3.10 warlord

3 aliens are rescued from a ship that has been attacked and is about to explode; one dies in sick bay while being administered by Kes. Janeway agrees to transport the two remaining aliens to their homeworld. But when they get close, suddenly Kes, of all people (who has been acting strangely) kills the transporter Ensign and injures Janeway, and, along with the aliens, steals a shuttlecraft and transports to the planet’s surface. There, she kills the current ruler and seduces his easily swayed son. Why? She has been inhabited by the spirit of a violent former ruler who wishes to regain power. But although he seems to be in control of her body, she fights back with her mind, causing headaches and influencing decisions. Eventually, through Kes’ efforts, Janeway is able to lead a strike force and apply a device that purges the evil influence from Kes’ body.

This is a great change for Kes (Jennifer Lien) to show another dimension to her acting ability, and she does it well.

3.9 future’s end (part 2)

Needing help, Tuvok and Paris ask the young woman scientist to aid them; they are able to get a signal to the ship. The doctor, meanwhile, has refused to give info to Starling (great line: "If you need medical attention, I would refer you to a more local physician"), so Starling, at the touch of a key, inflicts pain on the doctor – the first time he has felt pain. Chakotay and Torres take a shuttle, masked so that earth radar will not discover it, and beam Starling to the ship. But Starling’s associate finds a way to beam him back out. Paris and the woman pursue a dead end re: the timeship, allowing Starling to launch. But Janeway manually programs a photon torpedo and blasts him just as he is about to enter the temporal rift and destroy the 29^th century. Out of the rift comes the timeship, again commanded by Captain Braxton, but this time, he is only there to escort Voyager back to their proper time, and, unfortunately, place, despite Janeway’s request to be moved to the alpha quadrant.

If the doctor is a program that was downloaded onto Starling’s computer, why does Starling torture the doctor for information? Why doesn’t he just read the information from the program?

The doctor states that he isn’t afraid of being tortured, because he can’t feel pain. Yet, a few episodes earlier (‘Tattoo’), the doctor infected himself with the flu. There is quite a lot of pain associated with having the flu, so why is he so surprised that Starling can inflict pain now?

I love the idea of the juxtaposition of Star Trek characters from the future placed in the present. The idea, when executed properly, fills me with glee. Of course, nothing can quite match the way it was handled in Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home. I couldn’t help but harken back to Kirk yelling, "Well, double damn on you" to an irate driver, or Spock’s attempt to curse. This, too, is a gleeful and fun episode. It’s great to have someone from the present (in this case, the young woman who is really ‘us’, the audience) commenting on Trek. And she’s a good actress, too, very natural.

And now the nits: (1) I am not impressed with how little technology has developed between the 24^th and 29^th century. There must have been a real slow-down in progress. The weapon that is used against the Voyager crew seems just about the same as a 24^th century phaser. Wouldn’t there be some kind of heat-seeking or DNA-seeking weapon by then? You know, get a reading on Tuvok, program it on, and the weapon beam goes around corners, etc. But although there is a reference made to Starling having home field advantage by having all that technology, he doesn’t seem to get much use out of it. (2) I don’t even know if it’s worth bringing this up, but I’ve got to question Voyager’s understanding of polluting/endangering the time line. For example, Paris and Tuvok take a truck for a test drive and don’t bring it back. Tuvok suggests that it would have been better to take a cab, but Paris says that borrowing one truck won’t mess up the time line. Well, how does he know? Example: the salesperson who let them take the truck for a test drive loses his/her job because the truck isn’t brought back. Disgruntled, s/he buys an ouzi and guns down a few people. One of the people was going to grow up to discover warp technology. Poof – Voyager and its crew disappears. But let’s take it even further. Tuvok suggests that it would have been safer to take a taxi. Why is this safer? Example: the taxi driver sees them waiting and picks them up. They are not supposed to be in the time period. If they had not been here, he would have picked up someone waiting one block further on. The person waiting further on is not picked up, and is gunned down in a random shooting. Who was that person? The person who was going to discover warp technology! Poof again. And don’t think it has to be so dramatic – I’m just trying to save time in explaining. But basically my point is: as soon as you are in the wrong time period, you are changing and polluting the timeline dramatically, even if you are just standing on the street corner staring into space.

3.8 future’s end (part 1)

Voyager is attacked by a small, highly advanced ship with a Starfleet signature – the pilot of the ship identifies himself as Captain Braxton and brusquely explains that Voyager must be destroyed to avert a catastrophe in the 29^th century – and starts firing. But before Voyager can be destroyed, both ships are pulled into a time rift. Voyager surfaces at Earth in 1996. Subsequent scans reveal that the ship that attacked them is there too. It crashed in 1966, and was discovered by Henry Starling (playing the Bill Gates role?), who has used the technology from the ship to drive computer technology and dominate the business world. He also plans to take the ship into the future to get more technology. A run-in with the captain of the ship, who is now a deranged street person, reveals some clues. Meanwhile, a young woman working at an observatory funded by Starling (and whose purpose was an early warning system in the case that someone from the future came looking for him) picks up warp emissions from Voyager, and sends a greeting message. Paris and Tuvok track her down and rescue her just before Starling’s associate phasers her for sending the message. Paris’ love of that century is enough for him to flirt, much to Tuvok’s disapproval. Meanwhile, Janeway and Chakotay break into and discover the ship in Starling’s headquarters, but Starling discovers them. Kim, who is captaining Voyager, makes a command decision to move close enough to beam them out of danger (transporter problems require this), which is the right thing to do – but it also puts Voyager on the late news, courtesy of some guy’s video camera. Janeway tries to upload and destroy Starling’s database; he replies by using advanced 29^th century technology to upload part of Voyager’s database – including the doctor, who is now at Starling’s headquarters!

3.7 sacred ground

While visiting an underground monastery on the friendly Neehani homeworld, Kes enters a portal and is zapped into a state similar to a coma – but untreatable. The Neehani minister says he cannot help, as the monastery is the domain of the  monks, and they believe that the spirits struck Kes down. However, it is revealed that the monks can pass through the portal safely, after conducting a ritual ceremony. Janeway asks to partake in the ceremony, citing precedent in an ancient Neehani legend of a king who cured his son in a similar situation. Janeway views the ritual as a series of challenges or tests, and believes that there will be a physiological or chemical change in her body as the result of those tests that will protect her – and reveal Kes’ cure. She finishes the ritual, is told that she knows everything she needs to cure Kes, and, having pumped info to the doctor by use of a subcutaneous sensor, she returns to the ship – only to find that what should be curing Kes, scientifically, is having the opposite effect. She returns to the planet once more, and it is revealed that because she pre-determined what the ritual was and what its outcome would be, she took away nothing but what she had brought. Once again she begins, but this time she keeps and open mind and listens. She is asked to make a leap of faith, to take Kes through the portal again, and is told if she believes that Kes will get better, she will. Against the wishes of Tuvok and Chakotay, she does, and Kes is cured.

In the final scene, as the doctor explains in medico-babble why Kes was cured, Janeway, uncharacteristically, stares off into the distance. She has been forced to look in the mirror, to deal with her need to have a scientific explanation for everything (indeed, one of the people in the ritual compares her worship of science as a ‘leap of faith’). Suddenly, she has to face the fact that science may have had nothing to do with what just happened.

Of note in this episode is the leaps and bounds of the doctor’s bedside manner (amazing considering he lost most of his memory in ‘Swarm’ just a few episodes ago. In one scene, he explains in detail to Janeway just how bleak Kes’ condition is, but when Neelix asks about her right after that, he simply says, "There’s been no change."

3.6 remember

The story starts with Torres, lying in bed. There is a knock at the window. She opens her eyes, smiles a smile of glee, and runs to the window to admit her lover, and they kiss and embrace. Torres is oversleeping because she is enjoying a series of very erotic dreams. After a few nights these dreams continue to unfold into a narrative, and it becomes more like a nightmare. It is the story of a young woman, in love with a rebel of whom her father disapproves. When Torres begins to go into something more than sleep, the doctor investigates and discovers that it she is actually viewing someone else’s memories. The cause of this would seem to be the Enarens, a friendly race with telepathic powers who are hitching a ride on Voyager. Janeway and Torres confront the Enaren leader, who denies that any of them would be involved. Torres is fitted with a suppressant to stop the dreams, but she removes it, wanting to know how the story unfolds. She learns that her lover was part of a group labeled ‘subversives’ because they rejected technology. The government rounded them up and supposedly led them to an isolated colony, but in reality they were simply put to death – and the story was completely suppressed. When the dream suddenly stops, Torres, who has realized it is an old Enaren woman, visits her quarters, to find she has been mortally wounded. The woman admits to transferring her memories so that someone, finally, will know. She completes transmission of the story just before her death. Torres, angry, confronts the Enaren leader in the midst of a ‘going-away’ party, but he and the other Enarens continue to die that such a thing could have happened. Later, in Janeway’s ready room, Torres fights again to get proof of the story, but Janeway, although sympathetic, tells her that nothing can be done, that it is none of their business (very different than the last two episodes, she has now returned to the principles of the Federation again). But Janeway also reminds Torres that the Enaren engineers are just packing up, and suggests that Torres may want to say ‘goodbye’. It’s a subtle prod to get Torres down there to talk to the female engineer, the most receptive of the lot. Torres encourages the Enaren to find out the truth when she returns to her homeworld to ‘prove her wrong’. She expresses sadness that this Enaren cannot see what she has seen. At this, the Enaren female states that she can use her telepathy to make the connection. She does…we flash to the Enaren woman, lying in bed, when there is a knock at the window. She opens her eyes, smiles a smile of glee, and runs to the window to admit her lover, and they kiss and embrace.

It has helped me a lot to have read excerpts from the book ‘Star Trek Voyager: A Vision of the Future’ by Stephen Edward Poe. In it, Poe explains that each Voyager episode is meant to instruct, enlighten, and/or to hold up a mirror so we can examine ourselves. Once again, in this episode, we find the crew of Voyager taking the moral high road, intent on enlightening the Enarens. It isn’t a matter of showing the Enarens as bad people and disgracing them (most cultures have a dark side, a dark past, and a list of terrible mistakes); it’s more important that they are aware of their past mistakes so they avoid making the same mistakes again.

3.5 false profits

Voyager discovers traces of a wormhole which may lead to the alpha quadrant, as sensors reveal the existence of a replicator on a nearby M-class planet. Paris and Chakotay don the local garb (after Janeway sends a ‘high-resolution probe’ to scope out the local garb – I always wondered how they knew what to wear) and shuttle down, to discover that two Ferengi (who used the wormhole to get here) have co-opted the local legend of sages who came from the sky. The Ferengi have used the replicator to claim to be gods, and the Rules of Acquisition as their bible and have drained the wealth of the locals with heavy taxation, turning the previously flourishing society into a bunch of annoying Ferengi beggars. Meanwhile Kim and Torres have discovered that while the alpha quadrant side of the wormhole is stable, the delta quadrant side of wagging around like a tail on a dog, always appearing and quickly disappearing at different locations. Kim and Torres work on a way to ‘attract’ and stabilize the wormhole locally. To stop the Ferengi from continuing to exploit the local people, Janeway decides to take them back to the alpha quadrant, despite Tuvok’s warnings that she would be interfering in the local culture. Tuvok can’t convince her, but the Ferengi, once beamed aboard, can, after they describe how devastated the locals would be. Janeway beams them back down and instead opts for a method that will leave the locals with an explanation; she sends Neelix down, disguised as the Grand Proxy, to escort the two (sans wealth) back to the Grand Nagus. But the plan is foiled when the Ferengi try to kill Neelix. Chakotay discovers another way after listening to the final verse of the local song re the sages; Neelix claims to be a mythical figure meant to take them home in a fire. But the locals interpret this literally and prepare to burn the three in a pyre. Just in time, Paris and Chakotay destroy the Ferengi’s dampening field and are beamed aboard Voyager. The wormhole is just appearing, and Voyager prepares to enter, but the Ferengi attack a guard and steal their shuttle, planning to go back to the surface and get their wealth. But as they defend themselves from beam-out, they venture too close to the wormhole, enter it, and destabilize it, and Voyager cannot follow. Sadly, Janeway gives the order to set a course for the alpha quadrant – at warp six – which suddenly sounds very, very slow.

In the last scene, as the former assistant to the Ferengi is handing back all the wealth to the people, they see a bright light shoot across the night sky, explode at a point in space, and then disappear. "Look!" one of them says, "The Holy Ones are going home!" Think about this line; Janeway could have left these people to be corrupted and exploited by the Ferengi; instead she made it her first priority to rid this planet of them, thereby saving them and restoring their flourishing society. At the same time, she lost the chance to enter the wormhole. It is not a mistake when the local refers to them as ‘The Holy Ones.’

Janeway once again violates regulations for the second episode in a row. I guess she has decided that the principles of Janeway, not the principles of the Federation, are the best allies they could have.

This also is another episode where the ‘planet’ that they visit, once again, is a primitive people who live in a small town with a square, and, like all the other little towns, they don’t have any mode of transportation other than feet – no wheeled vehicles, no animals used to transport heavy loads, etc.

3.4 the swarm

Torres and Paris are sharing a shuttle, investigating some strange energy readings (and Paris makes his first pass at Torres), when they are suddenly boarded by two faceless creatures speaking gibberish, who promptly shoot them with pain-inducing rifles, knocking them out. Meanwhile, while singing an aria on the holodeck, the doctor runs into an argumentative holo-diva, and has a strange experience; he forgets his lines. Back in sick bay, when he is about to operate on Paris, he cannot remember how to perform the operation. Kes guides him through it or does it herself, then Torres sets to work to solve the problem. The only alternative she can discover is to ‘reset’ his program, which will also wipe out all his memories from the past two years. The doctor agrees that this must happen as his major duty is to the ship, but Kes argues strongly for him that this would destroy who he has become, that he has learned to sing opera, developed friendships with the crew, even fallen in love (the doc has a great nervous reaction to this fact, which is related in front of Janeway and Torres). Convinced, Janeway sets Torres to find an answer; she turns to the EMH diagnostic program, which is a hologram of Doctor Zimmerman, the human who created the EMH program (and who looks exactly like the doctor), and is even more arrogant.

Meanwhile, Neelix has revealed that the race they have encountered has a reputation for not liking visitors, and ships seem to enter this area of space and either never return or come back with everyone dead. A ‘map’ sent with Paris and Torres reveals that this race claims a huge section of space; going around it would add 15 months to Voyager’s journey. Tuvok reminds Janeway that, according to StarFleet regulations, they may not enter this space. But Janeway is not willing to add 15 months to the journey, and decides to go through. They plot a course through an unguarded area, near a huge swarm of tiny ships, which seem unaware of their presence. But after crossing over the border, an undetected ship materializes and fires a polaron burst that remodulates the shields. Soon, all of the tiny ships have caught them, attached to the hull and begun to drain energy; a number of the aliens materialize on the bridge and are phasered away. Janeway and Kim quickly realize that the ships form a lattice – blasting one destroys more in a cascade effect. (Sidenote: watch Kim’s smile in the background when Janeway describes how she’s going to blast the aliens – he’s positively gleeful!). The aliens disperse and Voyager continues her journey.

With no one to help her, Kes pressures and guides the EMH diagnostic program to discover a cure for the doctor by grafting his program onto the doc’s. They both disappear while the program runs, and Kes invokes the EMH. He’s back, but he doesn’t remember Kes at all. It certainly seems like, sadly, he has been reset and has forgotten all his memories. But as he retreats into his office, he begins to softly sing an aria – proof that some or all of the memories may still be there.

This is a great episode, with two compelling sub-plots (one sci-fi, and one ‘personality’ based) competing against each other. The doctor’s sickness is cleverly written so the diagnostic EMH can take over for his personality as his fades.

The main nit with the episode involves Janeway’s decision to proceed through alien space, stating that, "We’re a long way from StarFleet headquarters, and I’m not about to add 15 months to this crew’s journey just because of a bunch of bullies." It’s a huge reversal of character for a woman who, just a few episodes ago, passionately stated her allegiance to the rules of the Federation, saying that the principles of the Federation are the best allies they could have.

3.3 the chute

As the episode opens, a chute sends a disheveled-looking Harry Kim into the middle of a group of deranged, dirty, violent men who begin pushing him back and forth and pummeling him, until he finds himself face to face with a disheveled Tom Paris – who promptly knocks the wind out of him with a blow to the stomach. Turns out Tom and Harry were tried and convicted (with no evidence) of a civilian bombing. Tom punches Harry only to show his strength; this enables him to take Harry instead of letting the other prisoners get to him. The only way out of the prison, which the inmates believe is hundreds of feet below the earth, is through the chute that fed them down – and it is protected by a fatal force field. While Kim works on a way out, Tom gets into a fight with the prisoner who wanted Harry in the first place, and gets stabbed and badly wounded. Tom will die if he doesn’t get out and get medical help soon. But when Harry disables the force field and climbs to the top of the chute, what he finds is that they are not underground at all – they are on a space station (great sfx). Things are looking bleak, and it doesn’t help that Paris often no longer recognizes Kim, and Kim, under the influence of a brain-twisting torture implant called ‘The Clamp’, comes very close to killing Paris. Meanwhile, Janeway’s negotiations with the Aquitarians is getting nowhere, so instead she goes in search of – and finds - the real culprits, a brother and sister terrorist group. After she threatens to turn them over to the Aquitarians, they agree to help her get Tom and Harry out. Neelix’s ship (with Neelix as captain) is called upon to get past the Aquitarian patrols and reach the prison, where the Chute drops a new ‘prisoner’: Janeway blasting away with a phaser rifle, followed by Tuvok and security. Neelix cleverly evades the Aquitarian patrols and escapes with everyone safe.

This is a great episode, building up the very special relationship between Paris and Kim. At the end, back on the ship, Kim feels terrible about almost killing Paris. He tells him, "Don’t you remember? I almost killed you." And Paris says, "Do you know what I remember, Harry? I remember you saying, ‘No one touches him. He’s my best friend.’ That’s what I’ll remember, for a long long time."

However, I do have to mention that it stretches believability to have Janeway leading an invasion force (the captain is not usually sent on such missions – it should be a security team).

3.3 the chute

As the episode opens, a chute sends a disheveled-looking Harry Kim into the middle of a group of deranged, dirty, violent men who begin pushing him back and forth and pummeling him, until he finds himself face to face with a disheveled Tom Paris – who promptly knocks the wind out of him with a blow to the stomach. Turns out Tom and Harry were tried and convicted (with no evidence) of a civilian bombing. Tom punches Harry only to show his strength; this enables him to take Harry instead of letting the other prisoners get to him. The only way out of the prison, which the inmates believe is hundreds of feet below the earth, is through the chute that fed them down – and it is protected by a fatal force field. While Kim works on a way out, Tom gets into a fight with the prisoner who wanted Harry in the first place, and gets stabbed and badly wounded. Tom will die if he doesn’t get out and get medical help soon. But when Harry disables the force field and climbs to the top of the chute, what he finds is that they are not underground at all – they are on a space station (great sfx). Things are looking bleak, and it doesn’t help that Paris often no longer recognizes Kim, and Kim, under the influence of a brain-twisting torture implant called ‘The Clamp’, comes very close to killing Paris. Meanwhile, Janeway’s negotiations with the Aquitarians is getting nowhere, so instead she goes in search of – and finds - the real culprits, a brother and sister terrorist group. After she threatens to turn them over to the Aquitarians, they agree to help her get Tom and Harry out. Neelix’s ship (with Neelix as captain) is called upon to get past the Aquitarian patrols and reach the prison, where the Chute drops a new ‘prisoner’: Janeway blasting away with a phaser rifle, followed by Tuvok and security. Neelix cleverly evades the Aquitarian patrols and escapes with everyone safe.

This is a great episode, building up the very special relationship between Paris and Kim. At the end, back on the ship, Kim feels terrible about almost killing Paris. He tells him, "Don’t you remember? I almost killed you." And Paris says, "Do you know what I remember, Harry? I remember you saying, ‘No one touches him. He’s my best friend.’ That’s what I’ll remember, for a long long time."

However, I do have to mention that it stretches believability to have Janeway leading an invasion force (the captain is not usually sent on such missions – it should be a security team).

3.2 flashback

Tuvok collapses in pain when a suppressed memory begins to destroy his brain. It seems that Vulcans react physically to attempt to repress the memory. There is no treatment and can end in brain damage, unless Tuvok can mind meld with Janeway (his closest friend on the ship), and with her aide, begin to accept the memory into his consciousness. They travel back in time to the bridge of the Excelsior, one of Tuvok’s unspoken about former assignments, where the flamboyant, rule-ignoring Commander Sulu is peripherally involved in the events surrounding the sentencing and imprisonment of Kirk and McCoy (George Takei reprises his role as Sulu). At a certain point in the scenario, Tuvok always remembers the memory, which is of a little girl slipping from his hand and falling into a ravine. He cannot seem to discover where this memory comes from, and just before his mind is about to be destroyed, the doctor and Kes cure him, and realize that it is not his memory; it is a virus that passed from an Excelsior crewman to him, a virus that masquerades as a repressed memory and needs a human host to survive.

A clever idea, but somehow it does not involve us in what could be a good mystery, probably because there are no clues, and the Sulu sub-plot is too diverting. It’s great to see Sulu get a chance to be a Commander, but he does have a reputation for overacting, and in the first part of this episode he is a little out of control, overstating his lines and running around the bridge like a little boy. Damn he would have been good in the Kirk role (maybe as Kirku?).

3.1 basics (part 2)

While the marooned crew of Voyager deal with food shortages, giant snake beasts and angry Neolithic tribes, Tom Paris convinces the unenthusiastic Talaxians to help him retake Voyager, promising that he will have a plan (although he admits to himself that he doesn’t have one yet). Meanwhile, the doctor detects the presence of Suter and devises a plan to slow the ship down – and Suter has to deal with having to kill again, after he had almost found complete peace. Paris contacts the doctor in a coded message and coordinates his plan, but Seska realizes the doc is sabotaging the ship, and, believing his story that he is working alone, blasts the holo-emitter, and disables the computer from accepting any Starfleet voice commands. This leaves Suter alone, and he has to kill everyone in engineering to complete his task. Well, almost everyone – one of the Kazon kills him just as he presses the button.

Back on the planet, Chakotay saves one of the cave women from a lava flow; the leader of the tribe reciprocates by treating Ensign Wildman’s feverish baby with a poultice that immediately makes it get better. Together, the two very different tribes watch as Paris returns triumphant with Voyager, having taken the ship by overloading the systems – this overload killed Seska, and the other Kazon escaped.

This episode marks the death of 3 crewpersons: Ensign Hogan from engineering, Seska, and Suter.

A couple of nits:

1) The doctor’s holo-emitter is blasted by Seska. When Suter returns to sick bay, he tries to invoke the doctor, but instead a tape plays that the doctor made in case he was disabled. In this message, the doctor explains that Suter is on his own. Two questions arise: if the computer was disabled from all Starfleet voice commands, why did it respond to Suter’s voice and play the tape? Two: although we saw Paris explain to the doctor what he specifically needed to do (and when) to enable Paris’ attack on the ship to succeed, we never saw how or when the doctor shared this info with Suter, making me wonder how Suter now knows what to do.

2) When Janeway is searching for a place to camp, she walks into a cave, looks around, and says, "This is the most defensible position we’ve seen so far. The overhang should provide us with shelter, and the breeze should keep insects away. Alright, let’s make camp." I don’t know about you, but if I was going to set up a campsite for about 80 or so people, I might make my first priority that it be near water – especially in this case, since the crew doesn’t have any containers for carrying liquid!

2.22 basics (part 1)

An automated beacon brings a message from Seska – Maj Cullough has discovered that her baby is Chakotay’s, and her life – and the life of the baby – is in immediate danger. Chakotay doesn’t want to get involved this time, but Janeway insists that he take some time to think about it. He consults the spirit of his father, who reminds him that even when white conquerors raped and impregnated women from their tribe, the  babies were always accepted – and the current situation is similar – the baby must come first. So Voyager heads in pursuit of the Kazon beacon. First, they meet a shuttle bearing a very injured former aide of Seska, who says that Seska is dead and that the baby has been taken deep into the heart of the Kazon empire to be raised as a servant. The aide guides Voyager on a safe route to the baby, but Kazon factions keep attacking – and they always target the same area of the ship – the secondary command processor – which they destroy. It’s becoming obvious that it is a trap – even more so when Voyager is surrounded and attacked by 8 Kazon ships, and the aide, who is a walking bomb masquerading as having a blood disease (polysythemia) blows up. The Kazon board and take over the ship, and Maj Cullough, and a very healthy Seska and baby – strand the crew of Voyager on a planet with nothing except the uniforms on their back. Their only hopes: Paris may or may not have escaped in a shuttle to make contact with a Talaxian mining colony that had offered to help; the doctor hid and has now emerged, undetected, and Suter (he who was cured of his violent tendencies by a meld with Tuvok) was let loose from his secure quarters when the Kazon aide exploded. Wow – great episode that involves the entire crew.

2.21 resolutions

While on an away mission, Chakotay and Janeway are infected with a virus that will kill them if they leave the planet and return to the ship. With the doctor unable to find a cure, Janeway has no choice but to ask Voyager to leave them there and continue heading for the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager beams them down everything they need for an extended stay. Janeway continues to search wholeheartedly for a cure, while Chakotay tries to make the place a home, building headboards, a bathtub for Katherine, etc. When Janeway’s lab materials are destroyed by a violent storm, she has no choice but to accept fate. She also has to deal with the obvious attraction Chakotay has for her – and she for him. When he rubs her shoulders, it’s a little too much for both of them, and Chakotay tells her an old story about an angry warrior who, after joining forces with a brave, intelligent, and beautiful woman and vowing to stay by her side and ease her burden, finally begins to know peace. Of course, it is about him.

Meanwhile, the crew of Voyager, led by Harry Kim, is very upset that Tuvok is so unemotional about leaving Janeway and Chakotay behind. The Vidiians may have an antidote to the disease, but Janeway gave orders for Tuvok not to contact them because of the risk. However, the crew wants Tuvok to ignore the order since he is now captain. Kim rallies the crew and devises a plan to bargain Torres’ DNA with the Vidiians for an antidote, but once again Tuvok does not want to listen – he says his first responsibility is to protect the crew, not to try to get Janeway back. But Kes explains it in a different light – after first breaking Tuvok down by comparing him to her father – she tells him that the emotional state of the crew is also Tuvok’s concern. Tuvok springs into action and agrees to contact the Vidiians. But it is a trap. Deanna Pell, the doctor’s friend, is unknowingly used as a pawn to lure Voyager into the center of four Vidiian ships. When the shields go down to 49%, Tuvok devises a plan to eject an antimatter chamber, lower the shields, beam the antidote in from Pell, and detonate the chamber with a photon torpedo, which disables all four ships. Janeway and Chakotay, enjoying their new life, are somewhat thrown off course when they hear Tuvok’s crackly voice coming through their communicators, but they don their uniforms and fall back into their familiar roles.

2.20 tuvix

Neelix and Tuvok are merged as one new being, with some of the best characteristics of each (although he seems to have gotten all of Neelix’s bad hair). There seems no quick way to get Neelix and Tuvok back, so ‘Tuvix’ becomes part of the crew, and, after some false starts, Kes tries to become friends with him. But when the doctor finds a way to split Tuvix back into his 2 original counterparts, a dark side emerges; Tuvix has the will of two men, and wants to live. The captain makes the difficult decision to sacrifice his life to save the lives of her other two crewmen. The doctor refuses to perform the procedure (which just involves pressing a couple of buttons anyway), so Janeway does it herself. This is a tough episode to pull off successfully, as we begin to like Tuvix. When he is seen to be a selfish coward, who even asks Kes to speak to the captain on his behalf, we see his other side – although frankly it doesn’t really make sense to me that the ‘spawn’ of Tuvok and Neelix would react this way. It’s more likely a plot contrivance.

2.19 the thaw

Voyager approaches a planet that had been turned to ice 19 years earlier; 3 humanoids are discovered in stasis well beneath the surface; for some reason they did not emerge when the glaciers receded. Kim and Torres go in to find out what is going on, and discover they are being held hostage by Fear, a character they inadvertently created in the virtual reality program in which they live – it feeds off of their thoughts and needs them to survive. The doctor makes some headway with negotiations, but not before another hostage is killed. Eventually Janeway threatens to pull the plug, and she goes in, and realizes that Fear wants to be defeated, and she wins the battle. The set for this episode, with midgets, dancing clowns, and that glaring color scheme, reminds me a bit of either the villain’s lairs on the Batman TV series (except the camera isn’t tilted) or an inferior episode of Star Trek (The Original Series). But it certainly is fun to watch Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins of This is Spinal Tap) do his over-the-top thing.

Nit: When Harry Kim plays the clarinet in his quarters and his neighbor bangs on the wall, Kim complains about the acoustics and wonders where he can practice. Uh…how about on the holodeck? Surely he could create a holodeck image of a soundproof, padded room. And certainly the holodeck must be sound-proof, when you think about the racket that goes on in there (and we never hear about any of the x-rated holographic fantasies).

2.19 the thaw

Voyager approaches a planet that had been turned to ice 19 years earlier; 3 humanoids are discovered in stasis well beneath the surface; for some reason they did not emerge when the glaciers receded. Kim and Torres go in to find out what is going on, and discover they are being held hostage by Fear, a character they inadvertently created in the virtual reality program in which they live – it feeds off of their thoughts and needs them to survive. The doctor makes some headway with negotiations, but not before another hostage is killed. Eventually Janeway threatens to pull the plug, and she goes in, and realizes that Fear wants to be defeated, and she wins the battle. The set for this episode, with midgets, dancing clowns, and that glaring color scheme, reminds me a bit of either the villain’s lairs on the Batman TV series (except the camera isn’t tilted) or an inferior episode of Star Trek (The Original Series). But it certainly is fun to watch Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins of This is Spinal Tap) do his over-the-top thing.

Nit: When Harry Kim plays the clarinet in his quarters and his neighbor bangs on the wall, Kim complains about the acoustics and wonders where he can practice. Uh…how about on the holodeck? Surely he could create a holodeck image of a soundproof, padded room. And certainly the holodeck must be sound-proof, when you think about the racket that goes on in there (and we never hear about any of the x-rated holographic fantasies).

2.18 innocence

In Drayan territory, while exploring a moon for materials for the ship, Tuvok’s shuttlecraft encounters turbulence and crashes, killing his shipmate. The moon, which appeared uninhabited, is habited by 3 children who also crashed and lost their ‘attendants’. They are scared and flock to Tuvok, who takes responsibility for them despite their unruliness and general inferiority to Vulcan children. They are afraid of a monster called a ‘Mordock’; they are convinced that the other Drayans brought them to this moon to die. Janeway makes contact with the Drayans but they do not want to discuss the situation; the moon is a sacred place and they just want Tuvok – and Voyager – to leave. Two of the children disappear during the night, leaving only one, and Tuvok, trying to protect her, takes her on the shuttle and attempts to leave the planet, only to be shot down and forced to land again by the Drayans. There, a meeting between Tuvok, the child, Janeway, and the Drayan ambassador reveals that the child is actually 96 years old, and that the Drayan ageing process happens in reverse. The little girl (somewhat like an Alzheimer’s patient) has reverted to a very simplified state and was brought to this place to be guided in reaching death, which is inevitable. Tuvok, who attempted to guide her so well to stay alive, now agrees to stay to be her ‘attendant’ in a very touching ending scene.

Okay, I’m very excited, because here’s the Big Nit: I assume that the Voyager crew is communicating with the Drayans by using the Universal Translator – what are the odds that the Drayans would speak English? Okay, in that case, why, when describing the beings on the planet (that look like children to us) would the UT interpret whatever word the Drayans used to describe them (which would more likely be something like ‘old ones’ or ‘simplified ones’) as ‘children’? Only one reason – to fool us.

2.17 deadlock

Attempting to avoid a convoy of Vidiian ships, Voyager ducks into a cloud, and suddenly is pelted with proton bursts that destroy parts of the hull and leave Harry Kim and Ensign Wildman’s stegosaurus-headed baby dead. Kes disappears into thin air. She’s gone to another version of Voyager, an unharmed copy, that split apart in the cloud (but, like a Siamese twin joined at the hip, is still sharing the same anti-matter with its clone) and is emitting proton bursts to keep from being destroyed. On the healthy Voyager, Ensign Wildman’s baby was delivered successfully and Harry Kim is just fine. Janeway of healthy Voyager 1 contacts Janeway of unhealthy Voyager 2 (and goes through the rift to talk to her) and together they share screen time as they try to solve the problem, with no success (although there are some funny references to ‘My Be’Lanna says…" and "Well, my Be’Lanna says…". Unable to merge the ships, Janeway from Voyager 2 considers giving the self-destruct order, but just as she is about to do so, healthy Voyager 1 is attacked and boarded by hundreds of Vidiians, who begin to kill and take organs from the crew, including Paris, Kes, and others. Janeway gives the self-destruct order, but first she orders Kim to go through the rift with Ensign Wildman’s baby. In a daring rescue, Kim succeeds, and makes it through, just before Janeway 1 welcomes the Vidiians to the bridge – as it is about to blow up. A great story, with some real excitement, and a great look at how the crew would deal with death and sacrifice.

I have a nit about the fate of the surviving Voyager 2. At the beginning of the episode, there were 20 Vidiian ships in the area. At the end of the episode, a Vidiian ship had boarded Voyager 1 and presumably sent a message to the fleet about what it was doing. Voyager 2 is still very damaged. what are the odds that it can avoid or fight off the other Vidiians with no weapons, shields, or warp capability?

2.16 investigations

During the last few episodes, Tom Paris has been showing up late for duty shifts, and he has been answering Chakotay back. This time, he pushes Chakotay to the ground. Janeway sends Paris to the brig, and soon (through Neelix’ new TV show) we learn that Paris is leaving the ship to join a Talaxian convoy – he’s sick of Starfleet rules. Paris leaves, and is quickly captured by the Kaizon. Neelix gets wind of spy activities on Voyager that point to Paris as the villain, but it’s all a ploy by Janeway, Tuvok, and Paris to cast Paris as a malcontent – he’s with Seska to gain intelligence. He finds out who the real spy is and barely escapes. Neelix has to fight hand to hand with the spy, and he kills the baddie. Paris apologizes to Chakotay on Neelix’ show – but says it was kind of fun. Funny scenes as the doctor keeps getting bumped from his schedules appearances. I feel it was a bad decision to exclude Chakotay from the plot. He has not tried to defend his Maquis crew and in fact seems to go in the opposite direction.

2.15 lifesigns

A dieing Vidiian woman is beamed aboard Voyager. The doctor prolongs her brain temporarily by transferring her to the holobuffer. She becomes a hologram like him, and for the first time since she was seven she finds out how it is to live without disease. Slowly, she and the doctor fall in love. The doctor calls for help from Tom Paris, who suggest they ‘park’ in a 50’s automobile while gazing out at Mars – one of his favorite holodeck programs. It works, but the woman must return to her somewhat less ravaged body and go back to her people.

2.14 death wish

Voyager investigates an asteroid-like object; when they beam a bit of it in for examination, a man materializes on the transporter instead. He says his name is Q (although he doesn’t look like the Q Star Trek NextGen fans are familiar with) and he wants to commit suicide – his first attempt to do so makes all the men on Voyager (temporarily) disappear. Soon the other, more familiar Q shows up to bring the men back and explain that this member of the Q continuum wishes to terminate his immortal life, having done everything there is to do. Q1 asks for asylum; Janeway agrees to a hearing to decide if it is merited; Tuvok is asked and agrees to argue the case for Q1. Q2 calls witnesses to prove Q1’s worth; one of them is Commander Riker of NextGen. It is revealed that the continuum, having been everywhere and done everything, is stagnant and scared of change. Janeway rules in favor of Q1, hoping to integrate him into the crew, but he really does not want to go on living, and, in a moment of revelation, Q2 assists in his suicide and hopes it will shake up the continuum.

This is a really fun episode; John DeLancie always has a great time insulting the crew and referring to them in unusual ways: he examines Chakotay’s facial tattoo ("Face art! How...wilderness of you.") And he addresses Janeway as "Madame Captain". He also shows up in Janeway’s bed, promising to zap Voyager back into the Delta quadrant if she will agree to rule in his favor (and perhaps be his lover). Janeway looks great in her silk jammies, and plays the entire episode completely straight, making her a great foil for Q2. But although it’s a silly episode at times, it is also a very touching and serious look at assisted suicide.

2.13 dreadnought

Voyager encounters a self-guided, shuttlecraft-sized weapon of mass destruction originally designed by the Cardassians to destroy the Maquis, but disabled and redirected by Torres to attack a Cardassian base. Here, it is aiming itself to destroy a highly populated planet that it has somehow confused with the Cardassian base. Torres has all the access codes; she beams aboard, updates the computer, and makes it realize that it was mistaken; it agrees and shuts down the attack. Back on Voyager, as Torres discusses the technology they will glean from dreadnought, it suddenly takes off again; that was a deception because it now believes (because of Be’Lanna’s programming) that odds are she is a spy being coerced by the Cardassians. Janeway contacts the target planet, informing the leader that Voyager will get in the path of the weapon if their attempts to disarm it fail, which impresses greatly the previously suspicious person. Janeway ejects the life pods and stays behind; Tuvok asks to assist her and she agrees. Torres beams back over to the weapon, and, working in a an environment without life support and having to deal with a computer that talks in her voice, she breaks the containment field by blasting it with her phaser, and beams out just before the dreadnought explodes.

2.12 meld

A crewman is found dead; the unrepentant, violent person responsible, Suter, is an enigma to security officer Tuvok. His desire for a logical motive and to help the murderer leads him to mind meld with Suter. The meld changes Suter for the best, as he now can begin to control his violence. However, it unleashes the violent side of Tuvok, who trashes his quarters and fights against the desire to personally execute Suter for his crimes.

It’s great to see Tuvok finally able to show some emotion, in a sick bay scene in which his emotional suppressants have been removed as part of his therapy. He is angry, vengeful, and very sarcastic – that sarcastic side sometimes even leaks out when he is in control, you may remember.

2.11 threshold

Working with Kim and Torres, Tom Paris pilots a shuttle to a speed record – warp 10 – made more significant because at warp 10 one is traveling so fast that you are everywhere at once. Paris returns from his experience with fading visions of everyplace in existence and the computer is loaded with complete star maps of the region. Paris is unharmed, or it seems so, until a few hours later his body becomes allergic to water, then to air. His DNA changes rapidly, and he even ‘dies’ and comes back to life, until his tongue falls out of his mouth, right in front of Janeway (classic scene, but be sure not to eat your dinner during this episode). Finally, when he has mutated into what I will describe as a walking frog, the doctor devises a cure, but Paris escapes, captures Janeway, and takes off at warp 10. Three days later, Voyager tracks the shuttle and finds and stuns two life forms that look like huge land-based catfish with legs. The following classic scene take place:

"Chakotay and Tuvok kneel next to the pair of stunned walking catfish)
Chakotay: (studies tricorder) There are traces of human DNA. It’s them. But I have to admit, I’m not sure which one is the Captain.
Tuvok: The female - obviously.
(Both watch as three small creatures, obviously children of the pair, emerge from a hole and slither into a nearby pond).
Chakotay: I don’t know how I’m going to enter this into the log.
Tuvok: I look forward to reading it."

Back on the ship, the doctor performs his magic. Paris and Janeway are human again, but they remember what happened. Paris attempts to apologize to Janeway for ‘what happened’, and Janeway reminds him that he need not apologize – that in some species the female instigates the sex act.

This is a fun, purposely over-the-top episode with some great scenes. It’s worth mentioning, however, that it makes it to the top of the ‘worst of’ episode list of most Voyager fans, so we’ll have to agree to disagree.

2.10 alliances

Another attack by one of the many Kaizon sects leaves Voyager badly damaged and a third crewmember dead. Some of the crew, including Chakotay, would like Janeway to abandon her devotion to Star Fleet regulations and form an alliance with some of the Kaizon sects, in order to protect Voyager and promote stability in the region. Against her better judgement, Janeway agrees to pursue this option, but her meeting with Seska and Maj Cullough falls apart when the Maj insists on a crew exchange. Meanwhile, Neelix, who has been sent to talk to a Kaizon ‘friend’ of his on a nearby planet, is captured upon arrival and imprisoned with people from a race called the Trabe. The Trabe originally shared a home world with the Kaizon and kept them poor and segregated (shades of South Africa) until the Kaizon revolted. It happened 30 years ago, but the Kaizon still harbor bad feelings and attack the Trabe at every opportunity, refusing to allow them to settle anywhere, and keeping them nomadic. Convinced that the Trabe leader wants peace and has learned from their past, Janeway agrees to an alliance. Mabis, the Trabe leader, asks that they invite the Maj’s of all the Kaizon sects to a meeting to forge a peace plan. However, Mabis’ real agenda is to assassinate all the Maj’s and decimate the Kaizon. The plan is foiled by phaser fire from Voyager, and Janeway kicks Mabis off the ship. In the final scene, Janeway sums up the recent events and states her allegiance to the rules of the Federation, saying that in a rule-less area of space such as this, the principles of the Federation are the best allies they could have.

Problems exist, especially with Mabis’ ineptness at assassination. Perhaps it was not a good idea to try to kill the Kaizons by sending a ship to hover outside the window and blast in; it would have been better to have a team of assassins enter and kill using phasers – or to use a bomb.