Star Trek Voyager (VOY) Season 5

Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6Season 7

NightDroneExtreme RiskIn the FleshOnce Upon a TimeTimelessInfinite Regress
Nothing HumanThirty DaysCounterpointLatent ImageBride of Chaotica!Gravity
BlissDark FrontierThe DiseaseCourse: OblivionThe FightThink Tank
JuggernautSomeone to Watch Over Me11:59RelativityWarheadEquinox I/II

 

Night

Synopsis

Stardate 52081.2: On the long way back to the Alpha Quadrant, Voyager has to cross the "Void", a region 2500 light-years across that is devoid of star systems. Additionally, theta radiation blocks any light from outside the Void. The morale on the ship hits a low, and Janeway, who is stricken with guilt for stranding her crew in the Delta Quadrant, locks herself up in her quarters. Suddenly Voyager loses power and drops out of warp. Alien intruders board the ship, one of whom is disabled by Seven of Nine. After firing a photon torpedo to illuminate the surrounding space, it becomes clear that Voyager has been surrounded by alien vessels. Then a different alien ship appears, upon which the attackers retreat. The commander of that ship introduces himself as Controller Emck of the Malon. He says that he is on a transport mission. He offers Voyager to lead them to a spatial vortex that could cut two years of the voyage through the void but demands the extradition of the intruder in return. The Doctor finds out that the alien in his sickbay is indigenous to the Void and that he is dying from theta radiation poisoning, radiation that is caused by antimatter waste that Emck dumps in his realm. Janeway returns the alien to his people and meets with Emck to offer him a solution to recycle the antimatter waste so no further harm is done to the aliens. But Emck refuses, as this would make his waste disposal business expendable. Janeway assembles the crew, to reveal a plan that would allow Voyager to escape through the vortex, while she herself would stay behind in a shuttle to close the vortex. The members of the bridge crew, however, do not follow her orders. Instead of leaving the captain behind, they propose to destroy the vortex while Voyager is already inside, and to enhance the aft shields to withstand the explosion. Emck, however, uses his ship to block the entrance and damages Voyager's warp drive. The indigenous aliens arrive and distract his vessel. Janeway orders to take the opportunity and target his cargo hold, whereupon the Malon ship explodes. Voyager proceeds to the vortex, and as the torpedoes detonate behind the ship, it reaches the far end even without warp drive, by "riding the shockwave".

Commentary

Watching it again after many years, I am surprised how multifaceted the season 5 opener is. Not only does the story make quite an effort to show the crew's difficulties to adapt to the boredom of the Void, culminating in the Doctor's assessment of Neelix's condition as "nihilophobia", the fear of nothingness. It also does a solid job to work out Janeway's remorse about her decision to stay in the Delta Quadrant in "Caretaker", now that she has a lot of time to ponder about it, thereby wrapping up the previous four years of the show. These two themes do not only serve to set up the conflict with the two alien species, they don't simply disappear along with the boredom but determine how everyone acts in the crisis. Janeway has made up her mind that she would never order her crew to stay behind again when there is a chance to escape, and she is ready to sacrifice her life for the safety of her people - and for her own redemption in their eyes as Tuvok and Chakotay correctly anticipate. The crew, on the other hand, are anxious to escape from the Void, but no one would want to do that at the expense of the lives of the indigenous aliens or of Janeway's safety.

The main plot thread begins as late as about ten minutes into the episode. The crew suddenly find themselves in the moral dilemma whether to follow Controller Emck through the spatial vortex and forget what they witnessed in the Void, or whether to help the aliens by shutting down Emck's business. The Prime Directive may not provide a clear course of action in this case, as Voyager was already involved and there was no chance to avoid interference any longer. Unlike it may have been the case in the earlier seasons of the show, there is no conflict among the crew whether to help the aliens in need or whether rather to help themselves. Well, the prospect of achieving the latter only with the support of the unethical and unlikable Emck facilitates the decision a lot.

The Malon and their ships look a bit too much like what they represent: dirty and ugly. The interesting aspect about their society is that they have the 24th-century equivalent of present-day underregulated capitalism that puts short-term profit above the preservation of our planet. In particular, the Malon Controller Emck, who refuses the offered refining technology because it would make his business dispensable, behaves much like present-day energy companies that cling to fossil fuel. Emck may be a one-dimensional character, but he is quite credible as such.

Although it is overall a bit contrived, as well as flawed in many details, everything that happens in this surprisingly contemplative episode makes sense and fits together to a bigger picture and a classic Trek story.

Annotations

• Continuity: The light that illuminates the whole hull of the ship is missing, in an attempt to visualize the emptiness of the Void. However, the ship should always be completely dark when in open space save for its self-illumination. We could assume in favor of almost all other episodes that the self-lighting is quite bright, but then the lack of stars in the Void wouldn't make any difference.
• Nitpicking:
• The holodeck is still black & white after the complete power failure. We could imagine that the objects created inside continue to exist even without power because they have some sort of substance and that they don't have a color (so it isn't necessary to actively filter it out). But there is no good reason why even the real characters would still be black & white as well. Since there is obviously light in the holodeck, it needs to have a wide spectrum to create the impression of black & white holographic objects (if these are no projections), which in turn would let appear everyone else in full colors.
• Seven is able to use a holographic ray gun to shoot at the alien. How is this possible without power, unless the weapon was fully charged even before she disabled the safety protocol?
• And how is it possible for Seven to turn the Captain Proton ray gun into a fully functional phaser by simply saying "Deactivate safety protocol"? How can the computer decide that, without the safety protocol, the fictional ray gun behaves like a phaser, unless Tom has linked his creation to the model of a phaser, which Seven can't possibly know?
• The ship arrives at the "boundary" of the Void and all the stars reappear almost immediately. Even if the Void has a somewhat sharp boundary, this transition should last several days even at high warp.
• Remarkable error: When the Doctor interrupts the Captain Proton program, he says that he wants to sing "Don Carlo", which of course should be "Don Carlos" (by Giuseppe Verdi).
• Remarkable Vulcan humor: "The view from my quarters has been less than stellar lately." (Tuvok, to Seven)
• Remarkable scenes:
  • When the holographic character Constance Goodheart screams (as women were supposed to in Captain Proton's era), Harry Kim grabs his ear in pain.
  • During his bridge shift, Harry Kim plays a piece he calls "Echoes of the Void" on his clarinet.
• Remarkable facts:
  • This episode marks the first appearance of the black-and-white Captain Proton retro science fiction program (already including Chaotica and "Satan's Robot") that would appear in several more episodes, most notably in "Bride of Chaotica!".
  • While serving as a commander aboard the USS Billings in 2365, Janeway sent an away mission to survey a volcanic moon. The shuttlecraft was damaged by a magma eruption, and three of the crew members were severely injured. The next day, out of remorse, Janeway took a shuttle and completed the mission on her own.
  • B'Elanna and Tom play the board game durotta in this episode, which Tom always opens with a move known as the Novakovich gambit. (I thought Tom said "derada", but the spelling is "durotta" according to Memory Alpha. American accents are sometimes very indiscriminate!)
• Remarkable 47: It takes 47 seconds to the vortex.
• Photon torpedoes used: 13 (at least!)
• Distance bridged: 2500ly

Rating: 7

 

Drone

Synopsis

Stardate not given: B'Elanna, Tom, the Doctor and Seven take a shuttle to investigate the formation of a protonebula. The shuttle gets caught in a gravimetric shear, and the crew has to be beamed out. The transporter operator has trouble to get clear patterns but manages to materialize the four crew members on the platform. Then, however, the Doctor's mobile emitter malfunctions. B'Elanna transfers his program to sickbay and leaves the device in the science lab for further diagnostics. When Ensign Mulchaey enters the room the next morning, Borg injection tubules extend from the device and take genetic samples from him. The mobile emitter was infected with Seven's nanoprobes during the beam-out and now evolves to something like a 29th century Borg with the genetic material obtained from Mulchaey. Captain Janeway allows the new drone to mature and puts Seven in charge of supervising him and teaching him that he is not a part of the Collective but an individual. The drone, who names himself "One", learns very quickly and begins to develop a personality, the only apprehension being that he might want to join the Borg, which would make them even more powerful. Even though his transceiver was deactivated, a second one is created in his body without anyone noticing, which contacts the Collective. One agrees to support Voyager in the fight against the Borg. When a Borg vessel approaches, he remodulates Voyager's shields but his phaser modifications turn out useless. One says he can only disable the Borg from within. He beams over, using his internal transporter, and navigates the Borg ship into the protonebula where it is destroyed. Voyager can salvage the drone from the wreckage. But One believes that he is too great a danger, should the Borg ever get hold of him alive. He declines medical treatment and dies.

Commentary

The idea that the right of free development of the individual applies to everyone, including enemies of the Federation and artificial lifeforms, has a long tradition in Star Trek. The parallels in the story of "Drone" to Seven's own arrival on board one year ago (that is explicitly referenced) and also to the development of Hugh, the other "friendly Borg" in TNG: "I, Borg", are obvious and definitely intentional. "Drone" also reminds me very much of TNG: "The Offspring" and DS9: "The Begotten", where Data and Odo, respectively, raised someone of their own kind with a tragic outcome. Overall, the story relies on proven recipes but not to its disadvantage.

Most notably, "Drone" shows the next step on Seven of Nine's way to become human again when Janeway puts her in charge of One's development as an individual. The decision to choose Seven of all crew members absolutely makes sense, considering that she can speak from experience. Seven knows better than anyone else how to handle a Borg, who may become a valuable crew member just as well as he is a potential threat. On the other hand, there are a few cues in the episode that Seven herself may want to switch sides as the Borg approach. The story plays nice in this regard, as Seven refutes each of these red herrings almost immediately. But that would have been a reason not to insinuate Seven's possibly lacking loyalty in the first place (and only through the fourth wall, as Janeway is never shown to have any doubts). Actually, in hindsight I would have preferred if, rather than that, Seven's ability to tend to One had been called into question, possibly leading up to a conflict with Janeway.

But the impression that this may have been a good time for a character conflict is my only slight complaint about the story. Kudos to Jeri Ryan who once again delivers a strong performance as someone who has emotions but neither knows how to express them nor to deal with them. It is also good to see that Seven of Nine, after a season in which she repeatedly caused trouble because of regressive behavior or because of misjudgments, can prove herself in more than just technical matters.

Overall, "Drone" contains both thrilling and touching moments. It is exciting from the first to the last minute and it does a lot for Seven's character development. It comes with great visual effects that are still convincing today. My only criticism is about some inconsistencies on the technical side of the writing, but I don't think it impairs the story very much.

Annotations

• Continuity:
  • The authors obviously forgot about the designation of the streamlined shuttle that was referred to as "Type 9" in "Resolutions" and is called "Class 2" here.
  • Seven suggests that Tom build a new, larger shuttle than Class 2. This foreshadows the creation of the Delta Flyer in "Extreme Risk".
• Nitpicking:
  • I doubt that anyone can remember the "Class-2" shuttle from their Academy days. It very clearly looks like a new type, maybe even specifically developed for the Intrepid class, with which it shares a couple of features.
  • Why doesn't Janeway make an attempt to run from the Borg vessel? She orders to go to warp as late as the ship is already in weapons range. Of course, this hesitation allows One to take the Borg vessel into the nearby protonebula where it is crushed, but this solution was previously not considered an option.
  • Why is One so vastly advanced compared to the rest of the Borg? The species the Borg have encountered must have been separated by millions of years of development. What could be so special about a 29th century piece of Federation technology, since we can be sure that much more advanced knowledge has already been assimilated?
  • It is very unlikely that anything useful is left of the mobile emitter that was first damaged and then assimilated. At least, there should be nothing left after One's death that would allow allow B'Elanna, with her very limited knowledge of 29th century and of Borg technology, to restore the mobile emitter for the Doctor.
• Remarkable scenes:
  • One steps into the regeneration alcove the wrong way, and Seven has to tell him he must face outward.
  • When One was first activated, he grabbed Seven's arm and only stopped when she said, "You're hurting me.". He thereby proved that he possessed compassion. When One is in sickbay after he has been rescued from the wreckage of the Borg vessel, Seven begs him to allow the treatment, again saying "You're hurting me." But this time it is in vain. The death scene is especially moving because of its subtlety as Seven is trying hard to suppress her emotions.
  • At the beginning of the episode, Seven looks into a mirror and practices smiling, when the Doctor walks in and interrupts her. In the end, she looks into the mirror again, now unable to smile.
• Remarkable dialogue: "Joke. A verbal comment or gesture, designed to provoke laughter." - "I see you've got your mother's sense of humor." (One and the Doctor)
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "0600 hours. Early bird gets the gagh." (Doctor to B'Elanna)
  • "Volatile. English adjective meaning readily vaporizable at low temperature. Easily aroused. Tending to violent eruption." (One, reacting to Seven's description of B'Elanna's temper as "volatile")
• Remarkable facts:
  • The Borg pick up One's proximity signal from "Unimatrix 325 grid 006".
  • The formidable Borg sphere to appear in this episode is a "long-range tactical vessel, with transwarp capability and ablative hull armor".
• Remarkable 47: One has assimilated 47 billion teraquads of information from Voyager's computer.
• Shuttles lost: 1 (Type 9 aka Class 2)

Rating: 8

 

Extreme Risk

Synopsis

Stardate not given: B'Elanna Torres secretly runs holodeck programs such as orbital skydiving with the safety protocols off. She is dispassionate about her duties and relationships but wouldn't talk to anyone about it. Meanwhile, the Malon try to get hold of Voyager's multispatial sensor probe but Janeway manages to hide it in the atmosphere of a gas giant. The Malon freighter that attempts to follow the probe implodes, killing nine crew members. Tom Paris proposes to build a new shuttlecraft, the Delta Flyer, which could sustain the enormous pressure and which could be used to salvage the probe. Another Malon freighter appears on the scene, and it soon turns out that its crew has the same intention. Janeway reckons that the probe's data could be valuable for the Malon to find new dumping grounds for their radioactive waste, and she pushes the crew to get the Delta Flyer operational sooner. Only B'Elanna is not with the project with all her heart. Chakotay finds her unconscious in the holodeck after she disengaged the safety protocols yet again, allegedly to better investigate the effects of microfractures in the Delta Flyer. After the Doctor finds various old injuries that are unaccounted for, Janeway relieves B'Elanna of duty. But Chakotay wants to find out why she would want to hurt herself. He takes her to the holodeck and launches one of her programs, in which her fellow Maquis members are slaughtered by the Cardassians. It turns out that she didn't allow herself to mourn the loss of her friends and that she ran all the dangerous programs to be able to feel anything again. When Janeway orders to launch the Delta Flyer prematurely, to catch up with the Malon and despite the danger of microfractures, B'Elanna convinces Chakotay to let her join the mission. The Delta Flyer manages to disable the Malon shuttle, but after retrieving the probe a fracture forms in the hull. B'Elanna erects a makeshift forcefield that saves the crew.

Commentary

Although it is just one of several aspects of the story, "Extreme Risk" is remembered most of all for being the premiere of the Delta Flyer, Voyager's supershuttle and arguably one of the coolest innovations in the course of the show. But if its intention was to provide a back story for the Delta Flyer, the episode fails on many accounts. The most obvious mistake is that Tom proposes to build a versatile shuttle with all kinds of features, with specs he already has in his drawer, when all Janeway would need right now is something that could withstand the extreme pressure of a gas giant. That is the point the story loses me, and when I just think by myself that nothing in it happens for any obvious reason.

It would have been great to see the Delta Flyer designed and built with a plausible incentive, with realistic specs, taking the due time, and by people who care for (and perhaps clash about) the project and not something else. But everything in "Extreme Risk" revolves around B'Elanna's secret personal problems and on the uninteresting salvage operation, which are linked together in an awkward fashion. The setup is a bit like in last season's "Vis-à-Vis", where the story was supposed to focus on Tom and his temporary defiant phase and didn't succeed for similar reasons. Ironically, this time it would have been wiser to involve Tom more as usual, rather than B'Elanna. After all the Delta Flyer is his brainchild and not B'Elanna's.

Regarding B'Elanna, it is an interesting idea that, rather than openly mourn and deplore the loss of her friends after learning of the fate of the Maquis, she would bottle it up in a fashion that no one would expect from her. It makes some sense that, as she says herself, she couldn't bear the sorrow about the loss of the Maquis, after already losing her father and her Starfleet commission, so much that she wouldn't feel anything at all. But it is just not credible that after several months neither Chakotay nor Tom would have talked with her about the Maquis and would not have noticed that she is not herself - not to mention the unprofessional treatment of her wounds and bruises! It doesn't seem their relationship is all that close.

I like two aspects of B'Elanna's story though. The scene when she pays Neelix's kitchen a nightly visit resonates with me. B'Elanna seeks someone to talk to, and although she has never been close to Neelix, he shares her fate of losing a family he loved. The two understand each other, perhaps for the first time, but never speak out what they have in common. Moreover, B'Elanna doesn't run into Neelix again, against my expectations, when she orders banana pancakes again at the end of the episode. I have to concede that some things better remain unsaid, and left to our imagination and perhaps interpretation. The other thing I like about B'Elanna is how she respects Chakotay in this episode, the man who still knows best of all how to handle her, although this sheds a bad light on her relationship with Tom and her loyalty to Janeway.

The story about the multispatial probe is just implausible. This plot device was never mentioned before, but it is apparently so immensely valuable that it requires to put one's own crew at extreme risk and even to go to war for it. The conflict with the Malon over the probe is overdone for no good reason, except providing both sides with the motivation to launch a "space race".

Overall, this episode has an adolescent tone and themes, among which B'Elanna's tendency to hurt herself is still on the serious side, but everything related to the "space race" and Tom's "improvements" to the Delta Flyer feels rather silly.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • Would the holodeck have permitted B'Elanna to be killed by the orbital jump, by the Cardassian soldier or by the poisonous atmosphere of the gas giant? Irrespective of the technical question whether the holodeck just simulates something that has much the same effect or whether it creates the real thing, would it be allowed to actively kill a person when requested, in defiance of Asimov's first law?
  • The probe is called "multispatial", a piece of technobabble that was never mentioned before and will never play a role again, but is of paramount importance just this one time.
  • It is almost needless to annotate that the construction of the Delta Flyer by a small starship crew with limited resources in a few days is almost as incredible as the Warp-10 shuttle in "Threshold". Also, if it were that easy, they would have had four years to build a larger shuttle.
  • The perfectly flat forcefield that B'Elanna creates with a phaser and an EPS relay to seal the hull breach in the Delta Flyer is totally implausible. Moreover, the "McGyver" method to take random components and build something new with them isn't credible at all and gives a totally wrong picture of what science and engineering is really about.
• Remarkable quote: "I'm not trying to kill myself. I'm trying to see if I'm still alive" (B'Elanna)
• Remarkable scene: Tom suggests to add "dynametric tail fins" to the Delta Flyer, but Tuvok is not so fond of the idea of a "hot rod".
• Remarkable costume: After Kirk's skydiving scene was cut from "Star Trek: Generations", the skydiving suit is reused here.
• Remarkable VFX scene: When B'Elanna ends the skydiving program, we see that the forcefields slowly move her in a vertical position, which looks very credible. However, I would have expected to see her drop to the floor, since the safety protocols were off. ;-)
• Remarkable 47: B'Elanna ran the program Zeta-1 (in which the fellow Maquis members were killed) for 47 seconds.

Rating: 3

 

In the Flesh

Synopsis

Stardate 52136.4: Chakotay and Tuvok investigate a space station with a perfect replica of Starfleet Headquarters, complete with a man who looks like groundkeeper Boothby, as well as many humans, Vulcans, Bolians, Ferengi and other Alpha Quadrant species. The two officers disable one of the "human" Starfleet officers and take him to Voyager. He commits suicide upon his exposure as an impostor. The Doctor manages to revert the dead alien to his actual form: Species 8472! After their heavy losses in the war against the Borg and Voyager one year ago, it seems that Species 8472 is planning a full-scale invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. In order to learn more about their intentions, Chakotay returns to the station where he has a date with a fake member of his species, Valerie Archer. Their good-night kiss, however, provides Species 8472 with the evidence that Chakotay is not one of them. They arrest Chakotay and take him to Boothby, their leader, for interrogation. In the meantime on Voyager, Janeway has Seven prepare nanoprobe-enhanced weapons to attack the station, but she remains open for negotiations. When Voyager approaches the station, she is greeted by Boothby. Both affirm that they could destroy the other side but Janeway proposes to negotiate a truce. To Species 8472's surprise, Janeway reveals that Voyager is Starfleet's only ship in the Delta Quadrant, and she deactivates her ship's weapons to prove her good will. Although Boothby is not certain he can convince his superiors of the peaceful intentions of the Federation, the war is averted for now.

Commentary

Aliens disguised as humans or humans disguised as aliens have a long tradition in science fiction in general and in Star Trek in particular. It is the spice of many spy stories that it is not possible to tell apart friend and foe by the look and behavior of a person. "In the Flesh" is definitely successful in this regard, and proves that the old trope is not yet exhausted.

Yet, I doubt that this is the way that Species 8472 of all aliens would proceed. In "Scorpion" they were introduced as lifeforms who have virtually nothing in common with humanoids, and this let them appear quite impressive and menacing. Not even communication with them was possible, except through Kes on a telepathic level. Their way of living and their technology was beyond our comprehension. This all doesn't seem to matter any longer. Species 8472 now pursues their goals with methods that would rather suit the Soviets (that were readily mentioned in the episode as building American-looking training cities) or the Romulans and are also reminiscent of the Founders (as in DS9: "Homefront"). The space station looks rather conventional as well and not biological, it could be just as well a Cardassian design.

We may argue that the extreme difference between everything Species 8472 and everything Federation could be their motivation to first investigate and then destroy the enemy, but wouldn't Species 8472 simply send a fleet of bioships? Wouldn't they rather do strategic simulations instead of irrelevant studies of humanoid behavior? In this regard they have previously been shown as even more ruthless than the Borg, who are at least interested in the "biological and technological distinctiveness" of a species. Summarizing, it is a pity that Species 8472 has to be entered into the list of "next-door races", as have been the Borg and perhaps even Q before.

There is one aspect of the disguise that I like: Species 8472 takes on humanoid shapes, and they begin to behave, to speak and to think like humanoids. They are so human that they wouldn't recognize a true human. This is a bit like in TOS: "By Any Other Name" where the Kelvans became the more sympathetic towards humans the longer they were in their human bodies. This is remarkable in so far as it disproves the idea that the soul rules over the mind that rules over the body and the soul/mind can be transferred into any body without consequences to a personality like it happened in TOS: "Return to Tomorrow". I prefer the first theory over the latter. And we can only muse about how Species 8472 in their actual form would have reacted to Janeway's proposal of a truce. I think there would have been no chance.

While "In the Flesh" is a bit let down by the revelation that Species 8472 are just conventional aliens, it is still a decent spy story with a Trek-like peaceful resolution, and is visually appealing as well.

Annotations

• Remarkable dialogue: "Sit down, Admiral." - "Sir?" - "I said sit down, or I'll knock you right on your human butt." ("Groundkeeper Boothby" issues orders to the "Admiral")
• Remarkable quote: "Targ manure! United Federation of Planets, tolerance for all species, the Prime Directive. Targ manure, every word of it." ("Groundkeeper Boothby")
• Nitpicking:
  • Isn't it a bad idea that Chakotay examines the fake Starfleet scenario wearing his provisional rank sign that would only raise suspicion and could blow his cover?
  • The viewfinder of Chakotay's holographic camera has a very pronounced vignetting. It seems some imperfections of photography won't vanish even with the most advanced technology. ;-)
  • Neither the transporter nor the Doctor's DNA examination reveals that the species they deal with is Species 8472. Of course, it is for the dramatic impact that only triggering the reversion of the alien's body reveals the truth. But it remains implausible that such a total alteration of a living being could still leave anything of the original personality intact (a question that would reappear with even more implausible implications with Voq/Tyler in Discovery's season 1).
• Remarkable facts:
  • The Vulcan neck pinch works on Species 8472, at least in its human form.
  • Chakotay's Starfleet serial number is 47-alpha-612.
  • Chakotay's last time at Starfleet Headquarters was on March 3, 2368, the day he resigned.

Rating: 6

 

Once upon a Time

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Tuvok, Tom Paris and Samantha Wildman are on a mission with the Delta Flyer when an ion storm hits the shuttle. Tom finds a planetoid to land on, but the Delta Flyer ends up buried in solid rock. Neelix, who takes care of Naomi Wildman, distracts her with all kinds of entertainment, including the Flotter holoprogram. Even though there is not much hope of finding her mother alive, Neelix holds back the truth from Naomi. But Naomi discovers what is going on on the ship and seeks refuge in her holoprogram. Just as another ion storm is approaching, the Delta Flyer and its crew can be salvaged in the nick of time, and Naomi is reunited with her mother.

Commentary

It is remarkable that the literally minor character Naomi gets a major part in this story. "Once Upon a Time", in my view, is all about family and about how it is to lose one's family, rather than about the shuttle crash and the rescue efforts. I think this episode would have worked better, had everything been shown from Naomi's perspective, and if the truth about the Delta Flyer and her mother had remained still more of a mystery, a bit like already in TNG: "Lower Decks". The way it was actually written and executed, it is rather undecided about its theme and spends too much time on the routine plot in my opinion.

I understand that one reason not to focus even more on Naomi is the intention to work up Neelix's personal history. His family was killed in the metreon cascade many years ago, and the possible death of Naomi's mum reminds him of his own loss. But this analogy is a bit fabricated. Neelix was already an adult when his family died, and he witnessed their deaths, so in his case there was neither doubt nor denial - except the one he imposed on himself. And, as Janeway adds, Naomi still has her godfather Neelix. Overall, linking a present situation on the ship to Neelix's past doesn't work as well as probably intended. "Jetrel" and "Mortal Coil" were far more impressive in this regard.

In some ways, Naomi is a more adult person than Neelix in this story. Not only does she understand concepts such as symbiosis. It also strikes me how she shows sympathy with Neelix, in spite of him being dishonest, which is not exactly a childlike reaction. She asks, "Do you ever pretend that nothing bad happened to your family?" This is an observation for which she would normally have to be a couple of years older. On this and several other occasions, Naomi steals the show from Neelix.

Overall, this story is pleasantly consistent, but aside from the routine rescue operation and the little conflict between Captain Janeway, Neelix and Naomi, nothing of note happens, and everything that does happen is predictable. Well, the series may need such an "easy" installment once in a while. Still, despite the simplicity some things don't fit together as well as they could. For instance, it has no further relevance for the story that Samantha Wildman is severely injured and would need immediate medical attention because no one on Voyager even knows about it. Also, besides the references to Neelix's past, some other analogies in the episode don't make much sense either, such as the "Ogre of Fire" on the holodeck as a symbol for the ion storm. Furthermore, I was waiting in vain for the concept of symbiosis (which is mentioned twice, by Naomi on the holodeck and later by the Doctor) to have a further significance.

Regarding the Flotter holoprogram, some fans may dislike the idea of a "Sesame Street in space", but it should be considered that the crew and their children must have an everyday life. Star Trek even faces frequent reproaches of showing this normalcy too seldom. The Flotter program is one of the things that makes this episode very relatable. I only doubt that the scary "Ogre of Fire" episode would be suitable for children. It looks like it should have the 24th century equivalent of a TV-PG rating.

Annotations

• Continuity: Everyone seems to know holodecks from their childhood, although the technology was praised as brand new in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", just a couple of years earlier. Maybe it's just a continuous improvement of the technology, which has existed for a long time but didn't become a stunningly realistic simulation until the 2360s.
• Nitpicking:
  • The Delta Flyer may have been designed for tough environmental conditions. But even if the shields were intact (which very likely isn't the case after the ion storm hits and everything else fails), it is totally incredible that the shuttle could traverse three kilometers of solid rock and survive.
  • How can a barren rock be Class M and have a breathable atmosphere? An atmosphere that just exists where the away team beams down and not where the Delta Flyer crashed?
• Remarkable dialogue: "Don't move, the Borg lady." - "She has a name, you know." - "Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One. Don't look! She'll assimilate you." - "Naomi, Seven is a nice person. And she's a valuable member of this crew." - "I don't want to be in her Collective." - "I don't think there's much danger of that." (Naomi and Neelix)
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "The Doctor talks too much." (Naomi)
  • "No, thanks. I've had enough. One more cup and I'll jump to warp." (Janeway)
• Flotter episodes shown or mentioned:
  • "Flotter and the Tree Monster"
  • "Trevis and the Terribly Twisted Trunk"
  • "Flotter, Trevis, and the Ogre of Fire"
  • "The one where Flotter suspects Trevis to be a rubber tree. He keeps trying to trip him to see if he'll bounce."
• Remarkable fact: The holographic Flotter remembers Samantha Wildman from her childhood. Unless there is a privacy breach in the Flotter software, this means that it has to be her personal copy of the program she passed on to her daughter.

Rating: 4

 

Timeless

Synopsis

Stardate 52143.6: 15 years in the future, Harry Kim and Chakotay are the only survivors of USS Voyager. They find the ship buried in ice, salvage the Doctor's mobile emitter and Seven of Nine's body and take them to the Delta Flyer where an assistant named Tessa is waiting for them. The two are eager to change history. 15 years ago, a quantum slipstream drive was installed on Voyager. When Tom and Harry found a flaw in the design, Harry and Chakotay took the Delta Flyer to guide the ship through the slipstream by transmitting corrections to the phase variance. But Harry made an error, which caused Voyager to drop off uncontrollably and crash on an ice planet with no survivors. With the help of a stolen Borg temporal transmitter, Harry and the Doctor prepare to send a message back in time to Seven's cranial implant, containing corrected phase data. But the attempt fails. Although Seven receives the corrected data, the disaster happens anyway. Moreover, the USS Challenger under Captain Geordi La Forge is on their heels. The Delta Flyer takes damage, and the warp core is about to breach. Harry has no time to try out still other phase variances, and on the Doctor's advice he sends data that would collapse the slipstream field, thereby preventing the accident but also putting an end to this experimental drive on Voyager.

Commentary

Voyager's episode 100 is special in several ways. The storytelling departs from the usual focus on what happens here and now on Voyager, although this is something we already know from "Living Witness". Also, there is a guest appearance of a Galaxy-class vessel and of LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge. It is always a pleasure to see him. Finally, there are the fantastic visual effects of the crash on the ice planet, which were almost revolutionary for a TV series when they were produced and are totally credible still today. It seems that the producers saved the interesting plot idea and an unusually high budget for this special occasion, and I think it was worth it.

One particular quality of "Timeless" in my view is the dramatic presentation and the way it is directed by LeVar Burton. It is exciting from the very beginning. When we see the ship buried in ice, it is one of the few teasers of the show that really deserve this name. The flashback to the slipstream drive celebration is another very interesting scene. Although everyone except for Tom, the skeptic, is hilarious, a somber atmosphere is created through the camera pans and background music, foreshadowing that something is wrong. I also like how the story switches seamlessly from the events in the present (Delta Flyer being followed by Voyager) to those in the future (Delta Flyer suddenly pursued by Galaxy-class ship).

Chakotay could easily have been involved just as much, but this is Harry Kim's episode. High praise goes to Garrett Wang. He credibly portrays an older Harry, who is disillusioned, guilt-ridden and determined to correct the error he made 15 years ago. He is a different person now, and quite a contrast to the enthusiastic and optimistic young ensign that we see in the scenes set on present-day Voyager. The Doctor and Chakotay are at his side all the time but actually don't have much to say or to do, which is an unusual setup in this series.

I don't begrudge Harry his own episode, but I would have liked to see more of Chakotay and Tessa's relationship though, since once history has been changed they wouldn't ever have met in the first place. This sacrifice ought to have played a greater role in my view but was mentioned only in one brief scene. Maybe "Timeless" could have been an awesome 90-minutes episode for that matter. On the other hand, the fast pace would have been lost.

Although I like the fast pace, I think that in one respect it wasn't beneficial. I don't care that, just as in last week's "Once Upon a Time" there is a race against time, although without the rush there may have been more story opportunities. As the Doctor muses, normally a time traveler would have all the time in the world to try to change the past. What if he and Harry had gotten into an argument whether changing the past is the right thing to do? Or if Chakotay, after talking to Tessa about the impending end of their relationship, had changed his mind? It seems that the urgency to act before Geordi finds and destroys them kills any possible debate about the right course of action.

I like the more "technical" time travel aspects of this story very much, despite the obvious paradox that is even explicitly addressed by Harry, without getting an answer from Janeway.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • After Voyager has dropped off the slipstream field and is out of control, there is a planet at a distance of merely 9 million kilometers. The chance for that is extremely slim in the vastness of interstellar space, especially since a course through slipstream would need to be plotted to avoid planetary systems.
  • Why does Janeway try to land the ship at all after the failed slipstream flight? If it is already hard to stabilize the damaged ship in space, how can she expect to survive the inevitable impact? Wouldn't it have been a much better option to evacuate Voyager?
• Remarkable dialogue: "Wait a second. If I sent a message from the future and changed the past, then that future would no longer exist, right? So, how could I have sent the message in the first place? Am I making any sense?" - "My advice in making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: don't even try. To me all that matters is that somewhere, somehow, sometime, you come through for us." (Harry and Janeway)
• Remarkable quote: "Mr. Neelix, you are an unending source of astonishment." (Tuvok's reaction to Neelix's furfly)
• Remarkable scene: the cut from Voyager's bridge to an exterior shot of the Delta Flyer, which actually shows the shuttle 15 years later, now pursued by the USS Challenger
• Remarkable VFX: the opening scene with the contours of Voyager buried under the ice, and the crash itself
• Remarkable facts:
  • The slipstream core is built with benamite crystals, a substance that will never be mentioned again.
  • Having a Talaxian furfly on board is considered a sign of good fortune among Talaxians.
• Current crew complement: 150 who died in the crash, plus Kim and Chakotay
• Distance bridged: the equivalent of 10 years
• Missed opportunity to get home: #12, because with a bit more luck, more patience and shorter slipstream jumps it may just have worked

Rating: 8

 

Infinite Regress

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Unbeknown to anyone including herself, Seven wakes up during her regeneration cycle, enters the mess hall and rummages through the kitchen like a Klingon. When she is talking with Naomi Wildman in a corridor the next day, she again mutates to a different personality, this time apparently a little girl who loves to play kadis-kot with Naomi. When Seven eventually attacks B'Elanna in engineering, it is obvious that something is wrong with her. She assumes the identities of individuals she assimilated, in something like a multiple personality disorder. This happens under the influence of a Borg vinculum, a device that normally suppresses the individuality in drones and links them together. Voyager approaches a destroyed Borg cube and Janeway allows the vinculum to be beamed aboard with the intention to shut it down. But the device reactivates itself and Seven's own brain pattern even disappears. It also looks like the vinculum has been infected with a pathogen, which led to the destruction of the ship. Voyager runs into Species 6339, who sent a shuttle to be assimilated and to infect the Borg, as revenge for them destroying nearly their whole civilization. Their plan was that the vinculum should spread the pathogen to even more Borg ships. When Janeway refuses to hand out the device, Species 6339 attacks Voyager. A mind meld with Tuvok helps Seven to regain her focus. The link with the vinculum is severed, and Janeway has it beamed out into space for Species 6339 to pick up. Seven can resume her normal life. But before she returns to duty, she insists on talking with Naomi and learning kadis-kot from her.

Commentary

Sometimes the writers don't have better plot ideas than to let a character experience a mental disorder. Provided that the actor is capable, this is an opportunity for the character to exhibit strange and crazy behavior, which can be spiced up with eerie dream or hallucination sequences. We may even label it as comparably effortless because everything is allowed, even expected to be out of character and out of context before the condition will be cured.

"Infinite Regress" is better than this blunt generalized description. This is very much to the credit of Jeri Ryan, who is no just capable but simply terrific in her various roles, even though the Klingon and especially the Ferengi identity are a bit silly and could have turned out cringeworthy. She effectively carries the whole episode. Everything else that happens is of little interest and doesn't even make much sense. It looks like the whole story was built around the idea that Seven suffers from a disorder. It was then attempted to cobble together a line of reasoning how her condition comes about and why it is hard to cure, and only by risking a conflict with an alien species. There is quite some talking about the vinculum, but we never really learn how exactly it malfunctions, why it can't be simply destroyed or switched off or why it is necessary to keep it aboard although Species 6339 is attacking to retrieve it. The vinculum is a badly written plot device that the writers desperately attempt to keep important.

As much as I dislike the frame story about the vinculum, as wonderful is the cute and funny interaction of Seven and Naomi Wildman. And although I claimed that mental disorder stories usually don't have any consequences, I think Seven learns a further lesson. She no longer sees Naomi as the "sub-unit of Ensign Samantha Wildman" but as girl whose mentor and friend she can be.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • Nearly all the assimilated individuals in Seven are from the Alpha Quadrant, although they should amount to only a few thousand among billions.
  • The Doctor suddenly disagrees with mind melds, while he had no objections in "Flashback".
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "Naomi Wildman, sub-unit of Ensign Samantha Wildman, state your intentions." (Seven)
  • "Captain, you can't actually consider this Vulcan mumbo-jumbo." (Doctor's opinion on mind melds)
• Seven's personalities (shown or mentioned): human girl, Klingon, Vulcan, Ferengi, Bolian, Terellian, Tombaugh crew member, mother of a Melbourne crew member, Krenim
• Seven's visions in sickbay (in order of appearance): human girl, unknown alien, red Starfleet man, Klingon, Bajoran, unknown alien, blue Starfleet woman, pig-like alien, another Bajoran, another Klingon, yellow Starfleet woman, "ribbed-face" alien (Yridian?), unknown alien, the first Bajoran again, "pimple-face" alien (Tosk?), Cardassian
• Visions during mind meld: some of the aforementioned plus a Romulan and another Klingon
• Remarkable 47: There are 47 suborders of the Prime Directive.

Rating: 5

 

Nothing Human

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Voyager is struck by an energy wave that contains an incomprehensible message. The ion trail leads to a damaged alien ship. Janeway decides to beam the injured alien to sickbay and secure it with a forcefield. The lifeform, however, breaks through the forcefield and attaches itself to B'Elanna. The transporter is not capable of separating the two without killing the chief engineer. The Doctor concedes that he lacks the specific knowledge about exobiology and suggests to create a holographic consulting program. He chooses the Cardassian physician Crell Moset, who is known for finding a cure for the Fostossa virus while he was on Bajor. The holographic Moset regrets the cruelties of the occupation of Bajor, and he has not recollection of how exactly he saved thousands of lives under such adverse conditions. No one among the crew is happy with the Cardassian hologram, least of all B'Elanna herself. Moset thinks that the alien is cytoplasmic and has become parasitic in order to survive. He suggests to perform a surgical procedure that would kill the creature, but the Doctor insists on saving the alien too. When the program fails and needs to be restarted, Bajoran Ensign Tabor is present and is shocked to see the hologram because members of his family were killed in Moset's medical experiments. There are no records on these atrocities, but Kim and Seven's research reveals that Moset infected patients with the Fostossa virus on purpose. A debate ensues on whether it is ethical to rely on the medical knowledge gained by criminal experiments. Janeway decides to keep the hologram running until B'Elanna is saved. Another alien ship appears just as the two physicians are about to separate the lifeform from B'Elanna. After beaming over the alien, the other ship disappears. Janeway left the decision what to do with the program to the Doctor, who eventually deletes Moset.

Commentary

Voyager does not shy away from ethical controversies that have real-world relevance and that are given a 24th century spin in the best tradition of Star Trek. Only recently in "Night", the show commented on ruthless waste disposal practices. A discussion on the appropriate way to deal with psychic problems will follow in "Latent Image". I think this quality of Voyager is generally underappreciated. Still, while I applaud the intention to address the crimes of a 24th century Mengele in "Nothing Human", it happens in a too contrived setting.

My first problem is that many of the crew criticize or outright despise the hologram from the outset, only because he is Cardassian. While it is still understandable that B'Elanna, who fought against the Cardassians, would not want to be treated by one, Harry Kim's remark that "they're not the friendliest folks in the galaxy" is just the kind of racist attitude that shouldn't exist in Starfleet. And Harry says that without knowing anything about Moset and long before there is any suspicion that the man may be a criminal! The open racism casts a shadow on the story that will unfold, and it clearly lessens the impact of the revelation that Moset conducted cruel experiments on Bajorans. A good Star Trek episode should try to disperse prejudices and not corroborate them.

At several later points of the story, I wonder whether the crew take offense at using a medical database that was gained from inhumane experiments, or merely at the appearance of the Cardassian Crell Moset. The creation of a Cardassian consultant was objectionable in their eyes in the first place, and the discussion repeatedly digresses to the question how to deal with the Moset hologram, rather than with his research. Ultimately, when the Doctor deletes Moset, he only gets rid of the unpleasant holographic representation but the question of what happens with the physician's work remains unanswered. I am aware that the crew of a starship in the Delta Quadrant with only limited access to records can't make a final judgment, but interviewing Ensign Tabor, who happens to be a witness, would be a start.

Tabor is an extremely contrived and totally plot-driven character anyway. He never showed up in the series so far and now he is coincidentally and conveniently present to identify Moset as a murderer. I could have thought of much more plausible ways for the crew to discover the Cardassian's dark secret. Considering that Seven and Kim investigated Cardassian records to find evidence for his crimes, how about the idea that they could have actually been searching for more details about the procedures that were not part of the medical database and then stumbled upon the incriminatory data? After all, the Crell Moset hologram stated he could not remember how exactly he cured the Fostossa virus. There could have been a decent detective story on top of the ethical debate, but the writers decided to make up a witness out of thin air, only to let him vanish after his testimony.

One aspect I really like about the story is how the uncertainty about the holographic Crell Moset is worked out, although or just because many of the crew mistake him for an authentic replica. We have to keep in mind that the Doctor creates the consultant program from a medical database. The physical representation of Crell Moset and perhaps some aspects of his personality may be accurate. He comes across as a bit self-aggrandizing, which is in line with the depictions of other Cardassians, although I admit it too is a bit racist. Overall, Moset appears as the person he wants to be seen as and that Starfleet sees in him, considering that they have no evidence of his crimes. His passing remark that he doesn't know how he could actually cure the Fostossa virus is telling in this regard. So far, the hologram is like an actor playing the actual physician in a documentary that conceals or denies important facts.

When the Doctor confronts Moset with his crimes that the inaccurate hologram naturally has no recollection of, he could react in different ways. I would have preferred Moset to despair because after all he was programmed to be a person with remorse for Cardassian crimes on Bajor. But the writers decided to let him defend his misdeeds, a bit like Gul Dukat praising himself as the best friend of the Bajoran people. I can understand that this may work better in the context of the story, whose goal it is to deconstruct Moset. But thinking even further about it, the hologram has been running for just a couple of hours. He had not time to to develop a personality of his own, and all he can do is respond the way he was programmed. This leaves the bad taste of a programming that uses stereotypes of Cardassians being dismissive or defensive, rather than admitting errors.

Although I have issues with several aspects of the story, "Nothing Human" is an overall appropriate discussion about medical ethics. I personally agree with Janeway's decision to use the unethical research to help B'Elanna - because nothing would be more unethical than to let someone of her crew die although a cure is available. The case would have been different if the question had been whether to save B'Elanna at the expense of the alien's life. Regarding the objection that it should not be allowed to profit from cruel experiments because that would only be an invitation to perform new ones, I think that is what laws are for, at least in the Federation. And as I already mentioned, rather than an indiscriminate ban on anything related to Moset, it would be more useful to investigate what actually happened, to honor his victims and to ensure it never gets forgotten and can never be denied.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • In "Message in a Bottle", Harry utterly failed in creating an interactive replacement for the Doctor, while the Moset program works perfectly after only a few minutes of programming.
  • Specific supporting characters seem to be created whenever needed, and suddenly there is another Bajoran on board who coincidentally and conveniently for the story turns out to be a witness of Moset's crimes.
  • It seems unlikely that Moset gained the specific knowledge to separate the alien organism from B'Elanna on his criminal experiments on Bajorans. The evidence points to him infecting patients with the Fostossa virus, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with surgical procedures involving alien organisms.
• Remarkable dialogue: "What happened to going to yellow alert after half an hour?" - "Commander Chakotay appears to have disobeyed a direct order." - "Definitely grounds for court-martial." (B'Elanna, Tuvok and Janeway after their "unforgettable experience" of the Doctor's holographic slide show)
• Remarkable quote: "Harry, you and I were lucky enough to enjoy the Doctor's scintillating exhibition for two full hours, would it really be fair to deny our friends the same unforgettable experience?" (Chakotay)

Rating: 4

 

Thirty Days

Synopsis

Stardate 52179.4: Voyager discovers a planet that consists entirely of water, held together by a containment field. Lieutenant Paris is particularly fascinated. Three small ships emerge from the ocean and begin to fire on Voyager but cause only insignificant damage. Captain Janeway explains that she just wants to explore the planet, upon which the inhabitants, the Moneans, agree to a meeting. They found the planet they call "The Waters" 300 years ago, not knowing how it was created, and are worried that it has begun to shrink. Tom Paris, Harry Kim, Seven of Nine and Monean scientist Riga take the Delta Flyer on a mission into the depths of the ocean where no Monean has gone before. They discover that the water is held together by gravity generators 600 kilometers beneath the surface. Also, it turns out that the large-scale oxygen production of the Moneans is the reason for the gradual loss of containment and causes more and more water to dissipate. Paris urges Janeway to stop the Moneans from destroying their own planet, but she rebukes him, citing the Prime Directive. Against his explicit orders, Paris joins forces with Riga and takes the Delta Flyer to sabotage the industrial facilities. Janeway stops him with a photon torpedo. Paris is demoted to ensign and sentenced to 30 days of confinement.

Commentary

It is a pattern that ever since B'Elanna and Tom are a couple there are repeatedly stories about a pastime or passion getting one of them into trouble. "Thirty Days" is in good company with "Vis à Vis", "Extreme Risk", "Juggernaut" or "Alice" in this regard. However, it is also noteworthy that it hardly ever leads to a relationship conflict, with the notable exception of "Alice". B'Elanna could and perhaps should have had a more significant role in the story of "Thirty Days". She doesn't even appear as Tom is in the brig.

Other than that, the attempt to tie in Tom's private life with the main plot is largely successful this time, unlike in "Vis à Vis". We might object that his fascination for the ocean and for Jules Verne may appear as more plausible, had it been hinted at in an earlier episode. Then again, when Voyager arrives in orbit of a planet after roaming the vastness of space, it is usually not a priority to explore marine life. In "Thirty Days", in contrast, the mystery about the planet itself is so fascinating that it warrants an investigation and lets Tom's childhood dreams resurface.

On one hand, "Thirty Days" tells a quite simple story. On the other hand, it is littered with facts. We learn a lot about the Monean homeworld, such as that it is some 100,000 years old and that it was built by extracting all water from a Class-M planet, which took 200 years. But all this information is only circumstantial because it boils down to the planet being endangered by the shortsightedness and stubbornness of its own inhabitants, a bit like already in "Night". This revelation doesn't even come as a surprise because the trailer anticipated that Tom would disobey his orders to save this paradise.

If I'm not mistaken it is the first time in Star Trek that an episode begins with the modern stylistic device of a flashforward. I didn't like it back in the day, and I'm still not fond of it today. Actually, the whole frame story including Tom's time in the brig with "bread and water" and the letter he writes to his dad was included because some ten more minutes of footage were needed.

As opposed to Tom, the rebel with a cause, Janeway leaves an ambiguous impression in my book. Her actions are rigorous as usual and justified as discipline on the ship is concerned. I could accept it if she were consequential. But I wonder if Janeway ever reflected on her own violations of the Prime Directive ("Night" anyone?) or on B'Elanna's (in "Remember")? The outcome of this episode is that in the absence of any admirals, Janeway is the boss of the Delta Quadrant, and she is the only one to break the rules or to decide whether a rule has been broken.

The perhaps most memorable aspect about "Thirty Days" is its beautiful CG imagery. The episode is action-loaded and quite exciting at times. But it feels like more could have been done to develop the story.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • At the very beginning, Janeway says: "Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris, I hereby reduce you to the rank of ensign, and I sentence you to 30 days solitary confinement." When the same scene is replayed at the end, a dialogue before Janeway's statement is added, but this time the personal address is omitted: "At least this time I broke the rules for reason, for something I believed in." - "I admire your principles, Tom, but I can't ignore what you've done. I hereby reduce you..."
  • The Delta Flyer crew is said to be "uploading" the database from the submarine structure, which should be "downloading".
• Remarkable characters: The Delaney sisters show up eventually.
• Remarkable 47: The Monean homeworld is rules by 47 local sovereigns.
• Photon torpedoes used: 1

Rating: 6

 

Counterpoint

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Voyager is on the way through Devore territory. The Devore subject the ship to frequent rigorous inspections, whose only goal is to find telepaths. In their society, telepathy is considered subversive and has been banned. Janeway instructs the crew to cooperate with the inspectors, while the telepathic crew members of the ship such as Tuvok and also a number of Brenari refugees are hiding in the transporter buffer. The captain needs to find a way to speed up their journey through Devore territory because frequent transporter suspension leads to cellular degradation. The ship heads for a nebula two days away. Suddenly, the head of the inspection team, Kashyk, appears alone in a shuttle and requests asylum. He knows of the refugees and says that the nebula is a trap set up by his people. Kashyk also helps the crew to pinpoint a wormhole that the Brenari may use to escape. As the Devore ships are already close, he offers to lead the next inspection personally to ensure the refugees are not detected. When Kashyk reappears with the other inspectors, he blows the whistle on the plan and orders a photon torpedo to be fired to collapse the wormhole. However, Janeway was prepared for the deception. The refugees are on shuttles on the way to the real wormhole. In order not to have the failure to capture the Brenari on their records, the inspectors cover up the incident, and Voyager is free to leave.

Commentary

"Counterpoint" is the art of combining different melodies or, in a figurative sense, of different opinions. This episode is remarkable because of its unusual, almost surrealistic atmosphere created by the classical music of Mahler and Tchaikovsky and by the interplay of Janeway and Kashyk that the music corresponds with. At times Kashyk is triumphant, then again it is Janeway. Is there really an emotional attachment or even a romantic relationship emerging between the two at any time or are both of them just pretending? Mutual mistrust may make a person appear very attractive. But neither of the two confess their true feelings, not even in the end.

It is a pity that the motivation why the Devore keep chasing telepaths with such a passion remains a mystery. Kashyk states that they defy the principle of trust by simply reading other people's minds, but other than that it plays no role in the story. We never see any Devore other than the military, and we can't be certain whether it is a dictatorship that needs to conceal its lies and deceptions from the population (the probable intention) or whether the Devore are actually a society that has been manipulated by telepaths in the past.

Well, the contrast between telepaths and "normal" people has a symbolic significance. Janeway and Kashyk only manage to deceive each other because they can't read each other's mind. Then again, if they both were telepathic, maybe their game would be much the same. Who knows.

Overall, "Counterpoint" is an entertaining and thrilling episode that has aged well.

Annotations

• Continuity:
  • Voyager's crew complement has never been quite consistent. Regarding telepaths on the ship, we may accept that there is suddenly a Betazoid woman (Jurot) that has never appeared before and will never be seen again.
  • The only Vulcans in this episode are Tuvok and Vorik, although in "Flashback" Tuvok mentioned "the other Vulcans on the ship". This will become a nasty inconsistency in "Repression" when there is suddenly a female Vulcan crew member.
  • Why is Lt. Stadi, the Betazoid woman at the helm, not listed among the other deceased telepathic crew members? And what about Kes?
  • What happened to the large shuttlebay where the Delta Flyer was built and is launched from? In this episode the shuttlebay is merely big enough to hold the small Devore shuttle, unless this is the infamous second shuttlebay.
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "You created false readings!" - "That is the theme for this evening, isn't it?" (Kashyk and Janeway)
  • "Prax, do you have the telepaths?" - "I have cargo containers... filled with vegetables!" (Kashyk and Prax)
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "Federations, Imperiums. Why do you people feel such a need to align yourselves with monolithic organizations?" (Torat)
  • "Interspatial flexure? Why didn't you say so in the first place? He said wormhole, a layman's term that that covers any number of phenomena. I am familiar with a certain anomaly that could be categorized as an interspatial flexure." (Torat)
• Remarkable alien: Professor Torat with his pump-up nose. We kept laughing for a minute when we first watched it, and still today!
• Photon torpedoes used: 1
• Shuttles lost: 2, given to the refugees

Rating: 8

 

Latent Image

Synopsis

Stardate not given: As he is taking photos with his holocamera, the Doctor notices that, some 18 months ago, he performed a neurosurgery on Harry Kim he has no recollection of. Kim says he can't remember it either. The Doctor turns to Seven of Nine, who agrees to run a diagnostic of his program. But when she returns to sickbay one hour later and reactivates the Doctor, he doesn't remember the request. The suspicious scans of Harry Kim are gone as well. They discover that someone has been tampering with his memory files. The two head for the holodeck, where they recover deleted old photos from a time Seven was not yet aboard, showing the birthday party of an unknown female ensign. They also manage to access fragmentary memory files about an attack on a shuttle, in which this ensign was seriously wounded. Janeway and Tuvok call the authenticity of the evidence into question and blame unknown aliens for the data manipulations. Before the Doctor deactivates himself, he makes sure that a backup is available and sets up a trap for the case of new tampering. When he wakes up, he discovers that no one else but Captain Janeway deleted his memories once again. It turns out that one and a half years ago, a shuttle was attacked by an unknown species. The Doctor made a decision that saved Harry but entailed the death of Ensign Jetal. His program ran out of control. To prevent him from self-destruction, Janeway decided to erase the events and anything related to them from his memory. Although Seven argues that the Doctor has a right to keep his memories, Janeway is going to delete them all over again. However, after reviewing the events together with the Doctor, she changes her mind and decides to help him cope with the traumatic experience.

Commentary

"Latent Image" starts off as a very entertaining criminal case, which is solved after about 20 minutes and then unexpectedly makes way for an ethical discourse.

There is a lot of tough stuff in this episode. Who is to decide which patient is to be treated with priority? Who is to decide whether to intervene when a person, real or holographic, shows self-destructive tendencies? In some way, these two issues are related to each other. Yet, the Doctor had to find a quick solution when both Jetal and Kim were in a critical condition. There is no such thing as blaming him for doing anything wrong. After all, he managed to save one patient against the odds. Janeway and her crew, on the other hand, would have had a lot more time to try out a cure for the Doctor's condition, and it is not clear in how far it was simple convenience to erase everything bad inside him.

The Doctor has come a long way from the mere piece of advanced software he was upon his initial activation to the individual he is now. Had the fateful incident occurred in the first season, Janeway would definitely have erased the memories. Quite possibly she might even have reset the program to factory defaults. But if the chronology is correct, Jetal died some time in the third season, after the crew had already taken considerable efforts to preserve the Doctor's complete program and thereby his individuality in "The Swarm". In this regard, it is an unfortunate setback that Janeway compares the Doctor to the replicator in her quarters (which likely produces nothing but coffee).

Somewhat surprisingly, it is Seven, who argues that the memories of the Doctor should be preserved. Maybe this is partially because she wasn't yet around and didn't witness him becoming unstable 18 months ago, but she definitely shows a unusual sense for individual rights. Her response to Janeway equating the Doctor with a replicator is that part of herself is technology as well. However, Seven's reasoning too becomes inappropriate when she surmises that Janeway may abandon her just like she did with the Doctor.

I like the ethical debate that takes place especially between Janeway and Seven, but I think too much of the second half of the episode is spent on the flashbacks. At some point it is not so interesting any more to see the events from 18 months ago in detail. Rather than that, I think the story should have shown the evolution of a plan to help the Doctor cope with his memories.

I like and dislike at the same time that the eventual treatment is much the same as that of a human patient in psychiatry. It serves to illustrate that the Doctor has evolved beyond the state of being a technical device. On the other hand, there should still be considerable differences, and I wonder how sitting on a couch is supposed to help.

Well, in an advocatus diaboli objection we may ask what is so bad about keeping away harmful memories anyway. I'm thinking of TNG: "Clues", where the goal was to hide all evidence of the aliens from both the computer and the crew's memories. I wonder if Data has any problems to keep his secret. But if we suppose that all computer data can been deleted without a trace, who can guarantee that someone doesn't accidentally mention Ensign Ahni Jetal in the Doctor's presence? Even if we take a different stance on individual rights, there are reasons why ultimately the truth is the best choice.

Annotations

• Remarkable quotes:
  • "I am having trouble with the nature of individuality." (Seven to Janeway, and later Janeway to Seven)
  • "Et tu, Tuvok." (The Doctor, when he accuses the crew of a conspiracy)
  • "In that book which is my memory, on the first page of the chapter, that is the day when I first met you, appear the words, 'here begins a new life'." (Doctor, reading from La Vita Nuova)
• Remarkable CG effect: The 3D scans of Ensign Kim's body would not look a lot better if they were remade today.
• Crew losses: 1 (18 months ago)

Rating: 6

 

Bride of Chaotica!

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Tom and Harry are playing a Captain Proton program on the holodeck and land their rocket ship on Planet X, where Dr. Chaotica's Fortress of Doom is located. Suddenly something interferes with the holodeck controls. The two are unable to pause the program and have to use the transporter to exit. Voyager gets stuck in a subspace layer and drops out of warp. Unbeknownst to the crew, photonic aliens materialize in the still running holonovel and mistake Dr. Chaotica's minions for actual lifeforms. The latter react with hostility as programmed. As holographic ray guns and particularly the villain's principal weapon, the death ray, are capable of killing the aliens, they strike back and attack the Fortress of Doom. When the crew detects the weapons fire, Tom returns to the holodeck with Tuvok. They encounter one of the aliens but don't manage to open negotiations because they are no lifeforms in his view. It is now up to the Doctor, who poses as the President of Earth, to convince the photonic beings to form an alliance with Captain Proton against Dr. Chaotica. Janeway, on the other hand, plays the role of Queen Arachnia and bewitches the villain with the goal to disable the lightning shield around his fortress. When Arachnia agrees to marry him, Chaotica promises to lower the shield to allow her people to worship them. But he notices the deception and traps her in his confinement rings. Janeway aka Arachnia opens a bottle with her pheromones and gets Chaotica's aide Lonzak to release her. She grabs his ray gun and forces Chaotica to lower the shield, upon which Tom's crew in Proton's ship fires the destructo beam and destroys the death ray. The photonic aliens leave the holodeck and thereby release the ship from the subspace layer. Chaotica is fatally wounded, but he promises to return.

Commentary

There is one conspicuous similarity between "Bride of Chaotica!" and the first-season episode "Heroes and Demons". In both stories, photonic beings mistake the holographic scenario for a natural environment and thereby cause trouble on the ship. Other than that, the two episodes couldn't be more different. "Heroes and Demons" was primarily designed as a character-building episode for the Doctor. But although his involvement as the only one who could handle photonic lifeforms is similar in "Bride of Chaotica!", his role is a lot smaller. The holographic environment itself is a lot more important this time and much more than just a backdrop. Also, "Bride of Chaotica!" makes excellent use of the given 45 minutes, filling it with lots of character interaction, trivia, jokes and unexpected twists. Although it may seem unfair to compare a drama with a heavy-hearted ending to a fun adventure, I think "Bride of Chaotica!" outperforms the original episode about photonic lifeforms in every regard.

The only thing I really dislike with regard to "Heroes and Demons" is that there is not the slightest reference to the events of that episode, as if the whole situation and the existence of photonic beings were completely new. For once there is a chance to create great intra-series consistency, but no one cares.

"Bride of Chaotica!" is a fun episode in the first place. And while it is obviously based on the style of old serials, it is also a parody of Star Trek itself. The scene in which Proton's rocket ship crashes could take place on a "real" Federation ship as well. When Tom is repairing the weird old technology of Satan's Robot and Tuvok comments on his dedication, it clearly refers to Trek fans and their reception in the real world. Well, maybe everyone's reactions to Tom's world of Captain Proton are a bit overdone. I'm thinking of Janeway's and Tuvok's too frequent incredulous or embarrassed reactions. In my view the many instances of "I beg your pardon?" and "Excuse me?" are a slight nuisance, rather than a running gag.

Annotations

• Nitpicking: There is one fundamental logical problem with the photonic beings. They recognize the environment on the holodeck as a "planet". This would imply that they do know real planets as objects in our three-dimensional world. On the other hand, they must have noticed that "Planet X" is photonic and therefore not real, unless there exists something like planets in their photonic environment in subspace, which is highly unlikely.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "All life is photonic." (the photonic being)
  • "Intruders from the fifth dimension!" (Satan's Robot)
  • "And, um, use grandiose language. He likes to be called 'Sire', and it helps to say things like 'The clever fiendishness of your evil plan is brilliant!'" (Tom to Janeway, who is about to play Queen Arachnia)
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "We didn't burst into flames in the last chapter! Why are these recaps always so inaccurate?" - "Well, they brought people back to the theaters." - "Cliffhangers." - "The lost art of hyperbole." (Harry and Tom, alluding to narrative techniques of movie/TV serials)
  • "Planet X looks kinda familiar. What was the last place we went to?" - "The Mines of Mercury." - "They're identical." - "Sets were expensive. At least there's no erupting volcano this time." (Harry and Tom, in still another comment on old serials and also on Star Trek)
• Remarkable "technobabble": [Tom is repairing Satan's Robot] "Looks like he burnt out a resistor." - "A what?" - "That's a few centuries before duotronic circuitry." - "I see. How do you propose we repair him?" - "Ha, first of all, we got to move this damaged tube. No problems. Just a few crossed wires." - "Your knowledge of this technology is impressive." (Tom and Tuvok)
• Remarkable scene: [topic: Queen Arachnia] Tom: "Somebody is going to have to take on her character." - Janeway: "Who'd you have in mind?" [looks away and then realizes that Tom is looking at her] "Oh, no!" - Paris: "It's the role of your lifetime!" - Tuvok: "Captain, need I remind you that we have exhausted all other possibilities of escaping this layer of subspace." - Chakotay: "'til we can eliminate those distortions, we're trapped." - Seven: "Think of it as Starfleet's first encounter with Planet X."
• Remarkable mistake: Tom's hands are shown holding a telegraph print-out which is upside-up. However, since it is running through his hands from the left to the right, it would have to be upside-down.
• Current crew complement: 150, as stated by Neelix

Rating: 8

 

Gravity

Synopsis

Stardate 52438.9: A shuttle with Tuvok, Paris and the Doctor crashes down on a desert planet. As Tom returns to the shuttle after exploring the region, an alien woman holds him at gunpoint and steals his equipment. But then she is ambushed herself by other aliens and saved by Tuvok, who learns that her name is Noss. The three seek shelter in her starship where Tom manages to reactivate the EMH, but Tuvok announces the program should remain off most of the time in case a power supply is needed. The situation seems hopeless as they are trapped inside a gravity well. The shuttle's engines are beyond repair, and the signal of the emergency transmitter doesn't penetrate the anomaly. Whereas only two days have passed on Voyager, Tom and Tuvok are on the planet for two months now. Noss has feelings for Tuvok that the Vulcan does not reciprocate. He tells Tom that when he was a young man, he fell in love with a Terrellian girl and his feelings totally controlled him. Only a time of study and meditation with a Vulcan master helped him cope with his erratic emotions. Time is pressing on Voyager, as Supervisor Yost of Renovation Team Nova is going to seal the gravity well in less than a day. Janeway launches the multispatial probe and sends a message. She tells Tom and Tuvok to remain close to the emergency transmitter to be beamed back in 30 minutes. This translates to as long as two days on the planet, while hostile aliens are approaching the shelter. When they are about to disable the forcefield just minutes before the scheduled beam-up, Noss decides to go and hold them back, arguing that it would be logical to risk just one life. But Tuvok follows her. They make it in time and are beamed aboard Voyager. When Noss is about to leave the ship, Tuvok shares his mind with her, and she finally understands him.

Commentary

At this point of the series, I'm tired of shuttle crashes as plot devices. The idea that some of our heroes are trapped in a hostile environment and besieged by equally hostile aliens is unappealing. Moreover, the story of "Gravity" overdramatizes the low chances for the rescue of Tom, Tuvok and the Doctor in several gratuitous escalation stages. Janeway states that the sinkhole is a one-way phenomenon, which would have absolutely sufficed to illustrate the desperate prospect for the marooned crew members. Then Supervisor Yost appears and announces to close the gravity well in one day, which is a contrived coincidence because we know it must have existed for at least 14 years already. But this apparently is still not yet enough of a threat scenario because Chakotay says the phenomenon is going to collapse and crush everyone inside. Yost reappears ahead of schedule to do his work and thereby further aggravates the situation. Finally, after two months during which our heroes could fend off the hostile aliens, the forcefield protecting them comes down just when they are going to be beamed back.

It would have been more credible with half as many complications. What's more, it may have allowed to show how the crew on Voyager develops a plan how to penetrate the anomaly. Considering what a big fuss the story makes about the situation being hopeless, the rescue is very effortless.

The character stories on the planet work a lot better than everything related to their rescue. Full credit for saving the episode from boredom goes to Noss (Lori Petty), a refreshingly different guest star. She may not be eloquent, but she repeatedly hits the nail with her remarks. It may appear like a pity that we never learn her back story. Then again, Noss defines herself by living here and now. As sad as it is, she doesn't have a future and may have pushed the past back.

I would not have expected Tuvok to reciprocate her feelings in the first place. On several previous occasions, he gave me the impression that his Vulcan control of feelings was only surpassed by his loyalty. It is an unexpected revelation that Tuvok was emotionally unbalanced as a young man, after he had fallen in love with a non-Vulcan. Actually, I think it would have had more of an impact to show the flashback with young Tuvok later in the episode instead of already in the teaser. Anyway, this past experience adds an additional layer of precaution to Tuvok's behavior. On the other hand, does this really mean that Tuvok would inevitably become unstable again if he admitted his feelings for Noss? Does this mean he would have to repel and thereby hurt her? He makes up for his coldheartedness in the end, when he mind-melds with Noss, but he could have done something to ease the tension earlier. We could impute that he uses his difficult childhood too much like an excuse, to Tom and to himself.

I like the scenes with Tuvok and Tom, in which Tom tries to convince Tuvok to accept their fate, just as Chakotay did in "Resolutions". I only wonder if not rather Tom would be the one who would never give up, as hopeless as it may seem.

Overall, despite my complaints about the plot contrivances, I like this episode more than I apparently did over 20 years ago. I raise the rating from three to five points.

Annotations

• Remarkable quotes:
  • "If I were to deny feelings, why was I born with them? Where's the logic in that?" (young Tuvok)
  • "I'm a doctor, not a battery." (the Doctor, as he is going to be deactivated because his power cell may still be needed)
  • "Logic. I hate logic!" (Noss)
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "I would question everything you say." - "You would not be a worthy pupil otherwise." (Tuvok and the Vulcan master)
  • [Tuvok tells Noss that he is the chief of security] "What else?" - "Can you be more specific?" - "Your duties? Where do you sleep? What you eat? Music? Friends?" - "Why is any of that relevant?" - "Because it is you." (Noss and Tuvok)
• Remarkable 47's: Janeway states the time differential is 0.4744 seconds per minute. Tuvok calculates that the scheduled 30 minutes until the beam-out would last 2d 11h 47s on the planet. This is actually a mistake, unless he uses the length of a day on the planet with a precision of at least one second. Based on the Captain's figure he should have arrived at 2d 15h 14min 16s. The writer obviously tried to involve as many 47's as possible.
• Remarkable facts:
  • The planet is Class D.
  • Young Tuvok fell in love with the daughter of a T*r(r)el(l)ian diplomat. The subtitles read "Terrellian".
• Remarkable appearance: Joseph Ruskin (1924-2013), who plays the Vulcan master, is one of the few veteran actors who appeared both in TOS and in the second generation of Trek.
• Current crew complement: 152, as mentioned by Tuvok
• Shuttles lost: 1

Rating: 5

 

Bliss

Synopsis

Stardate 52542.3: Directly in the ship's flight path, Voyager's crew discovers a wormhole leading straight to Sector 001. When the further sensor readings show no anomalies, Janeway casts away the initial worries about this being a possible deception. Everyone is excited to return to Earth and is strangely blissful. Only Seven of Nine remains skeptical, as well as Naomi Wildman. Seven contacts another ship headed for the wormhole and receives a warning. But the communication gets deleted. Moreover, the EMH is shut down by the crew, as the passage through the wormhole would purportedly interfere with holographic systems. Then Chakotay announces that Seven herself is to go into stasis, allegedly because of worries that the Borg may discover her presence. She beams to main engineering to stop the ship and erects a forcefield. But Janeway sends an EM pulse through her console that knocks her out. The ship is now being devoured by some kind of creature, while the crew is asleep and has pleasant dreams of returning home. Naomi wakes up Seven, and they contact the other ship again, offering the pilot, a man named Qatai, to fight the creature together. Qatai says that the "monster" creates telepathic illusions of everyone's strongest desires to trap them inside and digest them. He lost his whole family on a colony ship that was lured inside with the prospect of there being a lush green planet. The Doctor wakes up B'Elanna, but she is still caught in a fake reality. While Qatai proposes to use weapons, the Doctor suggests to make Voyager "taste bad" by releasing antimatter and igniting it. After the first attempt, Seven reports that the ship has cleared the digestive tract, but Qatai knows she has been fooled because that is just what she wanted to happen. The second antimatter burst sets both ships free. The crew offers Qatai to repair his ship, but the alien prefers to continue his monster hunt immediately.

Commentary

The story of "Bliss" uses the traditional concept that the whole crew is under alien influence such as in TOS: "This Side of Paradise" and most notably in TNG: "The Game", and that it is up to a single unaffected character to regain control. Even the roles are somehow the same as in the TNG episode. Seven is "Wesley Crusher" and arranges forcefields and emergency beam-outs whenever necessary, Naomi is "Robin Lefler" and relies on Seven's skills, the Doctor is "Data" and gets deactivated by the brainwashed crew because he could find out the truth. Still, it is not to the episode's disadvantage that the underlying plot and its execution are similar. It is just too good an idea to be used only once in the franchise. Also, the script incorporates the Voyager-specific element that the Delta Quadrant is full of wormholes or other opportunities to return home fast, which routinely turn out unusable because of reasons. The sudden appearance of a perfect wormhole in "Bliss" that is illusory is an almost self-ironic comment on the trope.

In a way, the effect on the crew in "Bliss" is more insidious and thereby more powerful than in "The Game" because the "monster" exploits everyone's innermost desires instead of simply stimulating the brain's reward center. So Voyager's crew are not mind-controlled; they act on their own, driven by the force of imagination. In this regard, DS9: "If Wishes Were Horses" comes to mind, where an alien lifeform made the crew's dreams, albeit rather the silly and superficial ones, come true likewise.

The above issues aside, I have only a few random things to note about the episode. One aspect I dislike about "Bliss" is to see yet another space-dwelling creature. A further point of criticism is that Ensign Wildman does not appear, although her presence would have been required at least two or three times in the episode (unless we posit that Naomi is closer to Neelix and Seven than to her own mother). Qatai as the "local monster expert" is a great guest character, always somewhere between completely mad and completely sensible. I also like the unsettling atmosphere in the dream sequences of the crew, although the dreams themselves are very pleasant - and amusing for the viewer especially in the case of Neelix's appointment as an ambassador. Finally, this time Harry can note in his favor that he isn't the only one to be overly enthusiastic about the discovery of a wormhole.

Annotations

• Nitpicking: Voyager was only several million kilometers away, but suddenly their distance to Qatai's ship inside the anomaly/entity is 3.4ly.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "Can we first contact with somebody or get a space battle?" (Naomi)
  • "The odds of finding such an anomaly are infinitesimal." (Seven)
  • "I'm a doctor, not a dragonslayer." (Doctor)
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "My mom says two hands are better than one. Isn't that the Borg philosophy too?" - "Simplistic, but accurate." (Naomi and Seven)
  • "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." - "Your ship is being devoured. I'd say that's an emergency." (the Doctor and Qatai)
• Remarkable starship: Qatai's ship will appear with slight modifications in several later episodes.
• Remarkable fact: Qatai began his "monster hunt" 39 years ago, after the Nokaro, a ship with a crew of 3000, including his whole family, was devoured by the lifeform.

Rating: 5

 

Dark Frontier

Synopsis

Stardate 52619.2: After destroying a Borg probe, Janeway is happy about the small victory. But to everyone's disappointment the transwarp coil salvaged from the wreckage is beyond repair. When the data retrieved from the probe shows a damaged Borg sphere, Janeway comes up with a daring plan to steal an intact transwarp coil from that vessel. She assigns Seven of Nine the task to study her parents' research on the Borg to find weaknesses, and also to familiarize herself with her past. Unbeknownst to the crew, Seven receives a message from the Borg Queen, offering to spare Voyager in exchange for her return to the Collective. She becomes uneasy and makes mistakes, but when Janeway wants he to stay aboard Voyager, Seven insists on joining the away team. A shuttle is launched as a bait for the Borg to lower their shields. The away team beams aboard, removes the transwarp coil and is on their way back to the transport coordinates. But Seven stays behind. After the sphere has arrived at a huge compound, the Unicomplex, the Borg Queen welcomes her back. On Voyager, Janeway is working on a plan to find and retrieve Seven. She discovers the message from the Borg Queen, which gives a boost to her determination because she now knows Seven didn't leave on her own will. On the Queen's ship, the Queen tells Seven that she is valuable to the Collective because of her unique perspective. As a kind of test, she is to assist in the assimilation of species 10029, 329,000 individuals in total. When Seven witnesses the assimilation process, she steps in and helps a small group escape their fate. The Queen notices that these individuals are not yet assimilated but then complies with Seven's wish to let them go. The Queen's plan is to release a biogenic charge in Earth's orbit to assimilate humanity. Seven refuses to collaborate and faces her re-assimilation. Janeway, Tuvok, Tom and the Doctor take the Delta Flyer and enter the transwarp network using the transwarp coil. They trace the course of the sphere and arrive at the Borg Unicomplex where they can move without being detected by the Borg thanks to multiadaptive shielding according to Magnus Hansen's specs. Janeway beams over to the Queen's chamber. Seven takes down the dispersal field, upon which Tom can beam everyone out. The Delta Flyer opens a transwarp conduit, with the Borg in pursuit. As the Delta Flyer has exited near Voyager, Chakotay gives the order to destroy the conduit with photon torpedoes. When the Borg ships drop out as well, they consist of nothing but debris. Using the transwarp coil, Voyager covers a distance of 20,000 light-years until the device burns out.

Commentary

Unlike the conventional two-part episodes, "Dark Frontier" originally aired as a 90-minute TV movie. The format may be one reason why the plot is rather straightforward, and much of the time is dedicated to character development, trivia and visual effects. What could I want more? The focus is on Seven and her "moms": the Borg Queen and Janeway. The two not only struggle for Seven's loyalty, they also care about her well-being or at least pretend to, as far as the Borg Queen is concerned. At some point I thought it may have been a great idea to also show real mother in more than only the flashbacks. Then again, it would have been just too contrived to involve her more. We actually see Seven's father as a drone, but only for a few seconds and only to demonstrate that he doesn't belong to her family any more.

There are similarities to the story of "Star Trek: First Contact", in which the Borg Queen attempted to bribe Data, ostensibly because the android can't be assimilated and the Borg need the access codes of the ships from his brain. In Seven's case, the Queen's expectations are still higher. The former drone is supposed to support the Collective on her own will, for which the Borg Queen makes unusual concessions, such as not re-assimilating her and sparing the lives of the members of Species 10029 that Seven rescued. To the Borg, Seven is the missing link to understand humanity. It only doesn't become obvious why exactly her support is supposed to be so crucial and why the Borg don't just abduct any other human. On the other hand, I wouldn't have expected the Queen to tell her everything.

When Seven decides to rejoin the Collective, it seems to be her plan to get it over with and simply be re-assimilated, thereby saving Voyager and having no further responsibilities. That is also Janeway's suspicion as she discovers the secret transmissions of the Borg Queen. However, when Seven is aboard the Queen's ship, she gives the impression that it was her own wish to return, rather than that she was coerced. The Queen's announcement that she will keep her individuality and that there are still plans with her should trouble Seven. We would expect her to react with defiance and perhaps to remind the Queen of the silent agreement, but she plays along rather nicely. She even passes the test when the Queen asks her to propose a countermeasure against the weapons of Species 10029. At this point, it really looks like part of Seven is in support of the Borg, and that only the experience of the brutality of the assimilation makes her change her mind. This all may be ambiguous by design, but I would have liked some cue about what is really going on in Seven.

As for the Hansens, I think they are incredibly naive and adventurous. And bad parents. Seriously, what are they thinking when they follow the Borg ship into the transwarp conduit and end up in the Delta Quadrant, with no realistic chance to ever return home? Erin Hansen herself lampshades their actions when she notes that they have burned all bridges by deviating from their flight plan. But if they don't intend to return anyway, what is the goal of all their research except for satisfying their own curiosity? While they are not the most likable characters, the back story about the Hansens is very interesting. I especially like how they study the Borg much like they are wild animals and how they give them nicknames. And even though the Borg are shown as too weak and harmless compared to how they are on all other occasions, it makes sense in the story that the Hansens could find various ways to elude them because they had the time for it. Overall, the combination of the flashbacks and the present time works as well as in few other episodes.

I don't like that "Dark Frontier" is another instance of the "drive-of-the-week" trope. It is a stretch that a small part from a Borg vessel, namely a transwarp coil, could make the big ship much more powerful and much faster. Moreover, considering that warp coils are huge components inside the warp nacelles, I expect nothing less of a transwarp coil. I also wonder why the idea to get hold of such a coil comes so late. They would have had much better opportunities twice, in "Unity" and in "Scorpion". Also, at the end of "Dark Frontier", it may have been possible to salvage a few more warp coils from the debris of the destroyed ship. Giving Voyager exactly one coil is too obviously a trick to get the ship closer but not too close to home.

Overall, this is not a flawless episode but a very exciting one. I cherish the decision to turn "Dark Frontier" into a movie, rather than a two-part episode, a format that too often struggles with convoluted plot threads that the second part tries hard to resolve.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • The Hansens knew about the Borg long before the Enterprise was introduced to them by Q in "Q Who?". The Hansens didn't even accidentally run into a cube, they went searching for them and they had informed the Federation Council. If the Borg were more than just legends from the past, namely from Lily ("Star Trek: First Contact") or the El-Aurians ("Star Trek: Generations"), why didn't Picard know anything?
  • A related issue: How can there be already a Ktarian drone when the Hansens examine the Borg ship in the 2350's and a far way from the Alpha Quadrant?
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "I don't know about you, but I feel lucky today." (Janeway gets cynical after the destruction of the Borg probe)
  • "Now this is how I prefer the Borg - in pieces." (Janeway gets cynical again)
  • "Seven of Nine, be efficient." (Borg Queen)
  • "There are three things to remember about being a starship captain: keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship... and never abandon a member of your crew." (Janeway to Naomi)
  • "Don't listen to her, Seven. She's irrelevant." (Janeway about the Borg Queen)
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "Don't touch it, Captain." - "What is it?" - "I don't know, but a few minutes ago it was crawling around the floor." (Harry and Janeway)
  • "'I will betray you.' That's what she said two years ago when you disconnected her from the hive." - "Two days ago, she told me Voyager had become her Collective." (Chakotay and Janeway)
  • "You see, if we change our long range sensors to Seven's cortical implant frequency, maybe we can find her." - "The Delta Quadrant is a very big place and Seven could be thousands of light years from here." - "What if we boosted our sensor range with power from the main deflector?" - "You've been spending too much time in engineering. I'm afraid it's not that simple." (Naomi and Janeway)
• Remarkable understatement: "We'll be searching for one individual among thousands of drones." (Wouldn't that rather be trillions?)
• Remarkable scenes:
  • Annika holding a model of a Borg cube and asking her papa questions on the Borg that Magnus Hansen tries to answer in a way not to scare her
  • Seven witnessing the assimilation of Species 10026, one of the most dramatic and cruel scenes ever shown in Star Trek
• Remarkable facts:
  • A Borg cube has a volume of 28 cubic kilometers and 129,000 drones.
  • The Borg Queen once belonged to species 125.
  • The Unicomplex is populated by trillions of drones (could be a bit exaggerated, though).
  • Species 10026 "welcomes" the Borg with 39 vessels, a familiar number.
• Remarkable species: "Species 5618, human. Warp-capable, origin grid 325, physiology inefficient, below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regenerative abilities."
• Remarkable ship: The Raven is shown as an intact ship, after it was already featured as a wreck in "The Raven". However, the prefix is suddenly "USS" in the dialogues, Hansen's logs as well as on the MSD, although on the hull it is "SS Raven" and the dedication plaque simply reads "The Raven". A reasonable explanation is that the ship was quickly assigned a Starfleet prefix when the mission was officially approved of by the Federation Council.
• Remarkable scenery: the Unicomplex, simply impressive to see the tiny cubes in between the huge structures
• Distance bridged: 20,000ly, equaling 15 years
• Current crew complement: 143, according to the Borg
• Shuttles lost: 1
• Torpedoes used: 7

Rating: 9

 

The Disease

Synopsis

Stardate not given: While Voyager's crew is supporting a huge modular 400-year-old Varro generational ship with repairs, Harry Kim gets involved with the resident alien woman Tal, against explicit orders and unnoticed by anyone but Tom Paris. After returning to Voyager, Harry shows symptoms of an infection. He has to reveal his affair to the Doctor and gets reprimanded by Janeway for breaking protocol. The apparent disease, on the other hand, is not harmful at all but known to the Varro as the olan'vora, a biochemical bond between him and Tal. Neelix and Tuvok apprehend a Varro, who has been hiding on Voyager. He talks about some sort of movement on the generational ship working against the official leadership but refuses to provide any further details. B'Elanna finds microfractures in the structures that hold the modules of the Varro ship together, and later on Voyager as well. It turns out that a minority of the Varro, including Tal, strive to break the vessel apart and go separate ways. They have sabotaged the docking clamps with a parasite that consumes the metal. In order to avoid casualties, Tal agrees to slow down the parasites, but the collapse of the structures is imminent. Janeway orders to extend Voyager's structural integrity field around the alien ship to buy them more time. After their ship has broken up, most of the Varro decide to stay together, whereas Tal and her faction leave them to explore the galaxy. Although the Doctor could provide a cure for his condition, Harry decides to live with his lovesickness.

Commentary

"A hologram, an ex-Borg, the wrong twin, and now a girl from a xenophobic species." Tom takes pleasure in reminding Harry of his notoriously bad luck with women during the past five years. I could add a few more examples such as the girlfriend from a parallel timeline and the vampire women from Taresia. It is pleasant that Tal doesn't turn out to be a stereotypical alien femme fatale, who seduces and deceives a righteous Starfleet officer. Their mutual feelings are real. Then again, she turns out to have a hidden agenda, which fits the cliché after all.

The story of "The Disease" is a bit undecided whether its goal is to have fun with the "unlucky Harry" theme or whether it is about the serious aspects of interspecies relationships. There is also other conflict potential in the episode that never comes to fruition. Harry seems to have contracted a nasty alien disease that might cause an epidemic on the ship, but it turns to be a harmless biochemical bond. Harry gets a dressing-down from Janeway and continues to disobey her orders, but in the end it has no consequences at all for him and she seems to be fine with his conduct. The Varro are upset about the interspecies relationship as well, but they get appeased all too easily. Harry and Tal are deeply in love, but they part ways forever without even mentioning any alternatives. Tal belongs to a rogue faction, but there is never a real confrontation with the official Varro leaders (or with Harry). At least some of these aspects should have been worked out more consequentially.

Regarding Harry's misconduct, it has never been hinted at, let alone discussed in Star Trek before that sexual relationships with aliens have to be approved of in advance, by the captain and/or the chief medical officer. Starfleet officers frequently get involved with alien species, and it never appears like they violate a protocol. Have Kirk or Riker ever been sentenced for unauthorized relationships? The ban on sex with aliens was especially made up for this one episode and for the lowly ensign Harry Kim. What's more, if there were a commonly known rule "no sex with aliens", why would Janeway even have to issue the explicit order not to have any personal interaction with the Varro? It would have been so much more credible if Harry had only violated Janeway's direct order, without there being a general ban on sex with aliens.

There are a couple of well-written dialogues and well-acted arguments between Harry and Janeway, but these don't make up for the many weaknesses of the story. The part about the conflict in the Varro society remains very sketchy. Other than that, the episode perpetuates the "unlucky Harry" cliché by getting him into trouble with the help of contrived twists. At least, it happens in a more mature fashion than before, and thank god he doesn't return pregnant. *That* embarrassment idea was saved for a later series.

Annotations

• Continuity: Harry quotes from the Handbook on Personal Relationships (three centimeters thick): "All Starfleet personnel must obtain authorization from their CO as well as clearance from their medical officer before initiating an intimate relationship with an alien species." If this handbook and particularly this passage really exists, it gets violated all the time!
• Nitpicking: The SIF is a short-range field that is only required inside and just outside the ship. It is totally unrealistic to extend it to a diameter of ten kilometers, at least not without increasing it to a thousandfold of its nominal strength, for which it was never designed and which would rip apart Voyager rather than reinforcing the huge Varro ship even if sufficient power were available.
• Remarkable dialogue: "Maybe I'm not the perfect officer any more." - "Maybe not." - "But you're a better man." (Harry and Janeway)
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "Perhaps not everyone is content to be in your Collective." (Seven to the captain of the generational ship)
  • "You're beautiful when you scan." (Harry to Tal)
• Remarkable CG scene: the zoom-in from a total view of the impressive generational ship to Tal and Harry, in the course of which it is revealed that the decks are turned 90 degrees relative to the direction of flight
• Remarkable fact: The Borg have referenced something like love in 6000 assimilated species.

Rating: 3

 

Course: Oblivion

Synopsis

Stardate 52586.3: Lucky times on Voyager: B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris get married and an enhanced warp drive has been installed, which is capable of taking the ship home in only two years. But something is wrong with the ship, as structures begin to lose cohesion. Even worse, crew members start to suffer from some sort of cellular decay. Tom takes B'Elanna to sickbay where she dies despite all efforts to stabilize her. It seems that only items that were brought aboard less than nine months ago are unaffected. Chakotay and Tuvok investigate and find out something extremely disturbing: The whole crew consists of the biomimetic duplicates that were created on the Class-Y planet in the Vaskan sector. Despite this revelation, Janeway still insists on proceeding to the Alpha Quadrant instead of returning to the Demon-class planet that would likely be a safe harbor. But she agrees to land on a nearby planet of the class for the crew to find a way to stabilize their condition. The attempt, however, fails when Voyager is fired upon by an Ord'Mirit mining ship. Having run out of options, Janeway orders a course back to their home planet, using the enhanced warp drive, although this would only accelerate the decay. She also tells Seven to assemble a beacon from unaffected components with records of the existence of the biomimetic duplicates, in case they don't make the journey. Some time later, with most of the crew dead and the warp drive about to fail, the last chance is contact a nearby vessel, which happens to be the real USS Voyager. But the biomimetic ship dissolves before there is a chance to communicate. Moreover, the beacon gets destroyed so the Voyager crew finds no records of biomimetic crew any more.

Commentary

Without being spoiled (which I unfortunately was, as soon as I watched it for the first time), we need to be attentive to notice that there is something fundamentally wrong with the ship and crew in "Course: Oblivion". Tom and B'Elanna get married all of sudden, but why not. Tom is a Lt. JG again, but why not. The ship has an enhanced warp drive, but why not. In addition to the usual foreshadowing of trouble (as we are shown the wobbling floor in the mess hall), I think I notice a somber undertone right from the start. Hints that this may not be the real USS Voyager and crew do exist, but they are very subtle. Interestingly, there are a couple of conversations of general nature, not only the obvious one on the meaning of marriage (B'Elanna and Seven) but also on the question of exploring vs getting home fast (Janeway and Chakotay) and on the affection for Earth's history and culture (Tom and Neelix). These were apparently included to signal that everyone is perfectly normal.

Then the unspeakable happens and B'Elanna dies. This dramatic change of mood is followed by one that is even more impactful. We learn that this is not the real ship and crew, but the biomimetic copies that were created some nine months ago, in "Demon". DS9: "Whispers" already showed a duplicate (of O'Brien), who was under the impression of being the original. "Course: Oblivion" goes the whole way and does not involve the actual characters at all, except for the final couple of minutes. Also, it does not have the slightest impact on them. This is a bold choice. It is also laudable to hark back to a previous story instead of making up something that could have happened in the past. I particularly like how Tuvok and Chakotay trace back the exact date of the event that must have altered the ship and crew, based on items that were acquired later and that remain unaffected.

Yet, I have a couple of issues with the continuity and plausibility of the story. First of all, I just can't believe that the *bio*mimetic gel would be capable of duplicating just everything, including non-organic compounds like the ship, and even those materials which cannot be replicated, antimatter for instance. Even if we accept this, how could it remain unrecognized for more than nine months that the crew as well as the ship are not what they appear to be? Routine scans should have revealed that everyone and everything is composed of the "Silver Blood". Another question is why no one remembers their origin. The justification that somehow they forgot it is lame.

Once the truth is revealed, half-way through the episode, "Course: Oblivion" is governed by the dramatic decay of the ship and crew. But is also suffers from repetitive discussions about the right course of action. In particular, the reasoning "Duplicate or not, I am / I have to..." comes up every two minutes.

It may appear as unsatisfactory that the real crew never meet their duplicates, and that every trace of their existence is eventually destroyed. But I am fine with this outcome, as it is already foreshadowed in the episode title. The knowledge about the fate of the biomimetic ship and crew would be an unnecessary burden for our crew. And thinking further about it, Captain Janeway might want to blame herself for the loss because the biomimetic crew only left the Demon-class planet because they inherited the wish to return to Earth.

The ending of "Course: Oblivion" is the perhaps most tragic of any Star Trek episode. I have the impression that the crew duplicates are even more desperate than their originals would have been in this situation. This goes along with their physical decay, which is emphasized with an almost ridiculous yet creepy thick make-up.

Annotations

• Nitpicking: When Voyager lifted off from the Demon-class planet in "Demon", a duplicate of the ship was neither shown nor mentioned.
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "We're gathered here today, not as Starfleet officers, but as friends and family, to celebrate the marriage of two of Voyager's finest. B'Elanna has asked me to forgo the rigors of Klingon painstiks in favor of a more traditional ceremony." - "They're saving the painstiks for the honeymoon." (Janeway and Harry)
  • (Seven catches the bridal bouquet) Doctor: "Congratulations." - Seven: "What?" - Tuvok: "You may not want to know."
• Remarkable facts:
  • The Demon-class planet is in the Vaskan sector.
  • The navigational deflector fails, which rarely ever happens. It is technically correct that this causes interstellar dust to hit the ship.
  • Paris is still a lieutenant, for we can assume he has been demoted only on the real ship, as seen in "Thirty Days".

Rating: 5

 

The Fight

Synopsis

Stardate not given: As Commander Chakotay is practicing boxing on the holodeck, Voyager gets sucked into "chaotic space", a region where the laws of physics are different and from where there is no known escape according to Seven of Nine. Although Chakotay has left the holodeck, he continues to hear voices from his boxing simulation. The Doctor ascribes this to a genetic disorder that the commander inherited and that somehow gets reactivated by chaotic space. Voyager runs into a ship, whose crew suffered from hallucinations likewise and eventually died. Chakotay suspects that he could find out something that might lead Voyager out of chaotic space and decides to go on a vision quest. But as the boundary between his visions and reality increasingly blurs, he jeopardizes his sanity. On the bridge, the efforts to find a way out are fruitless, as the ship runs in circles without a means of navigation. Chakotay is the last hope now. Janeway suspects that someone is trying to send a message to him, using the nucleotide resonance frequency. Chakotay receives the information how to navigate, but he doesn't understand it. Without knowing what he is doing, he goes to Kim's console and carries out modifications to the deflector that allow the ship to break free from chaotic space.

Commentary

"The Fight" opens with a flashforward sequence that shows how the ship is about to get torn apart in chaotic space and how Chakotay's desperate attempt to communicate with aliens as Voyager's "ambassador" has failed. This scene anticipates pretty much everything that will happen in the episode. It takes away what little suspense will be built up in the following. What's more, when the story continues in the present after the opening credits, it never resumes at the time of the flashforward scene but simply skips it, thereby making the teaser retroactively pointless.

The story of "The Fight" is a mere amalgamation of trite concepts: a generic space anomaly, mysterious alien lifeforms and a crew member that suffers from hallucinations. It is much the same that happened in TNG: "Night Terrors", when Deanna was the one tormented by an incomprehensible message that eventually allowed the ship to escape. Whereas Deanna's dreams in the TNG episode were at least mildly eerie and thrilling and made some sense in the outcome, Chakotay's hallucinations in "The Fight" are erratic and a pain to watch. I am aware this is meant to illustrate how Chakotay is confused about a message he doesn't understand and how he is about to lose his sanity. But although we may try to understand what "Kid Chaos", Boothby and grandpa could stand for, there is no guiding thread. Nothing shown or said in these sequences fits together, except perhaps on a very abstract level of symbolizing how the aliens try to use Chakotay's inherited genetic defect to talk to him. When I first watched the episode, I was waiting for everything to add up eventually, for Chakotay to receive a decisive clue or perhaps for him to begin to understand the aliens and learn something about them. But that doesn't happen. Instead, Voyager crew members begin to appear and to speak to him in riddles, apparently as avatars of the aliens, in a poor imitation of Sisko's encounters with the Prophets in DS9.

The scenes set on the real ship don't fare much better. Seeing the frantic Chakotay, who is increasingly caught in his illusory world, is becoming tiresome. This episode is almost completely devoid of the intelligent dialogues and the memorable trivia that are otherwise a hallmark of Voyager. There is not a single interesting quote or a "remarkable fact" I would like to include to the annotations of this review. What we do get is plenty of bad technobabble, such as "18th dimensional gradient", "trimetric fracture" or "isolinear frequency". Aside from not making sense conceptually, these terms are all just tossed around, without adding up to anything in the story.

"The Fight" is a bit like Voyager's version of TNG: "Shades of Gray". But in a way it's still worse. It's not a clip show, it's not even a bottle show, considering its guest stars (such as Ray Walston as Boothby - a shame to waste him like that) and new sets. Without having the excuse of being limited by costs, the failure must be ascribed to bad writing. In any case, "The Fight" used to be my least favorite of the whole series... until only four episodes later.

Annotations

• Nitpicking: Chakotay says he initially fought against a Tarellian, Terellian or Tyrellian (the closed captions read "Terrellian"). It is the same problem with lazy alien T-name recycling as already in "Gravity". However, although they are homophones, it can only be a Tyrellian, since the Tarellians do look exactly like humans and are almost extinct and the Terellians have four arms. The latter would have been a harder opponent. ;-)
• Remarkable device: The only interesting fact about the whole episode is that we see a stationary beacon for the first time.

Rating: 1

 

Think Tank

Synopsis

Stardate not given: As Voyager finds a planetoid with dilithium deposits, this planetoid gets blown up and leaves the ship trapped in a cloud of metreon gas. A warship of the Hazari, who are known as bounty hunters, appears and demands Voyager's surrender. Janeway orders to fire at the gas cloud, which lights up and sets the ship free. The Hazari don't pursue, but the whole sector is swarming with their ships. An isomorphic projection of an alien named Kurros appears to Janeway. On behalf of his group of super-brains, which Janeway nicknames the "Think Tank", he offers his help in the solution of the Hazari problem. Janeway and Seven visit the Think Tank, which consists of the humanoids Kurros and Fennim, a jellyfish-like lifeform, a bioplasmic organism and an artificial intelligence, who are linked through a telepathic communication device. A little later, Kurros reappears on Voyager with a list of items that he expects as a payment, including Seven of Nine as a new group member. Janeway gives her the choice, but Seven refuses because of the Think Tank's lack of ethics. After capturing two Hazari and finding out that their customer is not a Malon as they thought but actually Kurros in disguise, the Hazari agree to an alliance. They threaten to destroy Voyager, ostensibly to demand a higher bounty, upon which Seven leaves Voyager in a shuttle, ostensibly to save the ship. When she arrives at the Think Tank and interfaces with the members, Voyager sends a jamming signal through her neural transceiver and thereby disrupts the communication of the group. The Think Tank emerges from its hiding place in subspace, upon which the Hazari open fire on the vessel. Seven is beamed back and Voyager can proceed to the Alpha Quadrant.

Commentary

This episode begins with a scene that aptly illustrates how the Think Tank helps those in need, but at a high price rather than on moral grounds. Some may rate it as anticlimactic that the story doesn't show Kurros and his group in a deceptive, more positive light at first. Yet, I think it all works better with the knowledge that these super-brains are corrupted by their power.

A few more minutes into the episode, the situation is obvious anyway. Voyager is ambushed by the Hazari, who are notorious mercenaries, and accidentally somebody appears and offers their help. It does not come as a surprise that no one but Kurros actually set up the trap in the first place, only the reward he has in mind for his "kind help" is unusual. It is clear that Janeway would never agree to the deal "Seven for our safety" and would never order Seven to leave the ship. Nevertheless, I miss the old "Action Kate" spirit a bit, which was always the strongest whenever a crew member was in danger. I reckon that the prospect of staying with the brain-connected Think Tank "Collective" wouldn't be very tempting for Seven, who has just been freed from the Borg for the second time. Thus, unlike in "Scorpion", "Raven" or "Dark Frontier" there is not really a conflict in this episode. It is a rather the practical consideration whether Seven serves her crew better if she left or if she stayed. Without there being a moral dilemma for her, I like how Seven repeatedly cites their lack of morality as her reason not to join the Think Tank.

This episode is not about character development anyway. Rather than that, it is about the characters finding a way out of an adverse situation, which is repeatedly called a "paradox" or a "puzzle" and even visually illustrated as the latter in the form of the 24th century Rubik's Cube. I think the logical and systematic approach to a problem that depends on so many arbitrary, random or even unknown factors is vastly overstated here. A tactical situation cannot be compared to a simple puzzle. Yet, I like the idea to "cheat" and eventually beat the arrogant Kurros at his own game. In this regard, this is also a morally satisfying episode.

"Think Tank" comes with some plot holes and with an unnecessary "gamification" of the story. It could have been more about the characters and less about puzzles. But I like the original story idea and its execution.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • It is clear that the Think Tank must have been planning to get hold of Seven of Nine all along. They wouldn't have hired the Hazari just for a chance to find something of value on Voyager. But if this is so, it is a big coincidence that Janeway brings along Seven, which she wasn't asked to do and which she normally wouldn't do, so the Think Tank can probe ("interview") her to confirm whether she is a valuable addition to their group.
  • Where does the debris field come from, with huge parts such as a complete deflector that look like they are actually from Voyager? That's arguably a lot more than Voyager could simply replicate. Also, how could the Hazari be tricked into believing they destroyed Voyager in the first place? This would have required creating a big boom without giving away the debris field beforehand.
  • One of the two Hazari on the shuttle happens to be their leader Y'Sek. There was no way to make sure the Hazari would send a shuttle to investigate in the first place, much less that he would be on the shuttle. And what happened to the other Hazari after they were captured by Voyager?
  • The bridge of the Hazari ship and the shuttle are identical.
  • Discipline seems to have reached an all-time low. Not only Janeway in her ready room, but even Harry on bridge duty is playing with "Rubik's Cube".
  • Another odd observation is how easily Janeway is ready to give away classified information like Voyager's schematics or slipstream technology. Prime Directive anyone?
• Remarkable dialogue: (Seven solves "Rubik's Cube") "Seven, how'd you do that?" - "I scanned the device. Its mechanism operates on a simple fractal regression." - "You scanned it? That's cheating!" - "Cheating is often more efficient." (Tom and Seven)
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "When we helped the citizens of Rivos V resist the Borg, all we asked for was the recipe for their famous zoth-nut soup." (Kurros)
  • "Acquiring knowledge is a worthy objective. But its pursuit has obviously not elevated you." (Seven)
• Remarkable fact: The Think Tank has found a cure for the Vidiian phage.
• Remarkable species: Species 4228, Hazari
• Shuttles lost: 1
• Photon torpedoes used: 4

Rating: 6

 

Juggernaut

Synopsis

Stardate not given: The radioactive waste tank of a Malon export vessel ruptures, forcing the crew to abandon the ship in escape pods. Voyager finds only two survivors: Fesek and Pelk. The freighter is going to break apart, which would pollute the entire sector with theta radiation. Janeway orders to warp to a distance of 5 light-years, but the radiation does not allow to establish a stable warp field. As there are other ships in the sector that would be contaminated, she decides to send an away team to seal the leak. Fesek and Pelk grudgingly agree to join Chakotay, B'Elanna and Neelix, who has experience with radioactive waste because he worked on a Talaxian garbage scow. Pelk warns everyone of a creature named Vihaar that inhabits the waste tanks of Malon ships according to legend. On the Malon ship, it is not possible to use phasers or tricorders, as that would trigger discharges. The team tries to make their way from a less contaminated deck all the way up to the control room. Soon someone or something kills Pelk. The Vihaar? Further on their way up, the away team inadvertently opens the airlock on the very deck they are on. Chakotay doesn't make it in time and has to be beamed out. With B'Elanna now in charge, Tuvok warns Janeway that she may not keep her temper. Janeway's plan B is to launch the freighter into a star's corona, which will neutralize the radiation. As they have made it to the control room, they see no way they could still contain the radiation. Then Neelix and Fesek are attacked and disabled by a creature. B'Elanna realizes that the "Vihaar" is actually a core laborer, who carries out the most hazardous tasks. He has mutated and become immune to the radiation. He approaches the control console and intends to take revenge for his condition by making the ship explode, polluting the whole sector. B'Elanna tries to talk him out of his insane plan. As he refuses, she slays him in anger. Janeway's plan B is successful, and the ship burns up in the corona after beaming out B'Elanna, Neelix and Fessek.

Commentary

"Juggernaut" has a problem with its timing in the series context. B'Elanna's violent tendencies resurface out of the blue, and they will fade away just as quickly after the episode (her level of aggression is back to normal in "Someone to Watch Over Me" when she threatens to break Seven's nose). I have the impression this story was originally scheduled for the early fifth season when B'Elanna tried to cope with the loss of her fellow Maquis members in the Alpha Quadrant and ran holoprograms without the safety protocols. More precisely, regarding B'Elanna's character development it would have made sense to place it before "Extreme Risk" and perhaps cut down her involvement in that episode, considering that she effectively hijacked what should have been Tom's story.

So "Juggernaut" expects us to accept that B'Elanna is aggressive without a reason and without further consequences. A good story would have justified this leap of faith, but B'Elanna's personal journey in this episode is not very interesting. It goes like this: She agrees to a meditation therapy with Tuvok, with rather little success. She gets into arguments with the Malon. Then she finds herself in charge of the away team against Tuvok's advice. Yet, B'Elanna meditates and remains composed against Tuvok's expectations - well, until that moment in which she lets out all her anger and kills the Malon core worker with a metal rod (because phasers would ignite the gas). She realistically couldn't have saved the mad Malon, there are no charges against her and I think she can deal with it. Perhaps the killing was even an act of liberation that helps her overcome her mental trouble, in a somewhat cynical interpretation. Overall, I don't find it inspiring.

The most interesting aspect about the episode is that we learn quite a bit about the Malon, who so far were just space-polluting aliens of the week. Their homeworld Malon Prime is beautiful. Fesek is a sculptor half of the year. But this comes at a cost. Malon can earn a lot in the flourishing waste disposal business, and children want to become waste controllers just like in the Federation they would want to join Starfleet. Wages are according to the occupational hazard. Core laborers earn the most, but at a high risk of dying.

Unfortunately it is the last time we see the Malon. It is already hard to explain that the Malon are encountered so far away from last time. Either their territory spans 15000 light-years across, or they used yet another wormhole. It is well possible that this too would have made more sense, had the episode aired at an earlier point of the season.

The race against the time is overall a standard mission, only in an unusually dirty environment. I would wish that some scientific and technical aspects had been worked out better because the intensity and even the speed of the radiation is too obviously plot-driven, as are the possible countermeasures. But "Juggernaut" is definitely thrilling most of the time.

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • Chakotay says: "Our Doctor's developed an inoculation. It'll temporarily prevent our cells from absorbing the radiation." Inoculation against radiation is a recurring nuisance in Voyager. Absorption of radiation is primarily a physical, not a biological process. The only thing that could have helped would have been protective layers. Inoculation, on the other hand, uses pathogens to immunize against pathogens.
  • The away team beams to Space Chernobyl without protective suits. Sure, the "inoculation" is supposed to slow down cell damage, but shouldn't they do still a lot more? And wouldn't a breathing apparatus have been absolutely necessary anyway, considering that the air is polluted with radioactive gas and hardly breathable?
• Remarkable dialogue: "You as a child. Those pointy little ears, you must have been cute." - "Indeed." (B'Elanna and Tuvok)
• Remarkable quote: "It's an occupational hazard." (Fesek, about the dangers of his job)
• Remarkable scenes:
  • An adult Malon plays with a model starship. Not that I ever did the same childish thing with my ship models. ;-)
  • We see a sonic shower in operation for the first time.
• Remarkable dish: Neelix prepares a Talaxian dish of crushed rama leaf and Katyllian clove, which is supposed to fortify the cellular membranes. It smells and tastes awful.
• Remarkable slide show: The Doctor wanted to call it "A Day in the Life of a Warp Core", but B'Elanna broke his holocamera.
• Remarkable ship: We can see a different Malon ship, which is supposedly bigger than the one in "Night" and "Extreme Risk".
• Remarkable fact: The Malon garbage scow has 42 decks. It carries over 4*10^12 isotons of antimatter waste, whatever that means.

Rating: 4

 

Someone to Watch Over Me

Synopsis

Stardate 52648.0: A delegation of the Kadi beams aboard Voyager. While the minister leaves with Janeway and Tuvok for trade negotiations, Ambassador Tomin stays aboard the ship, guided by Neelix. The Kadi lifestyle is very ascetic, but to Neelix's surprise Tomin indulges in exotic food and sweet desserts. Seven of Nine observes B'Elanna and Tom's "mating rituals", much to B'Elanna's chagrin. The Doctor offers to give Seven lessons in romantic relationships. When Tom notices what is going on, he wagers with the Doctor that Seven wouldn't find a date for the reception with the ambassador and stay with him until the end. As a test, Seven goes on a date with William Chapman in the Chez Sandrine bar, but it ends with her tearing a ligament in his shoulder when they dance. The Doctor, who is secretly infatuated with her, asks Seven out for the reception. It seems the Doctor wins, but when Seven learns of the wager with Tom, she leaves in anger. Ambassador Tomin turns the reception into a disaster. He is drunk from synthehol because his species doesn't have the enzymes to process it. Seven offers to use some of her nanoprobes to remove the intoxication. With a heavy hangover, Tomin puts on a brave face when the minister returns to Voyager. The minister, however, is surprised Tomin hasn't explored the indulgences that the ship would have offered. The Doctor confesses his feelings to Seven - but just to a holographic version. The true Seven tells him there is no one on Voyager she could imagine a relationship with.

Commentary

Ever since Seven was willing to explore her humanity and told Harry to take off his clothes, it was clear that there would be a story about her actually experiencing a romantic and/or sexual relationship. It was also foreseeable that Seven would have a hard time choosing a suited partner because spontaneity and intuition isn't her thing (yet). Although I might have preferred a more serious approach, I can't deny that it was the obvious choice to turn it into a comedy along the lines of "Pygmalion", "My Fair Lady" or "Pretty Woman". The Doctor initially sees Seven as his experiment and he makes a wager with Tom that it will succeed.

Seven's stereotypically formal wording is overdone in this episode but still in character. It is hilarious when she speaks to her date the way she communicates when on duty. There is little in the mere words that could relay how Seven feels about the unusual situation. Credit goes to Jeri Ryan, whose performance nevertheless gives us the impression that she is interested a bit in the people she is on a date with and does not only play along. Likewise, Robert Picardo gets across how much he cares for Seven underneath the holographic surface while keeping up appearances. The two actors work out the necessary fine tones and prevent the characters' relationship from becoming laughingstock.

The B-plot about the normally austere alien ambassador on a pleasure trip (reminiscent of that guy in TNG: "Liaisons") is all about comedy as well, but never really funny. Rather than supporting the A-plot, I find it a bit distracting. It would have worked better, had it been given either somewhat more or somewhat less screen time.

The story is rather unbalanced in my impression. There is no real guiding thread, as Seven's dating lessons as well as the ambassador's adventures are more like a sequence of amusing situations. Seven doesn't seem to move forward, she just masters her lessons. There is the wager that gives the story some structure and some goal but it doesn't pay off either. The Doctor's decision to keep his feelings for Seven to himself (to spare himself the likely rebuff) is the only notable outcome of this episode, which ends on a melancholic note despite all the fun.

There is also a plot hole. After Chapman has left to have his torn ligament treated by Tom Paris, the Doctor and Seven are alone in the Chez Sandrine program, and they agree to go to the reception together. Cut to Chez Sandrine again, and we see how Neelix finds Ambassador Tomin there, having fun with two women at the bar. How did he get there? Did Seven and the Doctor leave the program running for him? We later learn that the "funny man" Paris told Tomin hologram jokes, but no previous interaction of these two was shown. It would have made a lot more sense if Tom had shown Tomin the holodeck (after treating Chapman, of course).

Overall, there are numerous jokes and memorable moments, such as Seven and the Doctor singing together, so the episode gets a higher rating than it would deserve for the mere course of the story.

Annotations

• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "How the hell do you know when we're having intimate relations?" - "There is no one on deck 9 section 12 who doesn't know when you're having intimate relations." (B'Elanna and Seven)
  • "May I buy you a drink?" - "I don't require a liquid supplement at this time." (Doctor and Seven)
  • "Your presence is required... rather, it is requested, tonight. 1900 hours, holodeck 2." - "Another engineering simulation?" - "Dinner." - "Dinner?" - "The consumption of nutritional biomatter." (Seven and Chapman)
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "Borg provokes Klingon. Klingon breaks Borg nose." (B'Elanna, to Seven)
  • "This is a starship, not a nature preserve." (Janeway, about Seven observing "mating behavior")
  • "Gossip travels faster than warp speed." (Doctor)
  • "Dating? You mean procreation?" (Seven)
  • "Perfection is a laudable goal for oneself, but you can't expect it from others. I learned that lesson myself when I was first activated." (Doctor, to Seven)
  • "Assimilate me! Please!" (Ambassador Tomin, to Seven)
• Hologramn jokes:
  • "How do you bend a hologram's ear? Use a prism." (Tom)
  • "What did the counselor say to the hologram: 'You're projecting.'" (Tom)
  • "You know I don't drink. I don't have the stomach for it." (Doctor)
• Remarkable songs:
  • "You Are My Sunshine", performed by Seven and the Doctor
  • "Someone to Watch Over Me", performed by the Doctor
• Remarkable scenery: "Chez Sandrine" appears for the first time since season 2.
• Remarkable facts:
  • Voyager is a ship built for long-term exploration.
  • Species 8472 is believed to have as many as five sexes.
  • The Kadi can get drunk from synthehol, because they are lacking the necessary enzymes.

Rating: 6

 

11:59

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Janeway tells Neelix of her ancestor Shannon O'Donnel, who according to family legend was one of the first female astronauts and participated in the pioneering missions to Mars. She is also said to have constructed the Millennium Gate, a huge self-sustaining structure that was built in Indiana in the early 21st century. But the truth is somewhat different. December 27, 2000: O'Donnel has lost her job and is broke. As she is on the way to Florida, her car breaks down in Portage Creek, Indiana. She waits for the tow truck in a book store run by Henry Janeway and his son Jason. Janeway is the last business owner, who has not yet signed the contract with the company that wants to demolish the town to build the Millennium Gate. O'Donnel is initially sympathetic to his cause and she could need some money, so she offers him to use her computer to spread the word about his lonely struggle. The two fall in love but are aware that they live in different worlds. O'Donnel is approached by Moss, a spokesman for the project. He knows she was in the space program, and offers her a job as a consultant. O'Donnel tries to convince Janeway to give up his resistance until the deadline of New Year's Eve, otherwise the project would be moved to an alternative location. But he refuses. O'Donnel leaves but later returns to the shop, around which representatives and reporters have gathered. At 11:59, she can convince Janeway to step in front of the door with him and thereby make the Millennium Gate possible. On Voyager, Seven of Nine finds an old photo of Shannon Janeway née O'Donnel with her grandchildren. She also learns that O'Donnel never went to Mars. Yet, Janeway says that her ancestor inspired her to become an explorer.

Commentary

It was an odd pleasure to watch this episode again for the purpose of a new assessment, after avoiding it for many years. Small spoiler: I still dislike it, maybe even a bit more than I did before, but I think I can tell much better today what is wrong with it. So this is a new review, albeit with much the same conclusion as back in 1999.

The first of the many issues with "11:59" always was and still is that it remains totally isolated from the storyline of Voyager and from the characters. It could have been told at any point in any Star Trek series, with anyone being the one boasting about a famous ancestor. The other familiar characters, as briefly as everyone of them appears, are shoehorned into a trivial frame story. We may see "11:59" as a creative experiment. But even in this regard it was not original. One year prior, a similar idea had been turned into the very successful DS9 episode "Far Beyond the Stars", whose foundation was equally weak but which presented the captivating story of Ben Russell, included passionate criticism of racism and eventually asked the thought-provoking question "What if all this (namely DS9) existed only in the imagination of a 20th century writer?". There is nothing like that in "11:59". So what is the point here? What impact does the story have?

Janeway brags about Shannon O'Donnel having been "the first in a long line of Janeway explorers". The essentially only outcome of "11:59" is that her ancestor was not the hero she is remembered for in the family. She actually used to be a loser, at least for some time in her life. She didn't build the Millennium Gate, she merely worked for the project as a consultant. She never took part in the pioneering missions to Mars. History is not always as we want to see it, but this has already been much more impressively demonstrated in "Living Witness" where the revelation of the truth sparked a revolution. Janeway's dilemma is orders of magnitude smaller, and she simply decides that Shannon O'Donnel should remain her hero. No one would seriously have expected her to have a crisis, a feeling of doubt or remorse only because she learned the truth. Once again, what is the takeaway of "11:59"? What is memorable about this episode? I can't tell.

This takes me to the central character. Who is Shannon O'Donnel? I mean, the Shannon O'Donnel as shown in this episode. Is this an authentic depiction of Janeway's ancestor? Or is the character rather designed as a chance for Kate Mulgrew to take on a second role besides Janeway? If this was the intention, then Mulgrew defies it by how she plays O'Donnel, who does not only look like Janeway but comes across as the exact same person with the way she speaks, her mannerisms and everything. It is amusing how O'Donnel is equally caffeeine-addicted, but other than that she ought to have been a different character. It is like the captain herself time-traveled to the early 21st century, to a world where her service as a starship captain is not needed and she has trouble to find a job. I think the rationale for O'Donnel being Janeway is that the producers were worried the episode would otherwise not be recognizable as Voyager. And although this too is an idea that originates in "Far Beyond the Stars", this time it would have been better to have another actress play Janeway's ancestor. A few years later, Jolene Blalock will appear as T'Pol's ancestor in ENT: "Carbon Creek" where the concept of them being the same person fits better with the story.

The story of Shannon O'Donnel meeting Henry Janeway, who lives in a different world, could have been captivating. And I admit it does have its moments such as when she tells him "I'm stuck in the future, you're stuck in the past. But maybe we could get unstuck in the present." or when she speaks to his son. But overall, there is not very much chemistry between them, and it doesn't really become palpable why they feel attracted to one another. I also think that neither Shannon nor Henry are particularly likable. She is a person who has dreams but who has no idea what to do with her life once her plan A has failed. Yet, she exactly knows what she doesn't want and is ultimately unable to compromise, although she blames Henry for the latter. Henry remains a stubborn man who takes a masochistic pleasure in his misery (a bit like Mullibok in DS9: "Progress"). I think that when he leaves the shop one minute before the deadline, it is a surrender, rather than a change of mind. And just as Shannon more or less predicts, I doubt he will be happy should his shop reopen in the Millennium Gate. Oh, and one more thing. His permanent namedropping of classic Greek and Latin literature gives me the impression that he has an only superficial understanding of it.

I think the outcome that nothing should stand in the way of progress is debatable. The longer I watched, the more I became convinced that the Millennium Gate wouldn't be more than what Henry Janeway disdainfully nicknamed it, a huge shopping mall. But no one else has any second thoughts about the megaproject. It has been conceived by smart people, so it can't be wrong. But even if the Millennium Gate is something revolutionary and inevitable, does it justify the destruction of the old? The episode definitely says yes. I wonder most of all why they didn't simply build the Millennium Gate outside the town, buying all the required land from a single farmer and avoiding all the fuss with obstinate people like Henry Janeway. Realistically, there would have been hundreds, maybe thousands like him.

As already mentioned, Voyager's other characters only appear in the frame story, and none of them contributes anything noteworthy to the story. But it's even worse than that. I paid attention, and there is not a single line by characters on Voyager that is not either about genealogy or about trivia! I often complain about space anomalies or illnesses that are included in the script for a lack of better concepts. But I rather put up with such lame plot devices than with the idea that the whole senior staff of a Starfleet ship is suddenly obsessed with trivia and talks about nothing else. This whole frame story is so tacky it hurts. I only have to revise my opinion about one thing. The "ancestors' day" with the family photo at the end of "11:59" is a nice conclusion, or could have been one, had the topic of "celebrating your ancestors" been handled with decency until then.

Annotations

• Nitpicking: The Great Wall of China is not visible from Earth's orbit. Astronauts such as on the ISS squinted hard, but couldn't recognize the structure with the naked eye.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "But it's nothing but hype. It's actually a glorified shopping mall. They've talked all of my neighbors into selling their businesses. Only one thing stands in their way." (Henry Janeway)
  • "The Bolians express dismay at the low quality of human plumbing." (Janeway)
• Remarkable facts:
  • Sven "Buttercup" Hansen, a 22nd century prizefighter, was one of Annika Hansen's ancestors.
  • Harry Kim says that his uncle Jack was on a flight to Beta Capricus in 2210 as the only awake crew member, while the rest of the crew were in stasis for six months. When nothing was to be found at the destination because it was just an EM echo of a distant galaxy, he turned the ship around without waking up anyone.

Rating: 0

 

Relativity

Synopsis

Stardate 52861.3: Seven of Nine is drafted by temporal agents of the 29th century to find a saboteur, who planted a temporal device on Voyager that destroyed the ship. Back at a time when Voyager was still in spacedock at Utopia Planitia before leaving for the Badlands, she finds the weapon, which is out of phase, placed on an EPS conduit. However, she is unable to remove it and has to be beamed out as Janeway is about to discover her presence. When Seven returns to the timeship Relativity in the 29th century, she dies because she already made too many time jumps. Captain Braxton decides to recruit her once again, although Lieutenant Ducane is worried as Seven could sustain permanent damage such as temporal psychosis after so many time jumps. In the present time, Seven joins a table tennis match with Tom against B'Elanna and Harry when the ball suddenly freezes mid-air. Temporal phenomena are reported all over Voyager. Just before these tear the ship apart, Ducane and another agent appear and take her to the 29th century. Seven learns -yet again- that she was and is recruited because her ocular implant allows to detect the device with its temporal variance. She is prepared for the next mission that takes her to a time when Voyager was under attack by the Kazon. But there is no sign of the device. The Janeway of that time is notified of the chroniton variance caused by Seven's beaming aboard, which is familiar to her because it already happened at Utopia Planitia. Janeway and Tuvok trap Seven in a forcefield. Instead of avoiding any interaction as ordered by Braxton, Seven tells her story and gains Janeway's trust. They pursue the intruder, who turns out to be Braxton himself! This future version of Braxton spent 30 years in exile on 20th century Earth. He suffers from temporal psychosis and wants to take revenge on Janeway by blowing up the ship. Braxton still manages to activate his tricorder and transports to Voyager at Utopia Planitia once again. Seven follows and chases him through the ship, which is witnessed by many crew members, including Janeway. He then escapes to a point in the future. He bursts right into the ping pong match, followed by Seven, who still manages to disable his temporal transporter. But she is exhausted after the repeated time jumps and gives her own temporal device to the Seven of the present time. Braxton is apprehended on Voyager. Ducane has arrested the future Braxton on the Relativity too. Ducane arranges that Janeway is transported to the future. She is supposed to repair the timeline by apprehending Braxton before he starts sabotaging Voyager, which she does when Braxton comes aboard for the first time during the Kazon attack. The timeline has been cleaned up, and the two different Seven of Nines as well as the various Braxtons are going to be re-integrated. Janeway and Seven keep their memories of the events but are sworn to secrecy under the Temporal Prime Directive.

Commentary

At the time of its creation, "Relativity" was Star Trek's arguably most complex time travel story, surpassing even "The Year of Hell". It is fascinating how many different branches of the timeline exist and it is admirable how their connections are handled in the story without giving rise to major inconsistencies. With time travels being convoluted and nested, there are naturally multiple paradoxes. The story seems to ignore them at first for the sake of a faster pace that doesn't need much explanation. But in the end the problems created on the way are still addressed when Janeway is supposed to fix the timeline by going back to the first incursion to prevent it from happening. While this doesn't explain how such a mess could possibly exist in the interim, I love the concept to clean up the timeline to a state where all of this hasn't happened. Another interesting idea is to re-integrate two versions of the same individual, although we may ask how this is possible considering that it implies killing all of them but one. There is an ongoing controversy about Tuvix to this day, but "Relativity" doesn't seem to bother people too much, or they don't understand the implications.

"Relativity" is a fun episode that includes various tongue-in-cheek comments on the imponderabilities of time travel. There is literally not much time for big emotions, but Seven and Janeway act exactly according to their established characters - at all times. I especially like the scene in which past Janeway has locked up Seven behind a forcefield, and Seven makes a plea that future Janeway would trust her.

It is satisfying to see Captain Braxton return and to learn what happened to him after "Future's End" (or rather, what will happen). I only didn't recognize him when I first watched because he was played by a new actor. Braxton introduces himself, but I think he should have done that sooner in the episode. I felt a bit duped because of that.

There is wonderful continuity to "Caretaker". It is not an error that Voyager is shown at Utopia Planitia, although the dedication plaque indicates the ship was launched from Earth Station McKinley. It is possible that the ship only receives additional equipment at Utopia Planitia. This must happen immediately prior to the beginning of "Caretaker", since Janeway makes the proposal to get Paris for the job.

I always liked this episode a lot. But it is so immensely entertaining and full of intelligent ideas that I raise the rating to 9 points.

Annotations

• Nitpicking: Why would repeated time travel damage the version of Seven of Nine at a time before she has made the first time travel?
• Remarkable teaser: Janeway is just visiting the bridge of the newly commissioned ship when an ensign is briefly seen in the foreground: Seven of Nine.
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • Janeway: "Starfleet's most up-to-date vessel and they still can't design a comfortable place to hold a meeting. What do you think, Ensign?" - Seven (disguised): "It is an...efficient design." - Janeway: "Well, there you have it, Admiral. It's efficient. I must be wrong."
  • Seven (just being trapped in a forcefield on Voyager): "I can't answer your questions." - Braxton (listens on the Relativity): "Good." - Janeway: "Why not?" - Seven: "It would be a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive." - Janeway: "You're from another time?" - Seven: "Yes." - Braxton: "No!"
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "Tempus fugit." (Braxton and Ducane)
  • "An injection a day keeps space sickness away." (Doctor)
  • "I look forward to it. Or should I say 'backward'?" (Seven)
• Remarkable scenes:
  • Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. A starship fan's dream come true!
  • I love how Seven of Nine consults the 24th century equivalent of Dr. Google and concludes she must have an extremely rare disease.
  • The ping pong ball being stuck in mid-air. A nice and unexpected effect.
• Remarkable appearance: Lt. Carey is alive, but only in the past at Utopia Planitia. At this time of the series, this implies he is considered dead.
• Remarkable ship: USS Relativity
• Remarkable facts: Voyager has a mass of 700,000 metric tons.

Rating: 9

 

Warhead

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Harry and the Doctor salvage a device with a built-in artificial intelligence from a planet's surface. It turns out to be weapon of mass destruction that still believes in the need to destroy the assigned target, although the war is over by now. The Doctor can convince the weapon to abstain from the attack, and in an act of self-sacrifice it destroys the other weapons still approaching the former target.

Commentary

Agreed, superficially this episode is much like "Dreadnought", and it also shows similarities to the classic sci-fi movie "Dark Star" (right, the one with the psychotic talking bomb). There is also a clear parallel to "Crimson Tide" where Gene Hackman wants to launch the nuclear missiles without final confirmation, and Denzel Washington tries to hinder him. But it becomes clear that the "bomb that insists on going off" plot is not yet exhausted. The variant in "Warhead" is interesting because it doesn't just show the bomb as a stubborn mechanism that only does what it is programmed to do. Actually, "Warhead" reminds me still more of TNG: "The Quality of Life", where Data managed to prove Exocomps were sentient beings that have developed beyond their initial programming. The same applies to Data himself and to the Doctor, respectively, who try to protect their distant relatives. The main difference is that this time the consciousness belongs to a weapon and not a useful tool. Mass destruction is a good purpose according to the bomb's programming and, moreover, it is the only reason for its existence. Therefore it is even more remarkable that the bomb can be eventually convinced not to proceed to its target. Ironically, while one Exocomp in the TNG episode sacrificed itself to protect the other two of its kind, here the bomb explodes to disable the other weapons which have not evolved that far.

I wonder if the story would have been equally good without the old "evil twin" trick. Maybe they should have just given the bomb a voice instead of letting it take over the Doctor's matrix. Finally, there is one more thing I really liked: For the first time a distress call is picked up at night, and it is up to Harry to follow it who, besides the Doctor, gets a lot to do in this episode.

Annotations

• Nitpicking: How can deck 5 (sickbay) be jettisoned in an emergency? The deck is in the very center of the ship.
• Remarkable quote: "I am simply completing my mission. Only the target has changed." (the bomb before its detonation to destroy the other bombs)

Rating: 7

 

Equinox I/II

Synopsis

Stardate not given: The Equinox, a second Federation starship pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, is under frequent attack by interspatial aliens that are able to penetrate the ship's shields. Janeway assures Captain Rudy Ransom of the Equinox of their full support. When the Doctor, however, discovers that the Equinox crew was killing the aliens to use antimatter emissions from the alien bodies to boost the performance of their warp drive, Janeway puts them under arrest. The Equinox EMH, whose ethical subroutines have been removed, frees his crew, while the Doctor and Seven are trapped on the Equinox. Ransom removes the Doctor's ethical subroutines too and lets him extract the code for the improved drive's power relays from Seven's brain. Janeway wants to stop Ransom at all cost, and she even relieves Chakotay of his post when he opposes her actions. An agreement with the aliens is found that the Equinox should be destroyed. In the following battle, Ransom changes his mind, but his first officer Max Burke takes command from him. Burke and the other mutineers are killed by the aliens; Ransom dies when the Equinox explodes after he has taken her to a safe distance; the four surviving Equinox crew members are demoted to crewmen and stay on Voyager.

Commentary

Ransom vs. nucleogenic aliens, Janeway vs. Ransom, Chakotay vs. Janeway, Burke vs. Ransom, evil Doctor vs. good Doctor, good Doctor vs. Seven. The story features multiple, maybe already too many conflicts. Anyway, this keeps the two parts of the episode thrilling for the complete 88 minutes. One of the key questions is what Janeway would have done in Ransom's place. If we don't count "Year of Hell" for obvious reasons, Voyager was never really as desperate as the Equinox has been for five years. Although there is definitely no excuse for Ransom's actions, could the judgment be more lenient upon further examination of the case? The flashback, when the first alien was inadvertently killed, had a close take of Ransom's face, and he looked really sorry. I took this as a first sign that he would finally change his mind. As for his crew, I don't understand why they always follow him blindly. I agree that their common destiny would likely lead to the tight combination of loyalty and familiarity shown among the Equinox crew, the crew calling their captain "Rudy" - I wonder when Tom will begin to call his captain "Kathy" ;-). Nevertheless, I would have expected Lessing (the black man in blue uniform) or Gilmore (the endearing blonde) who obviously had doubts to give up their loyalty rather sooner than later.

Interestingly, the main difference between Janeway and Ransom cannot be simply explained with Janeway being more of an explorer, for this would rather apply to the exobiologist Ransom. The real point is that Janeway always wants to do the right thing, complying with everyone's welfare, the Prime Directive (she sounded quite proud when she said she had never broken it, although we all know it must have been a lie) and, last but not least, the canon of her personal likes and dislikes. It is almost as if she bothers how she will be judged by history. Ransom, on the other hand, has very practical short-term goals, and his actions are accordingly short-sighted. Nevertheless, Janeway acts very emotionally and illogically too. The culmination point is definitely Janeway's interrogation of Lessing of the "enemy crew". What the hell is Janeway thinking when exposing the poor guy to the deadly aliens? Aside from breaking about every Starfleet regulation she is allegedly so proud of, is it moral to kill someone for whatever useful purpose? I'm quite sure that Lessing wouldn't have survived if Chakotay hadn't stopped her. This episode may have had the worst spirit of the whole series. I might give "Equinox" higher marks, but some of Star Trek's most valuable assets almost go down the drain.

What's more, the scientific and technical plausibility of "Equinox" is awful. It is anything but credible that the alien bodies would be suited to increase the ship's power, let alone its speed. It is definitely the worst idea for a "drive-of-the-week". What is so special about the "nucleogenic" antimatter, making it more powerful than "normal" antimatter? If the aliens really emit antimatter, how can they exist in our matter universe at all? If the shown remains of one alien ("ten isograms") can enhance the Equinox's warp drive (maximum speed: Warp 8) by merely "0.03% for one month", how could they ever have traveled the mentioned 10,000ly distance which was obviously necessary to catch up with Voyager? Even if they had been using millions of aliens at a time to accomplish this, how could the power systems and nacelles of the Equinox have sustained the enormous power increase? Another question: What does the Ankari vessel do 10,000ly from their territory, but only 2ly from the Equinox? Wouldn't it have been worth a try to acquire their propulsion technology? I have also a problem with the fact that the Doctor behaves just like his "evil twin" after his ethical subroutines have been removed. If he is really that evolved, his loyalty, friendships and feelings should consist of much more than just a few certain lines in his original program that can be quickly deactivated. So many problems, so few reasonable answers.

Annotations

• Remarkable quote: "Seven's cranial infrastructure is highly complex. You'll need months just to figure out what she had for breakfast." (Doctor)
• Remarkable dialogues:
  • "You know, Janeway's not the only Captain who can help you explore your humanity." - "You would be an inferior role model." (Ransom and Seven)
  • "Borg, Hirogen, Malon, we've run into our share of bad guys. Ransom's no different." - "Yes, he is. You said it yourself. He's human." (Janeway and Chakotay)
• Remarkable nickname: "BLT" aka "Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato" aka B'Elanna L. Torres
• Remarkable species: Species 6291, Iridians, a species that was thought to be extinct by both the Federation and the Borg until Ransom made first contact with them. Obviously, these can't be the familar Yridians.
• Remarkable ship: The Equinox is a Nova-class vessel, built for short-term planetary research.
• Crew losses: 3 (Voyager only)
• Photon torpedoes used: 7 (at the very least)
• Missed opportunity to get home: #13, although it would have been ethically incorrect

Rating: 7

 

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