In the Flesh
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production code 198)
written by new story editor Nick Sagan
The fifth season opens fairly quietly, without any big cliffhanger situations to resolve,
yet each early story gradually becomes intriguing and proves its worth, introducing
a new environmentally-polluting enemy called the Maylons, re-iterating the
continuing Borg threat, developing the Captain-Proton-inspired Delta Flyer,
using it to give us the first docking of a pseudo-shuttle inside Voyager we can
remember for a LONG time, and now putting Paris's new mini-ship to good use again here.
Though beginning as an intriguing "what's going on here" mystery, this one quickly
escalates into a very important and intriguing confrontation with Species 8472,
where a lot of the questions from
"Scorpion" find answers.
Apparently, Kes was not wrong about 8472's intentions during the war, but what we learn
here is that those emotionally charged thoughts were more of a gut-level reaction in the
heat of the moment rather than any long-term pre-meditated plan.
And whatever transgressions Janeway made against the Prime Directive back in "Scorpion",
she finds opportunity to try to put right again here. There may have been shades of
grey in the debates with Seven over these issues, but here Janeway gets back on the
principles she always would have preferred to stick with, and she is seen to prevail. Nice!
Has Species 8472 been unnecessarily robbed of its status as a worthy new threat with this
episode? Perhaps, but does Voyager really need to encounter nothing but a series of
ever-increasing threats on its journey? It's far more realistic for them to find a wide
variety of types of conflict and relationships, and frankly the high level of evolution
and technology that 8472 wants to display is far more believable for a more fully rounded
species, which they finally prove themselves to be here in this episode. I really like
this one. I think writer Nick Sagan has suddenly brought some important points back into the
Star Trek world, things that seemed to be lacking under Lisa Klink's reign. Bring it on!
Timeless
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production code 201)
story by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky & Rick Berman
teleplay by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
So by now Star Trek just does time travel on auto-pilot, punching out another piece
with little impressive thought behind it.
Technically, there isn't too much wrong with this one in terms of the events being
easy to re-interpret under a more elegant model of time.
But I think a few too many scenes depend on
the characters' belief in the silly single-line-rewrite model of time to fuel the drama.
Replace the model and, yes the events still work, but many of the scenes lack the power
that the writers think they have.
"We're still here! Why are we still here?!"
Of course, it doesn't really matter how many new histories are spawned by Harry and Chakotay's
influence over the past, because each history will have its own alternate universe in which
to co-exist with the one that these two have already experienced. There is no magic wave on
its way to sprinkle fairy dust on them and erase the previous 15 years of their lives.
Whether their message succeeds or fails, they won't be able to tell by using this lack of
magic as a criterion. Also rendered pointless is Chakotay's scene pondering how success
will negate the love affair he is having with Tessa, and rendered pointless are
the struggles to convince the Doctor and Captain Geordi not to side with the
"Temporal Prime Directive".
The episode conveniently cops out of showing anything happening to the alternate future
after that Harry and Chakotay succeed, since they manage to destroy their Delta Flyer
at just that instance. Perhaps that's a good thing. Harry and Chakotay and Tessa would
have continued there just as you please. Captain Geordi DOES continue on his fine-looking
Galaxy class starship, which is probably considered a bit of an old clunker at that point.
And this alternate universe still has its Voyager buried in a glacier on an ice planet.
Also as a bit of a cop-out is Janeway's final line asking her Harry (and thus the audience)
not to think about time travel too hard. It seems like we're going against Q's insistence in
"All Good Things..."
that that is where the REAL exploration lies, and opting for a stance much closer to
Austin Powers going cross-eyed and offering temporal advice to the audience with
a double-take in his third movie "Goldmember".
Thankfully, we also get half an episode filled with good stuff that actually happens to
the characters we will continue to follow in seasons 5, 6, & 7. One of the good things
going on here is that we don't just toss off the slipstream drive concept from last year's
finale as another Gilligan's Island syndrome stunt... instead we bring it back, and show
how the crew actually thoroughly investigated and pursued this technology. And hey,
they even manage to knock another 10 years off of their journey, in addition to what they
got in
"The Gift".
Impressive. They proceed out of this adventure with a message that
acknowledges the existence of an alternate future Harry & Chakotay, and their efforts to
save this ship. Excellent.
And let's not forget all the amazing visual effects work surrounding Voyager and the ice
planet, all of which gives the story good levels of excitement and intrigue. Garrett Wang
also does good work portraying his older self differently and believably.
In the end, we have an episode with split fortunes in terms of sections that work and sections
that don't. All of the dialogue arising out of the outdated model of time can go,
which will tweak the directions in which the drama will unfold. Whether that new story
would be excellent or mediocre is really up to the writers' imaginations. The episode
we did get remains just slightly on the better side of mediocre.
Nothing Human
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production code 200)
written by Jeri Taylor
This episode is the focus for intense debates over medical ethics, and ethics on
the use of scientific knowledge. Sadly the debate is derailed by several notions,
and the lack of clarity results in a lot of unpleasant hot air instead of
enlightened discussion of the issue.
Early parts of the episode draw up some clear lines for conflict. Our new
medical expert is Cardassian, while our patient and one of her helpers are former Maquis.
This projects an episode
where B'Elanna will have to overcome her prejudices to accept help from a former
"enemy", which is a common Trek theme and would have produced a good episode, or
at least a good thread in a more complex episode. Instead, the prejudice festers
until it is allowed to dominate the episode. Ick.
Let's cut right to the chase and expose the false idea here. Those arguing
against using the Cardassian and his knowledge are at best trying to do what? Prevent
more research experiments in his same style? That's fair and noble. But what really is
the best
way of doing that? If society deletes or ignores what he's already learned, we will likely then
have to re-learn all that through trial and error, meaning more experiments. If society
shares and uses that knowledge, no one will be tempted to repeat those experiments to
learn the same things again. There is an international agreement to share knowledge
from biological experiments which I heard about in university in the 1990's,
such that the same experiments do not have to be repeated in every country.
Yes, we can insist on better ways of gaining knowledge, but throwing out what we've
already learned hinders more than it helps.
We should also note that the episode takes place in a society that uses no money,
AND where our characters are separated from the bulk of society by great distance
with no communication. It's not as if using this knowledge in today's crisis can
in any way help to FUND more experiments on the actual Cardassian's behalf back in
the Alpha Quadrant. Thus, one of the concerns that would be very valid on our
Earth of today has been thoroughly removed by the combined established nature
of Star Trek in general and Voyager's situation in particular.
And if the characters want to get really picky, as the Cardassian points out, you'd have
to throw out so much Earth-based medical knowledge that the Doctor may be rendered into
an incompetent walking piece of Swiss cheese.
What is really going on here is that we end up witnessing what has been termed a
"justice mechanism" exhibiting itself in characters' knee-jerk reactions as they
jump to a no-deal solution. They look at a fancy holodeck tool, pretend it's
actually some guy from history, and vent their lower emotions. Not impressive.
Adding onto this mess is Tuvok's unconvincing logic. Logic is simply a way of following
through on an idea step-by-step. It does not ever prove that the idea is good, or
noble, or philosophically correct. Janeway's observation from
"Prime Factors" is particularly apt today.
It is still a good idea to keep a check on how this Cardassian expert is performing
today... his dissection of a holo-creature provides reason for us not to trust his
judgment during surgery. Instead of focusing our scrutiny there, the episode wastes
much energy on the false idea of throwing away knowledge. The truth is free for all
who understand it, the Cardassian doesn't own it, and there is no question of paying for
it here either.
Also glossed over a little too much are the first contact protocols, and the attempts
to save both B'Elanna AND the creature don't quite receive the due that they should.
Though there is merit to the ideas in the episode, it did derail itself by getting
lost within some aspects that the writer was stuck on, and being unable to stay
focused on the aspects that did deserve due time and scrutiny and praise.
Thirty Days
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production code 202)
story by Scott Miller
teleplay by Kenneth Biller
This is one of the most interesting and polished episodes of Voyager's
nicely successful fifth season. The Thirty Days themselves work excellently
as a framing device, helping us feel that time is passing Tom by, while the
main adventure is told in flashback. The letter to Admiral Dad is nicely believable.
If there is an improvement to be had, perhaps it is odd that B'Elanna doesn't get a
speaking scene until quite late in the story.... adding an early visiting scene
to Tom's incarceration might have helped a bit.
The main adventure is quite good, finally showing the viewers the Delaney sisters that
have been mentioned since early season one, giving us another round of Captain Proton
to show motivation for Tom that a lot of hard-core audience members will share,
and going on to feature a kind of planet that Star Trek hasn't really done before.
Between the concepts, the lifeforms, the atmosphere, and the visual effects, this is
a really enjoyable episode of exploration. Two thumbs up.
Of course, the final conflict brings up the Prime Directive, but there's really nothing
here to challenge its wisdom today. Tom passionately decides to go against it, and though
we sympathize with him, he is clearly in the wrong today. The emergency is enough of a
long-term consideration that official channels deserve to be given a chance. Tom's
option boils down to impatience resulting in eco-terrorism, which isn't much improvement.
The concluding action is a bit... convenient for the script and the series' continuation.
But even with Tom in the wrong, the story still works as a clash of characters
with consequences.
In the end, this is quite a good episode. Nice!
Counterpoint
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production code 204)
written by Michael Taylor
Immediately after chewing Tom out for his Prime Directive violations in the last episode
(and quite rightly too), Janeway goes straight into a boneheaded Prime Directive blunder
of her own. Normally, a Federation starship would avoid Devor territory at all costs
and have nothing to do with such paranoid secret-keeping pigs. But our good ship Voyager
has to get to the other side, and is in too much of a hurry to go around,
as they really should do. Is this a good enough excuse to violate the Prime Directive?
"Scorpion"
kind of set a precedent, followed up by Voyager's dealings with the Krenim in
"Year of Hell", and
it seems par for the course now.
Taking on some passengers to smuggle them through as well may be questionable,
but seeing as how having any telepathic species on board like Vulcans and Betazoids
would be a violation, they're already a bit past that rule.
Only the detours required to assist these extra passengers
do kind of help Voyager to stick out like a sore thumb.
From my new age perspective,
humans are also telepaths should we exercise our abilities to develop and practice that
skill, and there probably isn't any species out there that has no abilities in this area
that can't be developed, so it does feel a trifle odd that such segregation is so
important.
Anyway, today's Prime Directive violation has the Voyager crew working very hard to
maintain secrecy and deception, which gets them on the wrong side of the honesty principle,
so I'm not much invested in this situation here.
The biggest problem in this episode is the miscalculation about which deceptions are
expected to fool the audience. Did the writer intend that we should fall for the
chief inspector's defection? The motivation for this to be a ruse is a little too clear,
and there is nothing about the situation that puts our minds to rest on this issue.
In terms of writing the character, maybe he could have worked as is, but the acting
performance really never evokes sympathy or trust. This is a real sorepoint, making us
wonder why no one on Voyager seems to notice how obnoxious and untrustworthy this guy is.
Thankfully the episode somewhat redeems itself at the end by revealing that Janeway has
taken some sensible precautions, but prior to that reveal, the audience is forced to
endure a lot of frustration watching her apparently fall for his ruse and allow him
way too much free reign. I'd have thrown him in the brig right away, confirmed none
of his suspicions, revealed nothing new to him, listened to any tips he might have
spouted with a grain of salt, and maintained one-way communication. A better way to
salvage audience investment in Janeway's actions for this plot as is might have been to
add a couple of Janeway-Tuvok scenes where they discuss their mistrust of this guy
further, and Janeway outlines her real plans to use counter-subterfuge, and we get
on side with her strategy and her view of what the stakes are on that level. Then when
romantic escalations begin to poke through, we'll be wondering if going that far is what
it's going to take. As it stands, the romantic escalation just feels off.
I will give this series a point though that
such escalation stands out far better than anything Kirk might have
done in her place, since Janeway has never gone for the smooch yet in 4.5 years of doing
this show.
Well, this isn't a terrible episode, but it does finish up on the bottom end of mediocre.
Dark Frontier
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production codes 211 & 212)
written by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
This double-length story is an interesting enough blockbuster with a lot to recommend it.
Sadly, continuity is out the window, as though its makers don't remember the
history of their own show. Seven and the Hansens really should have been
normal-looking Delta Quadrant aliens instead of humans, so that this good
backstory can be what it is, while TNG's initial Borg discoveries and
explorations remain uncontradicted. The Borg Queen is revealed in her
natural habitat instead of the questionable Earth attack, and her motivation
is puzzling, but I guess "alien" - she is definitely more automaton and less
sensual than in
"First Contact".
Borg architecture nicely combines
the usual cubes and spheres with the bizarre shapes seen only in "Descent"
previously... and this is the first time that it all works together coherently.
I'll buy it. These opticals are very memorable.
So, Voyager cuts another 15 years off of its journey in this episode.
Let's see.... It was to be a 70-year journey when it started. "The Gift"
cut 10 years off. "Timeless" cut another 10 years off. Now "Dark Frontier"
cuts off 15 years. Plus, they've been cruising along for 4.5 years.
That means they've covered 39.5 years so far... more than half-way there!
Additionally, they may have gotten a good boost of up to 2.5 years in
the season five opener "Night", but though this may be implied by
adding up the information from several points in the story, "Night" fails
to give us a scene acknowledging Voyager's progress. The Maylon's wormhole
shortcut could have taken them 2500 light years straight sideways
for all we know.
So, sure there's still another 28-31 years ahead of Voyager at this point....
but wouldn't that
put them in the center of the galaxy by now? Earth's solar system is
about 60% of the way to the rim on the other side of the galaxy, so...
this should be the time when they cross a border into either the Gamma or
Beta quadrant, and not long before getting into the Alpha Quadrant near
galactic center. Will the writers touch on any of this? Or will it
all be forgotten?
Dark Frontier seems to be shaping up into the "main event" of season five,
even if it's a bit too bizarre to be the best episode.
Relativity
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production code 218)
story by Nick Sagan
teleplay by Nick Sagan & Bryan Fuller & Michael Taylor
Good Lord, what an uninspiring mess!
Well, out of all the possible futures out there to choose our way into,
whatever one Captain Braxton and crew come from, they are INSANE to have
so much ability to do time travel and so little clue how the multiplex of
universes accommodates an infinity of choice.
At least when we saw Braxton back in
"Future's End" he was a minor part of a
bigger story that had more worthy archetypal dramatic threads and developments going on,
which played out with a greater variety and scale of production value. And he got
good framing as the nutcase of the adventure.
Here, he turns out to be a nutcase again, but not before handing viewer loyalty
over to his second-in-command, who quite frankly spouts more of the same insanity
as though it's been culturally institutionalized. Sad.
At the heart of the insanity is Braxton's idea that his present will change by magic,
as if the creation of a new past will lead to "his" present instead of that of
one of his doubles in an alternate universe. The fact that he and his crew
constantly mess with time and have no awareness of multiple versions of history
co-existing, even when two versions of the same person with non-complementing history
interact in the same room, just destroys all my faith that any of them have the slightest
idea what they are doing.
I'm not going to try to follow all the ins and outs of all the various paradoxes
and jumping through time that takes place in this one, to figure out how Braxton
and crew and the writers think things are being affected, because that would be like
trying to figure out all the scientific details behind water falling off of the edge
of a flat Earth taking a sailing ship with it. The underlying belief has been
rendered obsolete. On a round Earth, we let such a dissertation sink.
It's not as if Star Trek fans regard this episode highly as they did with
"The City on the Edge of Forever".
I'll bet very few of them remember this one.
It was interesting seeing Janeway first take command of Voyager in Mars orbit.
And it was great to see Ltn. Carey again, one of the few recognizable faces that
would be on the ship at that time. Carey should appear in season five's present time.
It's strange how most of the minor characters Voyager could develop disappear after
just a few episodes.
Ultimately, I find myself trying to isolate the bits taking place in Voyager's
season five present-day, the bits that they will remember and take with them
as canon events in their journey, and I tend to want to ignore most of everything else
due to the suspicion that it probably won't matter in the long run.
The story contains a big reveal which, considering my views, seemed rather obvious,
but was still nice to get on screen. Then comes a dramatically decent
conclusion with the expected amount of energy. Okay.
By that point, the episode had not been a great one, but had reached the point where
it was naturally finished, and the story was over. Time to wrap up and go to credits.
But no, the writers tack on yet another anti-climactic action sequence, thinking
they still need to do more to "clean up the timeline". Morons! There's no such
thing as clean or dirty timelines. Going back in time again can only spawn yet another
history, and make whatever you might call a mess to get even bigger. You don't need to
merge multiple versions of people either. Let them all co-exist separately. And dramatically
speaking, this coda sequence adds nothing of value to the story. Besides, if you
buy the logic necessitating this bit, wouldn't you need about a half-dozen more
like it to clean up everything? That would make excruciatingly boring viewing.
If you leave out the other half-dozen, you may as well leave out this one as well.
Really, this story doesn't have any real point to it. It just seems to be here to fill
a slot in the schedule. There is no profound thought about time in it, just a lot
of sloppy miscalculation. Actor Bruce McGill had done some nice work on
Quantum Leap, and makes Braxton into a watchable character here, and though I feel
I'd enjoy seeing McGill on screen again, I really don't want to see
any more of Braxton.
Sadly, I think this is the worst story Voyager has put out this year.
Equinox - Parts 1 & 2
(Star Trek - Voyager episode production codes 220 & 221)
story by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky & Rick Berman
teleplay by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
The initial kernel for this story is an interesting one, one that hadn't really
been done before on Voyager, and couldn't really be done on any previous Trek series
with the same impact. But it seems to burn through all its best bits in the first
half. As season five ends with the mid-point cliffhanger, yes there is a climax
of jeopardy, but where else of interest can the story go? Using all the same
characters, part two has to seek out a whole new core of conflict to sustain
another 45 minutes of drama, and is not entirely successful.
Captain Ransom casually asks Janeway how many times she's had to violate the
Prime Directive to further her crew's journey home. Of course, he's just trying
to find out how open he can be with her regarding his own transgressions, and of
course, our staff writers themselves probably can't be bothered to maintain
continuity by actually examining Janeway's performance on this idea in previous
episodes, which has taken a number of different turns. They know the contrast
they want to draw between the two captains for this specific story, and so Janeway
is somewhat reset to her stance in
"Alliances", sticking to principles
even when it means she and her crew may have to suffer. One wonders how much
she might be euphemizing her own violations as just "bending" the rule a bit
now and then. I don't think she's quite as principled anymore as she might like
to pretend.
Part One continues to work as the meeting of the two ships generates excitement
in how both journeys may change, with additional intrigue filtering through,
peppered by the threat of continual attacks from mysterious forces. But once
we get to the cliffhanger, there is little mystery left, nor much hope for
change aboard Voyager... just more run-of-the-mill action. Not great, but not
altogether bad either.
Part Two nearly falls flat on its face though, as it becomes the worst Voyager episode
so far for displaying inexplicable inconsistencies in Janeway's character. Not only
is Kate Mulgrew asked to play a completely different captain, but one with traits that
will naturally turn the audience's loyalties against her. Saddest of all, this
turn makes absolutely no sense, despite the lengthy justifications she offers to
an incredulous Chakotay. At best, one wonders if they were trying to emulate
Picard's over-zealous desire for vengeance on the Borg that charged
"Star Trek 8: First Contact". Picard had understandable
motivation. It just makes no sense for Janeway to quite suddenly feel the same
for another Starfleet captain and his crew. If it's about his violation of principles,
she can't maintain the high ground by abandoning her own. Really, all this does
is distance the audience and prevent them from staying invested in the characters.
Dumb move. It reminds me greatly of Colin Baker's miscalculated debut as Doctor Who in
"The Twin Dilemma", which turned
many die hard fans off of the main character of their beloved show.
We have to include Voyager's own EMH Doctor in the inexplicable character change mess.
Sure, it's understandable that the Equinox's EMH might have grown into a sadistic butcher
with his ethical subroutines deleted, but note how his memory and his loyalty to
his captain and crew remain intact and strong. Performing a similar modification
to Voyager's Doctor might make him more ruthless, but surely he'll still be loyal
to Janeway and Seven and crew. There's no explanation there for having him switch
sides. And once again, the audience is distanced from one of their favourite
characters, struggling to understand why the story is bothering to go where it's going.
Part Two does temporarily appear to gain a significant point back, but not
before hitting a number of
reset-buttons. Our Doctor, presto!, is back to normal. Seven is told to regenerate
for a while to restore herself to normal (...wait didn't she just do that at the
end of the last story as well, "Warhead"?) But to the story's credit,
five crewmembers survive from the
Equinox, and now join the Voyager crew, despite the fact that there is bad blood
between our gang and the new recruits. Ahh, something develops out of this story!
Excellent. Now if only these characters get to appear in later stories, and
have some impact, "Equinox" just might have been worth it after all. Unfortunately,
this is false hope, and the Equinox crewmembers bury themselves in Voyager's lower decks,
never to be heard from or mentioned again. What a waste....
Region 1, NTSC, U.S.
Region 1, NTSC, Canada
Region 2, PAL, U.K. (Slimline Edition)
