupon Shannon tells him she probably could get him a nice location in the Gate where nobody would bother him. When Henry asks her if she would ever leave him again she tells him that if she would, they would leave together. When Henry asks the time she tells him it's 11:59. Just before midnight, Shannon and Henry leave Alexandria Books bookstore and Henry closes his store for the last time. As they leave the store they are applauded by the gathered crowd.

Kathryn Janeway is in her quarters staring at the stars when Neelix contacts her via her combadge. He asks her to come to the mess hall; there is no emergency but he wants to speak to her personally.

When Captain Janeway enters the mess hall, she is greeted by her friends who toast "Ancestors' Eve". When she asks what it's all about, Neelix tells her it's April 22, Ancestors' Eve, a holiday he established that very day. Commander Chakotay tells her Neelix had a point: an evening of reflection in honor of those who had come before. Harry tells him that his uncle Jack would approve and B'Elanna Torres had at least a reason to crawl out from under the warp conduit she was working on. Janeway appreciates the gesture, but is interrupted by Tom Paris, who tells Neelix to give her the present. Neelix hands Janeway a framed photo of Shannon O'Donnel and says that he has done some more research and told her the photo was taken around 2050 in a park near Portage Creek, thirty-eight years after the dedication of the Millennium Gate. Neelix thinks a nice place for it would be on the shelf near her desk in her ready room. Janeway thanks him but tells Neelix she is not sure that Shannon O'Donnel belongs there. Seven of Nine tells her she was wrong, Shannon captured her imagination, and historical details are irrelevant. Tuvok concurs with her analysis and Chakotay tells Janeway that she would not have joined Starfleet if it wasn't for Shannon O'Donnel. The Doctor grabs his holo-camera and places it on the bar. After he prepares it he tells everyone to gather around the Captain and to face the camera. They share a toast to 'family' as the camera takes its picture.

### Continuity

* The date of the episode is given as April 22.
* The stardate of the episode is never mentioned during the episode itself, however, in "The Voyager Conspiracy", Janeway mentions this stardate in connection with Seven reluctantly studying her ancestors, which is undoubtedly during this episode.
* There is no Captain's Log record in this episode. However Shannon O'Donnel is seen maintaining a personal log with her experiences in a tape recorder.
* As the flashback portions of the episode are set in December 2000, they are taking place about 1.5 years into the "future" relative to when the episode first aired.
* O'Donnell mentions that Indiana houses several roadside attractions, such as the world's largest ball of string, a reference to the "Biggest ball of twine" fad in some of the United States; in reality Indiana doesn't contain one.
* O'Donnel's dialogue with Henry Janeway in the pub, refers to the real-life hype about the Millennium Eve of 31 December 1999, albeit futuristically. The dialogue also refers to the debate that the number 2001 is the real beginning of the millennium, rather than 2000. The dialogue suggests that because of this, Humanity chose to repeat the hype the following year. In reality, the millennial celebrations were not repeated in New Year's 2001, which was celebrated in much lesser magnitude.
* The above dialogue also predicted that the Y2K bug would not "switch off even a single light bulb," which was almost correct; a nuclear power plant in Japan had a monitoring computer go down briefly, and minor events elsewhere occurred, but nothing major.
* Shannon O'Donnel's statement that she watched the Apollo 11 landing on television in 1969 when she was 11 means she is 42 years old during the events of the episode and 92 in the photograph with her descendants.
* Janeway has extensive (albeit, somewhat incorrect) knowledge about Shannon O'Donnel that she says she learned at family gatherings, when she was younger. In the third season installment "Future's End", Janeway claims that she does not know anything about what her relatives were doing at the close of the 20th century. One explanation for this apparent incongruity is that O'Donnel's legend takes place during the 21st century and that Janeway did indeed not know what O'Donnel was up to, before the Millennium Gate was built.
* While the officers exchange family history, Harry Kim narrates an adventure of his ancestor to Beta Capricus in 2210 as a single awake crew member while the rest of the crew are in stasis, for an extended period (here, six months). This seems to refer to a sleeper ship.
* In the aforementioned dialogue, Seven exclaims that she would prefer stasis to being the single awake individual. She had a similar experience, being the single awake individual for a month during the events of the fourth season's "One".
* The photo of Shannon Janeway with her children and grandchildren, circa 2050, shows no signs of the destruction resulting from World War III, or the following post-atomic horror.

### Reception

* Joe Menosky regretted the decision to exclude science fiction elements from this episode. He related, "*Ultimately, to me, it was a lot of domestic scenes, which I am not interested in writing […] More than anyone, I wish that we had had something of [the hard science fiction] element in to drive the plot. [Executive Producer] Rick Berman called to say he loved it. I just kind of shrugged. You just never know.*" Conversely, David Livingston expressed his interested reaction to the episode; "*The story is really intriguing […] I hope that the audience and the fans will be intrigued by it.*" (*Cinefantastique*, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 55)
* According to the book *Delta Quadrant* (p. 309), an advertisement for The Planetary Society that aired during this episode's third commercial break involved Robert Picardo, standing on the set of *Voyager*'s sickbay, as he encouraged children to design Mars colonies for one hundred people.

## Cast

* Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway
* Robert Beltran as Chakotay
* Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
* Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
* Ethan Phillips as Neelix
* Robert Picardo as The Doctor
* Tim Russ as Tuvok
* Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
* Garrett Wang as Harry Kim
* Kevin Tighe as Henry Janeway
* Bradley Pierce as Jason Janeway
* John Carroll Lynch as Gerald Moss
* Christopher Curry as Driver
* James Greene as Passerby
* Kristina Hayes as Field Reporter
* Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

## External Link

* https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/11:59\_(episode)