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’.
your reviews R great but your NIt PICKING is DIRE, U don't seem to have the memory, knowledge or imagination to remove these nits or at least them stop annoying you.
ReplyDeleteThis time its COMPLETELY the fault of your memory. No where in "the Raven" does Seven " dream" - as in the process during sleep, she ONLY has visions/hallucinations from her emerging subconscious/memories/trauma on her progression from assimilation to human individual in all aspects
alright, al, well at least you seem to be enjoying my faults. I believe the doctor refers to it as a dream, so who am I to argue with him. Are you calling the doctor, who is a computer program, wrong?
ReplyDeleteSorry, it has now been awhile since I have seen this episode, so if you think my memory was bad straight after when I wrote the review, you can just imagine what I remember of it now.
Check Utopia Planitia's summary of this episode: "Strange dreams prompt Seven of Nine to flee Voyager..." (http://www.utopiaplanitia.info/episodeguide/voyager-episode-guide.html# - then click on season 4 and the episode in question). At least one other reputable source refers to these 'hallucinations' as 'dreams'. You'll find that the word 'dream' has a broad meaning and also may be used to refer to waking hallucinations. Although I am stretching it a little, the word 'dream' can refer to a 'daydream', and 'daydream' means 'To have dreamlike musings or fantasies while awake'.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you took the time to read my reviews, flawed as they may be, because it's gotten me into thinking again about Voyager. I am going to watch The Raven again, and if the Doctor says the word 'dream', you'll be hearing from me again! :) (If he doesn't, I'll probably be strangely silent). ;)
Well theZOO you are very gracious in defeat,a very admirable + enviable trait. You feel my criticisms when i think you unfairly bash Voyager(IMO TNG was lucky to come after such a long Trek dessert,its much more difficult to impress when there has never been such amount of quality trek around at the same time, TNG was still fresh in the memory + DS9 was building up to its peak quality when Voyager started) as for me personally its one of the most (especially overall) inspiring, entertaining,addictive of the ST series (eg NO other captain before has been written with such richness (facets,degree/variety of relationships emotions especially complex genuine one conferred effectively) eg showing countless times, subtle scenes when the ship is facing + just after escaping imminent DIRE peril that she does suffer fear like every other human its her ability to face, endure + shield her experience of it from adversaries (so her enemy doesn't see weakness/advantage)/ (the majority of) the rest of the crew - thus ensuring their confidence in the Captain and so their moral remains intact.
ReplyDeleteI have been diagnosed as someone who thinks excessively (for their own mental health)and deeply about countless things in life, naturally including a TV show i am so passionate about. i also live and breath the scientific method so i always try to be aware how strong emotions can destroy the minds objectivity + warp thinking AKA worthless irrational fanaticism. I can understand why i get much more pleasure from a bog standard bottle show, not least my familiarity and emotional investiture with the (especially my favourite) characters but when i watch an episode i don't analyse till after eg if i read criticisms are made i feel are unfair, i simply see how it can impress me in the way i have rated any other eps.In this way i have so far seen no huge crash in quality over the initial third of season 7 no worse, perhaps better than S7 TNG (none at all through season 6 but like TNG i can understand how seasons 3/4 represents the peak in consistent quality of the show) As much as i loved TNG, after BofBW the borg featured too rarely and it was a relative let down when they did esp the I,Borg follow up 2 parter, they lost what made them so terrifying in the first place. In TOTAL contrast to Voyager with endless enjoyable borg/borg directly related eps(eg the first one "Unity" managed to have all the tension + thrill of a borg ep, even though the real unfettered borg ultimately never actually appear but there was endless fascinating discussion about the (potential of)borg technology + life/experience *BUT* not just those the series is littered with endless tantalizing references/anecdotes about the borg + not just Seven herself but countless of the civilisations they encounter. I'm all for Braga messing slightly with continuity eg watering down the Borg omnipotence if it makes for great entertainment its MUCH more entertaining for Janeway to at least win an advantage/survival at, to be able to confront a relentless adversary using her renown brinkmanship with(eg Scorpion) - instead of just easily overcoming and assimilating the ship/her it would be the end of the series and depressing as hell (unless some Q involvement - but then he could just send the ship home and kill all the possible drama + entertainment (and non of the classic borg stories of the last few seasons would have been possible including Endgame, which is as classic a Braga/Voyager ep as ever imo cont...
cont...the 'Endgame' nit picking about all the sacrifice made of the past 7 years in voyager being wasted they WEREN'T since they got voyager to the possible ONLY time + place the Admiral could think of to shorten the ship journeys with the best chance (+ possible the future 20 years of which their is no evidence to suggest its eradication from the time line made any catastrophic diff) was complete + utter EMBARRASSING BRAIN DEAD thinking - they clearly didn't understand the points of the finale - voyager was just in the right area of the alpha quadrant transwarp conduit, the difference all those that made sacrifices got the ship to that point and IT was ONLY that point the admiral saw as the best chance for getting the ship home early. They even managed to CRIPPLE to borg into the bargain surely worthy of huge sacrifice to such a RELENTLESSLY POWERFUL GALAXY DESTROYING ENEMY.The BORG had declared war on the Federation and its way of life, they were the enemy - the rules in War are totally different to a peaceful community/union. Talking about Janeway as if she's some genocidal maniac is on the same level of inanity as Kirk war with the Klingons in TOS,or the Federations activities in the war with the Dominion(DS9)
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen "the Raven" for ages either to but given the amount its enthralled/inspired me (especially with the (dramatic) events from the (linked) earlier parts of series 4 involving Seven) i was sure that the subtleties of the ep only inferred these disturbing experiences happened when she was conscious. In Unimatrix Zero the Doctor refers specifically to R(apid)E(ye)M(ovement) the occurring of this activity currently hpothesized/believed to coincide with the dreaming part of UNCONSCIOUS sleep.
ReplyDeleteHowever if i'm going to criticize someone's criticism i would prefer to go on facts rather than my memory so i checked out the relevant parts of "the Raven"'s script and my memory had served me well...well, at least this time!
I made the following quote:
"No where in "the Raven" does Seven " dream" - as in the process during sleep"
Being conscious that the word "Dream" is quite ambiguous it not limited to unconscious sleep( as you have demonstrated well in your post) - in Unimatrix zero the reference of sleep is specifically concerning REM sleep = a stage of unconscious sleep.
Of course Voyager, as with any other high concept etc show made by fallible humans is filled with genuine nit pits, incontinuity mistakes/inconsistencies + bloopers.
ReplyDeleteHowever thanks to the talents of the team that try to spot + remove these errors, for me at least, they don't ruin the believability of the show in TOTAL CONTRAST to the Abrahams cash cow high on eye candy, low on everything else(plot/story,characters interaction/growth ,emotional or any other kind of resonance,totally disposable level of memorability) for the desperate/insatiable greed $$$ bleeding Hollywood with the degree of inconsistency such that the only thing it has in common with even the DREKIEST of trek is the word "Trek" :(