"Mission Control... Dad... Whoever finds this... Do me a favor. Take all the data I've collected. Put it to good use. I hope you don't look at this as a failure. I don't."
On October 19, 2032, Lieutenant John Kelly was piloting Ares IV, circling Mars and gathering data, and chatting about the World Series with his coworkers. Suddenly, a spacial anomaly enveloped his ship, cutting off his communication and leaving him trapped.Three and a half centuries later, in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager happens upon a graviton ellipse, and discover that it absorbed one of Earth's 21st Century Mars probes. To their amazement, it's the Ares IV.
Topics associated with this episode:
- Apocalyptic Log: John Kelly's final logs from the Ares IV mission. He's trapped in a graviton ellipse and he continues to record log entries and collect data right up to the point where all the power on his spacecraft fails and he dies. Chakotay admires him for this.Chakotay: That's dedication. The man's life is about to end, but he won't stop taking readings.
- Burial in Space: The Voyager crew give Lt. Kelly a proper space burial at the end of the episode.
- Call-Back:
- The opening conversation about baseball references Buck Bokai breaking Joe DiMaggio's record for hits in consecutive games (56) , a stat that previously came up on TNG and DS9.
- In one of Kelly's logs, he references "pilot error." At the same moment, Paris flinches, a quiet reference to Paris' greatest failure.
- Captain's Log: Seven studies Lt. Kelly's logs, which eventually become an Apocalyptic Log detailing Kelly's increasingly futile efforts to escape the graviton ellipse.
- Due to the Dead: The funeral for Kelly at the end, especially Seven's eulogy, where in response to one of his last wishes (to find out who won the World Series) she makes this aside:Seven: The Yankees. In six games.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Kelly's last act is to cut off life support, diverting the last of his power to gathering as much data as possible.
- Easily Forgiven: Chakotay risks not only his life, but also Paris and Seven's. He is injured in the process, but doesn't even get a slap on the hand from the captain, only a (justifiably) angry dressing-down from Seven.
- Face Death with Dignity: After several failed escape attempts, Kelly realizes he will die in the ellipse. Rather than prolong the inevitable, he reroutes power from life support to the scanners, using everything his ship has left to gather data rather than waste resources on himself.
- Famous, Famous, Fictional: Inverted when Chakotay lists "Kelly and Kumagawa, Armstrong and Glenn" as historical explorers. John Kelly and Rose Kumagawa are the fictional characters of this episode, while Neil Armstrong and John Glenn are real-life astronauts.
- Fan of the Past: Chakotay and Paris mutually geek out over the discovery of the Ares.
- Honor Before Reason: Chakotay, in his determination to salvage the Ares, endangers the Delta Flyer and injures himself. Seven calls him out on it.
- Negative Space Wedgie: Kelly has the dubious honor of being the first human to encounter a Negative Space Wedgie, in this case a 'graviton ellipse'.
- Noodle Incident: The Doctor's mission to Arakis Prime. He says that it was before Seven joined Voyager, putting it somewhere in season three — specifically, between "Macrocosm" (Doc's first away mission) and "Scorpion".
- Personal Effects Reveal: The photo of Kelly and his wife.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: Kelly's life seen in the flashbacks seem like a test run for the style of Star Trek: Enterprise, which detailed the early years of humanity's deep-space exploration and growth into an intergalactic power, leading to the founding of the United Federation of Planets, and premiered shortly after Voyager ended its 7-season run.
- Seriously Scruffy: Kelly grows noticeable facial hair while trapped in the ellipse.
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Chakotay's interest in paleontology and in Kelly's mission.
- That's an Order!: Janeway doesn't order Seven to join the mission, but she does "strongly encourage" her to volunteer. Later used straight by Chakotay when the others protest towing the Ares IV.
- The Unmasqued World: Kelly is presented with undeniable proof that there is other intelligent life in the universe when he sees a fragment of an alien spacecraft. Despite his certain death, he takes comfort from this.
- Worth It: Although aware he will die, Kelly says that his experiences show that space exploration is not a waste, that traveling into space is the right thing for humans to do.
