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| The Voyager has landed. |
THE PLOT
Voyager encounters an object in space - an antique, rusted truck from early 20th century Earth! Tom Paris is able to get the truck started, and detects an SOS signal in Morse code, which the ship tracks to a nearby Class M planet. Forced to land on the planet to avoid Technobabble interference (and resulting in some pretty cool visuals), Janeway leads an Away Team to the source of the distress call: a 1937 airplane.
They follow a power source to an underground cave, in which they find cryogenic containers. Inside each of these is a human from the year 1937, and among those humans is one of Janeway's personal idols: Amelia Earhart (Sharon Lawrence). They take the decision to wake up these sleepers, hoping to learn how they were brought to this world so that Voyager might take the same path home. But the 1937 humans are confused and incredulous about Janeway's claims that they are now 400+ years in their own future.
Meanwhile, unseen figures observe all of this, preparing an ambush...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Has always been inspired by Amelia Earhart... and now has emulated her, in that she now commands a ship that's been lost without a trace. Sorry, can't entirely resist getting a Janeway dig in. Really, this is a pretty good episode for her. She actually discusses options with her command staff at a couple of points in the episode, rather than making a unilateral decision. She is excited at the prospect of meeting and talking with Earhart, but she doesn't allow that excitement to override her major priorities: namely, finding out what happened to these people to see if they can use that information to get home. When the planet starts to look like a good place to potentially settle, Janeway discusses the matter with Chakotay. Though advised that the ship potentially couldn't function if too many of the crew decide to stay, Janeway decides to allow all of the crew members to make that decision for themselves.
Tom Paris: Antique vehicles are a hobby for him, which conveniently allows him to identify the truck and detect the SOS signal. He manages to land Voyager safely on the planet, and Robert Duncan McNeill does a good job of conveying the tension his character feels in performing a rare and difficult maneuver.
Harry Kim: Is tempted by the thought of staying on this planet. He expresses to B'Elanna that while he signed up for a life in Starfleet, "a life in space," he nevertheless did not foresee spending his entire life in space, with no end in sight. Despite these musings, he chooses to stay on Voyager. Unfortunately. That said, this is one of Garrett Wang's more relaxed performances, and Harry seems more like a human being than a walking mannequin for a change.
THOUGHTS
Originally intended to close out the first season, and this would have been a much stronger season finale than Learning Curve was. The 37's has its problems. It's far too reverential toward the icon of Amelia Earhart, and so keeps her on too high a pedestal to actually make a 3-dimensional character out of her. Meanwhile, all the other people from 1937 are either stock characters or glorified extras. That keeps this from coming to life the way it might have otherwise.
Despite the weak characterization of the guest stars, this still manages to be a good episode. The guest stars are bland, but the regulars are well-captured. Janeway has a particularly strong episode, while time also found to give good moments to Tom, Neelix, and even Harry Kim and Chakotay. The Voyager cast are starting to display a certain chemistry, which bodes well for future episodes.
The episode also benefits from a particularly strong production. The visuals of Voyager on the planet are quite strong, particularly the daytime ones. The cryogenic chamber is clearly a recycled set, but it's well-used and well-lit, while the wealth of location filming opens this episode up and lets it breathe in a way that many studio-bound episodes aren't able to do.
With good production values and some strong character moments for several of the regulars, The 37's is definitely above-average for the series. It won't linger in my memory in any way, but it's a solid, pleasant entertainment.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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