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Equinox (. Star Trek: Voyager. ) " Equinox " is a two-part episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager, the cliffhanger between the fifth and sixth seasons. This television episode features a 24th-century spacecraft, the USS Voyager, lost on the opposite side of the Galaxy as Earth, the Delta Quadrant, and they must make ...
Equinox: Directed by David Livingston. With Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill. Voyager discovers another Federation starship in the Delta Quadrant, one that's had a rougher time getting home, on its last legs, and harboring a dark secret.
- (2.1K)
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- David Livingston
- 1999-05-26
- Overview
- Summary
- Memorable quotes
- Background information
- Links and references
finds another Federation starship, the USS Equinox, stranded in the Delta Quadrant. But they also find that the Equinox crew is harboring a dark secret. (Season finale)
Teaser
A Federation starship is in serious trouble; nearly everything is wrecked. The only lights are the flashing red lights of a red alert and the flash of sparks from the wreckage. Seated in the command chair, the captain hears an ominous report from an officer: the ship's deflector shields are at 29%; their attackers are breaking through. The captain orders the shields dropped completely and allow the shield emitters the 45 seconds they need to fully recharge. He and his officers immediately field phaser rifles and aim at the air above their heads, and he gives the order. Instantly, upon the lowering of the shields, a dry, high-pitched screeching whine is heard. Portals appear above them. The officers fire into them and they close. But others appear rapidly, and they begin to be overwhelmed. A flying creature emerges from one, and immediately closes in on an officer. Three streaks of light slash across him. He collapses as his body immediately desiccates into a dried husk. The officers desperately fire at every portal and creature which emerges from it.
Act One
Aboard the USS Voyager, Captain Janeway, Seven of Nine, and Commander Chakotay view an emergency transmission on the huge viewscreen of the ship's astrometrics lab. They see a static-filled image of the same captain from the attacked ship, and listen to his distress call: "This is Captain Ransom of the Federation Starship Equinox! We're under attack! We need assistance!" Janeway recognizes him as Rudolph Ransom, captain of the USS Equinox. Seven announces the signal was transmitted fourteen hours ago. Chakotay asks what the Equinox is doing in the Delta Quadrant. Seven surmises it was on a mission to find Voyager. But Janeway points that Nova-class starships are short-range planetary research vessels, not designed for long-range tactical missions. Janeway immediately orders a course laid in toward the Equinox, 3.2 light years distant, at maximum warp, with shields up and at red alert. As Voyager arrives at the Equinox's location, Janeway orders Ensign Paris at the helm to drop out of warp. At the operations station, Ensign Kim puts the stricken vessel up on the viewscreen. Torres reports its shields are being disrupted by energy surges. Paris asks if this is weapons fire but Tuvok reports there are no other ships nearby. They enter hailing range, and Janeway orders a channel opened. She identifies herself and Voyager. Ransom urgently instructs her to extend Voyager's shields around the Equinox, which Janeway orders done immediately. Paris moves Voyager above the Equinox and Tuvok works to extend the shields. shields the As this is being done, the same dry, high whine from before is heard again, as Seven of Nine reports the opening of portals – interspatial fissures – on several decks, including the bridge deck, Deck 1. Tuvok finishes adjusting the shields, and a single, large shield surrounds both Voyager and the Equinox, then becomes invisible, indicating the attack has ceased. This is confirmed by Seven's announcing the fissures have vanished, and the ending of the noise. Janeway hails the Equinox, but gets no answer. She orders Chakotay to assemble rescue teams to beam over. The teams beam over. Chakotay, Paris and Torres form one team, and beam to the engine room. Chakotay orders Torres to begin seeing about restoring power, as Paris finds the shriveled corpse of a crewmember. Scanning it with his tricorder, he finds every cell in the body is desiccated. Torres bewilderedly reports the injector assembly appears to have been totally redesigned from original Starfleet specifications. Chakotay finds a survivor under some debris – a terrified ensign Marla Gilmore. Other teams find survivors in other areas of the ship. On the bridge, Captain Janeway, along with Tuvok, find still more survivors, including Captain Ransom. Janeway speaks with him briefly. Though injured, he refuses to leave his bridge, but Janeway insists that he go with her to Voyager. Ransom agrees. He asks if Voyager has been sent to find them. Janeway informs him no, that they were pulled into the Delta Quadrant against their will by the Caretaker, whose name Ransom instantly recognizes as the force that did the same to the Equinox . Janeway suggests they compare notes later, after Ransom has been treated.
Act Two
Later, the crews of both ships gather in Voyager's mess hall where Ransom solemnly commemorates his dead crewmembers: Lieutenants William Yates and John Bowler, Ensigns Dorothy Chang and Edward Regis, and Crewman David Amantes. Ransom then thanks Captain Janeway on behalf of himself and the survivors. Janeway welcomes aboard the "newest members of our family." She then assigns Ensign Kim and Lt. Torres to lead the efforts to repair the Equinox. Seven and Tuvok will work with Ransom's first officer, Maxwell Burke in analyzing the attacks on the Equinox. As the crew dismisses, Gilmore approaches Chakotay to ask if she can instead be assigned to Voyager. Chakotay thinks she's needed on the Equinox given its state, but agrees someone with her engineering skills on could be useful Voyager. Gilmore remarks upon how clean Voyager is and admits to being traumatized by her experiences on the Equinox. While travelling in a turbolift with Chakotay she panics and calls for an emergency stop, preferring Jefferies tubes. Chakotay understands and goes with her. In the lab, Seven discovers there are numerous stress points appearing in the shields surrounding both vessels and shares this with Janeway and Ransom. She explains they are interspatial fissures caused by the Equinox's attackers, trying to come through. Tuvok explains every opening of a fissure within one meter of the shields weakens them by 0.3%. Janeway concludes that at this rate, the shields will fail within two days. Seven points out that bio-scans indicate the aliens cannot survive for more than several seconds in this realm, and may stop their attacks out of self-preservation if shown that the Starfleet vessels possess the ability to hold them. Burke says they had built a multiphasic force field chamber in the Equinox's research lab to trap one for several minutes. Janeway decides to have a latticework of such force fields installed throughout both ships. But when she asks Ransom permission to examine the chamber, he and Burke respond the research lab is flooded with lethal levels of thermionic radiation. Burke adds, the schematics are in their auxiliary data core. Ransom and Janeway leave for the Equinox's bridge to download them to Voyager's computer. As work continues on Equinox's bridge, Janeway and Ransom discuss their crews' experiences in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway speaks of Voyager's many run-ins with dangerous aliens, including the Borg. Ransom tells her he and his crew never encountered the Borg at all, to which Janeway opines he and his crew have been lucky. Ransom replies their first encounter was with the Krowtonan Guard. Like Janeway, he had ordered a course set toward Earth but the Krowtonan Guard warned them they had violated their territory and to leave immediately. Ransom ordered the course maintained and over the following week 39 crewmembers were killed, half his crew. This changed everything. He had initially told them they had a duty as Starfleet officers to uphold Starfleet directives of exploration and expansion of knowledge, as well as Starfleet principles, but after the Krowtonan Guard experience, they saw their only goal as one thing: survival. The discussion turns to the Prime Directive and whether they have violated it to preserve their crews. Janeway admits having bent it on occasion, while Ransom admits to the same thing. They find among the wreckage the Equinox's dedication plaque, and put it back up on the bulkhead. After finishing the download, the captains return to Voyager. Ransom finds Burke in the mess hall enjoying his first proper meal after two years on emergency rations. He tells Burke not to get too comfortable: "If Janeway is any indication, these people will never understand." He warns Burke to watch what he says to Voyager crewmembers. Burke cautions that they will "find out eventually". Ransom responds they will be able to keep it from them as long as they can keep them out of the Equinox's research lab.
"Drop… shields!
- Captain Ransom, bellowing out an order to temporarily drop the Equinox's deflector shields to recharge them in the face of the nucleogenic aliens' attack
"I thought we were the only Humans in the Delta Quadrant."
"That's what we used to think."
- Marla Gilmore and Chakotay, upon first meeting each other
"BLT?"
Story and script
•At the end of Star Trek: Voyager's fifth season, Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky required a season finale. The previous episodes of the season had tired them, however, and one of the few elements they knew they wanted to include in the forthcoming finale was a cliffhanger. Remembered Menosky, "We were all really exhausted. We didn't know what in the world we were going to do for the last episode. Brannon and Rick Berman worked out some of this episode. We probably had a week to go before prep, before Brannon came up with an idea that was workable." Braga himself recalled, "I had this image, a ship of people who were stuck in the Delta Quadrant almost as long as we have been, maybe a bit longer, but they have not responded the same way. They've done some very, very bad things, including mass murder." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46) •The idea was not initially appealing to Joe Menosky. "I just had no hope for it at all," he confessed. "It had the feeling of elements stitched together without a driving point of view [with a] haphazard and clunky structure and story." Menosky was attracted, however, to the prospect of introducing multiple new characters in the episode. "One thing this did have going for us is that we had four major speaking roles […] As a result we could have interesting character dynamics. You could follow threaded, character arcs in a way that felt bigger than a single episode." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46) •Subsequently, the writers began to pen the script for the installment. "We clarified the structure of it halfway through the writing of it," Joe Menosky stated. "Instead of sitting down and outlining it, and then writing it, we just wrote it. We didn't even know really where we were headed. We would just write a scene and think what would be cool to come next." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46)
Cast and characters
•The role of Captain Ransom was offered to John Savage. "They needed a captain. They didn't have a story yet, and I was excited," the actor reminisced. "It evolved, and every day, a new set of pages. I found quite an interesting moral struggle in the story. It wasn't simple, and it was very supported." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 54) •The experience of collaborating with Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew on this outing left John Savage with the impression that she would make a good director. "She was admirable with her focus," Savage noted. He also enjoyed working with Mulgrew. "I saw some wonderful possibilities and moments, like in the relationship with Captain Janeway, as man and woman, and also as captains, and as people," the actor related. "I just felt like I might have unfortunately overcomplicated myself, and had to be pulled straight by Kate. I didn't have to be. She was generous […] It was a good experience […] but we both had a lot of stuff going on." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 54) •John Savage's presence in this episode was especially thrilling for Rick Berman, who commented, "It was a real kick to have him on the show. He did a great job." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 54) •Star Trek: Voyager's casting department asked Titus Welliver if he wanted to portray Max Burke. Learning that John Savage was playing Captain Ransom persuaded Welliver, a long-time fan of Savage, to accept the offer. Welliver noted, "When I found out he was going to do Voyager I said, 'I'm there.'" (TV Zone, issue 126, p. 29) •Titus Welliver was delighted to appear in this episode. He fondly remembered, "My first day of work on 'Equinox' I thought, 'I've waited close to 30 years to be on a Star Trek set, and here I am.' I was like a little kid in a candy shop […] I wish I had as much fun on all my jobs as I did on this one." (TV Zone, issue 126, pp. 29 & 31) •Titus Welliver's appreciation for John Savage's work did not diminish after they met. Welliver recalled, "He was always asking the other guest stars and me, 'Is there anything you need? Just tell me.' My experiences on Voyager certainly fulfilled any expectations I had of him. It was an honor to work with the man." (TV Zone, issue 126, p. 29) •As most producers and directors usually wanted Titus Welliver to play crazy characters, he found a notable contrast with the role of First Officer Burke, stating, "He's probably one of the most subtle characters that I've ever portrayed […] I felt that in order to give Burke any sort of military presence I had to play him with an incredible stillness, and I found this made him appear that much stronger. It was a challenge to be present in scenes and have to remain calm and focused as opposed to being very animated and expressive." (TV Zone, issue 126, p. 29) •Torres actress Roxann Dawson approved of this episode's look at Torres' past relationship with Burke. "It's interesting to see how that relationship is dealt with, especially in light of B'Elanna being with Paris now," Dawson commented. "That's an interesting conflict." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 37)
Production
•The main bridge of the Equinox is a re-use of the set used for the USS Prometheus, as are the corridors, crew quarters and science lab. They are all slightly altered to simulate the effect of damage. (citation needed • edit) According to the unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 317), the Equinox's bridge was a redress of the Defiant's bridge and the research lab was a redress of Voyager's sickbay. •Titus Welliver implied that both the sets for the damaged Equinox's interior and the set for the flashback scene showing Ransom and Burke meet the Ankari were on the same soundstage as each other. "Those scenes […] were shot inside a soundstage on the Paramount Studios lot that a group of cats call home," the actor laughed. "Several times I'd go to sit down in Burke's bridge chair and there would be cat hair all over the seat. It was like, 'Oh, no, the cats have invaded!'" Welliver enjoyed viewing the detail invested in the starship interior sets, however. "It was fun to see the detailed writing on the instrument panels," he said. (TV Zone, issue 126, p. 29) •The production of this episode was a challenging process. At a point when the shooting company still had to return to the Paramount lot and film another day's work as the episode was too short, director David Livingston reflected, "It was a long shooting schedule, and very difficult, because a lot of it was with no lights. There are four sequences where we go to visit their ship, finding people dead or dying. Those were all shot with SIMs [palm] beacons, and a lot of sparks and smoke and nitrogen. It was tough on the crew, especially for the last episode, because everybody was so tired and burnt out after the long season." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46) According to the book Delta Quadrant (p. 319), reshoots were also involved in the episode's production. •Titus Welliver noted that the timing of the installment's production facilitated certain festivities. "We filmed the first part of 'Equinox' around Saint Patrick's Day," he said, "and Kate [Mulgrew] threw a party and we all had a blast." (TV Zone, issue #126, p. 31) •The closed captions for the version of the episode on Paramount+ and Pluto TV instead names the item the Equinox crew traded for the interspatial fissure device as a "Starfleet trinket".
Starring
•Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway
Also starring
•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
Special guest star
•John Savage as "Captain Ransom"
- Equinox, Part II – After unleashing the nucleogenic aliens on Voyager, captain Ransom and the Equinox crew escape with Seven aboard as well as Voyager’s version of the EMH program.
- Survival Instinct – This one’s sort of a cross between the TNG episode “I, Borg” and Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit. Three Borg units who were formerly part of Seven’s unimatrix have become separated from the great collective but remain enslaved to one another’s thoughts. ***
- Barge of the Dead – When knocked into a coma, B’Elanna finds herself on the titular vehicle and ultimately in Gre’thor, a.k.a. Klingon Hell. It’s not nearly as badass as it sounds. ***
- Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy – A seriously funny Doctor-centric episode features the EMH’s new penchant for daydreaming. Things go from humorous to hilarious when would-be invaders on a cloaked ship tap into the holographic matrix and believe the Doctor’s over-the-top heroism is real. ****
From this episode until its finale "Endgame", Voyager was the sole carrier of the Star Trek franchise, following the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series finale "What You Leave Behind". It is also the first Star Trek episode to premiere on its own since "Time's Arrow, Part II" on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Date: 2375 / 2376. "Equinox" was a two part episode of Star Trek: Voyager, comprised of the 118th and 119th episodes overall in the series, aired as a cliffhanger 26th episode of the show's fifth season, first aired on 26 May 1999, and continued in the sixth season premiere on 22 September 1999. The episode was written by Rick Berman MA ...
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Equinox, Part II: Directed by David Livingston. With Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill. While trying to run down the Equinox and retrieve its captain, Chakotay fears Janeway becoming equally as unethical and corrupt, challenging his loyalty.
