Why Janeway Hates Time Travel In Star Trek

WARNING: Contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy season 2!

Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) has a familiar refrain of “I hate time travel” in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, and it’s thanks to her experiences during Star Trek: Voyager. Now commanding the USS Voyager-A in Prodigy season 2, Admiral Janeway is tasked with rescuing Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) from an alternative future, while preserving the prime Star Trek timeline. One false move in their mission to rescue Chakotay after he sends the USS Protostar to Tars Lamora, and Janeway and her young warrant officers could create an entirely new timeline.

The complexities of time travel are so vast that Starfleet Academy has even compiled a textbook, Temporal Mechanics 101, which Dal R’El (Brett Gray) struggles to get his head round in the opening episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy season 2. However, Dal’s not the only member of the Voyager crew to get a headache from time travel. Reunited with her fellow Star Trek: Voyager characters, the Doctor (Robert Picardo) and Chakotay, Janeway repeatedly complains about her own dislike of time travel, and looking back over Janeway’s experiences with temporal mechanics, it’s easy to see why.

Star Trek: Voyager Is The Reason Janeway Hates Time Travel

“My advice on making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: don’t even try.”

Admiral Janeway’s hatred of time travel in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 is pretty on-brand for the former captain of the USS Voyager. In “Timeless”, when Janeway tells Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) to “not even try” to understand temporal paradoxes, Star Trek: Voyager heavily hinted that, like Dal in Prodigy, Janeway wasn’t a particularly keen reader of Temporal Mechanics 101. This was established earlier in one hilarious moment from the Voyager season 3 two-parter, “Future’s End” when Janeway outlined her feelings on time travel and temporal paradoxes to Chakotay, saying:

“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 godforsaken paradoxes. The future is the past, the past is the future. It all gives me a headache.”

Janeway’s desire to get caught in “godforsaken paradoxes” becomes more and more ironic across Voyager‘s seven seasons. In “Year of Hell”, Janeway aborts an entire alternate timeline by destroying a Krenim timeship. Then, in “Relativity”, Janeway helps a time-hopping Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) to stop Captain Braxton (Bruce McGill) from destroying the USS Voyager. Finally, in the Star Trek: Voyager finale, “Endgame”, Captain Janeway accepts help from her older self to escape the Delta Quadrant. The older Janeway had a more relaxed attitude to time travel and the Temporal Prime Directive, advising her younger self to just “ignore it“.

Star Trek: Prodigy Is Janeway’s Most Dangerous Time Travel Mission

The fate of Star Trek’s Multiverse hangs in the balance.

Admiral Janeway’s newest time travel mission puts the fate of Star Trek‘s multiverse at stake. As Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 begins, the USS Voyager-A is tasked with sending a small ship through the wormhole to retrieve Chakotay without polluting the timeline. When that mission goes drastically wrong, and Chakotay escapes with the USS Protostar a new timeline is created, which puts the very existence of Gwyndala (Ella Purnell) at risk, and causes great ruptures across the multiverse. To make matters worse, the failure to preserve the timeline attracts the attention of the terrifying Loom, temporal parasites that feed on aberrant timelines.

As someone who’s always hated time travel and paradoxes, Janeway’s mission in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 is her biggest headache to date. The USS Voyager’s time travel missions were largely confined to preserving the ship’s personal timeline or bending its rules to get home faster. In Prodigy season 2, Admiral Janeway faces something far bigger than anything she ever faced in Star Trek: Voyager, a threat to every single reality. Lucky for Janeway, Dal R’El has brushed up on his copy of Temporal Mechanics 101.

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  Star Trek: Voyager

  The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they’ve never faced before. 

  Release Date

  May 23, 1995

  Seasons

  7

  Writers

  Michael Piller , Jeri Taylor , Brannon Braga , Kenneth Biller

  Showrunner

  Michael Piller , Jeri Taylor , Brannon Braga , Kenneth Biller

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  Star Trek: Prodigy

  Star Trek: Prodigy is the first TV series in the Star Trek franchise marketed toward children, and one of the few animated series in the franchise. The story follows a group of young aliens who find a stolen Starfleet ship and use it to escape from the Tars Lamora prison colony where they are all held captive. Working together with the help of a holographic Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the new crew of the USS Protostar must find their way back to the Alpha Quadrant to warn the Federation of the deadly threat that is pursuing them.

  Cast

  Brett Gray , Kate Mulgrew , Ella Purnell , Angus Imrie , Dee Bradley Baker , Jason Mantzoukas , Robert Picardo , Robert Beltran , Jameela Jamil , Jimmi Simpson , John Noble

  Release Date

  October 28, 2021

  Seasons

  1

  Writers

  Dan Hageman , Kevin Hageman

  Showrunner

  Dan Hageman , Kevin Hageman

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