Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) 11:59 (1999) User Reviews

Weaker episode but not without charm

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 18 March 2010]

This episode of Voyager was clearly trying to be something different and while it was different it didn't really work for me. Captain Janeway starts to look in to one of her ancestors who inspired her to join Star Fleet. We see the story of her ancestor Shannon O'Donnell in flash back as she finds herself stuck in an Indiana town when her car breaks down in the run up to news year's day 2001. She takes refuge in a book shop owned by one Henry Janeway who is the last person in town who hasn't sold his property to developers who wish to build the Millennium Gate tower, a building that will be a self-contained biosphere containing a large shopping mall amongst other things. Henry is not keen on change however and it looks as though the tower will have to be built elsewhere. As more details are revealed the captain learns that her ancestor wasn't quite the pioneer she thought and only had a relatively minor role in the tower's construction and was never part of the Mars exploration missions as she had been led to believe.

The weakness of the episode was largely down to the fact we knew Shannon would end up with Henry in the end due to his surname. It wasn't without its strengths though, it was nice that the Shannon was just a normal person not the leader in her field the captain believed as that would have been cliché.

Voices from the grave

[tomsly-40015 · 5/10 · 11 January 2024]

The story of this episode isn't actually that bad, but somehow it just doesn't fit with Star Trek and the Voyager canon. It's not a science fiction story - instead we see how one of Captain Janeway's ancestors met her husband on New Year's Eve 2000.

Janeway always believed that this ancestor took part in missions to Mars and was also involved in the construction of the Millennium Gate. However, as the story progresses, it turns out that this was not the case. Janeway then feels annoyed and in a way betrayed - by an ancestor who lived over 400 years ago!

Her mood only brightens when her crew points out to her that her ancestor helped spark Janeway's interest in science and space travel in one way or another and that it doesn't matter whether she went to Mars herself - she was and is the role model that ultimately motivated Janeway to embark to the stars herself.

However, it's kind of amazing how well Janeway and the other crew members know about ancestors who lived several hundred years ago. I don't know what my ancestors did in the 1600s. I don't even know what my great-grandfathers and -mothers did! And as Seven aptly says: This great-great-great...grandmother lived so many generations before Janeway that there is virtually no genetic information about her left in Janeway. Nevertheless, this ancestor of Janeway looks exactly like her (they could have at least changed the hair color and hairstyle!), as she is of course also played by Kate Mulgrew.

Also pretty ridiculous: When Seven uses the computer to look for clues about Janeway's ancestor, she finds only very little information. Neelix then shows off all his computer know-how by instructing the computer to search not only Starfleet databases, but also others - public, private, etc. Lo and behold: the computer finds an old family photo! And Janeway is completely surprised at how Neelix managed to do it! By the way: Why are 400-year-old documents such as birth certificates, electoral rolls, etc. Included in the Voyager database?

All in all, half entertaining. Voyager definitely had worse episodes than this but also far better ones.

Boring Janeway.

[thevacinstaller · 5/10 · 4 February 2023]

Well, I guess there is hope that my 'regular joe' job and uneventful life of working and paying taxes will somehow be misinterpreted and my very ordinary existence in our gentle serfdom society will be inspiration to some in the future?

There is an attempt here to fashion an opposites attract love story but it comes off far more as 'well, life sucks right now and I will settle for this stubborn guy..." to my eyes at least. To say I did not believe the love story is an understatement.

There just not enough emotional impact here for me. Janeway is slightly bummed out that her ancestor just ended up having a bunch of babies and working the farm?

The idea of history being misinterpreted and exploring the consequences of that is fertile ground for a good story but damn --- can we have some biting consequences or engaging exploration?

Nothing of Note

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 7 September 2018]

I guess this is based on the premise that Janeway and the others have to have diversion, and a look at the past fulfills this as bit. Janeway had an ancestor, going back centuries, who had some function with NASA. It then tells how, after losing her job, she winds up in a small town that is about to get big. Except for a bookseller who refuses to sell his property to developers. It now becomes a rather maudlin story that really doesn't fit well with the Star Trek thing. It was entertaining at times, but filled with cliches and precious behavior.

Good story about ancestry and legends.

[oninagiinochi · 8/10 · 15 December 2021]

To get it out of the way, I honestly only had 2 issues with this episode. One has been brought up by other reviewers, which is the idea that Janeway's ancestor looks exactly like her. Yes, maybe for the sake of realism they could have at least tried to have her look and act a little different, but it's a minor issue that's easy to overlook. I bit more of an issue is that despite being written in 1999, the writers of this story thought it feasible that the concept of something like the Millennium Gate would become actuality as early as by 2012.

I don't understand how people can say this is a throwaway episode. If you care about the characters in the series and want to get more of a glimpse into their past histories, especially the Captain's, then this is worth checking out. It's also a very timely episode as part of it deals with a pretty hot topic at the time of it's airing - the turn of the millennium. I had to double check if this was actually made in 2000 or 2001 and not 1999 as Janeway's ancestor talks about Y2K in the past-tense the way it pretty much actually went down.

Its refreshing that there isn't some calamitous situation on the ship and yet it still turns out to be a good learning experience for multiple characters, especially Seven in her progress of relearning what it means to be human, but even more-so Janeway when it comes to the how ancestry and legends can influence a person to become who they are, and that even one simple, right choice can be just as important and influential as a lifetime of work.

Strangely, I'm in the minority both when it comes to enjoying this episode, and when it comes to my dislike of the preceding episode. As I thought, any chance of the budding out-of-nowhere and shoehorned growing romantic relationship between the Doc and Seven in the previous episode is completely ignored in this one, as if the previous episode didn't even happen, thankfully (I laughed when Seven responded to the Doc's input about his "ancestry" with asking Paris why he hadn't spoken yet). It was just an excuse to have a weak retelling of Pygmalion anyways. At least this episode can be considered an original story they actually had to write, like most good Star Trek episodes.

Who do you think you are?

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 25 October 2023]

This is an okay episode with some reasonably thought provoking themes about characters with very different outlooks on life, but I struggled to maintain an interest in the story as it unfolded.

I find genealogy a fascinating subject and the process of examining accepted histories to reveal the truth, but when it involves the family history of a fictional character I think it is a bit of a stretch to call it interesting.

For me the plot is not helped by the shifts back and forth between past and present, halting the momentum of the Shannon O'Donnell story. I think the writers would have been better starting the episode during the flashback time period and only revealing towards the end who the main protagonists are in relation to Captain Janeway (who is in the process of doing some genealogical research).

I think Katie Mulgrew and Kevin Tighe deserve credit as they lift the material to make the episode quite watchable, but I would not describe it as riveting.

captain of the voyager having an existential crisis as she doesnt turn out to be a nepo baby

[madeinsiy · 4/10 · 4 April 2023]

Okay okay i know that it's not the point here but felt really suffocating seeing Janeway moan around how her ancestor was such an important person, how she built the mars colony and stuff but than falling down on her face as it turned out that no, the ancestor in question was not in Mars. I mean... I get that she was inspired by her and such but still, girl, you're a grown woman who achieved so much in your life, and currently running a spaceship in an unexplored are of the space, but having a mental breakdown as it turned out that the one who inspired you is half of you've thought?

The past storyline was not interesting a bit. An ancestor acted by the same actor was also meh. Acting other than that was fine, but the problem is that story was not much interesting.

Normally I don't like episodes like this one

[cvdixon29 · 9/10 · 24 December 2020]

However, I do like this one, seeing captain janeway play another roll aside from captain and also showing a look at her family history. It's very well written.

Forgettable Episode (and Just How Big Are Their Databases?)

[lju3 · 4/10 · 21 March 2017]

This is a fairly boring and inconsequential episode. Overall, however, the thing it makes me wonder most is this: why does every starship seem to have nearly unlimited information about earth history?

Voyager apparently has access to 20th/21st century birth/death/marriage certificates, voter registration forms, census forms, &c. At least in TNG or DS9 that could be explained-away as them accessing the Federation network, but that's certainly not the case here, out in the Delta Quadrant. Anyhow, it is one of those silly little inconsistencies which makes this show so very weak.

One of the most underrated episodes in Star Trek

[l-72630 · 8/10 · 27 August 2018]

I didn't realize how underrated this episode was until I rewatched it. I know there's some illogical details about this episode but generally I love Shannon's story. Was Shannon sort of a pioneer? No. She had never been in space or taken part of the Mars project. But did she make a great difference to the history? All she did was managing to persuade her future husband to move his bookstore. It might seem insignificant to the entire history, but to a extent it had paved the way for The Millenium Gate project, which became the prototype of the Mars Colony. You don't really have to be the one who discovers the law of gravity to make a difference to the mankind. You can be the apple.

Why would Janeway's great-great-great-great-great-great grandma look EXACTLY like her...and who cares anyway?!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 28 February 2015]

'what does this have to do with anything?'---Henry Janeway

This episode is among the slightest and easiest to skip of all the episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager". It's not necessarily bad but it does seem irrelevant and like filler.

The episode consists of folks talking about their family histories. Janeway decides to tell everyone about her great-great-great-great- great-etc. grandmother...a woman who, oddly, looks EXACTLY like Captain Janeway. I hate when movies show distant relatives who look EXACTLY like the present individuals--it's as bad a cliché as the identical cousins cliché! The story involves the woman's romance with a grumpy old guy (Kevin Tighe) and has just about nothing to do with the show in any way!

By the way, I am a stickler for details and in the beginning of the show Mr. Neelix is trying to show off how smart he is. However, BOTH things he says are wrong!! Qin is not pronounced 'kin' and the Great Wall of China CANNOT be seen from space--that's an urban legend. Two more reasons to hate Neelix...as well as the writer who didn't do their homework when they wrote this one.

Easily my Favorite Voyager Episode!

[dave-kuhn · 10/10 · 7 July 2016]

My favorite Star Trek series are Enterprise and Voyager. I love voyager and am doing my first re-watch since it originally aired.

Everybody hates this episode, but I love it. It makes me long for 2000 which I took for granted at the time. I think this is a sweetest most interesting episode of the series. I love looking back in history. It does not bother me that Janeway's ancestor looks just her, but I guess I am a fan of Mulgrew. If we could all look back in to our past with this kind of clarity, with romanticized data filling in the holes, would be not do it? Where and what were my ancestors doing 300 - 400 years ago? What was life like back then? In this case, Captain Janeway is looking back to time that I actually lived in. That is just too cool. It is time travel but through stories passed down from generation to generation. I can classify exactly why, but I love it!

Yes, Voyager in not 99% destroyed in this episode as it is in most. This is not an action sequence story. It is a thought provoking story. Gene Roddenberry would have love it.

Why do they waste a story episode on such a boring cliché story?

[wwcanoer-tech · 1/10 · 7 November 2021]

Even keeping the ancestor theme, wouldn't it be more interesting if Janeway's ancestor was a janitor, secretary or bartender for the people building the Millenium Tower, or perhaps worked in it? Anything more interesting than such a cliché story.

Voyager meets a new species every other week but rarely learns anything about them that's not necessary for the action plot. A short brainstorming session could develop far better stories. Just a few episodes ago we met Species 8472. Imagine the stories that could have been created if that was developed over 2 episodes. If the crew had to really prove that humans are not a war mongering species that needs to be wiped out. Species 8472 knows our history and shows examples of our bad nature while the crew needs to explain these, perhaps reenact them to show why they happened. Or show good things. Or simply be an exploration of Species 8472, learning what life is like in fluidic space, finding similarities and differences. Janeway could meet their leaders in fluidic space. Or, before that, we met a race that was trying to harness the omega molecule. We could help them change their power source and have interesting stories along the way.

We have entire series and movies that are based on human stories, that are so much better than this.

This was a colossal waste of time & resources. A 100% story episode should be far far better.

A Feel Good Story

[CharoleaWood · 10/10 · 22 June 2023]

I love 11:59, it's one of my absolute favorite Voyager eps.

It's a simple story and well told, so for all those who complain about Voyager saying it didn't have room for these kinds of tales while TNG and DS9 did, well, here you go.

I also felt the previous episode, "Someone to Watch Over Me", was brilliant and a simple story told well.

What I like most about 11:59 is that the frame narrative involves Captain Janeway struggling with the realization that her ancestor isn't the giant she thought she was.

We get to see that woman and get to know her, she is so much more relatable BECAUSE she is not a giant, I think that's really wonderful.

5/5, superb.

Truly dull and uninteresting

[mattoreilly-76881 · 1/10 · 19 January 2017]

I'd like to start this review by saying that I have never before written a film/TV show review on IMDb, or anywhere else that I can recall. I just don't have interest in doing so. The fact I have now taken the time to write one for this episode is a testament to just how bad this episode was.

I've always enjoyed Trek, from a very young age I watched TNG, and then DS9. DS9 was by far my favourite and some years ago I re-watched them all on DVD. But I was never able to get into Voyager. After having re-watched TNG I decided it was time to give Voyager another go. And it's not half as bad as I recall - it's not great and overall seems a bit wanting at times with rather 2D characters, but there are some great stories and overall I'm enjoying it.

Series 5 has been hard work, though. It feels like the whole series is filler with (virtually) no killer. The episode before this (the Doctor falling in love with Seven) was pretty poor - character development, particularly for the Doctor and Seven is interesting, but there was no B-plot. The ambassador who is essentially monk-like who ends up completely inebriated is not a plot, it's all utterly pointless. Still, I digress. Then came 11:59.

Dear, sweet Lord - 'dull' doesn't do it justice. It's mind-numbingly boring and, worse, utterly pointless. An important part of a TV show, especially one as long-running as Voyager, is that we have to care about the characters and be invested in them. This obviously happens over time and develops over time also. And that's where the problem with this episode lies: why do we care about Janeway's almost-400-year-old relative and her frankly boring story? We don't. It has no bearing on the events of the present (within Voyager), it doesn't explain anything or add anything to Janeway's character that we didn't already know. Which makes it entirely redundant.

I honestly couldn't watch it all the way through to the end, I was too bored. I should add that I'm someone who can happily watch a 6 part 1960s Dr Who story, so it's not my impatience that's the problem here.

Thankfully, I'm now watching the next episode (Relativity) and while I can't yet say how good it is, at least something is actually happening.

Worst Episode Ever

[californiarecordshop · 1/10 · 28 June 2017]

Another review here made every point I would so I will keep this short and bitter. Boring, pointless, meaningless... The dialogue is trite and really difficult to endure. I watched this episode once and won't bother again. The premise about the millennium, I guess at the time was supposed to be involving, but considering the millennium didn't start for another two years (2001) this really was out of place, technically. It drudges on and there is no real point to the story. It lifts out completely and ads nothing at all to my appreciation of Janeway. Feel free to skip without missing anything. Its not like they even make a connection to Janeway, or tell us how it has any real significance to her; maybe if they linked it and showed a real unique or unexpected time-connection that could have made it better, or ad some mystery to it. Its just not there... fire whomever wrote this tripe. I can hardly remember what it was about; a bookstore or something. Just like I don't care for the 'Fair Haven' or really any major 'Holodeck' based episode on TNG or any of the them. I watch Star Trek to see spaceships and exploration of the 'Trek' galaxy. Not to see something that would have been rejected from 'Masterpiece Theatre' for being too dull.

Not the best but not the worst

[susannah-thomas · 3/10 · 3 June 2020]

Look episode was fine. A little boring but oh my god I have never seen a pairing with such vast difference in attractiveness. Isn't anyone else frustrated by the love interests they give Kate Mulgrew in Voyger? Why do they keep pairing Janeway and in this instance Janeway's identical X15 great grandmother up with men that are considerably less attractive.