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| Torres is taken prisoner. Again. |
THE PLOT
Voyager detects a damaged robot floating in space and beams it aboard for study. Tuvok advises allowing the machine to power down completely, to examine it while inert. B'Elanna, however, wants to restore the robot to full function. She convinces Janeway that they will learn much more from it while functioning than simply by sifting through the wreckage, and then painstakingly goes about making it work.
She is elated when her repairs succeed and the robot speaks, identifying itself as Unit 3947. It was separated from its ship, staffed entirely by robots, when it was damaged. Voyager sets course for 3947's ship. Then the robot makes a request - for B'Elanna to build a prototype power unit to allow them to reproduce themselves. When Janeway refuses to grant permission, 3947 abducts B'Elanna and forces her to do so anyway. If she refuses, the more advanced robot ship will destroy Voyager!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Retains a loyalty to the Prime Directive that borders on religious dogma. Her refusal to allow Torres to build the prototype would make sense, if it was based on their lack of knowledge about the robots' society. Instead, she bases her refusal purely on the Prime Directive, her wisdom including such nuggets as, "Instinction is often the natural end of evolution." I'd much rather her refusal be based on intelligent caution than on dogma. At least she shows admirable compassion toward Torres at the episode's end - a much more likable side of the captain's character, one that the show would be advised to give more focus.
Chakotay: Makes a disparaging remark about Paris' plan to use a shuttle to rescue Torres, snarking that he'd "hate to lose another shuttle." Surely Chakotay is the last person who should be making such a remark. I'm surprised Paris didn't come back with a reminder that shuttles only tend to be lost when Mr. Facial Tattoo is the one flying them.
Torres: A Torres-centric episode, always a good thing. This time, the focus is not on her Klingon/human heritage, but on her engineering skills. Torres is instantly intrigued by the damaged robot, to the point that the challenge of repairing it becomes an obsession for her. When she has succeeded, she treats 3947 as an almost human friend. She shows compassion, and champions its request for a prototype to allow reproduction. Even after she is captured, her obsession at overcoming the challenge posed by the prototype is all-consuming, and her joy when she succeeds in creating it is absolute. Which makes it all the more devastating for her when she realizes the true (all too predictable) reason why there are no more "Builders" for this robot species.
Tuvok: Is sensibly cautious about 3947. His impulse is to let it power down so it can be examined safely, then reactivate it if they choose. Torres objects and Janeway sides with her - but then, Janeway also has a science background, one which leaves her tending to choose exploration of the unknown over security. From Tuvok's standpoint, his advice is sound (and, if followed, would have saved the crew a lot of trouble).
THOUGHTS
Jonathan Frakes directs, which gives this episode a highly polished sheen. We get some effectively moody lighting and some pretty good set design in the robots' workshop. Shot selection emphasizes depth, with many scenes played out with objects or items in the foreground and background of the characters, which keeps the episode visually interesting. As ever, Frakes also gets the most from the actors. What can you say when even Harry Kim and Neelix come across as likable in some early scenes?
Prototype is very well-made and well-presented. It moves along at a quick pace and treats the character of Torres in a thoughtful way. It's good to have a Torres episode that showcases her as a thoughful, compassionate, intelligent officer, rather than simply focusing on her mixed heritage.
All of these make this a pretty good episode. But it's yet another Voyager episode that falls short of being anything more than "pretty good," because the script is just so predictable. Honestly, is there anyone over the age of about 16 who didn't guess why the Builders were extinct? Did anyone doubt that B'Elanna would succeed in creating the prototype, or what she would do when she discovered the full truth? All the story beats are easy to see coming, and that is something that quickly smothers the episode's potential.
Still a decent show, thanks to polished direction and some decent character work. But it would be nice to see Voyager manage a good, well-made character episode that also delivers a strong story.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
Review Index
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as I thought you would.
ReplyDeleteI found the ending a bit more interesting in a few ways. The episode didn't end in a typical clean fashion, both robotic factions still are around which could have potentially lead to further conflicts. In addition, the actual prototype kept repeating that it required information to become something more. It is curious that should one faction win out against the other what a future civilization could 'evolve' as, and what would the robotic civilization do once there were no enemies to kill? Wait around until someone became an enemy or go off in pursuit of Voyager. Given that 3947 witnessed the entire thing it is not beyond reason to think that it may be able to make another prototype.
It had so much potential left in the episode once it ended that I liked the episode for what it could become. This like stuck and even though looking back it wasn't as "good" as I thought it was (especially after reading your review), it was still a thoroughly entertaining 45 minutes of television.
In the hope that I do not get proven wrong yet again, the next episode deals with something Voyager should have done from the start: Make allies. You may enjoy it better because it deals with long running arcs. It also had a lot of potential attached at the end of it. If anything you'll learn a bit about the Kazon and their former masters and it will most likely entertain (even if it leaves you wondering several questions, some of which are endemic to Voyager).
I hope to enjoy the next one more. Really, I enjoyed Season One a lot more than I expected to... but Season Two's not doing much for me. The big problem I'm having isn't bad episodes... It's the long run of "OK, but no more than that" ones. From your description, "Alliances" sounds like it has potential, though. I'll keep an open mind.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, though, I'm mainly looking forward to "Threshold," just to see if the reputed "worst episode ever" can really be as bad as all that. :)