Episode Behind the Scenes

TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > YEAR OF HELL PART II > Behind the Scenes

This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 5.2 million homes, and an 8% share.
Upon its first broadcast in Great Britain (on the BBC), this episode was shown edited together with the first half of its two-parter, forming a feature-length television movie, although it was not intended to be viewed that way.
Ultimately, Brannon Braga believed that certain chances he and Joe Menosky had taken while writing this episode's two-parter had paid off. Shortly after the duology first aired in the US, Braga remarked, "We took some big chances with that show, and I think it's really interesting." Braga thought that a good example of the two-parter's quality was the destruction of Voyager in this episode's conclusion. "It's just filled with that kind of sweeping drama," he enthused.

Braga also counted this episode's two-parter as a highlight of the fourth season (along with "The Killing Game" and "The Killing Game, Part II" as well as "Prey"), and opined that – in common with the two-parter "The Killing Game" – this episode's duology involved "high concept stories with an epic sweep, with big cinematic action sequences, and all of the characters [having] something fun to do."

An element of the two-parter's development that Braga felt was "unfortunate" was that he and Menosky had chosen to make Tuvok blind. Braga explained that his reasoning for disliking this element of the plot was "because of the Geordi La Forge connection," referencing the fact that Tim Russ had been temporarily considered to play the character of Geordi La Forge on TNG.
Joe Menosky thought that, due to the caliber of actor he believed Kurtwood Smith to be, the "Year of Hell" two-parter "worked really, really well." In common with Brannon Braga, Menosky was ultimately satisfied with this episode's ending, despite having had initial feelings to the contrary. He opined, "It got us a great climax, which is plowing the ship into the weapon, and in some ways took the arc of destroying the ship to its ultimate conclusion, and a very satisfying conclusion."
Jeri Taylor was also highly satisfied, ultimately, with the "Year of Hell" two-parter. Citing it as a highlight of Star Trek: Voyager's fourth season, Taylor counted it as an example of "some of our more epic episodes [that] had everything going for them."  

Taylor further enthused about the two-parter, "It had a lot of action, a gigantic adventure, personal stakes, an intriguing villain and a very science fiction-based premise. Those are the things we love to get."
This episode's ending was controversial among fans. "Obviously we angered a lot of people with the ending," Joe Menosky admitted. Remembering a particular manifestation of this fan response, he stated, "I got one of the greatest little pieces of fan mail I've ever gotten, from a fan who said, 'Annorax is the best Trek villain in all of Trek history.' Then he went on to say in the same letter, 'I'm sorry to say that I'm not going to be watching Voyager anymore,' because he was so incensed about the ending, about the reset button." Of course, not all fan response to the episode's conclusion was negative. "I got a really interesting fan letter from someone who just loved the ending," Menosky also related. "Her take on it was that Janeway made this big sacrifice, and everything was reset, and then both of them were subtly changed, both the villain and the hero, both Janeway and Annorax, even though neither of them knew and was aware of that timeline. Somehow there was a hint that something positive had changed. Janeway was just a little less arrogant, for example, when the Krenim came on the viewscreen [....] For this fan, there seemed to be this interesting sense of a positive and a humanizing effect that the adventure had on both Janeway and Annorax."
This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series.
After leaving Star Trek, Ronald D. Moore used this episode as an example of how he believed Star Trek: Voyager should have proceeded all along but also implied that he was not fond of the way in which this episode ends.
Following his appearances in this episode and the previous one, Kurtwood Smith considered the possibility of returning to Voyager as Annorax. "As 'Year of Hell Part II' ended," the actor said, "you saw Annorax with his wife, but the camera also moves in to show you that he's designing something. If it's that ship and he hasn't learned his lesson–who knows?–he could be back again. If they come up with a story as good as 'Year of Hell,' count me in. I would love to do it."

However, the writers were – or, at least, Joe Menosky was – admittedly unsure what would become of Annorax, following this episode's final scene. "Does he give up work, spend more time with his family, and become more humanized? I don't know," Menosky conceded.

Perhaps as a result of this uncertainty, this episode's two-parter constitutes the only Star Trek production in which the character of Annorax features.