4.13 waking moments

Various members of the crew awake to find they have all had nightmares, and, strangely, the same alien appeared in each of their nightmares. Harry Kim and other crewpeople cannot be awakened at all. In an attempt to communicate with the alien, Chakotay falls asleep in a ‘lucid dream’, a dream in which he has control and can wake himself by viewing the image of the moon and tapping his hand three times. He falls asleep and confronts the alien, who tells him that he and the other aliens exist in a sleep state and want Voyager to leave their space. Giving the borders of their space, he assures Chakotay that the sleeping crewpeople will awaken at that point. Chakotay wakes himself up and tells the captain what to do. The ship reaches the border, and, sure enough, Kim and the others re-awaken, only to find they are under attack and quickly surrounded and boarded by the aliens, who have used the crew’s dreams to plan an invasion and take over the ship. Held in a cargo bay, Kim and Seven create a diversion while Chakotay and Torres try to get into the Jeffries tubes. But suddenly, Chakotay sees that big moon again, and realizes that he is still dreaming! He taps his hand, and disappears, leaving the crew to surmise that they are still asleep, sharing a communal dream. Back on the ship, the doctor tells Chakotay that the rest of the crew are now all asleep – it’s just the two of them. Chakotay figures out a way to scan for the aliens, whom he believes are sleeping and hidden. At this point, he is joined by Janeway and the rest of the crew, who have figured out how to wake themselves. But then Chakotay sees that big moon in the viewscreen, and tells them he is still asleep. They think he is delusional, and the doctor tries to give him a sedative…at which point he wakes up to feel the doctor actually giving him a stimulant. It’s just the two of them; Chakotay had dropped off and dreamed that the captain and crew had joined him. Armed with a stimulant hypospray and close to falling asleep again, Chakotay beams down beneath the surface of the planet and finds a roomful of sleeping aliens and a generator which is transmitting the field that is causing the Voyager crew to sleep – but it is protected by a force field. Against the doctor’s better judgement, Chakotay orders the doctor to go to the bridge and aim a photon torpedo at the cavern, and to fire it if he is not heard from in five minutes. Chakotay stimulates and wakes one of the aliens, holding him at phaser point and threatening to shoot him if he does not disable the transmitter. But Chakotay cannot stay awake, and he falls asleep – which pops him back into the group dream with the crew and the other sleeping aliens. He informs the alien: "If I don’t contact my ship in two minutes, you and I are both going to die in our sleep." The alien realizes he is beaten, and disables the transmitter.

A wonderfully clever episode, with twists and turns. Chakotay fans will love this episode even more. The commander uses a combination of ancient aboriginal techniques and clever scheming to get out of this one, all on his own.