7.26 endgame (part 2)

Old Janeway convinces young Janeway to take Voyager home through a Borg transwarp hub, avoiding the death of Seven and 22 other crew members. But young Janeway changes her mind, deciding the world would be better served by the destruction of the hub. Old Janeway argues long and hard that the safety of the crew is more important than millions of lives, but it’s a silly argument; certainly not something on which to base the final two part episode of a seven year old TV series.

Possibly the worst part of this plot is that we are told that Voyager must stay ahead of the cascade explosion of the hub in order to survive. Then pursued by a Borg sphere, they transport inside the sphere. When the sphere emerges in the Alpha Quadrant, where, with only 30 seconds warning, Starfleet has been able to assemble 18 ships which blast the sphere to bits, revealing Voyager, intact. B’Elanna has her baby, the series ends, and the writers hopefully burn in hell for that horrible excuse for a plot.

This episode is similar to fury, where a character crewmember comes back older and mean-spirited. Didn’t they learn their lesson then? fury was one of the most hated episodes.

Quotable Quotes:

"Marriage is for the young…like your wife."
-- Janeway to the Doctor

B’Elanna: If you tell me to relax one more time I’m gonna rip your holographic head off!
Doc: I hope you don’t intend to kiss your baby with that mouth.

 

7.25 endgame (part 1)

It’s the ten year anniversary of Voyager’s returning to earth after 23 years in space, and we are reacquainted with the crew. Janeway is an admiral with graying hair. Kim’s hair is graying but he may still not have been promoted. Tuvok is crazy, locked away scribbling on paper (!). Reg Barclay is an ageing university lecturer. The doc (who has finally chosen the name ‘Joe’) eloped two weeks ago with a beautiful young woman. Tom and B’Elanna have a daughter in Starfleet who has just returned from a mission to talk to the Klingons. She was sent by Janeway, who obviously has a plan up her sleeve. She visits Chakotay’s grave, apologizes for all the time ‘…you have had to spend apart from her’, then intimates that she is going to make things right.

The old Janeway uses technology to rejoin Voyager, where she tries to convince young Janeway to fight the Borg.

7.24 renaissance man

Janeway and the Holodoc are on an away mission when a subspace disturbance occurs. When Janeway returns to the ship, she takes Chakotay aside and tells him that she has encountered an advanced species that claims Voyager has invaded their space and must eject and hand over their warp core. The ship is also to be confiscated and the crew marooned on an M class planet. Chakotay wants to fight, but Janeway says she is tired of fighting and insists that they agree to the demands. She cautions Chakotay not to tell this to the rest of the crew. But she is also acting strangely, talking to herself or seemingly to imaginary voices. When Chakotay confronts her, she knocks him out and places his body in the morgue. It is revealed that Janeway is actually the doctor, acting under duress to hand over the warp core to the ‘Hierarchy’ race (also seen in ‘tinker, tenor, doctor, spy’, who are holding Janeway hostage. After more crew members are disabled, Tuvok uncovers the deception, but the doctor escapes in the Delta Flyer with the warp core in a tractor beam. However, when he hands it over to the aliens, they capture him as well and do not let Janeway go. But the doc has hidden the warp signature of the vessel in a recording of classical music, and Voyager is able to track and rescue both of them.

The above synopsis doesn’t seem to be a bad plot; in fact, in the right circumstances, it could have been quite exciting. But for some reason, the episode just doesn’t work. Perhaps part of my problem is that ‘spoilers’ clued me to the fact that it was the doctor masquerading as Janeway and other crew members. Perhaps it was because there was little or no exploitation of the doctor having to impersonate various crewmembers. But the other problem is that the writing is sloppy and not clever. Here’s a good example: at the beginning of the episode, the doctor brags to Janeway that because he is a hologram, he can do many things at once. In fact, at that moment, he is piloting the shuttle, listening to music, and writing a report. However, later (as Janeway) he starts talking to himself, telling the aliens, "Stop talking to me both at once."

7.23 homestead

A party to celebrate First Contact between Earth and Vulcan, where Neelix is trying to get Tuvok to dance, is interrupted when Voyager picks up life signs – 500 Talaxian life signs – and discovers a wary group of clever Talaxians who have carved out a safe place to live within an asteroid. But aggressive aliens lay claim to the area and want to quickly and forcefully evict the Talaxians. Neelix, urged on by Tuvok, gets involved in the conflict and also get attracted to a Talaxian widowed female. With Neelix’ help, the Talaxians are able to erect a force field and remain on the asteroid. Neelix returns to Voyager but sees he is needed more on the asteroid, and Janeway, realizing that this is where Neelix belongs, appoints him as Ambassador to the Delta Quadrant. Sadly, Neelix leaves the ship, but not before Tuvok does a little dance step for him.

A good, solid, emotional episode. But I wonder why the writers decided to ditch Neelix so close to the end of the show. It might have been nice for the entire crew to ‘get back’ to Earth and say goodbye – together.

Watching for the second time, I wondered why, in the second to last scene when crewmembers are lining the hall, why the main crew was not all lined up on the same side of the hall, so Neelix could slowly walk by each one and get a reaction. Instead, for some inexplicable reason, Kim and Seven were on the other side of the hall and only show up in the background. Weird.

7.22 natural law

Chakotay and Seven are in a shuttle, on-route to a conference, but Chakotay wants to check out the scenery, and while deviating from his flight plan, crashes into a previously undetected energy barrier. With the shuttle disabled, the only alternative is for Seven to punch a hole in the barrier and crash-land. Trapped inside, they find they share the space with a primitive indigenous tribe called the Ventu. Seven is uncomfortable, but of course Chakotay is right at home, learning to communicate through sign language.

On the outside, Voyager has learned that the barrier was erected by aliens who visited the planet long ago and were attempting to protect the Ventu from the Ledosians, who were intent on exploiting their lands and conquering them.

In the meantime, Tom Paris has been ‘punished’ for reckless piloting and is forced to take a long review course and exam, led by a Ledosian instructor who wants to prolong Tom’s pain.

With help from the Ventu, Seven lowers the barrier, and Chakotay is beamed out. But a Ledosian expedition enters, and the Ledosians want Janeway to leave the technology and keep the barrier down. When Janeway refuses, the Ledosians attack Voyager and disable their transporters. Janeway calls on Tom, who gleefully breaks off his lesson to fly down, beam out the Ledosian party, destroy the technology, and get out just before the barrier closes again.

While not great, at least this episode again felt like ‘Classic Trek’, attempting to teach a lesson within an action framework.

7.21 friendship one

Voyager’s first official Starfleet mission in seven years is to track down and bring back an ancient earth probe called ‘Friendship One’, launched 377 years earlier as a sign of good will, and sent, heavily laden with technological info and greeting messages, to the outer reaches of the galaxy. Upon finding it, however, Voyager also finds a decimated planet, with only a few very sickly survivors still very angry that the technology from the probe which they used caused their destruction when a reactor exploded. They take Tom Paris, Neelix, and Joe Carey hostage, and when Janeway doesn’t meet their agro leader Verin’s demands fast enough, they kill Carey. With a clever plan, the hostages are rescued, and Tom’s efforts to save a baby lead the way for cooperation. By combining their resources, the problem is solved.

The ‘hostage’ theme works well here – Tom is sincere and effective. And it’s a positive development that the Voyager writers finally realized that killing off a regular character has dramatic impact.

What I didn’t understand was why Janeway had to be convinced to help these people – that didn’t ring true to her character.

The Big Nit again (I love this one):In the episode ‘mortal coil’ Seven brought Neelix back from the dead and stated that she is able to revive ‘drones’ that have been dead for up to 72 hours. Why doesn’t she attempt to revive Carey?

7.20 author, author

Using just 11 minutes of available data stream per day, the doctor has managed to transmit his holonovel and negotiate a publishing contract, although he still needs to make a few alterations. When the crew takes a look at it, they are offended – the characters look almost identical to them, and they behave deplorably – many people will believe the novel is based on truth. Uncharacteristically, the doctor doesn’t see or care about the problem and only cares about fighting the good fight for his fellow Mach 1 EMH units – who have been condemned to a life of menial labor because of supposed deficiencies. With the help of Paris, who creates a similar holo-novel which shows a doc-like character in a bad light, the doctor agrees he should change the character’s appearance. But the publisher has gone ahead and published the novel without permission, stating that because doc is a hologram he has no rights. This leads to a court case, continued each day in the 11 minute periods available, and eventually won by the doc. The final scene is of a number of Mach 1 EMH units, working at a mining base, trading information on a new holonovel which makes for interesting reading.

This feels like a remake of Voyager’s ‘living witness’ and the Next Generation episode ‘The Measure of a Man’, but it’s inferior and way overplotted, with too many of the crew out of character, and much implausibility.

7.19 q2

An obnoxious teenage boy suddenly appears in Janeway’s quarters; soon after, Q appears to explain it is his son. His behavioral problems are causing trouble in the continuum, and Q’s choice is to leave Q2 on Voyager to learn some of life’s lessons. When Q2 puts Voyager into a fatal battle with Borg ships, Q returns and takes away his powers, threatening him with eternal life as an amoeba if he doesn’t straighten up within a week. At first, Q2 cheats on all tests and shows no respect, But when Janeway threatens to give up on him, he begins to respond. However, when Q returns early and is not impressed with Q2’s progress, Q2 loses his ambition and instead steals the Delta Flyer, taking Icheb with him. When Icheb is fatally injured in a battle with an alien ship, Q2 must face the aliens and beg for help to save him. He offers his own life in return for saving Icheb’s life. Surprise! The alien is Q, performing a test, and with this test as evidence, and an agreement to stay with Q2 as a guardian, Q2 is accepted back into the continuum.

Like many of the season seven episodes, this feels like a remake of an earlier episode, with Q2 playing a similar part as Q did in an episode where he lost his powers. I also did not like the way Q2 bounced back and forth between sincere and uncaring – it felt like the typical television template.

Nits: Q2 disdains piloting the shuttle, but knew how to use deflector dish technology to create a ‘wormhole’. Wouldn’t the logs of the Delta Flyer record how he did this, and enable to crew to duplicate this and return home immediately? There could have been many other ways to write the script without adding this nit.

7.18 human error

Seven is playing the piano, has no visible Borg implants, and has her hair down. She is attending Tom and B’Elanna’s baby shower, making jokes, and looking fine. But it’s all a fantasy program she is using to train herself in social skills. Part of her training is intimate relationships, and for this she chooses holo-Chakotay – and they hit it off. But when her fantasy life conflicts with her duties, she chooses to give it up – or is forced to because of a Borg implant that shuts down her brain if her emotional level gets too high.

Another interesting episode, if only because it is a change of pace, content to build character and build something for the future.

Jammer’s review of this episode points out that the writers took the easy way out by inventing a technological reason for Seven to revert to her original reset-button character. Perhaps the episode works for me better because I know it is a building block – as the very subtle ending showed.

7.17 workforce (part 2)

Chakotay manages to link up with Janeway and initially get her to help. Then he breaks the news that she is his captain. But Chakotay is captured, leaving Janeway, with help from other members of the crew who are starting to suspect or half-remember, to make a leap of faith. Together, they are able to escape, leaving Janeway to make a teary goodbye to her lover, but also to look Chakotay in the eye and say that she doesn’t regret for a moment that he rescued her.

A solid episode, with good dramatic elements combining with fast-paced editing and action sequences. I particularly liked part one, when Tuvok was being mishandled in the doctor’s office while B’Elanna was yelling after being transported and Chakotay was fighting with security guards. All this was intercut with Janeway sharing her first kiss with her friend, reminding me a little bit of the murders in ‘The Godfather’ interspersed with the christening of the child in the church. Well, just a little.

I noticed that part one of two part episodes always seem to be better than part two, leading me to believe that Trek should be as DS9, a serial that does not use the reset button and does not try to tie up all loose ends in 42 minutes. There’s much more dramatic tension when you don’t know how – or when - it will end.

7.16 workforce (part 1)

Why is Janeway out of uniform and working away happily at a new job inside a power plant? And even worse, why is she starting up a relationship with a co-worker? Why is Tuvok sitting in a bar laughing at someone’s jokes? Why is Paris working in the bar? And why don’t the crew recognize each other? It’s got to be mind control – it’s a planet where a labor shortage has made the doctor into an expert in brainwashing. But Janeway has left a secret weapon in charge of Voyager – the holodoc in his ECH  (Emergency Command Hologram) mode; and together with Chakotay, Kim and Neelix, they begin the first stage of rescuing the crew.

7.15 the void

Voyager is sucked into a void in space, where it must try to survive with limited resources while being attacked by other ships that are also stuck in the void and need resources. Janeway takes the high road and forms alliances to share technology and resources, while getting help from a telepathic indigenous race that learns to communicate with cool-sounding tone-emitting devices. Not a bad episode, it moves well. The indigenous race is the most intriguing new race seen in a while, and it’s especially nice to introduce a new race that does not communicate in English through the Universal Translator.

Robin Sachs (General Valen) also played Sarris to good effect in ‘Galaxy Quest’.

7.14 prophesy

Voyager is attacked by a sect of wandering Klingons who are searching for a messiah. When Kohlar, their leader, meets the pregnant B’Elanna, he believes she is carrying their lord of lords. He convinces his crew to set self-destruct, forcing Janeway to beam them to Voyager, where they can complete their quest and follow her to the promised land. But some of the Klingons do not believe her child is the true messiah, especially after discovering she is not pure Klingon – and that the father is human. T'Greth challenges Tom Paris to fight, but collapses from a disease which all the Klingons carry – and now B’Elanna's baby is infected. However, the baby’s Klingon/human immune system provides the path for the doctor to create a cure, and in this way the child saves their people – and the Klingons agree to be led to the promised land.

B’Elanna Torres episodes always means a heartfelt, sincere performance, but there are too many plot holes and conveniences for this episode to be a success. In particular, since T'Greth was a skeptic, would he not make a power play, voice concerns, and insist on meeting B’Elanna before the Klingon ship was put on self-destruct? And don’t even get me started talking about blunt batleths.

Nits:

Our first glimpse of the Klingons is a look aboard their ship. There are only Klingons there…so why are they speaking English? It’s also worth mentioning that Kohlar doesn’t sound like a Klingon – he sounds like a black preacher.

Quotable Quotes:

Harry Kim: What’s this?
HoloDoc: Authorization for you to engage in intimate relations with a member of an alien species. Be sure to get the Captain’s approval as well.

T'Greth: I see fear in your eyes, human!
Tom Paris: The only Klingon I’m afraid of is my wife after she’s worked a double-shift.

7.13 repentance

Voyager rescues a group of Nygean guards, and their prisoners, all murderers sentenced to death. Despite Janeway and other crewmembers distaste for capital punishment, they must abide by the Nygean laws. When one of the most hardened criminals is beaten by guards, he is injected with Seven’s nanoprobes to cure him – and the side effect is he is hooked up again with his conscience, which changes him completely. In the meantime, Neelix has befriended a polite man who may have been wrongfully accused.

Cutting to the chase…there is nothing here that hasn’t been seen many times before. The evil captive ends up being the good guy, the good captive ends up being the traitor. But what is good is the acting by Jeff Kober as Iko and the relationship between Seven and Iko. Despite all the plot similarities, it was once again great to see Janeway and Seven be allowed to quietly and emotionally deliver lines. And of course it’s rather parochial examination of our own views toward capital punishment may seem childish – but at least it carries on a long-standing and comforting Trek tradition.

Left unanswered is why the nanoprobes were not administered to the other criminals as well – would it have cured them?

7.12 lineage

B’Elanna’s mood swings and fainting spells are because she is pregnant, but when she sees that the child will have forehead ridges, it brings back upsetting memories of her being teased and ostracized as a child, and of a conflict with her father. She fights to have the baby genetically altered, despite Tom’s disapproval. When she can’t get her way, she reprograms the doctor to state that the alterations are necessary for medical reasons. She is discovered just in time, and Tom is able to convince her that their child will be perfect ‘as is’, and that he will always love her.

Another thoughtful and welcome episode, with character development, interesting dialogue, and no special effects, forehead aliens, or threatening anomalies.

Quotable Quotes:

"Offspring can be disturbingly illogical, yet profoundly fulfilling. You should anticipate paradox." –Tuvok

Tom: This isn’t about their expectations or hopes or…doubts; none of this belongs to them.
B’Elanna: It belongs to us, all of it.
Tom: Lucky us.

7.11 shattered

An anomaly blasts Chakotay into a fractured time-space continuum, where each area of the ship exists in a separate place in time. Only he, having been given an injection by the doctor, can pass through to each area. Needing help, he enlists Janeway from the bridge seven years earlier. Slowly, he convinces her that he is from the future. Other areas of the ship include Seven from when she was a Borg drone, Seska when she had taken over engineering, the Captain Proton program on the holodeck, and B’Elanna Torres as a Maquis. All areas go along with the plan, except of course Seska, who captures Chakotay and wants to send the entire ship into her own timeframe. But Janeway has solicited the help of everyone else, from disparaging time periods, to foil Seska’s plan.

This is an excellent episode which recaps some of the great moments from earlier shows (without resorting to clips), and finally acknowledges some continuity. And it’s great to see Chakotay get some lines again – he’s good.

Quotable Quotes:
"Commander, in case you’re wondering, I never told Neelix where you hid that cider." – adult Icheb to Chakotay

7.10 flesh and blood (part 2)

The doctor gives Iden Voyager’s command codes to use to avoid being captured, and Iden gives his word that he will not use them to attack Voyager. However, he does take the opportunity to beam the injured B’Elanna Torres over, since the doctor mentioned that she was a top-notch engineer – just what the holograms need to effect repairs. But Iden agrees to let B’Elanna go if she does not agree to help voluntarily. She does agree, after becoming friends with a female Cardassian hologram with a conscience. The holograms head for a safe planet, but two Hirogen ships are in pursuit, and the badly damaged Voyager manages to tag along by hiding in the ion wake of one of the ships; they are helped by a Hirogen engineer who reprogrammed the holograms and feel responsible. Iden shows his true colors by suddenly spouting like a religious fanatic, killing two innocent organics aboard a Nubari vessel, and beaming the remaining Hirogens down to the planet to hunt them down, just for revenge. The doctor is able to kill Iden just before he kills the head Hirogen. Janeway agrees to keep the programs of the remaining holograms in the database, and she allows the Cardassian hologram to remain on her ship, along with the helpful Hirogen engineer.

Quotable Quotes:
Iden: The doctor tells me you’re an accomplished engineer.
B’Elanna: He speaks highly of you too. He seems to be easily impressed.

Nits:
Three years ago, Janeway gave holo-technology to the Hirogen. If Voyager is heading for the Alpha Quadrant, constantly, in a relatively straight line, how did the Hirogen get ahead of them? Or are the Hirogen like the tortoises in that Bugs Bunny cartoon? They have similar shells.

So Voyager can hide in the ion wake of the Hirogen ship and avoid detection? Hey, don’t these Hirogen ships have windows and viewing screens? There are two Hirogen ships, side by side – maybe one might look at the other and notice a Voyager-shaped dingleberry hanging off the back?

7.09 flesh and blood (part 1)

A Hirogen distress call reveals a training facility where the Hirogens, using the holo-technology given to them by Janeway a couple of years ago, have been slaughtered by cunning holograms they have created and reprogrammed as prey. The holograms escape, commandeer a ship, and return to attack the Hirogen and Voyager, kidnapping the doctor. At first, the doctor sees their actions as violent, but when he hears the whole story and realizes they are just searching for a home where they can be free of the Hirogen, he wants to help. However, he cannot totally convince Janeway to trust these holograms. When Janeway is about to disable the holograms holo-emitters and keep them in the database (to avoid more bloodshed from two rapidly approaching Hirogen ships), the doctor defects and beams back to the hologram ship, and helps them avoid capture.

By far, one of the most well-paced and intriguing episodes in some time, with enough ambiguity to keep you guessing.

7.08 nightingale

The Delta Flyer, manned by Harry Kim, Neelix, and Seven, finds itself in the middle of a space battle, and Kim saves the lives of the medical team on one ship. They ask his help in escorting the crew and their vaccines back to their homeworld, stopping on the way to get approval from Janeway, who has in the meantime made contact with the Annari, the race that was firing upon the medical ship. Kim is excited by the opportunity for his first real command.

What the Annari don’t tell anyone, and what Kim doesn’t find out until later, is that the ‘medical’ vessel is actually a prototype cloaked ship, and that the ‘doctors’ on board are actually scientists who invented the cloak as a means to get food and supplies to their homeworld, which is blockaded by the Annari.

Kim loses some of his enthusiasm when a crewmember dies under his command and when he finds out he has been deceived, but he returns to lead the ship out of danger.

It’s a fast-paced, serious episode, and Kim is good – very sincere and believable in his expression of the desire to command. The best scene is probably the one between Kim and Paris – they really seem like friends, and there is real continuity in their friendship. The Icheb/Torres sub-plot seems like filler. The sad part is that once again Voyager suffers from the need to achieve dramatic change within one episode – so Kim micromanages and reacts poorly at the 20 minute mark, then changes personality after talking to Seven and becomes a real commander at the 30 minute mark.

7.07 body and soul

While on a routine mission of exploration in the Delta Flyer, Harry Kim, Seven of Nine, and the Doctor are attacked and search by the Lokirrim, aliens who are fighting a war against photonic insurgents and who forbid the transport of photonics within their space. Thinking fast, Seven hides the doctor’s program within herself. He takes over her body and personality completely, and quickly becomes a popular prisoner of war on the alien vessel, treating the sick and being romanced by the alien captain Ranek. Eventually, using the doctor’s guile and Seven’s computer skills, a message is sent to Voyager, and the prisoners are rescued, but not before the doctor stays back to save the life of Ranek.

This episode is a lot of fun, and by far the highlight is Jeri Ryan’s fantastic performance playing the Doctor. (For anyone who says she can’t act and is just on the show for window dressing, watch this episode). Ryan adopts the Doctor’s exact speaking cadence and facial expressions – we really believe he is ‘in there’. On the negative side, the episode could have been played straight, which would have given it some dramatic tension, instead of so obviously making us realize that our heroes are in no danger at all.

Nits:

Why are Kim and Seven speaking in such loud voices in the cell, and why are they speaking at all? Can they be sure that they are not being observed with hidden cameras and microphones? After all, they are suspected terrorists and smugglers.

Just a general observation is my long quest to define why Voyager has been going downhill: At the beginning of this episode, the Doctor calls Seven back because he is overly excited about finding a new life form. Her reaction is of boredom. In reality, this is supposed to be slightly humorous – the conflict between the Doctor, who loves life, and Seven, who is all business. But Seven is a scientist, who, in a previous episode, was so passionately involved with a ‘perfect’ life form that she endangered the entire ship; as a scientist, she should have a natural curiosity about all scientific facts. But here, she is presented as bored, merely as a contrivance to create a need for conversation between her and the Doctor. This is done all the time on Voyager – it’s really annoying now. The characters have become caricatures, and the episodes are not taking themselves seriously – ever. I liked the more somber moods of earlier episodes, where comedy was an augmentation, not the main point.

Quotable Quotes:

"Ranek summoned me to the bridge on the pretext of a little stargazing. What he really wanted was to use my face as a tongue depressor!" – The Doctor

"You became sexually aroused in my body!" – Seven to the Doctor

"We're quite a pair. Me, trapped by the limitations of photons and force fields. You, by a drone's obsession with efficiency. You'd make an excellent hologram." – The Doctor to Seven

7.06 inside man

It’s time for the monthly data stream from the Alpha Quadrant, and since the last data stream did not make it, the crew is hanging out for news and letters from home. This time, something big is in there. It’s a hologram of Reg Barclay sent to help Voyager make modifications that will enable the ship and crew to blast through a gas giant straight into the Alpha Quadrant. Yet there is something bogus about this Barclay. In reality, his modifications will not protect the crew; they will die. Back on Earth, we find out that the data stream did not make it to Voyager. It was intercepted by Ferengi, who plan to sell Seven’s nanoprobes at high profit. The doctor is suspicious of the Barclay hologram, but can prove nothing. Reg Barclay realizes he probably told his girlfriend about the Pathfinder mission. She is convinced by a persuasive Counselor Troi to reveal the plan. Time is running out –the Ferengi ship has opened the ‘fold’ and Voyager is about to enter. But Barclay masquerades as the hologram and convinces the Ferengi that Janeway has figured out a way to come through the fold unharmed. He embellishes his story with tales of Hirogen, Vidiian and Borg weaponry, and the Ferengi close the fold.

It’s not a bad episode, but it’s easy to tell from the start that the Barclay hologram is evil. It must be, or the ship would be returning to the alpha quadrant early.

7.05 critical care

The doctor is stolen by an unscrupulous trader and sold into slavery in a hospital where only those who are deemed to have value to society are given adequate treatment. The doctor has no choice but to treat those around him – his ethical subroutines see to that. He is assigned to a section where the privileged prisoners are treated, and he begins stealing medicine and filtering it down to save those who would die without it. When he is detected, the young boy he was helping is left to die without his knowledge. Exasperated, he forces the calculating hospital administrator to take the place of the boy, with the same life-threatening ailment and the same inability to get the computer to issue the proper medicine. With help from the other high-ranking doctor, the administrator gives in and agrees to supply more medicine.

It’s a nice thought, but the script is weak and the resolution too quick. It fares better when Neelix gets to help out by serving gaseous food to the trader to get information.

7.04 repression

Away from Voyager, a Bajoran is chanting incantations and looking at a computer screen with images of Tuvok, Torres, and Chakotay. Back on Voyager, Tom and B’Elanna are heading for the holodeck eating popcorn and donning 3-d glasses to watch a 1950s B-movie. When the audience shushes B’Elanna, she suggests that they remove the audience and make it more romantic. But one audience member remains in the front row: an unconscious ensign. Subsequent investigations by Tuvok reveal he has been attacked. Similar attacks continue to happen to other crewmembers. All the attacks are on the former Maquis. Tuvok is confused by the cases; he cannot solve them, yet he seems to know who did them. Eventually, through meditation, he realizes his mind is being tampered with by a program implanted by a radical Bajoran vedec who was thrown out of the Maquis for performing mind experiments. Tuvok’s realization does not free him of the problem, and he is able to continue his plan, which awakens similar feelings in all of the former Maquis. Led by Chakotay, they take over the ship, and soon are wearing those cool leather uniforms again. But Tuvok is able to once again regain control of his mind and to mind meld with Chakotay to bring him back. Together, they squelch the rebellion and return the ship to Janeway. Back to normal, the entire crew joins together to watch the 3-D movie.

It’s just another impotent Chakotay episode, where he must be rescued from himself by Tuvok.

7.03 drive

For months, B’Elanna has been trading and dealing to get a full weekend of holodeck time for her and Tom Paris and some romance. As the weekend approaches, Tom and Harry are field-testing the newly rebuilt Delta Flyer when they an encounter a friendly – and competitive ship piloted by a woman who challenges them to a little race. The Flyer wins – and the woman is rescued when her ship is damaged. She invites Tom and Harry to compete in an upcoming race – a race between previously warring races, the first collaborate effort in a new and unsteady peace. Janeway agrees that it is a great idea, and Tom, who in his rush of excitement, completely forgot about the romantic weekend, is forced to apologize to B’Elanna. B’Elanna agrees that he should run the race, but secretly confides to Neelix that her feelings are hurt, and that perhaps she and Tom are ‘mach-ta’, the Klingon expression for ‘bad match’. Neelix suggests that she confront Tom with her feelings; instead, she asks Harry Kim to forego his planned stint as co-pilot in the race so she can take his place.

Pre-race meetings reveal that not all the participants are happy about the race – some still seem at war, in particular the rude, big and ugly Assan. Assan drives aggressively, bumping other ships, including the ship of the woman who raced Tom earlier. Her co-pilot is injured when his console explodes, and she blames Assan, although the Flyer also bumped against her during a tight passing move. Subsequent investigations reveal that her ship had been sabotaged. Harry, very interested in the woman, asks to take her co-pilot’s place for the second leg of the race. Once again, the Flyer takes the lead, with Harry right behind. But the female pilot doesn’t seem to be trying to win very hard, and when Harry’s console explodes, he finds himself face to face with a phaser. He manages to reverse the situation, and the female admits to sabotaging her own ship. She is still at war. She has also sabotaged the Flyer to explode at the congregated finish line, but fortunately, Tom and B’Elanna are having a serious discussion about their relationship, and Tom has shut down the Flyer and forfeited the race to prove how important their relationship is to him. Harry gets a message to Tom and B’Elanna, and they manage to dump the core a safe distance away, and avoid the explosion. Tom proposes to B’Elanna and she accepts, and in the final scene, they move away at impulse in the Flyer, which is adorned with ‘cans’ and a ‘Just Married’ sign.

7.02 imperfection

All of the Borg children except Icheb leave, and Seven begins to cry. The doctor discovers that her ocular implant is malfunctioning. Without it, her Borg implants will cease to function and she will die. Janeway returns to a Borg debris field and extracts an ocular implant from a dead drone, having to fight off some warriors who have laid claim to the debris. But 12 simulations later, the doctor has killed Seven all 12 times, and has to concede that the ocular implant from a dead drone will not work. Janeway wants to take the implant from a live drone, which the doctor cannot condone. Then Icheb, the oldest and only remaining Borg child, suggests that his implant be removed. Because he is younger and was not in the Borg maturation chamber for the full cycle, he believes he can adapt without it. Seven will not endanger Icheb’s life and refuses the donation, but Icheb forces things by removing it on his own. He makes an impassioned speech, asking Seven to start relying on other people just as she asked him to do. The speech works: Seven and Icheb both recover, and Seven sheds real tears when Icheb is out of danger. A powerful episode, aided by the intense performance by the actor who plays Icheb. By the time this emotional episode ended, I had to check to see if my ocular implant was malfunctioning, if you know what I mean.

7.01 unimatrix zero (part 2)

The Borg Queen alters the virus and plans to release it within Unimatrix Zero and kill all the drones that have separated themselves from the hive mind. But she tells Janeway of her plan, and, hoping to avoid killing the drones, agrees not to release the virus if Janeway will convince the drones to return to the collective. Janeway is ‘sent’ to Voyager as a holographic transmission to seemingly give the order for Voyager to cooperate, but what she is really asking Chakotay to do is to destroy Unimatrix Zero. He does, and the Borg Queen finds herself under attack from former Borg and Borg ships that have left the collective. Just before Unimatrix Zero is destroyed, Seven says a tearful goodbye to her former lover, and Tuvok, Torres and Janeway are beamed out just before the Borg Sphere explodes.

It’s a clever two-part episode, but it is somehow uninvolving, perhaps because in an effort to be exciting, we are rushed through each scene without allowing any dramatic tension to build.

Nits: Why would Tuvok, who has the strongest mind, be the first to be invaded and manipulated by the Borg Queen? And there are all sorts of vague nits about the believability of Unimatrix Zero too.

6.26 unimatrix zero (part 1)

Seven is dreaming of a peaceful forested place where a strange man wishes to speak to her. Upset, she tells the doctor. He assures her that this is her first dream and that it is quite normal. He asks her to wear a device to measure her REM states. She dreams again…but it is not a dream, it is an area of collective consciousness shared by a minority of Borg drones while they sleep. In this place, they assume the form they had before they were assimilated. Seven meets a man who seems to have a connection with her. Over time, he reveals that they were lovers in this place many years ago. The Borg Queen knows this place exists, and, seeing it as a threat, has begun to eliminate those drones that go there, and to try to destroy it. When it comes under attack, Seven asks Janeway and the crew to help. Janeway visits the space to reassure the people, but the Borg Queen not only sees her on a viewing screen but finds a way to begin sending Borg drones in to attack. Janeway commits to helping; while Voyager distracts a Borg cube, Janeway, Tuvok, and Be’Lanna beam aboard just before the Delta Flyer is destroyed. They are quickly captured. In the last scene, we see a quick glimpse of them, first Tuvok, then Be’Lanna, and finally Janeway…and they have all been turned into drones! But Chakotay says, "It’s all going as planned," so it must be on purpose.

Nit: The doctor tells Seven she has had her "…first dream." Funny, I thought Seven had dreams of the Borg and a Raven attacking her way back in season 4 in the episode ‘the raven’.

6.25 the haunting of deck twelve

Something strange is going on. As Voyager drifts into a colourful nebula, power is being shut down purposefully ship-wide. Seven asks Neelix to ‘babysit’ the former Borg children, as their regeneration alcoves will also be shut down. Neelix expresses some reluctance about what to say to them – he doesn’t want to scare them with the true story of what happened. Already they have heard rumors. So Neelix spins a wild ghost story about an electronic life form that surreptitiously invaded the ship as Voyager passed through a nebula. The life form began to attack ship’s system in a seemingly random and aggressive way. But it’s aim was to reach the central computer and communicate with Janeway. Just as conditions got worse, Janeway was able to negotiate with the life form and agree to return it to its home. The Borg kids see through Neelix’ story, believing it to be another one of his wild exaggerations. Little do they know that it is absolutely true.

This is a clever way to frame an otherwise mundane and unexciting story.

6.24 life line

Dr Louis Zimmerman, the obnoxious genius who created the matrix of Voyager's EMH, is fatally ill; Reg Barclay sends information on his condition to Voyager's EMH, knowing he will be concerned. The doctor convinces Janeway to take advantage of their new ability to send a once-a-month data stream to Star Fleet to send him to make a house call, so he can treat the closest thing he has to a father. But what he finds is a very sick man who views the Mach 1 - of which the doctor is a model - as a dismal failure - all the other models were considered inadequate and have been reassigned to ship cleaning duties. Like a father who feels that his son has not lived up to his expectations despite the greatest of efforts and the finest of blood lines, Zimmerman rejects the doctor. Even Deanna Troi, summoned to counsel by her friend Reg, cannot make any headway in the situation. But when the doctor's program starts to degrade, Zimmerman is called upon to make him better, and finally begins to be proud of his creation. He allows the doctor to treat him - the treatments work, and it is revealed that the degradation in the doctor's program was actually sabotage created by Troi and Barclay to get the desired effect from Zimmerman. Friends again, the doctor and Zimmerman pose for a holographic snapshot before the doctor returns to Voyager.

It's a fairly predictable plot with a few twists, and it's fun to watch the talented Robert Picardo in dual roles.

6.23 fury

A small craft approaches with one life-sign – it’s an Ocampan, it’s Kes! But she’s old and angry, and she beams on board, looking mean, stalking through deck 11 while the walls explode behind her. Reaching the ware core, she fires off a beam that kills B’Elanna Torres. Suddenly, she is back on Voyager three years earlier. Her plan is to kidnap her younger self and take her home to Ocampa, as she has had a hard time on her own since leaving Voyager and she blames Janeway. She helps the Vidiians capture Voyager in return for safe passage, but just in time Janeway discovers her plan and foils it, with some help from Chakotay, who figures out a way to shake loose from the Vidiian ship. Janeway and Tuvok convince the real Kes to help them – she records a holographic image. When the older Kes once again attacks Voyager in the future, Janeway uses that image to help convince her that her need for revenge is unfounded.

While it is great to see Kes back again, the plot for this episode is weak, poorly structured and confusing. It is also against the basic philosophy of Trek to have a crew member, especially a loving, dedicated one such as Kes, return hell-bent on revenge and murder. I didn’t believe it and I don’t want to believe it.

6.22 muse

The Delta Flyer is damaged, forcing B’Elanna to ask Harry Kim to eject in an escape pod, while she tries to get the ship working – and crash lands on an M class planet. There, she is discovered by a poet; in exchange for stories about the ‘eternals’ (the other members of the Voyager crew) which he converts into plays, he helps to keep her from being discovered, and he provides her with bits and pieces to help repair the ship. As we view the play, we cut back and forth to the contrast between fantasy and the reality of the real Voyager crew, worried about Torres and Kim and continuing to search. B’Elanna’s repairs do not work, and, with war between the patron of the theater group and the neighboring province imminent, B’Elanna agrees to help him create a play that will change the patron’s mind about going to war. The story revolves around Seven of Nine as the Borg Queen, with Janeway refusing to make war against the Borg and instead proposing peace. But there is no whiz-bang ending, nothing to drive home the point. B’Elanna can’t help, because a jealous actress has threatened to expose her if she shows up. But when Kim shows up, having turned his escape pod around and also landed on the planet, the Delta Flyer – and its computer and beaming capability – is repaired, and B’Elanna joins the playwright onstage for a teary goodbye – before she beams away off the stage.

I found this to be a moving episode, full of contrast and allegory, with humor provided by Tuvok snoring on the bridge.

One comment – I thought it was strange that this episode was aired right after the previous one (‘live fast and prosper’) since the themes are very similar – others are acting out their versions of the Voyager universe.

6.21 live fast and prosper

Two humanoids dressed in approximations of Star Fleet uniforms and identifying themselves as Captain Janeway and Commander Tuvok scam an ore deal, then take off, continuing to scam everyone they meet, offering memberships in the Federation and claiming that Voyager is their ‘mother ship’. The real Janeway first learns of the deal when the scammed ore people accuse her of stealing. She ties the culprits back to an infected power relay gained by Neelix and Paris about three weeks earlier in a trade with two ‘clerics’ who were trying to raise money to help orphans. Voyager tracks down the imposters and are able to beam the woman aboard before the ship gets away. Janeway wants info on all the items stolen and threatens to turn the woman over to the authorities, enlisting the surprised Tuvok’s help in coming up with some tall tales about their justice and prison system. Neelix, who was quite charmed by the woman when she was masquerading as a cleric, brings her a nice meal in prison, and tries to convince her to consider giving up her lying ways. In exchange, he will speak to Captain Janeway about allowing the woman to stay on board. She is getting convinced, but it is all a scam – she waits until Neelix’ guard is down, then she knocks him over, steals his phaser, shoots the guard, and escapes, stealing the Delta Flyer. Now, when this happens, I was all set to start writing down nits: like why would Neelix be allowed into the cell wearing a firearm, and why didn’t the guard reinstate the cell door force field after Neelix entered the cell, until I realized that they must have let her escape – which of course we learn is the case. She finds the other two members of her crew. Paris and the doctor have stowed away aboard the Delta Flyer, and after she beams back on board her ship, Paris attacks, but again they get away. The three of them transport down to gather their booty, but suddenly the woman turns the tables and holds a phaser on the other two, pops on a communicator and calls for Voyager to beam her up. Interference makes that impossible, but when one of the men tries to shoot her, the phaser blasts goes right through her, almost as if she is a hologram, which of course she is – it is the doctor!

Janeway returns all the loot and hopes that the damage to Voyager’s reputation has been repaired. Paris and Neelix, embarrassed that they were scammed by the ‘clerics’, feel like they’ve got their savvy back; they not only outsmart the cons, they also are able to beat the doctor at the ‘shell game’.

This is an amusing and clever episode, with humorous moments as the doctor outsmarts and is outsmarted by Paris and Neelix, and with many funny moments as one con man, masquerading as Tuvok, gets into the character a little too much for his fellow crewmember’s liking.

Nit: Observant fans will realize that when the woman beams back to her ship and her crew reports that there are ‘life signs’ aboard the Flyer, this is a big clue that she is the doctor, because if she really had beamed over, there would only be one life sign on the Flyer.

6.20 good shepherd

An efficiency crew check by Seven reveals three misfit crewmembers that have been neglected by Janeway. In other circumstances, they probably would have been relieved of duty and retrained or assigned elsewhere, but since Voyager is isolated in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway decides to nurture them by taking them on an away mission in the Delta Flyer. There is a guy who is a hypochondriac, a woman who makes mistakes and has lost self-confidence, and a hermit who is only interested in theory. The routine mission becomes dangerous when part of the hull in removed in an attack. By encouraging, inspiring, and using the individual strengths of the crew, Janeway is able to make them come together as an efficient team, and to find dedication in their work.

This is a fun episode: it’s great to see conflict, humor, and people making mistakes. I just wish there had been one more scene – an interaction between Janeway and the three crewmembers back on Voyager, to complete the circle. As filmed, the episode seemed to end abruptly.

6.19 child’s play

A Voyager science fair highlights the talents of the children on board, in particular, those of Icheb, the older boy recently rescued from the Borg (see the episode ‘collective’). His special talent for science strengthens his strong bond with Seven; she is visibly disappointed when Janeway tells her that his parents have been found, and he is to be returned to them. Icheb doesn’t remember his parents and does not want to leave Voyager, but Janeway asks Seven to aid in the transition. Icheb’s parents apparently love him very much and want to  him back. Initially, the boy resists, but he begins to see that his scientific skill is needed to help his people, who have been devastated by the Borg (it seems that their homeworld sits right near a trans-warp conduit from which Borg ships routinely emerge). Icheb decides to stay, and Seven accepts that, until one of the other children mentions that Icheb was assimilated on board a vessel, not on the planet’s surface, as was stated by his father. The dates also don’t match up to the Borg cube’s database, so Seven asks Janeway to go back to investigate more. Meanwhile, we are seeing that the parents are up to something no good. Voyager finds that the boy has been sedated and is heading for the trans-warp conduit. He has been genetically bred since birth to carry the Borg-killing virus; a task that his parents and other Benari see as necessary to defend themselves against the Borg. Voyager is able to intercept Icheb’s ship and beam him aboard just before a Borg sphere appears and locks both in a tractor beam. Unable to escape, Seven beams a torpedo to the Benari vessel set to detonate just as it is tractored within the ship, and just before Voyager is dragged inside. Back on Voyager, Icheb grapples with the notion that he let his parents down, that it may have been his destiny to be assimilated by the Borg. Seven tells him that he may choose to fight the Borg, but that it must be his choice, not something he is born into.

A solid episode. If you are not watching the clock, you may think it is going to end when Seven says goodbye to Icheb (and it would have been a decent episode even without the twist).

6.18 ashes to ashes

Voyager is hailed by a former crewmember, Lieutenant Ballard, believed dead – in fact, she was buried in space. But although she has Ballard’s memories and some of her DNA, she was saved and reanimated by a race called the Kabali – and she looks like them now. Back on Voyager, she deals with her Kabali body by changing cosmetically to look like a human, but she is Kabali, and she cannot fit in, or think like a human anymore. She hangs around with Harry, who has a crush on her, but when her Kabali father comes back for her, she starts to reconsider her decision to return to Enterprise. By the time her Kabali father returns with a trio of ships, she has decided that her place is with her new species.

A side plot deals with Seven’s difficulties in caretaking the Borg children.

It’s not a bad episode, although the basic plot structure is well-worn, so we know where they are probably heading, and they do end up there. Lt. Ballard looks great as a Kabali, and I thought the makeup effects were really good.

I enjoyed the complex graphic that Seven devises to control the movements of the Borg children, and Chakotay’s reaction to it.

Nits: Why didn’t Seven bring Ballard back to life, like she did for Neelix in ‘mortal coil’? Why doesn’t the Universal Translator translate Ballard’s Kabali outbursts into English?

Quotable quotes:

"Hair is one of my specialties – despite evidence to the contrary." – the doctor

Kim: I don’t want to lose you.
Ballard: You already did – but at least this time we get the chance to say goodbye.

6.17 spirit folk

The popular holodeck simulation of the 1800s Irish town of Fairhaven has been recreated and kept running all the time so most of the crew (but not Tuvok, Chakotay or Torres) can use it. But Harry’s hijinks of turning the flower girl into a cow just as Harry Kim is going to kiss her is seen by the townsfolk, who believe that the crewmembers are Spirit Folk and perhaps quite dangerous. A holodeck malfunction traps Harry, Tom and the Doctor there, with the safeties off and their lives possibly threatened. It’s up to Captain Janeway to convince the cluey Michael that they are travelers from the future and mean no harm.

There are so many problems with Spirit Folk that it is difficult to even address all of them. But here are the biggest ones:

If you were going to choose a sixth season story arc, why make it the one that features stereotypical Irish characters? Why is most of the senior staff in the holodeck when there is a starship that needs to be piloted and maintained? Why would Tom think it was funny to turn a holodeck character into a cow? Why is valuable energy being wasted on running a holodeck simulation when Voyager should be conserving energy? Why is an important panel for controlling the holodeck, which is itself only a computer program, located at the pub and within the program? Why would someone keep a computer program running (because the crew has gotten attached to the holo-characters in it) even though these characters are threatening the lives of real people? How could a recreation of simple, friendly, trusting, stereotypical small town Irish folk from the 1800s accept the fact that there are travelers from the future within their midst? Why would the crew of Voyager still wish to participate in the holo simulation once their role was changed from ‘just another member of an 1800s community’ to ‘travelers from outer space and the future’? I could go on…but this is such a misguided effort, with way too much holodeck time.

6.16 collective

A Borg cube surprises and attacks the Delta Flyer (with Chakotay, Paris, and Neelix aboard) and tractors it inside. Voyager intercepts the cube and Seven determines that only five drones are on board. When Seven beams over, she finds only five ‘immature’ drones (approximate ages 5 to 15), saved from a virus because they were still in their maturation chambers. Unable to connect with the hive mind, they wish to trade their hostages for the deflector dish. This trade will leave Voyager without warp drive, an unacceptable situation for Janeway, especially when she finds out that the cube sent a distress call to the hive earlier. However, Seven discovers a coded message sent from the hive informing the drones that because they are now deemed ‘damaged’, they will not be reassimilated or rescued. Janeway withholds that information, and also has the doctor create more of the virus, in case she has to use it. Meanwhile, Seven works on repairing the cube’s technology, although her efforts are hampered by the teenage boy that has taken control of the remaining drones. Her work is also interrupted by the discovery of a newborn baby drone, complete with implants, that must be beamed to Voyager’s sick bay to be saved. Kim, undiscovered aboard the Flyer, is discovered and seriously wounded just before he was about to disable shields for a hostage beam-out. With time running out, Seven confronts the drones with the info that they are not wanted back in the hive, and asks them to join her on Voyager. The drone leader still resists, but is killed in an accident. The other children agree to come back. Their implants are removed, and Voyager begins finding representative of their races so they can be returned. Reluctantly at first, but then perhaps feeling the spark of an inner need, Seven is given the task of ‘mothering’ the children and helping them assimilate back into society.

Great shot: Paris’ look as the Borg cube interrupts the card game.

6.15 tsunkatse

Shore leave has a number of members of the crew (including Chakotay, B’Elanna, Kim and Neelix) excited about watching a competitive fighting sport called Tsunkatse. Opponents use various martial arts skills to hit sensors and send pulses through their opponents’ bodies. But Tuvok and Seven take off in a shuttlecraft to explore a nearby nebula instead. On their way, they are intercepted and captured, taken aboard a powerful ship prison run by the Tsunkatse fight promoter (Jeffrey Combs – who also played Weyoun on DS9). Tuvok is badly injured during their capture, and Seven – who, because of her Borg heritage is a powerful crowd draw – is forced to fight to get medical treatment for Tuvok. Chakotay and the others are shocked to see her walk into the arena – their calls to her and attempts to beam her out are unsuccessful – she is actually fighting aboard the ship, in front of the promoter, and the contest is being holographically beamed to a number of locations. Voyager searches for the ship, and Chakotay calls Janeway back from vacation to help. Meanwhile, Seven is given fight instructions by an Hirogen (J. G. Hertzler, who played Martok on DS9) who takes her under his wing. For 19 years he has been a captive. Her next match will be to the death; she must kill or be killed. She enters the ring – and finds she is facing the Hirogen. He has not deceived her; after 19 years he wishes to die an honorable death. But when Seven refuses to fight or kill him, he tells her – and she realizes – that he will kill her – they have no choice. Fortunately, just as Seven is able to land the death blow, the combined attack by Voyager and Janeway in the Delta Flyer enable Kim to beam both contestants out. The Hirogen parts company with Seven amicably, and is returned to a nearby Hirogen hunting party.

A well-executed, but derivative, episode.

6.14 memorial

Returning from a seemingly routine away mission, Paris, Chakotay, Neelix and Kim begin to experience fragmented memories of having taken part in a battle, a horrible massacre in which they killed a number of innocent civilians (a la Mi Lai). The doctor confirms that they are not dreaming or hallucinating; the memories are real. Janeway investigates, and, as the ship draws near to the system where the away team had visited, everyone on the ship begins to have the same memories. Was the entire crew coerced into fighting a war? Investigation of the planet’s surface reveals that the actual massacre took place 300 years ago; a sophisticated memorial is emitting brain waves so that passers-by will experience the event and learn from this experience, and ensure that the victims will not be forgotten. Chakotay, Paris and Kim argue strongly that the monument should be destroyed, but Janeway decides that she stood by and did nothing once (while experiencing the memories), and she won’t do it again. She orders that the fading power cells on the monument be repaired, and she leaves a warning beacon so that other ships entering the area know what to expect.

This in a dramatic episode, going out on a limb to have our favorite characters act out of character: Neelix holds Naomi Wildman hostage because he is reliving the slaughter of the colonists. But there is some dramatic tension lacking, because we know that there is no chance that the writers would allow our much-loved cast to kill innocent people, even if coerced, even though we see scenes of them doing it. Still, the scenes of Paris yelling at Torres, of Janeway yelling at the soldier who is vaporizing the bodies, of Neelix cowering in fear – of Kim killing two innocent people just because one of them moved – very intense.

One Nit: first Janeway says that they should repair the beacon so that the memory of the incident should not die, so that the monument should continue to transmit for another 300 years. Then she said they should place a warning beacon in orbit so that ships know what to expect. So how will this ensure that the massacre is not forgotten? How many ships are going to encounter a warning like, "Warning! If you continue into this area of space, all of your crew is going to become psychotic", and then continue into the area? How about….none? So will the memory of the massacre really live on?

6.13 virtuoso

Voyager accidentally damages the ship of a technologically superior – and obnoxious – alien race called the Komar. When the doctor starts singing in sick bay, they are amazed and enthralled, having never heard music before. But it’s not music in general that captivates them, it is the doctor in particular. He performs in a couple of concerts and becomes flooded with fan mail and fans. He even begins to act like a diva – when he calls Captain Janeway ‘Katherine’ she realizes he is going too far. He enjoys his celebrity so much that when the Komar ask him to stay (and the female who asks him seems to be attracted to him) he decides to leave Voyager. There is a heated discussion about this with the doctor and Janeway in a great scene, and, in another scene, Seven is noticeably hurt that the doctor would leave. But the woman who invited him to stay views him as a sophisticated program – nothing more – and she uses her technical abilities to create a similar-looking hologram that has superior singing abilities. The doctor changes his mind about leaving, much to the delight and amusement of Janeway, and, in the final scene, Seven presents a final piece of fan mail to the doctor – written by her.

This is a humorous and entertaining episode, but for some reason it wasn’t compelling or involving enough to distract me from guessing at which way the plot would turn. It seemed obvious that the Komar would try to steal the doctor (which they did not). It seemed obvious that the Komar female’s big surprise would be a clone of the doctor (which it was).

Great line from the doctor to a fan: "Please accept this complimentary 8 by 10 by 4 singing holographic image of me."

The Big Nit: Somehow, the Komar have never experienced any kind of music before. An interesting concept, but how possible is this? Because they have a closed society. Okay, fair enough. But wait: listen to the way the Komar speak. Listen to the changes in pitch, the sing-song quality of their speech. The concept of this episode starts by assuming that a thick line exists between ‘speaking’ and ‘singing’. It does not. It is a short jump, a jump that would happen naturally.

6.12 blink of an eye

Voyager investigates an unusual planet and becomes trapped in orbit. On the planet, days pass in a matter of seconds; if Voyager sinks into the atmosphere, they will also become trapped in time. They must leave, as they are causing seismic disturbances on the planet.

We as viewers get to see the changes as each successive generation on the planet advances technologically. On Voyager, Chakotay, Torres and Seven study this phenomenon from a little further away, using images from a probe. In an attempt to get info on how to leave orbit, the doctor is sent on what is meant to be a three second (two day) away mission. When the beam-back fails, he spends three years on the planet, and comes back with much technical info; and also with the news that he had a female ‘room-mate’. He also tells that ‘the star ship’ is a focal point of life on the planet, celebrated in song, story, and children’s toys.

The planet’s inhabitants reach the space travel stage, and send two astronauts who are able to enter Voyager in a state of accelerated time. The crew is frozen like statues. The two astronauts reach the bridge, but then begin to get sick from the effects and are detected. One of them dies from the transition. The other attempts to help, but as the planet’s inhabitants continue to develop weapons, they fire on Voyager – wanting to stop the source of the seismic disturbances. With shields almost down, Voyager’s only hope is the pilot.

As the pilot heads back, the doctor asks him to check up on what happened to a boy named Jason – the doctor’s son!

The pilot is able to convince the inhabitants to stop firing; two advanced ships appear and tractor Voyager out of orbit. Wearing a temporal device, the pilot visits the bridge to say goodbye. In two hours, Voyager will have warp drive and will leave. A great ending: back on the planet’s surface, we see an elderly asian man (– the pilot, who is two hours / 50 years older – sitting, peacefully watching as a bright star in the daylight sky suddenly disappears.

A clever time-based episode with huge nits.

Three Big Nits: #1: We can understand the people on the planet because they are speaking English. I thought this was because of the Universal Translator (which of course doesn’t make sense anyway, since no one from Voyager is there). But then, I see that the letter from the Protector is even written  in English! What were the odds of that? On earth, even people who live 30 miles away in an isolated area may have a completely different language.

#2: In and around the area of the note written in English, the ‘Protector’ is sending a message to the Ground-Shaker in a hot air balloon. Two men are heating the air in the balloon. Then they release the balloon, which begins to float up – but it does not appear to have a heating device any more!

#3: When the aliens board Voyager, they are in some other, speedy time frame, and the Voyager crew seems frozen in time like statues. Why is it that no one sees the aliens until they fall down ill? They stopped plenty of other times and didn’t move, but no one appeared to see them then.

6.11 fair haven

Tom Paris creates an enchanting Irish village on the holodeck. Janeway wanders in one day to look for her crew and becomes attracted to one of its inhabitants, bartender Michael Sullivan. She makes him more to her liking, adding a couple of inches (of height, that is), giving him more intelligence and making him less reserved. And – the best line – "Delete the wife." But after three intimate days together, she leaves the holodeck and attempts to forget about him, disgusted with herself for falling in love with a hologram. The doctor (dressed as a priest from the simulation) confronts her and tells her that the feelings are real, no matter whether the other being is flesh and blood or photons and force fields. It is tougher for hologram Michael, who has been drinking heavily, wondering where she went, climbing trees and shouting her name (to the wonderment of the crew). In the meantime, Voyager is working its way through an anomaly. To break through, all available power is needed, and the Fair Haven holodeck program is lost except for 10 percent of it. Janeway confronts Michael and tells him that she may be back again in a few weeks (which is when Tom Paris intends to have the program up and running again). She says goodbye, then seals herself out from making any more modifications to his program.

It’s an interesting look at the concept of loving someone just for who they are and not trying to change them (even if you can). It also explores the isolation of command.

6.10 pathfinder

Reg Barclay is back, explaining his predicament to Counselor Deanna Troi (both Star Trek: Next Gen characters). It seems that he has become obsessed with the plight of Voyager. To relax and think, he has recreated the ship and crew on the holodeck (one of his favorite places). In this fantasy world, he is well-respected, the technical guru, and all the women are attracted to him. He has a plan to use a communications array to create a micro wormhole, but his commanding officer doesn’t think his plan can work. Barclay presents his plan directly to Admiral Paris, who agrees to have it studied. But Barclay continues work without authorization. When he is discovered on the holodeck, his commanding officer believes he is suffering from holo-addiction again, and orders him off the project. Not to be stopped, Barclay breaks in and begins sending the message. When he is discovered, he hides in the Voyager holodeck simulation. Eventually giving up, Admiral Paris shows up to say that he has authorized the plan. As they are deciding what to do with Barclay, a static-filled message arrives from Janeway. With only a few seconds left before the micro-wormhole deteriorates, Janeway sends ships logs, Starfleet sends tech info, and Admiral Paris sends a hello to his son. Barclay’s success breaks him away from his solitude, and he tells Troi that he is dating his commanding officer’s daughter. Back on Voyager, buoyed by the Alpha Quadrant message, Barclay is made an honorary member of the real crew.

6.09 the voyager conspiracy

Seven modifies her alcove to download more terraquads of data. Her first such download reveals a colony of fleas disrupting a subsystem: very impressive. She continues to download data as Voyager finds a strange catapult and its builder – an alien, who, in return for some help, has no objections to allowing Voyager to use it to jump a few hundred light years ahead if his jump is successful. Seven continues to download data, and finds compelling evidence that the alien is in league with the Caretaker (see the episodes caretaker  and cold fire). Further investigation shows that this is probably not true, and the plans to use the catapult continue. Next, Seven calls Chakotay to Astrometrics, seals the door and disables internal sensors, and reveals ‘compelling evidence’ that Janeway is in league with the Cardassians to establish a military presence in the Delta Quadrant. While Chakotay doesn’t believe the story, he cannot disprove it, and he encourages B’Elanna to miscalculate the shield settings so as to delay Voyager’s trip through the catapult. More data is downloaded by Seven; this time, she summons Janeway to the Astrometrics lab and informs her of Chakotay’s Maquis plot to use the catapult to attack Cardassian and Starfleet ships. Janeway is also dubious, but is put on edge by the overwhelming weight of circumstantial evidence. When Janeway and Chakotay both begin carrying phasers, they confront each other’s stories and see that something is amiss in Seven’s logic. By now, Seven has stolen the Delta Flyer and is heading for the catapult, intent on destroying it because of her new theory – which Janeway’s true mission was to capture Seven and deliver her to the Delta Quadrant for analysis, to enable Starfleet to study the Borg. Janeway beams to the Flyer, and, by quoting specific meaningful dates in Janeway’s and Seven’s relationship is able to regain her trust and beam her back to sick bay. In the final scene, Janeway and Chakotay, enjoying some coffee in her quarters, promise never to mistrust each other again.

6.08 one small step

An anomaly almost swallows Voyager; the discovery of an inner core containing elements of various vessels it has absorbed also finds traces of a famous command module from 2032, piloted by Commander Kelley, whose exploits in space inspired many. He’s a boyhood hero of Chakotay, who leads an away mission with Paris and Seven. Seven has been sent by Janeway to gain an appreciation of history, since she has none. Inside the anomaly in the modified Delta Flyer, the command module in found almost intact. As Chakotay prepares to drag it out with a tractor beam, Voyager’s sensors pick up an imminent collision between the anomaly and a dark star asteroid. Fearing turbulence, Janeway orders Chakotay to return to Voyager immediately, but his insistence on taking the module along causes Voyager to move too slowly, and to be repelled back inside the anomaly, badly damaged. Chakotay is also badly injured by a pulse. Unable to effect repairs on the ship with the parts they have, they must borrow a compatible fuel injector from the command module. Seven is sent to do this task, and she discovers that Kelley lived after being absorbed by the anomaly, and continued to keep logs until the last minute, even shutting down life support so that more data could be collected. As Seven works to free the part needed, she listens to these logs and gains appreciation for what the man did to further space travel. Before beaming back to the Flyer, she downloads his database and also has his remains, preserved in the vacuum of space, beamed back as well. The repairs work, and the Flyer is able to escape just before the anomaly returns to sub-space. Back on Voyager, an official ceremony is held for Kelley, and it is Seven who chooses to say a few words – she whispers to him, ‘The Yankees’, answering his question about who won the World Series.

This episode doesn’t really work for me. I wasn’t sufficiently inspired by Kelley to care. And of course, that made Seven’s change of mind unbelievable. Additionally, I was glad that Chakotay got more to do in this episode, although he was knocked out and unconscious for awhile, and he did act foolishly to disobey an order.

6.07 dragon’s teeth

A special corridor provides Voyager with a 200 light year jump in a matter of seconds, but they also confront a species that claims ownership of the corridor and insists they leave – and then be boarded to have their computer records of the experience wiped. When Janeway refuses, three other ships appear and begin attacking. To escape them, Voyager lands on a nearby planet, decimated and made toxic by a war 900 years earlier. Beneath the surface, faint life signs are found. The stasis inhabitants, the Vhadwar, are revived. 900 years earlier, their planet was wiped out by an alliance intent on destroying them. This alliance now claims ownership of the corridors. The Vhadwar ask for help to leave the planet and find another world to settle. They have about 600 people, one batallion, and 100 attack vessels, all with 900 year old technology. On the surface, it seems a good alliance. Neelix, however, does a little digging when he remembers that ‘vhadwar’ in the old Talax tongue means ‘foolish’. He finds fables about a mystical army that suddenly appears, attacks, and disappears. Confronting the Vhadwar leader, he admits that they used the special corridors to expand their territory. Now he agrees to cooperate with Voyager, but more militant members of the Vhadwar have other plans – to capture Voyager and begin raiding again. With help from the leader and from the other species, Voyager is able to escape and leave the others to continue fighting.

Comment: Okay, what’s going on with Chakotay? This guy gets one line per episode now! Did he have a fight with the writers?

6.06 riddles

On an away mission with Neelix aboard the Delta Flyer, Tuvok, tired of Neelix’s silly riddles about surviving in the desert for a year with only a calendar by eating dates, goes toward the back of the ship for some privacy, and discovers a cloaked intruder downloading information  - and is zapped, losing most of his memories. His advanced Vulcan mind begins to rebuild itself, but without his normal logic and intelligence in math and science. Instead, he enjoys listening to music, cooking, and hanging around with Neelix, whose gentleness makes them best friends. Working with an alien investigator, the evil aliens are discovered, and, faced with being uncovered by Janeway, they agree to help the doctor with a cure. Tuvok is reborn, back to his old self, but perhaps with a little of the fun-loving Tuvok still there – in the last scene, he suddenly says to Neelix, "Sundaes – the person with the calendar could have survived by eating Sundaes", and then seems surprised, and a little annoyed, that he has come up with such a flippant answer to the riddle – although Neelix is thrilled.

6.05 alice

A dodgy trader makes a few deals with Voyager for various parts, and one very intriguing – but damaged – ship that Tom Paris takes on as his pet project. With multiphasic shielding and a special (neocortical?) interface, Tom begins spending all of his time working on ‘Alice’. He even begins to imagine, not only that she is a machine with the soul of a woman, but that there is an actual woman there as well. Alice has plans of her own; to convince Tom to leave Voyager and take them ‘home’. When B’Elanna tries to investigate the ship, Alice seals her in and turns off life support, almost killing her. Tom realizes she is taking over, and tries to break away, but she implants additional neural controls in his special suit, and soon he is stealing the necessary parts to complete the project from various areas of the ship. When B’Elanna discovers this, she confronts him, only to have him scream at her in an uncharacteristic manner to leave him alone. While B’Elanna is warning the captain, Tom and Alice depart. Voyager tracks and beats Alice to the destination, a particle fountain, and B’Elanna is sent ‘in’ through a com link to try to convince Tom to come back before facing death. It’s enough of a distraction for Tuvok to beam Tom out just before Alice explodes. Back in sick bay, Tom thanks B’Elanna for being his ‘alarm clock’, and promises that he and the Delta Flyer are ‘just friends.’

6.04 tinker, tenor, doctor, spy

The doctor is singing an opera before an enraptured crew in the mess hall, a moving performance - so moving that Tuvok is crying. Then Tuvok becomes violent, a victim of Pon Far. But the doctor has it under control; he changes the words to the opera to match the circumstances, and injects Tuvok - 'in his behind' - with a hypospray, then finishes his solo to applause. It's only a daydream; he has enhanced his program to allow himself to dream. His little fantasy is interrupted by the reality of Torres telling him that he is no longer going on an away mission that he wanted to join. Wanting to do more, he makes a formal proposal to the captain, asking for more duties, and even requesting that a new post - Emergency Command Hologram - be created, with the doctor taking over command should the need arise. Janeway isn't quite ready for that. The doctor's fantasies continue. In the meeting room, Be'lanna is playing footsie with him, Seven is surreptitiously asking him to dinner via a padd, and Janeway, also craving his affection, feigns a back problem, asking the doctor to feel the spot where it hurts, which happens to be right on her butt. This causes a little catfight between Be'lanna and Janeway. In his other fantasy, he is given the ECH post, and, during a Borg attack that turns the other bridge officers into drones, his uniform morphs to red, he sprouts 4 pips, and he blasts a Borg sphere into oblivion using a weapon of mass destruction he invented called a photonic cannon.

His fantasies are not so private, however. An alien ship is hidden in a nearby nebula. Its aggressive inhabitants are using their advanced technology to monitor Voyager. One alien thinks he has achieved a breakthrough, viewing Voyager through the eyes of a multi-talented holographic officer who does very well with the ladies. He finds out enough about the ship to convince his commander that they should attack.

Meanwhile, the doctor’s program enhancements have become non-stop and uncontrollable, taking over his entire program. He asks the crew for help. They begin to monitor his fantasies. Some of the crew are amused by this glimpse into the doctor’s subconscious, like when Seven finds herself modelling topless for a goatee-clad doctor artist; some are annoyed, like when B’Elanna finds herself begging the doctor not to break up with her, and some are touched and made to question their decisions, like when Janeway watches the doctor’s sincere thank you for being made ECH. The doctor’s dream subroutines are purged, and he feels embarrassed at being exposed. But Janeway assures him that everyone fantasizes, and that his ability to do so will be restored once it can be done safely.

As the aliens begin moving toward Voyager to attack, the alien who has been monitoring uncovers the truth; that he has been viewing the doctor’s dreams. This is disastrous for him; when it is discovered that he has delivered misinformation, he will be ruined. He creates another daydream, this one with him in it, so he can communicate with the doctor and warn of the attack and how to avoid it. Now the doctor must convince Janeway that he has not been dreaming again – he does so by providing a sensor enhancement that suddenly reveals three cloaked ships approaching. The doctor also reveals that he will be fed the shield frequencies of the ships by his friend, but only if it can be made to look like the fantasy is real – the doctor must be captain on the bridge. Adorned in his red uniform, the doctor is nervous and doesn’t act very captain-like, as he is fed instructions by Janeway in Astrometrics via an audio link. The plan to thwart the attack is foiled, too, when the alien commander sees that Voyager has not been damaged by the earlier Borg attack. They now plan to modulate their shields every ten seconds. Faced with imminent destruction, the doctor springs into action, assuming his fantasy role, and gives the order to arm the photonic cannon – but does it so convincingly that the cautious aliens decide it would be better to retreat. Impressed with his resolve, Janeway awards the doctor a medal of honor, and states that she has commissioned a study on the ECH idea. Seven kisses the doctor on the cheek to congratulate him, then states, "That was a platonic gesture – don’t expect me to model for you."

Written by Joe Menosky from a story by Bill Vallely, this is probably my favorite episode of the series. It is cleverly structured so that not only do we care about the doctor, but we also want to know more about the alien who is spying on him. It is touching, silly, exciting, and funny. This is the Voyager cast and production crew at its best; polished performances and good editing add to the episode.

6.03 barge of the dead

B’Elanna barely survives a rough return to Voyager on a shuttlecraft. But the crew is acting strangely. There is an artifact, a bit of a Klingon bird of prey, found wedged in her shuttlecraft’s nacelle, which bleeds in her quarters. There is Tuvok; he interrupts their meditation session to challenge her Klingon pride by swinging a bat’leth at her, gouging her face in the process. There is the rest of the crew, going over the top to salute the discovery of the artifact, singing Klingon drinking songs and drinking blood wine. It all ends when a Klingon warrior bursts into the mess hall and slaughters all but B’Elanna. She suddenly finds herself on the ‘Barge of the Dead’, a mythical ship, bound for hell, loaded with Klingons who lost their honor. Her mother is there, punished because B’Elanna refused to accept her Klingon side. B’Elanna breaks away suddenly to find she is in sick bay – she had lost consciousness during the shuttle flight and had a near death experience. Back in reality, she finds a new belief in the afterlife, and feels she must go back to take her mother’s place. Her impassioned speech to Janeway convinces the captain to let B’Elanna take the risk. With the near-death conditions simulated in sick bay, B’Elanna returns to the barge of the dead, where she has to confront her fears of the crew. Her mother is ‘saved’ and forgives her, saying that they will meet again in Sto’vo’kor (heaven). B’Elanna returns to consciousness and hugs Janeway.

Great moment: When Tuvok changes character and becomes an aggressor, swinging a bat’leth with skill.

6.02 survival instinct

Seven is attacked in her alcove by three scarred visitors to Voyager; they are former Borg, separated from the collective. Although they removed their implants, they are still attached – to each other – and are going crazy from hearing each other’s thoughts. Through flashbacks, we learn that Seven was with them when their Borg vessel crashed and they survived on a planet, waiting for the collective to find them. Separated from the collective, they began to remember – and assert – their individuality. But Seven, who had been assimilated as a child, grew fearful of her individuality, and reacted by injecting Borg nanoprobes into the three and linking them together. Now, the doctor finds that if they are separated, the operation will be fatal, leaving them only a month to live with their much-sought freedom. The only other alternative is to return them to the collective. While the doctor wishes to prolong their life as drones, Seven does not want to make the same mistake twice. She reminds that doctor that he too was once treated as something similar to a drone, confined to sick bay and only allowed to perform medical duties. If he was again asked to resume that limited role, would he not resist? The doctor understands and severs the link. With only a short time to enjoy their freedom, the three former Borg take off in different directions.

6.01 equinox (part 2)

Voyager is able to fend off the aliens by sending a deflector pulse, but it will only last a short time. While Chakotay wants to try communicating with them, Janeway is much more interested in tracking down the Equinox and Captain Ransom. They clash so much that Janeway sends Chakotay to the brig. She is really losing it; she threatens a member of the Equinox crew and almost kills him by allowing the aliens to invade the cargo bay he is being held in. She promises the aliens that she will hand over the Equinox to them, in return for getting them to break off attacks; this is also definitely against Starfleet regulations, but when Tuvok protests, she threatens to throw him in the brig, too. Meanwhile, the Equinox has gotten some distance away but not too far, as Seven, who is now their prisoner, had encoded the plasma injectors. She refuses to give up the code, so Ransom activates Voyager’s EMH, who has traded places with his, and disables his ethical subroutines, and gets him to begin the operation. It will damage Seven’s brain, but this new version of the doctor doesn’t care. Voyager continues to track the Equinox down and is winning the war. Ransom, meanwhile, has had his holographic dreams invaded by the image of Seven, he has an epiphany of sorts – and decides partly because of his decision to harm Seven, which he really regrets, that he would like to surrender to Janeway. However, his second in command mutinies and continues the fight. Ransom is able to disable the Equinox, and most of the crew is beamed over to Voyager and captured, leaving just Ransom and his second and some officers loyal to the mutiny. The mutineers are killed by the aliens, and Ransom, regretting his decisions, stays on the ship and pilots it to a safe distance before it explodes – and he with it.

In the end, Janeway apologizes to Chakotay and mentions that he had grounds for his own little mutiny, and wonders why he didn’t do it. "The thought crossed my mind," he says, "but that would have been going over the edge." Chakotay has been the strong one, adhering to Starfleet principles, while Janeway slipped – badly – in her obsession with punishment.

Nit: These aliens are easily placated. They ask that the Equinox be handed over. At the end, they are willing to settle for the Equinox blowing up and about half its crew being killed. For the other half, they are willing to allow Janeway to punish them as she sees fit (slack punishment, as they are demoted to crewmen).

5.26 equinox (part 1)

The Federation ship Equinox, led by Captain Ransom (John Savage) is being savagely attacked by aliens that can penetrate their shields. They send out a distress call, which is answered by Voyager – the Equinox is also in the Delta Quadrant, having also been dragged their by the Caretaker. Most of Ransom’s crew is gone; the two crews work together to defend themselves against the aliens. But Ransom is somewhat secretive about his ship’s technology, and asks some pointed questions to Janeway about the Prime Directive. On the surface, he appears to be cooperating, but he and his crew are scheming to steal enough technology from Voyager to enhance their own and get home quickly. Janeway – with help from the doctor – discovers that Ransome has been killing and using the alien’s remains (they exude antimatter) to feed his propulsion system – which is why the aliens are attacking. The doctor discovers this, and also discovers the alternate EMH, who sanctioned the horrible experiments on the aliens – his ethical subroutines have been disabled. He also attacks the Voyager’s doctor, disables his program, and steals his holo-emitter – and takes his place on the enterprise. The Equinox EMH frees his crew; they continue their plan and beam the field generator and themselves to the Equinox, protecting their ship from the aliens and leaving Voyager stranded and vulnerable. As the episode ends, the aliens have penetrated Voyager’s shields, and an alien heads right for Janeway – her phaser is thrown aside, she falls back…and the episode ends.

Nit#1: Ransome gives an impassioned speech explaining why he felt he should kill the aliens – 80% of his crew was killed, they hadn’t eaten in 16 days, etc. That doesn’t explain – and Janeway doesn’t ask him – why he is still planning on using the aliens to get home now, after being protected and joining forces with more people and a more powerful ship. Obviously, it’s because he’s a dork, but the question needed to be asked.

Nit#2: With only four crew members left, Ransom hatches a plan to steal the generator and take his ship back. I wonder why he didn’t involve his EMH in this plan? The reason, of course, is so we could forget that the Equinox EMH was available, and that Voyager’s doctor could ‘discover’ the EMH a little later and have the plot thicken.

5.25 warhead

Harry Kim has been performing well, taking the captain’s chair during the ‘night’ shift. A distress call from an M-class planet causes him to change course. Chakotay asks him to head the away mission; he and the doctor (and an anonymous crew member whom I thought for sure was going to die but didn’t) find a ‘device’ embedded in the rock that believes it possesses human form. The doctor is able to communicate with it; he also feels an empathy toward its artificial intelligence, and convinces Kim to beam it back to help it. Further studies reveal that the device, although unaware, is a weapon of mass destruction. As B’Elanna and Harry work to disable it, its defenses activate, and it takes over the doctor’s body with its intellect – and threatens to blow up Voyager if they do not deliver it to its designated target. Harry and B’Elanna are trapped in sick bay with it, and Kim is upset that it was his command decision to take the thing on board. He begins talking to it, attempting to convince it that it now has sentience, that it can do what it wants, and that it doesn’t have to destroy its target. After repairing some of its damaged internal files, they discover that the war has ended and the weapon was sent an encoded message to break off the attack. Still it does not want to deviate from its mission. But Kim is able to break it down, and when another 30 warheads detect it and show up, wanting it to join them and hit their former targets, it goes – but only with the plan to detonate and destroy them as the only way out.

This is a great episode for Harry Kim. He shows command potential, and his impassioned arguments and pleas to the warhead are excellent.

Nit#1: What is this with ‘night’ duty? Why do I get the feeling that some people are forgetting that there is no night in space, which things don’t slow down at night. Or maybe the ‘night’ shift is just the euphemistic name for the ‘off’ shift when most of the crew (and especially Chakotay and Janeway) are not on duty.

Nit#2: When Kim is first on the bridge, the navigator reports a distress call. Kim walks over and leans over her (invading the pretty blonde’s personal space, but I guess that’s a captain’s prerogative) as she reports the source of the distress call. It is a long distance away, requiring a major course change, which Kim gives the order to make. The scene shifts to an external view of Voyager approaching a planet, the source of the distress call. Since this required a major course deviation, I assume this little side-trip took at least a couple of hours. However, when we return to the bridge, Kim is still leaning over the ensign’s shoulder, at the exact same place he was in the previous bridge scene! He really likes her!

5.24 relativity

We are watching the first tour of Voyager by her new captain, five years earlier – but why is Seven of Nine there, wearing a green Starfleet uniform? She has been recruited by a Federation time ship from the future to attempt to stop a saboteur who blew up Voyager. The time ship is run by Captain Braxton (see the two "future’s end" episodes). They can’t seem to catch the saboteur, which forces Seven to continually be snatched a moment before the explosion in the ‘present’, and sent back in – although she is degrading because of that. Eventually, the saboteur is discovered; it is Braxton, from the future, angry at the trouble that Voyager has caused him. Seven pursues him through a few time jumps and, with Janeway’s help, is able to capture him.

5.23 11.59

Janeway shares the story of her great-great-great-grandmother, who was personally aided in the building of the Milennium Gate, a year 2000 self-sustaining biosphere. But as Neelix and Seven delve further into history, they discover her ancestor’s role may have been blown out of proportion. Through flashbacks (with Janeway playing her ancestor), we find out that her real role was to fall in love with a book shop owner, the last holdout against the building of the Milennium Gate in his small town, and eventually to convince him that the gate isn’t all bad.

The truth disillusions Janeway, but the crew convinces her that her ancestor is to be revered, if not necessarily for what she did herself, then just for the fact that she inspired Janeway to enter the space program.

I suppose the point is that while history may tell that her role with unimportant, in reality, Janeway’s original version of events was more correct.

5.22 someone to watch over me

The doctor has somehow been appointed to teach Seven sincere but corny lessons in social interaction. The idea is that – unknown to her – she has the desire to date and perhaps mate. At least, she has been spending hours studying Tom and B’Elanna for some reason. The quest to make her socially acceptable leads to a bet between the doctor and Tom. Although her other dates don’t work out, she has developed an almost intimate friendship with the doctor, and she successfully shows up as his date. But when she finds out about the bet, she is hurt. The doctor apologizes to her but wants to do more – he has fallen in love with her. But although he practices telling a holographic version of her, he feels that the real Seven sees him only as a mentor and not as a suitor – so he says nothing and drops the whole concept.

An entertaining episode, as we get to watch Seven polish her social charms.

5.21 juggernaut

A Meilon freighter deals with failing systems and an imminent internal explosion that will detonate its toxic waste and destroy everything within five light years. Their distress call is answered by Voyager. At the same time, B’Elanna is dealing with her temper; she destroyed the doctor’s holo-imager when he refused to take photos in engineering as part of his ‘A Day In The Life Of The Warp Core’ photo show. Her sessions with Tuvok don’t seem to be helping much. Voyager reaches the freighter area and finds escape pods, with only two remaining life signs. With their warp field destabilized by the Theta radiation, Voyager cannot outrun the imminent explosion; there is no choice but to reach the freighter and attempt to fix it. With the Meilon agreeing to help because they have no other choice, they join the away team of Chakotay, Torres, and Neelix (chosen for his Talaxian garbage scow experience). The away team faces the toxic atmosphere, failing bulkheads, and – even worse – a legend of a beast that thrives on theta radiation and is responsible for causing the damage. When Chakotay gets hit in the head by a big piece of metal, it’s up to B’Elanna to take over leadership. The beast is real and begins attacking the party, intent on continuing to destroy the ship and finalizing its revenge. With the ship about to explode, Torres tries to reason with the alien, which is actually a highly overexposed Meilon core worker, angry at being victimized. When reason does not work, Torres bashes him with a stick and is able to rescue the away team and get them beamed out just before the ship explodes.

At the end of the episode, we get to see B’Elanna’s very nice naked back as she steps into the sonic shower and washes away all the stress of the incident.

Nit#1: Why didn’t they use the doctor to go to those area of the Meilon freighter that were contaminated? Usually he comes in handy for these types of missions.

Nit#2: When B’Elanna begins to develop lesions, the Meilon commander offers to help her with medicine available on the ship. Chakotay orders B’Elanna to comply. The Meilon shoots her up with an evil looking dual syringe. Amazing that the same chemical fix that works for a different species like the Meilon also works – and did not kill – a human/Klingon.

5.20 think tank

A unusual shipful of aliens have formed a ‘think tank’, not as a means to help those races which need help, but more as a way of acquiring knowledge, uniqueness, and perfection. Voyager is being hunted by the Hazari, ‘bounty hunters with a work ethic’ as Kim describes them. With Voyager surrounded by scores of Hazari ships, the think tank (led by Mr Koros, played by Jason Alexander) offers a sure-fire way out – but withholds that information until certain items are agreed upon as payment, one of which is Seven of Nine. Janeway gives Seven the choice of going, but Seven isn’t interested, forcing Voyager into deeper trouble. Investigation finds that the bounty hunters have been hired by Koros himself. Armed with that knowledge, Janeway convinces the Hazari that an even greater bounty can be gained by attacking the think tank. By creating the illusion that the Hazari have captured Voyager and that Seven has left voluntarily to save the ship, Koros allows her into the tank, but then gets suspicious and asks to probe her brain to find Janeway’s true motives. Voyager uses that moment to tap into Seven’s cortical implant and disable communication between the various members of the tank, which makes the tank ship vulnerable to Hazari attack. Leaving the tank to fend for itself while scores of Hazari ships fire upon it, Voyager streaks away at warp.

A worthwhile episode, especially to watch Jason Alexander’s performance.

5.19 the fight

Trapped in an area called ‘chaotic space’, where none of the laws of physics work, Chakotay, who was boxing on the holodeck when they entered. finds that he seems to be hallucinating – he can’t get fighting out of his mind. The doctor discovers that his ‘crazy’ gene – a gene that runs in his family and caused his grandfather to be mentally ill – has been reactivated from a dormant state. This causes Chakotay to fear that he also is going crazy. But what is really happening is that the aliens that live in this part of space are trying to communicate a way out for Voyager using the only method they know. Eventually, Chakotay, using the metaphor of the boxing ring, is able to communicate with them and change various technobabble settings – and Voyager breaks free.

An interesting episode that doesn’t really work, mostly because of the unfortunate choice to have Chakotay portrayed as ‘scared’ of going crazy.