6-10. Pathfinder.

Barclay (Dwight Schultz) attempts to get a message to Voyager.

Original Air Date: Dec. 1, 1999. Teleplay by: David Zabel, Kenneth Biller. Story by: David Zabel. Directed by: Mike Vejar.


THE PLOT:

Lt. Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) has reached out to Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) for help. He's been working on Pathfinder, a Starfleet project focused on finding a way to communicate with Voyager.

The team is attempting to use the MIDAS Array to send a one-way communication, so that the lost ship will know that Starfleet is still working on establishing contact. Barclay has a better idea, believing that he can use the array to do some Technobabble that will allow two-way communication. But an earlier plan of Barclay's already cost the team six months on what proved to be a dead end, and his superior, Pete Harkins (Richard McGonagle), isn't inclined to listen to him this time. When Barclay refuses to accept this, Harkins suspends him from the team.

Barclay asks Deanna to intervene on his behalf, to vouch for him so that he can get back to work. She refuses, citing concern for his mental state. So he decides to take matters into his own hands, embarking on a course that will either result in direct contact with Voyager - or spell the end of Barclay's Starfleet career!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Janeway, like the rest of the Voyager crew, is mostly only seen as a hologram in Barclay's program, where - like the rest of the crew - she shows him respect bordering on deference. The real Janeway is glimpsed at the end, where she draws on her science background to tell Harry the correct Technobabble to clear up Barclay's message.

Barclay: Since leaving the Enterprise, he has felt isolated and alone, and he has superimposed his own loneliness onto the Voyager crew. A scene that particularly impressed me was the one in which Barclay first attempts to describe his plan to Admiral Paris (Richard Herd). Under scrutiny, he all but falls apart, stammering and unable to remember basic words. It's extremely relatable to anyone with any degree of social anxiety, and Dwight Schultz plays it just right, showing Barclay's nervousness and internal frustration as he fails to coherently describe the concrete idea inside his mind. Notably, when Voyager actually responds to the message, Barclay jumps in to clean it up and make it comprehensible, all of his anxiety dropping away once he has a problem to work. The anxiety is a social barrier, not something that stops him from being competent within his field.

Troi: The story is framed with scenes of Troi visiting Barclay, with him relating events to her. This serves an important narrative purpose: Much of Barclay's struggle is internal, and him describing not only what happened but how he reacted to it helps viewers to connect and relate. For the most part, Troi's role is to receive that exposition while providing emotional support to Barclay. However, she shows both firmness and professional integrity when she refuses to simply sign off on his mental state when she can see that he's emotionally struggling. She'll support him, but she won't enable him. When he insists that Voyager's crew is more important than his stability, she denies that claim. "Voyager is important, but so are you!"

Admiral Paris: We've heard much about Tom's father, the strict and respected Starfleet Admiral, but this is the first time we actually see him. Television stalwart Richard Herd brings the man fully to life. In his interactions with Barclay, we see the stern discipline that Tom described, but we also can sense the worried father. He believes in chain of command, and he refuses to override Barclay's superior simply to benefit himself. However, he also agrees to review Barclay's proposal to see if it has merit.

Pete: Barclay's immediate superior serves as the antagonist, but he isn't a villain. When he rejects Barclay's proposal, it is made clear that Barclay already used up his capital on an idea that came to nothing and that Admiral Paris's upcoming visit leaves no time for extra work. Pete genuinely wants to be supportive. He even invites Barclay to his home to meet his sister-in-law, an invitation that Barclay refuses in order to spend time in his holodeck recreation of Voyager. This episode carries several echoes of Barclay's first TNG appearance in Hollow Pursuits; and as was true of Riker in that episode, every action Pete takes is reasonable when considered from his viewpoint.


THOUGHTS:

When TNG introduced Reginald Barclay, he was a breath of fresh air. In a franchise filled to overflowing with confident, articulate extroverts, Barclay is the opposite: introverted, socially awkward and anxious, fearful, and anything but confident. He stammers and freezes when put on the spot, he feels the judgment of his peers, and he takes refuge in fantasy via the holodeck. He's a flawed character, but those flaws are believable and ones that I think most people feel in themselves to greater or lesser degrees, and that makes him extremely relatable.

Barclay survives the jump to Voyager with all of these traits fully intact. Pathfinder is a very good Star Trek episode. One reason is that it never forgets that Barclay may be both sympathetic and capable within his field, but he also contributes to his own problems. Both Pete and Admiral Paris are reasonable men, but Barclay can't make himself see them that way. Instead of finding an opportunity to discuss his rejected proposal with Pete one-on-one (say, at the dinner Pete invited him to), Barclay instead tries to bypass him by going directly to the admiral. When Admiral Paris agrees to review his findings, Barclay insists on believing that the admiral just said that to get rid of him - even though, if Paris really wanted that, all he had to do was call security.

Dwight Schultz is excellent in the role, playing enough to Barclay's neuroses that we can sense his emotional turmoil without overplaying it. The script crafts two dilemmas for Barclay, one internal and one external. The internal conflict is the more interesting. He confesses to Troi that he has felt lost since leaving the Enterprise. Though it's never directly stated, it's clear enough that he has dealt with that by over-identifying with Voyager's crew. The external conflict allows him to address that problem in an active way, by getting a message to the ship, even if he has to break every rule in order to do so.

I like the way the final Act plays out. Barclay uses the holo-Voyager cleverly, drawing on his familiarity with the ship to buy time to systematically send and re-send his message to different points within the Delta Quadrant. Pete, who tries to thwart him, is also shown to be capable, which ramps up tension even though there's no real doubt as to how this will end.


OVERALL:

I find the tag to be a little too pat, with Barclay seeming to be "cured" of issues that are unlikely to ever go away... not to mention suffering no consequences for his multiple protocol breaches. This, and a vague sense that the early holodeck scenes are a little too reminiscent of Hollow Pursuits, keep me from ranking this among Voyager's best.

But it's still a good episode, smartly scripted overall and well performed by its cast. After a couple of installments that didn't fully connect with me, Pathfinder sees the series back on track.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Voyager Conspiracy
Next Episode: Fair Haven (not yet reviewed)

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6-09. The Voyager Conspiracy.

Seven becomes convinced of a conspiracy theory.

Original Air Date: Nov. 24, 1999. Written by: Joe Menosky. Directed by: Terry Windell.


THE PLOT:

In the interests of increased efficiency, Seven of Nine has installed a cortical processing subunit in her alcove. This will allow her to download Voyager's data as she regenerates, effectively letting her "learn while sleeping." This initially seems to work out, with Seven able to pinpoint a minor insect infestation by drawing conclusions from related pieces of information.

At the same time, Voyager encounters Tash (Albie Selznick), an alien who was also displaced by the Caretaker. Tash has built a space catapult to send him home - technology that Voyager can use to cut time off its voyage as well. Janeway agrees to assist with final repairs, with the understanding that she can use it after Tash takes his journey.

Seven's next regeneration allows her to identify the catapult as using a tetryon reactor, the same type of technology used by the Caretaker. Tash reluctantly admits to this. The revelation doesn't really change anything, and the alien makes his test flight the next day.

Seven, however, becomes fixated on the idea that Tash's reactor is not just the same type of technology, but the same reactor that was used by the Caretaker. She contacts Chakotay and asks to speak with him privately. While regenerating, she has analyzed "over thirty million teraquads of data," leading her to one inescapable conclusion. Voyager isn't in the Delta Quadrant by accident. Janeway stranded the ship here on purpose, as a prelude to a large-scale invasion by Starfleet!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Though she's eager at the prospect of shaving years off the voyage home, she doesn't ignore Seven's warnings that Tash's catapult uses Caretaker technology. She's ready to pull out of her deal with Tash if he doesn't provide details - but once he's given reasonable explanations both for the technology and for why he lied about it, she is satisfied and continues assisting him. She's supportive of Seven's alcove alterations, particularly after Seven is able to demonstrate the advantages of processing data so quickly.

Chakotay: The episode is bookended by scenes of him having dinner with Janeway, which shows how relaxed they've become around each other over the past five years. He's initially dismissive of Seven's claims about Janeway. When Seven continues bringing up the captain's stranger past decisions, however, he decides it's worth investigating. Even then, he limits himself to sharing the suspicions with B'Elanna, his most trusted former crew member. Oh, and being blatantly obvious in his wariness of Janeway until the misunderstanding is cleared up.

Seven of Nine: Jeri Ryan has some fun playing Seven the bonkers conspiracy theorist. As she lays out her "evidence" to Chakotay, she paces back and forth, agitated, shouting out dates and incidents as if each is a smoking gun rather than just a stray bit of data that she's selected to fit her pattern. By the point she's accusing young Naomi Wildman of being in on it - even asking who the child is working for - she's reached the stage of full paranoid delusion. I half expected her to start ranting about fluoride in the ship's drinking water.


THOUGHTS:

The Voyager Conspiracy is the series' X Files style "conspiracy" episode, with Seven of Nine thrust into the Fox Mulder role. Obviously, there's no chance that the viewer will ever buy into her increasingly convoluted theory, but it does allow writer Joe Menosky to play with some of the bizarre decisions Janeway and her crew have made over the years. I'm surprised Seven didn't fold in Janeway's botching of a path home in False Profits, though, as that would practically qualify as a smoking gun.

Menosky structures his story well. Seven's new alcove is introduced in the teaser, as she explains its workings to Naomi Wildman. This scene also emphasizes how Seven has changed since her introduction by reminding us of the bonds she's made with the people on Voyager. Can you imagine early Season Four Seven making time for a weekly board game with a child?

Her first use of the alcove sets up the rest of the episode. She wakes up from her regenerative cycle and urgently contacts someone to speak to them - in this case, B'Elanna; in later cases, Janeway and Chakotay. She believes there is an insect infestation inside the ship's sensor network, and she quickly relates the many individual pieces of data that led her to that conclusion. The crew checks the sensor node, and the insects are indeed there. Both viewer and crew sees that the alcove works, and that Seven draws conclusions from multiple individual pieces of information.

Her second use alerts Janeway to Tash's use of a tetryon reactor in his catapult. Seven is again correct. At the same time, the viewer sees her fixating on the idea that this is the same reactor the Caretaker used. We recognize that she's starting to behave irrationally, but the crew has mostly just seen that her alcove has twice delivered correct conclusions. This helps to sell Chakotay taking her seriously when she accuses Janeway in the second half.

Structurally, this is all sound, but I think the episode takes a little too long to reach the accusation. There's dramatic potential in making Janeway and Chakotay suspicious of each other. I appreciated that Chakotay confided in B'Elanna, his most trusted former crew member, but I'd have liked to see this taken further than just B'Elanna snapping at Harry (who's probably so used to that sort of thing by now that it likely didn't even register).

I think the episode makes a fundamental error in making its main character Seven instead of focusing more on Janeway and Chakotay. The real interest isn't in watching Seven turn into a ranting conspiracy theorist, but in seeing Janeway and Chakotay take her seriously. I'd love to see that amount to more than a few sideways looks. Chakotay confides in B'Elanna; maybe go further, with the crew starting to take sides. As it stands, the whole thing is reduced to a sitcom-level misunderstanding that's resolved far too quickly and easily.

I will say that I like the climax, with Janeway attempting to talk Seven down from her mania. Janeway appeals to Seven by mimicking her own "evidence" of rattling off stardates and events that happened on those dates. Unlike Seven, she draws on key emotional moments, milestones in the ex-Borg's evolving humanity and in their personal relationship, and there's a decent emotional tug there.


OVERALL:

Despite my issues with it, The Voyager Conspiracy is well-structured and highly watchable. For the second episode in a row, I think dramatic potential is left untapped by a decision to focus on Seven when there was more interest in seeing the other characters' reactions. Still, judged on its own merits, this is enjoyable, even if I think it had the potential to be a lot more.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: One Small Step
Next Episode: Pathfinder

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6-08. One Small Step.

Seven beams over to the wreckage of
a centuries-lost 21st century space module.

Original Air Date: Nov. 17, 1999. Teleplay by: Mike Wollaeger, Jessica Scott, Bryan Fuller, Michael Taylor. Story by: Mike Wollaeger, Jessica Scott. Directed by: Robert Picardo.


THE PLOT:

When Voyager encounters a graviton ellipse, a rare spatial anomaly that only occasionally enters normal space, Janeway can't resist investigating. Scans reveal wreckage of Ares IV, a command module from a 21st century mission to Mars that disappeared along with its pilot, Lt. John Kelly (Phil Morris).

Janeway authorizes modifying the Delta Flyer to search for the remains of the module inside the ellipse. Chakotay, for whom Kelly was a personal hero, volunteers to lead the mission, with Tom Paris piloting. Janeway also strongly recommends that Seven join them.

They find Ares IV almost entirely intact - but the ellipse begins experiencing dangerous surges and Janeway orders them to abort. Chakotay pauses, activating a tractor beam in an effort to tow the module out. Those precious seconds are enough to trap the Flyer inside the ellipse, with the damage sustained leaving them practically dead in space!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: She talks to Seven about the thrill of exploration, which becomes the central theme of this episode. "If scientific knowledge was all we were after, then the Federation would have built a fleet of probes, not starships. Exploration is about seeing things with your own eyes." She urges Seven to volunteer for the mission specifically so that she can experience that for herself.

Chakotay: His hero worship of Kelly feels a bit externally imposed, something to justify his decision to ignore Janeway's orders when he would normally know better. It doesn't help that Robert Beltran is at his most wooden when he's talking about John Kelly. Far more convincing is his talk with Seven about the samples they find inside the ellipse. By contrast with his earlier stiffness, Beltran is rather good when ruminating about a rock that dates back to billions of years before Earth's existence, and I think this single, quiet little scene is my favorite of the episode.

Seven of Nine: She gets legitimately (and understandably) angry at Chakotay for his decision to try to tow the command module out of the anomaly. When she discovers Lt. Kelly's logs, however, she is moved by his demeanor. I'm afraid that I was decidedly unmoved, as Seven has run through the "discovering her own humanity" arc too often at this point, but Jeri Ryan does well with what she's given.

Tom Paris: He also states that Lt. Kelly is a hero of his. Even so, he warns Chakotay that the attempt to tow the command module during the escape is slowing them down, his tone making it clear that he thinks this is a bad idea. Unlike Seven, he does not reproach Chakotay for his actions, instead focusing on the work of making the shuttle functional again.


THOUGHTS:

One Small Step is... fine. The story is better put together than most episodes with four credited writers tend to be. There are decent character moments for Chakotay and Seven, and the scenes in which Lt. Kelly's logs play are reasonably effective. I also liked the visual effects for the ellipse, particularly when the Delta Flyer is trapped inside it.

The episode strongly oversells its message about exploration, though. The Chakotay/Seven scene with the samples works. Most of the other scenes in which Janeway, or Chakoty, or Seven, or Lt. Kelly expound upon the virtues of exploring, though, just don't land for me. The script keeps telling me that what's being discovered is exciting, but it never does anything to make me feel that excitement. If I could have shared in that, I might have found Seven's closing speech to be emotional. Instead, since I felt nothing, the speech just came across as overkill.

That ends up being the big problem with One Small Step. Everything is competent here, but it utterly fails to involve me. I think the scenes with Lt. Kelly work as far as they go, and Phil Morris is quite good in his brief screen time... but even there, he's too much the perfect astronaut. There's little sense of him ever feeling the hopelessness of his situation. As a result, even this part of the episode leaves me at a distance from the action and the characters.


OVERALL:

I don't really have anything else to say about this episode. It's a perfectly unobjectionable 45 minutes of Star Trek. It's well-made and generally well-acted, and there are a couple rather good scenes.

But it just lacks the extra spark that it needs. I never share any of the excitement of exploration that the characters keep going on about, and I never feel properly connected to Lt. Kelly's lonely fate. As a result, One Small Step never quite escapes from being "just fine."


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: Dragon's Teeth
Next Episode: The Voyager Conspiracy

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6-07. Dragon's Teeth.

Voyager is forced to land on a planet that
turns out to be less dead than it first appears.

Original Air Date: Nov. 10, 1999. Teleplay by: Michael Taylor, Brannon Braga, Joe Menosky. Story by: Michael Taylor. Directed by: Winrich Kolbe.


THE PLOT:

Voyager is pulled into a subspace corridor, which they escape only thanks to the intervention of the Turei. The Turei are not friendly, however, demanding to board the starship to purge its records. When Janeway refuses, they attack, and Voyager has no choice but to hide on a nearby planet whose radiation will discourage pursuit.

They land in the midst of a ruined city, destroyed in what appears to have been a nuclear war. Surprisingly, there are life signs, which they trace to an underground chamber filled with stasis pods, many of which still function after 900 years. Seven impulsively revives Gedrin (Jeff Allin), the occupant of the first pod they find.

Gedrin reveals that this was once the home of his people, the Vaadwaur. He describes them as a race of merchants who mapped out the subspace corridors to trade with distant planets, including Neelix's ancestors. He agrees to help Janeway navigate the corridors to shave decades off Voyager's trip in return for reviving the rest of his people and helping them find a new home.

Neelix uncovers hints in ancient Talaxian literature that the Vaadwaur may not be the peaceful race they claim to be. That may be a moot point, though, as the Turei have started orbiting the planet in force, determined to either board Voyager or destroy her.


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Seven commits a massive breach of protocol by reviving Gedrin without permission. Janeway deals well with this. She shows sympathy for Seven's reasons, but she also makes clear that those reasons are no excuse for what she did. Her interactions with Gedrin show a similar balance. She's empathetic as he stares out at the ruins of the city. However, while she agrees to help his people resettle, she flatly refuses to give them Starfleet weapons, growing steadily frostier when Gedrin's superior, Gaul (Robert Knepper), attempts to insist.

Seven of Nine: As a Borg drone, she participated in the assimilation - and destruction - of many cultures. She sees the revival of Gedrin and his people as an opportunity to rebuild a dead culture. She earns appreciation from the Vaadwaur for her efficiency and even her bluntness, a quality that's often been criticized by her fellow crew members. However, when Neelix approaches her with his findings, she takes him seriously enough to cross check the mentions of the Vaadwaur in Talaxian literature against historical data she retains from being Borg.

Neelix: He only vaguely recognizes the term, "Vaadwaur," when Gedrin first talks to him, connecting it to its most common usage among Talaxians: "foolish." But when Naomi Wildman is uncharacteristically reluctant to socialize with the Vaadwaur children, he is perceptive enough to listen to her reasons. This prompts him to look more closely into the Vaadwaur in his people's literature. He also is intelligent in handling his discoveries. He makes no accusations, tacitly acknowledging that it may be nothing; he just asks Seven to cross-reference against her data before they jointly take their findings to Janeway.


THOUGHTS:

Dragon's Teeth has an arresting opening. Gedrin and his wife, Jisa (Mimi Craven), run to the stasis pods as the city above them is bombarded. Gedrin calms her before the two enter their pods, planning to wake in five years. This teaser immediately establishes him as a sympathetic figure, and it's the single most effective way the script tries to steer our initial impressions of the Vaadwaur.

There are interesting ideas in this episode. Gedrin presents his people as merchants; Neelix's legends indicate that they were conquerors. When confronted about this, Gedrin admits that both versions are true. I like this, because societies don't tend to have one set of values that never changes. It makes perfect sense that the Vaadwaur may have been merchants and eventually developed into conquerors (or vice-versa). I also found the way Neelix and Seven cross-referenced mentions of the Vaadwaur in literature with actual data to be an intriguing idea, even if the tight screentime in the episode leaves this to be heavily simplified.

"Heavily simplified" is the episode's biggest problem. By reviving Gedrin and his people, the Voyager crew effectively bring a race back from extinction. There are a few lines dealing with this, mainly in exchanges between Seven and one of the Vaadwaur or between Seven and Janeway, but it's a concept the script never completely engages with. The Vaadwaur both intellectually and emotionally process being so far out of their time with ridiculous ease. Even Gedrin accepts his new situation very quickly, and he's the only Vaadwaur to be even shown grappling with it.

Dragon's Teeth was initially intended as a double-length episode, like the previous season's Dark Frontier. It really should have remained as such, because 43 minutes just isn't enough time for everything this story is trying to do. I still like this episode, which moves along quickly and is never less than entertaining. At twice the length, though, I think its ideas might have been explored more thoroughly, and I think the story would have had some much-needed time to build. It's a good episode of Star Trek: Voyager - but with that extra time, I think it might have been a genuine highlight.


OVERALL:

Dragon's Teeth suffers from being a single episode. The plot is rushed, and the most interesting ideas are shallowly glossed over. That said, it at least has interesting ideas. It's also well made, with director Winrich Kolbe providing some decent visual moments, such as Voyager sat amidst the ruins of a bombed-out city.

It could have been and should have been more. Even so, I enjoyed watching it, and I'd rate it as an above-average episode.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Riddles
Next Episode: One Small Step

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6-06. Riddles.

Neelix comforts Tuvok, recovering from a serious brain injury.

Original Air Date: Nov. 3, 1999. Teleplay by: Robert Doherty. Story by: André Bormanis. Directed by: Roxann Dawson.


THE PLOT:

Tuvok and Neelix are returning to Voyager from a diplomatic mission to the Kesat, an actual friendly race. The negotiations went well, and the flight back is uneventful enough for Neelix to become bored and for Tuvok to become annoyed with him. But when Tuvok goes to the back of the shuttle, he discovers that a cloaked alien is downloading tactical data. He scans the alien - and is struck by a weapon that knocks him into a coma.

Neelix gets Tuvok back to Voyager, and the Doctor quickly stabilizes him. However, there was deep damage to the Vulcan's mental synapses. Even when he regains consciousness, his memories are scrambled and he's prone to emotional outbursts. Neelix, feeling responsible for Tuvok, takes charge of his rehabilitation, and Tuvok clings to him like a child to a parent.

Janeway contacts the Kesat to see if they have more information. Naroq (Mark Moses), an investigator, tells them about a race known as the Ba'Neth. Incidents involving the Ba'Neth are so rare that the Kesat regard them as "UFO stories," but the pattern matches what happened to Tuvok - an infiltration of a ship in that section of space, the download of data, and an attack from a weapon that scrambles mental synapses. With a fresh scene to investigate and a little help from Seven, Naroq finds conclusive proof that they exist, and he enthusiastically agrees to help Voyager track down the subject of his long-time obsession.

If Voyager is able to get information on the weapon, the Doctor may be able to restore Tuvok to normal. But as Tuvok settles into a new life, helping Neelix in the galley while enjoying "fun" in a way that he never previously allowed himself, he begins to question whether he really wants to go back to the way he was.


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: She's intently focused on the hunt for the Ba"Neth, and she wants her old friend back to being himself. Still, she pays attention to the well-being of the recovering Tuvok. When Naroq's questioning of him gets a little too intense, she stops him from pushing too hard. Still, she keeps prompting Tuvok, gently but persistently, for whatever he can remember.

Neelix: When the teaser showed him inflicting unwanted "fun" on Tuvok, I worried that Voyager was dipping back into the aggravating pattern of Neelix bullying the Vulcan with good cheer. Thankfully, this is restricted to the opening. As soon as Tuvok gets attacked, Neelix rushes to his aid. As he works with Tuvok, there's an element of the protectiveness we saw in his shielding of Naomi Wildman in Once Upon a Time. This time, he doesn't take that too far. When he tries to dissuade questioning of Tuvok, it's in a soft-spoken manner that never tips into the inappropriate. Actor Ethan Phillips is excellent throughout, and he's particularly good near the end - first when he listens to Tuvok's fears about returning to his former self, then in his tentative interaction with the restored Tuvok in the final scene.

Tuvok: The teaser and tag show his normal persona, with his usual dry reserve as he "tolerates" Neelix. In between those two scenes, he's allowed to emote in ways the role rarely allows: cowering under a table during an attack, or anxiously hovering as crew members sample the desserts he's made, or grinning while listening to jazz music. Tim Russ is very good throughout, seeming to enjoy the chance to showcase his range. There's also a slight but noticeable difference in the restored Tuvok's deliveries in his last scene versus his deliveries in the teaser. It's as if he's feeling his way through this return to his normal persona. The episode ends with him extending an olive branch to Neelix... in a low-key manner, of course.

Seven of Nine: When Naroq captures a fuzzy outline of a Ba'Neth in a recording of the attack on Tuvok, she steps in to greatly enhance the image. Naroq protests at first, afraid of losing the visual that he's gained, but then is amazed at the results she achieves and never questions her again. She also provides some support to Neelix when he becomes frustrated at the pace of Tuvok's recovery, in a well-written scene between two character who rarely get direct interaction.


THOUGHTS:

I did not have particularly high expectation of Riddles. Previous episodes by writers Robert Doherty (teleplay) and Andre Bormanis (story) have been hit-and-miss, a fairly even spread of good and bad episodes. I don't dread seeing either writer's name, but neither do I particularly look forward to it. We're also inching into the midseason, which usually heralds a shift to throwaways.

So I was pleasantly surprised when this ended up being really good!

There are obvious parallels between Tuvok's rehabilitation and the recovery of people who have suffered severe strokes or brain injuries. Tuvok's manner will seem familiar to anyone who has had a family member with a severe stroke: Nonverbal at first, then halting and emotional, with significant personality changes. This being a single episode story, Tuvok's recovery is remarkably fast, with him going from comatose to active in a matter of days instead of months, but the actual pattern is reasonably well rendered.

Wisely, the episode keeps it focus on the interactions of Tuvok and Neelix, with the script recognizing that the character scenes are more interesting than the (somewhat X Files inspired) alien plot. The Ba'Neth thread remains a subplot, though it's efficiently woven into the whole. The Ba'Neth are the reason for Tuvok's condition; a Ba'Neth attack prompts the recovering Tuvok to speak his first words since waking; and Tuvok's recovery of memories leads directly to Voyager finding the aliens at the end. Also, rather than just cut from Janeway's harsh-but-fair negotiations with them to Tuvok's operation, the episode returns to the Tuvok/Neelix interactions to deal with the emotional repercussions of returning the Vulcan to his old self. The way the "A" and "B" Plots feed each other keeps it all feeling of a piece, which isn't always the case with Trek.

Where the episode soars is in the scenes between Tuvok and Neelix. Tuvok's new appreciation for less "ordered" music and desserts seems to clearly be something that was always a facet of him, just one that he kept hidden underneath layers of stoicism. The open friendship Neelix shares with Tuvok brings him joy... but (arguably unlike early series Neelix) he isn't selfish enough to interfere with the restoration of the Vulcan's original personality. All of their character beats are convincing, and Russ and Phillips hit every note perfectly.


OVERALL:

Riddles surprised me. This was an episode I knew nothing about and expected nothing of, and I ended up thoroughly absorbed. It's an actor's showcase for Ethan Phillips and Tim Russ, and it's a smartly structured script in general.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Alice
Next Episode: Dragon's Teeth

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6-05. Alice.

B'Elanna tries to snap Tom out of his obsession with his new shuttle.

Original Air Date: Oct. 20, 1999. Teleplay by: Bryan Fuller, Michael Taylor. Story by: Juliann deLayne. Directed by: David Livingston.

Tom Paris picks up an old clunker that turns out to be "Bad to the Bone."


THE PLOT:

Voyager arrives at Abaddon's Repository of Lost Treasures - though it would be more accurate to call it a space junkyard. Abaddon (John Fleck) is happy to show off his wares, which include star charts, power regulators, and cultural artifacts. Plus one other item that caught Tom Paris's eye: a rusted old shuttle that he's certain he can restore.

Tom names the shuttle Alice and goes straight to work fixing it up. But after he tries out the shuttle's neurogenic interface, Alice moves from a project to an obsession. When B'Elanna catches him stealing backup parts from Voyager to advance his repairs, she goes to the shuttle bay to confront him - and Alice attempts to murder her!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Is initially inclined to avoid interfering with what she sees as a personal issue between Tom and B'Elanna. She becomes more receptive to B'Elanna's concerns when told that Seven and Harry have also noticed strange behavior - but whatever she might have done is rendered moot, as the Third Act crisis kicks in at exactly that moment.

Chakotay: Sees right through Tom's attempts to paint the shuttle as a potential asset for Voyager, but he indulges the younger man's desire for a project. He intercedes when Tom begins neglecting his duties, firmly telling him that he's expected to be in uniform and on time for his shift, but he remains understanding and tells Tom that he will get the chance to get Alice flying. It's an approach that probably would have worked... if only Tom wasn't under an outside influence.

Tom Paris: I don't have much good to say about this episode, but Robert Duncan McNeill gives it his all. He sells Tom's enthusiasm at tinkering with Alice, and he has an excellent scene in which Tom recalls his first time piloting a shuttle under his father's supervision at age 8. Another, particularly strong moment comes when Tom and B'Elanna argue. McNeill injects a note of desperation that separates this version of Tom from his normal characterization.

Torres: Like Chakotay, she initially tries to indulge Tom's new hobby. She's genuinely impressed with the initial work he's done. She teases him slightly about the shuttle's "sexy" computer voice (Claire Rankin), but she doesn't become annoyed until Tom starts ignoring her in favor of tinkering with Alice. She wonders aloud why she goes "right out the airlock" any time he finds a new hobby. But it's only after she's targeted by Alice that she realizes that something is genuinely wrong. Once that occurs, she does exactly what she should do and goes straight to Janeway.

Neelix: Worked as a trader in the past, so he's selected to negotiate with Abaddon. When Abaddon investigates Voyager's vital systems with a little too much interest, Neelix redirects him toward spare sheeting that can be modified into something similar without compromising the ship. He also manages to strike a deal for everything on the Voyager crew's wishlist. When they go back to Abaddon to search for information, Neelix is ready to present something in exchange, recognizing that the trader won't give away information any more freely than physical commodities.


THOUGHTS:

The makers of Voyager apparently saw John Carpenter's film of Stephen King's Christine and decided to make their own version. Too bad that this episode mainly made me want to switch it off and watch John Carpenter's movie again instead.

I don't have a lot to say about Alice. Despite a script credited to two of Voyager's more reliable writers, and despite being directed by David Livingston, the show's best director, it... really just sort of occupies space.

There are a few good elements. Livingston provides some effective visuals, including a shot of Alice coming to life on her own inside the shuttle bay - a near-direct visual lift from Christine. Guest actress Claire Rankin, as Alice's "mind," balances seductive and creepy to good effect. Robert Duncan McNeill gives a lot more to the mediocre script than it deserves, and as a result there are scenes that work better than they probably should.

But the good individual moments are just that - moments, with the story itself never emerging into anything interesting. The potential is there, around the edges. Alice has a goal, to fly to a spatial phenomenon that she labels "home." Why does Alice consider this phenomenon "home?" Why is she so desperate to return there? Why does she need Tom at all when she seems perfectly capable of operating her systems herself, as when she atmospherically switches on her lights in the shuttle bay or evacuates oxygen and locks the door to try to kill B'Elanna?

The answers to those questions are: There's no time to get into that, we don't know, and please shut up. Instead, we get entirely too much of Tom becoming obsessed with the shuttle and neglecting his lover, friends, and duties. This becomes repetitive, even tedious, and takes up so much of the episode that no time is left over to explore anything about the sentient shuttle. There's not even an attempt to have the crew react to all the unanswered questions. Janeway's a former science officer who should be fascinated by what's happened. Neither she nor anyone else seems to be even mildly curious.


OVERALL:

Voyager's sixth season got off to an excellent start. I liked three of the first four episodes. Even the one I didn't like had interesting ideas that I just didn't think quite landed. Alice breaks this streak, becoming the first episode to merely "exist." It fills airtime - and, aside from a couple of good moments around the edges, it doesn't do much more than that.

The show's offered up worse. But there's nothing here that engaged me - not intellectually, not emotionally, not even viscerally. Alice isn't actively unpleasant to watch. But in the end, the only thing I can really say about it is... "It's there."


Overall Rating: 3/10.

Previous Episode: Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy
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6-04. Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy.

The Doctor daydreams about being
a romantic hero and saving the ship.

Original Air Date: Oct. 13, 1999. Written by: Joe Menosky. Story by: Bill Vallely. Directed by: John Bruno.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor is daydreaming.

He's suffered twin slights. First, he's snubbed for an Away Mission; then Janeway denies his proposal to make him an "Emergency Command Hologram" with authorization to take command should the crew be incapacited. So he retreats into daydreams in which he does get put in charge, each time saving the ship from an overwhelming threat... and receiving full appreciation from the ship's female officers.

All of this is harmless, even ordinary. But it's happening while Voyager is being observed by an alien ship. Observer Phlox (Jay M. Leggett) has received approval from the Hierarchy to interface with Voyager in order to gather intelligence. He ends up connecting with the Doctor, observing his fantasies - which convinces Phlox and the others that the Doctor's daydreams are reality!

The Hierarchy authorizes an attack. When Voyager realizes what is happening, they're left to scramble to recreate the Doctor's daydreams in order to save the ship - for real!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Though she declines the Doctor's proposal, she tries to be compassionate, telling the rest of the command staff to be more respectful of his feelings. When the Doctor's fantasies are made viewable in the holodeck, Janeway is hesitant about intruding on his privacy. Around all the outlandish fantasies about saving the ship, she catches a glimpse of him talking about living up to his full potential. This moves her, and there's a marked difference in her interactions with him afterward.

The Doctor: The episode's a showcase for Robert Picardo's comedic abilities. It opens with him singing opera, only to improvise lyrics when Fantasy Tuvok begins going through pon'farr. His "save the ship" fantasies see him channeling square jawed action heroes. When he's tasked with playing that role for real, however, he's anxious and nervous. Picardo hits every note perfectly, elevating an already good script.

Seven of Nine: Though the Doctor's imagination finds time to muse about both Torres and Janeway, Seven is the principle object of his fantasy affections. This is actually a nice bit of continuity with Someone to Watch Over Me, in which he ultimately kept his attraction to Seven unspoken. The holodeck allows Seven to see his attraction directly. She doesn't respond with anger, instead being mostly bemused and a bit sarcastic - particularly when she delivers her final line of the episode.

Phlox: The main alien character, whose situation parallels the Doctor's. Like the Doctor, he feels disrespected... though given his sneering and officious Overlooker, Phlox has a better case for the disrespect being genuine. Like the Doctor, he wants to prove his abilities, which leads to him monitoring the Doctor and Voyager. He laments that his species' thinking is "confined," and he admires the Doctor for being able to conceive of other possibilities.


THOUGHTS:

Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy is Voyager's "Walter Mitty" episode, with the Doctor fantasizing heroic and romantic situations for himself. It would be a fun trifle even if that was all there was to this. The scenarios are genuinely amusing, and Picardo performs with comic gusto. But if there was nothing more to it, then I suspect it would start to feel a bit stretched by the end.

Thankfully, the final script is by Joe Menosky, one of 1990's Trek's best writers for both theme and characterization. Menosky hits the comic beats that are expected from the concept, but he also captures the characters. Janeway, the Doctor, and Seven get the bulk of the material, but there are well-scripted moments for everyone, making this a rare Voyager to make good use of the full ensemble.

Chakotay plays devil's advocate when Janeway considers the Doctor's proposal, pointing out how crucial his primary responsibilities are and wondering how comfortable she would be putting a computer in command. Torres is slightly impatient in her interactions with the Doctor, but she shows concern when his daydreams take over and put him in danger. Tom opines that the Doctor's manner creates many of the problems he's complaining about. Neelix and Harry both speak up for the value of daydreams, something that Janeway ultimately echoes. Tom and Harry are greatly amused when they observe the Doctor's fantasies. Everyone gets at least something to do.

There's also a theme that emerges, seen with both the Doctor and Phlox, about how it can be unhealthy to box someone into a confined set of duties indefinitely. Variations are voiced throughout the second half, but the Doctor says it best:

"All I ever wanted was to live up to my full potential, to hone all my skills, expand my abilities, to help the people I love."

Janeway, the good commander (in this episode at least), is moved to immediately begin searching for reasonable ways to let the Doctor expand his responsibilities. Phlox's Overlooker, the bad commander, just wants his people to know and stay in their place, declaring anything that deviates from the norm to be an "unacceptable risk."

The episode encourages us to identify with Phlox as much as the Doctor, and their converging threads advance the theme alongside the comedy. This lends just enough substance to make a superficially silly bit of fluff into something more.


OVERALL:

Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy is a fine episode: Funny, well-structured, and well-paced. With strong character work, good thematic unity, and an excellent performance by Robert Picardo, this is a highly enjoyable outing.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Barge of the Dead
Next Episode: Alice

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